The earth shook as the white figure slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash. Golden winds whirled around him like a protective shield.
The zombies charging forward slammed into an invisible wall, and their gray-green bodies exploded into chunks. Dark brown fluid mixed with bone fragments splattered across the city wall, filling the air with acrid, white smoke.
“It’s the powerhouse!” someone shouted from inside the courtyard.
The terrified civilians who had been cowering moments before suddenly burst into wild cheers. They all remembered what had happened during Thornwick’s scarlet mist crisis.
A mysterious white figure had appeared like something out of legend, clearing all the deadly mist and saving their city from certain doom. With the zombies closing in on the walls, the sight of that familiar white figure felt like seeing a savior.
“He’s here at last,” Matthias muttered.
He tightened his grip on his blood-slicked saber and watched the white figure cut through the zombie horde like they were nothing more than wheat before a scythe.
He couldn’t help but breathe a long sigh of relief. With a terrestrial immortal fighting alongside them, they should be able to stop the zombie army.
Dustin condensed three inches of golden light at his fingertips. He wielded it like an invisible sharp sword as he weaved through the zombie horde.
Whenever the golden light flashed, dozens of zombies would turn to dust. He weaved through the horde with the Phantom Grid Technique. Though his movements seemed chaotic, they perfectly avoided every grasping claw and snapping jaw.
A burly zombie, nearly ten feet tall, lunged at him with jaws wide enough to swallow a man’s head. Instead of dodging, Dustin stepped straight into its reach and pressed his palm against its skull.
The zombie shrieked and thrashed, but golden lines spread from Dustin’s hand seeped through its rotting flesh and into every opening. A second later, the creature’s body exploded in a spray of blood mist.
“Fall back!” Matthias shouted, snapping out of his trance. He cut down two zombies that had gotten too close. “Get everyone to the inner city now.”
The surviving soldiers quickly grabbed the wounded and herded civilians deeper into the fortress.
A doctor with a medicine bag tried to reach Neville, who was clutching his severed arm, but more zombies blocked his path. Razor-sharp claws swept toward the man’s face when a golden beam shot from the side, pinning the zombie to the stone wall.
Dustin had appeared beside them without a sound, with the golden energy pulsing in his palm.
“Take him and get out of here,” he said. Neville tried to stand, but Dustin’s hand on his shoulder felt like a mountain pressing down.
“You’ll only be in the way if you stay.”
Before anyone could respond, Dustin had already launched himself toward the collapsed section of wall where zombies continued pouring through like a grayish green tide.
He hovered above the breach as more of the creatures swarmed up from below, their rotting bodies writhing in the fading daylight.
Dustin’s hands moved in complex patterns, and suddenly bitter winds swept across the battlefield. The gusts carried thousands of tiny golden sparks that burst into blue flames wherever they touched zombie flesh.
“Skyfire!” he shouted as he pressed his hands downward.
The scattered flames instantly merged into a colossal pillar of fire, looking like molten rock pouring from the sky itself. The entire breach vanished beneath the inferno.
The zombies’ shrieked as their bodies, which had shrugged off sword and spear, melted like candle wax in the supernatural flames. The stench of burning flesh made everyone’s eyes water, but nobody looked away from the incredible sight.
Regular flames barely scratched the zombies, but whatever power Dustin wielded was something else entirely. They burst into flames on contact and burned to nothing in seconds.
Matthias led the civilians back to the inner gate. When he turned to see that towering pillar of flame connecting earth to sky, he couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
Even the soldiers on the walls forgot about fighting and stood transfixed by this miraculous sight.
The fire column burned for nearly half an hour before gradually dying down, revealing the blackened breach in the wall. The surging zombie horde had vanished completely, leaving only smoldering ash scattered across the ground.
Dustin hovered in the air, his white robes outlined in gold by the firelight. It made him look like a living god.
“Thank you, sir,” Matthias said respectfully.
Earlier, he’d thought military training and sharp steel would be enough to handle this crisis. Now, he understood just how vast the gap was between mortal soldiers and someone who had transcended human limits.
Dustin glanced at the dark blood still seeping from cracks in the stone below and frowned.
“Some got away.”
He flicked his finger, sending three golden darts shooting toward the eastern, western, and northern sections of the city.
“Check those areas.”
Matthias quickly sent scouts who discovered zombies hiding in cellars at all three locations. For some reason, these creatures had escaped the flames and were now howling at ventilation shafts.
“Thank you for the warning,” Matthias said, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
Without Dustin’s reminder, those hidden zombies would have eventually broken free and started this whole nightmare over again.
Dustin didn’t respond, but stared at the distant horizon. The afterglow of the setting sun fell across his face, revealing fine beads of sweat sliding down his jawline. Even a terrestrial immortal was somewhat exhausted after rushing between four cities without rest.
“It’s time to settle accounts with the remnants of the Skull Covenant,” he murmured. His voice was barely audible, but it carried bone-chilling coldness.
A shiver ran down Matthias’ spine after learning that Dustin was finally going after the masterminds behind all this chaos. He tightened his grip on his saber and stepped forward.
“Let me help you, sir.”
Dustin looked at him for a moment, then shook his head. “Just keep Thornwick safe.
Before Matthis could reply, Dustin had already transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the darkening sky.
Everyone on the walls watched until the light disappeared beyond the mountains. Down in the courtyard, civilians were on their knees, some weeping with relief, others offering prayers to the immortal who had saved them from certain death.
Matthias stood on the battlements long after the others had gone, staring south toward where Dustin had vanished. Finally, he drove his saber point-first into the stone and bowed deeply in that direction.
Dustin hadn’t just saved the city, but he had saved all their lives.
