In the bell tower, the bell Rhaine had blessed began to vibrate.
Dong!
The sound echoed through the church, and to the undead pouring in, it was a death knell. The magic Tyler had used to reanimate them unraveled. One by one, the creatures froze, then collapsed lifelessly to the floor. Alex staggered to his feet, clutching the wall for balance. He opened the door and stared in awe at the heap of fallen corpses. “Good job!” he shouted back to Rhaine and Copper.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5BJzrNF9Jq
Rhaine pushed herself up, her ears still ringing. “We need to get out there and stop them!” she said, already making her way toward the door.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx4qFm7wKew
Copper nodded and followed close behind as they began to climb over the pile of bodies.
Alex grunted, “We should just let them kill each other and be done with it.”
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIWn7LrsZs
“You would think that,” Rhaine snapped, yanking a body aside. “But the most sacred duty of the Church—of the Watchful Eye, is to stop exactly that. The Usher and the Harbinger can never be allowed to fight!” She shoved another corpse out of the way. “If we don’t stop them, it’ll be the end of everything.”
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgpCrNBuHAg
Alex sighed and nodded. “Of course. How silly of me.”
He reached out to help, pulling Rhaine and Copper through the doorway. Just as they cleared the threshold and slammed the door shut behind them.
Dong!
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZKS5g7Db9
The bell rang again.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmDJNoq5dU
Orion forced himself to stand, his leg trembling, on the verge of buckling from the pain. “Sorry,” he whispered, sweat stinging his eyes. Brother Constance gently wiped his brow with a cloth.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy6YRwIosUI
Grand Father Lewiston snapped, “You are sentenced to death! Stripped of all rank and title within the Church!” He turned to the guards. “Restrain him. Strip him of his robes. He will go to the Burning as he came into this world, naked, and cloaked only in his own filth!”
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05fpXab1PU
The guards shoved Brother Constance aside. He stumbled but didn’t resist as they seized Orion’s arms, offering no chance of escape. As they tore away his robes, they suddenly recoiled in shock.
The infection had spread unchecked, violent. Inflamed red lines snaked across Orion’s body like veins of fire. The wound where Marcus had stabbed him was worst of all, split open and weeping pus. A foul stench clung to him, thick and rotten.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBfS1W6jE7w
Lewiston covered his mouth, turning pale. The sight churned his stomach. “Look at him!” Lewiston shouted. “The guilt and sin of his actions have soured his vessel!” He motioned sharply to the guards. “Get him out of my sight!”
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00R6Afd5TG
Brother Constance stood frozen, powerless, as Orion was dragged away. Just before they reached the door, Orion collapsed again.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKFKS6cfyY
“I said, get him out of here!” Lewiston barked.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOHcZbttXIF
A guard yanked Orion upright. As they lifted him, Orion mumbled something. “The guilty man wants his final words,” the guard said.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPryKLGqdsK
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2SPLZLOThf
A hush fell over the chamber. All eyes turned to Orion, waiting.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUW6J9MuNb4
“Ahh!” Tyler screamed as the vapor blade plunged deep into his chest.
But then he laughed.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡADxj7Hj4m4
“How stupid are you?” he roared, striking Marcus across the face. “I’m the one you made the deal with. You really think your soul could hurt me? After everything you’ve done?”
He hurled Marcus against the wall. “You cried when I killed your family,” Tyler sneered, his voice dripping with mockery. His hand began to twist, morphing back into the monstrous claw of the demonic bear. “You whined when you gave up your precious little soul.” He struck again, harder.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbaam2TKDfj
Marcus wasn’t thinking anymore—he was moving purely on instinct, fury driving every action. He grabbed the handle of his sword and slammed it across Tyler’s face.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYrdQ6fGDF
Tyler staggered, blood spraying from his mouth. “Damn… that hurt,” he growled. Where the blade’s metal had struck, the wound didn’t heal.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzQoMt7YEB
“Hit him again, my son,” the voice of Annihilation whispered into Marcus’s mind. “He must die for what he did to you.”
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEjXLfS3gA
Marcus obeyed without hesitation. He brought the blade down again. And again. Each blow staggered Tyler further.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaTh2YiiET
“Looks like you’re ready,” Tyler said, grinning through the pain. He took a step back, and completed his transformation. The demonic bear now stood before Marcus, hulking and monstrous. “Let’s finish this!” he roared, charging. Snarling, Marcus leapt to meet him.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsz6HFmiAqR
Just before they collided, the vapor blade solidified, reforming into steel.
Tyler’s claws slashed. Marcus blocked. Then, an opening.
Marcus drove the blade into Tyler’s waist. The steel sank deep. Tyler roared—not in mockery this time, but in agony.
