The Infernal Dragon had been sealed.

  A colossal pillar of ice towered over the battlefield like a frozen mountain. The air around it grew heavy and sharp with cold, smoke and embers crystallizing into pale mist.

  The remaining dragons had either been slain or frozen mid-flight, twisted into grotesque statues in the sky.

  The battlefield… was finally silent.

  From a distance, SELEXTIA stared at the massive block of ice.

  She had never witnessed power so overwhelming before.

  Below, Aerion sat while medics wrapped his burned arm in thick bandages. The faint scent of scorched flesh still lingered.

  Elmira sat beside him, her eyes red and swollen.

  “Don’t look at me like I’m about to die,” Aerion said with a faint smirk.

  Elmira bit her lip.

  “You almost did…”

  He fell quiet for a moment, gazing up at the pale sky.

  “I just didn’t want to stand there… and watch anyone else burn.”

  No one replied.

  For a brief moment, it truly felt like everything was over.

  Then—

  A wave of scorching wind swept across the battlefield.

  Not from the sealed dragon.

  From the distant horizon.

  The surviving dragons suddenly shrieked in panic. They flew erratically, crashing into one another as if fleeing from something unseen.

  “They’re heading toward the medical station!” a soldier shouted.

  SELEXTIA snapped her head up.

  Elmira rose to her feet.

  Both of them took to the sky at once.

  Behind them, Aerion forced himself upright.

  “You’re not seriously leaving me behind, are you?”

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  “Don’t be stupid!” SELEXTIA snapped. “This isn’t the time!”

  He clenched his remaining good hand.

  “Let me fight.”

  “You can barely fly!”

  “I don’t want to lie there… and just watch again.”

  For a moment, neither of them could meet his eyes.

  In the end, they forced him to stay.

  The two girls flew straight into the chaos.

  SELEXTIA erected a barrier to block the dragons’ path.

  The impact pressure shattered the air around her. Blood trickled down from her forehead.

  Elmira cut through the swarm relentlessly, each strike precise—but her breathing grew uneven.

  Three minutes.

  Five.

  Ten.

  By the time reinforcements arrived, the dragons fell from the sky like lifeless stones.

  Silence returned once more.

  The captain even praised them.

  But SELEXTIA’s chest felt unbearably heavy.

  Three hours later.

  Aerion could fly again—barely.

  “So… it’s really over?” he asked.

  “Yeah. Smooth and clean,” Elmira replied with a faint smile. “We even got praised for it.”

  Aerion looked toward the frozen mountain.

  “We should check on it.”

  SELEXTIA immediately shook her head.

  “No. I have a bad feeling.”

  “You always overthink things,” he said lightly.

  Elmira glanced between them and sighed.

  “Fine. I’ll go with you.”

  SELEXTIA turned away.

  She didn’t know—

  It would be the last time she saw them alive.

  Far away.

  Ren appeared.

  He looked up toward the heavens as though observing a small stage.

  “Faster than I expected.”

  In his hand was a crimson crystal, something writhing faintly inside.

  “My lord… please enjoy this offering.”

  The crystal shattered.

  Red mana dissolved into the air.

  The ice trembled.

  Once.

  Twice.

  Inside the frozen prison, black eyes opened.

  “Elmira…” Aerion murmured.

  A deep sound echoed from within.

  Thump.

  Thump.

  Thump.

  Not cracking ice.

  A heartbeat.

  The temperature surged violently. The air warped.

  Aerion erected a barrier, pouring every last drop of his divine power into it. His burned arm felt as if it were being torn apart again.

  “Stay behind me.”

  “Aerion—”

  “You said you wanted to live, right?”

  Elmira froze.

  The thirteenth heartbeat sounded.

  And—

  BOOM!!!

  Blinding white light devoured the sky.

  The shockwave erased everything within hundreds of meters.

  The barrier shattered instantly.

  Heat swallowed the earth.

  SELEXTIA felt it from afar.

  The heat reached her before the sound did.

  Her heart skipped.

  Without thinking, she flew.

  When she arrived—

  The ground was blackened.

  No voices.

  No dragons.

  Only ash.

  She walked forward slowly.

  Her boots crushed still-warm cinders.

  Then she saw him.

  A charred figure.

  Kneeling.

  Still in a guarding stance.

  “Aerion…”

  She collapsed to her knees.

  Her fingers touched what remained of him.

  No warmth.

  No heartbeat.

  Three hours ago, they were laughing.

  This morning, they promised to eat together after the battle.

  Now—

  Nothing.

  Her tears wouldn’t fall.

  Only a hollow void in her chest.

  High-ranking angels descended.

  A Dai Tenshi stepped forward.

  “Let me take him.”

  SELEXTIA slapped his hand away.

  “Put him down! He’s not dead!”

  “Wake up. He sacrificed himself.”

  She turned.

  Elmira was still breathing.

  Her entire body was severely burned.

  “Save her!” SELEXTIA screamed. “Please!”

  She lifted Elmira and rushed toward the medical station.

  “Please… save her…”

  Her eyes slowly emptied.

  If power is what decides who lives and who dies—

  Then I will seize it.

  No matter the cost.

  In the distant depths of Hell—

  Ren gazed upward.

  A faint smile curved his lips.

  “Prepare yourselves…”

  “I have many more gifts for you.”

  His laughter tore through the darkness.

  “Hahaha…”