The *Iron Maw* groaned under sheared metal and stressed servos as the Null-Maw’s limb plowed a trench through the outer hull. Sparks rained from the ceiling, mingling with the ash already sifting through the ventilation. A fresh swarm of obsidian crawlers surged through the hull breach, their cilia twitching beneath dull purple luminescence. “Well, that’s hardly polite,” Olev murmured, his gaze fixed on the shimmering horde. He gripped his ossified cleaver, its calcium-grown handle slick with marrow-sheen. “Grigori, prepare for structural damage. Yeva, cover the civilians. Everyone else, *fetch*.” From the shadows of the throne room, a tide of undead surged. Hulking Siege-Behemoths, their repurposed cannons glowing with dark energy, stomped forward. Swift Necro-Strikers, reanimated demon executioners, darted forward, their dull blades singing as they carved into the initial swarm. Behind them, the resurrected Leviathan, its scales still gleaming with faint aquatic residue, coiled protectively around the huddled demonic refugees, its maw snapping at anything that came too close. Grigori, already clattering from a minor wall collapse, grumbled, “Structural collapses are getting tedious,” Grigori said, ribs rattling. “Can’t I go back to absorbing your stubbed toes? Saving realities is entirely too much labor for a skeleton.” Yeva, shield raised, slammed a cluster of crawling husks back from the cowering imp-children. “Focus, bone-bag!” she barked, shield ringing beneath a rain of impacts. “Hold the line!” The skittering mass answered with a grinding, metallic hum. [ERROR: COWARDICE DETECTED. LOCALIZED GRAVITY INVERSION INITIATED. ENJOY THE VIEW, FLEEING SOLDIERS.] Above them, a section of the ceiling inverted, flinging several lesser demons upward until they flattened against the intruder's thrashing limbs. Olev merely rolled his eyes. “Show-off.” He stepped forward, blade slicing the air to send out necrotic shockwaves that ruptured the beasts into dry violet ash. His resurrected Hell-Hounds, their infernal barks echoing, tore through the thickest concentrations, their three heads a whirlwind of fangs and fire. Olev’s thralls operated like a rhythmic slaughterhouse, turning the throne room into a heap of hollow carapaces. But the Null-Maw was relentless. A bloated brute of raw void-flesh slipped past the perimeter, hurtling straight for the demon runts. Yeva roared, planting her feet, her shield barely deflecting the first strike. The second blow bypassed her guard, an obsidian barb punching through her steel flank. Her grunt caught in her throat as the thing began drawing the heat from her blood, her fingers loosening on the shield rim. Olev’s expression flattened. This was a direct, unacceptable disruption of his labor roster. He crossed the tiles in three strides, chopping his cleaver straight down. The thing burst into damp soot, but Yeva was already slumping against the flagstones, crimson spreading across her cuirass. Her breath came in ragged gasps, her lips pale. “Unacceptable,” Olev muttered, dropping down beside her. He knelt, pressing a hand to her wound. The console remained silent. He focused, pushing past every self-imposed rule, every barrier he’d erected around his own pain. He pulled up the spectral circuit that funneled his physical trauma into Grigori. Snapping a branch of the siphon free, he clamped it into Yeva, rerouting her shredded ribs and torn flesh into his own unyielding frame. Her tremors ceased; her eyelids fluttered open, breathing steadier as pink returned to her lips. [WARNING: UNREGISTERED TARGET ADDED TO DAMAGE TRANSFER NETWORK. CRITICAL OVERLOAD IMMINENT. RECOMMENCING CALIBRATION. PREPARE FOR SEVERE DISCOMFORT.] Olev disregarded the chime. A sharp cramp flared along his ribs, registering as mild irritation. He caught Vashak’s gaze. “Now, Vashak. Execute the plan.” “Agreed,” Vashak rumbled, brandishing a blade of pure shadow. He pointed towards the Null-Maw’s colossal form, which was now visibly expanding through the torn rift. “Its central eye,” Vashak rasped. “Puncture that, and its tether to this realm collapses.” Olev marched forward, hacking through the dense clutter of chitin. The *Iron Maw* shuddered again, threatening to buckle. Grigori, muttering profanities, absorbed falling girders with every dull clack of his spine. They reached the hull gap, where the air hummed with cold static. The entity's primary eye—a swirling vortex of black mass—hung suspended before them. Vashak turned, his mandibular face twitching in a deadpan smirk. “Do not ruin my resurrection stats, Necro-Thief.” Before Olev could respond, Vashak lunged, not at the Null-Maw, but at Olev. The horned warlord plunged his shadow blade inward, punching the steel clean through his own ribcage. With a sharp twist, he drove his dying carcass forward onto Olev's ossified blade, securing the kill credit. Vashak’s eyes met Olev’s, a final, desperate glint of triumph. A polished core of compressed dark fire broke loose from his collapsing ribs, hovering free. [ABYSSAL LORD VASHAK’S CORE DETACHED. ABYSSAL CHASM INTERFACE DETECTS WILLFUL SACRIFICE AND TRANSFER OF DOMAIN. HOSTILE TAKEOVER APPROVED.] [CONGRATULATIONS, NECRO-THIEF. YOU HAVE ACQUIRED: ABYSSAL LORD’S CORE (DETONATION READY).] [NEW TITLE ACQUIRED: LORD OF THE DAMNED. ALL UNDEAD MINIONS GAIN +15% COSMIC RESISTANCE AND +10% FEAR AURA.] Olev snatched the glowing orb, feeling it hum like an unstable boiler. “Grigori! How long on the blast fuse?” “Seconds, boss! The thing is already cooking!” Grigori shouted over the roar. Olev didn’t hesitate. He stepped off the platform into open air, aiming straight for the colossal iris with the volatile orb raised. He plunged it deep into the swirling vortex, a sick, wet tearing sound accompanying the action. The maw convulsed, massive limbs whipping the shattered walls as static discharges tore the chamber. Simple scrap-hauler math did the rest: the blast footprint was too wide to clear. Worse, the siphon loop bridging him to Yeva was running red-hot. Grigori’s psychic yelps scrambled the feed as the skeleton's joints fractured under the load. The shockwave of the igniting core promised to test whether absolute invulnerability survived total matter disassembly. [CRITICAL OVERLOAD. DAMAGE TRANSFER NETWORK COMPROMISED. MULTIPLE TARGETS IMMINENTLY TERMINATED. WARNING: HOST INTEGRITY AT… ]

Lord of the Damned