The light of the explosion had not yet faded when the clearing around them turned into a storm of shattered earth, broken trees, and torn air, and at the center of that chaos stood only three figures — Drakar, whose dragon aura raged with dark flames and lightning, Selene, whose lunar magic spread in waves of silver light that formed intricate runic circles in the air, and Kaelthar, the Herald of the Void, towering above them like a shadow from an older reality that had come to remind the world that there were things far worse than gods.
The darkness pouring from the body of Nyxaroth's general was no longer merely energy — it behaved like a living substance that slowly spread across the clearing, devouring light, roots, and even sound itself, and with every step Kaelthar took, the ground beneath him turned black, as though the fabric of the world itself were burning under his feet.
Drakar pushed himself up from one knee, wiping the blood from his lips, and he could feel the storm of power inside his chest beginning to spiral beyond control, because the Dragon Berserk that had awakened during the battle was no longer simply a state of rage — it was a form in which the blood of Zmey demanded something greater than victory.
Dark scales of energy covered his shoulders.
His breath burned hot.
And when he inhaled, the air around him trembled for a moment, as if reality itself feared what might emerge from his lungs.
Selene stood beside him, and although her face remained calm and focused, her fingers trembled slightly, because she could feel it too — the power raging inside Drakar might destroy Kaelthar, but it could just as easily shatter what remained of this fragment of the world.
"If you lose control," she said quietly without taking her eyes off the general, "the rift will stabilize."
Drakar smiled.
It was not a kind smile.
"Then don't let me lose it."
Kaelthar watched them in silence.
His wings of living shadow unfolded wider, and for a moment it seemed as if the night itself had risen above the clearing.
"Interesting," he said slowly. "A mortal and a witch believe they can stop the Void."
Drakar stepped forward.
The ground cracked beneath his feet.
"We don't believe."
And then he moved.
The chains tore from his arms, slicing wide arcs through the air as the blades forged in Svarog's ancient forge slammed into the dark armor of Kaelthar with a force that could have shattered stone — but this time the general did not attempt to dodge.
He simply raised one hand.
The shadow around him hardened, forming something like armor made of night-stone.
The impact was powerful.
But not enough.
Kaelthar seized one of the chains and jerked it violently.
Drakar was ripped into the air.
A heartbeat later, a wave of void energy slammed into his chest and hurled him across half the clearing, where he crashed into the massive roots of the World Tree.
The bark cracked.
The energy of the tree flared.
And Kaelthar froze for a moment.
"Ah…" he murmured quietly.
"A wound."
Selene understood instantly.
"Drakar! Don't fight near the roots!"
But it was already too late.
The rift behind the general began to expand faster.
New shadows crawled out of it.
And with them came something else.
Something deeper.
Something older.
Drakar rose slowly.
His eyes burned.
"Then… we'll take him away from it."
He hurled a chain.
The blade wrapped around one of Kaelthar's wings, and Drakar pulled hard, channeling lightning through the chain as he dragged the general closer.
Kaelthar did not resist.
Instead, he smiled.
"You think you choose the battlefield?"
Drakar did not answer.
He simply spun the second chain.
And struck.
The blow was direct.
The blade drove into the general's chest, straight into the dark rune.
This time the armor cracked.
Darkness erupted outward.
Kaelthar stepped back.
Selene seized the moment.
She raised her staff, and silver runes appeared in the air around the rift, forming a complex circle of magic that slowly began to compress the fracture, as if stitching shut a wound in space itself.
"Hold him!" she shouted.
Drakar lunged forward again.
This time he did not attack with the blades.
He struck with his fist.
His arm, covered in energy scales, slammed into Kaelthar's chest as dragon fire and lightning exploded outward.
The general was thrown back.
His body crashed into the earth.
The clearing trembled.
But Drakar did not stop.
He leapt.
And landed directly on Kaelthar's chest.
Chains wrapped around the general's arms.
"Now!"
Selene completed the circle.
Silver light exploded outward.
The runes locked into place.
The rift began to close.
Kaelthar roared.
And for the first time, something new entered his voice.
Rage.
The darkness around him erupted.
The chains groaned under the strain.
Drakar felt the general's power beginning to break his grip.
"He's going to break free!" Selene shouted.
Drakar looked directly into the dark eyes of Kaelthar.
"Maybe."
He plunged his hand into the general's chest.
Selene screamed.
"No!"
But Drakar had already seized the rune.
It was like gripping a fragment of living void.
It resisted.
It burned with cold.
"Go… back…" he whispered.
And he tore it free.
The world exploded.
Kaelthar's shadow shattered like glass.
His body began to collapse into fragments of black light.
But the rift…
expanded.
Selene fell to her knees.
Her magic cracked.
"Drakar… what have you done…"
He stood in the center of the storm of energy.
The general's rune burned in his hand.
Dark.
Alive.
And somewhere deep within the Void, someone laughed.
Softly.
Slowly.
Nyxaroth.
"Now… you begin to understand…" the voice whispered from the darkness.
Drakar raised his head.
His eyes burned with fire.
"Good."
He closed his hand around the rune.
"Then come yourself."
Because now…
the game had truly begun.