Another explosion tore through the field.

  From the roiling shadow, blackened tentacles surged upward—dozens of them—lashing toward Nokum as the Familiar sprinted for the monolith, greatsword low and steady in its grip.

  “You will pay for your insolence!” Mpheto roared.

  The tentacles struck from every direction, their tips needle-sharp. Nokum halted mid-stride.

  One thrust.

  Another.

  Another.

  Each downward stab was clean. Precise. With every puncture, violet light flared in its eyes. The magma-red glow beneath its skin dimmed as veins of purple spread across its body, devouring the crimson like creeping frost.

  The tentacles kept coming—an endless tide meant to swallow the Omen being whole.

  Nokum did not retreat. It thrust again.

  And again.

  Until the last trace of red vanished. Its crescent eyes fixed on the monolith.

  “Those who oppose my Lord shall fall!”

  Its jaw unhinged.

  “Breath of the Underworld.”

  A torrent of thick violet miasma poured forth, coiling through the air before splintering into a legion of shrieking specters. The spirits latched onto the tentacles, gnawing, clinging, dragging them down.

  For the first time, Nokum shifted its stance.

  The blade rose sideways, shrouded in writhing haze.

  It cleaved.

  A crescent of violet light sheared across the battlefield. Everything in its path—shadow, tentacle, residue of flame—vanished.

  “You think your pitiful abilities will change anything?”

  Mpheto stepped from the shadows, hands still in his pockets. He stood balanced atop his cane, which lay flat against the ground.

  “Let me show you the difference between us.”

  Snap.

  The monolith rotated.

  White runes ignited across its surface. A shriek ripped through the field—high and metallic. The shadows convulsed.

  Hundreds—no, thousands—of tentacles erupted outward. Thicker. Longer. Each one dwarfing the last wave.

  “I won’t have to lift a finger to eliminate something like you.” Mpheto declared.

  Nokum inhaled.

  The miasma reversed course, flooding back into its body.

  Bone cracked. Armor split. Flesh stretched.

  Its frame swelled—ten feet, twelve, fifteen—until a two-headed abomination stood where the Familiar had been. Six arms unfurled, each gripping a long sword. Flaming violet vapor replaced its armor entirely. Its twin sets of eyes shone like twin crescent moons.

  “Your doom is inevitable.”

  All six blades leveled at Mpheto—and the monolith.

  “You severely underestimate me,” Mpheto replied calmly. “I’ll make sure you regret that.”

  Snap.

  The monolith spun faster. Red wisps ignited across its surface and bled into the shadow field. In seconds, it burned like a fallen star. The tentacles followed—now wrapped in flame.

  Even Mpheto’s exposed skull caught fire.

  He stepped off his cane. It rose obediently into his waiting hand.

  “You’ll regret your decision to challenge Lord Jolran’s authority.”

  His grip tightened.

  He struck the monolith.

  A sharp crack split the night.

  Magma poured from the wound.

  “Crush him!”

  The flaming tentacles launched.

  Nokum answered with a war cry that rattled the air and charged straight through the inferno.

  Steel met flame.

  Miasma met shadow.

  A wave of toxic vapor exploded outward, hissing as it consumed everything it touched. The six-armed Omen being carved through the first ranks—but the next wave crashed in immediately, relentless as a siege against a city that could not sleep.

  “Your death will arrive the moment you run out of power,” Mpheto hummed.

  He leaned casually on his cane while Nokum fought within a storm of fire and shadow.

  Six blades formed a rotating defense—each covering a separate arc. One head spat miasma continuously, poisoning the ground beneath its feet. The other screamed without pause, disrupting the forming shadow field.

  “Your struggles are pitiful.”

  Mpheto adjusted his scarf and turned toward Adam.

  “This one has a completely different set of abilities. Which Lord are they serving?”

  Pavani reentered the flaming field and shed his form like rotten skin.

  Bone twisted.

  Muscle swelled.

  Something older than language crawled into his shape.

