"I admit I misjudged you before. You truly possess power that is in no way inferior to Lady Michelle's… To be defeated by Lady Water Angel… I accept it completely…"
Already grievously wounded and hovering on the brink of death, Fernando knew he had little time left. Even so, he still carried himself with the poise of a grandmaster—no shouting, no cursing—his face wearing an almost unnervingly calm expression.
If I wanted to, I could have ended it right then with one more strike and made sure he was gone for good. But hearing him say that, I suddenly felt an impulse to clarify something:
"You're wrong. Strictly speaking, I'm not a true Water Angel. At most, I've merely inherited a portion of her former power."
I'd assumed Fernando might regret ever making an enemy of me, but he showed no such reaction. Instead, his tone shifted, and he made an uncharacteristic request.
"Could you do me a favor before I die? With your current… ability, you can definitely do it."
"Do you a favor? Are you serious?"
Suspicion rose immediately. At a time like this, what could he possibly want from me? Was he trying to stall me on purpose? Vaksham had already vanished somewhere, and I was genuinely worried he might sabotage the entire rescue.
"Sa… Sally. Can you help me bring her back to life?"
Perhaps he saw rejection on my face, because he hurried to speak first. By now, the power of the Water Abyss Sword had already begun to erode his entire arm. With only half his body left, Fernando still refused to give up, gritting through the pain to force the rest of his words out.
Revive Sally? So that was his final request.
From what he'd said, Sally seemed to have been an angel in this world as well. For a brief moment, something in me stirred—my impression of him softened ever so slightly. He didn't seem as hateful as he had at the beginning. If anything… he seemed a little pitiful.
"I'm sorry," I said, shaking my head helplessly. "When an angel dies, there isn't even a body left behind. Even if I could somehow reconstruct a new body for her, her soul would've dispersed long ago, wouldn't it?"
Even if his request was, in its own way, moving, I still had to refuse.
In theory, a Water Angel could reshape reality at will—but strictly speaking, that authority only applied to matter. The one domain it couldn't interfere with was the realm of the soul.
The only element capable of reaching the soul was light. Yet even the angelic race had never truly mastered the core authority of the light element.
Thinking of that, I couldn't help adding:
"Of course, if Sally was lucky enough, her soul might have been taken into the Cycle of Rebirth. In all these years, who knows how many times she's already been reincarnated? You might even have crossed paths with one of her reincarnations without realizing it."
"…You're right," Fernando murmured, as if suddenly enlightened. "I'd forgotten… She did have a chance to reincarnate. Thank goodness I haven't left this world yet…"
It was as though a wish he'd carried for countless years finally loosened its grip on him. At last, he closed his eyes in contentment.
"I only hope… that someday… I can meet her… again…"
The instant he fully stopped resisting, what remained of his body disintegrated even faster. In the blink of an eye, it turned into countless specks of light and vanished into the air—an end that, unexpectedly, resembled the way angels died.
"…"
My earlier exhilaration at victory was gone. I wasn't happy at all.
That said, I didn't regret choosing not to hold back. Fernando had destroyed Adrian's most beloved Sky City. No matter what, this finally settled the debt between us.
"—The hostages are about to be rescued! The boss is personally moving to intercept them! Everyone get to the prisoner cave and provide support!"
A sharp shout rang out behind me, snapping my thoughts back to reality. It sounded like Vaksham's search party had finally found something. A large number of bandits followed the order and surged toward some large side cave ahead, completely failing to notice me lurking in another shadowed corner not far away.
Hearing that Vaksham—who had moved ahead first—was likely already clashing with Adrian, my heart tightened. As Miriam's draconic relative, his strength couldn't be underestimated.
I didn't have time to worry about anything else. With a single thought, I spread my wings and swept over the heads of the rank-and-file, diving straight into the cave and charging at full speed toward its deepest reaches.
Luckily, the tunnel used to hold prisoners was wide enough. Before long, the space ahead abruptly opened up again, and I emerged into another sizable hollow within the mountain.
