Two shadow-like Glints crouched among the ruins, hidden behind a crumbling tower half-swallowed by the Pink Fog. The taller one clicked his tongue.
"Are you seeing this, Sentry?"
The other didn't respond right away. His eyes glowed faintly, locked onto the creature ahead.
"Yeah," Sentry muttered. "I'm seeing it. That's not a Boss. That's something worse."
Their names were codenames. Sentry and Shade. Both were elite scouts. Their Glint forms made them perfect for this kind of mission.
Sentry came from Phantom City, trusted by Vance for high-risk assignments. Shade was Greystone City's top pick, selected by Elra herself. They had been sent after Rosewood City went silent. A major safe zone had vanished without explanation, and their mission was clear. Investigate and report.
But what they were seeing now made their blood run cold.
In the distance, the Pink Fog thinned in an unnatural way, pushed back by the sheer presence of the monster standing at its center. It was massive. Truly massive.
Even in his Goliath Glint, Bob towered over most enemies. Iris in Glint form barely reached his chest. But this Fade?
Bob, even in Goliath form, would only reach its stomach.
And it wasn't alone.
Surrounding it was a tightly packed army of Fades. Close to a thousand, moving like ants circling their queen. But there was no chaos here. No wild screeching or random charging. There was structure. Discipline.
Three distinct Fade races made up the horde. Each race had a Boss-class Fade at the front, leading and commanding roughly two to three hundred Fades each. Their auras burned through the mist like bonfires, steady and terrifying.
A fourth Boss approached from the east, dragging hundreds of Fades behind him.
The massive Fade at the center raised his head and spoke.
"SUBMIT TO ME. BOW DOWN."
The words rippled outward, distorting the fog as if the air itself recoiled from the force behind them.
A pulse of energy burst from the giant Fade. It tore through the air like a wave of pressure and raw instinct. It slammed into the approaching Boss and his army.
The lesser Fades screamed and dropped, clutching their heads. The Boss gritted his teeth, legs shaking as he tried to resist.
Then he buckled.
One knee hit the ground.
Then the other.
And finally, he collapsed to all fours, head bowed.
Sentry inhaled slowly. "He just forced a Boss to submit. With a word."
Another wave of Fades appeared in the fog, swelling the horde to well over a thousand.
Four figures emerged from behind the massive Fade. They moved in silence, but their presence cut through the fog like blades.
They looked like Bosses, but something about them was different. Sharper. More precise. Controlled.
Their bodies shimmered with mist. Jagged stone plating wrapped around their limbs and torsos like natural armor. Faint light glowed from the cracks in their surface, pulsing with fog energy. Every step they took was heavy and deliberate, more like a tremor than a movement. Their arms ended in thick, stony blades that dragged lightly across the ground as they watched in stillness.
They stayed close to the towering Fade, unmoving. Their formation was no accident. It formed a wall, a boundary around something that should not be touched. Every step they took matched his, as if their roles were tied to his will alone.
A Fade, trembling with excitement, wandered too close.
One of the four stepped forward and lifted a jagged arm. With slow, steady force, it shoved the creature back. No anger. Just a firm correction, like a stone returning to its rightful place.
The figure growled, voice low and rough like grinding earth.
"Keep your distance from the King."
The Fade backed away immediately, shoulders low, head down.
Sentry and Shade exchanged a look. They didn't need to speak. What they were witnessing wasn't just a group of Fades. It was an army with structure. A hierarchy. A kingdom. And at its center stood a King.
Then the King spoke again, his voice rumbling through the air like stone grinding against stone.
"Look upon me."
He raised both arms wide. The fog around him trembled.
"I am the King. The chosen."
His glowing eyes swept over the gathered horde, then shifted to the four towering figures beside him.
"My Royal Guards. Commanders. Lead my soldiers."
He turned toward the ruins of Rosewood City. His voice dropped lower, final and cold.
"Erase it all."
The King's massive form leaned forward. He extended one arm toward the shattered city.
"Smash. Crush. Destroy everything."
Sentry and Shade exchanged a glance, grim and heavy.
