Lu Chen's body screamed in protest, every breath a stab of pain — but he couldn't stop. Not now. Three Engagers stood between him and the Shadow Champion.
The Shadow Champion raised his hand. A single word, sharp as steel, broke the air. The Engagers surged forward.
So did Lu Chen.
The Hunter led the charge — fast, relentless. But Lu Chen moved first. He hurled his spear like a javelin, Falselight trailing behind it in a streak of brilliance.
The weapon struck true. The Hunter collapsed mid-sprint, body skidding across the ground.
But the other two were already upon him. Their weapons came down —
Lu Chen kicked off a tilted pike buried in the ground, launching himself upward between them.
Midair, he twisted his body and struck both Engagers with a brutal double kick. Metal clashed, balance broken.
They stumbled.
Lu Chen landed hard, rolled, and grabbed the same pike he'd used to jump. With a single motion, he spun it around, caught it in both hands — and brought it down in a sweeping arc.
Falselight flared as the blade tore through them.
Silence.
Lu Chen was panting hard now, his breath ragged and shallow. A sickening weight settled in his chest — the power from the Orb of Desolation was fading.
Panic clawed at the edges of his mind. Not yet. Just a little longer.
The Shadow Champion stirred. Slowly, he stood — then blinked.
Before Lu Chen could react, a crushing blow struck his ribs. The world spun. He flew, crashing into the rubble with a guttural grunt. Stone cracked.
He spat blood. But he stood. He had to.
The power within him was dimming, but his resolve remained iron. Memories surged — a thousand lives of battles, defeats, triumphs — all returning in a heartbeat.
He moved.
With a defiant roar, Lu Chen lunged, pike spear in hand. He drove it forward, straight into the Shadow Champion's chest.
There was a metallic clang. The spear pierced — but only wedged itself into the stone-like body. No blood. No damage.
The Champion didn't even flinch.
Only his glowing eyes shifted… and looked down at Lu Chen.
Another blow landed — a blur of shadow and force. It hit him like a mountain.
Lu Chen slammed into the ground, the impact ringing through his bones like a death knell. Pain exploded in his chest, his back. Too much.
The Orb's power flickered inside him, fragile now, like a candle guttering in the wind. The pain was making it worse — dragging him down, dulling his edge.
He rolled, barely dodging the Shadow Champion's follow-up strike. A jagged line of force cracked the stone where his head had been.
I can't win like this, he thought, staggering to his feet.
He dashed back, putting space between them. The Shadow Champion didn't rush. He didn't need to.
Thunder rolled above. Long, slow, and deep — like the sky itself was warning him.
Lu Chen froze.
His eyes widened.
Thunder.
The Shadow Champion moved slowly, almost curiously, watching Lu Chen with that hollow, flickering gaze.
Then it spoke — the voice like cracked stone grinding against steel.
"Weak... mortal... still crawl?"
The words were rough, mangled, like a language worn down by centuries. It tried again, slower this time.
"You... are not... worthy."
The Shadow Champion's eyes pulsed — not with rage, but contempt.
It had felt the presence of the Orb of Desolation from the very beginning — a fragment of old power, forged from chaos and silence. To sense it in this battlefield had stirred something ancient within the eidolon. A fragment of memory. A warning.
But now, after trading blows, after watching this boy bleed and crawl, it understood the truth.
This was no cultivator. No chosen heir. No vessel of divine will.
Only a mortal. Broken. Barely breathing.
The Shadow Champion's disdain thickened the air as it stared down at him.
"That orb..." it muttered, its words rough, yet clearer now, shaped by anger.
"You... hold what you do not deserve."
Its shadow warped and stretched as it raised its arm again. The stone around its knuckles cracked with barely contained force.
"Unworthy... vessel."
It was meant to mock him. Meant to break whatever spirit he had left.
But Lu Chen didn't answer.
Lu Chen's gaze fixed on the sky above, his body heaving with each ragged breath. The thunder rolled, deep and ominous, the storm clouds swirling like a ravenous beast ready to devour everything beneath it.
