The portal shuddered one last ti before tearing itself open with a sound like flesh being ripped apart, and from within that warped tear in space, two figures were thrown forward and slamd into the ground with crushing force.
Dust billowed upward, stones shattered, and for a single stretched mont, the entire battlefield went silent.
Two headless creatures rose slowly from the crater.
Their bodies were humanoid but wrong in every way. One was tall and lean with blade-like limbs shaped like a mantis, its green-black carapace pulsing as if it were breathing.
The other was broader, plated like a scorpion, its segnted torso twitching while thick ichor dripped from the severed necks of both beings.
There was no blood spilling from the wounds, only writhing flesh that sealed itself in slow, sickening waves.
The human army froze.
Weapons trembled in hands. Mana wavered. No one spoke.
Then the creatures roared.
The sound was not loud, but it carried weight, a vibration that passed through armor and bone and rattled teeth in skulls. The ground cracked beneath their feet as they took their first step, and in that instant, panic exploded.
"Formation!" a commander shouted. "Hold formation!"
Too late.
The mantis creature vanished in a blur and reappeared inside the front line, its scythe-like arms flashing once before bodies fell apart in sprays of blood.
The scorpion creature charged headfirst, its plated body smashing through shields as if they were made of paper, impaling soldiers on jagged limbs and hurling them aside.
Screams filled the air.
"Cast spells!" a mage cried. "Burn them!"
Fireballs slamd into the creatures, lightning cracked across their bodies, blades of mana tore through the air, yet none of it slowed them.
The mantis creature’s wounds closed instantly, its body growing thicker, sharper, its limbs elongating as it cut down more humans.
The scorpion creature’s shell darkened, hardening with every kill, its movents growing faster, more precise.
"They’re getting stronger!" soone scread. "They’re feeding on us!"
"Fall back!"
"Protect the rear!"
Orders clashed. Panic spread. Knights broke formation as fear took hold, so running, others frozen in place as the two headless monsters tore through the ranks like living disasters. Every death made them swell with power, mana flaring brighter, bodies adapting in real ti to every attack thrown at them.
From a raised platform, the leaders watched in horror as their forces were crushed.
"What are those?" One of them asked.
"I don’t know but this can’t continue," one of them answered through clenched teeth. "If this goes on, they’ll beco unstoppable."
Another nodded grimly. "Then we deal with them ourselves."
They stepped forward together, mana erupting around their bodies, auras blazing as spells and techniques reached their peak.
The air bent under the pressure of their combined power.
And then a voice spoke in their ears.
"No can do."
The words were calm, almost playful, and they ca from everywhere and nowhere at once.
A black shape drifted through the chaos, a ripple in the air, and suddenly Cain stood among them, his boots touching the ground without a sound, his cape trailing behind him like a living shadow.
"All of you will suffice," he continued lightly.
One of the leaders paused for a mont, before snapping in reality and snarled. "Kill him!"
They moved as one, attacks converging, blades and spells aid at the vampire who dared step between them and the monsters.
Cain did not dodge.
He walked.
The attacks passed through where he had been a heartbeat ago, his form blurring like smoke as he slipped between blows, his laughter soft and almost bored.
"No," he said, appearing behind one of them, fingers tapping the man’s shoulder. "Too weak."
The leader spun, only to be struck by Cain’s cape, the fabric snapping like a whip and sending him crashing into the ground, mana dispersing in a chaotic burst.
Another leader shouted and unleashed a spell ant to erase everything in its path. Cain tilted his head, watched it approach, and simply stepped aside.
"Too unbalanced," he added, sighing.
They tried to surround him, tried to corner him, but it was like chasing a ghost. Every ti they struck, Cain was already gone, appearing elsewhere, plucking soldiers from the battlefield as if choosing fruit from a stall.
"You," he murmured, lifting one knight by the throat. "Too thin."
The man vanished in a flash of red.
"And you," Cain said to a mage screaming spells until his voice broke. "Too frantic."
Gone.
Each ti, comrades rushed forward to save them, only to find empty air and a fading echo of laughter. Weapons passed through Cain’s afterimages. Magic slid off him like rain.
"Stop him!" soone cried. "Focus on the vampire!"
They tried. They really tried.
Cain moved through them with lazy grace, his cape snapping, his hands closing around necks and shoulders, selecting, discarding, judging.
"No, no," he muttered. "Not enough."
The battlefield burned and bled around him, the headless creatures still rampaging in the distance, but Cain’s eyes were elsewhere now, focused, searching.
Then he found them.
The one he was searching for.
A cluster of elites near the rear, their mana dense, their blood rich with power.
"There we go," he said softly. "That should do."
Before anyone could react, Cain swept forward, shadows swallowing the chosen humans as they were dragged screaming into the dark.
Their comrades lunged after them, hands grasping at nothing, spells detonating uselessly in the air.
"Bring them back!"
But Cain was already gone.
...
Far away, within the heart of the human empire, the Human Emperor stood before a towering window, his silhouette frad by flickering light.
He had felt it the mont it began, a pressure against his senses, a wrongness that made his chest tighten.
Now he turned sharply toward the horizon, eyes widening.
"Huh?"
The air trembled faintly, carrying distant echoes of death and fear.
"Sothing’s bad!"
He straightened at once. "Prepare my armor."
A dozen voices answered in alarm.
"Your Majesty, no!"
"You are the strongest human alive, but that doesn’t an you must handle this personally."
"Send the Grand Legion instead!"
The Emperor clenched his fist. "You don’t understand."
He took a step forward, his presence alone causing the room to quake.
"There are things moving," he said, voice heavy. "Things that will not wait."
One of his advisors knelt. "Please reconsider."
The Emperor’s gaze hardened. "If I do not go," he said slowly, "everything will be too late."
Silence fell.
Then he began to rise in the air, the mana around him were already moving, power rising around him like a gathering storm.
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