Quill's PoV:

'I'm afraid… Why am I afraid?'

The battlefield stretches before me, an endless sea of destruction. My array platform hums with power beneath my feet as I survey the carnage. Charred corpses litter the ground as far as I can see.

At my fingertips, intricate arrays dance and weave, responding to my slightest thought. The enemy comes in waves, mindless in their rush toward me. Like moths to a flame, they surge forward only to meet their doom.

Yet something isn't right. This fear... it's different. It burrows deep into my soul, setting every nerve on edge. My senses scream warnings I can't decipher, an instinct I can't ignore.

The numbers are staggering. Billions of them charge forward, with more materializing every second. But numbers mean nothing to an array master of my caliber. Each enemy that falls feeds my power.

Crimson lilies bloom from the corpses, their ethereal light painting the battlefield in shades of blood. The bodies beneath them shrivel and collapse into dust, consumed completely by my creation.

Blood techniques have always been taboo, forbidden by every sect and school. But my arrays are different - more thorough, more complete. They don't just drain blood or life force. They consume everything: body, spirit, and soul, leaving nothing behind but the Blood Lilies that store their essence.

The irony doesn't escape me - the more they attack, the stronger I become. Each enemy that falls adds to my power, their energy processed and stored within the blooming flowers that now carpet the ground.

'But I'm afraid… Why am I afraid?'

I watch as the humanoid creatures approach, their movements fluid and precise. Unlike their mindless brethren, these ones slip through gaps in my array, avoiding the deadly patterns with unnatural grace. Their intelligence makes them dangerous - but not dangerous enough.

High above us, my grand formation spins lazily, casting deep shadows across the battlefield. I allow myself a small smile, remembering simpler times when I first crafted these so called combo spells. Back then, I'd named this particular combination 'Asgard's Wrath' - young minds do love their dramatic flair.

A dozen of these evolved beings charge at me, their bodies twisted mockeries of human form. My fingers dance through familiar patterns, sending tiny arrays shooting toward them. The arrays latch on, and the creatures stumble for just a moment before pressing forward again.

"Perfect," I whisper.

I reach out to the field of blood lilies surrounding me. A hundred of them ignite at my command, their stored energy releasing in streams of crimson light that pierce upward toward the formation overhead. The sky answers with gathering storm clouds, red lightning crackling between them as thunder rolls endlessly.

The humanoids realize their danger too late. As Asgard's Wrath descends, the tiny arrays on their bodies act like lightning rods, drawing the full force of heaven's fury directly into their flesh. They try to dodge, to shield themselves, but against this level of power, such efforts are meaningless.

Their bodies crash to the ground, smoking and broken. New lilies sprout from their corpses - larger and more vivid than any before, their petals practically glowing with stored power.

'Even so, I'm afraid… Why am I afraid?'

I stand atop my array platform, watching the endless waves of enemies crash against my defenses. But above them all looms something that defies comprehension - a mass of countless eyes, each one fixed upon me with an intelligence that sends chills through my very core.

It watches. Waits. Perhaps it cannot reach me yet. Perhaps it has other plans. It doesn't matter.

My death counter ticks upward with each fallen enemy, their essence feeding the formation of my grand array's sixth layer. The blood lilies bloom and wither in an endless cycle, death feeding life feeding death again. It's the most fundamental principle of creation itself, and the cornerstone of my array's stability.

I remain the anchor point, though last time I attempted this scale of working, I lost eight months to unconsciousness. Even with my increased strength, pushing beyond six layers could leave me vulnerable for years. Alone here, that would mean death.

But that's not why fear grips my heart.

The pagoda materializes around me as the seventh layer begins to form. Where once I channeled the sun's raw power, now I draw upon the moon's subtle influence - the silent observer, hidden in the sun's shadow yet revealed by its light. Less powerful, perhaps, but perfect for my purposes.

Stability wavers. Array chains bite into my flesh, drawing blood that pools at my feet. I snap my fingers, sacrificing more lilies to reinforce my failing body. I know my limits - this isn't even close to them.

'But I'm still so afraid.'

The thought centers me as the seventh layer springs to life. Above, a dark moon manifests - a shadow waiting to strike. The chains scream as my body cracks.

A few seconds more. That's all I need. Laughter bursts from my throat, wild and triumphant.

"I've..."

Pain explodes through me, far beyond anything I expected.

I stare down, my heart skipping a beat. There, in the center of my array - my perfect, impenetrable array - stands something impossible.

