The wind howled through the Northern Highlands, carrying with it the metallic scent of danger. The seventh fragment pulsed steadily beneath Sera's hand—warm, bright, and alive—like something awakening. Too alive.
A chilling silence settled across the ruins.
Sera's golden eyes scanned the jagged cliffs. "He's close. I can feel him."
Theron's silver-golden threads shimmered around the fragment, weaving protective spirals. "Kieran is no longer approaching as a commander…" His voice lowered. "He's coming as a weapon."
At that moment, the mountains exhaled—then ruptured.
Crimson energy exploded across the cliffs, ripping through stone and sky. The ground trembled violently as cracks split the earth in jagged lines. Energy surged upward in a spiraling vortex, and Kieran rose within it, levitating as if fused with the storm.
His aura wasn't just crimson anymore. It was blackened—scarlet streaks laced with deep void-like shadows. A dangerous evolution.
The wolf inside Sera recoiled instinctively.
This is not a form he should be able to wield.
Theron's eyes darkened. "He's activated the proto-Core."
---
The Proto-Core Awakens
Kieran hovered above them, every fiber of his being pulsing with unstable energy.
"You pushed me to this," he snarled. "You rejected me. You destroyed my hybrids. You crushed every chance I had to reshape this world." His gaze locked on Sera, consuming and ravaged. "So now I'll take everything. Even if it means burning the world with me."
Sera's golden aura flared, wolf standing tall inside her. "This isn't love, Kieran. It's obsession. And it ends today."
Kieran extended both hands. The sky split open.
---
A Storm of Cataclysm
Crimson-black pillars rained down like spears. The ground erupted in violent explosions as hybrid constructs reformed from shards of raw energy—more fluid, more chaotic, more deadly.
These weren't soldiers.
They were manifestations of the proto-Core itself.
Theron reacted instantly, threads shooting upward to intercept the first wave. "Sera! Stabilize the fragment! If he merges with it—"
"I know!"
Sera spread her hands over the glowing fragment. Golden energy spiraled through her arms, flowing into the crystal and weaving across its veins.
The fragment pulsed violently, reacting to Kieran's proximity, trying to connect.
Kieran roared. "The Core recognizes me! It's calling for me! Accepting me!"
"No!" Sera shouted. "It's reaching for power—not for you!"
Energy crackled like lightning between Kieran and the fragment, forming a dangerous resonance.
Theron's threads snapped into formation, severing the connection with precise force. The resonance broke—and Kieran screamed in rage.
---
The Hybrid Legion
A surge of crimson-black fog washed over the battlefield. From it, hybrid shapes rose—twisted wolves with dual elemental cores, metallic-armored constructs with psychic blades, energy serpents coiling through the air.
A dozen.
Then twenty.
Then more.
An army.
Theron swore under his breath. "He's pulling every hybrid he ever created—every failure, every prototype—into this battlefield."
Sera stepped forward, golden aura blazing. "Then we destroy all of them. Together."
Wolf howled inside her as she leaped into the fray.
---
Sera vs. The Legion
The first hybrid lunged—an obsidian wolf with molten veins cracking through its body.
Sera dodged, golden energy spiraling through her hands as she struck its core. It shattered with a burst of molten sparks.
Three more followed, leaping from different directions.
Sera ducked under one, vaulted over another, and snapped the third's neck with a golden-enhanced strike.
But every time a hybrid fell, another emerged from the crimson fog.
Wolf guided every step, every slash, every strike.
Theron fought alongside her, threads slicing through constructs and shielding her from psychic spikes launched across the ruins. "They're not stopping! Kieran is feeding them directly from the proto-Core!"
A massive serpent coiled around the fragment's pedestal, jaws wide, crackling with electric energy.
Sera reacted instantly. "Theron—left!"
"I see it."
Together they struck—the serpent exploded in a burst of crackling shards.
But Kieran had only begun.
---
Kieran Descends
He dropped from the sky like a meteor, landing so hard the ground shattered beneath him.
Sera skidded back from the force. Theron braced himself with a wall of threads.
