A low, sickening chuckle echoed across the battlefield. Owen lay broken, his body barely clinging to life, yet his voice carried power.
"Rise."
The shadows around him twisted, warping into something grotesque. The bodies of the fallen twitched, then convulsed. Hollow eyes snapped open, glowing with an eerie, unnatural light.
The dead rose.
Dozens at first. Then hundreds.
A cursed army.
Their decayed forms lurched forward, bone and flesh knitting back together, fueled by Owen's lingering magic. No matter how many times they had been slain, they would not stay dead.
Dain's breath came out in a growl. "You've got to be kidding me. Elizabeth are you seeing this?"
Elizabeth not moved "you can take them"
Orin and Valen flashed into position beside him, their weapons ready.
"We hold them here," Valen said, his infernal chains already wrapping around his arms.
Orin cracked his neck, twin daggers glinting. "Then let's get to work."
The horde rushed forward.
And the battlefield exploded into chaos.
The Battle of the Siblings
The first wave came in a storm of claws and teeth.
Dain charged headfirst, meeting the undead with an unstoppable force. His massive fist slammed into a rotting creature, crushing its skull instantly. The body collapsed, but as soon as it hit the ground—it began to reform.
Dain cursed. "They won't stay down!"
Valen's chains lashed out, wrapping around three undead at once, squeezing tight until bones snapped. He swung them violently, hurling their broken bodies into the distance.
But they kept getting back up.
Orin vanished, reappearing behind an undead and slicing its head clean off. For a second, the creature stood motionless—then its body moved without a head, still clawing at him.
Orin teleported again, avoiding its strike. "This is a nightmare."
More were coming.
Dain plowed through five at once, but for each one he destroyed, three more rose in its place. The ground was littered with their shattered remains, yet they never stopped.
A deep, hollow laughter echoed across the battlefield.
Owen, barely breathing, smirked through bloody lips.
"You can't win."
Dain ignored him, smashing through another wave of undead. He turned to his brothers. "We have to outlast them! The moment Owen falls completely, his magic will break!"
Valen wiped sweat from his brow. "Then we just have to hold out!"
Lisa stumbled back, dragging Jacob's weakened body away from the chaos.
She was exhausted. Her body screamed in pain, her divine energy running dangerously low.
Jacob groaned weakly, barely clinging to consciousness.
Lisa looked back—just in time to see Kol tighten his grip around Owen's chest.
Her heart stopped.
Kol's Black Thunder raged around him, crackling violently, the air suffocating with power. His face was empty, his expression void of anything human.
His hand was buried deep inside Owen's chest.
And in his grasp—
Owen's heart.
It still beat.
Lisa's breath caught in her throat.
"No…"
The witches' whispers slithered through the air.
"Yes… eat it. Take his power. Become the true King."
Kol's hand lifted the heart toward his mouth.
Lisa knew—if he took that final step, there would be no turning back.
She didn't hesitate.
Summoning the last of her strength, she reached for the lingering energy of Elizabeth's teleportation spell—the one she had mimicked before.
Her fingers tightened around Jacob.
She vanished.
The moment Lisa disappeared, Kol's hand crushed Owen's heart with the blood flowing into his mouth.
The dark organ pulsed once—then ceased.
Owen's body convulsed. His mouth opened in a silent scream, his form withering, disintegrating into ash.
And then—
The undead froze.
Every single one of them staggered, their glowing eyes flickering—then fading into darkness.
Their bodies collapsed.
One by one, the cursed army fell to the ground, lifeless once more.
The battlefield went silent.
Dain, Orin, and Valen stood breathless, their weapons still raised, watching as the last of the undead crumbled into dust.
Dain exhaled. "It's over."
But Orin wasn't looking at the undead.
His eyes were on Kol.
And the thing Kol was becoming.