VRRRRMMMM.
The memory violently distorted again, tearing Roya and Sam away from the blinding clash of Golden and White Auras.
The fragments of the memory didn't just spin this time; they bled.
CLANG! SHRRING!
The deafening sound of swords clashing and armor buckling assaulted Roya's ears. Through the chaotic glimpses, she saw the sheer, unadulterated slaughter.
"Kill himmm!" a faceless knight shrieked, charging forward before being instantly cleaved in two by a massive golden blade.
The scenes flashed like a nightmare. A once-proud Holy Knight fell to his knees in the bloody water, dropping his weapon in absolute terror. "Sir Kael, please don't—!"
SLASH.
The golden blade showed no mercy, cutting clean through the begging knight with the terrifying, unstoppable grace of a battlefield legend.
But the absolute second the knight fell, a blinding streak of white light erupted from the periphery.
BOOM!
The Spear Paladin lunged forward, unleashing a catastrophic blast of Aura from his weapon that slammed directly into Kael, blasting the golden knight backward several feet, his boots carving deep trenches through the crimson water.
VRRRRMMMM.
The violent shaking suddenly stopped. The vision finally stabilized.
Roya looked up at the sky. It was afternoon, the sun shining brightly, but the crystal-clear shallow lake was completely gone. The water was now a thick, horrifying crimson red, choked with the floating, slaughtered bodies of dozens of Holy Knights and their horses.
"Nooo..." Sam called out, his ghostly voice cracking with sheer horror. He pointed a trembling finger toward the center of the lake. "Roya... look at Sir Kael."
In the middle of the bloody water, Sir Kael and the arrogant Spear Paladin stood completely still.
The afternoon sunlight reflected brilliantly off both of their dented, blood-stained golden armors. But neither man was moving.
They were standing chest-to-chest, their weapons piercing entirely through one another. Kael's broadsword was buried deep into the Paladin's stomach, while the Paladin's spear had been driven straight through Kael's chestplate, exiting through his back.
Blood dripped from the Paladin's mouth behind his visor. He let out a wet, rattling laugh.
"Ha hahahaha..."
"This is the end... Master Kael," the Spear Paladin gasped, his voice bubbling with blood. "No matter how much you try... more will come. And they will kill that girl... no matter what."
Sir Kael didn't say a word. With a brutal, agonizing pull, he violently yanked his broadsword out of the Paladin's gut.
SPLASH.
The Spear Knight collapsed backward into the red water, dead.
Sir Kael swayed heavily. His knees buckled, and he crashed down into the bloody lake, barely keeping himself upright by leaning all of his weight on his sword. The spear remained lodged completely through his chest.
VRRRRMMMM.
Roya blinked. The angle of her vision had shifted.
"Wait," Roya muttered, her mind reeling as she looked at her surroundings. She wasn't standing next to Sam anymore. She was behind Kael. She looked down and saw a pale, trembling hand reaching out.
(Wait... is this Lady Silvi's point of view?) Roya realized with a shock. She was trapped directly inside Silvi's own eyes.
"Nooo..." Silvi's shattered, heartbroken voice rang out in Roya's head. The pale hand reached desperately toward the dying knight. "Sir Kael, don'ttt..."
Kael coughed violently, blood pouring from the spear wound.
At the edge of the forest, the few surviving foot knights screamed in fury.
"Sir Michale is dead! Kill that traitor Kael!"
They raised their weapons and began charging through the bloody water toward the helpless, dying Paladin.
"No," Silvi's inner voice echoed, filled with a sudden, terrifying resolve. "I won't let it happen."
Roya felt the physical sensation of Silvi clenching her pale fist.
Instantly, a massive surge of pure, dark red Aether gushed out of Silvi's frail body. The sheer magical output was so immense that her physical body couldn't handle it.
Her outstretched hand lost all of its power, falling limply to her side.
THUD.
Her hand slammed against the edge of the stone altar. From her trembling fingertip, a single, heavy drop of blood fell. It hit the surface of the lake.
BOOM.
A shockwave of crimson Aether exploded outward from that single drop, traveling in every direction at blinding speed. The entire lake instantly absorbed the magic, turning the water into a glowing, vibrant red.
The charging knights froze in their tracks, looking around in absolute terror. "What is happening?!" one of them screamed.
From outside Silvi's body, Sam's ghostly voice cried out in awe. "What did she do?! Roya, look toward the sky! What is that?!"
Suddenly, Roya felt a strange pulling sensation. Her ghostly form was forcefully expelled, floating out and away from Silvi's body. Hovering in the air beside Sam, Roya looked up toward the heavens.
The bright afternoon sky was tearing apart. A massive, swirling vortex of red Aether consumed the clouds. High above the world, two colossal, god-like eyelids materialized in the red sky.
Slowly, the giant eyelids pulled back.
Two impossibly massive, glowing Silver Star Eyes stared down at the world, shining brighter than the afternoon sun. The sheer scale and pressure of the celestial eyes were paralyzing. Roya was completely stunned, her breath caught in her throat at the horrifying, majestic beauty of it.
The red Aether surrounding the lake began to violently concentrate, swirling like a massive vortex directly around Sir Kael.
The magic seeped into his golden armor, rapidly burning away the holy gold and completely covering it in the color of deep, dried blood. The blood-drenched Crimson Knight was born.
Kael didn't stand up. Still kneeling on both legs in the bloody water, he gripped the shaft of the spear protruding from his chest. With a brutal, agonizing pull, he ripped the weapon entirely out of his own body and tossed it aside.
