The Parthians were falling back.

  Lucius could see it in their movements—the hesitation, the subtle shifts. They had expected a massacre, but instead, they were bleeding for every step.

  The legion’s iron discipline was setting in.

  “Advance! Keep the line tight!” Optio Varro’s command cut through the clash of steel.

  Lucius and Marcus pushed forward, shields raised, blades flashing. The Parthians had lost the element of surprise. Now, they were being driven back.

  For the first time since the attack began, victory seemed within reach.

  And then—

  A horn. Deep. Echoing through the valley.

  Lucius’ blood ran cold.

  This wasn’t over.

  ?

  The Warlord’s Arrival

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  From the darkness beyond the camp, shapes emerged.

  Larger than the raiders. More organized.

  Cavalry.

  Lucius’ stomach tightened. He had heard the stories—Parthian cavalry were some of the deadliest warriors in the East.

  And at their head, mounted on a black warhorse, was a figure unlike the others.

  His armor gleamed in the firelight—bronze and steel, engraved with ancient symbols that Lucius didn’t recognize. A dark cloak billowed behind him.

  But it was his eyes that sent a chill down Lucius’ spine.

  They burned like embers in the night.

  Lucius’ vision blurred for a moment, his senses twisting, as if something unseen had just scraped across his mind.

  Then—

  Lucius gasped, his breath catching in his throat.

  It was the voice, the same one that had spoken to him in the ruins, the one that had first whispered of the Imperium Arcana System.

  But this time, it wasn’t speaking to him.

  It was reacting to the warlord.

  Lucius clenched his jaw, his fingers tightening around his gladius.

  This man wasn’t just a Parthian commander.

  He was something more.

  The warlord raised a single hand, and for a brief, impossible moment, the flames from the burning tents shifted toward him, drawn as if pulled by unseen strings.

  Then, in a voice like grinding stone, he spoke in a tongue Lucius didn’t understand.

  The Parthian cavalry charged.

  Lucius braced himself, heart hammering.

  This battle had just begun again.

  And this time, they weren’t just fighting men.

  They were fighting something far worse.