Alina's eyes widened as she took in the battlefield, the shift still hard to fully grasp, because only moments ago they had been surrounded and outnumbered with no clear way out, yet now a portion of the orc army stood with them, clashing against their former allies and holding the line just long enough to keep everything from collapsing.
Steel rang against steel, roars mixed with the sound of magic, and in the middle of it all, Dave remained at the rear, unmoving inside his barrier as he continued dismantling the ritual, the thin thread of mana still connected to the void clone, slowly eating away at it.
Her gaze shifted.
Vanessa was locked in a brutal exchange with one of the chieftains, their movements fast and heavy at the same time, every clash sending visible shockwaves through the air as sword met axe again and again, neither side giving ground despite the clear difference in skill, because the chieftain simply refused to fall.
On the other side, Kramm fought the second chieftain, their weapons colliding with raw force as the two orcs pushed against each other, one driven by rage, the other by purpose, their battle just as intense but far less controlled.
For a moment, it looked like they could hold.
But that illusion didn't last.
As the fight dragged on, Alina began to notice the gaps forming in their line, the orcs who had chosen to stand with them slowly were being cut down one by one, their numbers never large enough to begin with, and now shrinking under the pressure of the larger force still loyal to Thavuk.
The balance was shifting again. And not in their favor.
Alina moved quickly, cutting down another enemy as she made her way back toward Dave, her voice rising over the chaos as she called out, "How much longer?"
"Almost done!" Dave answered without looking away, his focus completely locked on the ritual, sweat running down his face as he pushed more mana through the connection.
That "almost" felt too long.
Before she could say anything else, movement broke through the corner of her vision.
One of the orcs had slipped past the defenders. He charged straight toward Dave.
There was no hesitation in his movement, no distraction, only a clear intent to reach the caster before the ritual could be stopped.
Alina reacted instantly.
She vanished. In the next moment, she appeared behind him, her dagger already moving.
The blade sank deep into his neck before he could even react, his body going still as momentum carried him one last step forward before collapsing.
"Be faster!" she shouted, not even turning back to check, already moving again as she rushed toward another weak point in the line where their defenses were starting to break.
…
Paul drove forward through the chaos, his fists cutting through the air with explosive force as he pressured Thavuk from every angle. Each punch carried enough power to shatter stone, yet Thavuk moved with unsettling ease, slipping past the attacks while countering with precise, almost casual strikes. Around them, spells detonated in bursts of dark energy, sending fragments of corrupted power scattering across the battlefield.
From the void at Thavuk's command, twisted creatures continued to emerge, their forms barely stable as they lunged toward Paul. He tore through them without slowing, each one collapsing under a single strike, but they served their purpose, buying Thavuk time, forcing Paul to split his focus as he pushed closer.
Then the space around Thavuk shifted.
Dozens of long, serpentine tentacles burst outward, tearing through the ground and air alike as they lashed toward Paul. They moved unpredictably, like living shadows, cutting off his path and forcing him to twist and evade instead of advancing. The pressure built instantly, the battlefield shrinking under their reach.
As quickly as they had appeared, the tentacles pulled back, and the void gathered in front of Thavuk, folding into itself. The air grew heavy, colder, as if something was draining the warmth from the world. Shadows thickened, deepening unnaturally, until a swirling vortex formed, dense, unstable, and filled with raw destructive force.
For a brief moment, everything seemed to pause. Then the vortex erupted.
Hundreds of condensed void spheres shot forward in a relentless wave, tearing through the air like a storm aimed directly at Paul.
The void spheres closed in at once, each one warping the air around it as it tore forward. Paul weaved through them with sharp, explosive movements, barely slipping past their edges when a sudden presence struck from his blind side. The impact was brutal, he brought his arm up just in time to deflect it, but the force still hurled him forward like a projectile.
He crashed into the ground a hundred meters away, the earth breaking beneath him on impact, yet he didn't stay down for even a second. His body twisted, pushing himself back up immediately, the moment he did, the sky above where he was darkened and void spheres he had avoided came raining down all at once.
They struck the ground in rapid succession, and instead of simply exploding, each one pulsed and expanded, shaping itself into something alive. Limbs formed from darkness, bodies stitched together from void energy, monsters, dozens of them, rising in an instant.
Paul's gaze sharpened as he took it in. This wasn't just an attack, it was control. Every strike from Thavuk was turning the battlefield further in his favor, filling it with obstacles, forcing Paul to fight through layers before he could even reach him.
There was no time to hesitate.
With a sharp breath, Paul launched himself upward again, his entire body tensing as he unleashed a storm of punches in all directions. His fists blurred, each strike compressing the air to the point it detonated outward. The resulting shockwaves tore through everything around him, monsters shattered mid formation, tentacles were ripped apart, and even the incoming void spheres collapsed before they could reach him.
For a brief moment, the chaos thinned.