  He laughed—a wet, broken sound—as Adam’s illusions shattered around him. Cataclysm’s hidden strikes scraped past scales that hadn’t existed seconds earlier.

  “Oyioooo… how long are you going to hide?” he sang, voice bending at the edges. “Oyioooo… come out and fight like a—”

  A fist smashed into his jaw.

  His head snapped sideways—but his tail whipped out, coiling around Adam’s waist.

  “Oyioooo… I have got you now.”

  He twisted midair, locking both arms around Adam’s torso and squeezing.

  Ribs groaned. Breath fled. Pavani’s laughter deepened.

  Cataclysm wheezed toward him, but Pavani slammed into the ground first, dragging Adam with him.

  “Oyioooo… I’m tired of these axes. Time to get rid of them.”

  His hand shot toward the incoming weapon.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Oyioooo… how miserable would it be to die by your own—”

  The axe screamed.

  A piercing cry tore through the air. Then it detonated. Pavani’s arm burst apart in a spray of charred bone and boiling blood.

  Adam tore free. Black tendrils coiled around his fist as it drove into Pavani’s right eye.

  The tail loosened.

  Adam seized both axes.

  One strike severed the tail’s vitality—its flesh shriveling like dried parchment. The second shattered Pavani’s left leg into ruin.

  Still not finished. Adam flashed forward. He cleaved for the Xyrath’s head.

  Pavani slipped the edge at the last instant, laughter spilling through bloodied teeth.

  Adam pivoted and drove a spinning kick into his temple. Pavani shot across the field and slammed into the monolith.

  The laughter did not stop. He lay there, coughing up blackened blood.

  Mpheto stepped over him.

  “How dare you sully Lord Jolran’s property with your foul blood.”

  He towered above the broken Xyrath, one hand resting in his pocket.

  “Oyioooo… w-why don’t we team up and defeat them both? You’re curious about their identities too, right? Oyioooo…”

  “The mere thought that I would require your help to defeat such weaklings is an insult punishable by death.”

  Mpheto brought his cane down.

  The impact rippled outward—shadows spreading in a tight circle beneath Pavani’s broken body.

  He struck again.

  Tentacles slipped from the dark and coiled around the Xyrath’s limbs.

  A third strike.

  The tentacles constricted. Bone splintered. Flesh collapsed inward.

  Pavani’s laughter rose higher, shriller—until it drowned beneath the wet crush of his own ribs folding in on themselves.

  Then it stopped. The tentacles did not.

  They tightened long after his body ceased resisting, grinding what remained into a ruin before withdrawing back into the earth.

  “That’s one down. Two more to go.”

  Mpheto dusted off his sleeve and strolled toward the monolith, one hand sliding into his pocket.

  He watched Nokum struggle against the relentless tide. The Omen being’s swings were no longer as sharp. Bald patches scarred its miasma-armor where flame and shadow had eaten through.

  Then he looked at Adam.

  The young man stood bent forward, palms on his knees, drawing ragged breaths.

  “It’s time to end this farce of a battle,” Mpheto hummed.

  He struck the monolith. The rotation shrieked to a halt.

  Flaming tentacles dissolved into smoke. The shadow field collapsed as if inhaled by the earth itself. Cracks spiderwebbed across the stone’s surface.

  Mpheto leapt into the widening fissure.

  Groans echoed from within—deep, cavernous, as though something vast shifted in its sleep. Sickly green wisps floated above the monolith like corpse-lights.

  Adam summoned Nokum back to his side while his regeneration crawled through torn muscle and fractured bone.

  I didn’t expect that laughing lunatic to push me that far. He somehow adapted to my illusions… and this skeleton freak is worse.

  He steadied his breathing.

  Why did he cancel his Domain manifestation?

  “Use your new Domain.” The demonic voice sliced through his thoughts. “You may not have another opportunity.”

  I know. But my body can’t withstand it yet. Have you forgotten what happened when I—

  Salma’s voice cut in, urgent.

