General Calo had arrived.

He was taller than any man I’d seen. He walked through the ruins like he owned them. Each step cracked the earth beneath him, and each breath radiated power. His skin was withered and scarred, glowing faintly with red energy that crackled across his chest. His bald head gleamed in the light of the fires, and his thick, grey beard framed a face hardened by countless battles.

His eyes burned with a terrifying intensity, and he held a massive mace in his hand, radiating the same destructive energy that pulsed through him.

I couldn’t move.

My entire body trembled with fear as his presence filled the space around me, choking the air from my lungs. My legs felt like lead, frozen to the spot even as every instinct screamed at me to run.

The Luminarian soldier moved swiftly and pulled me back without a word. He guided me toward the shattered remains of a nearby house. The structure leaned precariously, its roof half-collapsed, offering just enough cover from the chaos beyond.

I was pushed gently against the wall, the rough texture biting into my back. The soldier crouched low beside me, his hand lifting slightly as though ready to act again at a moment’s notice. 

Calo surveyed the destruction with cold indifference, his gaze sweeping over the ruins and the panicked villagers. His lips curled into a sneer.

“Pathetic,” he muttered. “All this resistance… for nothing.”

“Renjiro!” Kaelan’s voice called. He was clawing at the rubble, his face streaked with dirt and tears. “Don’t leave me here! Please! I’m begging you!”

I wanted to move, to help him, but my body wouldn’t listen. I was frozen, paralyzed by fear.

I took half a step forward, then stopped.

The Luminarian grabbed my arm, pulling me back. “We have to go now!” His voice was urgent, almost frantic. “We don’t stand a chance against him. This is no ordinary warrior!”

“No! We can’t leave them!” I shouted, my voice cracking. My eyes darted between Satoshi, still locked in battle, and Kaelan, pinned beneath the rubble. “We can’t just leave!”

The soldier’s grip tightened. “If you stay, you’ll die too!”

Satoshi stepped into the wreckage, his hammer resting at his side. His gaze was fixed on the towering figure in the centre of the destruction. Calo turned toward him, his crimson eyes burning with disdain. His towering frame exuded dominance.

“You, human,” Calo growled. “Why do you resist when you know there is no chance of victory? Do you want to die here? In this meaningless village, when you could serve a greater purpose.”

Satoshi didn’t flinch, “And what purpose would that be?  Bowing to you? Watching you burn, what little do we have left? I know your kind, Luminarian.”

Calo’s lips curled into a sneer. “ Is that so... So many here have no clue who we are or what we represent. But you…” He tilted his head slightly, “You’re not like the others. Where are you from, blacksmith?”

Satoshi’s jaw tightened. “I could ask the same of you. Why come here? Don’t you people have enough power already?”

Calo let out a sharp, mocking laugh. “Power? Do you think this is about power? No. My master seeks something—something far greater. And we will do whatever is necessary to find it.”

His eyes flared suddenly, glowing brighter as his pupils narrowed into sharp slits. His head turned, his fiery gaze shifting toward the rubble where I hid with the Luminarian soldier. “Ah, I sense you, Guardian,” Calo said. “Why hide behind rubble when you could face me? And you call yourselves protectors. Yet you cower. Will you let your comrades die in vane?”

The soldier beside me stiffened. Without hesitation, he stepped out from our cover, his glowing blue eyes locking onto Calo’s fiery ones as he moved into the open street, taking his place beside Satoshi.

“Why are you here?” the soldier demanded, “What is the Crimson Dynasty after?”

Calo chuckled darkly, gripping his massive mace. “Like I would give that kind of information to a coward like you. Surrender or die, like all the rest who oppose us.”

Suddenly, Calo paused, his burning gaze shifting once more. His expression sharpened as he tilted his head in my direction. “Wait…” he murmured, “I sense another. His scent is strange.” His voice hardened. “Who are you, boy?”

My body froze as he stared directly at where I was hiding. I swallowed hard, every nerve screaming at me to stay silent, but the words escaped before I could stop them. “I’m nobody.”

Calo’s eyes narrowed, the malice in his expression growing darker. “Nobody? The Lumina in you says otherwise. Step out.”