Marcus twisted the blade, its edge scraping and tearing through muscle and bone. Tyler howled, blood poured from the wound.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNb00zWOlX2
“Yes!” Tyler growled, his voice warped into a deep, demonic snarl. This this level of hate was exactly what he wanted from Marcus. With savage delight, he lunged forward and sank his monstrous teeth into Marcus’s shoulder. He thrashed his head violently, tearing away chunks of flesh. Blood sprayed as he ripped through muscle. Still holding Marcus in his jaws, Tyler lifted him off the ground and hurled him across the room. Marcus hit the floor hard but kept his grip on the sword.
Tyler didn’t move. He waited, knowing Marcus would come to him.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMfVM1nSA1D
And he did. With a furious cry, Marcus charged.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVcBx3p1lKW
“Kill him!” Annihilation roared in Marcus’s mind. The time had come. The darkness stirred, trembling with anticipation.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YNPeoawRC
Marcus lunged again, thrusting the blade forward but Tyler was faster. He swatted Marcus aside with a massive paw, sending him spinning. Marcus landed with his back turned, and Tyler seized the opening. He wrapped his thick, bear-like arms around Marcus and began to squeeze, crushing the air from his lungs, bones groaning under the pressure.
Then,
Dong!
The church bell rang a second time.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpnpcChrG56
The bell’s sound boomed through River Hallow, shaking the very ground. The blessing woven into its toll pierced the air like a blade. When it rang, both Tyler and Marcus recoiled in pain. The sound cut deep not into flesh, but into something far more rooted. Tyler released Marcus with a snarl. “That awful sound!” he growled, staggering. The blessing blurred his vision, and through the haze he could barely make out Marcus, who was also buckling under the bell’s effect.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl9QlQUlEow
For a fleeting moment, the sound broke Annihilation’s grip on Marcus. The voice fell silent. All he could hear was the bell, clear, resonant, eternal. In the chaos, it became a moment of stillness… of peace… of clarity.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0N6oIuHGjU
Then Tyler surged forward again and wrapped his arms around Marcus, squeezing tightly, determined to end it
.
At the edge of town, Rhaine, Alex, and Copper reached the entrance to River Hallow. Their eyes widened at the sight of the battle. “Oh no,” Rhaine gasped. “We have to stop them!”
Without hesitation, they drew their swords and charged.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYGc58MViq5
They nearly reached them, but they were too late.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIEmimmLvH
Tyler squeezed with all his strength, bones cracking under the pressure but Marcus had one final plan. Gritting his teeth, he concentrated and turned the blade back into vapor. Then, with deliberate intent, he turned it inward. He knew the vapor wouldn’t harm either of them physically. That wasn’t the point.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkUfXgqMGXh
“No!! Stop!!” Annihilation’s voice shrieked, now filled with something new, fear.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiHOttciPZk
The pain that had kept Marcus pliable, broken, and ready to be consumed was gone. For the first time in a long time, he felt free. Not from suffering but from control.
His mind flashed back to the night Tyler killed him. And in that moment, Marcus decided to return the favor.
He drove the vapor blade through his own chest forcing it into Tyler’s heart as well.
“You idiot!” Tyler snarled. “I already told you.. your soul can’t hurt me!” He started to laugh at Marcus’ supposed mistake.
But Marcus didn’t waver.
Lorna’s smile. Connor’s first hug. These were the memories that filled his mind.
“There was never a version of this where you survived,” Marcus said softly.
Then the blade turned back to steel. It pierced through both of their bodies. Tyler staggered backward as Marcus collapsed forward, the sword still embedded in their chests.
Tyler shifted back into his human form. He clutched the wound, his hand slick with his own blood. Stumbling to the ground, for the first time in a long time… Tyler felt fear. He was dying.
As the light began to fade from his eyes, he saw something in the distance a small figure. It was the little girl. Elle. He hated her.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqydOYZfnS2
Rhaine and Alex came running toward him, weapons ready, but Tyler only smiled. He knew what was coming. Annihilation was on its way. With the last of his strength, Tyler raised his hand… and gave them the middle finger.
Then he died.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9bpxpV46qM
Marcus’s vision blurred, fading into darkness. But the cold he felt now wasn’t the haunting chill that pulsed from him for so long. This was something final. This was death, at last coming to claim what it was owed.
Then he heard something.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31JBjB9hS6
Lorna's voice, singing softly in the distance.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgKmbQwYwk2
And a second voice, gentle and warm—it was Connor's.
15Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLpCQWdU3T
“Let’s go home, Daddy. This time… without the lies.”
ns3.143.4.96da2
