They struck the earth like a meteor and thousands were dead. From the ashes, the center of the crater, a demon of bulging red flesh, exceptional musculature, giant wings like a devil’s, stood in perfect rage beneath a blackened, lightning-framed sky. The sky over his shoulder, all the way at Cromer, still exploded in violent magick hues of blue, green, and purple.

There weren’t soldiers for miles in any direction now. He’d laid waste to a great chunk of Outer Calamon, parts of Siln Forest, likely Azar’kara as well. He didn’t know how far the devastation had traveled. He didn’t much care, either.

The two of them turned their gaze in every direction. Then, at the faintest trace of movement—

blink

—Serkukan’s fist was rammed through the body of a black horse. The horse whinnied out, sprinted in midair as he lifted it up on his forearm.

His second fist struck the Alisan rider, turned him into a fine paste against the ground like jam on bread.

He spun to the crowd around him, three, maybe four squadrons of frantic purple-skins and armed azar. The sel began Antithesis—

And in a moment of spectacle unlike anything Cedric had ever seen, Serkukan seemed to grab the leylines with his two great fists. He pulled them taut before Antithesis could make it all the way, then yanked them to snapping. The sel men stumbled forward like they’d been pulled forward by their collars. It took one swing of his great arm to make a warm mist out of them.

It was over for Alisa before it had begun. They would have been smart to surrender already.

Then came the sprinting packs of azarian women, those feral beasts. They jumped up like wolves for his arms and legs, twelve in total. Serkukan responded by beating them to death, every single one which leapt at him.

Three of them got away, sprinted back into the ashen wasteland they’d created. The sky beyond the clouds was beginning to shift crimson, as if it was bleeding.

A dull, slow clap roused their attention. Serkukan cocked his head away from the slaughter, turned his gaze to a fanciful blue sedan chair.

There was Aeo, from Alisa. She stepped down from her carried chair to reveal a lavish war-dress; a dress that was bound tight to her skin in all places to not get in the way, yet still carried with it a shining elegance and sense of waviness. Overtop it, of course, were heavy steel plates to block even the strongest of maces. It wouldn’t surprise him if they were enchanted, too. “Serkukan? I presume you had no trouble with Siegmeyer?”

He lunged for her throat.

Aeo only smiled. Just as his fist should have struck her—she lifted a hand and gently touched it. It stopped his momentum dead.

Is this more Antithesis?

“Lyros always wanted us to be prepared in case of something like this. He was always designing new ways to counter the Etherian threat.” She loosened the steel plate fastened to her chest. It slammed down into the dirt with a resounding thud. Then she pulled down the top of her dress to reveal her translucent blue skin . In the very center of her ribcage was a bright crystal, shimmering in silver, then gold, then every color of the rainbow. “I’ve inherited your Dyosius. I am the greatest bane of the Etherian ilk.”

Serkukan’s chest burst apart, the ribs jutted out like a broken cage. He began to melt into a pool of blood upon the ashy plain.

A bloody Cedric fell loose. He charged forward with a scream, his black sword raised up high.

Aeo whistled and flicked her fingers at him in command.

THOOK.

A great horizontal swing of Siegmeyer’s cleaver ripped his legs from his body. His torso spun and hit the ground unceremoniously.

Aeo quickly stepped in and pressed her hand to the boy’s head. “That’ll stop his regeneration. Thank you, Siegmeyer.”

But the brute wasn’t done; he stepped forward and reeled back his sword.

“Wait, Sieg—”

And her own body was ripped apart like paper. Her eyes went dull before she even hit the ground. Her crystal flickered one more time then fell to black.

The giant spun back and forth after Aeo was dead, desperately searching for a new target. He screamed out like an animal, slammed his swords together five more times.

…But his final enemy was almost done regenerating just beneath him.

Cedric plucked that blackened gem from Aeo’s still-warm chest when his arm was back. As his other arm came to be, he began to push himself up. By then, his legs were ready for him.

Siegmeyer spun around with a growl. His face became a nasty grin at the sight of another enemy to kill.

“Missed me?” Cedric panted, finally reaching his feet. “I guess Antithesis drives a man mad in high enough doses. And Dyosius makes someone too cocky… But I could have predicted that.”

Siegmeyer swung his weapon.

Cedric skidded back. His form grew as he accelerated away from the giant until he was once again the crimson demon. Then his momentum stopped.

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He eradicates our ability when we get too close… So we just have to be faster.

He pounced forward, his fists swung three times, shattering Siegmeyer’s armor with every debilitating strike. Each hit melted Serkukan’s knuckles into gloopy, wet flesh which strung between them like melted cheese, but the impact was still devastating.

The giant stumbled back. Then he regained his footing, sprung with his cleavers wide.