Before I could react, Satoshi moved. With a roar, he swung his hammer in a wide arc, the force of the blow crashing into Calo’s jaw. The impact sent a shockwave through the air, and smoke and dust rose in thick clouds around them.

But as the smoke cleared, Calo stood unmoved.

The soldier didn’t hesitate. Blue energy flared around his fists as he lunged forward, landing a glowing strike against Calo’s chest. The blow sent the Crimson general staggering back a few steps, his expression flickering with what looked like mild surprise.

The soldier sprinted toward me. He grabbed my arm, pulling me from my spot as Calo steadied himself again. The general’s eyes burned even brighter as he turned his attention back to Satoshi.

Satoshi raised his hammer once more, his voice calm and steady. “If it’s me you want, I won't run. I'm right here.”

Calo grinned, his voice low and cold. “I admire your courage. But respect doesn’t mean mercy. What happens next is your own doing.”

As the soldier dragged me back toward the safety of the rubble, I turned, catching one last glimpse of Satoshi standing firm in the street, face-to-face with a monster.

I looked back—and my blood ran cold.

Down below, Calo reached Satoshi. I watched in horror as he grabbed him by the throat, lifting him like he weighed nothing.

“No! No!” I screamed, thrashing against the soldier’s grip. “We have to help him! We have to—”

But Satoshi didn’t struggle. His arms hung at his sides; his breathing labored steadily. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, but his eyes locked on Calo’s with defiance.

“You think taking my life will break me? You’re wrong. I’ve already won.”

Calo’s grip tightened, but he hesitated. “I admire you, blacksmith. Few dare to stand before me. But this isn’t bravery—it’s foolishness. I will give you a final chance. Surrender, and I might spare you."

Satoshi coughed, “Spare me? So you can take our lives tomorrow? No. My answer is the same. I’d rather die a free man than kneel to your kind.”

The two stood frozen in the silence. Then, with a sharp wrist twist, Calo slammed Satoshi into the ground and threw him like a ragdoll. The earth cracked beneath the force, but still, Satoshi rose to one knee, gripping his hammer tightly.

Calo’s gaze hardened, his mace glowing crimson as it arced through the air. I thought it was over. But then I heard a breath.

It was Satoshi.

The sound clawed at my ears, like the hiss of a blade being drawn. Dust whipped through the battlefield, swirling around him. Even the flames from the wreckage flickered, shrinking as though cowed by his presence. Around me, Crimson soldiers froze mid-step, their weapons lowering as they glanced at each other, uneasy.

Then came the sound.

At first, I thought I imagined it—whispers, barely audible beneath the groan of shifting rubble. They grew, folding into each other until they became a chorus, thick with a weight I couldn’t explain. 

“Vaadaaaaaaa!”

The word hit like a thunderclap. I flinched, even from my distance, as the ground trembled and split beneath Satoshi. Jagged fissures spread outward in violent cracks, swallowing debris. The battlefield roared with the groan of shifting rubble.

Crimson soldiers around me collapsed as though an invisible hand had ripped them from their feet. They hit the ground hard, gasping for air, their weapons scattering uselessly. Their bodies convulsed, struggling as if the very air had turned against them. Some clawed at their throats; others curled into themselves, too overwhelmed to resist.

Even Calo staggered. His knees buckled for a heartbeat before he drove the butt of his mace into the earth, forcing himself upright. His crimson eyes flickered with a strange light as he braced himself against the crushing pressure radiating outward from Satoshi.

“You… know the tongue?” Calo voiced.

My breaths were shallow, not because of the force—somehow, it didn’t touch me—but from the sight of it all. Beside me, the Luminarian crouched, his glowing eyes fixed on the scene. 

“Volcis...”

That word. It burned in my ears.

I barely registered the soldier’s hand clamping down on my shoulder. “Stay still,” he hissed. “You don’t understand what this is.”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. My gaze was locked on Satoshi. His hammer planted in the ground as though it was the only thing holding him up. His breaths came in ragged gasps, his shoulders trembling under the weight of whatever he’d unleashed.

Calo straightened, planting the haft of his mace in the cracked earth as it flickered like a dying flame. Slowly, he stepped forward, the fractured ground crunching beneath his boots. The pressure from Satoshi’s power seemed to fight him, pushing back, but he refused to stop.

