Anarys Faen descended, a radiant spear of tainted glare already forming in her grip, her silver gaze fixed on Rheno. Behind her, the hulking quadrupeds crashed through the remaining structural integrity, their multi-jointed limbs clicking and scraping, exhaling noxious fumes that stung the air. Concrete dust billowed, mixing with the alien stench of their bodies. Tycho Vant reacted instantly, shoving Vysa Renn behind a toppled food kiosk, its chrome surface now dented and scarred. “Stay down!” he barked, pulling his heavy combat rifle to his shoulder. He unleashed a burst of lead into the nearest creature, a monstrosity with six crab-like legs and a snapping maw, but the rounds sparked harmlessly off its chitinous armor. The beast ignored the minor irritation, its eyes glowing with single-minded hunger, and lunged towards the makeshift barricade. Rheno, however, saw none of this. His vision narrowed to Anarys Faen, her presence a burning beacon of strategic opportunity amidst the chaos. The commander was power, and power was what he needed. His small cadre of four dark figures — Korin’s phantom, still recognizable in its twisted human form, and the three smaller, more amorphous specters he’d acquired from the pit — moved. They were swift, soundless blurs, intercepting the flanking brutes before they could reach Tycho and Vysa. The air filled with the wet thud of void-substance colliding with alien flesh, the low snarls of the specters a sharp counterpoint to the monsters’ guttural roars. “Korin,” Rheno’s voice was a low growl, devoid of emotion, “Her.” He gestured with a flick of his wrist towards Anarys. The shade of his betrayer surged forward, a ripple of pure darkness, its jet-black talons extended. It didn’t attack to kill, but to provoke, to demand attention. It lunged, not for her head, but for the brilliant lance, forcing Anarys to parry, her contaminated glow flaring as she met the dark fabric. Anarys sneered, her focus drawn fully to the attacking specter. “A dead dog on a leash,” she spat, her lance sweeping wide, tearing through Korin’s umbral frame. The dark figure re-formed instantly, a fragmented piece of it dissipating, only to coalesce back into its malevolent shape. It was a crude, persistent distraction, an annoyance designed to drain her energy and fix her gaze. As Anarys engaged Korin’s shadow in a brutal dance of light and dark, her power illuminating the destruction around them, Rheno moved. He didn’t run. He melted. The very air around him seemed to thicken, drawing him into itself. One moment he was there, a dark silhouette against the ruined mall’s skeletal remains; the next, he was gone, a ripple in the fabric of space. He reappeared behind Anarys, soundless as a grave, his Void-Shard Blade a hungry maw of black glass. Her combat reflexes were honed by countless clashes against dimensional terrors. She felt the subtle shift in the air, the cold whisper of pure void, a breath before the strike. Anarys spun, her lance already arcing backward, but Rheno was faster. He buried the jet blade deep into the soft hollow of her throat. The warped luminescence around her flickered, then died, leaving a stark, black wound. Her silver gaze flared with shock, then slackened into resignation. A faint, almost imperceptible sigh escaped her lips as her frame went rigid, then limp. The lance clattered to the floor, its radiance extinguished. Anarys Faen fell to her knees, then pitched forward onto the debris-strewn floor, a pool of dark, viscous fluid spreading beneath her. The mall’s deafening chaos seemed to momentarily dim, a hush settling over the immediate vicinity of her demise. [ELITE TARGET NEUTRALIZED: ANARYS FAEN] [SHADOW EXTRACTION INITIATED.] [SOUL RESISTANCE NEGLIGIBLE. EXTRACTION COMPLETE.] [NEW SHADOW MINION ACQUIRED: ANARYS FAEN – CORRUPTED SAINTESS. LOYALTY: ABSOLUTE.] [ABILITY UNLOCKED: ECLIPSE REGENERATION – ANARYS FAEN EMITS A DARK AURA, REPAIRING VOID-MATTER AND RESTORING SUSTENANCE TO ALL ALLIED SHADOW MINIONS.] Rheno pulled his blade free, a thin trail of black vapor curling from its edge. Before Anarys’s body could even fully cool, a tendril of void-essence snaked out from the Void-Shard Blade. It plunged into her chest, not ripping or tearing, but drawing something out, something that pulsed with an inverse gleam. Her form convulsed, then slowly began to rise. Her skin, once luminous, darkened to a deep, bruised amethyst. Her silver gaze, previously blazing with righteous fury, now held a cold, pitch-black stare. Her armor, once pristine, became lacquered in the same dark, shifting mantle as Rheno’s other soldiers, yet still retaining its distinct shape. The lance re-formed in her hand, but it was no longer shining with tainted brilliance; instead, it pulsed with a deep, internal malevolence. A pulse of dark vitality washed over Korin’s shade and the three other void-figures. The nicks and tears from the gate-spawn, the fragmented edges of their forms, solidified, knitted back into coherence. The gate-spawn, momentarily stunned by the sudden, soundless death of their leader, roared anew, but now they faced a united front, infused with renewed vigor. Anarys, the Corrupted Saintess, turned to Rheno, a flicker of something ancient and terrible in her gaze before it smoothed into utter subservience. Her head bowed, a silent acknowledgment of her new master. From her re-formed body, a faint, dark luminescence began to emanate, like a star burning in reverse, washing over Rheno’s ranks, bolstering them, repairing them. It was a macabre, beautiful sight: a healing aura of pure darkness. [Oshur-Wide Broadcast Initiated. Priority Override. Origin: Zenith Tower.] The red text of the Monolith Interface flickered, then dissolved into a wavering, distorted image. Warden Mykelok’s face, etched with a peculiar mix of sorrow and grim resolve, appeared, towering over the ruined mall, over every single survivor connected to the Monolith across Oshur. His voice, usually cold and detached, resonated with an unusual, almost tragic weight, echoing through the broken city. “To all remaining citizens, to all designated ‘survivors’,” Mykelok began, his gaze seemingly piercing through the holographic projection, directly into Rheno. “I understand your fear. I understand your hatred. But what you perceive as an invasion, as an apocalypse… it is a crucible. A necessary evolution.” He paused, his eyes sweeping across the digital vista of the city, of the fighting, the dying. “The gates were opened not to destroy you, but to save you. The ‘Null Convergence’ is not an event I intend to exploit, but one I desperately seek to avert. It approaches. A cosmic devourer, a void-entity that will consume this planet, this system, this entire arm of the galaxy. My actions, however heinous they may seem, are merely… forced adaptations.” The projection’s gaze hardened, focusing entirely on Rheno. “You, courier, with your shadows, you are proving to be the sharpest blade in this new world. But you are a fool if you think you grasp the full scope of what you fight against. If you kill me, courier, the shield falls, and everything burns. Come to the Zenith and see for yourself.”

The Saintess Falls