Alarms wailed through the mountain corridors like a siren of doom.
The warmth of the sanctuary shifted instantly into a storm of panic.
Kael was already sprinting, with Yuna and Caziel, before the call to arms even finished.
The sentries didn't even see them coming.
Twenty Burn Sigils, with two elite Glow Sigils.
They hit the outer levels of the hidden base with the fury of a scorched earth army.
But this time… Kael didn't hesitate.
He met them in the first chamber, eyes glowing with restrained fury. His right arm surged with angelic energy. Time bent around him, air cracking from the pressure as objects levitated around his body. Without a word, he lifted his hand, and three incoming attackers were slammed into the ceiling like weightless puppets.
Yuna arrived beside him, fire spiraling around her arms.
She unleashed a controlled inferno, burning through a squad of Burn Sigils who tried to flank them. Her control was perfect. Every move calculated. Her training paid off.
Caziel joined the fray next, his blade singing with light.
Every swing redirected flame, slicing through the chaos like a ghost of war.
The Branders emerged from the shadows and launched themselves into the mess, their synchronized attacks turning the enemy's fire back on themselves.
The three remaining Glow Sigils of the base, though less experienced, didn't back down. They used their light powers to blind and shield the defenders, buying time for evacuations.
Below, families and young Sigil-bearers were rushed into fortified chambers—the safest zone.
Above, war raged.
Kael moved like something divine. His telekinesis ripped apart the terrain, walls and floor became weapons.
He froze moments in time to step through flame, then accelerated forward like a blur, striking before the enemy could blink.
But it was his healing that made him terrifying. Burned, slashed, stabbed—he rose every time. Faster. Stronger.
When the smoke cleared, the base was battered but still standing.
Kael stood in the ash, drained, bruised, but breathing.
Then… a new sound.
Not retreat. Reinforcements.
Five new Glow Sigils. Thirty more Burn Sigils.
"They planned this," Caziel growled, eyes narrowing. "They knew we'd survive the first wave."
Yuna's flames flickered in panic. "We don't have enough strength left."
Kael stepped forward. He wasn't breathing heavy anymore.
He was calm. Too calm.
The light in his right hand intensified, glowing white with divine energy.
Time slowed in pulses. The dust around him floated, frozen.
His eyes shimmered silver as if something inside him had awakened.
⚔️ Kael's Rampage ⚔️
The moment the new forces charged, Kael moved.
He vanished and reappeared behind one of the Glow Sigils—a silent flicker in time—and drove his palm into the man's back. The impact shattered his spine instantly, and before his body hit the ground, Kael froze time again, turned midair, and hurled a burning slab of metal into another enemy charging Yuna.
The second Glow Sigil tried to fight back, generating a wall of blinding light.
Kael narrowed his eyes, raised his hand, and ripped the light from its source, breaking it into glowing shards and sending them flying back like razors.
The enemy's own power turned against him.
The third Glow Sigil hit Kael with a blast of compressed light energy. Kael stumbled, bleeding, but stood still, then raised his right hand.
Time collapsed in a single pulse.
Suddenly, the attacker was behind Kael, confused, before Kael stabbed his own sigil-marked arm through the man's chest, freezing him in midair and snapping his neck with a twist of telekinesis.
Burn Sigils rained fire on him, but Kael redirected it, catching the heat and sending it into the ceiling.
He lifted the ground beneath them, crushing some, flinging others against the walls.
He wasn't holding back anymore.
He wasn't afraid of his power.
⚔️ Caziel and Yuna's Stand ⚔️
Caziel took on the fourth Glow Sigil—two warriors of equal rank.
The battle was brutal, blade against light, strength against precision.
Every time Caziel struck, he aimed to disarm or disable, while the enemy fought with bloodlust.
Fire cracked around them, but Caziel never let his focus waver.
Yuna, exhausted and wounded, still charged the fifth Glow Sigil.
She fought alone.
Despite being outclassed and running on empty, she stood tall.
She dodged and countered, using her flame like a whip, creating distance and forcing her opponent to move defensively.
He slammed her against the wall once.
She stood.
He knocked her blade away.
She punched back with a flaming fist.
But she was fading.
The final strike was coming, and just before it landed, Kael appeared in a burst of white light, catching the blow mid-air.
"You did enough, Yuna," he whispered.
He lifted his hand, and the final Glow Sigil dropped, crushed by the weight of Kael's fury and power.
Smoke and silence filled the room once more.
Caziel limped toward them, bloody but alive.
The base was still smoldering, but the second wave… was gone.
Burned. Broken. Beaten.
And for the first time since this began, Kael and Yuna stood not as survivors...
But as warriors.