"Kill me... if you can," Lu Chen sneered, his voice laced with defiance, as he gazed up at the towering figure of the Shadow Champion.
The taunt was like a spark, igniting the Shadow Champion's fury.
With a roar that echoed through the battleground, the Shadow Champion surged forward, its immense form a blur of rage and power. But Lu Chen wasn't finished yet.
He dashed in erratic patterns, never allowing the Shadow Champion a moment's respite. His body was broken, his mind a blur of instinct and desperation. He dragged weapons — swords, pikes, spears, axes — through the dirt, and in the midst of the chaos, each weapon found its mark, stabbing deep into the Shadow Champion's stone-like body. Each strike cost Lu Chen more and more of his dwindling strength, but he kept moving, stumbling and fighting back with whatever weapon he could grasp.
Finally, there were no more weapons to drag, no more places to run. His legs buckled, and Lu Chen collapsed to his knees.
He looked up at the Shadow Champion, his breathing ragged. It loomed over him, its patience wearing thin. Bored of the chase, the Shadow Champion lifted its massive fist, preparing for the final blow that would end it all.
Lu Chen, his heart pounding, his hands trembling, barely had the strength to raise his head. This is it. He was ready for his end.
And then, in the distance, the first crack of thunder sounded.
The storm had come.
A blinding flash of lightning ripped through the sky, a bolt of raw power, and it struck with unrelenting fury.
Right where Lu Chen had planned.
The metal weapons embedded in the Shadow Champion's body became the perfect conductors, and as the lightning arced down from the heavens, it exploded through the Shadow Champion, coursing through its stone-like form with explosive force. The ground shook, the very air crackling with the energy of the strike.
The Shadow Champion let out a bone-chilling scream, its gargantuan form trembling as cracks began to spider across its stone exterior. The pressure of the storm, the unrelenting force of lightning, shattered its seemingly invincible defense.
"How did you!!!!" the Shadow Champion roared, its voice tinged with disbelief and fury. The Champion, a being forged from stone and shadow, had never faced such an onslaught. Stone was its perfect defense, its impenetrable shield...
With each strike of the lightning, the Shadow Champion's body buckled. Every arc of electric fury surged through its stone frame, blasting away chunks of rock, cracking its once-imposing form. The ground rumbled beneath the sheer power of the storm, the very air thick with the scent of ozone and destruction.
Lu Chen's vision was blurring, his body barely able to stay upright as the final remnants of the orb's power pulsed within him. His heart raced, his breaths shallow and quick. But through the chaos, he could see it — the Shadow Champion's stone form was crumbling, the shadow that once loomed so imposing now flickering and weakening. The Eidolon was fading, its power dissolving with each lightning strike.
But Lu Chen wasn't done yet.
He reached deep within himself, summoning the last ounces of energy the orb had left, now barely a whisper of its former strength. His hand scraped across the ground, fingers curling around a jagged pebble. With trembling hands, he coated it with Falselight, the faint glow offering the smallest fraction of his power.
His body screamed in protest as he threw the pebble, the light flickering as it hurtled toward the Shadow Champion's faltering form.
Time seemed to slow.
The pebble, imbued with the last vestiges of the orb's energy, struck the small Eidolon with pinpoint precision. The Shadow Champion's shadowy form shattered on impact, disintegrating into wisps of darkness as it crumpled to the ground.
The battle was over.
The orb's power dissipated in that moment, leaving Lu Chen weak and drained. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, his breath ragged. The world around him seemed to spin as the remnants of his strength bled away.
"Ha... Ha ha..." Lu Chen chuckled weakly, his laughter echoing in the stillness of the battlefield. It was a laugh born of exhaustion and disbelief, a mix of triumph and utter weariness.
[System Notification: Quest Complete][6 Engagers: Slain][Shadow Champion: Slain][Achievement Unlock: Thunder Wielder]