“You surprise me, blacksmith,” Calo said, “ A few know the old ways, let alone dare to use them. But a human? You surprised me. But this changes nothing.”

Then he moved.

It was like watching a tempest uncoil. Calo surged forward with terrifying speed, his crimson aura flaring brighter as if it would consume everything in its path. The ground split further under the force of his momentum, a thunderous crack echoing across the battlefield.

Calo leaped into the air in a single bound, his mace rising above his head and glowing like molten steel.  He hung there, silhouetted against the ashen sky, before plummeting toward Satoshi like a falling star.

“Satoshi!” I shouted, though my voice was lost in the deafening roar of Calo’s descent.

The impact was blinding.

Light exploded outward in every direction, consuming the battlefield in a searing white radiance. I threw up my arms to shield my eyes, but the brilliance burned even through my closed lids. The air shuddered waves of heat and force rippling outward, flattening what little remained of the surrounding ruins.

When the light finally dimmed, the battlefield was silent.

I blinked through the haze as my vision blurred and my vision blurred. Slowly, my eyes focused on the crater at the center of the destruction. Calo stood there, his mace planted firmly in the shattered ground. His crimson aura flickered faintly before fading completely.

And Satoshi...

Satoshi lay crumpled at Calo’s feet, and his body was still. Too still.

The Blue Clan soldier’s hand on my shoulder tightened as I took an instinctive step forward.

“Don’t,” he said sharply, his voice cold. “He’s gone.”

I couldn’t look away. Tears blurred my vision as I watched him fall, his hammer clattering to the ground beside him. 

Calo stood over the fallen blacksmith and rested his mace against the ground.

“Few die with such honor. Perhaps the boy you protected will live to remember your sacrifice. And perhaps he will learn that honor means nothing when faced with true power.”

With that, he stared at me for one last time before he walked away from Satoshi’s still form as signaling his soldiers.

 The Crimson soldiers, many still shaken from the weight of Satoshi’s power, began to rally at his signal. Slowly, they fanned out, capturing the villagers hiding or pinned in the chaos.

“Why...” I called out. “After all of this?”

Calo didn’t stop.

“You killed him!” I shouted, taking a step forward. As I moved, the Blue Clan soldier’s hand fell away from my shoulder. “Why not take us, too? Why leave us here? What’s the point of this if you won’t finish it?”

The Crimson Lord abruptly stopped. The soldiers nearby paused, their movements hesitant, as their leader slowly turned back to face me.

“ I already have."

Crimson soldiers pulled villagers from their hiding places and herded them toward the ruins. 

Then, a sound—a muffled groan.

My head snapped toward the rubble nearby. I imagined it momentarily, but then I heard a low, pained sound again.

I rushed toward the source, my feet skidding across the loose debris. The Blue Clan soldier followed silently.

I saw Kaelan again wedged beneath the wreckage, his chest barely rising and falling. His head lolled to the side as blood streaked his face.

I dropped to my knees, frantically clawing at the rubble to free him. The Blue Clan soldier crouched beside me.

Before I could lift the final piece, a shadow fell over me.

“Enough.”

Calo stood there. His eyes moved from me to Kaelan and the Blue Clan soldier.

He crouched, brushing aside some of the debris effortlessly with one hand. 

“He lives,” Calo said, almost to himself. Then his gaze flicked back to his soldiers. “Take him.”

“What are you doing?” I demanded, panic rising in my voice as two Crimson soldiers moved forward to lift Kaelan’s unconscious body.

Calo didn’t answer me. He rose to his feet, his gaze fixed on Kaelan as his men carried him away. Then, without a word, he turned and continued his march.

The Blue Clan soldier grabbed my arm as I moved to follow. “Don’t,” he said sharply. “There’s nothing you can do now.”

I watched helplessly as Kaelan’s limp form disappeared into the ranks of the Crimson soldiers. The weight of it all pressed down on me—the loss, the helplessness, the knowledge that we’d survived only because Calo had chosen to let us.

The battlefield grew quieter as the Crimson forces retreated, leaving only ruins and broken bodies behind. I stood there, frozen in the aftermath, with only the echoes of Satoshi’s final stand to keep me company.

“I’ll make you pay,” I whispered through clenched teeth, my voice trembling with fury. “I’ll make you all pay.”