Bloodline Unbound

Location: Crimson Wastes – Forgotten Arena

The air snapped with tension as Damien stared at Ronan—his presumed-dead half-brother, now reborn in Althea's shadow. The resemblance was there—angular jaw, storm-gray eyes once filled with innocence. But now… they burned with unnatural fury.

"You died," Damien said coldly, his voice edged with disbelief and pain. "You died in my arms, Ronan."

"Did I?" Ronan's voice dripped with bitterness. "Or did you leave me to die so your name would remain clean? So you could inherit everything?"

Damien's jaw clenched. "I buried you. I mourned you."

"And Althea dug me up," Ronan snapped, stepping forward. His cloak peeled away, revealing the source of the glow—a cursed seal carved into his chest, pulsating like a second heart. "She showed me the truth… of how the Kane family destroyed our mother, how you inherited her name while I was discarded."

"You were my brother," Damien growled. "You are my brother. And they did the same to us both. But you made a choice—to serve a monster."

Ronan's face twisted. "She gave me power. Something you never did."

The wind howled across the dunes as their teams watched silently. A battle of blood, history, and betrayal was about to unfold—not just between warriors, but between legacies.

Nora stepped beside Damien. "His seal is unstable. She's using him. If we don't sever the link, he'll burn out."

"I'm aware," Damien replied, lifting his blade. "But I have to reach what's left of him first."

Ronan raised his hand. A wave of corrupted energy roared toward them. Damien leapt, slicing through it mid-air, landing in a crouch before launching into a strike aimed to disarm—not kill.

They clashed—metal against corrupted will.

"You always wanted the spotlight," Ronan hissed, parrying.

"I wanted peace," Damien shot back, twisting and locking Ronan's wrist. "But you—you're just a pawn in her game!"

The cursed seal pulsed violently. Cracks formed in the ground as the orb from earlier responded, feeding off Ronan's rage.

"Damien!" Nora shouted. "We have ten seconds before that seal combusts."

"I'm not losing him again," Damien muttered.

In a split second, he sheathed his blade, stepped into Ronan's blind spot, and pressed a palm to the seal, invoking an ancient cleansing sigil. Light erupted from his hand.

Ronan screamed—his voice filled with agony and something else… relief?

Then—silence.

The seal cracked and shattered into nothing. Ronan collapsed.

Damien caught him.

Ronan looked up, eyes fading back to gray. "You came for me…"

"Always," Damien whispered.

Nora placed a hand on Ronan's chest. "He'll live. Barely."

From the distance, a new voice crackled through their comms. Althea.

"Touching. Truly. But it changes nothing, Damien. The bloodline war has just begun."

Damien looked up at the horizon, a fire rekindled in his heart. "Then let it begin."