The battlefield was nothing but a burning chaos, a devastated landscape where the air itself felt saturated with smoke, dust, and ash slowly falling like a dark, suffocating snowfall.
Cries echoed from every direction—some short and abruptly cut off by panic, others stretching until they dissolved into the overwhelming noise—while broken weapons littered the cracked ground and bodies frozen in impossible positions bore witness to a level of violence that had long surpassed any sense of human order.
At the center of this living hell stood the basilisk.
Immense.
Ancient.
And above all, relentless.
Every movement it made sent deep vibrations through the earth, as if the ground itself was unsure whether to hold together or finally collapse, while its tail swept across the battlefield with an almost insulting ease, sending soldiers, shields, and debris flying as though they had never carried any weight at all.
This was no longer a battle.
It was the gradual disappearance of hope itself.
---
Yet the soldiers still tried to hold on.
— FORMATION! HOLD THE LINE!!
Voices answered through the chaos, strained and uneven, but the men still managed to regroup despite the obvious terror stiffening their movements. They raised their shields together, forming a fragile wall against a creature that had nothing comparable in human terms.
— Archers! Prepare fire!
A volley of arrows rose into the sky, forming a dense arc that almost looked graceful in its trajectory before descending upon the creature with desperate precision.
CLANG.
CLANG.
CLANG.
Metal struck scales without ever penetrating them, bouncing off or shattering on impact, as if these attacks were nothing more than symbolic gestures against a defense far too ancient and far too strong.
— It's not working! a voice shouted somewhere in the line.
— Keep firing! the captain immediately ordered, though even his voice betrayed a tension he could no longer fully hide.
The basilisk slowly turned its head, with a deliberate slowness, as if observing not enemies, but mistakes already doomed to fail.
Its eyes scanned the battlefield.
And one soldier, unable to look away in time, realized too late that he had made a fatal mistake.
A single moment of eye contact was enough.
Then his body stiffened violently.
His skin hardened, his expression froze in silent terror, and within seconds he became a perfectly intact stone statue, still standing but completely dead inside.
— DON'T LOOK INTO ITS EYES!!
But the warning came too late for several others.
Two soldiers, then a third, suffered the same fate within seconds, and the formation collapsed into uncontrolled panic.
---
— Mages! Move in!
Three figures stepped forward, their hands already glowing with unstable energy, concentrating power that seemed difficult to control in such a chaotic environment.
— Now! coordinated attack!
A burst of flames was unleashed, dense and violent, crossing the distance before striking the basilisk's flank in a deafening explosion that shook the air itself.
BOOM.
This time, the creature reacted.
A deep rumble rose from its throat as its muscles tensed under the impact—not in visible pain, but in primal irritation.
Then its tail struck.
The movement was so fast that some did not even see the full trajectory.
— INCOMING!!
The impact wiped out a large section of the defensive line, sending soldiers flying in every direction, breaking formations, shields, and morale in a single blow.
The ground itself cracked under the force.
---
Yet some still advanced.
— FOR THE CITY!!
Entire groups charged, blades raised, in a final reflex that was difficult to distinguish between courage and desperation.
They struck the basilisk's legs repeatedly, coordinating their attacks with near-desperate precision.
CLANG.
CLANG.
But their weapons slid off without penetrating a single layer of defense.
The basilisk lowered one leg.
Then crushed.
A soldier vanished completely under the pressure, leaving no trace behind.
---
Aeryn stood still.
Not watching the chaos.
Not watching the dead.
But focusing on a single fact that had settled into her mind with silent brutality.
Ryuji… dead.
Around her, the battlefield continued collapsing without waiting for her reaction.
A soldier tried to flee, tripped over rubble, and was swept away by the monster's tail before he could even rise.
Another crawled through the dust, calling for help in a voice already fading.
But no one could answer.
No one had the time.
Aeryn closed her eyes.
One second.
Then another.
When she opened them again, there was nothing left of hesitation—only absolute coldness.
— Contact remaining units.
— You follow me.
Her voice cut through the battlefield with unnatural clarity.
— We end this here and now.
— Yes, commander!
The black-clad leader stepped closer.
— The boy… he absorbed the artifact.
Aeryn stayed silent for a moment.
— Then the mission is a failure.
A pause.
Then she added while looking at the basilisk:
— But that changes the situation.
— How?
— It becomes the main target.
Without waiting, she moved.
Chains appeared in her hands—dark, heavy, as if they absorbed surrounding light instead of reflecting it.
— Fall back! a soldier shouted.
But she had already passed the lines.
— NOW! coordinated strike!
Another assault hit the basilisk's legs, but it responded immediately with a shockwave that threw the attackers back.
Aeryn reached the creature.
She stopped.
Time seemed to tighten around that moment.
— Binding magic.
The chains exploded outward, extending in every direction like living metal serpents, bypassing allies and obstacles as if guided by instinct.
One.
Two.
Ten chains.
They wrapped around the basilisk's massive body, covering it almost entirely.
The monster roared.
A sound so deep it made the air itself tremble.
It pulled.
The chains resisted.
But they began to strain under its overwhelming force.
— Hold… it…
Aeryn's body trembled slightly, her arms pushed to their limits.
Soldiers tried to exploit the opening.
— Aim for the eyes!
A spear was thrown.
It hit.
But had no effect.
The basilisk turned its head slightly.
And the soldier turned to stone.
The rest immediately retreated.
— It's impossible…
Then the basilisk slowed.
Its movements became heavier.
Then still.
Silence.
Then cheering erupted.
— YEAH!!
Crying, relief, collapse.
Aeryn approached.
— You weren't that difficult.
Even she knew it wasn't true.
Then the air changed.
Hot.
Heavy.
Wrong.
The basilisk opened its eyes.
Too late.
CLACK.
Silence.
Then he was there.
In the sky.
A broken man.
But alive.
In his arms, Aeryn.
— Ryuji…?
— RYUJI!!!