When the furious crimson glow finally dimmed, the throne hall was no longer the same room Nephis had entered. Runes that had not been there moments before now crawled across the marble floor and up the pillars, glowing a deep, malignant red. The light pulsed faintly.
Nephis shuddered at the sight of the runes. She belatedly realized she had walked into a trap. She was no master in sorcery or runes, yet she understood what these meant. They were runes of binding, runes of caging, and something else she could not understand but knew were far worse. Her essence started draining at a terrifying rate.
"Do you see?" Anvil asked softly, almost tenderly, though his voice curled with something poisonous. "I have been preparing ever since I got those memories."
Nephis's eyes narrowed. That confirmed it. Anvil had memories of the previous timeline. She did not know why he had retained them...but his behavior, the shifts in Valor, the strange actions of their elders… everything made sense now.
'So that was where the forgemasters had gone', Nephis thought.Valor's forgemasters were adept in the sorcery of runes.Their disappearance had been suspicious.Now she understood they had been preparing this trap,preparing it for her.
Nephis forced herself to calm down. Yes, she was trapped, but Anvil would not kill her. That much she was sure of, especially after seeing these runes and knowing his obsession with creating a perfect sword.
She steadied her breath, letting her eyes trace the glowing patterns on the floor as Anvil took another slow step forward."Good," he murmured. "You understand."
Finally, he halted a few steps before Nephis.
"I had always known your intentions, Nephis. The moment you joined Valor, you made them clear."
His voice was calm."I knew you wanted to kill me. But I left you alive. At first it was simple curiosity…"
His crimson eyes gleamed with a growing madness.
"Then I understood. You were almost perfect."
He took a slow breath, savoring the words.
"A few impurities needed to be removed, and after your third nightmare you became perfect. Cold and flawless, like a perfect blade ."
His smile twisted."But then…"
His voice shifted, dripping with malice.
"That fiend came into your life. And the blade's edge started growing softer."
Nephis felt her jaw tighten. Her essence was draining faster now, the runes pulsing beneath her feet , she did not look away, but her eyes contained barely restrained fury.
Anvil continued, voice sinking into something darker."You were meant to be unbreakable. Untouched. A sword without weakness."
He leaned closer, eyes narrowing with hatred.
"But he made you hesitate. He made you feel."
His tone sharpened.
"And when I saw you achieving supremacy, I knew it. I had finally reached my dream. But even then, I could not remove that flaw from you." His voice lowered. "In that life he killed me. That does not make him vile. What makes him vile… is that he taints my creation."
The air grew colder."But this time," Anvil whispered, "it will be different."
As he spoke, scarlet sparks flickered into existence around his hand. They gathered, tightening, twisting, condensing into the shape of a long sword.
Nephis stood perfectly still, eyes narrowed, watching every movement.
The sword finished forming with a sharp hiss as its edge ignited in a thin line of scarlet glow.Anvil lifted it with deliberate grace.
"This time," he said, voice calm and certain, "I will carve out every weakness."
Nephis summoned the blessing. The radiant sword formed instantly in her hand, its blade igniting with pure white fire. The heat warped the air around her, a blazing contrast to the crimson glow of his domain.
Anvil looked at the white blade with open disdain.
"Are you really planning to fight me, Nephis?" he mocked. "How foolish. You are inside my domain, unlike last time."
Nephis knew he was right. Inside the Bastion, within the heart of Valor's domain, she had no chance. She couldn't blast her cores either,not here. Doing so would annihilate the Bastion and the millions living within it. She was bound by her own principles, caught in an elaborate trap.
Shadows suddenly wrapped around her. Cold, silent and familiar,seven of them.Her strength surged violently, her body reinforced sevenfold. Her physical power climbed to the level of a Supreme, if only barely. It was not enough to win but it was enough to stand.
She felt a faint, quiet warmth in her chest.
Even when he was not here… Sunny still gave her strength.
But her fleeting smile died the moment she saw Anvil's expression shift. His crimson eyes widened, then glistened with a feverish light. He burst into unhinged laughter making the Hall shudder
"How laughable," he snarled, wiping a tear from his eye. "I knew there would be one of him with you… but all seven? All seven shadows?" His grin twisted. "Perfect. That makes everything so much easier."
He raised his blade, crimson runes reflecting in his eyes."I can stop the search. There is no need to find him now."
His voice dropped to a whisper, venomous and eager.
"It seems even the dead gods want him dead."
Nephis tightened her grip on the blazing sword. Her mind raced,this was bad,very bad.
Anvil should not have been able to sense Sunny's shadows. That was supposed to be impossible. Yet he had done it with ease. They had made a foolish mistake.A grave mistake.
There was only one choice left,fight.
She raised the blessing, white flame flaring violently, and slashed. The blade hummed as she invoked the True Name of Destruction, sending an incandescent arc of blinding flame roaring across the throne hall straight toward the Anvil of Valor.
"You talk too much, Your Majesty," she said coldly.
Anvil did not even bother defending. He simply lifted his sword and cut the flame in half with a lazy motion.
