The air above the ruins shimmered with strain. The black orb that had trapped Pungence pulsed like a dying heart, its rhythm faltering.

  Jeriana hovered above it, her dress torn, her hair matted to her face with sweat. Her arms trembled as she forced mana through her exhausted veins. “Hurry up!” she shouted hoarsely. “I can’t keep this going much longer—the potions are gone!”

  Below her, Dulgebar collapsed to one knee. His breath came in ragged gasps from overuse of his Seed The veins across his forehead throbbed, and his voice cracked as he said, “I… I can’t hold the Chamber field anymore.”

  The blackness around them flickered—like ink dissolving in water.

  Mibotu, slumped beside him, barely managed to lift his head. His voice came out broken. “Ugh… shit…”

  A deep vibration shook the ground. Then, with a sound like cracking glass, the black orb shattered and vanished.

  Inside it—Pungence knelt on the ground, his body looping through the same motion, again and again. His face contorted with agony, teeth clenched as he struggled against forces that bound him from every direction.

  Sandra, kneeling nearby, pressed her palms to the ground. Her voice trembled. “Daiel! I’m… I’m at my limit! I can’t go on much longer!”

  Her eyes flickered with exhaustion; every breath was a battle.

  Pungence roared, the sound guttural and animal. He pressed one hand to the ground, veins bulging across his temple. The time loop began to distort—his movement jerking out of rhythm.

  Mibotu strained to keep his hands raised, the light around him trembling violently. “Just… a bit longer…” His vision blurred. His arms felt like molten lead.

  Then his knees buckled.

  He fell face-first to the ground.

  A sharp CRACK echoed through the air. The looping fractured. Time itself stuttered—and then broke.

  Pungence’s body froze mid-motion before his head lifted, his gaze wild, his breath like fire.

  Jeriana gasped as blood streamed from her nose. She forced her palms forward, chanting with a trembling voice.

  Oblivion Tongue.

  The one spell that Bravo users could not resist. The one force that rendered them completely helpless.

  Pungence screamed as invisible pain shredded through his mind. The sound shook the city.

  Jeriana’s teeth clenched. “Stay down you monster!” she hissed, her body trembling violently. “Stay down, damn you!”

  Below her, Sandra collapsed, her last reserves gone. Her body fell limp against the stone, eyes rolling back as consciousness slipped away.

  Now only Jeriana stood between Pungence and freedom.

  She shouted through the roar of energy, voice shaking with desperation. “You guys—run! Get out of here! NOW!”

  Her lungs burned; every word came with blood. “DAIEL!”

  Pungence’s roar deepened. His aura exploded outward, light bending around him. The world itself seemed to twist—the ground and sky trading places as Oblivion fought against raw Bravo.

  He was enduring it.

  He was surviving it.

  No one else in Yilheim could have.

  Jeriana screamed as her mana burned through her veins, her body barely holding together under the strain. “Stay DOWN!”

  Then—

  A rift opened beside Dulgebar, spinning with light.

  Daiel stepped through, his face pale and panicked. “Omfry just got the baby!” he shouted over the thunder of collapsing mana. “Only the Elvhein is left! Hold on just a little longer, Jeriana!”

  Jeriana turned her head toward him—her expression hollow, drenched in sweat and blood.

  “I’ll… try,” she whispered.

  And beneath her, Pungence began to rise to his feet.

  ---

  Elsewhere, amid the crumbling skyline of Heful—

  Richard staggered through the air, Valerius slung limply over his shoulder. His breathing was ragged. The battle had drained him to his core. His muscles screamed with every motion, but he didn’t slow.

  “Daiel!” he bellowed, voice tearing through the wind. “OPEN THE PORTAL!”

  A burst of golden light shot past his face.

  He barely tilted his head in time—

  BOOM!

  The beam sliced through the air where he had been, detonating against the distant mountainside.

  Another came—then another.

  Richard twisted, flipping through the sky with Thunder Stride, each motion leaving sonic rips in the clouds.

  But the sky itself had turned against him.

  Six enormous figures—Eliana’s Guardians—chased him, their colossal swords gleaming like suns. They pursued him in perfect formation, each one glowing with divine radiance.