  “My Lord, I have located the human called X. She is on the brink of death. The other target is missing. Several humans are approaching—less than ten thousand feet away.”

  Damn it.

  “Do it. Now,” the demonic voice growled.

  [Activating Domain – World of Gluttony!]

  [Domain successfully activated!]

  For a fraction of a second, everything stopped. Adam felt his eyes roll back. Heat burst from his skull. Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, ears, mouth.

  Darkness spilled from beneath his feet, flooding outward in a perfect circle—one kilometer wide. It swallowed flames, smoke, and ruins. Within the black, countless bloodshot eyes blinked open.

  A grinding crunch echoed, like teeth closing over bone. The green wisps above the monolith guttered out. The stone exploded into fragments.

  Mpheto emerged mid-transformation—his frame swelling, flesh sloughing away to reveal a massive skeletal beast beneath. But the instant the darkness touched him, the transformation snapped shut. He shrank back into his human shape. The crimson of his skull bled into black.

  At the center of the Domain, a vortex spiraled open.

  Something crawled out.

  It was faceless. Limbs bent at wrong angles. Its body stretched several meters tall, joints grinding as it dragged itself into existence.

  Adam dropped to his knees and vomited blood, body convulsing.

  The creature paused.

  It turned toward Nokum. Then it pointed at Adam.

  “Leave with him. His body cannot summon us yet.”

  The words rasped in the Omen Tongue, scraping across the silence.

  The darkness recoiled. The eyes vanished.

  The creature dissolved.

  When light returned to the battlefield, only a pool of blood remained where Adam and Nokum had stood.

  Time resumed.

  Mpheto rose slowly. His hands trembled.

  He stared at the bloodstain.

  A Domain that devours abilities… There is no mistake. That was the field of Gluttony.

  He forced his fingers still, though his spine remained rigid.

  If it had persisted a moment longer—

  His thoughts stalled.

  I must inform Lord Jolran of the revival of the Temple of Gluttony…

  A portal opened beneath him.

  He vanished.

  The flower field was gone.

  Craters scarred the earth. Smoke coiled into a starless sky. The safehouse burned, beams collapsing into embers.

  Hundreds of meters away, Nokum carried Adam through the wasteland.

  I knew this would happen… my head feels like it’s splitting open.

  The blood crusting his vision thinned, but the world swam. His arms shook uncontrollably. He retched again.

  I shouldn’t have left X alone. Not with Ledley.

  He tapped Nokum’s shoulder weakly. “Faster. That way.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  Nokum shifted direction and unleashed another burst of speed, violet miasma streaming from its limbs. With each stride, its monstrous frame thinned. Its features softened—growing closer to human.

  They crossed hundreds of meters in seconds.

  Ahead, a figure with magma-veined skin crouched beside a motionless body.

  Salma looked up as they approached and bowed deeply. “Forgive me, my Lord. Her injuries appear fatal.”

  Nokum lowered Adam carefully.

  He staggered forward.

  X lay in the dirt—face smeared with ash and blood. A jagged claw mark carved down the right side of her face. A gaping wound tore through her chest, each shallow breath bubbling faintly with red.

  Adam dropped to his knees. His trembling fingers brushed soot from her hair. He pressed a finger beneath her nose.

  Nothing.

  His hand moved to her neck.

  Cold.

  I can’t feel a pulse. She’s dying…

  His eyes shut as guilt clawed upward.

  If I had known Pavani would attack the safehouse—

  “S-so… that’s what you look like,” X whispered weakly. “I-I’d hide my face too… if I was that u-ugly.”

  Adam’s eyes snapped open.

  “Don’t talk,” he said, voice breaking. “I’ll get you somewhere safe. You’re not dying. Not here.”

  Tears streaked down her soot-stained cheeks as she stared at Adam’s real face—unmasked, unaltered.

  “Y-you were always a good liar,” X murmured, a faint smile trembling at the corner of her lips. “I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “G-go while you still can,” she whispered. “Don’t end up like me. If you…” Her breath hitched. “Tell Ash I’m sorry. Get out before the border agents come.”

