Thal, Khsan
The blonde's attention shifted—cold, surgical. She turned her gaze from the direction Sipho and Sunphire had vanished, then pivoted back toward the others as if dismissing the event entirely. Her eyes, fixed on Elowen.
Illantra hissed through her teeth. "She's mine," she snarled, lunging again.
"Calm down child, " Marcellus growled, stepping forward beside her. His twin axes flared to life, lightning crawling down their edges as his Exo armor responded to his pulse. "let us assist you."
Cedric cracked his neck, his own lightning now steadier, angrier. "Fine," he said, "but don't slow me down."
The air between them thickened—charged, humming with static and bloodlust. Elowen whispered a prayer under her breath, then she raised her head to meet the woman's gaze.
"System, engage."
⟡ SYSTEM ONLINE — DIVINE PATH: Lightning ⟡
Resonance Detected: Caelistrix , God of the sky
Core Synchronization... Stable (95%)
Attribute Surge Active:
→ Strength +120
→ Speed +100%
→ Endurance +150%
→ Mana +1200%
Hidden attribute: Stormcaller—online
Elowen took in a deep breath.
Then the blonde moved.
She was in front of them before Elowen's eyes could catch up. Marcellus met her first, axes sweeping outward in a crescent arc—steel screaming silently through the air. The blonde ducked under the strike, her boot slamming into the sand, and drove an open palm toward his chest.
The impact rang like a bell, sending him skidding backward several meters, armor crackling as the kinetic dampeners tried to absorb the blow.
Illantra was already behind her, claws slicing toward the blonde's neck. Without turning, the blonde raised her arm, catching the strike on her forearm.
Illantra snarled, twisting midair and kicking off the blonde's shoulder to reposition—but the blonde pivoted, caught her by the wrist, and flung her bodily toward Cedric.
Cedric barely had time to catch Illantra before he was forced to dodge, lightning bursting outward in a counterstrike that illuminated the riverbank like a flashbomb.
Elowen made her move. She raised her hand towards the clear sky —a surge of radiance expanded around her, lightning dancing along her open palm. Instantly the sky darkened and super charged clouds appeared in the sky, lightning flashed without thunder.
She struck downward, lightning descended from the heavens illuminating the area in a bright blue light and descending on the blonde like divine punishment.
The lightning strike tore the world apart.
The impact hurled a wall of dust and vapor into the sky, swallowing the riverbank in a blinding white bloom. For a long, shuddering moment, there was no sound—just the metallic taste of ozone thick in the air.
Elowen stood with her arm still raised, the afterimage of her divine strike burned across her vision.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Then came a sound.
A breath.
Soft, ragged.
From the center of the smoking crater, the blonde woman moved.
Her body was trembling, her vest burned through at the shoulder, skin blistered and raw where the lightning had kissed her. But she rose—slowly, steadily, eyes still locked on Elowen. One hand pressed into the scorched sand, the other hanging limp at her side. She spat blood into the dirt, wiped her mouth, and straightened.
Her chest heaved once.
Then twice.
Then…
Stillness.
And her gaze hardened.
Marcellus took a cautious step forward. "Who are you girl?"
The blonde woman ignored the she took a low stance, her gaze still detached.
Cedric's jaw tightened. "No," he muttered, disbelief twisting his tone. "She's readying herself again."
Without warning, the blonde charged.
The sand exploded under her boots, sending shards of glass and smoke in all directions. Marcellus barely crossed his axes before she was on him—her movements faster, sharper, feral. Each strike carried precision. It was as if pain had stripped away her hesitation, leaving only intent.
Her fist slammed into his guard, sending a shockwave through the Exo suit. Sparks flared, and he staggered. Illantra dove in, her claws aiming for the woman's flank—but the blonde twisted, caught her wrist, and elbowed her in the ribs. The impact drove the air out of Illantra's lungs.
