Reia's chest pulsed violently as the connection to Lalira snapped like a nerve being torn from her soul.
Her breath hitched.
Her fingers tightened around her twin blades until her knuckles whitened.
"What the hell…" she growled, voice trembling with rage. "Who exactly did you have kill her? She was my strongest daughter."
Eiden didn't answer.
He simply unsheathed his longsword with a slow, deliberate motion, the steel whispering like a cold wind across a graveyard.
"We should get this over with," he said. "It is best we do that."
Reia lunged.
Her blade shot toward him like a streak of black lightning, tearing through the air with a shriek.
Eiden raised his sword, aura flooding into the steel, and their blades collided with a thunderous crack that shook the ground beneath them.
They pushed, aura flaring, boots grinding deep into the dirt.
Then both kicked off, sliding back across the battlefield.
Reia vanished.
Her body dissolved into drifting ash—
then reformed behind Eiden, blade already descending toward his neck.
The edge moved closer
and closer.
"White blaze."
Eiden's body erupted in a pillar of white fire.
Reia's eyes widened.
She dashed away just in time, the heat brushing her skin, hot enough to burn her to bone.
She skidded across the ground, cloak whipping violently behind her.
"It is like you are not even trying… Very well."
She stabbed her blade into the earth and raised her palm.
"Jya're."
The air cracked open.
A storm of white and black beams exploded from her hand, hundreds of them, screaming across the battlefield like a swarm of enraged spirits.
Eiden sheathed his blade in one smooth motion.
Then he vanished.
Teleportation flashes erupted across the field as he dodged beam after beam, each explosion lighting the sky with blinding bursts.
The ground shook.
The hill split open.
The air trembled.
When the final beam struck, Eiden appeared in front of Reia—
so close she could feel his breath.
His palm was open.
Aura condensed around it, shaping into a blade of pure energy.
He swung.
Reia jerked back—
but not fast enough.
A thin line of blood slid down her nose.
She touched it, eyes narrowing.
"Damn."
She raised her palm again.
"Tch. You could at least fight like you mean it. Come on!"
"IERIA!"
A barrage of bright white and black beams erupted from her hand, slamming into Eiden's location.
The ground exploded.
Smoke swallowed the battlefield.
When it cleared—
He was gone.
Reia's eyes darted left.
Right.
Up.
Nothing.
"Tch… that means—"
She spun behind her.
Eiden stood inches away, palm already raised in front of her face.
"We'rve."
A bright blue beam erupted from his hand.
Reia summoned a magic shield instantly—
but cracks spread across it the moment the beam touched it.
The shield fractured.
The beam pushed closer.
Closer.
Shit. Looks like I will have to be serious in this fight… again.
In a blink, she teleported meters away, the beam roaring past her and detonating in the distance with an explosion that shook the entire region.
Dust rolled across the battlefield.
The air trembled.
The ground cracked beneath their feet.
Reia exhaled slowly, eyes sharp, aura rising like a storm.
Eiden lowered his hand, expression unchanged.
The real fight was only beginning.
"It's always you," Reia said, pressing a flat palm to her chest. "Of all enemies, you're the one who forces me to go all out."
She smirked.
"I'll tell you what—after I'm done with you, I'll find Vaelus and kill—"
She didn't finish.
It wasn't even a split second.
Eiden was behind her, hand gripping her head.
"Reop'a."
A massive explosion erupted point‑blank, swallowing Reia in a violent burst of blue‑white light. The shockwave tore a crater into the ground, blasting debris across the battlefield.
When the debris cleared, Reia stood meters away, untouched.
"Hmmm… I see…" Eiden murmured, looking at the mana ash at his feet.
"You used a clone… very well."
"You seem very touchy when I bring up a member of yours. Why's that?" Reia asked, hand on her hip.
"Because you threatened to kill a member of mine who is currently weak. Why would you kill the weak?" Eiden asked.
"Well, why not? One day I'll make sure the Seven Great Sages end up just like the Ten Celestials."
Silence.
Only distant fighting echoed across the land.
Eiden clasped his palms together, aura radiating from them like a rising sun.
"…You… little shit," Reia muttered.
"I am fighting you at your power level," Eiden said calmly. "So this is an attack I can allow myself to use. One that can instantly demolish you. Because honestly, I wouldn't want to fight someone with no real desire to kill me."
Reia panicked, creating a magic shield in front of her.
Eiden slid one hand past the other and extended his palm.
"One million slashes."
In a blink, millions of white aura slashes bolted toward Reia.
The first slash shattered her shield instantly.
The rest tore into her and the ground, debris erupting in violent waves.
When the dust cleared, Reia knelt on the destroyed earth, a deep gash across her chest and countless cuts across her body.
Blood dripped down her arms.
Her hair was shriveled and wild.
One eyelid was cut, forcing her eye shut.
"It seems you survived," Eiden said. "But I did say I was fighting on your power level. That attack was never meant to kill you. But I could finish you off right now."
He looked at the three blades on his waist and slowly unsheathed one of his katanas, the metal singing as it left the sheath.
"Just do it…" Reia whispered. "You're right. I have no real desire to kill you. I only did this because I promised my husband you killed. I promised him I'd kill you. But… hmph. Looks like I broke that promise."
She lifted her head slightly.
"I just have one question. When you fought Uzak'me… how did you die when you have this kind of power?"
"Because he was stronger than you," Eiden said. "I fought him at his power level so I wouldn't kill him easily. But I knew that if I fought him on his level, I'd die. So I knew what I had to do when I was near death. It wasn't because I was weak. I simply wanted to fight him on equal ground."
"So would you do the same for Civilar and Yajin?" Reia asked.
Eiden stood still, hair and cloak swaying in the wind.
He thought.
Distant screams and explosions echoed across the battlefield.
