The window shattered into splinters.
Shards of glass flew past Lysander's face, one grazing his cheek. Wind howled in as the chill of night sank into the Caspian estate like a blade. Lysander barely had time to register the movement before a firm hand shoved him behind a bookshelf.
"Stay down," Baron Caspian ordered, already striding toward the hallway with his stone gauntlets forming around his arms in jagged pulses.
Something was in the mansion.
Something human-shaped—but not quite human.
From behind the narrow gap in the wooden shelf, Lysander saw it. A shadowy figure stood in the ruined doorway, veiled in tattered cloaks that fluttered despite the windless night. Its eyes glowed red beneath the hood, faint like dying embers.
"Who are you?" the Baron barked.
No answer.
The figure lunged.
Stone pillars erupted between them just in time, forming a jagged wall. The intruder smashed through it like it was made of dried clay. Baron Caspian ducked low, sliding back and hurling a barrage of earth-spikes from his palms.
The figure twisted unnaturally, dodging each projectile by inches, body bending like smoke.
Lysander couldn't breathe.
The enemy darted forward again, fingers curled into blades. Baron Caspian raised both arms and slammed the floor. A stone wave erupted beneath the intruder's feet, throwing him back.
"D-rank earth elemental," the figure murmured. "Expected more."
The voice was hollow. Metallic. Wrong.
Baron Caspian didn't respond. He stepped back and extended both arms. The floor split, revealing several floating disks of stone. With a flick of his fingers, the disks launched forward like buzzsaws. The intruder leapt sideways, bounding along the wall with inhuman agility.
One of the disks clipped his cloak, tearing it—and that's when Lysander saw it.
No face.
Just a swirling void of shifting shadows beneath the hood.
"What... is that thing?" Lysander whispered.
The battle tore through the hallway. The intruder summoned tendrils of darkness, lashing them out like whips. Baron Caspian rolled sideways, landing in a crouch, and brought both fists down. A trench exploded outward, breaking furniture and walls as a dome of stone rose over him like a shield.
The shadowy figure didn't hesitate. It surged forward and punched through the stone dome.
The Baron was already gone.
They crashed through the front entrance, the mansion door snapping off its hinges. Outside, under the cold night sky, earth and shadow clashed like titans. Trees split. Stones shattered. The ground cracked under each impact.
Lysander crept to the broken doorway, just enough to watch. His heart thudded like a war drum.
His father was losing.
The Baron's movements were getting slower. His projectiles were smaller. His breathing heavier. The ground around him was scorched black from whatever magic the intruder was using.
The enemy blurred forward—too fast to follow—and drove a shadow spike toward Baron Caspian's chest.
The Baron barely raised a wall in time. The impact sent him skidding across the dirt, bleeding from the mouth, armor cracked.
"You're strong," the figure said. "But not strong enough."
It raised a hand, shadows swirling into a long lance.
Baron Caspian stood slowly, one knee buckling.
"You'll die for nothing," the figure said, walking forward. "Any last words, worm?"
Baron Caspian smirked, blood on his lips.
"Yeah."
He raised one finger… and pointed up.
The shadowy figure instinctively looked.
Too late.
A massive boulder, easily the size of a small house, hovered above him—spinning, jagged, carved in silence. It had been forming for minutes while the Baron had kept him busy.
Baron Caspian clenched his fist.
And swiped downward.
The boulder fell like a god's judgment.
CRACK—
Dust exploded outward in a shockwave. Trees snapped. The earth groaned. The shadowy figure was gone—flattened into the soil beneath the crushing weight.
Lysander flinched as the impact reached the mansion, shuddering the very walls.
Silence.
Baron Caspian stood, panting, arm still extended.
Then, slowly, he turned toward the house.
"Lysander," he called.
Lysander stepped out from behind the door frame, hands trembling, heart slamming in his chest.
"You okay?" the Baron asked.
Lysander nodded slowly.
Baron Caspian looked back at the boulder. "That," he muttered, "wasn't a bandit."
Lysander followed his gaze.
The crushed body was gone.
Only shadowy smoke remained… fading into the night air.