The street was stained with the black blood of riftspawn, their bodies twitching as the air rippled with residual magic.
The three of them stood in the wreckage, Nola, Maika, and Taveer as they barely caught their breath. Smoke drifted past shattered windows, and torchlight flickered over broken stone and charred bodies.
Then it came.
Not with a shriek.
Not with claws or fire or shadow.
It walked.
Out of the smoke.
It looked almost human. Barefoot. Almost gentle.
Its skin was pale, paper-thin, stretched too tight over bones. Its eyes were too wide, too black. It smiled as it stepped into the open, teeth like needles, posture relaxed like it wasn't walking into a battlefield but greeting old friends.
Maika stiffened. "That one's different."
Nola raised her katana. "It's stronger."
Taveer said nothing. His eyes narrowed. He stepped forward, blade low, shoulders tight. The ground around him trembled slightly.
The monster's grin widened, splitting its face just a little too far.
Then it struck.
A flash of movement.
It crossed the street in an instant, silent, sudden and brutal. Taveer had just enough time to raise his blade. Steel clashed with elongated claws, and the impact cracked the cobbles beneath them.
The thing moved like liquid wrapped in bone. No wasted motion. No breath.
A swipe of its hand sent out a pulse of shadow that exploded on contact. Nola ducked, the blast tearing a chunk out of the stone wall behind her. Maika rolled left, casting a kinetic ward that deflected the shrapnel.
"Cover him!" Nola shouted.
She rushed in, slashing low. Her katana met flesh, if it was flesh. The monster hissed and turned, claws inching toward her in a blur. She twisted, felt the graze of death across her shoulder.
Maika shouted a warning and tossed a firebomb. It detonated mid-air, washing the creature in flame. It paused, just for a second and then walked through it, skin blistered but uncaring.
"Taveer, move!" Maika cried.
But he didn't retreat.
Taveer advanced.
He matched it strike for strike, teeth bared, blade flashing in the haze. His movements were precise, practiced, almost ritualistic. The monster flowed between his attacks, one moment solid, the next a blur. Its smile never faded.
Nola tried to flank again, aiming for the back of the knee. Her strike landed, blood sprayed but the thing didn't fall. It spun and slammed a fist into her side, launching her into a half-collapsed wall.
Pain bloomed.
She gasped for breath, struggling to move. Maika was beside her instantly, her potion bottle in hand.
"Rejuvanate."
Liquid flowed from the bottle and healed her. She grimaced as the potion scorched its way through her bloodstream, healing what it could.
Taveer fought like a monster, his sword a blur, his body taking cuts, slashes and bruises. Blood ran down his ribs. He didn't care. He pressed in harder.
"Don't let him go down," Nola said through clenched teeth.
She forced herself to stand.
Maika hurled a frost bomb. It hit with a explosion coating the monster in thick ice. For once, it paused.
Nola sprinted, katana raised. She swung hard, full force, across the creature's chest. Her blade carved deep.
It screamed.
Louder than before. Higher.
The sound cracked a nearby window.
The ice shattered.
The thing slammed both arms down, sending a shockwave through the ground that knocked Maika and Nola off their feet.
"Taveer, flank it left!" Nola yelled, coughing dust.
"I see it!" he replied.
Together they pushed again. Taveer drew its attention, hammering with wild, heavy strikes. Nola darted in on the left, cutting at its spine, its ribs. Maika danced along the perimeter, throwing runes into the air, chaining glyphs that ignited or snared.
The monster began to falter.
It swayed.
Its smile began to twitch.
Maika's runes flared and exploded. Acid, flame, curses. Nola slashed across its collarbone, nearly severing its arm.
It staggered.
"Now!" Taveer shouted.
He leapt as his blade plunged deep into its chest, sinking to the hilt.
Everything stopped.
The creature twitched once.
Then melted into mist.
"Did we get it?" Nola asked, chest heaving.
Maika took a step forward, wary. "I don't think so."
The mist twisted. Spiraled. Lifted.
The shape re-formed.
Taller.
Thinner.
It turned into a woman in a white veiled cloth.
Pale as death. Long silver-white hair spilled across a robe of shifting mist. Eyes burned beneath a veil. Magic curled around her like a living thing.
Nola's hands went cold.
"Oh gods," Maika whispered. "That's not a riftspawn we are fighting. That's a Fallen Will."
"A what?" Nola said.
"A Will, summoned and bonded. But her will bearer must have become corrupted. She's twisted. Untethered. A thing that shouldn't be."
The Fallen Will raised her hand. Wind roared.
Then, spectral blades shot out in every direction, splitting the world. Runes shattered. Walls collapsed.
They dove for cover.
Maika was screaming something but it was drowned out by the roar.
Nola's ears rang. Her fingers were numb.
The Will drifted forward.
Taveer charged.
She turned. Spoke one word.
Taveer was hurled back, his body caught mid-air, crushed against a wall by invisible pressure, then dropped.
"No!" Nola ran toward him.
The Will moved to intercept.
Nola slid low, barely under the arc of a ghostly claw, and rolled behind cover. Her blade hummed. Maika scrambled into place beside her.
"She's immune to physical strikes," Maika said. "She's barely bound to this plane!"
"Then how do we hurt her?"
Maika pulled out three flasks. "With everything."
Together, they moved.
Maika laid a trap circle, quick and dirty, throwing down oils and fire-dust. Nola sprinted past it, drawing attention.
The Will followed her. Silent, graceful and watching.
Nola turned on a dime and slashed. Her blade passed through the veil—no damage.
The Will's hand rose.
The spell ignited but as she stepped forward, her foot crossed into Maika's trap.
Boom.
Flame erupted. Light surged. The Will was engulfed.
Taveer stood again.
Bloody. Limping.
But alive.
"We can't stop him much longer," he whispered. "He's close."
"What?" Nola asked.
Before he could answer, his eyes rolled back.
And Vlad emerged.
He smiled.
Dark armor, pale smirk, and too much confidence.
"Let me free you of this burden, ladies."
He raised one hand and snapped his finger.
A spiral of black energy erupted, hit the Will full force, and shattered her into dust.
The silence that followed was complete.
Then Vlad looked at them.
"You need to knock him out," he said. "Fast. You've got seconds."
"What?" Maika stepped forward.
"I can't hold the door anymore. Don't hesitate to put him down. We can take it."
Then he faded.
Taveer stood again.
But his eyes were wrong. Hollow. Red.
He growled and charged at them.
The real fight had just begun.