"Let's say they killed everyone in the Great Sages but three," Eiden said quietly. "Then I wouldn't show either of them mercy."
"Do you believe they would do something like that?" Reia asked.
Eiden went silent again.
"Yajin sees himself as a god," he said. "He believes his power was given to him to do the work gods wouldn't do themselves. He strikes 'judgment' on those he deems unworthy. He wants to control the world. He's a monarch with no nation. So yes… he would."
"And Civilar… he kills for fun. He would absolutely kill someone in the Great Sages. He's almost like me. Except I don't enjoy killing. I enjoy fighting powerful enemies… but now, I'm not sure if I even have that desire anymore."
He looked at the ground.
"But I know I must get rid of the remaining three. Because my life, my family's life, my friends' lives… the people I care about… wouldn't be safe if they still lived. And I blame myself for making enemies with such beings and not finishing the job. Because of me, I have to make sure they don't die."
"I see…" Reia whispered.
"But I still need an answer… who in your clan killed my daughter?" she asked.
"Me, of course," Eiden said.
"Pfft, yeah right. It couldn't have been a clone. You'd need to be close to it."
"Well, it was because I made a duplicate using creation magic."
"Creation magic? But… that magic belongs to Seraphel."
"He gave up ownership while fighting Civilar and sent it to me. So now it's mine."
"Huh… I see then…" Reia murmured, looking at the ground.
Silence.
"Are you going to finish me off?" she asked.
"No." Eiden sheathed his blade.
"You're a mother of many daughters. And you only did this because you promised your husband. You have no real hate for me… because you never had real love for him, did you?"
Reia froze.
"…I never thought someone would figure that out," she whispered. "Of course not. He was an evil man who tortured his own daughters because they couldn't master a spell that takes decades to learn. He killed innocent children… families… he even beat me. Why would I love that man?"
She went quiet, realization hitting her like a blade.
"I've been chasing you for decades… for no real reason. No real hate…"
She sighed deeply.
"Gods… what am I doing?"
"I'll spare you and your daughters," Eiden said. "And I'll resurrect Lalira."
Reia raised her head, staring into Eiden's grey eyes.
This man… he's something else.
Reia stood up slowly, her legs trembling beneath her.
Her breaths were shallow, uneven.
"Don't bother…" she whispered. "She acts more like her father than me anyway. That's why she offered to go after your clan. She never respected me the way she respected him."
Her voice cracked at the end.
"I can heal you," Eiden offered.
Reia looked at him — really looked at him — and for the first time, her eyes softened.
A small, tired smile touched her lips.
"I'd like that."
Eiden raised his palm.
A soft green aura bloomed from his hand, warm and gentle, wrapping around her like a blanket.
Her wounds steamed, then closed.
The cuts vanished.
The bruises faded.
Her breathing steadied.
She flexed her arm, surprised.
"That feels… better."
She walked over to her fallen blade, picked it up, and stared at her reflection in the metal.
Her shoulders slumped.
"This was honestly a waste of nothing… am I right?" she said, embarrassed.
Silence.
But it wasn't normal silence.
It was too silent.
Where were the distant screams?
The clashing steel?
The explosions?
Reia's chest pulsed again — violently.
Then again.
And again.
She dropped to her knees.
The connection to her daughters — all of them — vanished in an instant.
Her eyes widened.
She looked around frantically.
Every battlefield where her daughters had been fighting…
Silent.
Still.
Dead.
Then—
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Mocking.
Morvath emerged from the shadows, dragging something behind him.
Around his neck hung a chain —
an aura chain —
and threaded through it were the severed heads of Reia's daughters, dangling like grotesque ornaments.
"What do ya think?" Morvath chuckled. "Think it looks nice?"
Reia didn't scream.
She didn't cry.
She simply stood there, frozen in a horror too deep for sound.
Eiden stepped forward, voice cold.
"Reia, if I'm being honest… I was never going to spare you or your daughters. You are a devil. And like all devils, you are monsters."
Reia's eyes snapped toward him, filled with fury and grief.
"Me? A monster? You've killed more than I ever have! Innocent people! Families! You and your whole group—your little fans ignore it because of the monsters you've slain. But you—"
Her final words cut off.
A hand rested gently on her head.
A golden glow erupted.
Her body dissolved into ash.
Selyndra stood behind her, outfit pristine, not a speck of dirt on her.
Her blade was sheathed.
Her blonde hair flowed in the wind like silk.
"What an idiot," Selyndra said. "You should've finished her off from the start."
"I wanted her to have hope," Eiden replied. "And I wouldn't have spared her anyway. My goal was to kill every one of them."
"You've got a point," Iris said as she approached, her eyes redder than usual.
"Can we head back to the castle?" Seraphaine asked, rubbing her eyes. "I'm tired. I want my bed."
"That is a very good decision," Tcil said, walking past them with his blade resting on his shoulder. He sheathed it as he headed toward the kingdom gates.
The others followed.
As they walked, the moon had risen — unnoticed until now — a massive silver disc hanging over the kingdom like a watchful eye.
Iris looked up.
"It's beautiful tonight, huh?"
Seraphaine tilted her head back, admiring the stars.
The moonlight washed over Morvath, Seraphaine, and Iris, turning them into glowing pillars of silver as they passed through the gate.
The kingdom was quiet.
Too quiet.
And then—
A soft flutter of wings.
A black bird landed on the roof of the tavern.
Its feathers were darker than shadow.
Its eyes glowed a violent, unnatural red.
It watched them.
Silent.
Still.
Unblinking.
As the group disappeared into the kingdom's heart, the bird tilted its head —
as if listening
as if waiting
as if reporting.
Then its wings spread, casting a long shadow across the rooftops.
Something else had seen everything.
Something else was coming.
And the night was far from over.