  Every swing sent torrents of light cascading through the clouds.

  Richard gritted his teeth, cursing under his breath. “Damn it… I don't have time for this.”

  Below, at the palace ruins, Daiel’s voice roared through a communication rune, furious.

  “Damn it, STAY IN ONE PLACE, you bastard! I can’t lock the coordinates if you keep moving!”

  Dozens of swirling portals opened and collapsed around Richard, each one trying to stabilize midair—but he couldn’t stay still long enough to enter. The Guardians’ beams tore past him relentlessly, forcing him into an endless evasive dance.

  Another slash came—six blades of pure light converging from all directions.

  Richard twisted midair, spinning out of the trap by a hair’s breadth. A beam grazed his left hand.

  Ssss—!

  He hissed as his flesh burned.

  “Daiel!” he shouted again. “Forget locating me—open a portal above Festitude Academy! I can make it there!”

  He shot upward, propelling himself through the sky like a crimson comet. The Guardians followed, hundreds of times faster than sound, their massive forms ripping through clouds like celestial predators.

  Behind him, the air bent and folded. A wall of shimmering energy formed—a Cushion Field, designed to restrict movement. It closed in on the Guardians from all sides, trapping them within an invisible cage.

  Eliana floated inside the head of her Guardian, golden light swirling around her. Every movement she made, the giant mirrored perfectly. Her eyes narrowed, voice calm and cold.

  “Now.”

  The six Guardians faces glowed in perfect unison—

  And unleashed their beams.

  BOOOOOOM!

  The sky itself screamed. The beams tore through the Cushion Field, punching holes through the clouds, vaporizing air in their wake.

  Richard’s heart hammered. He dove, then spun upward, zigzagging through the storm of destruction. His vision blurred from exhaustion. His Bravo flickered like a dying ember.

  Then—he felt it.

  The portal.

  A shimmer in the distance, about a hundred kilometers ahead—a circle of spinning light.

  He surged forward, the wind peeling off him in violent sheets. Behind, the Guardians gained speed—their blades humming, faces glowing as they charged up another volley.

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  Daiel’s voice echoed faintly through the portal rune. “Hurry, damn you! I've opened too many already!”

  At the ruins below, Dulgebar, Sandra, and Mibotu were already diving through one of Daiel’s portals. Jeriana still hovered above the ruined palace, blood pouring from her eyes as she maintained Oblivion Tongue, her voice hoarse and raw.

  “Just—go!” she screamed. “I’ll hold him!”

  Daiel’s eyes widened as he looked up—Pungence was rising.

  “Jeriana—no…” he whispered. Then he stepped into his own portal and vanished.

  Above, Richard’s final sprint began.

  He crouched againts the air. The air rippled violently as he leaped off the very sky itself—his momentum breaking the sound barrier two thousand times over. The world blurred into streaks of red and gold.

  The portal grew closer—fifty kilometers—thirty—ten—

  The Guardians’ faces lit once more, charging their beams for a final volley.

  “Almost… there!” Richard roared.

  Six beams fired simultaneously—

  And in that same instant, Richard dove through the portal, vanishing into the swirl.

  It happened in 0.15 seconds.

  But the beams didn’t stop.

  They followed him—

  Passing through the portal and striking something unseen on the other side.

  BOOOOM!

  On the far end, a massive transparent shield absorbed the impact, shaking violently but holding firm.

  Behind it stood an elf with long blond hair, his arms folded. His calm eyes glimmered faintly through the rippling shield.

  Poliandrew.

  Through her Guardians’ eyes, Eliana saw him—and her expression darkened.

  Eliana burst from the Guardian’s forehead in a blaze of gold, a sword of pure light blazing in her grip. She shot through the air like a comet—

  and vanished into the portal.

  The portal closed.

  The light vanished.

  And in the same heartbeat, another portal opened below Jeriana—

  shooting upward and engulfing her in a column of light.

  Then—

  silence.

  The spell ended.

  And Pungence, kneeling in the ruins, finally lifted his head—

  his breath deep, his voice low.

  The weight of his agony melted into something far worse—

  relief.

  He finally had the clarity to activate his Sentinel.

  His perception expanded, and in that instant, he felt everything.