But Nephis had never intended to hit him.
The arc struck the ground instead and detonated with a thunderous blast, flooding the hall with searing white light. The explosion shook the Bastion itself, forcing Anvil to narrow his eyes against the glare.
When the light faded, the throne hall returned to view.And it was untouched,the floor was pristine.
The walls were flawless,not a single rune had been damaged.
Anvil smiled, calm and mocking.
"There is no point in trying to destroy them, Nephis. These runes are channeled by my will. And inside my domain…" His eyes glowed like molten iron. "My will is absolute."
Nephis said nothing,she only raised her sword again.The floor shuddered as Anvil advanced, each step heavy with crushing power. Runes ignited beneath his feet, spreading like crimson cracks across the marble.
The first clash came like a thunderbolt.
Nephis's sword of white flame struck his crimson blade, the force of impact forcing the entire hall to tremble. The shock sent a jolt through her arms, but she held her ground.
Anvil smiled wider.Her blade met his again.
And again,sparks and flame filled the air with every strike.
Nephis moved with speed enhanced by seven shadows, her body pushing beyond its limits. Every slash was precise. Every step perfect. Her footwork carved patterns of flame across the hall.
But Anvil did not retreat. He simply advanced, each swing of his blade heavier than the last. His strikes carried the absolute weight of his will, making her flawless swordsmanship feel fragile, brittle… flawed.
Nephis braced herself and invoked the True Name of Force. Her next parry met his blow head-on—only for the sheer momentum to hurl her across the hall like a broken doll. She slammed into the stone, boots scraping hard as she dug her heels in, stopping herself just before shattering a pillar. Her arm hung twisted for a moment before her white flames surged, mending bone and muscle with a hiss of heat.
Anvil lowered his blade slightly.
"It is useless," he said almost tenderly. "You cannot win."
Nephis wiped the blood from her lip, her eyes sharp and unshaken. She lifted her sword again and released a blazing vertical slash. Anvil's eyes gleamed as he sidestepped, the blade of fire tore past him, erupting in an incandescent blast.
This time however the runes did not remain untouched.
Several sigils flickered. A few shattered outright, sparks of red scattering across the floor.
Anvil paused, one brow raised in mild curiosity.
"So," he murmured, "you learned some new tricks."
Nephis held her ground despite the tremor in her arms. She had invoked the True Name of Severance ,one of the most dangerous names she had mastered in the far future. A name that could cut connections, unravel bindings, sever laws themselves.
Using it here had torn through the runes. It had cost her greatly; she could feel her essence draining at a frightening pace.
Anvil's smile sharpened, making her stomach churn.
Before her dismayed gaze, the damaged runes glowed… trembled… and began to knit themselves back together. One by one, they repaired under the pull of his domain, reforming as though her strike had never touched them at all.
Nephis's heart sank, though her expression did not.
Inside his domain, Anvil's will was absolute.
And he knew it, Nephis knew it too.
He was not taking her seriously. Neither of them was using their full strength, but the difference between them was vast. Nephis understood, with a cold clarity, that even if she unleashed everything she had, she still stood no chance.
She lunged forward again. Her next strike did not falter. Her movements became sharper, faster, her blade burning with an intensity that made the air tremble. Anvil's casual posture shifted. He raised his sword properly this time, meeting her blow with real force.
Nephis invoked a True Name.
The True Name of Resolve.
A name that fortified her will and steadied her spirit. For a moment, her strikes carried a frightening weight, each swing landing with the force of a falling star.
Steel clashed in rapid succession, the air exploding with heat and sparks as the two traded blows. Then Anvil struck. His blade came down with a force that could have cut a mountain in half. The impact sent a shockwave tearing through the hall, and the Blessing in her hand cracked under the pressure.
Nephis gritted her teeth and released her transcendent form.
Light burst from her skin.
The hall blazed with heat so intense it felt as if a miniature sun had ignited inside it. The pillars glowed. The marble darkened. The air rippled violently.
Anvil only looked at her with cold amusement.
"It is time we end this, my daughter."
As his voice faded, a whisper of metal rose behind him.
With a single motion of his hand, a myriad of swords emerged from behind the throne, rising like a tidal wave of steel. They filled the hall, gleaming like a storm of razors.
The radiant spirit of light that Nephis had become stared at the descending mass without fear.
Then the storm fell.
She split herself into a thousand shards of pure light, scattering like sunfire across the hall. But the swords pursued relentlessly. One by one, each shard was sliced apart. Each fragment cut, torn, and crushed.
The hall shook when the last of her light was shredded.A broken figure was hurled out of the chaos.Nephis slammed into the stone, blood spilling down her face as her flames struggled desperately to mend her broken body.
The storm of swords split into two distinct streams.
One stream surged forward and pinned her to the wall.Blade after blade drove through her arms, her shoulders, her legs. Metal pierced flesh and stone, crucifying her in place.
The other stream spun and twisted into a circle of glowing runes, weaving themselves together with dreadful precision. Nephis gasped as she felt the last drop of her essence drain away.
Her spirit was sealed.
