As they stepped into the wide stone chamber just before the final exit stairs, the air shifted.

  The blast hit before any of them could react.

  A wave of magic tore across the room, slamming into the three like a hammer. Lokey’s head cracked against the wall, stars exploding in his vision before darkness claimed him. Artemis and Hela were hurled in opposite directions, their cries swallowed by the rush of power.

  Figures in hooded robes emerged from the shadows.

  Eight of them threw themselves on Lokey, pinning his unconscious body down. Three swarmed Artemis, shackling his arms and legs, dragging him across the bloody stone like a prize catch.

  And Hela—

  A coarse powder was thrown in her face. She coughed, choking, her mana unraveling at once. Her skeletal knights flickered, shivering as if trapped between two worlds, before collapsing into nothing.

  “No!” she screamed, kicking wildly, but two men seized her by the arms and dragged her toward the altar set up against the far wall. The runes carved into its surface pulsed with sickly light.

  “Get off me! What is your problem?!” she shrieked, thrashing in their grip. “Help!”

  The words tore through Artemis like a knife.

  He lifted his head, and for an instant, the world seemed to stop.

  A hooded man pressed a jagged blade to Hela’s throat.

  Fuck he screamed his strength forcing more of the hooded men holding him back get the fuck off of her he yelled as in his mind he cursed that his magic needed his blades in his hands trying to think of anything to do as he looked around and noticed lokey out on the floor 10 or 12 people on his back.

  Something inside Artemis snapped.

  Blue flames exploded around him, licking up his arms, wrapping his body. His scream shook the chamber, raw and feral, filled with hate. The cultists restraining him staggered back in shock, their cloaks catching fire as his rage burned them alive.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Lokey’s eyes flickered open. He saw hooded figures clawing at him, but beyond them—beyond the struggle—his brother stood engulfed in fire, cursing and roaring as balls of flame erupted from his hands. The sheer force of the heat burned the air.

  And then it grew worse.

  The armor of one of Hela’s knights shimmered, disintegrated into blue sparks—and reformed around Artemis’ body.

  His flesh seemed to peel away, vanishing beneath silver plates and jagged bone, a monstrous helm locking over his head. A sword of fire hissed into being in his hand, pulsing with the same violent rage that filled his voice.

  Lokey froze, hammer halfway raised.

  “…Artemis…?”

  Then his Identify skill triggered without him meaning to.

  [Artemis – Class: Dark Destroyer Skeletal Elite]

  “What the hell…” Lokey whispered, horror and awe blending in his throat.

  And then Artemis moved.

  The chamber became a bloodbath.

  He tore through the robed men like paper, his flaming blade cleaving flesh, his curses ripping the sanity from their ears. Limbs scattered across the stone floor, fire eating into robes and skin, turning the altar’s glow into a reflection of hell itself. Screams echoed as one after another fell before him.

  Thirty. Forty. More.

  Artemis did not stop. His rage was unrelenting, his blue flames spreading across walls and ceiling, blackening stone as the cultists burned alive. The altar cracked beneath the force of his strikes, carved runes splitting apart under the storm of fire.

  Even the Hellhounds that came bounding in late froze for a moment, whining at the sight of him before launching into the fray beside their master’s brother.

  Hela could only watch, horror in her eyes. This was not her brother. This was something else—something darker, something the dungeon itself might have birthed.

  Then as the last hooded man ran or fell it ended.

  Artemis staggered, his breathing ragged. The armor flickered, smoking at the edges, cracking apart like brittle glass. The flaming blade hissed into nothing, leaving only the stench of ash.

  He dropped to his knees.

  “Hela…” he rasped, reaching toward her with a trembling, blistered hand. His voice was broken, his body shaking.

  The armor shattered away. The flames guttered out.

  And Artemis collapsed, face-first, into the blood-soaked stone.

  “Artemis!” Hela screamed, rushing to him.

  Lokey caught him, hauling his limp frame into his arms. His chest heaved as he looked down at the ruined chamber, then back at his unconscious brother.

  “You idiot…” he muttered, voice tight with something between pride and fear. “You saved her. But what the hell did you do?”

  Hela gripped her brother’s hand, tears slipping down her cheeks. The Hellhounds growled low, their glowing eyes sweeping the carnage, guarding what was left of their master’s family.