Chapter 10

The air around me was thick with smoke, blood, and the unmistakable scent of magic. The battle raged on like a storm, relentless and unforgiving, each blow met with a counter, each swing of a weapon only increasing the chaos that was already spiraling out of control.

Santa was leading the charge, his hearty laughter usually filling the air now replaced with grunts of pain. Despite his jolly demeanor, I had always known him to be a formidable force in his own right—his magic tied deeply to the essence of Christmas itself. But I'd underestimated how much Krampus had prepared for this moment. The twisted beast had sent wave after wave of minions at us, each one more relentless than the last.

I swung my Necrosword, cutting through the corrupted creatures, the blade singing with the sound of doom as it cleaved through flesh and bone. Thanatos was a blur of shadow beside me, his scythe flashing as he moved through the battlefield, dispatching foes with chilling precision. Anne, ever the resilient warrior, loosed arrows infused with the purest form of holiday magic, each one striking true. Dionysus, much to my dismay, seemed more focused on keeping his goblet filled than on the task at hand, but when the beasts closed in, he flung his flask like a bomb, sending a wave of energy that knocked several enemies off their feet.

But Krampus, that monstrous embodiment of every twisted holiday nightmare, was not so easily defeated.

"Is that all you've got, Hades?" Krampus snarled, his deep, gravelly voice vibrating through the forest like an earthquake. He stood towering before me, his eyes gleaming with fury as he reached down and grabbed Santa by the throat, lifting him effortlessly off the ground. "You've no idea the power I've amassed. Christmas will fall, and you will all burn with it."

I could feel the pressure building around me—the weight of his words, the venom in his voice. But there was no time to doubt. Santa's grunts of pain rang through the air, and in that moment, I knew that if I didn't act, we would lose him.

With a roar, I surged forward, Necrosword in hand, and in one swift motion, I sliced through the air. The blade made contact with Krampus's monstrous form, and the impact sent a shockwave through the entire clearing. He dropped Santa, stumbling backward, but the damage was far from enough to put him down. Krampus recovered quickly, swinging his clawed arm at me, his dark magic swirling around him like a storm cloud.

But it was then that the ground beneath our feet began to tremble. I could feel it before I heard it—the pulse of an ancient, dark power that rivaled anything I had ever encountered.

"Krampus... this isn't over," I muttered, barely registering the ominous energy that filled the air. The very fabric of reality seemed to ripple around us, as if the world itself had begun to tear apart.

The ground split open with a deafening roar, and from the blackened chasm emerged something far worse than Krampus. Something ancient. Something that should never have been unleashed.

A towering figure, cloaked in darkness, his eyes like burning coals, stared down at us. The air grew colder, impossibly colder, as his presence consumed everything around us.

"The Wraith King..." I breathed, recognizing the horrific aura that clung to him. His body was a twisting mass of shadows, tendrils of black smoke weaving through his form like serpents. His skull-like face glowed with an eerie light, and the ground beneath him froze as he took a step forward.

The Wraith King of the Endless Night, a being of pure darkness and death, whose name was spoken only in whispers. A force so powerful that even the gods feared his return.

"I did not expect this," Krampus muttered, his voice trembling for the first time. "The Wraith King... He was meant to stay locked away in the void."

"You should have kept him there," I snarled, taking a step back. "But now, you've unleashed his wrath."

The Wraith King's laugh was a low, rumbling sound that echoed through the night. "You think you can stop me?" His voice was like a thousand whispers in unison, a chilling symphony of despair. "I am beyond even your reach, Hades. Beyond any of you."

The Wraith King extended one long, skeletal hand, and the air around us darkened. From the void, shadows coiled around his fingers, reaching out like tendrils to latch onto everything in their path. His very presence warped reality itself, distorting the air and time around him.

"I shall make this world a kingdom of Endless Night!" The Wraith King declared, his voice booming like thunder. "No more light. No more Christmas."

I tried to move, but the shadows clung to me, dragging at my limbs like chains. Thanatos slashed through them with his scythe, but more seemed to pour out from the cracks in the world.

"We can't fight him here," I said, my voice filled with urgency. The Wraith King was too powerful. He was pulling the very essence of reality into his domain, and our strength would be drained if we fought here. "We need to find a way to stop him, or all is lost."

But before we could formulate a plan, the Wraith King reached out and, with a swift motion, hurled Santa aside like a ragdoll. The old man crashed to the ground with a sickening thud, and I could feel the pressure of his life force ebbing away with each passing second. He was gravely injured, and if he didn't get help soon...

"Santa!" Anne shouted, rushing to his side, but the Wraith King was already moving. His hand descended toward her, his fingers like long claws that would crush her in an instant.

I couldn't let that happen.

I wasn't about to let him take her, or any of us, for that matter.

A surge of energy exploded within me, a primal force that had been building ever since I felt the Wraith King's arrival. The power of the Necrosword was nothing compared to the power I could unleash in this moment.

Without thinking, I let it consume me.

The transformation came quickly, coursing through my veins like fire and ice. My body surged with divine energy, the very fabric of my existence twisting and reshaping itself. My skin darkened, becoming as black as the night sky, while golden runes and rings etched themselves across my skin, glowing with an ethereal light.

My hair grew long and black, trailing behind me like a cascade of darkness. Ten giant black and golden wings unfurled from my back, each one as massive as a building. A skull-like head adorned each wing's joint, glaring down at the battlefield as if watching for a signal to strike.

A halo of pure gold floated behind my head, a symbol of my divine status. The energy radiating from my body was overwhelming, a force of eldritch power so immense that the very air around me crackled with its intensity.

I stepped forward, my voice booming with the full force of my divine authority. "You have trespassed too far, Wraith King," I declared, my voice echoing like the roar of a storm. "I will not allow you to extinguish this world. I will not let you end Christmas. Your reign of Endless Night ends now."

The Wraith King turned to face me, his hollow eyes filled with rage. "You think this form can stop me, Hades? You're nothing but a fool who has embraced a false power. I am the endless night—the very void you fear."

I lifted my hand, and with a flick of my wrist, the Necrosword crackled with dark, divine energy. A flash of golden light erupted from the blade, and with it, a wave of pure destruction rippled outward, slicing through the shadows surrounding us.

The Wraith King recoiled, his form momentarily faltering. But he was not defeated.

Yet, I could feel the shift in the battle. My divine power had shaken him. I had taken the first step toward winning.