Kieran stood between them and the fragment, aura swirling in a tempest of crimson and black.
"You should have accepted me," he growled. "You should have stood by my side."
Sera stepped forward, golden energy illuminating her entire body. "I was never yours to claim."
His eyes snapped with rage. "Then I'll break you."
He lunged.
---
Sera vs. Kieran — The Clash of Wills
Their collision sent shockwaves across the ruins.
Sera blocked the first strike—barely. Kieran's enhanced form multiplied his strength. Every blow carried the weight of the proto-Core.
He moved faster than before—more erratic, more violent.
A fist clipped Sera's shoulder, sending pain shooting down her arm.
Theron intervened, threads slicing toward Kieran's exposed flank.
Kieran caught them midair.
The threads trembled, straining.
Kieran smirked. "Silver-gold threads… you rely too much on them."
He crushed them.
Theron's breath hitched—and Kieran hurled the shattered fragments at him like shrapnel.
Sera leaped in front of Theron, golden aura flaring, blocking the attack. "I won't let you hurt him!"
Kieran roared, voice cracking with fury. "HE DOES NOT DESERVE YOU!"
He grabbed Sera by the throat, lifting her off the ground.
Her aura sparked, cracking under the pressure.
Theron gasped. "Sera!"
Wolf snarled inside her, urging strength.
Sera forced her hand upward—golden energy detonated point-blank.
Kieran staggered back, face burning with unstable rage.
"You will be mine," he growled. "Even if I must rebuild you from ashes."
---
The Fragment Reacts
Suddenly the seventh fragment pulsed violently, veins expanding, glowing brighter than ever.
Theron's eyes widened. "The proto-Core's presence is destabilizing it! If it cracks—"
Sera swore under her breath. "We cannot let it break!"
Kieran grinned darkly. "Break? No… fuse."
He thrust his hand toward the fragment.
Crimson-black roots of energy shot toward it.
Theron leaped forward, threads forming a barrier—
Kieran's energy pierced through.
The fragment shrieked with power, cracks forming across its surface.
Sera felt the wolf inside her scream.
"NO!"
She burst forward in a flash of gold, slamming into Kieran before the fusion could complete.
He hit the ground with a thunderous impact.
The fragment stabilized—but only just.
---
Kieran Unleashes the Unthinkable
Kieran rose slowly, breathing heavily, aura flickering violently.
"You leave me no choice," he muttered, voice trembling with madness. "If I cannot claim the fragment… I will destroy everything around it."
He placed both palms on the ground.
Crimson-black runes erupted outward in a massive circle.
Theron's face went white. "Sera—MOVE!"
The ground exploded.
A colossal wave of hybrid energy—raw, unstable, catastrophic—tore across the landscape, obliterating everything in its path.
Sera grabbed Theron and leaped behind the pedestal of the fragment, shielding both of them with her golden aura.
The blast consumed the ruins in a seismic roar.
Stone disintegrated. Mountains buckled. The sky turned red.
It felt like the world ending.
---
The Aftermath
Silence fell.
Dust drifted through the air like ash from a dying fire.
Half the mountainside was gone, replaced by a massive crater.
The ruins had been leveled entirely.
Sera coughed, pushing herself up.
Theron staggered, wiping blood from his lip. "Are you—"
"I'm fine," she whispered.
Her wolf wasn't.
It was trembling.
For the first time since the battle began.
Sera turned her gaze toward the far end of the crater.
There, standing in a swirling storm of crimson-black aura—
Kieran was still alive.
But barely.
His form flickered. His skin cracked like molten glass. The proto-Core energy was tearing him apart. And yet…
He smiled.
"Next time…" he whispered, voice a rasp of broken power,
"there will be no holding back."
He vanished into a vortex of crimson-black light.
---
The Calm After the Fury
Sera collapsed beside the fragment, exhausted.
Theron kneeled beside her. "He's losing control. The proto-Core is consuming him."
Sera's golden eyes narrowed with determination, despite the trembling in her limbs.
"Then the final battle is coming."
Wolf growled low beneath her skin, echoing her resolve.
"And this time," she whispered,
"he won't escape."