Lucius raised both hands toward the mountain of Spirit Stones. The Energy Reactor inside his chest, which had idled since the battle with Alveo, now roared to full output. The hum became a scream that vibrated through the cracked plaza and shook the bones of every soldier watching. Conrad stepped back. Lyra pressed her palm against her chest, her spiritual senses overwhelmed by the sheer density of power gathering in one point.He did not absorb the energy into his body. He directed it upward.A torrent of blue light erupted from the stone mountain, not flowing into Lucius but streaming past him, channeled through his reactor like a lens. The beam shot into the night sky, a pillar of condensed reality that punched through the remaining clouds and hit the fabric of space itself. The air shrieked. The ground cracked. The light was so bright that the capital below cast no shadows.Then the sky split.The clouds did not part. They were sucked inward, spiraling into a vortex that grew wide

The demon with broken horns remained on his knees, his chest heaving beneath the cracked breastplate. Behind him, the other survivors of the Light Locust swarm huddled together, their rusted weapons lowered, their eyes fixed on Lucius with a mixture of awe and primal fear. They had watched the Heaven-sent plague die by the millions simply because this stranger had walked into its path.From the back of the group, a larger figure pushed forward. This demon was not kneeling. He stood a head taller than the others, his shoulders broad and scarred, a pair of thick black horns curving back from his temples. His skin was the color of dried blood, and his right arm was a prosthetic of fused bone and black iron. Despite his injuries, he carried himself like a soldier who had commanded battlefields for centuries. He stopped a few paces from Lucius and stared down at him with narrow, assessing eyes."A human," the horned demon said. His voice was a low growl, rough from smoke and exhaustion. "T

The rocky ground shook without warning.At first, it was only a low tremor underfoot, a strange pulse that traveled through the broken earth like the beat of some buried giant heart. Then the cracks spread wider. Stone plates split apart. Dust burst upward in thick clouds, and from the dark depth below, something enormous began to rise.It came out slowly at first, forcing its way through layers of ancient rock with a harsh grinding sound that made even veteran soldiers tense. What emerged was the shape of a spider, but no living beast had ever looked like that.Its legs were long and crooked, made of sharpened bone that scraped against stone and left deep scars in the ground. Its body was a massive frame of pale remains fused together into a monstrous shell. Across its surface, clusters of spirit crystals had grown like parasitic organs, dark and clear at the same time, pulsing with a cold light that seemed to drink in everything around them. At the center of its head, one larger cry

The demon army emerged from the edge of the Bone Forest in shattered formation. Armor dented. Blades rusted. Bodies still bleeding from the battle against the Queen and the Scorched God's forces that had ambushed them at the forest mouth. But they still stood, because their leader still stood.Before them stretched a vast canyon. Rivers of black magma crawled slowly at its bottom, radiating heat that bent the air into rippling illusions. Across the canyon, suspended above the lake of fire, a colossal temple shaped like an hourglass floated in the air. Its upper half pierced the red sky. Its lower half hung just above the magma, anchored by chains of primordial energy that pulsed like a heartbeat. No sound came from within. Only a dim purple glow leaked through cracks in its stone walls.General Zark stared at the temple with narrowed eyes. "The Time Temple. I thought it was only a legend.""Legends always have roots," Lucius replied without turning. He stepped down from the war chario

"Drown him in holy fire!"The Scorched God's command echoed throughout the hall. The angels who had begun to charge pulled back, clearing the field. From behind the giant pillars, from the cracks in the walls, from the shadows beneath the altar, hundreds of elite magma soldiers burst out. They were different from those on the bridge. Bigger. Hotter. Their bodies were not just burning rock but pure magma cores wrapped in black crystal armor. Every step melted the floor. Every exhale vomited toxic steam.They surrounded Lucius from every direction. Above. Below. Sides. A trap formation that left no escape route. The temperature inside the hall skyrocketed, stone pillars began to melt like candles, ancient tapestry curtains ignited spontaneously.Lucius drew a deep breath. He closed his eyes.The Energy Reactor in his chest spun to maximum output. Infinite energy flowed from his artificial heart core into the Cold Core vortex. Two systems that usually worked separately now merged into an