  “I won’t leave you,” Adam said, shaking his head. His voice cracked despite the effort to steady it.

  “I wish I’d met you earlier… maybe…” Her words thinned into air.

  “X, you can’t die here! You still owe me payback for what I did!”

  Her lips parted.

  [Potential Sources of Danger Detected!]

  The world inverted. Color drained.

  Nokum and Salma vanished without a sound. The ground flipped, sky below and earth above, and Adam found himself kneeling in an upside-down expanse of muted gray.

  X was gone.

  This… Elliot’s Domain.

  The negative world folded in on itself.

  Reality snapped back.

  Adam remained kneeling—but Nokum, Salma, and X were nowhere to be seen.

  The ache in his ribs had vanished. The dizziness from activating the World of Gluttony was gone. Even the fatigue clinging to his marrow had been erased.

  An earthworm wriggled out of the soil a few meters away.

  It grew with every inch that surfaced.

  Segments thickened into bark. Rings hardened into wooden plates. Within moments, the worm had become a towering wooden creature, its body ridged like an ancient tree trunk.

  Its mouth opened.

  Footsteps echoed from the darkness within.

  Adam did not rise.

  “What are you two doing here?” His voice was hoarse. “Where’s X and—”

  “There’s no time,” Elliot cut in gently. “Several Awakened are approaching—far beyond what you can handle in your current state.” He offered a reassuring smile. “Your companion is safe. I give you my word.”

  Adam studied him for a long moment, searching for the lie he could never quite catch.

  Then he looked at Guo Huan.

  “What did you do to my underlings?”

  “Nothing permanent,” Guo Huan replied evenly. “I merely ensured they wouldn’t interfere. You will sense them again shortly.”

  He flicked a silver ring toward Adam.

  “The updated mission parameters are inside. Archbishop Ledley is heading for the border as we speak. You must intercept him.” His eyes sharpened. “Do not forget the importance of this mission.”

  Adam caught the ring and rose.

  He didn’t thank them. He didn’t argue.

  He sprinted into the distance.

  “Don’t let her die.”

  “I expected him to resist more,” Tesan admitted, lifting a brow. “Has he begun to trust us… or is he simply desperate?”

  “He trusts no one,” Elliot said. “But he knows we are capable of saving her. Had it been someone else, he would have fought to his last breath.”

  Tesan nodded slowly, gaze drifting to the distant smoke staining the sky.

  “That battle surprised me. I knew he had potential, but pushing back someone like Mpheto alone?” He let out a low chuckle. “Experiencing the field of Gluttony again… we would have been exposed had we lingered.”

  “The Temple of Jolran will not stay idle once Mpheto reports,” Elliot said, his expression dimming. “They will hunt him. And when the other temples learn the Temple of Gluttony has resurfaced…”

  Tesan laughed softly and clapped Elliot on the shoulder. “We’ve waited years for this day. I just hope I live long enough to see what he becomes.” He paused. “The ‘Ash’ she mentioned… is it the same Ash?”

  Elliot nodded.

  “Oof. Then Adam better pray that hothead never finds out.”

  “I believe you are worried about the wrong person,” Elliot replied with a faint smile. “Adam is not someone to underestimate. Though he trails the other candidates in power, his growth has surpassed them all.”

  “Perhaps,” Tesan conceded. “But he has an obvious weakness now.”

  “And that a problem?”

  “It makes him vulnerable.”

  Elliot’s smile sharpened.

  “A soldier without weakness is uncontrollable. Her existence will drive him forward. And if she dies…” He paused. “There are always alternatives.”

  Tesan stiffened. “What do you mean?”

  “You’ll understand soon.” Elliot turned toward the wooden creature. “The border agents are close.”

  He stepped into its waiting mouth.

  Tesan hurried after him, pressing for answers.

  The creature’s jaws closed. Its massive frame shrank rapidly, bark folding inward until only a small earthworm remained.

  It slipped beneath the soil and vanished.