But Thavuk was already reacting.
A dense shield of void began to form around him, layers of dark energy folding over each other to create a barrier meant to absorb anything Paul could throw at it. Yet Paul didn't give it the time to stabilize.
In a single burst of speed, he broke through the remaining distance, landing right in front of Thavuk, close enough that the forming shield hadn't fully closed around him yet.
Paul's fist tore through the air with such force that the very space around it seemed to warp, bending reality like a ripple in water. Thavuk barely had a moment to react, his eyes widening in shock as the blow slammed into his side. The impact was catastrophic. Skin, muscle, and bone didn't simply break, they shredded, twisted, and contorted in ways that defied natural laws. His flesh split open like a rotten fruit, releasing thick, dark fluid that slithered and writhed on its own as though alive, while his muscles snapped and recoiled midair, flailing in a futile attempt to hold form. Bones splintered violently, shooting fragments outward in every direction like a deadly hailstorm, but instead of crimson blood, a swirling void mist gushed from his body, blacker than the deepest shadow, carrying with it the oppressive weight of the nothingness he embodied.
For a heartbeat, Thavuk seemed to laugh, or at least his twisted, dissolving form conveyed amusement. Slowly, the pieces of his body liquefied and turned into void and spilled on the ground. It was as if he were never solid to begin with. The air hissed with the release of energy, a cold, uncanny resonance that made the surrounding environment shiver with the echo of his destruction.
Paul's gaze darted across the battlefield, scanning desperately for any sign of Thavuk, but the orc's presence had vanished. The implications hit him instantly, the ritual's orchestrator wasn't destroyed; he was moving. His pulse quickened as he realized that Thavuk must be heading back toward the portal, and if he reached it, all their efforts so far would be undone.
Without hesitation, Paul leapt into the air, launching himself toward Dave and the others. His muscles coiled like springs, each motion precise and explosive, carrying him through the void strewn battlefield as he raced to reach the portal before Thavuk could complete his dark objective.
…
Dave's teeth were clenched, his body trembling with exertion as he poured every ounce of mana into the destruction of the clone before him. The effort was grueling, and his muscles ached, but he refused to relent. Failure was not an option, not when the lives of his comrades and newly allied orcs depended on him. Around him, the battlefield roared with chaos: the clash of steel, the cries of combatants, the crackle of magic. He could feel the struggle of those around him pressing against his mind, a weight he could neither ignore nor escape, and yet he forced his focus back to the task at hand.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly at first, tiny fissures appeared across the surface of the clone. Dave's lips curved into a faint, grim smile. He poured more of his energy into the spell, driving his mana to its limits, accelerating the process with ruthless precision. The cracks widened, jagged lines racing across the clone's body like lightning, and then, with a sound that shook the ground and reverberated through the air, the construct shattered. A massive wave of energy erupted outward, hurling fragments of void and debris across the battlefield, turning the space around him into a storm of destruction.
Instinctively, Dave raised his arms, shielding his face from the worst of the blast, eyes squeezed shut against the violent surge of energy. The roar of the battlefield dimmed, fading as if the world itself had paused to witness the aftermath. When he dared to open his eyes, the chaos had stilled, all combatants frozen in a tense silence. Every gaze, friend and foe alike, was fixed on the spot where the portal had been, the emptiness left by the clone's destruction humming with latent power and ominous expectation.
Dave's eyes stayed locked on the spot where the clone had vanished, bracing himself for the portal to collapse as the spell was broken. Dust swirled in the aftermath, but what emerged from it made his blood run cold. There, standing in the center of the ruined space, was Thavuk himself. A sly, almost predatory smile curved his lips as he lifted his hand, and the void energy, dark, writhing, and alive, coiled around his fingers like a living serpent. Dave could feel the lingering power of the spell, still active, still dangerous, and entirely under Thavuk's control.
Questions barreled through Dave's mind all at once: Where was Paul? What had happened to him? Why was Thavuk here, at this exact moment? None of the answers came, and yet instinct screamed that hesitation would be fatal.
Thavuk's eyes glimmered with malice as he began drawing the void energy closer, the very air bending and twisting around him. Shadows leapt and curled like smoke, drawn toward his outstretched hand as though obeying a dark command. Every particle of air seemed charged, quivering with the promise of destruction.
From behind Dave, Vanessa's figure appeared, her face stricken with fear. She screamed something, but the words barely reached him over the rising roar of the spell. Dave's focus narrowed, every sense honing in on the deadly energy coalescing in front of him.
Then, without warning, the void burst forth. It shot toward him with terrifying speed, coiling and twisting like a living entity, carrying with it the sound of a thousand shattering worlds, a deafening explosion that seemed to tear the air itself apart. Every instinct in Dave's body screamed to react, to move, to survive, as the dark energy bore down on him like death made tangible.
Boom.