The imperial flagship sliced through the smoke-choked sky, engines thrumming with barely contained power.
Kairos stood at the forward railing, blindfold secure once more, letting psychic sense map the burning capital below.
Districts were aflame, defense arrays flickered, and smaller rifts vomited lesser beasts into crowded streets.
Elara leaned beside him, arms folded, low flames dancing across her knuckles to stave off the chill. Her blistered skin was already knitting itself together under Veyne regeneration, but fatigue shadowed her crimson eyes.
Neither spoke. For now, the rivalry felt small against the war unfolding beneath them.
Cassian Thorne stood ahead, blond hair glinting as faint lightning arcs played across the deck. His storm-gray gaze fixed on the massive rift cluster boiling above the palace district, a swirling vortex of violet-black corruption wide enough to swallow entire city blocks.
"Status," he ordered.
A royal guard captain saluted. "Your Highness, palace shields are holding at seventy percent. Multiple mid-tier reborn entities have emerged. Demon knights and void serpents. Ground forces are engaged, but we're losing districts. Voss and Veyne household troops are converging."
Cassian nodded. "Signal them to focus on the palace. We end this cluster before it births something worse than that dragon."
He turned to Kairos and Elara.
"You two wounded a primordial beast. The palace rift is spawning commanders, intelligent ones. I need you on the front line."
Elara pushed away from the railing. "Point me at them."
Kairos flexed his fingers, feeling the lingering ache from the earlier overload. "Same."
Cassian allowed a brief, approving smile. "Good."
The flagship descended toward the palace spires. From above, the scale became terrifyingly clear.
The central courtyard had turned into a battlefield. Imperial lightning guards clashed with packs of reborn demon knights while void serpents coiled through the air, spitting acid that ate through shields.
At the heart of the rift hovered a black-crystal fortress, pulsing with malevolent mana. Fresh enemies poured from its gates.
Cassian's voice cut through the wind. "That fortress anchors the cluster. Destroy it, and the smaller rifts collapse."
The ship shuddered as corrupted beams lanced upward from the fortress.
Cassian raised one hand.
Lightning exploded outward in a blinding web, intercepting every beam. The sky flashed white.
He did not flinch.
Kairos sensed the raw, controlled power, precise and overwhelming.
Elara glanced at the prince, then at Kairos.
The ramp lowered above the palace walls.
"Jump," Cassian commanded.
They did.
Elara ignited propulsion flames and dove like a comet.
Kairos followed, psychic pressure cushioning his fall.
They landed amid imperial guards in the central courtyard.
A squad of demon knights turned instantly, eyes glowing purple, swords raised.
Elara swept forward with a burning wave, forcing them back.
Kairos locked three in Absolute Stasis, then crushed their armor with Mind Collapse.
The guards rallied with brief cheers before returning to their fights.
Cassian landed between them, lightning crackling around his form.
"Forward," he said. "To the fortress."
They advanced as a unit, prince in the center, duke heirs on the flanks.
Demon knights charged in disciplined formation.
Cassian raised both hands.
Storm clouds formed instantly overhead, lightning chaining between them.
He brought his hands down.
Bolts rained in perfect precision, vaporizing the front line.
Elara laid down a flame wall to block flankers.
Kairos halted a diving serpent, then slammed it into the ground with collapse force.
They carved a bloody path.
The fortress loomed closer. Its gates opened wider, releasing a towering figure in ornate black armor, wielding a greatsword of pure void.
Its voice echoed in their minds.
"Imperials, and marked ones. You will fall here."
Cassian's eyes narrowed. "Reborn warlord, high mid-tier. It commands the fortress."
Elara cracked her neck. "Then let's take its head."
Cassian stepped forward. "I'll pin it. You two destroy the core. I sense it inside the central spire."
Elara nodded.
Kairos did the same.
The prince charged.
Lightning exploded into a full storm aura. He met the warlord head-on, electricity blade clashing against void sword in explosions that shook the courtyard.
Elara and Kairos broke toward the gates.
Lesser demons swarmed.
Elara burned a path.
Kairos halted and crushed.
They fought in rhythm, her flames clearing space, his psyche ending threats instantly.
At the gates, a thick barrier of corrupted mana blocked them.
Elara slammed a flame spear into it.
It held.
Kairos focused.
Silver-white psychic energy condensed in his right hand, forming a visible lance of pure mental force, sharp, silent, deadly.
Psy Oblivion.
He thrust forward.
The lance pierced the barrier clean through, erasing a perfect circle of corrupted mana on contact. The rest of the shield shattered like glass.
Elara's eyes flicked to him, surprised. "New trick?"
"Had to save something for later," he replied.
They entered the fortress interior, dark halls pulsing with rift energy.
At the center stood the core, a massive black crystal orb, veins of violet mana feeding the entire structure.
Elite reborn knights guarded it.
Elara's flames roared higher.
Kairos's psychic pressure built.
They cleared the chamber in brutal efficiency.
Only the core remained.
Elara formed another Crimson Verdict spear.
Kairos gathered condensed psychic energy into a second Psy Oblivion lance.
Together, they struck.
The core exploded in a violent chain reaction.
The fortress shuddered violently.
Outside, Cassian drove his lightning blade through the warlord's chest just as the anchoring energy failed.
The creature dissolved into corruption.
The floating structure cracked, then plummeted, crashing into the courtyard in a cataclysmic explosion of debris.
Rifts across the capital began closing one by one.
The cluster collapsed.
Silence fell, broken only by distant cheers from surviving forces.
Cassian sheathed his lightning, breathing steady.
Elara lowered her arms, flames dimming.
Kairos flexed his hand, feeling the lingering strain of Psy Oblivion.
The prince approached through the settling dust.
"The capital is secure, for now."
He looked between them.
"You two work well together."
Elara crossed her arms. "Don't get used to it."
Kairos smirked. "Temporary alliance."
Cassian's smile was faint but genuine. "Temporary or not, the empire needs it. More clusters are forming worldwide. The Emperor summons all Great Family heads, and you two, to the war council at dawn."
He paused, gaze sharpening.
"The prophecy mentioned one marked soul. Yet here we are with two, and perhaps questions neither of you have considered."
Elara and Kairos exchanged a glance.
The rivalry remained.
But for the first time, it felt like something larger was pulling them together.
Above, the sky still bore scars.
And deeper rifts were already stirring.