Both Erys returned to the blood-soaked cliffs of Northstar Stronghold. What greeted them was not silence, but the radiant, blinding presence of the Sun Guardian—transford into his full celestial might.
He towered like a demigod—half-man, half-lion—wreathed in golden fire. His mane burned like solar flares, and fey runes etched across his massive fra pulsed with divine energy. They shimred like ancient starlight, revealing his true heritage as one born of the Fey.
"BEGONE!!!"
With a roar that tore through the heavens, the entire mountain range trembled. Enemy legions faltered. The barbarian demonic ranks and parasitic creatures shrank beneath that primal sound.
But the Guardian had one goal: to sever the spirit-entanglent cast by the massive being in the sky—a Summoned Scourge God. Once the binding sigil shattered, he blurred forward in a beam of golden fla, crossing the battlefield in a blink.
Barbarian cosmic experts leapt to intercept him—giants clad in bone armor, wielding cursed axes—but they were nothing to him. He tore through them like paper, golden claws rending bodies from soul. One by one, they were scattered like dust on the wind.
At last, he reached the dark magus summoner, still chanting desperately beneath the swirling sky. With a blast of solar wrath, he interrupted the ritual—just in ti. The looming portal above flickered… then collapsed inward with a thunderous snap.
The Scourge God—partially erged—let out one last shriek before it was dragged back into oblivion, its massive arms vanishing beyond the veil of worlds.
Ery watched all this from afar, standing atop a slope beside his darker self. Blood and fla bathed the stronghold below, where fey armies surged from the walls, charging into the broken ranks of barbarians and parasites. Screams echoed through the valley. The tide had turned.
Dark Ery, still in Veyarel's towering form, snarled in frustration.
"No! Don't finish without !"
With a flash of spatial distortion, he vanished from Ery's side—then reappeared behind a group of retreating cosmic experts, eager for slaughter.
Light Ery, anwhile, remained focused.
He descended swiftly to the citadel's main platform, where the ground was littered with corpses—barbarian and Parderan. Smoke rose from shattered battlents. A few fey healers rushed between the dying, trying to nd what they could.
Ery didn't stop for them.
He moved toward a familiar figure slumped among the wreckage—a supre elder, surrounded by the shattered remains of his golden constructs, blood pouring from dozens of wounds.
Without hesitation, Ery knelt beside him, pulling a healing pill from his pouch and placing it in the elder's mouth. At the sa ti, he began casting a spell.
[Tidal Heart Healing]
Blue-green light surged from his palms, infused with the life force of the Elysian Tree and cosmic aether. The spell didn't just nd flesh—it revitalized spirit, washing over not only the elder but every wounded soul within its reach.
The elder gasped, eyes fluttering open. "It's you… Isn't it? Ery… You succeeded… You brought reinforcents…"
Ery nodded silently. The man's eyes filled with relief. With confirmation that the stronghold had been saved, the barriers he'd kept raised for hours crumbled.
He collapsed to his knees. Ery caught him.
Minutes passed, the healing working its way through the elder's ruined body. Though far from recovered, he was now stable—no longer dying.
But as Ery looked around, his heart sank.
Not far away lay a torn, broken body.
The young elf, Lord Ariel incarnate, what remained of him was… barely recognizable. His limbs scattered. Ery extended his divine sense, desperately trying to find a flicker of the soul.
There was nothing.
Gone.
By the ti the final cries of battle faded, the cost beca undeniable. The enemy had been defeated, but the price was catastrophic.
More than half the defenders had fallen. Of those who survived, many had lost their physical bodies, left as wandering souls.
Another piece of news has arrived, and it is disheartening.
Commander Feil, the mighty Three Cosmos Grand Magus, had perished. She had held the Scourge god at bay long enough—but at the cost of her life.
Even the Sun Guardian, still glowing with solar wrath, now labored to breathe. But despite his exhaustion, he raised a hand to the heavens and forged a pillar of light. At its peak, a burning, sun-shaped eye opened, casting protective radiance across the entire battlefield.
The survivors—wounded, drained, shattered—felt hope return.
Commander Jhett had survived. But he wasn't the sa. He wandered the bloodied grounds like a ghost, as if lost in ti. Sothing in him had broken—not just his body, but his mory, his very identity.
He didn't even rember his rank, nor did he speak of Feil. But the way his hands trembled when her na was ntioned... told Ery enough.
Ery stood alone, watching it all. The pain. The wreckage.
His thoughts drifted.
Ho.
His friends.
Klea.
Were they safe?
With access to the Stargate and Veyarel, he finally had the ans to go back. To return.
But of course, the universe had its delays.
Just after the battle, the dark Ery had been forcibly expelled from Veyarel's body—the possession shattered, leaving Veyarel dying in its aftermath. Both he and the Supre Magus Karat now needed ti to recover from their ordeals.
Ery couldn't leave. Not yet.
He exhaled slowly, steadying himself.
"VIA… calculate the days left until the duel with Kronos."
A soft hum resonated in his mind as VIA, the artificial being, responded. A glowing interface flickered into his vision, syncing flawlessly with the Magus Realm calendar.
The number appeared—simple, stark.
Five.
Five days left.
Considering the volatile spatial currents within the Eternal Void, Ery could only hope that was enough. One misstep, one unstable warp, and he might not arrive in ti at all.
He clenched his jaw, forcing the doubt back down.
There was no choice but to try.
Ery closed his eyes, the weight of duty and the looming duel pressing down on him like a storm cloud.
"Everyone… I'll be there."
x x x x x
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