"Shut up, all of you!" Helios shouts, his golden and red eyes starting to glow.
"Oh, what an interesting turn," the entity within Helios's body remarks, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"Human, hold yourself together. You can not afford to fall into madness in this form," Circlet's voice echoes with a sharp authority before he vanishes from Helios's head.
"Brother, are you okay?" Luna asks, her voice trembling with worry as Helios gently sets her down.
"So, we have to execute both of you, I see," the King declares, his voice cold and arrogant as he descends the stairs.
The Vaelthorne clan members and the Patriarch instinctively step back, their faces pale. "Is he falling into madness? In that form, he'll slaughter half the people here," the Vaelthorne Patriarch mutters, his eyes wide with apprehension. "Evacuate everyone before it's too late!" he bellows at his clan members, who immediately begin scrambling to clear the room.
"Why should we listen to you?" some of the nobles shout, their faces twisted with indignant pride.
"Fools. They are going to die," the Patriarch hisses through gritted teeth. "That bloodline is far more dangerous than anyone realizes."
Helios's hair turns a brilliant, shimmering silver, matching Luna's. He stands tall, fixing his dual-colored gaze on the King. "You want to repeat what you just said?" Helios asks. His voice carries a haunting, ethereal quality, sounding as if two people are speaking in perfect, chilling unison.
"I said," the King repeats with a mocking sneer, "I am going to execute your sister."
In a blur of motion, Helios appears instantly in front of the King and slams his face into the ground with bone-crushing force. "Inferno," Helios commands. A torrent of blue fire erupts, incinerating everything in its path, including the stubborn nobles who had refused to leave.
The Patriarch of Vaelthorne acts quickly, using his artefact to teleport Sara and Luna safely out of the ballroom.
"Is Brother going to be okay?" Luna looks back at the roaring blue flames, her eyes filled with tears and her voice thick with dread.
"Forget about your brother—the entire Imperial Palace might burn to the ground today. I should have executed your mother before either of you were born," the Patriarch growls, his expression hardened by regret.
"Can I ask a question?" Sara asks, her voice coarse and laced with anxiety for Helios.
"What!" the Patriarch snaps, his patience wearing thin.
"What did you and the King mean by 'forbidden bloodline'?" Sara asks, staring intensely at him.
"You know of the Demi-gods of the First Era, right?" the Patriarch asks.
"Yes. Everyone knows they were the first to become Seekers," Sara replies.
"No. The Demi-gods weren't humans; they were creatures born of the Abyss. Helios and Luna's mother carried that bloodline," the Patriarch explains, his eyes darkened by the memory.
"Then why are you trying to kill them?" Sara demands.
"Those born with Demi-god blood don't need artefacts to channel spiral energy. They are inherently connected to the Veiled World. They are prone to extreme violence—to the point where we were forced to wipe them all out. A 'Full Awakening' occurs when a traumatic stimulus triggers those violent instincts," the Patriarch finishes, his face grim as they reach the Vaelthorne clan vehicles.
"Luna hasn't been violent," Sara points out defensively.
"Perhaps because she hasn't encountered the trigger yet, but Helios certainly has," the Patriarch says before vanishing instantly. "You two stay here. I have to go back and stop him."
Back in the ruins of the ballroom, the King pushes himself up, his face charred and peeling. He begins to channel energy to heal his wounds. "This is exactly why that bloodline had to be extinguished," he spits.
"You bastard... you're still alive," Helios says, his voice sounding entirely non-human.
"You think you can kill me with that level of rune magic? Keep dreaming, Veilborn," the King sneers, summoning a blade of pure spiral energy.
The King lunges, appearing before Helios in a flash to sever his arm, but Helios coats his limb in dense spiral energy, blocking the strike. The King spins, delivering a diagonal slash that cuts into Helios's other arm, but Helios ignores the pain to land a devastating gut punch. The King staggers back, coughing up blood.
"You're strong, aren't you?" the King says with a bloody grin, spinning his sword. "Thunder!" The blade erupts with cackling golden lightning. He strikes again. Helios blocks with his forearms, but the electricity surges through his body, causing him to grit his teeth in agony.
"Ice," Helios whispers. Jagged ice spikes surge from the floor, forcing the King to leap back. Helios then summons a pair of gauntlets—one glowing red, the other golden.
Suddenly, the Patriarch of Vaelthorne delivers a heavy kick to Helios's back, sending him crashing into the wall.
"It's been a long time since we fought side-by-side, hasn't it, Lywen?" the King asks the Patriarch.
"Shut up. Don't remind me of those horrible days," Lywen snaps, his eyes fixed on Helios as the boy rises from the rubble.
"Where is your artefact?" the King asks.
"Where do you think?" Lywen retorts, summoning a twin-handled katana forged from living flame.
"Two against one... isn't fair," Helios says, his dual-tone voice echoing as he eyes his opponents.
"The winners are the ones who write the history, not the losers," the King says with a triumphant grin.
"Is that so?" Helios murmurs.
Behind him, a massive ornate gate manifests. Two skeletons grip either side of the entrance, which is wrapped in heavy, rusted chains. The gates creak open, and Helios's nightmares pour out, surrounding Lywen and the King.
"You should have kept your mouth shut," Lywen hisses at the King, his frustration mounting. "There's only one thing left to do. Summon: Realm Manifestation!"
The ballroom distorts, dissolving into a hellish landscape of active volcanoes and a sky choked with falling ash. Lywen raises his hand, and the ground beneath Helios and his nightmares erupts in explosions, though many of the creatures dodge with supernatural agility.
"Rune Users, provide cover! Attack Squad, advance!" Helios commands, pointing toward the two men.
The Nightmare Rune Users launch a barrage of fireballs and ice shards, while others attempt to suppress the volcanoes with torrents of water. The Attack Squad, led by General Athure, charges forward. Lywen cleaves through two of them, while the King uses streaks of golden thunder to incinerate several others.
"There are too many of these things!" the King shouts, his composure slipping.
"Use your abilities, you fool!" Lywen screams.
"I can't! Not right now! I can only maintain the King's Pressure!"
Lywen slashes his flame sword, burning a path through the nightmares. Suddenly, General Athure intercepts him. Their swords clash with a deafening ring.
"You are a formidable opponent," General Athure says, his void-like eyes staring directly into Lywen's.
"I thought you were all just mindless monsters," Lywen says, his arms trembling under the General's immense strength.