The wind howled hard enough to make the walls tremble. Each gust sliced through the air like a blade, carrying snow, dust, and the distant cries of battle. The storm had devoured the sky, a churning vortex of gray and white that erased the horizon completely. Inside the fortress, chaos ruled. Torches flickered wildly in trembling hands, barely keeping their flames alive as people fought their way toward the breach in the wall. Every step was a struggle against the wind.

Outside, far from the noise and motion, Luke stood still. Snow piled on his shoulders, the cold digging deep into his bones. He didn't move. Beside him, Charlie watched in silence. Both stared at the mask of the Fallen Stone Angel resting in Luke's hands. The stone surface pulsed faintly, alive, even beneath its crust of ice.

Then a voice echoed, not through the air, but inside the mask itself.

"Time for what? What are you talking about?" Luke asked, confused.

The mask's eyes glowed gold, a warm, impossible light amid the blizzard.

"The time for you to activate the Warhorn," the mask replied. Luke knew that voice. The angel's.

"Activate the Warhorn? What does that even mean?" He tightened his grip, but the golden light was already fading, dimming like a candle's last breath.

"Now that the Midnight Lord is gone, they answer only to me… quickly… my Lord…"

The voice dissolved, carried away by the wind. Luke turned toward the fortress. Civilians still stumbled through the storm, guided by torches, by shouts, by sheer desperation. Every second stretched unbearably long. Then his gaze fell back to the mask.

He and Charlie exchanged a look, a brief flicker of understanding. Things were worse than desperate.

Before them loomed the Warhorn, a giant stone structure half-buried in snow. An artifact from an age so old it might as well have been myth.

[Warhorn of Battle]: An enchanted relic from an ancient war, usable only by the Fallen Stone Angel. Once sounded, the horn's echo will awaken the slumbering statue army across the city. Upon activation, all stone sentinels rise and march to war, bound by oath and stone to protect their master or crush all who oppose them. It only sounds in times of war… and when it does, the stone walks.

Luke stared at it, the meaning of the inscription hitting him like a blow. Beneath the snow-covered ruins slept a city of statues, an army frozen in time. Stone warriors, silent guardians of a forgotten age.

"This thing was part of the challenge," he muttered, voice raw. "There's no way to activate it. Only you could, in your stone body."

"The mask…" the voice whispered faintly. "I told you… remember?"

He frowned.

[Mask of the Fallen Stone Angel (Unique)

Description: In the final moments of its forsaken life, the angel, abandoned by its own kind, was offered something it never expected: mercy. And that mercy came from a demon. In her final breaths, moved by unimaginable compassion, she sealed all the power she had left into this relic. Not for redemption, but for hope.

"May my Lord realize, when the moment is right, the value hidden in something as simple and frail as this."

Enchantments:

[Statue Form (Ancient)]: While wearing the mask, you take on the form of the Fallen Stone Angel, becoming indistinguishable from a statue. [Angel Soul Fragment (Unique)]: A slumbering fragment of an angel's soul resides within this mask. Requirement: Soulbound.]

"This is my gift to you…" whispered the voice, each word fainter than the last. "But it could only awaken… after the death of the Midnight Lord…"

Luke's eyes were fixed on something, the item's enchantment description: "While wearing the mask, you take on the form of the Fallen Stone Angel, becoming indistinguishable from a statue."

His gaze lifted to the Warhorn ahead of him, and for the first time, he understood what had to be done.

Luke repeated the words engraved on the mask: "May my Lord realize, when the moment is right, the value hidden in something as simple and frail as this."

"The moment has come," the mask whispered back.

He looked toward Charlie. It was madness—he knew that. But with the fortress collapsing around them, the civilians fleeing, and the world crumbling into chaos, madness was the only option left.

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"If this goes wrong, I'll summon an extra army of enemies that'll kill everyone here," he warned.

"I would never betray my Lord," the mask murmured, barely audible.

Artemis remained silent; she wouldn't say anything at that moment. It was too personal, too heavy a decision. Franky stayed quiet, hidden beneath Luke's clothes. The snake had stopped talking the moment it realized he was leaving behind the chance to go to the castle and save the other humans. Still, its head poked out from Luke's shirt, watching the scene with curious eyes.

Luke drew in a breath—or tried to. "Charlie, if this goes south, it's just you and me against those damn statues."

