Chapter 20: The Riftborn Legion
The first beast reached him in a blur of claws and molten eyes, a shriek ripping from its warped throat. Kai slid his foot back, swung upward, and his scythe carved a clean arc through the creature's skull. The impact released a splatter of black vapor that dissolved into the air—but there was no time to watch it fall.
Three more beasts followed.
Their bodies were twisted reflections of Underworld shades—bone plates jutting from shoulders, spines exposed and glowing with unstable spirit-fire. Their presence distorted the ground itself, making cracks widen and pulse like living veins.
Kai moved.
His scythe hummed like a storm given shape. He ducked beneath a swipe, pivoted, and sliced through another creature's throat. The air shivered with each strike.
Lyria leapt into the fray beside him, her twin blades flashing silver-white. Every precise slash emitted a ripple of condensed aura, severing a beast's corrupted tendons. Her movement was sharp and surgical—striking exactly where a creature's spirit core was weakest.
Arlen, meanwhile, had decided that shouting was a form of combat enhancement.
"WHY IS EVERYTHING ON FIRE—AND WHY DO THEY ALL WANT OUR FACES—"
He ducked as a beast lunged, then jammed an explosive talisman into its jaw. The resulting blast hurled the creature into two others, buying him space.
Kai slashed through another wave, but the ground shook violently as new forms crawled out of the Rift's expanding shadow. Not just beasts anymore.
Shapes with humanoid outlines.
Forms that looked disturbingly familiar.
Lyria froze mid-step. "Kai… are those—"
Kai's blood chilled.
They were Reapers.
Or rather—things wearing Reaper forms. Black armor twisted like melted steel, hoods dripping with shadow. Their scythes were jagged and uneven, as if forged from nightmares instead of metal.
The Rift pulsed.
[SYSTEM WARNING: UNKNOWN REAPER-CLASS ENTITIES DETECTED][DESIGNATION: RIFTBORN LEGION][DANGER LEVEL: EXTREME]
Arlen stared, horrified. "Great. Evil versions of you. Because that's exactly what we needed."
One of the Riftborn tilted its hooded head, empty sockets glowing with a deep violet flame.
Then it moved.
Faster than the beasts. Faster than most Reapers Kai had ever known.
Kai barely raised his scythe in time to catch the incoming strike. The impact sent a shockwave through the plateau, cracking the ground beneath both of them. The Riftborn leaned close to him, its face an abyss.
A whisper seeped out.
Impostor…
Kai pushed back, teeth gritted. "I was wondering when the insults would start."
Its second strike came from the side—clean, precise, pitiless. Kai redirected the blow and spun, forcing distance. But another Riftborn stepped in. Then another.
Three of them surrounded him, moving with unnatural synchronization.
Lyria shouted from behind, "Kai!"
"I'm fine!" he called back.
It was a lie.
One Riftborn lunged. Kai parried. The next slashed at his ribs. He twisted, but the blade grazed his armor, slicing a shallow cut across his side. The third came crashing down from above.
Kai slammed his scythe upright and absorbed the impact, boots sinking into the ground.
The Rift's voice echoed again—calmer this time.More certain.
Return…
His vision blurred for a moment, like reality flickered out of focus. The Riftborn moved in that instant, almost anticipating the distraction.
A blade shot toward his chest—
"NO YOU DON'T!"
Arlen's talisman detonated beside the Riftborn, throwing it off course. Lyria blurred past Kai, her aura sharpening like a blade as she parried one Riftborn attack after another.
"You're being pulled into its influence!" she shouted. "Fight it!"
Kai forced clarity back into his mind.
"I'm trying—!"
A Riftborn scythe streaked toward him.
He caught it between his palms, feeling the vibration of spiritual pressure trying to tear through him. His own scythe responded, black light flaring outward.
Kai shoved the creature back and swung hard.
The Riftborn staggered, its chest cracking open like shattered pottery. A surge of black energy erupted from within—but it didn't dissolve.
It reformed.
Regenerated.
"Of course," Arlen muttered. "Why wouldn't they regenerate? That's always what makes these things fun."
Kai narrowed his eyes. Their regeneration wasn't perfect. Something flickered inside them each time—like a soul fragment trying to stabilize. Maybe they weren't invincible.
Maybe they had a limit.
He stepped forward again.
The Rift roared.
And the entire plateau trembled violently.
Chunks of obsidian cracked away and plummeted into the abyss below. Beasts screeched. The Riftborn Legion stopped attacking for a heartbeat—as if receiving new orders.
Lyria saw it too. "They're waiting for something."
"Waiting for what?" Arlen asked.
Kai already knew.
Because the Rift's voice seeped through him again, stronger than before.
Open the way…
A chilling realization crept into his bones.
"It's not trying to reach this world," Kai whispered. "It's trying to pull me into its world."
Arlen blinked. "What?"
Lyria's breath hitched. "Kai—what do you mean?"
The Rift pulsed—once, twice—and a spiraling vortex formed above it, twisting upward like a black tornado.
Kai stared at it, a sinking certainty clawing at his chest.
"It's trying to summon me," he said softly. "Not a piece of me. Not my shadow. Me."
The vortex widened, its pull growing stronger.
Beasts dug their claws into the ground to cling to the plateau. The Riftborn braced themselves, unaffected—as if ready to welcome whatever was coming next.
Kai's hair whipped violently in the wind as a massive surge of spiritual gravity locked onto him.
Lyria grabbed his arm. "Kai—don't you dare—!"
Arlen tackled his waist from the other side. "We are NOT letting you get sucked into another dimension!"
Kai tried to anchor his scythe into the ground—but the pull intensified.
His boots began sliding across the cracked stone.
The Rift's voice turned into a command.
A S C E N D.
Kai's body jolted toward the vortex.
The pull became unbearable.
Lyria held tighter, her feet skidding. "Kai—fight it!"
Arlen's grip trembled. "Bro, if you go in there, we're all screwed!"
Kai felt his feet lift off the ground.
The vortex spiraled wider, tearing the air apart around them.
Kai shouted, voice ripping through the roar:
"I'M—NOT—YOURS!"
His scythe flashed with violent black light.
But the Rift pulled harder.
The world stretched.
His vision darkened.
And with one final wrench—
Kai was ripped free of their grasp.
Dragged straight toward the vortex.
And the world behind him vanished.