The figure before me defies reality itself. Pure obsidian given form, shaped into a woman of deadly grace. Where eyes should be, there is only the infinite void, and as our gazes lock, I feel myself falling into that absolute darkness. The combat armor that seems to grow from her very being gleams with an unnatural sheen.

Pain explodes through my chest as her arm pierces through me. My protective arrays, my countless layers of defense, might as well be paper before her. Blood wells up, hot and thick, but the cold spreading from her touch is worse. So much worse.

I stare into those endless void-eyes, my blood turning to ice where she touches me. "So that's why I was afraid," I rasp, the words catching in my throat.

Everything clicks into place now. The creatures before me are like living shadows, my divine sense sliding right past them. The stronger ones might as well be invisible. Yet my eyes see them clearly enough - too clearly, perhaps.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

My mind races back to Earth, to documentaries about prey animals in the wild. How rabbits develop that sixth sense, that primal instinct warning them of lurking danger. The way they freeze, muscles tensed, ready to bolt at the slightest hint of a predator.

That's what's been happening here. My divine sense blind, my eyes deceived, but that deep, ancient part of my brain - the part that remembers what it means to be hunted - it knew. It screamed warnings I couldn't understand, urged me to run when I saw no reason to flee.

The predator was always there, waiting in the dark. Patient. Watching as I built my elaborate trap, knowing that with each layer I added, with every blood lily I bloomed, I was only making myself more vulnerable.

And like a fool, I gave her exactly what she wanted.

"You know..." Her voice hits my ears like shattered glass, mechanical and empty. "They all taste amazing." Her obsidian tongue slides across perfect black lips. "But you, immortals, are by far the best delicacy there is."

She yanks her arm back, and my legs give out. I catch myself on one knee, my palm pressing against the ground as I struggle to stay upright. Blood fills my mouth, metallic and sickening. I force myself to look up at her, to face what has so effortlessly torn through every defense I possess.

Around us, my masterwork crumbles. The blood lilies - my beautiful, terrible creation - wither and die. The arrays that took years to perfect fracture and fade like morning frost under the sun.

But worse than the physical pain, worse than watching my life's work dissolve into nothing, is the crushing weight of despair that settles over me.

My mind races, trying to process her words through the haze of pain. Each breath sends fresh agony through my chest where her arm pierced me. The wound refuses to heal, a cold emptiness spreading from it that defies my immortal nature.

"When we returned, we thought he would wait for us," she adds, her voice dripping with mockery. "But this time we were prepared."

With a casual wave of her obsidian arm, my arrays crumble like sand castles before a tide. The intricate patterns dissolve into sparkling motes that drift down like snow before vanishing completely.

"Instead we found a bunch of haunted meat suits dancing in our home." Her voice shifts, anger and disgust twisting her perfect features into something even more alien.

The endless horde that had been charging at my defenses freezes in place, becoming a grotesque statue garden of twisted forms. Behind me, the portal pulses, its edges expanding outward like an infection. Time seems to stretch like taffy as darkness pours from her form, a living shadow that devours everything it touches.

"Fortunately," she shrugs, her mood shifting again with unsettling speed, "you are all quite delicious." Her obsidian tongue darts out to lick my blood from her hand, the gesture almost sensual in its deliberateness. "Your souls that is" she adds, giving me a fierce grin "A feast before we reclaim what is ours." A pause, then: "Maybe a gift left behind by him." Her head tilts, considering. "An apology?"

I let out a weak chuckle. "Hehe."

Pushing against the ground, I force myself to stand despite the void-cold spreading from my chest wound. Her obsidian eyes follow my movement with cruel amusement, like a cat watching a wounded mouse try to escape.

"I..." My voice catches, blood coating my tongue. "I know what you are." I meet her gaze, staring into those bottomless pits that pass for eyes.

She tilts her head, curiosity flickering across her perfect features. "It's not like we've been hiding our nature." Her voice resonates with unnatural harmonics. "We are the Abyss," she declares, spreading her arms wide. "Here to reclaim what belongs to us." Her tone rises to a fever pitch before dropping to a whisper. "This... Universe."

"Mockeries of creation," I spit the words, rage burning through the pain. "The awakened void, the hordes of the unknown."

Her lips curl into a smile that would make demons weep.

"There are so many stories about you." Blood trickles down my chin as I speak. "Tales of what you represent."

