Lagos — Ground Zero
Flames curled along the streets like living things. Smoke billowed into the darkened sky, casting a reddish glow over terrified crowds.
Buildings crumbled in the distance. Sirens screamed and then were cut short.
Above it all, Ashreth, the Branded lieutenant walked calmly, embers trailing his every step. Behind him, his flame-born minions rampaged, tearing through glass, steel, and flesh with the hunger of beasts unshackled.
Then, a sonic boom split the air.
From above, sleek Division-7 hovercrafts descended in tight formation, plasma engines hissing against the rising heat. Doors flung open midair, and squads of Division-7 operatives dropped with military precision onto rooftops, streets, and balconies. Their armor gleamed with embedded energy fields, and each one was armed with plasma pulse rifles, sonic grenades, and anti-mutation rounds.
Agent Rena's voice crackled through every comm:
"Team Echo: civilian evac. Team Delta and Nova, suppress hostiles. Minimize destruction. The target is still unknown. MOVE!"
Troops broke formation into coordinated strikes. Some shielded civilians, ushering them toward armored transports with sirens blazing, while others opened fire on the flame-born.
Blue-white plasma lit the air in streaks of fury.
But it wasn't enough.
The minions didn't retreat. They didn't even hesitate.
Rounds struck them, only to be absorbed by molten skin or dissipated in bursts of steam. One operative threw a concussion grenade. It exploded against a beast's chest and the monster kept walking, clawed limbs melting through cover like it was paper.
Screams followed.
One squad was lifted by a surge of flame and hurled through a window. Another was incinerated mid-sprint, vanishing in a burst of white heat.
And then
The lieutenant moved.
In a single, flaming dash, he crossed a courtyard and impaled a soldier through his armor with a molten blade that formed in his hand. It wasn't even a fight. It was a massacre.
Rena watched the disaster unfold from a hovercraft's open command bay, eyes narrowed in horror.
"We're losing ground. Pull squads Beta and Sigma back. Tell evac birds to switch to emergency pattern Bravo, full lift."
She turned to the pilot. "Get me closer."
Then, above the inferno a hum filled the air.
It wasn't mechanical. It was something else. Powerful. Electric.
From the heavens, a comet of light and silver streaked down, trailing arcs of crackling blue lightning behind it.
Time seemed to slow as civilians looked skyward. Some gasped. Others dropped to their knees.
The lieutenant stopped mid-strike, tilting his head toward the burning clouds.
And then,
BOOM.
A pulse of lightning detonated across the intersection.
Dævd stood in the crater, crouched, smoke and wind swirling around him. His suit sparked as it adjusted to the shock. Lucent Grave was gripped tightly in his hand, pulsing with divine Aetheric energy, storm-runes glowing along the blade.
He stood slowly.
Fifty flame minions turned to face him, their ember-eyes swiveling toward him like predator-beasts sensing fresh blood.
But he didn't flinch.
Ashreth stood at the center of the horde, skeletal mask glinting under the blood-red sky. Beneath its cracked surface, molten gaze flared. One clawed gauntlet ignited, dripping with hellfire.
Ashreth (voice like grinding metal)
"Finally… the prince emerges."
No more hesitation.
Dævd leapt up, Volt Mirage igniting around him, six afterimages flickered like lightning ghosts across the battlefield. The minions snarled, rushing in.
He was everywhere at once.
Flash
Lucent Grave arced through the first minion's throat, steam hissing as it sliced through obsidian flesh.
Flash
He spun, staff-footed, and drove the sword's pommel into another's chest, sending shards of flame rock spraying outward.
Flash
He vanished behind Ashreth, boots cracking the pavement, and slashed horizontally Arc Severance cleaving the lieutenant's flank where no bone should be.
Ashreth roared, staggering back into the horde. Flames erupted from his wound, but he didn't slow. He swung his molten gauntlet in a horizontal sweep, each strike capable of destroying concrete.
Dævd braced Lucent Grave on his forearm, the blade's runes igniting in defense. Sparks and fire exploded around them.
Dævd (under his breath):
"Infernal pests… let's end this."
He dropped into a kneeling strike Stellar Requiem, blinding stormlight bursting from the blade in a pillar of crackling energy. The attack drilled up through Ashreth's chest, vaporizing magma-blood in a flash.
Ashreth's armor shattered, molten plating crumbling into ash. He staggered, mask cracked, ember-eyes flickering out in sudden darkness. With a final guttural hiss, the lieutenant dissolved into cinders, sucked upward into the burning sky.
The remaining flame-minions hesitated, no herald to guide them.
Deep below the city, the Irohk's chamber trembled at the echo of that cosmic strike. Irohk, draped in living flame, watched through a fissure in the rock as Ashreth fell. A slow, predatory smile curled across his scarred lips.
"Foolish toy… you end before the game even begins?" Irohk whispered.
He stepped forward, embers dancing in his wake. The branded sigil on his back flared bright.
"If he believes he can end me with a single blow… then let him try."
With a thunderous crack, Irohk lashed his claws against the stone, molten veins snaking through the walls.
"Let the storm come. I am its master."
He turned, summoning his remaining minions from the shadows. The hunt was only beginning.