The sun had vanished completely, swallowed by thick clouds of corruption spreading like a disease across the skies. Yet the town of Varella burned with light, not from the sun—but from the people within.
Everyone moved like the gears of a single living machine—priests chanting, mages casting, shadows shifting in unison. Olivia's barriers shimmered like domes of light across sanctified zones, while the streets hummed with tension. Varella wasn't just a town anymore.
It was a battlefield.
Scarlett's shadows crept and twisted through alleyways, crawling across rooftops, securing the perimeter. Her red eyes gleamed under her cloak, ever-watchful.
Layla crouched on a crumbling rooftop, the wind brushing against her black hair. Her scythe pulsed with hunger, and the corruption beneath her feet writhed in protest as she drew it into herself—devouring it, tasting it, becoming one with it. Her body was changing, growing stronger. Her aura twisted between light and darkness—unstable, chaotic, powerful.
And yet, she smiled.
In the east, it began.
A guttural roar echoed through the town like a tremor from hell. Then, they came—beasts made of sinew and shadow, their twisted bodies dragging across the earth, teeth gnashing, claws scraping at the barriers.
"Olivia! Incoming!" a priest shouted.
The Saintess stood at the breach, her staff glowing in her hands. Beside her, Lyra had already summoned a wall of jagged ice, spikes jutting out like fangs.
"They're faster than before," Lyra muttered, frost curling from her lips.
"They're desperate," Olivia said calmly. "We hold them here. We must."
The first wave slammed into the barrier, and light exploded outward. Dozens of monsters scattered or burned instantly, but hundreds more surged forward.
Lyra raised her hands, ice forming in swirling rings around her. With a sharp gesture, she sent dozens of frozen spears flying into the horde, piercing through their limbs. The ground froze beneath their feet, slowing their approach.
Scarlett's shadows surged inward. Half of her army had been withdrawn to the eastern wall. They slammed into the shadows, tearing through the corruption-born creatures with brutal efficiency. For every monster that fell, Scarlett absorbed its corpse—its dark essence reborn as one of her own.
"More," she whispered coldly. "Feed me more…"
Light mages stood on rooftops, raining purifying spells over the battlefield. Some cast protective domes around fleeing civilians. Others imbued Scarlett's summoned beasts with holy enchantments, fusing the sacred with the profane.
Olivia was everywhere at once—shielding a wounded boy from a charging beast, blasting another with a radiant beam, and catching a collapsing priest with a wave of healing light. Blood streaked across her robes, but her eyes remained pure.
"Saintess, fall back! You're injured!"
"No," Olivia said, breathing heavily. "If I fall, they lose hope."
She lifted her staff again, and a circle of golden light exploded outward, vaporizing three more corrupted monsters.
Behind the frontline, Layla continued her work. The corruption around her was thinning, her body glowing faintly now, her aura shifting in strange patterns.
One of Noah's clones appeared behind her, eyes scanning the surroundings.
"You good?" the clone asked.
Layla turned her head slightly, licking her lips. "Mmm~ Better than good. Just try not to get in my way, okay?"
Elsewhere, the real Noah stood on a hill in the northern sector, eyes narrowed, sword drawn. The air was still. Too still.
The soil was dry. The sky silent. Yet his instincts screamed.
Something was coming.
He opened his system interface—watching, tracking, calculating.
Then it came.
A blinding red notification across his vision:
[SYSTEM QUEST TRIGGERED]
Objective: Defeat the approaching enemy.
Warning: If the enemy is not stopped, Varella will fall.
Status: Enemy: Unknown | Rank: ??? | Type: Corrupted Being
Difficulty: S+
Reward: ???
Penalty: Death.
Noah stared at it, his body suddenly cold.
Unknown…?
Even the system couldn't define the enemy.
He wasn't afraid of monsters. He wasn't afraid of demons.
But the unknown—that was different.
That was fear.
"Noah?" one of his clones called through the link. "Something's coming. Something big."
"Where?" he asked mentally.
"All sides," the clones reported. "They're testing our defenses. But something's headed your way… It's not like the others."
He tightened his grip on his blade.
What if this attack was only a distraction? A diversion to scatter their strongest? Was the real target already inside?
He pushed the thought down. Now wasn't the time to hesitate.
"All units hold your ground," he sent through the link. "If the town breaks before this enemy arrives, we won't survive to fight it."
The clone near Layla whispered, "She's absorbing too much…"
Layla's eyes had gone dull, her breathing erratic. Dark veins crawled across her skin before fading. Her corrupted gown fluttered as if alive.
"Layla," Noah called through the clone. "Pull back. Don't overdo it."
"I'm fine," she said with a wild grin. "This is my dance. You just focus on your monster."
Back at the eastern wall, Scarlett unleashed a new command—her shadows transformed, shifting into towering beasts made of bone and dark matter.
"Kill them all."
And they obeyed.
The sky grew darker.
A pulse echoed through the ground, a tremor of something vast approaching from the corrupted lands.
Varella was holding—for now.
But the storm had only just begun.
And the true enemy…
Was still coming.
-To be continued..