"There are five rules you should all follow," Vastarael said to Phaenora, Ferris and Adelasta. "Listen carefully because one wrong step and this turns from a fight to a massacre."
Phaenora leaned on her glaive, cocking an eyebrow, while Ferris stood rigidly, every fiber of her being honed and ready for battle. Adelasta, standing a little to the side, crossed her arms, trying to look composed but clearly uneasy.
"First," Vastarael said, holding up a finger, "don't look at its eyes. Those things are like anchors to your soul. One glance and it will pull you into something you won't come back from."
Adelasta frowned. "You mean, like… mind control?"
"Far worse," Phaenora replied. "It freezes your essence, locking you in an endless loop of terror. It's not something you want to experience. It makes you witness cosmic horror. Believe me, I experienced it once. Not a good feeling."
"Noted," Adelasta muttered, twirling her daggers. "What's next?"
"Second rule," Vastarael continued, holding up a second finger, "don't let it touch you and don't touch it. Its body is made of a substance that devours essence and memories. Even the slightest contact will weaken you and by that, I mean permanently. You lose a piece of yourself every time it gets close."
Ferris nodded sharply. "Understood."
"Third," Vastarael said, his tone growing sharper, "don't use physical damage on it. No swords, no glaives, no arrows, nothing. Physical attacks only make it stronger."
Adelasta's eyes widened. "So what are we supposed to use?"
"Essence-based abilities," Vastarael clarified. "Anything that doesn't involve direct physical contact. Trust me, we don't want to make it angrier than it already is."
"Got it," Phaenora said, her teasing tone gone as she grew more serious.
"Fourth rule," Vastarael said, holding up another finger, "don't get too close to it. Its presence radiates an intense, freezing aura. Get within five meters of it and you'll freeze to death, body, soul and all."
Adelasta shivered involuntarily. "This thing just keeps getting better and better."
"And finally," Vastarael said, his voice dropping an octave, "the most important rule of all: do not kill it."
That drew a sharp reaction from the three women.
"Wait, what?" Phaenora said, her brow furrowing. "We're not killing this thing?"
"It's the guardian of the Obsidian Runic Spire," Vastarael explained. "It's an Overlord Rank Krepsuna, a creature that exists at the Primordial God Rank. Killing it would destabilize the spire and possibly the entire Halo Islands. We're here to subdue it, not destroy it."
"Subdue a Primordial God Rank creature," Ferris repeated, her voice steady but laced with an undertone of skepticism. "That's… ambitious, my lord."
"Ambitious, yes," Vastarael said with a faint smirk, "but not impossible. Here's the plan."
He turned toward the towering abomination, its massive, writhing tentacles clinging to the spire like grotesque vines. The seven eyes blinked out of sequence, their irises contracting and expanding as though they were observing every corner of the battlefield.
"Previously, the Winter Labor controlled this creature. But now that the Winter Labor is gone, it's a prisoner of the spire. The spire sees it as a threat, but also as something that cannot be removed, only... contained."
Adelasta narrowed her eyes. "And how does that help us?"
"It helps," Vastarael said, stopping to face them, "because it means this creature is waiting for a new owner. If I can establish ownership, I can make it stop rampaging."
Phaenora let out a low whistle. "So, let me get this straight. While we're out there dancing with death, you're going to waltz up and… what? Claim it like a lost dog?"
"Something like that," Vastarael said, his smirk widening. "But it's not going to be easy. The creature won't just submit. It'll fight back and not just against me, but against all of us. That's where you three come in."
Ferris stepped forward, her hand on the hilt of her greatsword. "What do you need from us, my lord?"
Vastarael pointed at the creature.
"I need you to distract it. Keep it occupied, but remember the rules. Use your abilities to do long-range attacks. Do not get close and do not engage physically. Phaenora, I trust you to keep an eye on Adelasta."
"Yeah, yeah," Phaenora said with a shrug. "Don't let the wife get frozen or eaten. Got it."
Adelasta shot her a glare but said nothing.
Vastarael continued, "Ferris, you'll coordinate the knights to handle the minions. Use formation tactics to corral them and keep them from overwhelming us. Once the field is clear, I'll need you to focus on the creature itself."
Ferris nodded. "Consider it done."
"And what about you?" Adelasta asked, her voice quieter but laced with concern.
Vastarael's expression softened slightly as he turned to her.
"I'll be performing the bonding process. It's going to take time and concentration, so I'll be vulnerable. That's why I need you three to cover me. I'll only step in to fight if it's absolutely necessary."
"..."
"I'm the only being in the Halo Islands granted access by the Obsidian Runic Spire to use runes outside it. Since Rune Drawing requires total concentration and denies any form of defense, it makes me extremely vulnerable. Thankfully, the creature will be focused on you alone so..."
Adelasta hesitated, then nodded. "Just… be careful, okay?"
"Always."
He turned back to the group, his gaze hardening. "All right. Positions, everyone. Let's show this creature why it shouldn't mess with us."