  His city.

  His home.

  Destroyed.

  His breath caught in his throat. His face twisted, veins bulging across his temples as the full weight of the devastation hit him. He felt it all—the death, the cries, the broken lives. Eryndor’s body split in half. Isabela’s torn frame. Andrea’s severed head. Juval’s lifeless body.

  Seventy percent of Heful’s population—gone.

  A tremor ran through him. Rage burned in his chest, deeper than any flame. His Bravo began to leak uncontrollably, faint red lightning flickering across his skin. His fists clenched until blood dripped between his fingers.

  Then—he vanished.

  A sonic crack split the silence. Pungence reappeared beside Andrea’s head, collapsed to his knees, and picked it up with trembling hands. He pulled her close, holding her to his chest.

  And screamed.

  “AAAAAAAHHHH!”

  Tears streamed down his face. His body shook violently as memories flooded his mind—

  ---

  He was nine years old. Overweight. Breathless. Barefoot in the training yard, sprawled on the ground, sweat pouring down his young face.

  Andrea stood over him, hands on her hips, smiling faintly. “Are you sure you’re a rare breed? You can’t even run a mile.”

  Pungence panted hard, looking up at her. “Of course I am! And I’m going to be the strongest rare breed—no, the strongest man in the world!”

  Andrea laughed softly. “Look at you. That’s an impossible dream, Pungence. Didn’t your mother ever teach you to dream realistically?”

  Her words hit him—too hard. His lips trembled, and his eyes welled up. He turned away, trying to hide his tears.

  Andrea’s expression softened. She knelt beside him, wrapped her arms around him, and whispered, “I’m sorry, Pungence. I know how much you miss her.”

  He sniffled. “I’ll do it, Andrea. I’ll become the world’s strongest man… and make all the bad guys pay. Then I won't lose anyone ever again.”

  She smiled and wiped his cheeks. “Then stop crying, big guy. The world’s strongest man doesn’t cry—remember?”

  He grinned through the tears. “Okay.”

  ---

  In the present, his body trembled as the memory faded.

  He clutched Andrea’s head tighter and screamed again—his voice echoing through the ruins, full of grief and fury.

  “AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”

  The sound reached even the far edges of the city.

  Juvian heard it as he worked desperately to save his mother and sister. He had already cauterized Isabela’s upper half with fire magic, forcing her bleeding to stop. The effects of the gas had worn off—he could use magic again.

  “Uncle Pungence!” he shouted, his voice hoarse. “I need Eryndor’s elixirs! They’re not dead yet!”

  Pungence blinked, eyes wide—then vanished.

  He tore through the wreckage of his home, through walls, bursting into Eryndor’s room. He grabbed every elixir he could find from the table—four vials—and reappeared beside Juvian, Andrea’s head still in his arm.

  Juvian didn’t hesitate. He snatched several vials and poured them over his mother and sister. The golden fluid hissed and shimmered as it sank into their wounds.

  Pungence gently placed Andrea’s head onto her body and poured an entire elixir over her throat, his hands trembling, whispering, “Come on, Andrea… please…”

  Then—

  Juvian gasped.

  “Mother’s spine… it’s growing back!”

  He stared, wide-eyed, as Zeliona’s body reformed. “What? I didn’t know these could regrow bones!” He smiled through tears. “Eryndor… you genius…”

  Beside him, Isabela’s body began to reattach. Skin, muscle and bone.

  Zeliona gasped.

  Her eyes shot open.

  “JUVAL!” she screamed, sitting up abruptly. She turned—and saw her husband's and lifeless body lying nearby with his head reattached.

  Her hand trembled. Tears filled her eyes.

  Juvian fell beside her, hugging her tightly as his own tears fell. “I’m sorry, Mom. I tried… I—”

  Pungence watched from beside them, silent.

  He looked down at Andrea’s body one last time.

  Her head had reattached perfectly. The wound was gone. Her skin flawless again.

  But she didn’t move.

  No breath.

  No heartbeat.

  He waited… hoping for even a twitch.

  A sign.

  Nothing.

  Pungence bowed his head, his tears falling onto her still face.

  “…Please… just once more.”

  But there was no miracle.

  To Be Continued...