Outside in the sky, four more abominations dropped like stones, their bodies burning as they fell. The demons on the streets went wild with cheers, shouting until their voices cracked. Every death pushed their excitement higher.
Dorian and the other grandmasters fought with stunned expressions. They had expected a bloody, hopeless struggle, not a one-sided massacre. Watching Primus, Steve, and North carve through the enemy shook them to their core.
That shock pushed the Phantom to finally move.
Its body blurred, vanishing from its spot. When it appeared again, it stood right in front of Dorian, greatsword resting lazily on its shoulder.
My eyes narrowed. My full attention locked onto the fight.
I had made a promise to Primus: no one from his family would die as long as I stood here.
The Phantom’s knee shot forward, fast enough to tear a hole through the air. It was aimed directly at Dorian’s chest, an attack meant to crush his ribs in a single blow.
Before it connected, I flicked my hand and pulled Dorian back. Just a small shift. Barely a step. But enough.
The knee missed by an inch.
A thunderous crack followed as the Phantom’s strike continued forward, grazing Dorian with raw force. The impact still sent him flying like a meteor, ripping through the sky before smashing down into the city. His body plowed through several houses, breaking walls and rooftops until he finally rolled to a stop inside a collapsed building.
All cheers stopped instantly. The entire city went silent.
"Father!" Primus roared, his voice shaking the air. Flames burst across his body and he shot forward, vanishing from sight as he streaked toward the Phantom.
Explosions echoed in the sky with every step he took.
He reappeared behind the Phantom, too fast for normal eyes to track and swung his sword with all the heat and fury inside him, aiming straight for the creature’s neck.
The Phantom reacted just as fast.
Its greatsword rose in a smooth, effortless motion.
BOOM.
A shockwave blasted outward, pushing both fighters apart and scattering nearby clouds. Primus skidded back several meters, fire spiraling off his arms as he steadied himself in midair.
"You are fast," the Phantom said. Its voice carried no anger, only curiosity. Then it whispered one word. "Domain."
A black ripple spread from its body. The air twisted and darkened. Deathmist surged out of the Phantom like smoke from a collapsing world, spreading across the sky in wide waves. The pressure doubled, then tripled, suffocating the air.
Shapes formed inside the mist, dozens of dark spheres spinning like burning stars, made of deathmist.
They pulsed once.
Then shot straight toward Primus like a rain of blazing, death-infused meteors.
But Primus didn’t give the Phantom a chance to press the attack. Flames burst under his feet as he shot forward, dodging the closest sphere by inches. He closed the distance in a heartbeat and crashed into the Phantom again, forcing the creature to raise its sword to defend.
But the deathmist balls didn’t vanish. They continued flying downward in long black arcs, heading straight toward the city.
Several weaker grandmasters noticed them and immediately flew up, their hands glowing red as they released fireballs to intercept the attack. The sky exploded in bright flashes as fire and deathmist collided, lighting up the entire battlefield in red and black.
Primus didn’t look down. He locked his gaze on the Phantom and pushed even harder. Their blades clashed with heavy echoes that shook the sky. Sparks and flames burst around them as they swung, kicked, blocked, and countered in rapid motions. Primus’s fire trailed behind every strike, burning brighter with every exchange.
He finally pulled his sword back, heat gathering around it in thick waves.
"[Blazing Wave]!" he shouted.
He brought his sword down in a fierce vertical slash. A massive X-shaped burst of roaring fire tore toward the Phantom, burning the air itself as it moved.
The Phantom answered with a calm step back and swung its greatsword in a horizontal arc. A wave of black deathmist surged out to meet the X-shaped blast.
The two forces collided.
A huge explosion erupted in the sky, fire and deathmist twisting together before canceling each other out entirely. The shockwave rippled outward, shaking the nearby demons and scattering clouds in every direction.
As the last sparks faded, a loud thunderboom cracked the air.
Steve appeared behind the Phantom, lightning coiling around his sword and body, dark energy swirling along its edge. His blond hair whipped violently from the speed.
"[Abyss Severance]!" he roared.
He thrust his sword forward and then pulled it upward in one smooth cut. The blade carved through the Phantom’s back, cutting from its left hip toward the right shoulder. Black blood sprayed out in a sharp arc.
The Phantom twisted at the last second, saving itself from being cleaved completely in half. Even then, the wound was deep enough.
Meanwhile, Dorian burst out of the ruined building he had crashed into earlier. Flames blazed around his body as he flew up again, fury burning in his eyes. He saw Primus and Steve battling the Phantom with overwhelming force and prepared to join them.
Before he could reach them, a soft wind brushed past him.
North appeared in front of him, her two blades at her sides, her hair flowing slowly as thin spirals of wind circled around her like a faint halo.
"Finish the abominations fast. They can handle the Phantom," she said.
Dorian looked past her at the chaotic sky. Primus and Steve moved with speed and power far beyond what Dorian had ever seen from grandmasters. The Phantom struggled to keep up with their combined pressure.
He exhaled once and nodded. "Fine."
He turned and shot back toward the battlefield of abominations.
North vanished a moment later, slipping out of sight as if the wind had swallowed her. She reappeared behind a level 291 abomination that was trying to break through a group of demons. She spun once, blades crossing. A clean circle sliced through the monster’s waist.
The upper body slid off the lower half, falling in slow motion as blood rained down.
North was already gone, appearing beside another abomination. A spinning slash took its arm off, followed by a thin horizontal cut that severed its head. She moved with consistent precision, carving through weak points without hesitation.
Two more abominations fell to her blades. Several others lost limbs.
The battlefield shifted fast.
Primus clashed with the Phantom again. Steve circled at high speed, ready to strike a second time. Dorian and the grandmasters fought the remaining abominations with renewed strength. And North kept tearing through the enemy formation, creating openings with each kill.
I observed all of it from my position, feeling the tide of battle tilt more and more in our favor. But I also knew what needed to come next. For the demons below, for the final push, they needed a spark, something that would shake them awake and fuel their rage further.
So, as several deathmist balls continued streaking downward, I nudged them with a faint touch of Essence, pushing them slightly off their intercepted paths.
The defending demons missed by a few meters.
Three deathmist spheres slipped past and exploded in open sections of the city, destroying buildings and lighting up the streets in black fire. Screams rose immediately.
The demons fighting in the sky saw the destruction and their fury doubled. Their fire burned hotter, their shouts grew louder, and they pushed harder against the abominations.
And when the moment felt right, I sent a calm message through the bond to Knight.
’Let the Bloodreaver ancestor out.’