The black flames continued to spread through the destroyed passages of Silver.
Wood burned.
Shields partially melted among the bodies scattered through the narrow streets.
The smoke rose heavy.
Thick.
Swallowing part of the walls above.
Soldiers of the Central Kingdom retreated in disarray through the wreckage while burning horses charged through the inner passages in panic.
And for the first time since dawn—
the advance had stopped.
No one moved forward.
No one shouted.
The soldiers of the Marquisate watched the burning streets in absolute silence.
Some still held their shields raised.
Others stared at the bodies burning among the stones.
Like men trying to understand what they had just witnessed.
Heron remained motionless amid the wreckage.
His sword still lowered beside his body.
His eyes fixed on the smoke burning in the distance.
Karna slowly released a breath.
His fingers still closed around the bow.
Heavy.
His breathing failed once before stabilizing.
Then again.
Ash crossed his face while the glow of the runes slowly faded from his skin.
The air grew heavy.
Not like heat.
Not like smoke.
Something far worse.
The nearest soldiers hesitated without understanding.
A knight of the Marquisate slowly lowered his shield.
Another raised his eyes toward the smoke ahead.
The wind changed.
Heron moved first.
His hand violently grabbed the side of Karna's robes—
and pulled.
BOOM.
The impact exploded in the center of the street.
Stone shattered violently.
The wave of force tore through soldiers, broken wood, and scattered bodies as if they were paper.
Heron was hurled into his own men.
Two knights vanished with him into wreckage and smoke.
Karna slid several meters across the ruined stone before managing to stop himself.
His eyes immediately lifted.
The ground had collapsed in the center of the street.
Cracks ran through the stone beneath a single figure standing within the smoke.
The black flames still rose around him.
Slow.
Like serpents dying in the air.
The dark overcoat burned along its edges.
Smoke drifted slowly across his shoulders.
But his posture remained intact.
Motionless.
The single visible eye slowly swept across Silver's ruined passages.
Bodies burning among the stones.
The black scars spread throughout the streets.
Then it stopped on Karna.
Silence.
Heavy.
Even the remaining soldiers of the Central Kingdom stood motionless in the distance.
As if no one was certain what they were supposed to do after that.
Heron slowly pushed part of the wreckage off his body.
Breathing heavily.
Blood ran down the side of his forehead.
But his eyes were already fixed on the figure standing in the center of the street.
Karna remained silent.
The bow still steady between his fingers.
Even while gasping.
Even while feeling the weight burning inside his chest.
Smoke slowly drifted through the field between the two sides.
Bharvan spoke.
Calm.
Like someone discussing the weather.
"It's been a long time..."
His gloved fingers passed through the black flames still burning near his arm.
The flames vanished at his touch.
"...since the last time someone forced me to intervene personally."
The silence became even worse after that.
The soldiers of the Marquisate tightened their grip on their shields.
Bharvan ignored them.
His eye remained fixed only on Karna.
Watching.
Calculating.
"I see..."
The single visible eye narrowed slightly.
"You're one of the Visitors."
A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"So that's what's feeding those flames."
Karna did not answer immediately.
His fingers slowly tightened around the bow.
Ash drifted between them.
Back there—
Heron crossed the wreckage at an absurd speed.
The sword came down in a single brutal motion.
Steel tore through the smoke toward Bharvan's neck—
CLANG.
The impact exploded through the street.
A sharp pressure swept through the surrounding stone while the wind drove smoke, ash, and embers away from the two of them.
The blade stopped.
Bharvan's gloved fingers held the sword without giving even a single inch.
Heron froze.
His eyes finally met the face before him.
The blood in his veins seemed to turn cold.
"L-Lord Bharvan...?"
The single visible eye observed Heron for a few seconds.
Almost curious.
"Heron..."
"It's been a few years."
Heron remained motionless.
Breathing heavily.
His muscles still tense from the strike that had not moved the man before him even slightly.
Bharvan tilted his head a little.
"During the Hundred War..."
His gaze briefly dropped to the sword in Heron's hands.
"You could barely hold that stance back then."
"You've grown more than I expected."
Heron's fingers tightened around the hilt once more.
"I'm not that boy anymore."
