The echoes of the battle had finally faded, but the forest still reeked of fresh blood and scorched mana.
The surviving crusaders fled through the vegetation. They were no longer retreating in formation or attempting to regroup; they were simply scattering in panic. Some dragged armor stained with mud and blood, others carried their wounded, and many no longer even had their weapons. Their faces showed more than terror. They showed something far more devastating: abandonment.
They had felt the exact moment their gods stopped answering.
Lusian walked in the opposite direction of the fleeing soldiers. His cloak was in tatters, his face stained with dried blood, and several minor wounds covered his body. Even so, his stride remained firm and unwavering.
One of the crusaders recognized him as they crossed paths.
"L-Lusian..." the soldier stammered, stumbling until he fell to his knees.
The duke did not even turn his head. He simply continued walking.
The Douglas domain lay around him like a desecrated corpse: trees uprooted, smoking craters, abandoned supplies, and fragments of armor covered in a thin layer of reddish dust.
That was when he spotted them among the fallen.
Emily.
Kara.
Emily ran toward him the moment she saw him.
"Lusian!" She stopped beside him, breathless, desperately scanning his body. "Are you hurt?"
"No. This blood isn't mine," Lusian replied, his tone softening slightly. "Are you all right?"
Emily nodded, though her gaze drifted back toward the devastated landscape. Kara approached a moment later. At first, she said nothing, simply assessing the destruction.
"Was that horror the work of the gods?"
Lusian did not answer immediately. Emily swallowed, tense.
"Lusian..."
The duke closed his eyes for a moment. He no longer had the energy—or the desire—to hide the truth.
"The gods are not invulnerable," he said at last, opening his eyes. "They survive through their devotees. Prayers, faith, doctrine. The greater the number of believers, the greater their power."
Emily's eyes widened as the truth sank in.
"Then..." she whispered, staring at the corpses. "All this slaughter...?"
"They orchestrated it." Lusian's voice was distant and cold. "This war was never fought for the sake of humanity."
Kara clenched her fists until her knuckles turned white.
"And what are we to them?"
Lusian met her gaze sternly.
"Fuel."
Emily covered her mouth with one hand.
A cold gust slipped between the battered trees, and the silence grew heavy. For several seconds, the truth crushed the three of them beneath its weight.
Then a scream tore through the stillness.
"LUSIAN!"
Emily spun around.
Three battered figures emerged from the mist: Alejandro, Leonardo, and Xiomara. All three were covered in mud and blood, but Alejandro was the first to step forward. His eyes were red with fury, and his sword trembled in his hands.
"Finally..."
Lusian recognized that expression instantly. It was not pure hatred.
It was overwhelming grief.
Alejandro raised his hand, and a burst of flame erupted in the air before him.
"You!"
Lusian extended his arm. The roots of the forest erupted from the ground, forming an organic wall that swallowed the flames. The explosion shook the earth.
"Alejandro, stop!" Emily cried desperately.
He did not listen. Another wave of fire tore through the tangled roots, but Lusian spun on his heel and deflected it with a barrier of darkness.
"Alejandro, enough!"
"Shut up!"
The prince charged again.
This time, Lusian did not merely defend himself.
He advanced.
Shadow spread beneath his boots, and in the blink of an eye he appeared directly in front of Alejandro. Dainslein descended fiercely. The prince barely managed to raise his sword in time, but the impact sent him sliding several meters through the mud.
Lusian followed with an unrelenting assault.
One strike.
Two.
Three.
Alejandro barely managed to withstand the onslaught as bursts of fire detonated chaotically around him. Lusian moved through the flames with surgical precision, each strike calculated and deadly.
"Lusian!" Emily pleaded. "Don't kill him!"
The duke did not answer.
Alejandro launched a desperate thrust. Lusian effortlessly sidestepped it. The prince's blade struck the ground, throwing him off balance and leaving him exposed for a fraction of a second.
Lusian raised his sword.
The cold edge of Dainslein stopped mere inches from Alejandro's throat.
Their eyes met.
"Lusian, no!" Emily cried.
He froze.
It was only a moment of hesitation.
But it was enough.
A bolt of lightning tore through the air.
Lusian tried to turn, but the lightning struck him directly in the back. His body arched violently as the electricity coursed through every muscle. Leonardo appeared behind him, one smoking hand extended.
Lusian dropped to one knee.
Blood began to pour from his charred shoulder.
"Leonardo!" Emily gasped.
Alejandro seized the opening immediately. His blade ignited in flames.
"For Drago!"
Lusian looked up.
But it was already too late.
The flaming sword pierced his side, and the force of the explosion hurled him several meters across the ground.
"LUSIAN!" Emily ran toward him.
Kara immediately stepped between the two sides.
"Enough!"
Leonardo raised his hand again, sparks dancing between his fingers.
"Move, Kara!"
