The ashes of the battlefield still hung in the air.
Kaizen stood still, his breath ragged, body trembling as the remnants of his unleashed Veinborn energy slowly dissipated. Krovar, the feared Bist general, had been annihilated — but not without cost. Blood soaked the snow. Over 170 soldiers had died. Ayaka's arm was wounded, and two more Squad Umbra members had been shredded to pieces during the battle's peak.
And yet…
The horror wasn't over.
From the eastern hills beyond the battlefield, a thunderous rumble echoed like drums of war. The wind shifted. The birds fled. The sun dimmed behind thick clouds.
Kaizen raised his eyes… and froze.
A massive army of Bists was marching.
Thousands of dark, twisted creatures surged in perfect formation, unlike the chaotic swarms they usually arrived in. Their eyes glowed red, their mouths foamed, and their claws scraped the earth. But what chilled the bones of even the strongest soldier was who led them.
A new figure stood atop a colossal, horned beast — his silhouette tall, regal, terrifying.
His armor was forged from Bist flesh and molten veins, his face hidden behind a crown-shaped mask. In one hand, he carried a crooked staff pulsing with forbidden energy. In the other — the severed head of a human commander.
Ayaka gasped. "Who… who is that?"
Captain Tsura stepped forward, eyes wide with horror. "That… that's Zar'Vok's right hand. General Grigor."
Kaizen clenched his fists. "I thought Krovar was the worst of them…"
"No," Tsura whispered. "Krovar was a gatekeeper. Grigor is the nightmare."
Grigor raised his staff high, and the Bist army let out a synchronized, earsplitting roar. The earth quaked. Some soldiers began to fall back in terror.
One young recruit screamed, "We're all going to die!"
Another was crushed by a collapsing ice pillar. Blood sprayed. Chaos returned.
Kaizen stepped forward, pushing through the panic.
"I'll stop them."
"No!" Ayaka shouted, grabbing his arm. "You've barely survived your awakening. This isn't a fight you can win alone!"
"I don't care," Kaizen said. "If we don't stop them now, the nearby cities—thousands of innocents—will be slaughtered."
Just then, a flare shot up into the sky. Red. A distress signal from the western valley.
"They're already attacking!" a soldier shouted. "They're surrounding us!"
Kaizen turned to Tsura. "Split the army. Defend the valley. I'll hold Grigor here."
Tsura hesitated. "You'll die."
"Maybe. But if I don't try, we all die."
Suddenly, Ayaka stepped forward, standing beside Kaizen.
"Then I'll die with you."
Their hands brushed. Their eyes met. In that brief moment, no words were needed. She was his sword. He was her shield.
Then, a twisted voice echoed from afar.
"Veinborn..." Grigor's voice was deep and broken. "You carry the cursed flame. Good. Let me extinguish it."
He raised his staff — and the skies turned black. Lightning tore through the clouds as thousands of Bists broke into a sprint.
The final clash of the day had begun.
Kaizen roared, his power flaring once more. Ayaka unsheathed her twin daggers, her eyes locked onto the wave of death charging toward them. Tsura rallied the rest of the soldiers, screaming for backup, and the Battle of Crimson March began.
Screams. Blood. Lightning. Fire.
And at the center of it — Kaizen vs. Grigor — the clash of cursed blood and wrath.