"Hm."
Bharvan observed the ruined battlefield around them.
The dead.
The burning wall.
Then his eyes returned to him.
Bharvan pushed Heron's sword aside effortlessly.
"Well now..."
"The boy sent to the battlefield to die at fifteen..."
His gaze remained fixed on him.
"ended up becoming a Lord."
"FORMATION!"
The shout cut through Silver's ruined passages.
The soldiers of the Marquisate instinctively raised their shields once more.
Heron took a deep breath.
Slowly lowered his sword for half a second.
"In that hell..."
Smoke slowly drifted between them.
"...you taught me how to survive."
"And fighting by your side..."
His eyes remained fixed on Bharvan.
"...I learned the weight carried by those who lead."
Behind him, the soldiers of the Marquisate resumed formation.
"Men like that don't carry only swords."
His fingers tightened around the hilt.
"They carry those who depend on them."
Bharvan's eyes slowly drifted toward the men behind him.
Then returned to Heron.
Heron's eyes hardened once more.
"Now these walls depend on me."
The sword rose again.
"It doesn't matter who's standing before me."
"I will not retreat."
The small smile on Bharvan's face slowly appeared.
"I understand."
His fingers slowly adjusted the dark glove.
"You truly did learn by watching."
"In that case..."
His eyes fixed on Heron.
"...allow me to give you one final lesson."
Heron moved first.
The sword came down in a brutal slash—
Bharvan vanished.
BOOM.
Heron's head exploded against the stone.
The impact drove cracks through the ground.
The soldiers of the Marquisate froze.
Heron had not even seen the movement.
Bharvan's fingers were still pressing his hair against the wreckage.
Like an adult holding a child.
He lifted him.
Slowly.
His fingers tangled in blood-soaked hair while Heron's feet barely found balance among the shattered stones.
His eyes still struggled to focus.
BOOM.
The punch tore through Heron's face violently.
His body flew into his own soldiers like a broken projectile.
The knights instinctively braced behind their shields trying to stop him.
Even so, they were dragged several meters across the ruined stone.
Heron fell to his knees.
His vision shaking.
Blood running from his mouth.
His left arm no longer responded properly.
And Bharvan simply walked.
Slow steps through smoke and embers.
"Determination."
His voice crossed the ruined street.
"Conviction."
Another step.
"Will."
His cold eyes remained on Heron.
"All of that sounds grand in front of the weak."
Heron tried to stand again.
His legs failed for half a second.
Bharvan stopped before him.
"But before a greater force..."
"those things become nothing more than consolation for men standing at death's door."
No one moved.
As if Heron's kneeling body had crushed whatever courage remained within those walls.
Bharvan slowly raised a hand.
Then—
THAK.
The arrow cut through the air toward him.
Bharvan's fingers caught it at the last instant.
A small smile appeared on his face.
His gaze returned to Karna.
"Interesting."
"Even after seeing the difference in power..."
His fingers slowly tightened around the arrow.
"...you still waited for the exact moment to shoot."
The small smile widened almost imperceptibly.
"You truly are an exceptional archer."
His eyes dropped to the arrow trapped between his fingers.
"Though that shot was somewhat disappointing compared to the last one."
Karna smiled.
Tired.
The bow still raised toward Bharvan.
"Indrastra."
CRACK.
Electrical currents exploded violently through the arrow trapped between Bharvan's fingers.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
They engulfed his entire body while the stone beneath his feet began to crack under the discharge.
Bharvan's muscles locked for an instant.
His body stood frozen in the center of the street while electricity coursed through smoke, blood, and embers scattered throughout Silver.
Karna appeared beside Heron immediately.
His arm went around his shoulders before the smoke had even settled.
"Run to the walls!"
His voice cut through the soldiers still frozen in place.
"NOW!"
The men of the Marquisate snapped awake at the same time.
Shields were abandoned.
The wounded began to be dragged away.
Soldiers grabbed Heron by the arms while Karna kept him standing.
Heron coughed blood.
His eyes still struggling to stay open while the soldiers dragged him through the ruined streets.
"I..."
His breathing failed.
"...failed."
The rain began to fall.
Weak at first.
