I watched as Lakalros was hurled into the sky. My right arm trembled violently, still crackling with the searing fury of Wrath.
But he was still alive.
Very much alive.
And he’d be back—soon.
"We need to go. Now," I snapped, glancing over at Alicia. "Alicia, move!"
She nodded without hesitation. But Amaya... she just stood there, her gaze locked on like she was looking straight through my skin and into sothing deeper.
"Stop spacing out," I growled and grabbed her wrist, dragging her behind as I turned and sprinted. There was no ti. Not if we wanted to survive.
{Are you really going to run away, Samael?}
Nes’s voice slithered through my mind.
What?
I blinked, narrowing my eyes as I ran.
{Kill him, Samael. You know he’ll catch up. You can’t leave him breathing.}
I felt her voice as much as I heard it.
{What are you so afraid of?}
She murmured.
{He can’t kill you. No one can. But he can hurt the ones you love. Are you going to let that happen again?}
My teeth clenched hard.
She was right.
{Anyone who even dares to think of harming you, or those precious to you, doesn’t deserve to live, Samael.}
As I ran, her presence grew sharper. I could see her now—manifested in the corner of my vision, floating beside . Her lips curved into that eerie, knowing smirk, and her eyes—hidden behind that black blindfold—felt like they could see everything.
{Negligence... that’s what killed Elizabeth. Do you want to watch it happen again?}
I stopped.
Just—froze.
Nes leaned in close.
{Be ruthless.}
"S–Senior Edward?" Alicia skidded to a halt behind . "What’s wrong?! We need to go—he’s going to co back!"
But I didn’t move. My eyes were fixed on sothing beyond the horizon. Or maybe within.
"I’m going to kill him," I said quietly, turning to face her.
"What...?" Alicia’s eyes widened, her voice faltering. "What did you just say?"
I let go of Amaya’s wrist and turned fully around to face the place Lakalros had last been. "I’m done running," I said flatly.
Alicia stepped closer, searching my expression. "Senior, you can’t be serious. He’s dangerous—he’ll kill you—!"
"Exactly," I cut her off. "That’s why he has to die. Otherwise he’ll keep hunting us, over and over."
I glanced at Amaya. "Take her. Get sowhere safe. I’ll finish this."
"You should have run," ca a voice from above.
Lakalros descended slowly, his figure now wreathed in ominous crimson energy. The substance swirled around him like liquid blood. Two jagged, blood-red horns now jutted from his forehead.
"You have no idea what you’ve done, human," he snarled. His voice was cold.
I looked up, unfazed. "Sorry to disappoint," I said as I lifted my hand.
Trinity Nihil materialized.
"She’s watching," I muttered, almost to myself. "A dangerous, twisted and obssesed woman within . And as much as I despise her... she wouldn’t let die."
I leveled Trinity Nihil at Lakalros. "So if you think I’m going down to one of the Witch’s lapdogs... you’re more delusional than you look."
Lakalros bared his teeth and let out a growl before unleashing a torrent of mana. It struck the earth like a teor, crashing down on us with sheer, crushing weight.
Alicia staggered under the pressure, her knees buckling slightly as she shielded her face. But Amaya... she didn’t even flinch. She stood, her gaze locked onto Lakalros with the sa calm look.
Just who the hell was she...?
I couldn’t tell whether Amaya was strong or not.
Not because she looked weak—far from it.
But because I couldn’t feel anything from her.
No aura. No mana fluctuations. Just... emptiness.
And yet, there was sothing oddly familiar about her. Sothing that reminded of Elizabeth.
My thoughts were cut short when Lakalros raised his arm.
"Do you even realize where you’ve been running, human?" He sneered.
I turned around—and my breath caught in my throat.
What the hell...?
We were standing on the edge of a blood-red shoreline, waves of crimson lapping hungrily at the sand. The sea stretched endlessly into the horizon, but it wasn’t water. It was thicker—viscous. Alive. The surface churned with writhing ripples of blood, and above it floated a towering castle, dark and majestic, forged entirely of that sa ever-shifting crimson liquid.
"The Crimson Sea," Lakalros said, his eyes glowing. "And my dominion above it. I am the King of the Crimson Sea."
-BAM!
Before I could react, sothing slamd into my ribs. His kick landed with such brutal force that my vision went white as I was sent flying across the blood-stained shore. I skidded across the surface like a stone skipping across a dark pond, the sticky red sea clinging to before I finally ca to a halt.
Coughing, I struggled to rise, and turned my eyes back toward the floating fortress.
The castle gates creaked open.
And from within, an army began to march forward—soldiers, dozens of them at first, then hundreds. All of them forged from blood. Crimson knights with gleaming weapons of coagulated liquid and armor that pulsed like veins.
What the actual hell is this place?
"You’ve stepped into my castle now," Lakalros said with a smirk, hovering in the air above . "And as such, you’ll be executed accordingly."
The blood knights advanced as one, their lances pointed toward like a forest of death.
I had no ti to think.
"Anathemas Fire!" I roared, thrusting my hand forward.
A violent wave of purple flas erupted from my core, exploding outward in a brilliant sphere that engulfed the first wave of crimson soldiers. The fire devoured them instantly—but it wasn’t enough.
The mont their forms were torn apart, they began to reform. Streams of blood reassembled their bodies like puppets stitched back together.
