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Sharin Sazaris.

Daughter of the Blue Tower Master and a girl possessing an unfair power—Mirinae.

Her special eyes now reflected a scene she never could have predicted.

Right after Vikamon set his own body ablaze.

His soul was merging with that of Demon Sovereign, as if returning to its rightful place.

Had Sharin not seen this, she would have reacted just like Isabel and Nikita.

At least Isabel had witnessed something similar with Vikamon once before.

But for Nikita, it was the first time seeing such a scene.

The overwhelming rage pouring from the two of them shook the entire battlefield.

Isabel sprouted a new pair of wings, and ancient dragon horns erupted from Nikita’s head.

The goddess and the ancient dragon could no longer contain their fury and roared.

However, Sharin did not react in the same way as them, because her eyes were far too special.

She simply couldn’t tear her gaze away from what was now unfolding before her.

A pitch-black soul was regenerating Vikamon’s body anew.

Immediately after, something deep within that soul began to lift its eyelids—something that should never be seen.

Fshing!

A piercing sensation struck Sharin’s eyes, followed by a violent dizziness.

And in that instant, she made the fastest judgment of anyone present.

‘That is not Vikamon.’

The final staff moved.

Sharin saw Vikamon’s soul being devoured by Demon Sovereign and falling into a deep abyss.

If she wanted to bring Vikamon back, the first thing she had to do was:

‘Neutralize.’

She had to take him down.

Her magic power surged.

All of her magic violently broke out of its previous constraints.

To retrieve the one she loved most.

Sharin forcefully shattered the wall standing before her.

‘Celestial Magic.’

Sharin grasped the divine-level magic that only Zerion had been able to handle.

An overwhelming feat accomplished through talent alone.

A divine realm that only the world's greatest mage could reach.

Xenia, who had been frozen beside her, finally came to her senses.

Realizing what Sharin was about to do, she gasped and quickly raised her staff.

The Blue Tower Master turned his head sharply.

The same Blue Tower Master who had crushed two other Tower Masters singlehandedly now trembled with exhilaration.

Boom—

Sharin’s indigo hair shot up toward the sky.

And in the moment her hair was completely dyed in starlight—

She brought down her staff, charged with her greatest mana.

‘Divine Punishment.’

A storm of power unlike anything before pierced the heavens and struck the earth.

White light consumed everything, laying waste to the surroundings.

The destructive force was too much for even the Imperial Knights to withstand, sending them tumbling like straw dolls.

Of course, the group couldn’t escape the blast either—but Xenia had acted in time.

Just before Sharin cast Celestial Magic, she used her own to protect everyone.

Sharin gasped for breath, her mana depleted.

Soon, the traces of light began to fade.

Thick white smoke blanketed the area.

At its center were the neutralized Imperial Knight Commander and the Duke Ironwall.

Even they couldn’t endure the overwhelming firepower.

“Hic… Lady Iris!”

At some point, Hania and Iris had returned to the group’s side.

Hania clutched Iris tightly, holding back her sobs.

Together with Xenia, the Blue Tower Master had brought them back through the Celestial Magic’s fury.

The seamless cooperation of the three mages had created this situation.

Yet Sharin couldn’t feel satisfied.

She bit her lip in frustration.

Her target—

The one who was Vikamon but not Vikamon.

He stood, shrouded in lightning, in the form of an ancient dragon.

Vikamon had mastered the Celestial Dragon transformation.

That made lightning magic relatively ineffective against him.

But Sharin had used lightning magic on him intentionally—to awaken the traces of the ancient dragon within him.

She believed that even if she couldn’t win, she could at least buy time.

Crack—

But the ancient dragon form that had formed around his body shattered.

As if to say—you thought this could stop me?

“…Senior Sharin.”

Xenia, too, could see souls, just like Sharin.

“What… what is that?”

Her eyes were trembling violently.

Something that should never have awakened… had awakened.

“Rin, what’s going on?”

“……”

Isabel and Nikita had just regained their composure and returned.

After Vikamon’s body regenerated, they had both lost their grip.

But Sharin simply continued to stare at Vikamon.

“Ah… ahh.”

At that moment, a voice of despair rang out from Saintess Acrede.

“No. No! We must leave this place immediately!”

Clutching her tightly was none other than Narea—former Hero and Saintess.

She screamed like a banshee.

“Oh… oh god.”

The Saint looked up at the sky in a daze, praying.

The nightmare sky Sharin had pierced through earlier was once again covering the heavens.

Then—

The bloody moon that loomed in that nightmare sky began to melt and pour down over the earth.

Squelch—

The crimson moon merged with Vikamon’s body.

No one could do anything.

They were frozen in place.

Some even forgot to breathe as they watched.

Soon, through the blood-red moonlight, scarlet hair fluttered in the wind.

From within the long black cloak, skin as white as snow was revealed.

【Celestial Duke.】

His voice pierced the minds of all present.

A grotesque voice that whispered in the ear—it sent chills down their spines.

Tap—

With a cold stomp of his heel, the Celestial Duke kneeled at his command.

A man who never kneeled even before the Emperor obeyed without hesitation.

“Yes, you called for me.”

He looked like a worshipper kneeling before his god.

【It is not yet time to head to the Demon Dungeon. Prepare.】

“As you command.”

Demon Dungeon.

At the sound of those words, everyone realized who the being was.

Demon Sovereign.

No one knew exactly where things had gone wrong.

But Demon Sovereign had devoured Vikamon’s soul and arrived.

“…Fa-te?”

