The day's light barely had time to chase away the shadows before tension returned. Scouts reported the forest was unnaturally quiet; no birdsong, no chitter of lesser beasts. The city itself seemed to hold its breath—every clatter of armor, every cry from the infirmary, echoed as if the stone itself was nervous.
I stood atop the highest tower, watching the horizon. Even from here, I could sense the gathering pressure, the oppressive tide of spirit energy building in the distance. This was not just another wave. This was the heart of the storm.
I called an emergency council at sunset. Every leader, captain, and evolver of the second and third realms attended. We gathered in the Academy's Great Hall, the torches burning with blue spirit fire, their glow almost trembling.
"Tonight," I began, voice steady, "the real test comes. My spirit tells me we face not just beasts, but twelve true lords—creatures whose power equals or exceeds even our best. If we break, the city falls."
There was no fear in the room, only grim determination. The people who had survived two nights of siege were beyond fear now.
The sun bled away, leaving only a ghostly silver. Then we saw them: twelve great figures emerging from the forest, each more terrifying than legend.
A wolf lord, fur like midnight steel, eyes burning with cold blue fire.
A serpent lord, scales shimmering green and gold, massive enough to encircle a tower.
A bull lord, horns crowned with runes, stomping the earth with every step.
A bear lord, white as bone, its breath freezing the grass at its feet.
An eagle lord, wings darkening the moon, talons sparking with wind.
A stag lord, antlers aglow with lightning.
A panther lord, shadow incarnate, seen only when it struck.
A boar lord, tusks wreathed in flame.
A crocodile lord, tail swinging like a battering ram.
A lion lord, mane of gold, roaring thunder.
A mantis lord, blades glinting, eyes cold and ancient.
And last, a twin-headed dog lord, both heads baying, dripping spirit energy.
They did not come alone—hordes of lesser beasts swarmed behind them, but all eyes were drawn to the twelve.
The first blow was thunderous. The bull lord charged the northern gate, shattering earth and sending stone shards flying. At the same moment, the eagle lord and panther lord soared and leapt for the walls, their combined assault breaking through a weak point atop the east tower.
"Positions!" I roared. "Elemental teams—prepare unison formations!"
All along the wall, the city's defenders formed squads—groups of water, fire, earth, and air users, each led by a third-realm evolver. For weeks, we had trained for this: Elemental Unison, a technique where two or more cultivators combined their powers for effects beyond any single art.
"Earth and water—fortify the gates!Fire and air—take the towers!Mixed teams—hit the lords, don't let them breach!"
The city became a symphony of light and power.
At the north wall, an earth evolver raised a barrier just as the bull lord struck, only for a water user to freeze the mud, turning it into an unbreakable barricade.
When the eagle lord dove, an air user whipped up a tornado, throwing off its flight, and fire users targeted it with blazing spears, turning feathers to cinders.
Against the panther lord, whose darkness made it nearly invisible, a group of tailors, air users, and young students flung clouds of dye and powder into the air, revealing its outline so archers could focus their attacks.
At the eastern gate, an earth and water team created a churning pit of mud and stone that swallowed dozens of charging beasts, slowing the tide.
A squad of healers and water users rushed into the breach behind the mantis lord, freezing its limbs while spear-wielders shattered them, driving it back with elemental teamwork.
I watched a mother and son, both barely second realm, combining their powers to create a wall of spinning fire and wind, holding back a surge of wildcats. I saw Tie Lao, battered and bloodied, wielding her hammer with one hand and channeling earth energy with the other, her apprentice beside her, binding the wounds of the fallen with strips of heated cloth.
The Adventure Guild leader, Hu Shan, took on the lion lord alongside two young hunters, using fire to blind one eye, earth to trip it, and air to slam its jaw shut before the killing blow was struck.
But the focus was always the beast lords. I picked my moment, leaping to the southern tower as the serpent lord breached the parapet. Its coils shimmered, scales reflecting moonlight, venom steaming on its fangs.
"Let's try something new," I whispered.
I called on fire and air, swirling the flames into a blazing vortex, then compressed it with air until it became a lance of superheated wind. With a single thought, I hurled it, striking the serpent across the jaw. It hissed, rearing back—but then its tail snapped forward, shattering the stone beneath me.
Rolling aside, I switched—earth and water this time, creating a ring of jagged, icy spikes that forced the serpent to withdraw. The combination was unstable, wild, but the crowd cheered as the beast lord retreated.
But there was no time to rest. Two more beast lords—the stag and the boar—joined the assault, combining powers as if they too had learned unison. Lightning danced over flaming tusks, battering the central gate.
Defenders were faltering. I saw a squad overwhelmed, a section of wall collapsing, smoke and dust blotting out the moon.
In desperation, I called the closest third-realm evolvers to my side. "We must combine our elements! On my mark—fire, water, earth, air—all together!"
A dozen cultivators, from every corner of the city, joined hands, channeling their spirit energy through me as the focus. I felt the surge—raw, dizzying, almost uncontrollable.
"Now!" I cried.
We unleashed a torrent of elemental force: a river of steam, a blast of molten stone, a cyclone of lightning and rain. The impact sent three beast lords sprawling, broke the charge of a hundred minor beasts, and scattered the rest in panic.
The battle raged deep into the night. One by one, the mighty beast lords were struck down—by elemental combinations, by the courage of ordinary men and women, by sheer willpower that refused to yield.The bull lord collapsed under a barrage of earth and water, its runes cracked and spirit extinguished.The eagle lord fell from the sky, wings burned away by spiraling fire and air.The serpent lord was frozen and shattered, the lion lord's thunderous roar silenced by combined attacks.Even the cunning panther and the fearsome mantis were overwhelmed by the unity of the defenders, their bodies finally still at the foot of the battered wall.
By the time the first rays of dawn broke across the city, all twelve beast lords lay dead upon the field. Their hulking forms were silent testimony to what could be achieved when humanity stood as one.
Yet as the sun rose, a cheer rose from the survivors. We had faced twelve lords—and endured, not just by surviving, but by vanquishing every single one.
But far in the forest, I saw one final shadow, immense and winged, circling above the treetops. The real master had not yet joined the fight.
I looked at my trembling hands—exhausted, burned, but alive. The hardest battle was still to come. And I would face it, with all that I had become.