Jace knelt heavily on the scorched cracked earth as his lungs dragged in ragged bloody breaths.
He clutched Caliburn closely to his chest, but the legendary Holy Sword had completely lost its divine golden glow. The once radiant metal now looked dull and lifeless under the choking blanket of ash.
All around him, the bustling frontier town of Kakune had been reduced to a smoldering graveyard.
Buildings were flattened into splinters and the air was thick with the suffocating stench of burning flesh.
The Hero was seriously wounded.
His left arm had been blown clean out of its socket by a singular burst of dark magic, leaving a ragged, cauterized stump just below his shoulder.
His ornate silver divine armor summoned by Caliburn was shattered, and his free right hand was trembling violently as he gripped the hilt of the unresponsive holy blade.
Standing a few paces in front of him, looking completely untouched by the devastation, was the First Demon King.