"No!"
Lightning crashed into the ground at her feet. Kara raised her sword and redirected the remnants of the spell.
"I won't let you kill him!"
Emily reached Lusian as he slowly tried to get back on his feet. Blood flowed heavily from his wound.
"I'm fine..." he muttered.
"You're not!" Emily stared at the wound in horror.
Lusian drew a deep breath. The stabbing pain threatened to paralyze him.
Across from him, Alejandro had already regained his stance.
"I can't let him live," the prince declared.
Lusian fixed his gaze on him.
"Then come."
Alejandro charged again.
His flaming sword collided with Dainslein, unleashing a blinding flash through the forest. Lusian gave ground. Alejandro attacked again, and this time the duke could not respond with the same agility. The wound in his side was draining his strength with every passing second.
Leonardo joined the assault from the flank.
Several bolts of lightning tore through the vegetation. Lusian dodged one, another grazed his arm, and a third blasted the earth beneath his feet.
"Lusian!" Emily shouted.
Kara intercepted another bolt.
"Focus!"
Lusian gritted his teeth.
He could not repel both of them simultaneously.
He extended his hand.
The depths of the forest erupted violently.
Alejandro and Leonardo leapt over the mass of roots, but the ground beneath them collapsed. Trees toppled, the earth split apart, and wooden tendrils wrapped around Alejandro's ankles.
"Damn it!"
Lusian pulled on the bindings, and Alejandro crashed into the mud.
The duke materialized in front of him and brought his blade down.
Alejandro blocked the blow, but the impact knocked the weapon from his hands.
Lusian rotated the blade in a fluid motion.
A clean slash tore across the prince's chest.
Alejandro froze.
The flames in his hands vanished.
He fell backward onto the ground.
Emily let out a heart-wrenching scream.
"ALEJANDRO!"
Lusian remained motionless over the fallen prince.
It had been brutally fast.
But he had been given no choice.
Leonardo roared.
A storm of lightning descended upon the forest.
Lusian hurriedly raised a shield of darkness, but the force of the impact dragged him several meters across the mud.
That was when Xiomara joined the assault.
Water erupted from the ground, twisting like a colossal serpent.
"Lusian!"
The torrent surged toward him.
Lusian managed to divert it by raising a wall of earth, splitting the current in two.
But two whips of water emerged from the flanks, striking without warning.
The duke spun.
The first barely grazed his face.
The second slammed directly into his wounded side, forcing another burst of blood from the injury.
Lusian dropped to one knee, struggling to breathe.
Xiomara seized the opening.
"Now!"
The mass of water closed violently around him.
Lusian gritted his teeth and released a surge of dark mana that spread across the ground. Shadows climbed through the liquid torrent, corrupting the spell from within.
Xiomara's eyes widened.
"What...?"
The spell changed direction.
The corrupted current wrapped around its own caster.
Xiomara struggled desperately to break free, but there was nowhere to go.
Lusian clenched his fist.
The torrent slammed her violently into the ground, leaving her unconscious and motionless in the water.
The spell had worked.
But Lusian felt something inside his chest tear apart.
That maneuver had consumed an absurd amount of mana.
He could not do it again.
Leonardo surveyed the battlefield.
Alejandro and Xiomara lay defeated.
Rage completely distorted his features.
"LUSIAN!"
A massive storm of lightning descended upon the vegetation.
Kara stepped into its path at the last moment.
"Leonardo, enough!"
"Move!"
"No!"
The lightning collided with Kara's blade. She managed to redirect the worst of the impact, but the shockwave forced her several steps backward.
Lusian seized the moment.
He materialized behind Leonardo, and Dainslein shattered the hero's guard.
But the thrust stopped.
The icy blade of Dainslein halted mere inches from Leonardo's heart.
Leonardo dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.
Lusian was breathing heavily.
He knew he could take Leonardo's life with a single movement.
But he didn't.
He withdrew the sword.
Leonardo collapsed unconscious onto the ground.
Silence returned to the forest.
Emily looked around, her heart lodged in her throat.
Alejandro, Xiomara, and Leonardo lay defeated.
Beside them, Kara stood motionless, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Lusian tried to take another step.
His legs gave out.
Blood had soaked completely through his clothes, and his vision began to narrow into a tunnel of darkness.
Emily rushed toward him.
"Lusian!"
He barely managed to focus on her.
"Emily..."
"I'm here!"
Lusian tried to speak, but his body stopped responding to his will.
He collapsed.
Emily caught him before his face could strike the mud.
"Lusian!"
Kara hurried to her side.
The forest fell silent once more.
Around them, the remnants of the battle continued to smolder among the devastated trees and fallen warriors. And there, amid the desolation, Emily held Lusian's unconscious body in her arms.
The war continued on the horizon...
But for them, in that moment, it felt as though the entire world had come to an end.