The ground beneath them cracked and split, sending shockwaves of energy rippling through the air. Callan barely managed to stay on his feet as the monolith's light intensified, and the figure before them grew larger, its shadow swallowing everything in its path.
Ren stumbled backward, his eyes wide with fear. "Callan, we need to get out of here. Now!"
But Callan didn't move. He couldn't. The figure, the demon lord, had already set its sights on him. The curse that had haunted him for so long had come to collect.
"You are the last," the demon lord said, its voice seeping into Callan's bones. "The last of the Demon Generals."
Callan shook his head, his grip tightening on his sword. "I'm not that man anymore."
The demon lord's laughter filled the air, a sound that seemed to shake the very heavens. "You are that man. The blood of your ancestors runs through your veins. And it is time for you to take your place among us."
The shadows around them surged forward, forming into twisted creatures of darkness, their eyes burning with the same malevolent light. Callan swung his sword, cutting through the creatures with brutal efficiency, but they just kept coming. The air crackled with dark energy as the monolith continued to pulse, its power overwhelming.
"You can't fight this," the demon lord said, its form shifting with each word. "You're one of us now."
Callan's heart pounded in his chest, but he refused to back down. He knew what the demon lord was trying to do. It was trying to break him, to make him embrace the darkness within himself. But Callan had already walked that path once. He wouldn't do it again.
With a shout, Callan charged forward, his sword slashing through the air with a roar of power. The blade cut through the demon lord's shadowy form, but it didn't stop. It just kept shifting, reforming, becoming something more terrible than before.
Ren shouted something from behind him, but Callan didn't hear it. All he could see was the demon lord, its burning eyes fixed on him. And for a moment, he wondered if the curse was right. Was he truly still the General? Was he still the monster that had torn through armies and left death in his wake?
But then, something shifted within him. A memory. A fleeting thought of the man he used to be—the man who had fought for something greater than power. The man who had made the choice to turn away from the darkness.
The sword in his hand hummed with that same energy, and Callan's eyes flashed with determination. "I'm not your weapon. I'm not your tool."
With a cry, he thrust the sword into the monolith.
For a moment, everything went still.
And then, a great explosion of light erupted from the monolith, blinding Callan and throwing him backward. The force of the blast sent him crashing into the ruins, his body slamming against the broken stone walls. His vision swam, and he could feel the blood rushing to his head.
But then, the light faded, and the world returned to silence.
When Callan finally regained his senses, he found himself lying on the ground, his sword still in his hand. The demon lord was gone, the shadows with it.
Ren was kneeling beside him, his face a mask of worry. "You did it. You stopped it."
Callan nodded weakly, pushing himself up. "It's not over yet."