The moment Iris muttered blankly,

Demon Sovereign and Duke Robliage began walking toward the Imperial Palace.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

KWA-AANG!

In that instant, the only one who could move—Isabel—unleashed the light of the goddess.

Thanks to the goddess’s blessing, she could barely move.

“Give him back!”

At her shout, Demon Sovereign slowly turned his head.

He looked at Isabel indifferently and let out a short sigh.

【A goddess? Aren’t you ever tired of this?】

“I shall handle this, Lord Demon Sovereign.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

Unfazed, Isabel spread her wings and soared forward.

She had just awakened the wings of the goddess once again.

It was her fourth awakening.

She was now on the verge of full awakening.

“Celestial Echo Squad.”

At that moment, as Duke Robliage called out, space tore open in front of Isabel.

She froze in place.

Only one person could open space like this.

Celestial Echo Squad — The Cat Beyond.

It was impossible without the kungdo possessed by her.

Through the gap in space, a chilling red blade extended out.

It multiplied—by the hundreds, thousands, millions, billions—reaching toward Isabel.

She quickly wrapped her entire body with her four wings.

The wings of the goddess were beaten madly, like a torrential downpour.

Only then did the others begin to come to their senses.

Demon Sovereign’s arrival and the evil he emanated had momentarily robbed them of their minds.

At the same time, a man landed on the ground from the rift.

With bright red hair and an eye patch, he gazed at Isabel.

One of the Five of Celestial Echo Squad.

The Crimson Forger.

And he wasn’t the only one who had come through.

One by one, more members of the Echo Squad appeared.

Battle scars covered them all.

Especially The Cat Beyond—Adora—was severely wounded.

So much so that Adora was missing an arm.

And one figure was nowhere to be seen.

The One Who Split Mountains — Dragos.

It seemed he had never returned since that day.

“Ughhhh… I… I don’t wanna… I don’t wanna fight…”

Adora, dragging her injured body, muttered a timid protest.

She had yet to recover from the previous battle.

【Pathetic.】

Demon Sovereign looked at them with disappointment.

Then he snapped his fingers lightly.

【Payment for your service to me.】

And in that instant, a blood-red moonlight poured down once more upon the Echo Squad.

Their wounds vanished, replaced by black tattoos symbolizing the moon.

“Whoa—what the heck is this?!”

As a new arm sprouted, Adora bounced in delight, tail perked high.

Isabel landed on the ground, clenching her jaw.

The power now radiating from them was on a completely different level.

When Adora’s gaze met hers, Adora gave a sly smile.

“Now that I’ve got both arms again, gimme back the kungdo you borrowed!”

Her beaming eyes were spine-chilling.

KWA-GAGAGAGAK!

At that moment, white petals soared over the funeral grounds and fluttered in.

If the Echo Squad was here, it meant their nemesis would also be arriving.

Duke of Whitewood appeared in the skies.

“You! Boy from the Blue Tower—give me a quick summary of the situation!”

“There’s no way to explain this quickly.”

The Blue Tower Master responded, enveloped in mana.

Duke of Whitewood’s eyes fell on Demon Sovereign, and she swallowed hard.

“…Boy.”

She had lived her whole life alongside the Empire.

She could tell who now possessed Vikamon’s body.

“Everyone, retreat.”

“Huh?”

Isabel protested, confused by what she heard.

But Duke of Whitewood saw the situation clearly.

“The Saint and the Saintess have reached their limit.”

Just as she said, the sanctuary formed by the Saint and the Saintess had reached its limit.

Even if the fight continued, the nightmare would only seep further in.

“We still have another chance. If that’s truly Demon Sovereign, then he will head to the Demon Dungeon next.”

From the beginning, they had known what they needed to protect.

Isabel trembled, gripping her sword.

But Demon Sovereign, already losing interest, had turned his back and begun to leave.

“You…”

Isabel called after him desperately, swallowing back tears.

And she wasn’t the only one.

“Senior…”

Nikita Cynthia.

“My husbaaand…”

Sharin Sazaris.

“…Brother.”

Iris Hysirion.

Each of them called out to him, consumed by grief.

“…We will come to get you.”

Forcing herself to pull her emotions together, Isabel turned her feet with great effort.

The Echo Squad moved all at once, and Isabel’s group began their retreat under Duke of Whitewood’s command.

Empire of Hysirion.

The day the imperial palace of the world’s strongest nation fell into Demon Sovereign’s hands.

＊＊＊

Under the rain pouring from the sky,

A young girl quietly clasped her hands in prayer.

She was too far removed from the unfolding chaos to join them.

A girl born under an inexplicably tragic star.

Seron Parmia.

She belonged to no house or cause that would allow her presence at that battlefield.

So she had no choice but to remain at Zerion Academy.

“Seron, praying again?”

She turned at the voice calling her.

Standing there with concern was a woman with blue hair—

The Unyielding Azure Flame.

Eve.

Now a friend of Seron.

“Yeah… just got a strange feeling.”

Bad things always happened on days like this.

So Seron prayed.

“Just hoping… maybe this time, the gods will lend a little help.”

She looked out the window as she spoke.

Rain fell in steady sheets.

Had she gone out in weather like this, she’d surely have slipped in the mud.

And yet… a part of her wondered if maybe she should have insisted on going along.

“…It’ll be fine.”

She had even spent a fortune on a goddess-blessed bracelet for Vikamon.

“He’ll come back safe and sound.”

And then, as always, he’d stand in front of her, spouting nonsense again.

Seron smiled briefly at the thought.

“It’s going to be okay.”

Seron Parmia—the girl known as Misfortune—believed that, just this once.