87 Chapter 87
"Did you know the average temperature at which a humans blood could freeze is around -2 Celsius?"
I grinned.. "Well if you didn't you'll see now."
The golden light around the Solarii snapped like thin ice. Their bodies jerked as the invisible pressure dug deeper into bone. Armor fractured. Joints dislocated. Nine elite knights—frozen, bleeding, choking on their own breath.
Serenia covered her mouth. "Aruno… stop… you'll kill them—"
He didn't even hear her.
His eyes never left Caelith.
Caelith strained, every vein in his neck bulging as he tried to break free. His knees buckled. His hands shook violently against the crushing force.
"What… did you become…?" Caelith rasped.
Aruno stepped closer, expression unreadable.
Caelith's eyes widened.
"You're predictable," Aruno said. "And predictable things die."
The pressure intensified. The air cracked. A Solarii's spear snapped in half from sheer force.
Then—
Every Solarii screamed at once.
A sound like metal being torn apart.
Even Lysrael flinched.
Azazel exhaled slowly. "Master… if this continues… they'll all be crushed. Caelith included."
Lysrael's lips curled slightly. "Good."
Kaigor's eyes widened. "Master—"
"You said it yourself," Lysrael murmured. "Let the past die."
He leaned forward.
"And I want to watch the boy who bears Ryū's blood erase the King of Light."
Down below, Caelith finally broke one knee free and slammed it into the ground, anchoring himself. Divine light burst from his wounds, but dimly—like a star in its final collapse.
Aruno raised his hand fully now.
Every Solarii bent involuntarily, armor screeching as if gravity had multiplied a hundredfold.
Ko swallowed. "He's… going to break them all…"
Serenia stepped forward, shaking. "Aruno! Stop! They're not the target!"
Aruno didn't react.
His voice came out low and empty of emotion.
"You should've stayed out of her way."
Caelith's eyes widened in panic—not fear for himself, but for his knights.
"STOP, CHILD!"
Aruno closed his hand into a fist.
The entire battlefield trembled.
Caelith screamed.
Lysrael's smile widened.
"Now," he whispered, "let's see if the King of Light can survive his final sunrise."
Aruno didn't flinch at Caelith's scream.
He didn't even blink.
His fist tightened, and the pressure snapped.
Every Solarii's spine, armor, and heart collapsed inward at once.
Nine lives ended in a single soundless implosion—like candles crushed in a giant's grasp.
Serenia gasped. Ko froze mid-step. Yoru's eyes widened. Rin swallowed a scream.
Caelith stared in horror.
"You… murdered my knights…"
Aruno didn't give him the dignity of a response.
Instead, he tilted his head slightly—toward the distant rooftop where Lysrael stood.
Their eyes met.
Aruno smirked.
Lysrael stiffened—not in fear, but with a shiver of recognition.
Azazel stepped back. Kaigor visibly tensed.
"That smile…" Lysrael whispered. "He saw us."
Azazel muttered, "Impossible. At this range—"
"No," Lysrael interrupted, voice low. "He knows exactly what he's doing."
Back on the battlefield, Aruno lowered his hand to the corpses at his feet.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"Renewal."
The world went still for a breath.
Then the shadows beneath the bodies surged upward. Crimson veins of Sanguis crackled through them like lightning. Umbra swallowed their forms whole.
One by one, the Solarii stood again.
No light in their eyes.
No divinity left.
Only hollow, blood-soaked silhouettes—twisted armor fused with darkness and bone.
Shadow Knights.
Aruno's soldiers.
Serenia stepped back. "Aruno… what did you just do…?"
Ko whispered, "This is wrong… he has done this once before, but this is just messed up."
Yoru clenched his teeth.
Caelith staggered as the nine newly forged knights shifted their gaze to him, surrounding him in a tightening ring.
"You turned my Solarii… into puppets?" Caelith didn't sound furious. He sounded betrayed. Heartbroken even. "Those were my creations. My family in battle. My sons."
Aruno stepped forward slowly.
"You should've taken care of them better," he said. "They're mine now."
The Shadow Knights tightened the circle. Their movement was perfect—too perfect.
Every step synchronized. Every gaze locked on Caelith.
Caelith's trembling hands balled into fists. "You foul creature…"
Aruno flicked his wrist.
The knights tensed, ready to tear into Caelith all at once.
"Don't insult me," Aruno said calmly. "You're surrounded. And I'm not done."
Caelith's breath shook. "You can't control them. Their souls—"
"They don't need souls," Aruno cut in. "They have orders."
The words hit Caelith harder than any punch.
Aruno stepped in close enough that Caelith had to tilt his chin up to hold eye contact.
"You're next."
Lysrael watched from far above, eyes narrowing.
"Aruno has surpassed even Ryū's darkest potential," he murmured. "This… is evolution."
Kaigor swallowed. "Master… his aura feels like a god-killer."
Lysrael's smile sharpened.
"That's because he is."
Down below, the nine Shadow Solarii raised their spears in unison.
Caelith's light flickered weakly around him.
Aruno pointed at the King of Light.
"Break him."
The Solarii shadows tightened their circle around Caelith.
Caelith swallowed.
For the first time, he looked small.
Aruno's voice came out low, tired, casual — like this was just another chore-
"Go on."
The shadow-blood knights lunged all at once.
Caelith braced—
But none of them struck.
They stopped an inch from his throat, blades poised, bodies frozen. Caelith's breath hitched. He didn't understand. He couldn't understand.
Aruno raised a hand.
"Absorb."
The shadows collapsed instantly — not as corpses, not as soldiers — but as tendrils of red-black energy. They swirled toward Aruno like a reverse explosion, collapsing into him in streaks of color that vanished under his skin.
Every knight.
Every corpse.
Every fragment of power.
Gone.
Aruno exhaled like it was nothing… then looked at Caelith again.
Caelith couldn't hide it. His expression twisted — rage, fear, disbelief, all fighting each other.
Aruno tilted his head.
"You look like a child."
Caelith's jaw clenched so hard it trembled.
Aruno laughed — not loud, not manic.
Just a clean, sharp laugh that cut deeper than any blade.
He knew exactly what he had become.
And Caelith finally understood-
He wasn't fighting a mortal anymore. He was fighting the evolution of The Ghost. 'The Redborne Ghost of Sable'