"He ordered them to destroy everything," Shade said quietly. "The barrier collapsed, and the Pink Fog already took over."
"Right," Sentry muttered. "He's not just wiping out cities. He's making sure nothing can rise again. No walls. No roads. Nothing left to rebuild."
Below them, the remains of Rosewood City were being crushed into the earth. Not a single structure remained intact. No shelter. No landmarks. Not even rubble worth salvaging. It was as if the land itself was being erased.
The destruction was more than complete. It was deliberate. Every trace of civilization was being torn from the ground, leaving behind nothing. No foundation to rebuild. No place to return to.
Sentry narrowed his eyes. "Four Bosses, a thousand Fades split across four races, and those four creatures near him. Royal Guards. All of them answer to that thing."
The other scout leaned forward slightly. "What even is he?"
They stared at the massive figure standing motionless at the center of it all. His body was shaped like a golem, broad, heavy, and brutal. His surface shimmered faintly, as if made of crystal layered over solid muscle. Jagged edges jutted from his arms and shoulders, grown rather than forged. His fists were enormous, dense and sharp, like compressed stone shaped by pressure over time.
As he shifted, parts of his body morphed into weapons. Blades. Clubs. Hammers. Each one formed seamlessly from his own crystal-like structure, smooth and natural, as if his body had never known any other shape.
His surface gleamed faintly. Not like stone, but something harder. Crystallized. Almost glass-like in places, but too far to tell for certain.
What disturbed them most was not his size or form. It was his aura. Bosses burned with wild and erratic fog energy. This one pulsed with quiet force. Steady. Contained. Controlled.
Sentry muttered under his breath. "That aura is too calm. Too quiet. But I can feel it. He's stronger than all the Bosses around him."
The army roared in response, their screams crashing upward like thunder.
Far from the chaos, the two scouts watched from the safety of a ruined high-rise, hidden by distance and fog. There were no humans left in the safe zone below. Only Fades. Whatever this place once was, it had already fallen.
"Look," Sentry muttered. "They've already wiped it. There's nothing left."
The crystallized giant raised one massive arm and pointed toward the horizon.
"Next. Tear all the humans apart."
The Fades roared and surged forward with mindless energy, smashing through what little remained. They obliterated walls, collapsed shelters, and crushed the final traces of resistance.
Sentry's fists clenched. Shade stood beside him, silent, jaw tight.
Then they saw where the monster was pointing.
Greystone City.
Their eyes widened.
"That's... that's our safe zone," Shade breathed.
"They're marching straight there," Sentry said. "He's sending everything."
They turned without hesitation and disappeared into the mist. There was no time left.
Greystone had to be warned.
-----
They came not just as an army, but as a catastrophe with footsteps.
The Crystal Golem King marched near the center of the formation. Each step landed with crushing force, sending shallow cracks through the worn pavement beneath him. His frame, carved from crystal and shaped by pressure, gleamed with a dull shine. A massive hammer rested against his shoulder, formed from the same material as his body.
Whenever obstacles blocked the path, whether collapsed walls, rusted vehicles, or shattered storefronts, he stopped and destroyed them. Each swing was slow and heavy, grinding whatever stood before him into dust.
Behind him, his guards followed in perfect formation. Smaller golem-like figures, each built from different elements, marched with thick limbs and heavy fists. They moved in sync with their King, clearing debris and breaking anything left standing. The road behind them was a trail of destruction. Clean. Steady. Unstoppable.
The King stood at the center of the formation, but the destruction radiated outward from him like a command made flesh. Around him, the horde moved with grim purpose. Each race played its role in the spreading wave of annihilation.
They were the four corrupted races of Fades, twisted by fog and bound to the King's will.
The Warbred Orcs were savage brutes, forged through pain and violence. They craved blood with every step.
The Forgotten were the undead, rotting husks that whispered broken names as they marched without end.
The Dark Elves were masked killers, silent and precise. They moved like phantoms and struck without mercy.
The Blackroot Treants were walking blights, dragging rot and ruin across the land with every step.
Each race followed a Boss-class Commander. Together, they served one purpose. Erase everything and leave nothing behind.