Its structure was similar to what we'd seen before. There were also multiple passages leading elsewhere around the perimeter. The terrain was far more complex than I'd imagined, and it clearly wasn't the final holding area yet.
But the instant I stepped in, I saw it at a glance—
Vaksham and Adrian were locked in a fierce battle.
Off to one side, Cyrae and Brennan stood shoulder to shoulder, holding off wave after wave of human bandits. Behind them huddled a large crowd of trembling hostages. I didn't know whether they hadn't had time to turn the hostages invisible in the first place—or whether their invisibility had already been completely broken by some method.
Overall, even though we were surrounded, we weren't showing much of a disadvantage. The biggest reason was that Cyrae and Brennan were holding the line extremely well—especially Cyrae. Ordinary grunts couldn't even get near her. Each time they cut down a few reckless frontliners, the bandits in the back would hesitate and unconsciously fall back, only to regroup and launch another charge.
In practice, both sides were stuck in a delicate standoff. If they hadn't needed to protect so many hostages, the two of them might have fought their way out long ago.
Of course, the even greater threat came from Vaksham, the dragon leader.
Even though Adrian was facing the most troublesome enemy commander alone, the two of them remained evenly matched. Neither could truly gain the upper hand.
Looking at the fight as a whole, Adrian's battle-aura abilities—bolstered by the clone arrow technique "Deep-Sea Phantom"—had reached a level several times stronger than during the battle of Parristol. But Vaksham was no pushover either. Setting aside the dragons' terrifying physical strength, every time danger approached, the short, sharp dragon cries he released would somehow deflect the trajectory of Adrian's arrows.
Unfortunately, Adrian's main offense still relied on ranged attacks. He wasn't weaker in any aspect, but if he couldn't land meaningful damage, then against a close-combat powerhouse like a dragon, someone not skilled in melee would always feel stifled—like he had strength but nowhere to apply it.
That situation lasted only until I arrived.
The moment I joined the fight without hesitation and drove multiple Water Abyss Swords toward Vaksham at once, he instantly lost his composure. He sprang backward more than ten meters, staring at me in disbelief.
"Where is Fernando? Don't tell me you killed him—how is that even possible…?"
From our brief close exchanges just now, I could tell his strength was roughly on Fernando's level—at most, he was slightly faster thanks to the extra pair of dragon wings on his back.
"Finish him."
Just as expected, he was never going to be our match—there was no need for more talk. I gave Adrian a signal, and we rushed in again.
Only then did I realize Vaksham's retreat had been planned.
He had deliberately chosen that direction because, not far behind him, was exactly where the hostages were gathered.
Our attention had been on the human bandits, and Cyrae and Brennan didn't react in time. The moment they turned their heads, he exploited the opening.
At the same time, Adrian and I had let our guard down for a split second. Vaksham shot into the hostage crowd at blistering speed, grabbed one woman who looked middle-aged, and clamped his hand around her throat as he shouted a warning:
"Don't come any closer! One more step and I'll kill her!"
"That's my mom—be careful!"
The move worked immediately. Adrian recognized the hostage and instantly shifted position, stepping in front of me with a grave warning.
"So that's her…"
It was the first time I'd ever seen Adrian's mother with my own eyes. I just hadn't expected it to be under circumstances like this. In an instant, the situation became far more difficult.
With the hostage's identity so critical, Cyrae and Brennan also didn't dare move recklessly. Seeing how effective his threat was, Vaksham pressed his advantage and shouted his terms.
"All of you—drop your weapons and stop resisting. Let my men take control of all the hostages! I guarantee I won't harm anyone here. As long as I can leave this place safely, I'll give up my revenge against you. And when it's over, you can take every last hostage away with you!"
From a certain angle, Vaksham's demand wasn't outrageous—his goal was obviously to save his own life. Once he realized he couldn't win against the two of us alone, the smartest move was to steady his opponents first and secure his retreat.
But the condition of laying down our weapons and surrendering left Cyrae and Brennan unwilling. After all, they'd been holding a clear advantage just moments ago—only for the situation to be completely reversed in the blink of an eye.