"Tch—persistent bastards," I muttered and leapt aside, barely dodging a lance that shot past my head. I retaliated with a swift horizontal slash, Trinity Nihil gleaming in my grasp.
The Holy Sword pulsed once—then erupted in a blinding flash of white light.
A dozen knights were torn apart in the arc, their bodies evaporated by the light’s purity.
"A Hallow of Eden..." Lakalros whispered in disbelief, eyes narrowed. "Just... who are you, Mael?"
I snapped my gaze up to him. "My na isn’t Mael!" I shouted, surging toward him.
No more wasting ti with underlings. I’d go straight for the head.
I swung Trinity Nihil with all my strength, its blade leaving streaks of light in the air. Lakalros, eyes sharpening, pulled his own jagged blade free and brought it up just in ti to et mine.
-BOOOOM!
The clash sent out a shockwave that tore through the crimson sea, sending massive ripples across the surface. Our mana exploded outward like colliding storms.
"Hollow Spear," I whispered.
And summoned Fate.
In a sudden blast, white sand erupted from beneath , condensing mid-air into the form of a radiant spear. With a thunderous crack, the sand-spear launched forward, striking Lakalros dead center.
-BOOM!
He was sent flyingl, crashing through a column of blood rising from the sea.
I raised Trinity Nihil again, its blade now swirling with pale, glowing sand that shimred with each heartbeat. I took a breath, ready to finish it—but then I felt it.
A shift in the air.
I looked around.
Crimson mana circles—eight of them—had ford in a perfect sphere around , layered with eight circles as well.
Shit.
"Blood Hell’s Prison," Lakalros muttered as he hovered mid-air, wiping a sar of blood from his lips with the back of his hand.
The mana circles ignited at once. Crimson chains whipped outward from each of them—dozens of writhing lashes that shot toward like serpents.
In an instant, they coiled around my limbs—arms, legs, even my waist—locking in mid-air. I thrashed, but they held tight.
I growled, my teeth gritted. I had only one option left.
"Anathemas Fire!"
Flas surged around in a violent cyclone of purple fire, burning through the chains that held my right arm. I managed to tear it free just in ti to raise Trinity Nihil across my body.
But I was too slow to free the rest.
-BOOOOM!
A massive explosion detonated from the crimson circles, engulfing in blinding red light. The sky itself seed to be stained with blood as the blast roared out, shaking the very air.
Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision as I plumted. A crimson downpour stained the skies—a rain of blood falling around .
Damn it... That bastard hits like a demon possessed.
"Edward!!"
Through the haze, I caught sight of Alicia’s face, pale and contorted with panic as she tried to rush toward .
Not now.
I twisted mid-fall, forcing my battered body to respond, and slamd down hard onto the blood-soaked shore. The impact rattled my bones, and I barely managed to stay upright, gasping for air.
"You’re abnormally strong for a re human," Lakalros said. "And yet... you’re not one of the Heroes. Are you from Edenis Raphiel?"
I lifted my head slowly, blood trailing from my lips. My vision swam, and my pale face was plastered with strands of white hair matted to my skin. Despite it all, a crooked smirk twisted my mouth.
"No," I whispered. "I’m from a future... where you don’t exist."
The sky, once drenched in the crimson hue of Lakalros’s mana, began to darken. Slowly, the color shifted—reddish tints lting into deep purple, then a fiery, unnatural purple.
Lakalros stiffened.
His eyes shot to the heavens.
"...!"
Above us, a massive sphere of burning purple fla lood in the sky, eclipsing everything beneath it. It cast a vast, searing shadow over the sea of blood and even his towering fortress beyond.
"When...?" He breathed, stunned.
"When you were too busy beating the shit out of and bragging about it," I muttered, slowly raising my hand.
Lakalros gave a short, low chuckle, raising his hand toward the approaching inferno.
"I’ll admit it—you’re strong, human," he said. "But it still won’t be enough to defeat ."
I stared up at the fireball and dropped my hand.
"Really?"
The purple fireball shrieked as it gained speed, a cot of destruction hurtling straight toward him. Lakalros’s outstretched hand trembled... but nothing happened.
"W–What?" He muttered, confusion turning to alarm. "No... no, this can’t be..."
He tried again—his fingers twitching, mana flaring—but there was nothing. No surge. No defense. Just empty air.
He turned toward , panic fully blooming in his eyes.
"What did you—?"
-BOOOOOM!!!
The fireball struck.
A searing pillar of purple fla engulfed his body, crashing down with trendous force and obliterating the blood-red castle behind him. The shockwave flattened the shoreline, sending waves of crimson water crashing outward like the sea itself had exploded.
Blood rained from the sky in slow, graceful arcs, mingling with the last trails of purple fire. The world beca a sight of burning light and crimson ash—a terrible, beautiful eruption of chaos.
My footsteps echoed against the wet earth as I approached the smoldering crater. My face and hair were soaked in blood, droplets streaking down my cheeks.
I stopped at the edge of the destruction and looked down.
Lakalros was still alive—barely. His body was half-subrged in the blood sea, legs charred beyond recognition, flesh scorched raw. One side of his face was nothing but blackened muscle and smoke. He wheezed, every breath shuddering, sizzling with heat.
Then he looked up at , hate burning brighter than the flas that had consud him.
"YOU...!"
I raised Trinity Nihil.
"Goodbye, Lakalros."
-Spurt!
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