The seven shadows were forced out of her body, tumbling weakly across the floor, writhing in panic. The Blessing clattered beside them.
Anvil approached it calmly.
He picked the weapon up, turning it slowly in his hand. His face held disdain… and a flicker of something like longing.
Then he crushed it.
The blade shattered like brittle glass.
Nephis wailed,her scream tore through the hall, a sound of pain so deep it shook the very stone. A piece of her soul was mutilated… permanently. The world around her seemed to shudder in agony, as though reality itself felt her suffering.
Anvil merely watched her, his eyes cold and pitiless.Then he turned,his dreadful crimson gaze slid toward the seven shadows scattered across the floor. They writhed and slid frantically, trying to reach Nephis, clawing at the stone, their forms trembling with panic. Their desperation was almost alive.
Anvil's expression darkened into something murderous."Now," he said softly, "it is time we end this… heir of death."
The seven shadows froze at the title,their black forms quivered.Their heads slowly turned toward him, empty eyes staring.
But the Lord of Shadows himself was nowhere to be seen,the moment Anvil spoke the title, the shadows convulsed violently.Their forms rippled, stretched, and then snapped outward like dark tendrils .
Seven figures rose from the scattered shadows, each one had the same face yet they wore different expressions and reflected different fragments of the same soul. They stood between Nephis and Anvil, forming a broken shield around her.
Anvil watched them with a faint curl of disgust on his lips.The seven Sunnys did not speak. Their eyes were sharp, black, and burning with the same malice.
They attacked at the same time.
Seven dark figures lunged across the hall in perfect, lethal harmony. The runes flared violently in response. Anvil simply swept his sword through the air, and the world moved with him.
The impact sounded like stone shattering.
All seven bodies were flung back at once, crashing into pillars and sliding across the marble floor. One staggered up with blood dripping from its mouth. Others crawled to their feet, still glaring at Anvil with the same feral hatred.
Anvil tilted his head slightly.
"You are not him," he said.
One of the shadows snarled silently, eyes burning.
Anvil smiled without warmth.
"No matter. I will kill you all the same."
He stepped forward.
What followed was not a fight,It was execution.
Anvil struck them again and again, each blow a precise dismantling. One Sunny was cut from shoulder to hip, collapsing before reforming. Another had its throat opened. Another lost an arm. Each time, they dissolved and reformed into half-clinging bodies of darkness, weaker than before.
Nephis pulled helplessly against the swords pinning her. Her voice broke as she shouted.
"Stop! Leave them!"
Anvil ignored her completely.
He swept his blade again. The last of the copies was cleaved in half mid-charge, dissolving back into a single mass of trembling black shadow sprawled on the floor. It shuddered violently, trying to pull itself together.
Nephis screamed, voice cracking with pure agony.
"Stop! Please, stop!"
Anvil did not even look at her.
He walked toward the writhing shadow, step by step, expression calm and absolute. He raised his sword overhead, crimson light gathering along its edge like thick blood.
"This ends now."
Nephis thrashed against the blades pinning her, her voice breaking into a raw cry.
"No!!"
Anvil brought the sword down and plunged it deep into the mass of darkness.The shadow convulsed once.
****
In the lightless expanse of the calm sea, the still waters stretched endlessly in every direction. Countless shadowy figures stood upon the black surface, tall and silent, their gazes eerie and lifeless. Above them hung seven dark suns, burning faintly in the eternal night.
At the very center stood a magnificent black temple, its obsidian pillars reaching toward the void. Inside, on a stone altar, a pale man with long black hair lay sprawled, his chest rising and falling faintly. His face was serene.
Until it wasn't.
A soundless scream tore from his throat as his body convulsed violently. His back arched. His fingers clawed at the altar. Then he fell from it, collapsing onto the cold floor as agony ripped through his being.
Outside, one of the seven dark suns shattered.
It broke apart like brittle glass and dissolved into the void. The soul sea reacted instantly. The endless ocean trembled, rising into massive waves that swallowed even the titanic shadows standing guard over it. Ripples of destruction spread across the entire sea.
Then another sun shattered. And another.
One by one, the dark suns were destroyed, collapsing into nothingness until only a single dying sun remained, flickering weakly in the void.
****
Anvil raised his sword high, ready to end the last remaining shadow. Nephis could do nothing but watch. Tears streamed down her bloodstained face, falling freely as she struggled helplessly against the swords pinning her limbs to the wall.
She could only watch the one she loved be cut down by the ghoul she despised most.
Before the final strike could fall, Anvil suddenly flinched. His eyes narrowed. A trickle of blood ran down his nose. The killing intent radiating from the shadow was immense, colder and more ancient than anything he had ever felt.
But he brought the blade down anyway.
Inside the soul sea.
The last thing Sunny saw through the shadow was Nephis's crying form, pinned to the wall, covered in blood, reaching toward him with a desperate expression he had never seen on her face.
Then the final sun too shattered as darkness swallowed everything.
****
Authors note: Since my exams are over, I'll be free for a couple of days.
Anyway feedback is appreciated.