Then heavy.
Karna remained silent for a few seconds.
Water slowly ran down his face.
A small smile appeared.
"No."
Thunder crossed the sky above them.
"The Marquisate will not fall today."
The soldiers quickly crossed the central passages of the Silver Wall while the rain extinguished part of the black flames left behind.
Karna stopped as he passed through the center of the Silver Wall.
Slowly turned his body.
His fingers pulled another arrow.
"Hah..."
Water slid down his face.
"Five arrows."
His fingers ran along the shaft.
"That's all that's left."
Ahead—
Electrical discharges still coursed through the ruined ground around Bharvan.
He began to walk.
As if nothing had happened.
The electrical currents still crawled across his body.
Yet he continued advancing through the ruined street.
BOOM.
The ground exploded behind him.
His monstrous speed tore through the earth.
Karna's eyes narrowed.
The arrow pointed toward the sky.
THAK.
The shot pierced through the rain.
A moment later shadows appeared atop the rooftops.
Archers.
Dozens of them.
The bowstrings vibrated together.
THAK. THAK. THAK. THAK.
A rain of arrows fell upon Bharvan.
Dozens of arrows pierced his body.
Buried in his chest.
His shoulders.
His abdomen.
The arrows pinned him in the center of the ruined street while more shots continued to descend without end.
Water and blood slowly ran down the shafts embedded in his body.
Bharvan smiled.
Small.
Almost disappointed.
"I never imagined..."
The rain began to vibrate around him.
The stone beneath his feet slowly cracked.
"...that I would have to go this far again."
The wind changed.
The arrows embedded in his body began to tremble violently.
Then—
CRAAACK.
All of them shattered at once.
The archers on the rooftops froze.
Bharvan moved his right arm.
Just one movement.
SCHLIK.
Bodies split in half.
Blood cut through the rain while corpses plummeted alongside shattered bows.
His skin began to darken slowly.
Black.
Like melted basalt.
Golden and scarlet veins pulsed beneath the flesh like rivers of living magma.
His hair grew violently.
Long.
Wild.
Rising like a living storm while spiritual sparks crossed the rain around him.
The single visible eye became red.
Incandescent.
Like a flame burning within darkness itself.
Then the eyepatch came apart.
And the second eye slowly emerged beneath the pulsing runic markings on his skin.
An ancient symbol turned within the iris.
Something primordial.
Something far too ancient.
His teeth lengthened.
Sharp fangs emerged alongside the monstrous smile that now split his face.
Tribal markings began to spread across his body.
Dark.
Slowly turning like spirals driven by the storm itself.
His clothes tore as his body grew.
Larger.
Broader.
More monstrous.
The rain could no longer touch him.
The wind diverted it beforehand.
Karna's eyes were drawn automatically to the markings spread across Bharvan's right arm.
The runes pulsed with the flesh itself.
Alive.
As if they were breathing.
Then the reading came.
Instant.
As if something inside him recognized those words before his mind understood them.
"Ghatotkacha..."
Bharvan's smile widened.
Not human.
The fangs slowly appeared through the rain running down his transformed face.
His red eyes remained fixed on Karna.
"You can read it."
Bharvan tilted his head slightly.
"That is one of the privileges of those who survived the Abyss."
He took a step.
The stones sank beneath the weight of his transformed body.
"The Visitors see far beyond the names inherited by the dead."
The wind exploded again.
More violent.
Heavier.
The structures around them trembled.
Bharvan observed Karna for a few seconds.
"Show me..."
His red eyes glowed within the storm.
"...what name the Abyss carved into you."
"Ahahah..."
Karna's low laughter escaped through the rain.
Bharvan remained silent.
His red eyes merely watching.
Karna lowered his head slightly.
His fingers pulled another arrow.
"Sorry..."
Water slowly ran down his face.
"It's been a long time since I last felt an intent like yours."
His eyes slowly lifted toward Bharvan.
"I think the last time was during the Hunt."
The bow rose once more.
The arrow pointed directly at him.
"Forgive me, god of death..."
A small smile appeared on Karna's face.
"...not today."
CRACK.
Electrical currents raced through the arrow raised by Karna.
Bharvan smiled.