The crater still smoked, its edges glowing faintly with residual heat—but from the shadows of the wreckage, something stirred.
A rasping inhale tore through the silence.
Then—
"YOU—"
A gaunt figure lunged from the broken stone like a revenant unchained, his voice a shrill crescendo of madness.
"YOU DARE DEFILE THE SACRED ALTAR?!"
Vaun'Zareth's scream shattered through the field like a divine curse. His pallid frame hunched forward as if gravity itself couldn't bear to carry his hatred. Eyes glowing with a wild, fanatical light, he stretched both arms skyward.
Dozens—hundreds—of black beams exploded outward in chaotic arcs, shrieking toward the squad.
"Scatter!" Leonardo yelled.
The forest was torn apart by the onslaught. Rajin disappeared into a flash of lightning, zigzagging through the maze of attacks. Kurona spun through the air with surprising finesse, knocking aside debris, but even he was pushed back by the sheer number of blasts.
Darkness never ceased—Vaun'Zareth's arms moved in whips, spewing corruption like a volcano of hatred. Even as they dodged, the squad was forced into retreat.
Ubel's voice cracked through the noise. "This is suppression! He's not letting us think!"
And that's when Vaun'Zareth began chanting.
His tongue, coated in blood, slithered through words that didn't belong in any mortal mouth. The beams didn't stop. He moved like a malfunctioning puppet, spasming and twitching, yet still perfectly precise.
Above them, the sky darkened further—not with clouds, but with mass.
A glacier. Formless, black, shimmering like obsidian, yet exhaling pure cold. It grew as Vaun'Zareth chanted, layered shard upon shard—a frozen tomb descending from above.
"MOVE!" Rajin shouted, but it was too late.
The glacier dropped.
The entire squad was crushed.
A thunderous impact cracked across the land, fissuring the earth and sending a shockwave of frost spiraling out for kilometers. Trees splintered. The altar ruins were completely swallowed. Silence fell, thick and absolute.
Vaun'Zareth stood still, breathing heavily. His twitching slowed.
And for a moment—just one—he smiled.
"Rest now. Your limbs were unworthy of worship. Your breath... a desecration."
But then— The glacier split.
From its center burst Kurona, fist extended, body steaming. The ice around him shattered into thousands of chunks, each blown back with force that bent the surrounding trees.
Vaun'Zareth's smile faltered.
"What…?"
Kurona floated for a moment, breathing slow and deep. His coat clung to his body from the moisture, steam lifting from his shoulders like smoke off a forge.
Leonardo wiped blood from his cheek. "He's stronger than we thought."
"No," Ubel's voice echoed from the treeline. "He's dangerous. We need to figure out his ability before this turns fatal."
"Agreed," Leonardo said, sword raised.
Vaun'Zareth didn't give them time to regroup. He vanished.
A blur—then an impact.
Ubel caught the blow but was launched like a missile into the trees, snapping trunks like matchsticks. Branches snapped in rapid succession as his body disappeared into the woods.
Rajin dove forward, lightning coiling around him, spear slicing through the air. But Vaun'Zareth twisted—his bones creaked, body bending unnaturally, spine spiraling midair—then struck back with a single kick. Rajin was sent flying, flipping violently through the air before crashing into the dirt.
"His body... it doesn't move like it should," Rajin growled, struggling up.
"Unnatural," Kurona muttered.
Leonardo and Kurona lunged in tandem, weaving through the space like synchronized blades. Kurona feinted left—Leonardo went high.
Vaun'Zareth saw through them both. A single ball of shadow erupted between his hands, and with a flick of his wrist, it detonated point-blank.
Leonardo and Kurona were thrown back, crashing against opposing trees.
Then came the stomp.
The ground froze instantly.
From beneath, ice spikes shot upward, jagged and unpredictable—like obsidian teeth ripping from the earth.
A beam of heat tore through the battlefield. Ubel reemerged, a spiraling stream of white-hot fire pouring from his palm. The ice spikes sizzled and vanished, evaporated into mist within seconds.
Smoke swirled.
Vaun'Zareth laughed—mad and delighted.
