The first wave of evil cultivators crashed against the village defenses like a tidal wave of darkness. Roots that Miguel had called forth were torn apart, wind barriers shattered by raw, stolen power.
"Hold the line!" Lola Sabel shouted, her own nodes blazing with centuries of cultivation. She raised her staff, and a wall of sacred fire erupted between the attackers and the villagers.
Miguel moved through the battle with speed he'd never known, his Body and Energy nodes working in perfect harmony. He struck down three evil cultivators, but for every one he felled, two more took their place.
"Elder—they're absorbing our people's energy!" Amihan cried out, watching as a fallen Babaylan's nodes dimmed and faded into the leader's twisted form.
The leader laughed, his power growing visibly with each life he took. "Every cultivator we consume makes us stronger! Your balance is weakness!"
A familiar figure burst through the forest—an old man with silver hair and eyes like burning embers, flanked by another warrior whose movements were fluid as water.
"Lolo!" Miguel gasped.
"Miguel, stay back!" his grandfather shouted, charging forward. "Master Kael and I will hold them off while you help the villagers escape!"
"But Lolo—"
"No time!" Master Kael cut in, his hands glowing with golden light. "We've known this day would come. Now fight!"
The battle raged harder than ever, but the evil cultivators were too strong—their stolen power making them nearly unstoppable. Miguel watched in horror as Lila fell, her energy pulled away by a grinning attacker.