The barrier shattered under Jacob's final desperate strike, but he was already too late.Ancient stone beneath the altar crumbled inward, revealing darkness that seemed to devour light itself. The void expanded upward like smoke rising from hell, except this smoke had substance and weight and malice that pressed against Jacob's chest until breathing became difficult.Anna stumbled backward, her mystical senses screaming warnings that her rational mind struggled to process. This was not just shadow or absence of light. This was something that had existed before light was ever created, something that remembered the universe's first moments and resented everything that came after."Jacob, we need to leave," she said, pulling at his arm with genuine fear in her voice for the first time since their wedding battle. "Whatever Verons just released, we cannot fight it."But Jacob could not move. He was transfixed by the shape forming in the chamber's center, watching tendrils of shadow coalesc

Jacob did not hesitate. The moment Verons finished speaking, Jacob channeled power through artifacts two and three simultaneously, creating a spear of concentrated energy that could have punched through reinforced steel. He hurled it with everything he had.Verons caught it. Just reached out and grabbed the mystical spear with his bare hand like it was nothing more than a thrown stick. The energy dissipated against his palm, absorbed into the shadow writhing beneath his skin."Interesting," Verons said, examining his hand with detached curiosity. "I can feel the artifact's power trying to harm me, but the Darkness simply consumes it. Converts it into something I can use. This body is remarkable."Anna was already moving, circling to Verons's left while Jacob held his attention from the front. She gathered guardian energy in both hands, shaping it into blades of pure light that had once been able to cut through mystical barriers like paper.She struck fast. Two slashes aimed at Verons'

Three days was not enough time. Jacob knew that before Marcus even began explaining, but he also knew three days was all they had.He sat on the barn floor the following morning, ribs still aching despite the guardian healing working through his system overnight. Anna sat across from him, both of them watching Marcus arrange items on a wooden table with the careful precision of someone who understood that getting the order wrong could be fatal.The old book lay open beside three smaller texts that Marcus had apparently been carrying for years, waiting for exactly this situation. Or dreading it. Probably both."The void exists between everything," Marcus began without preamble. "Between this world and whatever lies beyond it. Between life and death. Between the physical realm and the purely mystical. It is not a destination you travel to. It is a state you fall into when you strip away every anchor tying you to reality.""How do you strip those anchors?" Anna asked."Carefully." Marcus

The creatures were not human-shaped. That was the first thing Jacob registered as he burst through the barn door into chaos.Some moved on four limbs, some on six, some seemed to have no fixed form at all, constantly reshaping themselves as they tore through tents and supply lines and anyone unfortunate enough to be standing in the open when they arrived. They were made entirely of the same shadow substance that coated Verons—dense, hungry darkness given temporary physical form and pointed at the rebel camp like weapons.Regular steel passed through them without resistance. Jacob watched a fighter drive a sword through the nearest creature's chest and pull it back out without the beast even acknowledging the strike. The shadow simply flowed around the blade and reformed."Mystical weapons only!" Jacob shouted, channeling energy through his own blade and cutting the creature down. It dissolved with a sound like a whispered scream. "Tell everyone—conventional weapons are useless!"The p

The camp did not sleep that night. How could they? Tomorrow they would either kill a god or die trying, and rest felt like accepting death before it arrived.Jacob walked through the preparation areas watching fighters sharpen blades that would probably break against shadow armor, checking straps on armor that would not stop mystical attacks, rehearsing formations that assumed they would live long enough to execute them. Nobody spoke to him directly but he felt their eyes tracking his movement. Looking for confidence he did not have. Searching for certainty in a man who knew better than anyone how badly outmatched they were.The mystical warriors gathered in circles, chanting rituals that would supposedly strengthen their connection to guardian energy. Marcus led one group through meditation techniques designed to expand their capacity for channeling power. It might help. Might buy them an extra thirty seconds of fighting before exhaustion claimed them.Ben Tate supervised the convent