Liam Phase Shifted away from the sword-wielder's casual strike—a blow that carved through the marble pillar behind where he'd been standing like butter. He reappeared on the opposite side of the hall, channeling Essence desperately to heal the worst of his injuries.

[Essence: -8,000]

[Health: 31% → 38%]

It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.

"He's fast, I'll give him that," the third hero observed. "Some kind of teleportation magic. Short range, but effective for mobility."

They were analyzing him. Studying him like he was an interesting puzzle rather than a threat.

Because to them, he wasn't a threat.

He was an inconvenience.

The sword-wielder moved again—not with the blonde hero's impossible speed, but with precision that spoke of someone who'd spent their entire life training. The burning blade swept in an arc that forced Liam to Phase Shift again.

He was burning through Essence with every shift, every healing attempt, every second he tried to survive.

[Essence: 35,340]

[Health: 38%]

This wasn't sustainable. He couldn't hurt them—his attacks bounced off like hitting reinforced steel. He couldn't escape them—they were faster than him. He couldn't outlast them—his resources were finite and depleting rapidly.

He was going to die here.

"You know what I don't understand," the third hero said, circling casually, "is why you look human. The prophecy said the Primordial Demon would be this terrifying force of evil. But you're just... a guy. A guy with some magic tricks and teleportation."

"Maybe that's the trick," the blonde suggested. "Looking harmless while spreading corruption."

"He doesn't look harmless anymore," the sword-wielder observed, pointing at where Liam's blood stained the marble floor. "He looks desperate."

They were toying with him.

No—worse than that. They were genuinely curious, studying him like scientists examining a specimen. The killing would come, but first they wanted to understand what they were dealing with.

Liam's mind raced through options. He couldn't fight them. Couldn't escape them. Couldn't delay them indefinitely.

But maybe he could give Zara and the others time to reach the throne room. Time to complete the mission even if he died here.

He just had to survive long enough to matter.

"You know," Liam said, tasting blood with every word, "for divine champions, you talk a lot."

The blonde hero smiled. "We're curious. The priests told us you'd be this overwhelming evil that required divine intervention to defeat. But honestly? You seem kind of... underwhelming."

"Maybe I'm just conserving energy," Liam said, and hit them with everything he had left.

Infernal Conflagration erupted in all directions, black flames that consumed oxygen and turned the marble hall into an inferno. Phase Shift carried him through the flames, appearing behind the third hero—the one who hadn't attacked yet, who seemed more analytical than aggressive.

Liam drove Abyssal Plate-reinforced strikes directly into the hero's spine with every ounce of strength he possessed.

The impact should have shattered vertebrae, should have at minimum stunned the target.

It felt like punching solid titanium.

The third hero turned around, grabbed Liam by the throat, and lifted him off the ground with one hand.

"That actually hurt a little," he said, sounding mildly impressed. "Not much. But a little. You're stronger than you look."

Liam couldn't breathe. His Phase Shift was on cooldown. His Essence was depleting. His vision was starting to tunnel.

He was dying.

Then the wall exploded inward, and Lilith arrived like a meteor given purpose.

She hit the third hero with enough force to break his grip on Liam's throat and send both of them crashing through the opposite wall. Liam fell hard, gasping for air, watching as the Demon Queen faced three divine champions.

"Run," she said, not taking her eyes off the heroes. "Get to the throne room. Complete the mission."

"I'm not leaving you—"

"That's an order," Lilith snapped, and there was something in her voice that Liam had never heard before. Fear. Not for herself, but for him. "You can't fight them. I can barely fight them. But one of us needs to kill that king, and you're the only one who can get there alive."

The three heroes were regrouping, studying Lilith with the same analytical curiosity they'd shown Liam.

"The Demon Queen," the sword-wielder said. "Now this is more interesting."

"She feels stronger than him," the blonde observed. "Significantly so."

"Good," the third hero said, extracting himself from the rubble where Lilith had thrown him. "Maybe she'll actually be a challenge."

Lilith's golden eyes met Liam's for just a moment. In that look, he saw everything they'd never said—the partnership that had become something more, the impossible situation they'd navigated together, the conversation they'd promised to have if they survived.

"Go," she said quietly. "Please."

And Liam—Lord Azra—the synthesis of human actor and demon necessity, made the hardest choice of his entire existence.

He ran.

Phase Shifted through the hole Lilith had created in the wall, leaving her behind to face three divine champions alone, because the mission required it, because the empire required it, because sometimes leadership meant abandoning the people you cared about to achieve the greater objective.

Behind him, he heard the sound of battle beginning—Lilith's impossible strength meeting divine power, the clash of forces that transcended normal combat.

He didn't look back.

Couldn't look back.

Because looking back meant hesitating, and hesitating meant everything they'd sacrificed would be for nothing.

[Synchronization Index: 59% → 62%]

Three percentage points in a single moment. The synthesis deepening as the last fragments of Liam Cross's humanity—the part that wanted to stay and fight beside her—were consumed by Lord Azra's absolute focus on the mission.

He Phase Shifted through corridors, following Lieutenant Zara's directions toward the throne room, leaving behind the woman who'd summoned him, partnered with him, made him something more than a desperate actor playing at divinity.

The sounds of her battle grew distant.

Then silent.

Liam didn't know if that meant she'd won or if she'd—

No. He couldn't think about that. Couldn't afford to care right now.

The mission. Complete the mission. Kill the king. Give meaning to every sacrifice.

The throne room doors appeared ahead—massive, ornate, flanked by the last remnants of the Royal Guard.

Liam Phase Shifted past them and kicked the doors open with Essence-enhanced strength.

Inside, sitting on a throne of white marble and divine authority, King Aldric IV of the Radiant Empire waited.

Alone.

Undefended.

Almost like he'd been expecting this.

"Lord Azra," the king said calmly. "Please, come in. We have much to discuss before one of us dies."

And Liam Cross—exhausted, injured, having just abandoned Lilith to probable death against impossible odds—walked into the throne room to face the man whose execution might justify everything.

Or might prove that all of this had been for nothing.

[Current Status]

[Health: 38%]

[Essence: 27,340]

[Total Casualties: 35,000+ dead, 22,000+ wounded]

[Queen Lilith: Status Unknown]

The numbers kept climbing.

The synthesis kept deepening.

And the final confrontation began.

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