Staring at the desperate situation above us, I turned to Lysandria. "Can you form a protective barrier around him from down here?"
She looked up at the sky, her voice strained. "I can cast a barrier from here, certainly! But a normal barrier won't absorb that much impact from this height—he'll still crush his bones when he hits the ground!"
"What if we freeze it?" I asked quickly. "Can you freeze a massive body of water on command?"
"Yes, I can do that!" she answered.
"Be ready, then!"
Without waiting another second, I focused entirely on the nearby lake. I didn't know the chanted incantations for grand water magic, but this didn't require a refined formula—it demanded pure, unrefined raw mana control. Forcing my exhausted core to surge, I gripped the ambient mana and yanked a massive portion of the lake's weight upward, noticeably lowering the shoreline water level. The massive wave erupted from the lake bed, swirling violently into the towering, translucent form of a roaring water dragon.
I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Lysandria! Cast the barrier now!"
Following my command, she began her chant: "The mud gave rise and fell, the wind pushed and fell—protect the mortal from the great end!"
A dense sphere of protective mana materialized right around the Dungeon Keeper in mid-air.
Seeing the mass of water rushing toward her, Nyx opened her terrifying maw to unleash her incinerating fire.
"Dungeon Keeper! Pull out your sword and let go!" I screamed into the chaos.
Damn it, how reckless am I? Why would he risk a fatal fall like that?
Yet an echoing yell cut through the roaring wind: "I'm doing it!"
With a brutal tug, he yanked his broadsword free from her chest and released his grip. Wrapped safely inside Lysandria's barrier, he plummeted straight through the core of my water spell, completely shielded from the dragon's flames.
"Freeze the water now!" I yelled.
Lysandria frantically chanted, "Fozmania!"
The massive water dragon instantly flash-froze into jagged, heavy ice, trapping Nyx within its brittle cage. Stunned by the sudden weight and sub-zero temperature, the dragon plunged toward the earth.
With a deafening crash that shook the valley floor, the ice shattered into a million glinting shards upon impact. The Dungeon Keeper slammed hard onto the stone pathway, but his protective barrier absorbed the remaining kinetic force before shattering into harmless mana dust.
Breathing heavily, the Dungeon Keeper looked at me with wide, astonished eyes. "Kiddo... where in the hell did you pull an idea like that from?"
I wiped the sweat and lake mist from my face. "I'll tell you once the dragon is de—"
Before I could finish my sentence, a thunderous roar rattled the very foundation of the academy grounds. Nyx was already shattering through the debris, opening her maw to launch a retaliatory blast.
But before her flames could ignite, the sky rained hell. Thousands of fireballs, water arrows, light spears, and high-tier projectiles rained down upon her scale-armored frame.
The royals had been safely evacuated, and the main forces had finally arrived—led by the Principal and the senior battle-guards.
The Principal landed lightly beside me, placing a heavy, reassuring hand on my shoulder. "You kept your promise, Ryn. Thank you."
Behind him, dozens of elite mages continuously channeled high-circle projectile magic. They fired at such a relentless, blinding pace that the dragon was completely swallowed behind a dense curtain of magical detonations, burning ash, and suffocating smoke.
Seeing the battle taken over by true high-level archmages, I took a deep, shuddering breath, sheathed my blade, and turned toward Lysandria. "We should go."
Not out of cowardice, but because I couldn't bear to watch Nyx's execution. Even though I had spent so little time with her, she was one of the few beings in this unforgiving world who felt genuinely dear to me.
[System Message: Soul Convergence has reached 24%.]
As I approached Lysandria, I saw her eyes wide, bloodshot, and trembling with sheer horror.
"Our job here is done," I said softly. "Shouldn't we leave?"
She screamed back, her voice cracking with terror: "No! No, no! Something is terribly wrong!"
It wasn't a logical assessment—it was primal panic. She was sensing an impending catastrophe before it manifested.
The atmospheric pressure dropped instantly. The wind shifted into a violent, howling gale as the sky turned a dark, bruised crimson. Heavy, unnatural clouds rolled over the mountain peaks, crackling with arcs of violent red lightning.
I spun back toward the crater. A suffocating, unnatural silence fell over the entire battlefield—the heavy, quiet gasp before the apocalypse.
High in the crimson sky, a roar harmonized with the crack of thunder. Nyx hovered above the smoke, encased within a dense, shimmering barrier of purple hexagonal cells woven tightly into an impenetrable sphere.
The moment her barrier unfolded, she unleashed her dark flames. Before anyone could process a defensive ward, red lightning struck the earth simultaneously.
A blinding flash of light—and then darkness swallowed my vision.
My entire body went completely paralyzed. My heart pounded erratically against my ribs, an agonizing migraine tore through my skull, and all I could perceive was the feeling of my weightless body being hurled through the air like a ragdoll. I couldn't move my fingers, I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't even draw breath—every motor function was severed.
Splash.
A freezing wave engulfed me as cold water rushed violently into my nose and throat.
No... no, no... I don't know how to swim!
My body was a helpless weight sinking into the depths. Above, everyone was fighting for their lives, and Curse Weaver had vanished without a trace.
Is this how it ends for me? Sinking in the dark... far away from home, far away from Mom? Was every ounce of my struggle meant to drown in vain?
Yet, as the icy water filled my lungs, a strange, quiet sense of relief washed over my panicked mind.
I couldn't run from the truth any longer: I had always been weak, pathetic, and utterly exhausted. Sinking deeper into the lightless abyss, I accepted that my end had arrived. Maybe life itself wasn't inherently bad—maybe it was just the people in it.
Why am I still thinking about them? I wondered in the darkening silence of the deep. Isn't there at least one happy memory for me to see in my final moments?