"Yes... YES! Show me despair! That you might be worthy of His light!"
A low, harmonic bell-tone echoed from his waist. The bell hanging from his belt—until now quiet—glowed with blinding black light.
And then it rang again.
The sound hit the team like a physical force. The air warped. Gravity shifted.
Resonance.
Leonardo's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me."
"Another one...?" Kouneli whispered.
Trees groaned.
And then—moved.
Their roots twisted, snaking forward, attempting to grab the squad by their legs. One tree slammed a branch down like a whip. Leonardo spun, slicing it cleanly in two.
"His resonance is terraforming the field." Ubel said.
"Watch the ground!" Rajin shouted.
It wasn't solid anymore.
The soil shifted, undulating like waves, opening and closing with jagged ridges trying to consume them whole. The squad barely managed to stay upright, leaping to avoid snapping jaws of living stone.
Vaun'Zareth danced through it all, giggling madly, throwing shards of shadow and screaming scripture in a tongue only he seemed to understand.
"His control is absolute," Ubel growled. "We're fighting the terrain itself!"
Leonardo weaved forward, slicing through rising rock and snarling vines. He turned to Kurona, panting. "I need to get close to him. There's something I can do—but I can't reach him with this chaos."
Kurona paused, thoughtful.
And that moment of pause was enough.
A spike of shadow shot toward him.
"Kurona, MOVE—!"
Ubel blurred in, intercepting the blow. The spike slammed into his side, sending him skidding back with a grunt.
He growled at Kurona. "This isn't the time to think, idiot!"
Kurona looked down, his expression suddenly calm—too calm.
"No... it is."
He clenched his fists, took a deep breath—
"Jumpy… jump."
He bounced on his heels.
"Jumpy-jump."
Again. Once more.
The bell at his waist formed out of nowhere. An ethereal chime echoed through the air. Resonance surged through the air again—but this time, it came from Kurona.
Leonardo froze. Rajin looked stunned. Even Ubel blinked.
Vaun'Zareth stopped mid-chant. He smiled.
"Oh. So you do hear Him. Wonderful."
The pale man spread his arms wide. "You shall be the first... the first to meet God."
He shot forward.
Kurona didn't flinch.
But before the attack could reach him, Leonardo intercepted, blade raised. The ground cracked beneath him, but he held.
Then his sword twitched.
"Wha—?"
The blade began moving on its own, vibrating with strange force, tugging itself toward Vaun'Zareth.
Leonardo snarled and hurled the sword toward the mad prophet. Vaun'Zareth weaved aside, letting it sail past him, still laughing.
Kurona tapped the side of his head and spoke:
"Testing, testing."
Leonardo blinked. "What?"
"Didn't say anything," Ubel muttered, raising an eyebrow.
Rajin shook his head. "Huh?"
Kurona grinned. "Oh. It's starting."
Leonardo turned toward him. "What is it?"
"I will follow your lead."
And then they sprinted.
Together.
Vaun'Zareth unleashed hell again—animated debris, beams of light and shadow, tendrils of darkness rising from puddles. But something had changed.
Kurona and Leonardo moved as one.
Every step, every dodge, every counter was perfect. Leonardo would duck—and Kurona would spring off his back. Kurona would trip, and Leonardo would pull him up mid-fall.
They weaved through the chaos like dancers in a storm, covering for each other's gaps, parrying in perfect synchronicity. They deflected blasts with blades of sound and bursts of wind, almost too fluid to follow.
Leonardo tapped the air.
"Left."
Kurona swung left, and a shadow spear was batted aside before it even manifested fully.
"Jump."
Kurona launched them both skyward.
"Switch."
They rotated positions mid-air, blades and bodies swirling.
Vaun'Zareth screamed in frustration, unleashing a new wave of terrain manipulation, splitting the earth into floating platforms that tried to crush them from above and below.
But the duo danced across them.
Kurona's voice echoed through Leonardo's mind—no words, just commands.
Ubel watched, stunned. "They've linked up..."
Rajin's eyes narrowed. "No. More than that."
He had activated his resonance:
Interplanetary Hotline.