They launched a fast fist at his face. He swung his cleaver but Serkukan was faster, retracted his right hand and punched a hard hook across Siegmeyer’s face with his left. His right hand came up again and clasped the broken helmet, ripped it off into splinters of metal which revealed his black mane beneath.

Siegmeyer sounded like a beast out of hell with his next frantic screeches. His cleavers began a rapid spin toward them.

Serkukan thrust an arm forward and shattered one of the cleavers. He grabbed the other one in his own brutish hand, yanked it hard.

Rather than release the weapon, Siegmeyer let his whole arm snap at the joint. He stumbled into the momentum of the pull, and Serkukan spun a wild kick into the back of his armor. It sounded like an explosion when it fractured.

“Let’s end this.”

The crimson demon pointed up at the sky. There was a flare of amber light past the dark. The world began to shake.

Siegmeyer tried to turn his remaining blade to the sky. His arm flopped around limply.

He thinks he’s going to catch it? Fine. Give it a shot.

The demon leapt onto his bloody wings and shot up like a bolt.

The pulsating meteor plummeted past the clouds.

Then they slammed down atop it, pushed it down with all of his strength. His arms and legs bulged as he forced his unfamiliar form to its limits.

This is the power… of the Great Red One.

There was only the faintest resistance as the swords hit the giant flaming meteor from the other side. And then their momentum carried through. The world flared in a burning white light, a deafening explosion rang out… then all was black. All was silent.

Faunia’s mouth hung agape at the impact. What remained of Aeonics atop the crumbling walls of the city stopped and stared. Many of the Hunters stopped to stare too.

She turned back to the walls with a newfound courage. “You see that?” she shouted, “That’s what will happen to Cromer if you don’t surrender now. Our Etherians can be controlled—but that’s a choice you have to make right now.”

There was a long moment of silence from everyone on the battlefield.

Then a greatly-bearded man in white-gold armor leaned over the parapet. “We surrender. The Aeonics are leaving this battle.”

Then a man in black-red armor leaned over the wall at them. He said, “Cromer will stand down to your iron hand, tyrant.”

Faunia glowered at that. We’re not tyrants. That’s exactly what Rykaedi would be if you let her continue to possess you.

Viltar smacked her hard on the back. There was a deafening cheer all around them. The cat said, “We’ll work out the details of their surrender and Cromer becomes ours.”

Faunia winced at the notion. “I don’t want it to be ours. I just want it to be liberated from Rykaedi and her Sylvet.”

Viltar reeled back in confusion. “Then… who becomes the rightful ruler?”

“I don’t know. But we’ll station protection out here as much as we can. I need to go to Cedric—can you take care of things here?”

He nodded reassuringly. “Your homeland is safe with me, Vleren. Go to him. Be safe.”

Tirolith appeared and tossed Faunia into the air. Wings of ice appeared from her back and she managed a meager flight away, the young girl still helping to hold her up.

Viltar watched after her until she vanished into the growing storm. 「First we fight for the right to bear Etherians. Now we decide what Etherians can and cannot do. How alike to Kasian we all are, in the end.」

Faunia landed in the blackened, scorched field where Cedric stood alone. She approached him but stopped short. “Cedric…”

“Imagine if we channeled all of this power at Rykaedi. If we concentrate this kind of destruction…” He turned to her. “No Etherian can ever come against us again. This is what it’ll take to kill Kogar.”

“So long as Calamon does not go with it.”

His gaze narrowed. “This war would have gone on for weeks if I hadn’t done this.”

“I know.”

“Look how much destruction was caused in Calamon because we chose half-measures—”

“Cedric, I know.” she snapped. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along. We saved the innocent people within Cromer, we wiped out a few acres of land, sure, but it’ll grow back.” Faunia gestured her hand toward the ground. Some grass sprung up, flowers bloomed toward her. “It’ll grow back…”

Cedric watched the strange regrowth for a moment before Faunia seemed to realize what she was doing and drew back her hand. She looked at him. “So now we go to Rykaedi?”

He nodded.

“What do you want to do with Cromer? Kylinstrom?”

“It’ll stay under our protection but not our rule. We’ll remove the Sylvet and clean up the mess we’ve made. The same goes for Harth. Or whatever remains of it.”

Faunia steeled herself. “Do you need to rest before we head over there?”

“Nah. Let’s get it over with while my adrenaline’s still pumping. I don’t think Rykaedi is going to give us much of a struggle.” He looked down to the glowing bulb of Dyosius in his hand.

Faunia nodded.

blink

There they were atop that obsidian pyre in just a heartbeat. There was Rykaedi’s palace ahead.

The end was finally in sight.

Rykaedi—then Kogar. No more surprises. No more…

…At least, that might have been true, if not for the burning green wormhole which suddenly spiraled like open flames before the main entrance to her collapsed desert palace.

Cedric’s eyes widened. Faunia gasped.

And the desert was suddenly befallen by a storm of heavy rain.