"Oh? Do tell." She glides closer, obsidian fingers wrapping around my throat with deceptive gentleness before tightening just enough to restrict my breathing.

"Legends, myths," I gasp against her grip. "Of what is waiting beyond the veil."

Her laughter rings out like breaking glass, contempt dripping from every note.

"All lies," I wheeze, watching as her perfect mask of confidence shatters.

"You are nothing more than remnants of the old," I add.

Her grip tightens around my throat, crushing my windpipe. My words come out coarse, raspy, but I push through. "Without a soul."

"Stop!" she screams, her hand threatening to snap my neck like a twig.

"You..." I rasp between desperate breaths, "are..."

She moves to finish me, but shock floods her perfect obsidian features as her body refuses to obey. Her fingers spring open against her will, and I gulp in precious air.

"The Hollow," I declare, confidence surging through my voice.

The words trigger a change. A million blood lilies burst into existence, exploding with pure light. My arrays, which she so arrogantly dismissed, reappear - smaller, concentrated, complete. Each pattern locks into place with mathematical precision.

Her abyss-like eyes burn with an emotion she's never experienced: fear. She struggles to comprehend how an insect like me could achieve this. Darkness pools around her form, becoming almost solid. Above us, the mass of eyes and tentacles writhes and screams in fury. The endless hordes charge forward with mindless abandon.

But they're too late.

The moon crowning my array blazes with silver radiance. A wave of light spreads across the battlefield, stretching to the very edges of this dimension.

Then my formation crumbles, truly this time.

I watch as the darkness floods back, consuming the silver light of my array. For a moment, absolute silence reigns.

"Ha ha ha." Her laughter cuts through the void. "I have to say, for a second I thought you were him."

Her hand finds my throat again, fingers digging into my flesh as she lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing. "But you are nothing more than a pathetic joke."

The killing intent radiates from her now, her perfect face twisting into something monstrous as she moves to snap my neck.

And nothing happens.

"A good joke is always as good the second time as it was the first," I say, letting mockery seep into every word.

Her grip releases against her will, and I land gracefully before her frozen form. The look of confusion on her face is almost worth all the pain.

"You know," I adopt my best lecture tone, the one I used countless times in my teaching days, "the first rule when dealing with an array master is to always kill them before they notice you." A smirk tugs at my lips. "Because after that it will most likely be too late."

Arrays materialize on her obsidian form, countless patterns weaving together in crimson light.

"Consider this a valuable lesson." Energy gathers in my palm, condensing into a point of pure destruction. "In your next life."

My palm strikes true. The impact sends her flying backward, breaking the sound barrier multiple.

Every creature, from the lowliest grunt to the towering mass of eyes above, lights up with tiny formations - the simple tag arrays I've modified slightly.

A creature near me slows, then stops. Its claws gouge deep furrows in the ground as an invisible force drags it backward. More follow, their bodies pulled inexorably toward the obsidian woman's distant form.

She halts her flight mid-air, confusion evident in her void-like eyes as the horde changes direction, now rushing toward her instead of me. The abomination above thrashes wildly, its countless eyes darting in panic as the same force affects its massive bulk.

I can't help but laugh at the sight. The first creature slams into her with bone-crushing force. She tears it apart effortlessly, but her victory is short-lived. Every fragment, every drop of its black blood, gravitates back to her form like metal to a magnet.

I watch as an endless tide of creatures pours through the portal, their forms merging and coalescing into a grotesque mass that defies description. It's hard to tell if they're entering or leaving this realm, but it doesn't matter. Soul's tag arrays have done their job, marking the majority of these abominations for me.

More creatures crash into her, their bodies merging into a growing mass of writhing flesh. She disappears beneath the onslaught as billions of her own become her prison.

The augmented gravity takes hold, and the writhing mass begins to collapse in on itself, drawn together by an irresistible force. Even the towering monstrosity above, with its countless eyes and thrashing tentacles, cannot escape the pull. It breaks apart, chunks of its nightmarish flesh joining the ever-growing blob that now dominates the horizon.

I allow myself a moment of satisfaction. Ebber's Ridge should be safe now. The thought brings a smile to my blood-stained lips.

"Simple tag arrays," I mutter through blood-stained lips. "Combined with a gravity modification and just a touch of void essence absorption. Beautiful, isn't it?"

With this we've reached the epilogue, but there's still one last step to be taken. And for all I know this might be the most difficult one.