Ortenos (supporting his mentor):
"Romilius! Are you alright? Answer me!"
Romilius (coughing weakly):
"I… I'm fine, my son. Get me out of here — time is running out!"
The escape route was not easy. Suddenly, heavy footsteps emerged from behind the smoke. Miron appeared, his face smeared with blood and dust, but his eyes burned with indescribable madness.
Miron (shouting with roaring anger):
"Did you think a small explosion could defeat me? After them! Cut off all their heads!"
The clash began in the narrow corridors leading outside. It was a terrifying cinematic scene — swords colliding beneath red emergency lights, blood splattering across crystal walls. Nikos stood at the rear, protecting the group's back with his long chains, fending off three fighters at once.
Nikos (shouting heroically):
"Keep moving! Darius, take Picos and run!"
Darius:
"I won't leave you, Father!"
At that moment, a massive fighter emerged from behind the rubble of a collapsed wall, and in the blink of an eye, he brought down a sharp crystal axe onto the hand with which Nikos was gripping the chain.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
Nikos's scream tore through the silence. The chain fell — and with it, the fingers of his right hand dropped onto the cold ground in a brutal and heartbreaking sight. Terror froze the companions in place for a single second.
Darius (rushing to his father with burning tears):
"Father! Nooooo!"
Nikos (pushing him away with his other hand as blood poured out):
"Leave, Darius! All of you, go! Don't let my sacrifice be in vain!"
With great difficulty, Nirar and Darius pulled the staggering Nikos, who was reeling in pain, and ran toward the end of the corridor — but fate had prepared one last trap. They slammed into a tightly sealed metal door.
They had reached a dead end.
The companions stopped, trapped between the sealed wall and the advancing Miron and his men, who surrounded them like hungry wolves. Miron stepped forward slowly. He no longer carried a knife; instead, he stood with strange composure and wiped the blood from his face.
Miron (in an eerily calm voice):
"Stop… there's no need for more bloodshed. I'm not a monster as you think. I am a noble man, and my goal is greater than your small minds."
Ortenos (with venom in his voice):
"Noble? You cut off an old man's fingers and destroyed a city! What nobility is that?"
Suddenly, Miron's expression changed. Tears poured unexpectedly from his eyes, and his voice trembled as he looked toward the distant horizon.
Miron:
"You know nothing! My father… my mother… my little siblings… all of them were slaughtered in a single night before my eyes! Why? Because we didn't have enough to pay the taxes of the tyrant 'Medon XVI'! The ruler of Crystallis, who lives in his ivory tower while his people freeze to death!"
Silence fell, and his fighters began lowering their heads in emotion.
Miron (continuing bitterly):
"I am leading a revolution! I reached this position through blood and tears to destroy this corrupt system. I don't want to hurt you — you are strangers, as it seems. You have no stake in our war. I only want that pure thermal energy you stole; it is the only fuel for our cannon that will destroy Medon's palace and end his rule forever! You were merely an obstacle in the path of justice!"
Ortenos (firmly):
"I respect your revolution, Miron, and I feel your pain. But I am not here for adventure. I need this energy for my journey to 'Asheel.' Without it, our caravans will not return, and I will not be able to use the Blue Feather to return to my world and save my kingdom, 'Acadia,' from the usurper of my father's throne."
A violent shock ran through Miron and his men. Miron stepped back, eyes wide with astonishment.
Miron (laughing hysterically):
"What? The Blue Feather? Another world? 'Asheel'? You're lying! That's impossible! You're nothing but spies — or mercenaries sent by Medon XVI to sabotage our uprising at the final moment!"
Ortenos (shouting):
"I swear to you it's the truth! I am a king without a kingdom, just as you are a revolutionary without a home! We seek the same goal — rule and justice — but our paths crossed in the wrong place!"
Miron (overcome with rage):
"Enough! I will not let a group of spies destroy years of planning! Whether you're spies or madmen, the result is the same… you are an obstacle to my revolution — and obstacles are removed!"
Miron turned to his unit with hardened features and gestured toward the trapped companions.
Miron:
"Execute them! Leave none of them breathing! Crystallis will be freed with the blood of these traitors!"
Darius (embracing his wounded father):
"I'll kill you all!"
Nirar and Ortenos (raising their weapons for the last time):
"Get ready!"
The archers raised their crystal bows, the soldiers drew their swords, and they charged toward the companions in a deadly assault…
And suddenly — a blinding white light filled the horizon just before the collision!