As Ermis narrowly dodged an incoming attack, his focus was briefly interrupted. A whisper of shadow flickered at his side, relaying an urgent message the shadows he had tasked with guarding Xia had grave news. The priestess had taken Xia once more.

Ermis’s grip on his weapon tightened, rage flaring in his eyes. He clenched his jaw, trying to suppress the fury that surged within him. "Not again," he thought.

 The priestess's interference had pushed Xia to the edge before, and Ermis knew he couldn't let it continue.

Determined, he forced his mind to refocus on the battle at hand, plotting his next steps. He needed to win, escape, and reach Xia before it was too late.

In the town square of the Lychnis Empire, peace filled the air as children played and laughed, their giggles ringing out like the sweetest melody. Merchants chatted with customers, and neighbors exchanged friendly waves.

Suddenly, the ground beneath them trembled violently. A massive earthquake struck, and people stumbled, their joyful conversations turning into panicked murmurs.

“What’s going on?” a worried vendor shouted, grabbing onto his cart as it nearly toppled over.

Children who had been playing moments earlier clung to each other, eyes wide with fear. “Mommy! Daddy!” a little girl cried out, desperately searching the crowd.

A deep, resonating bang echoed across the square. Heads snapped up to look at the shimmering barrier that encircled the empire, a protective shield created long ago by the goddess of creation.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The relentless pounding continued, each blow stronger than the last.

“What in the world is that?” an old man whispered, clutching his cane as the barrier began to crack.

With a final, earsplitting bang, the barrier shattered, sending shards of magical light spiraling into the sky. Darkness devoured the once sunny heavens, and ominous clouds rolled in like a wave of despair. Forces of nature erupted in chaos—furious winds, sudden lightning, and churning earth.

“Run!” someone screamed as panic exploded through the crowd. People scattered in all directions, some trying to protect their loved ones, while others stumbled over one another in desperation.

Children cried, separated from their parents in the chaos. “Papa! Where are you?” a young boy sobbed, searching for a familiar face.

A woman knelt down, wrapping her arms around her frightened daughter. “Stay close to me,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “We’ll get through this.”

As the barrier shattered, a terrible, unnatural silence fell over the empire—only to be broken by the eerie sounds of something coming from beyond the shattered shield. The air seemed to grow colder, and the ground trembled once more as creatures unlike any seen before began to emerge from the dark clouds above.

First came the fire-breathing dragons whose scales glowed with an otherworldly heat. Their wings beat with thunderous force, sending gusts of fiery wind that singed everything in their path. Their eyes burned like molten lava, and as they screeched, the very air seemed to warp and shimmer with the intensity of their flames.

Behind them, their bodies tall and wraith like, cloaked in swirling black mist. They had no faces, only hollow, gaping mouths filled with darkness that seemed to swallow the light around them. As they moved, shadows followed them, slithering like living tendrils, snuffing out any source of hope and casting a suffocating gloom wherever they passed.

From the earth below, the ground cracked open, and out slithered the giant, scaled creatures that towered over the people. Their eyes were like dark pools, and their fangs dripped with venom that hissed upon contact with the stone beneath them. As they coiled through the streets, the sound of their slithering was like the rustling of a thousand dead leaves, each movement causing the earth to quake beneath them.

Suddenly, a burst of wind heralded the arrival of the beautiful yet terrifying, with wings like dark thunderclouds. Their voices screeched through the wind, each cry capable of splitting stone. With talons sharp as daggers, they swooped down, their feathers crackling with lightning, as they tore through anything that dared to stand in their way.

From the darkest corners of the sky came the figures of ash and smoke with hollow, glowing eyes. They were beings of pure despair, their forms constantly shifting like smoke in the wind. As they floated through the town, they left a trail of burning embers, igniting the buildings and spreading fire wherever they went, all the while whispering incomprehensible words that twisted the minds of those who heard them.

The ground trembled as These massive, shadowy beasts had fur made of blackened flames, their eyes glowing a fierce red. Their jaws dripped with fiery saliva, and their growls sounded like the crashing of thunder. They tore through the streets with terrifying speed, attacking anything they could sink their teeth into, their fiery breath scorching the earth as they ran.

