The first war horn tore through the air like a dying beast. Its sound echoed across the ruins, rolling through broken towers and hollow streets. Dust rained from the cracked ceilings above as the vibration grew stronger, closer.

From the southern ridge of Kareth'Zul, a dark tide appeared.

Orcs.

Their armor was a patchwork of bones, steel, and leather, glinting beneath the pale sun. Their eyes burned with bloodlust. Each one pounded the ground in rhythm with the drums, a thunderous heartbeat of war that shook the ancient stones beneath Stephan's feet.

"By the Death Gods…" Yennefer whispered.

Gabuzar grinned like a madman. "Told you. They're here."

Salimi exhaled a long plume of smoke, her golden earrings flashing. "Let's just hope your little pets can actually fight, Stephan."

Stephan ignored her jab and stepped forward, drawing the Ossuary Sword. Its faint necrotic hum resonated through the air. Beside him, Death stood silent, eyes narrowing as she watched the endless green wave surge closer.

"Formation!" Stephan barked. "Grief, take point with Yennefer, range support! Anna Mary, stay close and cover Death's flanks! Nobody breaks formation unless I say so!"

The others moved instantly. They trusted his voice, it cut through fear like steel through cloth.

Gabuzar cracked his knuckles, the grin widening across his face. "Then let's even the odds."

He dropped to one knee, pressing his palm into the ground. The earth trembled, veins of scarlet light snaked outward from his hand, burning symbols into the cracked stones. He whispered a g incantation, words that slithered through the air like living things.

The sigils pulsed.

The ground split.

A colossal serpent erupted from below , scales black as tar, eyes gleaming like molten gold. Its hiss split the air, scattering dust and sending waves of heat rolling through the ruins. Each breath it took boiled the air around it.

Gabuzar rose, one hand extended toward the beast. "Come," he murmured, voice low and commanding. "Let's feed."

The serpent coiled protectively behind him, its tongue tasting the air for prey.

Salimi raised her hand, her nails glinting as threads of light burst outward from her fingertips. The air shimmered, mirrors unfolding into existence, bending and twisting reality. In seconds, dozens of phantom soldiers flickered into view, their silhouettes shifting between solid and transparent.

To the Orcs, it looked like an army, thirty strong and ready for blood.

"Keep them guessing," Salimi said, a razor smile cutting across her face. "That's my specialty."

The Orcs roared in answer, their own war cries splitting the sky. Then, at the heart of their horde, the earth quaked , boomed, and a streak of white and black shot forward like lightning.

He appeared before the army.

Belanor.

White hair danced in the wind, his eyes gleaming with divine malice. He carried no weapon, but threads of pure red energy flickered around his hands, slicing through the dust like blades made of blood and hate.

"Is that…" Anna Mary's voice trembled. "Is that the S-Rank?"

"Yeah," Stephan muttered, jaw tightening. "That's him, all right."

They could feel it, his soul energy flooded the air like a tidal wave, drowning every other presence. Even the serpent faltered, hissing low, its head lowering instinctively.

Belanor stood still for a moment, surveying the defenders, then smiled, slow and cruel. "A fine place," he said softly, "to bury legends."

He raised his hand.

The entire Orc army froze.

Then, lowering it again, he pointed straight at Stephan's group.

"It's been a while since I fought players like you," he said...and vanished.

He was simply gone.

Then the serpent screamed, half its head gone in an instant, sliced clean through by invisible threads. Its body convulsed, flames bursting from its wounds before it collapsed into burning dust.

Gabuzar's eyes widened. "What the....!"

Belanor reappeared in front of Stephan, grinning. "Nice to meet you."

His fingers twitched, and red threads lashed out. Stephan barely blocked the first strike, sparks exploding as steel met divine energy. The impact sent him skidding backward through the dust, boots grinding against stone.

Anna Mary screamed, "He's too fast...!"

"Shit!" Stephan roared, parrying another strike that nearly took his arm off. His aura flared, shadows writhing around him like smoke. "But we're not losing here!"

He raised his sword, shouting, "Death...!"

"I'm already ahead of you," she said.

She moved like a blade. Violet energy crawled beneath her skin and pooled in her fists, an impossible cold that made the air fizz. She slammed her palm to the ruined stone where Belanor had stood a heartbeat ago.

The earth answered. Granite exploded upward in jagged columns, shards humming through the air like thrown teeth. Dust and pebbles became a rising storm that swallowed torchlight and roared in everyone's ears.

