Bor and Tou dashed into the now silent and considerably emptier hall.

“Say the word, boss.” Bor said excitedly.

“Rampage.” Gula said with widened eyes.

Bor nodded quickly before dashing out of the hall.

“And me?” Lou whimpered.

“Come here.” Gula said prompting Lou to slowly approach.

He then wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her.

Her eyes widened before suddenly closing.

Her lips eventually parted with Gula's, whose eyes were at their brightest.

“Someone must have convinced that idiot of a lord that turning against me would come without consequence. Go to my chamber and tear his wife and child to pieces. Then… run. Far from here. Go south. I don’t care. Just as long as you-“

“What about you?” Lou asked with a pained expression, but Gula simply chuckled.

“This old dog’s time has finally come. But you… you have an eternity ahead of you.”

Lou’s eyes trembled.

She then gave him one last kiss before rushing out of the hall.

“Sorry, Kenos, but it seems as though I’ve dragged you into my mess.” Gul chuckled.

“I don’t really care. Just take me out of this place and It’ll be like we never met.”

“Aww… so cold. But I understand. This place is deep underground, beneath the High Lord's manor. All I need do is teleport you up and the path north will return to you.”

I nodded and like that, we were outside.

We stood on a balcony that overlooked Gordias which now burnt.

Countless fires could be seen across the city and many large explosions filled the air.

I glanced a Gula and saw that he was smiling wistfully, but before I could turn to leave, a massive explosion pushed me backwards.

Luckily for me, Ower had grabbed me, otherwise, my skull would have been cracked upon striking the marble walls.

The smoke and dust were quickly cleared by the energetic evening winds, revealing… a Helma.

Floating mid-air while pointing his golden Lance at Gula's neck, the Helma glared at him with dim eyes.

The only reason Gula hadn’t been decapitated was because he had somehow managed to grab the Helma’s Lance by its blade with a single hand.

“Hello, Sidus.”

“Worm.” The Helma referred to as Sidus hissed as the balcony atop which we stood crumbled.

“Umm… could I ask that you let my friend here go first before we get busy?” Gula asked as his hand bled.

Sidus’s eyes shifted to me before briefly flashing. They then returned to Gula all while the air grew increasingly hotter and this made Gula sigh in defeat.

“Sorry, Kenos, but you’re gonna have to duck.” Gula said but before I could even think, Ower dragged Ncil and I into the subspace upstairs as Sidus pulled his Lance free from Gula’s hold.

The Helma then raised his weapon and swung it down to cut Gula in half, but Gula suddenly summoned a silver sword which he used to deflect Sidus’s Lance.

Sidus, however, expected this and so, as his Lance flew to the side, he sent forth a punch that struck Gula in the jaw sending him crashing into the manor.

Sidus’s golden eyes then turned to me for a moment as tons of light gathered around his Lance.

“Oi! You’ve grown quite cocky, haven’t you? Holding back on me like that.”

I looked around and saw Gula climbing out of a pile of rubble.

His robe had been torn to shreds but his body was mostly fine.

One thing I did notice was that the space around him was extremely warped.

Sidus fell to the ground to face Gula who rotated his shoulders casually.

He then lazily swung his sword and my jaw dropped as a flash of light washed over all of northern Centora.

The light faded revealing an unharmed Sidus but the land behind him, everything from the manor all the way down the mountain, had been split open.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Phew! That was close. You almost died there, hehe.” Gula chuckled.

Sidus let out a grunt before dashing towards Gula at such a high speed, the ground on which he stepped was blown apart.

He raised his lance and swung it to decapitate Gula, but Gula deflected the attack again before teleporting behind Sidus and kicking him in the back of the head.

“Come on! You’re still as proud as ever. Let go. Go all out. Oh- and Kenos, you might wanna get outa here- oh… too late.” Gula said.

“Kenos…” Ower droned prompting me to look to the left where another Helma stood.

I bit my teeth upon noticing that the space around him was also distorted.

“Hehe, I take it back. Where is your pride? Face me like a man. One-on-one, that’s how this battle should go.” Gula nervously chuckled as the other Helma walked up to Sidus.

“For the crime of high treason, you are sentenced to death.” The other Helma said.

Gula rolled his eyes before shrugging.

“Yeah, yeah. I know but can we talk about the unfairness of all this? I, a humble silver knight, will be executed by two Helma? Do you want to be remembered as the two cruel men who bullied the weak?”

“INSOLENT FIEND!” Sidus roared before taking a single step forward and this shook the mountain.

This was fantastic to witness and everything, but I took Gula’s advice I glanced at Ower and gave him a nod, prompting him to teleport us to the manor’s northernmost wall.

I then let out a panicked gasp upon seeing that the other Helma had followed us.

He stood in front of us, his eyes dim and narrowed.

“You… you’re the lord of the mud crawlers. My name is Solas, Helma and if you surrender, I will make your death painless.”

“Why do you want to kill me again?” I asked while slowly backing away.

