Chapter 45: Blood on the Stones
The Heartland Bastion blazed with silver light.
The Sovereign Array pulsed beneath the stone walls, strengthening the Pathbreakers and suppressing enemy magic.
For a brief, shining moment —
it seemed the storm had broken.
The enemy faltered.
The siege beasts hesitated.
Even the mercenaries glanced nervously at the glowing fortress.
Victory felt close enough to touch.
But then the enemy changed the rules.
Dark horns sounded across the enemy camps.
Black-robed figures marched forward, chanting in low, guttural voices.
Ritual circles flared to life.
And from massive bone cages, the enemy unleashed their final weapons:
The Forbidden Beasts.
Twisted creations of magic and madness.
Gigantic hounds stitched together from a dozen corpses.
Winged serpents dripping acid from their fangs.
Hulking monsters whose very steps cracked the earth.
Creatures that should not exist.
Creatures born of cruelty, not nature.
Creatures banned by ancient Sovereign law.
[System Notification]
[Warning: Forbidden Magic Entities Deployed.]
[Threat Level: Tier A - S.]
[Fortress Defense Modifier Reduced: 120%.]
[New Objective: Survive the Forbidden Assault.]
Kaelen's expression darkened.
He gripped Sovereignblade Astryn tighter.
The war wasn't over.
It was just beginning.
The Assault
The Forbidden Beasts crashed against the Sovereign Bastion.
Poisoned claws shredded at stone.
Acid breath melted fortifications.
Warped spells twisted reality inside the courtyard.
The Pathbreakers fought valiantly.
Eren roared, meeting a bone-beast head-on, cleaving through its neck with a blood-soaked axe.
Mira loosed arrows dipped in Sovereign-blessed oils, piercing the corrupted hearts of the serpent-beasts.
Damon anchored the western gate with his shield, holding back a tide of howling flesh-monsters.
Selina's light barely kept up with the wounds.
Lyra's winds howled across the battlefield, scattering acid bombs and slowing down the charge.
But they were being pushed back.
Slowly.
Inevitably.
The Sovereign Fortress was mighty.
But even Sovereign Will had limits.
Kaelen's Decision
At the highest tower, Kaelen watched the chaos below.
He felt it —
the weight pressing down on him.
His people bleeding.
His fortress cracking.
His dream at the edge of collapse.
He could not win by strength alone.
He needed more.
He needed Sovereign power —
true Sovereign power.
And deep within the Heartland Citadel,
something ancient stirred.
[System Notification]
[Sovereign Path Critical Threshold Reached.]
[Hidden Sovereign Battle Art Detected.]
[Option Available: Awaken the Sovereign Heart Strike.]
Kaelen's breath caught.
The Sovereign Heart Strike.
An ancient art lost since the fall of the First Sovereign Era.
A technique that allowed a Sovereign to imprint his will directly onto the battlefield —
warping the very world to his command.
It would cost everything.
Sovereign Energy.
Strength.
Soulforce.
A single mistake could kill him.
But if he succeeded…
The battle would turn.
The Heartland Bastion would stand.
The dream would live.
Reflection
Kaelen closed his eyes briefly.
He thought of home.
Of his mother's smile.
Of his father's calloused hands.
Of his siblings' laughter chasing through broken fields.
He thought of the Pathbreakers —
his friends, his family by choice, standing against a world that wanted them forgotten.
He thought of the future they hadn't built yet.
"No," he whispered.
"Not today."
"Not here."
"Not ever."
He opened his eyes.
And they burned with Sovereign fire.
Kaelen Spoke
Softly.
But the words echoed through the fortress.
"Pathbreakers."
"Vanguard."
"Brothers. Sisters."
He raised Sovereignblade Astryn high.
"I will not let them take this from us."
"Stand with me."
"And we will not just survive."
"We will carve our place into the bones of the world."
Behind him,
the Sovereign Vanguard roared as one.
And as the Forbidden Beasts smashed against the walls,
Kaelen began gathering the power for the first Sovereign Heart Strike in a thousand years.
The storm was not over.
It was just reaching its peak.