The city looked worse in the daylight.Night hid the worst of it. Dawn showed everything. Burned-out cars stacked like bones. Buildings with their sides torn off, rooms open to the sky like dollhouses. Ash fell slow. It never stopped anymore.Vaeloric led the column. Bone titan piece took point. It was two ribs and a spine fused to a street sign, but it was the biggest thing they had. The hunter corpse walked right. Shotgun ready. Kael took left. Rifle across his back, knife in hand. He hated the rifle. Said it was too loud. Knives were quiet.Orion stayed behind Vaeloric. He had his book open, but he wasn’t reading. He was watching streets. “Sub-Sector 7,” Orion said. “Two blocks. The university was the biggest building before the sky tore. Now it’s just the biggest grave.”“Grave’s fine,” Vaeloric said. “I work good in graves.”The twenty undead followed. No sound. No breathing. Just feet on glass and concrete. Territory Authority didn’t reach here. They were slower outside the sta

The Chimera Lord filled the library doorway. He was eight feet tall without the skull. With it, nine. The lion head on his left shoulder was alive. It breathed. It bled. The snake on the right was dead but moving. Its tongue tasted the air. The bull skull in the middle had red eyes. No pupils. Just red.He carried a streetlight like it was a bat. The base was twisted into a grip. The top was bent and sharp. “Stadium King,” he said. Three voices. Man, beast, and something else. “The Gate called me. It sings to monsters. I am the song.”[Chimera Lord – Sovereign Class Mutant] [Abilities: Tri-Beast Core, Regeneration, Seismic Swing] [Threat Level: Catastrophic] [Proximity Bonus: World Gate +30% Power]“Fall back to the stairs,” Vaeloric said. “He’s stronger with the Gate behind us.”“No,” the Death Knight said. It stepped forward. “He is stronger when you run. Fight him here.”The Chimera Lord laughed. The lion roared. The sound knocked dust off the shelves. Books fell. “You bro

Vaeloric woke to black sky.No sun. No tear. Just black, like the inside of a coffin. He was on stone. Cold. His stump throbbed. His mouth tasted like copper and dirt.“Alive,” Kael said. He was sitting next to him. Rifle across his knees. “You were out for an hour. I thought the arm thing finally took you.”“It didn’t,” Vaeloric said. His voice was rough. “Grave Legion?”Kael nodded past him.Vaeloric turned his head.They stood in rows. Thousands. Skeletons in rusted armor. Some held swords. Some spears. Some nothing. Their bones were yellow. Old. But they stood straight. Silent. Waiting.Twelve hundred and forty three. The System number was right.The Death Knight stood in front of them. Sword point down. It didn’t look at Vaeloric. It looked at the Legion. Like a general seeing his men after a long war.“Vareth,” the Death Knight said. Its voice was in their heads. “We are home.”The Legion didn’t answer. They couldn’t. But they moved. One step. A salute. Bone on bone.“Chapter 43

The stadium didn’t cheer.It burned.Vorgath’s body was gone, but the heat stayed. Lava ran in gutters where rain should be. The south stands were a pit. The field was glass in places. The Legion stood in it. They didn’t burn. Bone didn’t care about heat.Vaeloric woke to Elara’s hands on his face. Not slapping. Checking. Her fingers were cold. That meant his skin was hot. Fever.“Don’t,” he said. His voice was sandpaper. “Don’t waste time on me.”“You killed a god,” Elara said. “You get five minutes of my time.”She poured water on a rag. Pressed it to his forehead. It hissed. “You’re cooking,” she said. “Overuse of Grave Grip. Again. Your body’s eating itself to fuel it.”“Then feed it,” Vaeloric said. He sat up. The hunter corpse helped. It didn’t let go after. It kept a hand under his arm. “Where’s Kael?”“Here,” Kael said. He walked up from the tunnel. Soot on his face. Cut on his cheek. “Living are in the parking garage. All six hundred. Scared. Hungry. But alive.”“Casualties?”

The city was a corpse. Vaeloric marched through it. Legion behind him. Twelve hundred thirty three now. The ten red marks were back in line, but they walked last. Watching. Waiting. The living stayed at the stadium. Six hundred fifty five now. More came in while they marched. Elara held the med bay. Kael held the walls. Joss held a knife he wasn’t supposed to have.“Left,” Orion said. He walked beside Vaeloric with his new book. “Bank’s two blocks. Godless Covenant made it a church. They’re praying to nothing. That’s the point.”“Nothing can’t answer,” Vaeloric said. His bone hand clicked. “So why pray?”“To prove they don’t need answers,” Orion said. “Eclipse ideology. The System is a god. The Ash Gods are gods. They reject both. They want to unmake everything. Start over.”“With what left?” Vaeloric asked.“Nothing,” Orion said. “That’s the goal.”The street opened into a plaza. The bank was there. Old stone. Pillars. Before the Cataclysm it held money. Now it held people. Hundred