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It didn’t take long for me to regain consciousness.

The battle was still raging on.

There was no way I could stay unconscious and rest forever.

Flash—

So I forced myself to get up, clinging to consciousness.

That’s when I realized I was gently suspended in mid-air.

It was Sharin’s magic.

“Sharin.”

“Oh? Hubby, you’re already awake~?”

Sharin turned around with a surprised look on her face.

She was flying through the sky, seemingly in the middle of a search.

“How long was I out?”

“About fifteen minutes~”

Fifteen minutes.

It’s not long, but in a battle, it can mean the difference between life and death.

“What about Isabel?”

“Bel’s searching with meee~”

Which means they still haven’t found Dragos.

Even though I blew him far away, it’s strange that they haven’t found him yet.

‘Don’t tell me… he got away alive.’

If that’s the case, it’s a painful loss.

There’s nothing more valuable than reducing the numbers of the Echoes here.

‘No. I don’t have time to dwell on every single regret like this.’

The Celestial Echoes were meant to be taken down in the final act anyway.

Just getting this much done is already an achievement.

“Let’s tell Isabel to stop the search.”

“Okayyy~”

Sharin created an ice butterfly and sent it fluttering off.

She must be informing Isabel and bringing her back.

In the meantime, I descended to the ground and checked my condition.

My right arm was too battered to be of any use.

It looked like Sharin and Isabel had poured several high potions on it to patch me up, but it wasn’t enough to fully recover.

“If you try to use that arm, I’ll get mad~”

I took her warning to heart.

Sharin’s wrath is scary.

“What about Eurozen?”

When I asked about the captured Eurozen, Sharin pointed downward.

The battle had been so intense that she must’ve hidden him below.

“Let’s go check on him.”

Isabel would be back soon after finishing the search.

I decided to go with Sharin to check on Eurozen first.

When we descended, we saw an empty expanse of land.

While I fought Dragos in the sky, Isabel, Sharin, and Adora had fought on the ground.

So the forest had been completely devastated.

From afar, I could still hear the clashing of weapons.

The White Wolf Knights were probably finishing off the resurrected vampire remnants.

“I’ll pull him out.”

Standing on bare earth, Sharin swung her staff.

The ground cracked open, and a mass of rock rose upward.

She must’ve sealed him inside and buried him deep underground.

We waited for Eurozen to emerge from the rising stone prison.

But soon, my face began to stiffen.

“…Sharin.”

“Ah…”

Hearing me call, Sharin let out a sigh.

The stone prison had been melted and deformed by intense heat.

And Eurozen was nowhere to be seen inside.

There’s only one person who could melt Sharin’s stone prison with that kind of firepower—

Lucas, with his Flame of Resolve.

While we were fighting, Lucas had escaped with Eurozen.

* * *

After Isabel joined us, we resumed the chase for Eurozen.

Thankfully, Eurozen hadn’t retreated with the Celestial Echoes.

It must’ve been a decision he made independently.

Because of that, Sharin could use her magic to track him again.

Eurozen hadn’t given up his vampire mysticism.

When she trapped him, Sharin had used magic to immobilize both his arms and legs.

Even with all the arcane powers Eurozen possessed, he couldn’t break Sharin’s spell.

So now, Lucas was carrying him and fleeing.

This only made Eurozen cling to his mysticism even more.

“…Sorryyy~”

Sharin apologized while casting tracking spells.

She looked genuinely shocked that her magic had been broken so easily.

“It’s fine. Unexpected variables always come up.”

“Yeah, Rin, no need to be so down.”

Sharin had contributed more than anyone else to capturing Eurozen.

None of us blamed her in the slightest.

Before we knew it, we had passed through the forest and reached a small village.

Eurozen was really persistent in his escape.

But there was no way he could outrun us.

While we soared through the sky with Sharin’s magic, Eurozen had to flee on foot.

Naturally, the distance between us closed quickly.

Winding paths of the village.

Finally, Eurozen came into view.

He was slung over someone’s back, his arms and legs hanging limply.

The one carrying him was none other than Lucas.

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped from Isabel’s lips.

Seeing Lucas alive again brought a surge of overwhelming emotion—but more than that, a seething fury erupted within her.

She was enraged by the fact that Lucas's death was being mocked.

“Rin, let me go ahead.”

Spreading the Goddess’s Wings, Isabel took flight before any of us could react.

Neither of us tried to stop her.

Her anger was justified.

Boom!

Moments later, Isabel landed first at the end of the alley after soaring through the sky.

The narrow alley was completely filled with her divine wings.

Because of that, Lucas—who had been sprinting down the alley—came to a halt.

The moment he tried to turn back—

Thud—

I landed behind him, cutting off his retreat.

Above, Sharin was flying calmly in the sky.

Front, back, and even above—every path was blocked.

Lucas stood silently, his eyes dyed crimson.

“Grrr…”

Eurozen, slung over his back, let out a suppressed groan.

He, too, realized there was no escape.

“Lucas.”

At that moment, Isabel called his name.

Lucas turned his head slightly toward her.

As their eyes met, Isabel bit her lips hard.

Her painful emotions were clearly visible.

“I’ll let you rest soon.”

A human revived through vampire mysticism cannot survive without feeding.

That wretched life was a grotesque form, no longer human.

Isabel didn’t want Lucas to live such a life.

His heroism could not be tarnished.

Isabel drew her sword and pointed it at Lucas.

The tip of the blade trembled faintly.