If he was going to do that crazy thing, he would accept the consequences. Charlie raised her sword; she was ready for whatever happened.

With a single motion, he placed the mask over his face. The stone's icy touch spread across his skin, and the enchantment of [Statue Form] came to life. The mask melted like liquid marble, seeping into his flesh, coloring every feature in shades of gray and stone. The transformation spread down his neck, over his shoulders, across his arms and chest—his clothes hardening, fusing into him. In moments, there was no distinction between man and statue.

Franky squirmed beneath the fabric, but the fabric too turned to stone, trapping him within the living monument.

Then, silence.

Luke's first step sounded like stone grinding against stone—deep, resonant, final. The cold no longer touched him. The wind no longer mattered. He was a statue now.

He stopped at the warhorn and stared at the mouthpiece. He took a deep breath, or tried to. He was a statue, yet somehow he could draw in air, even though he didn't need to breathe. The air filled him, and with the mouthpiece against his lips, he blew with everything he had.

In that instant, the warhorn shone, and a deep, fierce sound erupted, far louder than should have been possible, far deeper than it was ever meant to be. Even through the storm, the sound echoed across the capital, rolling through the streets, cutting against the wind, carried onward by its own will. The warhorn blazed with light, and Luke felt something stir within him, like a flame spreading, a heat carried within that sound. Even the mask was affected.

[The Sleeping Army has awakened. The ancient Watchers, once angels, heed the call to war of the Fallen Stone Angel.]

The sound carried through the capital. And from far beyond, he heard the answer—other horns answering the call, one after another, echoing through streets, over rooftops, and across the towers. A chorus of stone and war. The sound of the Warhorn tore through the world. Across snow-choked streets, over rooftops and alleyways, the echo rolled like distant thunder. One by one, other horns answered, each carrying that same deep, ancient resonance, like a city awakening from a centuries-long sleep.

The light blazing from the artifact was blinding. When it finally dimmed, Luke realized he was no longer alone. From somewhere within the city, the ground began to quake. Footsteps. At first, a few. Then dozens. In seconds, hundreds. The steady, thunderous rhythm of stone marching on stone.

The stony form that had enveloped Luke slowly crumbled away, the mask fading until it was just a fragment clinging to his face. The cold wind returned, biting against his skin. He looked around and saw shadows moving through the storm's haze.

Behind him, a voice called out.

"What happened?" Allison appeared from the fog, katana in hand. "There was a loud sound, coming from here."

More soldiers followed, tense and ready, weapons drawn. Luke didn't even know where to begin, but the noise from the streets answered for him. The sound of boots, heavy, synchronized, relentless.

Not dozens.

Not hundreds.

Thousands.

Red lights flared within the mist. Eyes, countless eyes, glowed crimson in the dark, catching the reflection of war. Entire ranks of statues were marching down the avenues, armored and armed, spears raised, swords gleaming. When they reached the fortress, they halted as one. The ground shook beneath their weight.

"By the gods!" a soldier shouted, already forming ranks.

"Hold the perimeter!" barked another. Archers drew their bows, arrows nocked.

"Wait!" Luke said to everyone.

More soldiers emerged from inside the fortress, stunned by the sight.

"The statues are with me!" he shouted, but fear had already taken hold.

An arrow whistled through the air, slamming into a statue's shoulder. The tip sank deep, cracking the marble. The creature turned its head slowly, deliberately, toward the archer who had fired.

Allison kept her katana raised, eyes locked on Luke. "What do you mean, they're with you?"

He didn't have an answer. He wasn't even sure it was true.

"You there?" he asked the mask.

Silence.

The statues kept coming, filling the streets, the rooftops, the walls. Archers of stone lined the parapets, while warriors and spearmen filled every open space, an army vast enough to blanket the entire city.

Luke raised his voice. "Are you with me?"

For a heartbeat, nothing moved. Then, as if obeying an unseen command, every statue dropped to one knee at once.

The sound was deafening.

"What the hell…" a soldier muttered under his breath.

Allison looked at him, equally surprised, equally stunned. That's when another sound cut through the wind. Hoofbeats. Out of the storm emerged a warhorse carved from stone, encased in armor of the same material. Its joints pulsed with molten red light. The creature stopped before Luke, silent and imposing.

Allison stepped back, uncertain.

Luke looked up at the horse. "I think it wants me to ride."

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