Cedric came next, lightning coiling around his arms like twin serpents. He struck with blinding speed—but she read him. She slipped under his first blow, spun, and swept his leg out from under him. Before he hit the ground, she'd already moved to intercept Elowen's counterstrike.
Elowen's lightning lanced through the air, a quicksilver whip of holy energy. The blonde ducked beneath it, close enough that the hair along her neck stood on end. The return strike came like a blur—an open-palm hit to Elowen's chest that sent her staggering back several meters, breath catching.
"She is something else," Elowen gasped, recovering her stance. "Marcellus, release your flames."
Marcellus's laughter came out between clenched teeth as he rejoined the fray. "The scatter. "
He slammed both axes together but instead of a thunderous clang no sound came. A wave of heat rolled off his armor as the exo plating split and flared open along glowing seams. Crimson fire erupted from the fractures, licking across his body like a living mantle. The twin axes blazed with molten light, their edges shimmering red-hot as if forged anew in his hands.
The air distorted around him; even the sand beneath his boots began to char and ripple.
Cedric blinked against the glare. "Do not release your flames for too long, you will burn the oxygen in the air. "
Marcellus grinned inside the helm. "I will try."
He surged forward, flames trailing behind like comet tails. The ground burned beneath each step. When he swung, the heat warped the air—his axes carving ribbons of crimson through the smoke.
The blonde didn't move.
She watched him come, calm as ever, hair fluttering in the hot wind. Her stance shifted slightly—heels digging in, hands loose, weight coiled. The firelight painted her in molten gold, her burned arm still trembling, her breathing shallow. But her eyes—her eyes were steady. Unblinking.
Marcellus brought both axes down in a burning cross.
At the last second, she stepped sideways—just a fraction—and the blow ripped past her, cleaving into the sand with a silent explosion of sparks. The flames howled upward, carving a crater where she had stood.
Elowen shielded her face from the blast, her divine circuits crackling in response to the surge of heat. Illantra skidded back, coughing through the smoke. Cedric's lightning fizzled, struggling to cut through the blinding firestorm.
And still the blonde moved through it untouched.
She danced between the arcs of flame, slipping through Marcellus's reach with inhuman precision. When he struck again, she pivoted on one foot and drove her palm into his gutplate. The hit landed with such force that his flames guttered for an instant, his armor groaning under the impact.
"She's unfazed…" Cedric hissed. "She's this strong?"
Elowen opened her mouth to respond, then stopped.
The ground trembled.
A deep, guttural rumble crawled up through the soles of her boots. The ground rippled. The sand cracked open in thin, spidering lines that spread outward from beneath the blonde's feet.
Marcellus froze mid-motion, one axe raised. "Elowen—"
Before he could finish, the earth split.
A jagged fissure tore through the riverbank, glowing from within with a hellish red light. The air filled with the stench of sulfur and iron. A pulse of darkness surged upward, rippling through the sand like the heartbeat of something vast and buried.
The fissure widened, belching fire and shadow.
Then—something moved inside.
A shape. A limb. A silhouette too large, too vast to take in.
The heat died instantly, replaced by an oppressive, suffocating cold. The crimson glow brightened until it was blinding, then shattered into darkness as it rose.
From the chasm's depths, a creature of molten shadow and writhing tendrils pulled itself free. Its body shifted like liquid night, shot through with veins of molten red. Its head was crowned with a halo of tendrils that twisted and screamed without sound.
The abomination towered over them all, blotting out the storm-lit sky.
Marcellus took a half-step back, his flames dimming. Cedric's lightning flickered out. Even Illantra's claws hesitated mid-rise.
The blonde stood at its base, her burned arm hanging limp, her eyes cold and distant.
She didn't look surprised, She didn't look afraid.
She simply watched it rise.
The creature's gaze if it had eyesturned slowly toward Marcellus. The heat from its body rolled across the sand in a suffocating wave.
Elowen's voice trembled as she whispered,
"By the heavens… what did she just call?"
"The scourge of Isak." Marcellus muttered the he grinned into the most crazy smile she had ever seen.