Pointing a sword at someone who had once been your dearest friend—emotionally, it was far more difficult than it looked.

Even so, Isabel didn’t lower her sword.

“Zenzaaang!”

Suddenly, Eurozen screamed in desperation.

He possessed multiple mystical powers—no one could guess what he might attempt next.

Just as we prepared to react—

Crack!

Suddenly, crystals sprouted all over Eurozen’s body.

My eyes widened at the sight.

“This crazy bastard.”

Mysticism: Crystal of Glass

A mystic ability that generates extremely dense crystals.

In an instant, Eurozen’s entire body hardened into crystal.

In terms of defense, this mysticism offered the highest level of durability.

Now that he was like this, we couldn’t even guess how long it would take to kill him.

Thud!

Lucas set Eurozen down.

The crystallized body had become far too heavy to carry.

Whoosh—

At the same time, flames of fighting spirit began to burst from Lucas’s entire body.

We all instinctively understood—

Lucas was preparing to fight us.

“Isabel!”

And the person he would target first was obvious.

The one among us most emotionally conflicted—

Isabel.

Lucas charged at her with ferocious speed.

I also kicked off the ground and chased after him.

But my body, already pushed to its limits, was too slow.

Sharin fired magical snipes at Lucas.

Beams of light rained down like shooting stars from the sky.

But Lucas ignored them completely and dashed straight at Isabel.

Did he intend to cut down at least one of us?

His unyielding determination hadn’t changed, even after death.

The distance between Lucas and Isabel rapidly closed.

Lucas’s Flame of Resolve burned hotter than ever.

In contrast, Isabel was already worn down from the earlier battle.

A split-second, high-stakes moment where anything could happen.

“Lucas, I’m sorry.”

Isabel, now face-to-face with Lucas, unleashed the full power of her Goddess’s Wings.

Declaration of Victory.

The divine blaze of the goddess engulfed Lucas.

Unlike Lucas, who was frozen in time, Isabel had grown stronger through constant training.

The Declaration of Victory blew Lucas away.

Immediately afterward, Sharin’s beams of light pierced through Lucas’s body.

Holes opened all over him in an instant, and Lucas staggered and collapsed.

Isabel slowly walked toward the fallen Lucas.

Her sword gleamed with the light emanating from the Goddess’s Wings.

Her face was more resolute than ever.

A mix of grief and rage contorted her expression; she could no longer contain her emotions.

“Isabel, let me do it.”

I stepped in front of her.

If Isabel were the one to finish Lucas off—

Something inside her would irreparably break.

“No. Let me do it. I have to do it.”

Isabel shook her head in denial.

Her eyes revealed a firm resolve — she had to end Lucas with her own hands.

“It’s Lucas. He’s my friend!”

Just as I opened my mouth to speak—

I heard the sound of Lucas rising behind me.

No way... Is he trying to fight again after being reduced to that state?

I was just about to step forward in Isabel’s place when—

My eyes slowly widened.

“I…sabel.”

Isabel did the same.

Lucas, riddled with holes throughout his body, stood up on his two legs and called her name.

The red glow in his eyes was gone — his original brown eyes had returned.

Could it be? Had the crystallization of Eurozen dispelled the puppet enchantment?

“Lucas?”

Isabel cautiously called his name.

Lucas then lifted his head and looked up at the sky — as if trying to grasp the situation.

And then, as though something finally clicked in his mind, he slowly turned to face us.

His drenched face now bore a faint smile.

“Did your cold get better?”

At those words, Isabel covered her mouth.

Tears began to stream from her eyes at once.

Back when Lucas was heading to the Demon Dungeon, Isabel had come down with a terrible cold and couldn’t participate.

It was only long after she received word of his death that she barely managed to recover his body.

And now, today—

Lucas had finally returned and asked how she was.

“I got better.”

Isabel’s words spilled out along with her uncontrollable grief.

“I got better. Completely better.”

“I see.”

Lucas smiled in relief.

Isabel collapsed, unable to bear the sadness.

I hurriedly caught her in my arms.

Drenched in sorrow, Isabel continued to weep endlessly.

Lucas's eyes now turned to me.

In that moment, I felt many unspoken meanings radiating from him.

There are things that words can’t convey — and yet still are clearly understood.

So, I held Isabel tighter than ever.

“Don’t worry.”

I’ll protect Isabel no matter what.

At that, Lucas gave a small smile.

“I believe you.”

And with those final words, Lucas’s entire body burst into flames.

Flames of resolve began to consume him in an instant.

We could do nothing but watch.

A star burns.

A star that once could’ve shone brighter than anyone else in the sky burned away and disappeared.

Lucas’s second death.

And just like the first, his death was so very Lucas.

“Why is this happening? Why, just why…”

Isabel’s anguished cry echoed before the roaring flames.

Trembling in my arms, she wept with a voice overflowing with unbearable pain.

Far in the distance, sitting atop a rooftop, Sharin watched with a pained expression.

I held Isabel close, letting her cry as much as she needed.

So that she wouldn’t have to carry this grief again someday — I wanted her to let it all out now.

And deep inside my heart, a storm of fury began to boil over.

Flames, fiercer than ever before, surged within me, uncontrollable.

An awakening of wrath.

That was the moment I fully awakened my rage.

The one who made Isabel suffer so deeply—

Who even mocked Lucas’s very death—

The Celestial Grace.

Gerdio Robliage.

My fury toward him burned hotter than ever.

I will defeat him — no matter what.