“You came to this kingdom and chose to conspire with a traitor. You deserve nothing less than death.” Solas said.

“What if I told you that he forced me into his manor?”

“I would ask why you didn’t resist until either of you died.”

“How morbid.” I hissed.

“So, lower your heads and die or else.”

I bit my teeth.

Was this it?

Was this the end?

I wanted to tell Ower and Ncil to run away, but just as those thoughts surfaced in my mind, a massive explosion shook the ground.

We all turned to find a massive dragon flying above what was once a grand manor.

It was Xenagós and she spewed forth from her mouth a torrent of flame.

“Sidus!” Solas cried before suddenly teleporting away.

“Err- let’s go!” I yelled prompting Ower to teleport us closer to the path that led into the mountains, but just as we emerged from the subspace, a beam of light nearly cooked us alive.

My eyes quaked upon seeing a wounded Sidus kneeling in a gigantic hole in the ground next to us.

His armour was covered in dirt and ash.

Also, his entire left arm was missing. It looked like it had been chewed off.

His eyes glowed bright green and I watched as the Helma’s wounds close.

Well, some of them.

He couldn’t regrow his arm.

After healing, the Helma turned his rage-filled towards me before letting out an animalistic roar.

“YOOOOOUUUUUU!”

He swung his Lance, sending forth a wave of force and light.

Ower stood in front of me and created a barrier, but it stood no chance and so I watched as the shield of distorted space was undone and Ower’s body was torn in half.

In a panic, I grabbed Ncil and threw the both of us to the ground but, at a speed I could barely comprehend, Sidus grabbed my leg and slammed my body into the ground.

My head struck the ground instantly giving me a concussion.

I also know for certain that many of my bones had been broken, but I turned my rapidly darkening gaze to Ncil, who slowly crawled onto her feet.

I then watched as Sidus walked up to her.

The black blade raised her sword as the Helma raised his lance.

I tried raising my arms or summoning any amount of darkness but I couldn’t.

Ncil glanced at me, even as Sidus swung his Lance towards her and my racing heart sank as she weakly smiled.

Sidus’s Lance then cleanly tore through her neck and I watched as her head fell. Her face adorned with a faint, horrified smile.

Sidus then turned his burning eyes towards me all while countless massive explosions filled the air.

Xenagós could be seen flying in the distant sky and although her battle with Solas and Gula was probably epic… I didn’t care.

A deep cold crawled over my body as Sidus placed his heavy boot on my chest.

He then raised his Lance to stab me in the face and it was in this moment, when my body became its weakest, that I heard a cry- no, a pained moan.

My body suddenly sunk into the dark realm just as Sidus stabbed the spot where my head once was.

I then rapidly fell asleep only to wake up with a headache that threatened to tear my skull in two.

I heard a moan again and it tore my eyes open.

I was back in the dark version of Coh only I wasn’t in the heart.

I painfully coughed since, for some reason, all the injuries I had sustained persisted, even in this place.

I crawled onto my feet and stumbled towards the heart all while my body cried in pain.

Using the trees as support, I eventually arrived at the heart where my already aching heart twisted upon seeing the giant woman laying on her back.

Her legs were raised and parted, revealing that something was coming out of her.

Or, more accurately, someone.

I wanted to go and help her, but the more I watched, the more I trembled.

As the person’s head emerged from the woman’s vagina, I felt my mind fill with a familiar pain.

One that, like an ember, I had fought so dearly to protect.

Now it burnt and flared as the person was birthed.

The giant woman convulsed and her cries, although silent, made the entire process even more painful to watch.

More of the person’s head came out and I winced upon seeing that the person’s face wasn’t normal.

It had a long snout and two short stubby horns sat atop his head.

I fell to my knees as more of the person emerged.

My pain reached its highest as his legs left the woman, who collapsed shortly after.

The person, who was none other than Katsíki, although he looked more like his Riley self, stumbled onto his hooved legs and he walked towards the egg.

I did the same, taking careful and painful steps down the crater.

We both arrived at the egg and a blood-covered Katsíki reached out to touch the egg.

I did the same.

I noticed that he had a dark wispy chord attached to him and it joined mine before returning to the unconscious woman.

I looked into Katsíki’s half-open eyes while he blankly stared at the egg.

“Y…” He whimpered causing the dark world to tremble.

“Yna?” He called as a single tear fell from his left eye.

He then glanced at me and wearily looked my wounds over.

His gaze then met with mine and as he opened his mouth to speak, it all returned to me.

His hatred, guilt and anguish all flooded into my mind.

He then looked to the north and glared at a distant pillar of light.

“The Helma are keeping us from moving forward… go on, use darkness to clear a path forward.” He said as he walked towards me.

“N-nice to see you’re back. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to use magic properly for a while.” I wheezed while Katsíki offered me his hand.

I accepted it allowing him to hold me up.

“That was before, when our guest cradled me in her womb. Alas, I am reborn.” Katsíki said as the dark sky above brightened.

“Let us clear a path to the sun.”