Gripping his broadsword with both hands, he pointed the tip directly at the sky, and let out a dominating, unhinged roar that shook the very earth beneath the water. Massive waves smashed into each other as his power skyrocketed.
"COME AT ME!" Kael roared, his voice distorted into a demonic, booming echo. "NO MATTER HOW MANY OF YOU THERE ARE... I WILL SLAUGHTER ALL OF YOU BASTARDS!"
VRRRRMMMM.
The deafening roar was instantly cut off.
Everything went completely, suffocatingly black. The lake, the knights, and the giant eyes vanished.
Roya looked around wildly. "Sam?"
Sam wasn't there. She was completely alone in the endless dark void.
"Roya," a soft, sorrowful voice echoed from the shadows.
"Silvi? Is that you?" Roya called out into the darkness. "What happened there? That chaos... what did you do?"
"I just wanted Sir Kael to live," Silvi's voice replied, thick with tears.
"But did it work? Why are you doing this?" Roya demanded.
"It did work. He lived... or rather, he couldn't die."
Slowly, Silvi materialized out of the darkness. She appeared as a translucent, glowing ghost, looking exactly as she had on the altar.
"They kept coming," Silvi explained, her voice cracking with the weight of unimaginable guilt. "Weeks. Months. Years... it seemed there was no end to the Church's assassins. Sir Kael kept fighting them all. As the decades passed, he slowly turned into a ghost of himself, just a mindless armor fighting anyone who held a weapon."
She looked down at her hands. "Then, suddenly, the assassins stopped coming. Years passed. A decade... or decades. I don't even remember."
Roya's violet eyes widened. "Why do you make him suffer like this? Why not just END this realm?"
"I CAN'T!" Silvi cried out, looking up at Roya with a broken, fake smile. "I died that day. I don't know why I am here. Am I even Silvi? Or am I just a memory essence left behind by her magic? I don't know."
She floated closer, her glowing hands trembling. "I have little to no control over this Realm, and I am losing what little I have as the days pass by. I don't want Sir Kael to suffer forever. Please, Roya... you have to end this."
"How?!" Roya gritted her teeth in frustration. Her mind immediately snapped to her partner outside. "And do you know if Lucas is still—"
"For now," Silvi cut her off.
SWISH.
The black void vanished. Roya was suddenly floating high above the present-day Crimson Lake.
CLANG!
A massive shockwave of water exploded directly beneath her.
The Crimson Knight skidded backward several feet, falling heavily onto one knee, dragging his sword through the red water to slow himself down.
A few yards away, Lucas was skidding backward as well. He quickly caught his balance and began sprinting in a circle around the Crimson Knight, his posture low, his breathing heavy but controlled. The Crimson Knight's featureless helmet tracked Lucas's movements perfectly.
(He's doing it,) Roya thought, a massive wave of relief washing over her. "Looks like Lucas is doing okay for now."
"For now," Silvi's voice echoed in Roya's mind. "But he won't survive alone."
Suddenly, Roya heard a deep, familiar humming sound. She quickly looked down.
A swirling tornado of wind began to whip up around the kneeling Crimson Knight. Blinding, pure Golden Aura slowly began to bleed out from the cracks in his blood-red armor.
Lucas immediately stopped in his tracks. He dispersed the brilliant blue Aether coating his body, dropping his guard for a fraction of a second. His face was heavily bruised, his clothes torn.
"Don't tell me this bastard can use Aura too..." Lucas muttered in absolute disbelief.
BOOM!
The Crimson Knight unleashed the Golden Aura. A catastrophic blast of wind and water exploded in every direction.
Lucas threw his uninjured arm up in front of his face, barely able to see through the blinding storm. The Crimson Knight was now entirely enveloped in a terrifying, hybrid glow of dark red and brilliant gold.
"Yep," Lucas sighed dryly. "I am dead."
BOOM.
In a flash of pure golden light, the Crimson Knight vanished and reappeared directly in front of Lucas.
Lucas frantically raised his sword to block. The impact was like getting hit by a mountain.
Lucas spat out a mouthful of blood as the sheer kinetic force blasted him backward like a ragdoll.
"NOOO! LUCAS!" Roya screamed from the sky, completely helpless.
"This is the only help I can give you with whatever control I have left," Silvi whispered rapidly.
VRRRRMMMM.
"What are you doing?!" Roya yelled as the sky began to hum.
Down in the lake, Lucas skipped across the water like a thrown stone, hitting the surface multiple times before finally coming to a stop, rolling onto his back.
"Shit," Lucas coughed, wiping blood from his chin as he pushed himself up. He clenched his fist tightly around his hilt. "This won't work. He's just too strong."
He looked up at the sky, preparing for his final stand.
Suddenly, he paused.
High above the crimson lake, the space in the sky was actively twirling and distorting in three distinct spots, like small whirlpools in the air.
POP. POP. POP.
Three figures suddenly dropped out of the spatial distortions, plummeting straight down toward the lake.
Lucas squinted, utterly baffled.
"AHAAAAA! What the hell is going on?!" screamed a young woman in light armor with fiery Amber hair as she flailed through the air.
"I don't know, Rika!" screamed a fat, heavily armored knight gripping a massive shield, falling right beside her.
SWISH.
A third figure—a young man with messy black hair, dressed in sleek light armor—was falling with his arms crossed, looking entirely unbothered.
"Hey," the black-haired guy yelled over the wind. "Maybe we should think about how to land."
Lucas lowered his sword, staring blankly at the screaming strangers plummeting from the sky. He let out a long, deeply exhausted sigh.
"What the heck is going on in this place?"