The ground trembled beneath Selene Nocturna's feet.
She could hear the cathedral walls groaning, the very foundation crying out in protest. The Harbinger stood before her, twisted and reformed, their body pulsing with dark veins that did not belong to any mortal flesh.
Selene's grin widened.
"You think to challenge me?" she purred, stepping forward. Her cloak billowed, revealing the ritualistic scars along her arms, etchings of alchemical mastery long forgotten by the living.
The Harbinger said nothing.
Instead, they raised their hand, and the walls collapsed inward.
The Rotting Cathedral screamed as shadows erupted from its core.
Selene's eyes flickered. She extended a hand, fingers curling into an intricate sigil. The moment the first wave of darkness struck, her power surged outward, forming a barrier of necrotic fire. The flames did not burn—they consumed.
The Harbinger staggered but did not fall. Their body was beyond flesh now, beyond pain.
Selene licked the blood from her lips.
A dry chuckle came from the Harbinger. Their voice was not their own.
Selene's grin faltered for only a moment.
Then, the floor beneath them split. Hands—hundreds of them—crawled forth, their fingers brittle and rotting, yet powerful beyond measure.
The Cathedral's dead were awakening.
Selene's laughter filled the chamber.
"You would dare raise my own against me?" she mused, stepping back. With a flick of her wrist, the shadows convulsed, her will overpowering the lesser souls. The undead shrieked, their forms contorting, twisting back into her control.
The Harbinger did not falter.
Instead, they stepped into the abyss.
And something stepped out.
Selene's smirk disappeared. A new voice slithered through the ruined cathedral, deep and guttural, ancient beyond comprehension.
"You thought yourself a queen of the dead."
Selene's fingers twitched. The power in the air had shifted, and for the first time, she was no longer certain she stood above it.
The Harbinger's form was gone—no longer an individual, no longer singular. They had become something greater, something primordial.
Selene took a step back, her eyes narrowing.
"Finally," she whispered, "something worth breaking."