The three women exchanged glances, then nodded. As they moved into position, Vastarael took a deep breath, his glaive shimmering as he prepared for the battle ahead. The stakes were high, the odds were daunting but he had a plan.
And Vastarael Richinaria always saw his plans through.
"Move out!"
°°°°°
The battle erupted with the force of a storm. Vastarael's Insignia Knights, an army of 200 as unyielding as obsidian itself, surged forward like a tide of death rolling over the grotesque humanoid creatures.
The knights moved as a single, brutal machine, their precision honed over years of servitude and battle. They struck with ruthless efficiency, showing no mercy to the eyeless, long-limbed horrors that scuttled and clawed at them. But amidst the chaos, two knights stood out.
The first knight, cloaked in armor so black it seemed to drink the light around her, stood still for only a moment. Then, with a fluid motion, she summoned sapphire chains that shimmered with an almost hypnotic brilliance, each link infused with a pulsating black essence that oozed malevolence. The chains sprang to life like living serpents, snapping through the air with terrifying speed.
She didn't just swing them. She wielded them like an artist painting her masterpiece. One chain lashed out and coiled around the neck of a minion from over twenty meters away. With a vicious tug, she snapped its head clean off, the body crumpling into a heap. Another chain spiraled through a cluster of the creatures, slashing through limbs and torsos with surgical precision.
Her control was uncanny. She moved her hands only slightly, but the chains obeyed her like extensions of her will. A group of minions rushed her, their grotesque mouths gaping open in silent screams. She smiled beneath her helmet. She didn't need to dodge. The chains spiraled outward in a spinning dance of destruction, slicing the creatures into pieces before they could even get close.
Even the other knights, veterans of countless battles, paused to marvel at her work. She was like a storm, her sapphire chains carving arcs of death into the battlefield. One knight whispered in awe.
"By the spire… she's not just good, she's terrifying."
Nearby, the second knight was a force of pure, unrelenting power. She wielded a holy staff that glowed with golden and black essence, the contrasting energies swirling along the blade like molten metal. Her strikes were precise, calculated and devastatingly efficient.
A minion lunged at her, its grotesque limbs stretching unnaturally as it aimed for her head. She didn't flinch. Instead, she swung her staff in a diagonal arc, cleaving the creature in two with such force that the ground beneath her cracked from the impact.
Another minion tried to flank her but she was already moving. Her staff flashed and the creature's arm went flying before she plunged it into its chest, pinning it to the ground. The golden-black essence flared and the creature dissolved into ash.
Her movements were seamless, as if she was dancing through the battlefield. She switched from wide, sweeping strikes to quick, precise jabs depending on the situation, never wasting an ounce of energy. The other knights couldn't help but notice her.
"She's almost as strong as Grand Cross Ferris," one knight murmured, watching as she cut down another wave of minions with ease.
"No," another corrected. "She's the second strongest, no doubt. But Grand Cross Ferris is still in a league of her own."
And then there was Ferris.
If the sapphire chain-wielder and the longsword knight were storms, Ferris was an earthquake. She wielded a blackened greatsword nearly as tall as she was, the blade radiating an ominous aura that seemed to hum with restrained power.
Ferris didn't move as gracefully as the others. She didn't need to. Her style was pure, unrelenting brutality. She stepped forward and the ground seemed to quake beneath her boots. A single swing of her greatsword obliterated five minions in one go, their bodies reduced to unrecognizable chunks of flesh and green blood.
A particularly large minion, nearly four meters tall and bristling with extra limbs, charged at her with terrifying speed. Ferris didn't even blink. She planted her feet, raised her greatsword, and swung it with such force that the creature's body split in half vertically, the two halves crashing to the ground on either side of her.
Her presence on the battlefield was magnetic. The other knights rallied around her, drawing strength from her sheer dominance. Even the creatures seemed to hesitate when she turned her gaze on them, as if sensing the inevitability of their demise.
"Push forward!" Ferris roared, her voice cutting through the chaos like a thunderclap. "Don't let them regroup! Keep the pressure on!"
Her orders were met with a resounding battle cry from the knights as they surged forward, their morale bolstered by her leadership.
The sapphire chain-wielder struck from afar, her chains a constant threat that kept the creatures off-balance and disoriented. The golden-black longsword knight carved a path through the horde and Ferris, the Grand Cross, was the anchor, her overwhelming power ensuring that no minion could break through their line.
Together, they turned what could have been a desperate fight for survival into a slaughter. The minions, no matter how grotesque or numerous, stood no chance against the combined might of Vastarael's elite. And yet, this was only the prelude.
Above them, the eldritch creature clung to the spire, its massive tentacles writhing as it watched the battle unfold. Its seven eyes blinked slowly, the irises contracting as though it were studying its adversaries. It hadn't truly entered the fray yet, but its presence was a constant reminder that the real challenge was yet to come.
For now, however, the battlefield belonged to the Insignia Knights.