Belanor wasn't there.

He hung above the Orc ranks, a pale figure balanced on a lattice of invisible crimson threads. From that impossible perch he smiled, slow, amused, and clean as a blade.

"Well," he called down, voice carrying with mocking ease over the thunder of the debris, "that was a nice test. I aimed at the two strongest in your squad. I count three now, if you include the illusion woman."

Salimi's smoke curled like a question mark. She froze, not from fear but from sudden calculation. Her lips twitched into a smile of her own. "He saw through the illusions," she said. Then she bowed her head, a small, admiring nod. "Well...he is an S-Rank."

What Belanor had done was elegant cruelty: he hadn't struck the phantoms Salimi had woven. He'd attacked the idea of their presence, the space they occupied in the Orcs' heads, and the results were the same. The phantoms shivered and remained, untouched and wavering. The real threat, the towering, pale figure behind Gabuzar, stood perfectly still, unmarked.

Belanor's smile sharpened. "Seems I'll have to kill the illusionist first," he said, voice soft as a razor. "Your tricks annoy me."

Salimi drew on her cigar as if to steady the moment, smoke wreathing her face. "You'll have to try harder," she replied, casual as a dare. "I never liked being easy to find."

Across the ruined square, Gabuzar's summoned serpent recoiled, coiling hungrily around the broken stones. His expression hardened; the thrill of battle lit his bear-pelt silhouette like weathered iron. He muttered another invocation, and the serpent's scales burned brighter, a show of strength to back their alliance.

Belanor's gaze slid back to Stephan, like an appraisal that tasted of contempt. "You," he said, "the one who rode a dragon over my city. That was a nice ride. I will take it from you once I murder you."

Stephan met the look without flinch. The Ossuary Sword hung heavy and humming at his side, shadow-smoke licking the blade's length. "You won't get the chance," he said. "You'll lose here."

Belanor laughed once, a sound without warmth. The red threads at his fingertips twitched like a spider's legs. Around them, the Orcs shifted, sensing the storm about to break. Salimi's illusory legions swayed between being and nothing, their phantom spears catching non-existent light. Gabuzar's serpent coiled for a strike. Death stood patient as a poised knife, violet light blistering along her skin.

For a second, time folded. Everyone held breath and position; the city, the dead, the very air waited.

Then Belanor's fingers snapped.

Threads of blood-light lashed out, not at the phantoms but slicing the spaces between friends, threading the gap underfoot, overhead, into the very fabric that linked the defenders. The first thread whipped toward Salimi's throat, another dove at Gabuzar's serpent, another scythed a ring cutting the horizon between the Orc horde and the defenders.

War screamed to life.

"Scatter!" Stephan shouted.

Yennefer snapped her grimoire open, pages fluttering like a storm of wings. Ancient runes burst from the parchment, forming a dome of green light that wrapped around her and Grief. The first of Belanor's threads struck the barrier, thung!, and shattered into sparks, spraying molten energy across the ruins.

Anna Mary reacted instantly. She grabbed Death's arm and dove into a black portal just as a thread whipped across where they'd been standing. The portal imploded with a hiss, leaving only the faint smell of burnt air.

Stephan met the attack head-on. The Ossuary Sword howled as it connected with the blood-thread, splitting it for a heartbeat before the force pushed him back. His boots scraped deep grooves into the cracked earth. "Damn..." he hissed, and leapt back as the severed thread regenerated midair, snapping toward him like a living thing.

He landed hard, breath sharp. Too strong to parry head-on.

Across the field, Salimi and Gabuzar moved in sync. "Now!" she called.

Gabuzar slammed both palms to the ground. His summoning marks flared, and the pale serpent burst from the dust with a roar that bent the air. Its scales shimmered like silver bones as it coiled protectively around them.

They leapt onto its back, Salimi's veil of illusions folding over them like a shroud. "Take us below!" she commanded.

The serpent obeyed. The ground split again, but this time, downward. With a thunderous rumble, the great beast dove into the depths, carving a glowing tunnel through the earth.

Belanor's threads struck the hole a second too late, stabbing into nothing but darkness.

Moments later, the serpent resurfaced behind the Orc lines, bursting from the ground in a plume of dust and flame. Screaming Orcs scattered as Gabuzar's laughter rolled through the chaos.

"Surprise!" he bellowed. "Miss us?"

Salimi exhaled through her cigarette, eyes glinting with wicked calm. "Round two begins now."

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