And finally, as if the horrors weren't enough, a massive Demon Titan emerged, towering over the empire like a mountain of blackened stone. Its skin was cracked and charred, pulsing with dark energy. Its fists, the size of boulders, pounded the ground with terrifying force, causing the very earth to tremble with each step. The roar that erupted from its throat shook the heavens, and everything it touched seemed to wither and decay under its touch.

These creatures of hell each one a manifestation of pure chaos rushed toward the empire, their presence causing mayhem and destruction. The ground seemed to shake with each step they took, and the once peaceful town square was consumed by a storm of terror and confusion. People screamed in terror, but there was no escape from the horror that had come to claim the empire.

The horrors unleashed by the creatures of hell were unlike anything the people of Lychnis had ever imagined. The dragon, with their scales glowing like molten lava, unleashed torrents of fire upon the city, reducing everything in their path to ash. One unlucky merchant, standing frozen in terror, was consumed by the flames as the dragon's fiery breath scorched him from head to toe. His cries were drowned by the roar of the blaze, and by the time the fire passed, only a charred skeleton remained, a grim reminder of the creature’s devastation.

Elsewhere, the Serpents coiled through the streets, their enormous, scaled bodies crushing everything underfoot. A Man, bravely attempting to protect his family, was caught beneath the serpent’s tail as it slammed into the ground with terrifying force. The impact shattered the cobblestones, and the soldier’s body was crushed, his limbs twisted at unnatural angles as the serpent's body passed over him. In another corner of the town square, a young woman was seized by one of the Gloom Fiends, its shadowy tendrils wrapping around her legs and dragging her toward its gaping, pitch-black mouth. She screamed, but it was swallowed by the darkness, and within moments, her body was consumed, vanishing without a trace as the creature fed on her essence.

In the air, the Storm Harpies ripped through the skies, their talons like jagged knives. They swooped down on a group of fleeing citizens, their razor-sharp claws slashing across faces and limbs. One man was caught by a harpy, its talons sinking deep into his chest, lifting him off the ground before flinging him into the air. He was impaled on the jagged rooftop of a nearby building, his body hanging lifeless as the harpies circled above, their shrieks filling the air. In the streets below, the Cinder Wraiths ignited the bodies of anyone they passed, leaving them to burn alive in a trail of fire. Their ashen bodies would be left smoldering, unable to escape the inferno, consumed by flames that burned with the intensity of despair. The destruction was total—no one was spared. People were torn apart, burned alive, or crushed under the relentless onslaught of the hellish creatures, their screams lost in the rising cacophony of violence and terror.

Suddenly, just as a baby was about to be swallowed by the massive serpent, a flash of lightning struck, slicing the serpent in half. The blade gleamed like liquid starlight, and intricate, ancient runes traced along its length, emitting a soft, ethereal glow that pulsed with each of its wielder's heartbeats.

The flailing creature, witnessing what had just happened, let out a shriek and charged toward the emperor, its eyes burning with fury. The ground trembled beneath its monstrous weight as it barreled forward, its claws outstretched, intent on crushing anything in its path. "Hmm, disgusting creature." it bellowed, its voice a guttural growl that echoed across the battlefield.

The creatures that charged to the emperor was all cut to pieces when suddenly the a scream was pointing towards the emperor from behind with one.bAt a glance, his shadowy figure emerged—a man whose eyes were covered with a silk cloth, his long, silky hair flowing, his muscular body marked by a scar on his chest, and he was wearing only a Chinese nightgown.

"Muerte" the emperor calmly said when Muerte catches the flaying knife. 

Another figure emerged—a man wearing a skillfully crafted bird mask with a long beak that covered half of his face, leaving only his nose and lips visible. He had a muscular body, wearing only pants, with bead necklaces and bracelets adorning him. His mask also had the horns of a deer.

"Why does Muerte always get to have all the fun while I don't?" Xyril teased.

"Your Majesty, the people are already inside the barrier that Earl Tristan Noirceur created, as per your orders," the knight commander reported.

"Good to know," the emperor replied. "Check for any survivors and bring them to Marquess Cedric Lucelence for treatment."

"This feels like old times, Your Majesty," Duke Maximillian Evigheden said, a smile spreading across his face as the emperor scoffed.

"Indeed, just like old times," the emperor muttered, his gaze fixed on the approaching monsters.