"...I'm fine."
Aris slowly lowered his guard.
He blinked.
No wounds.
Not even a scratch.
"...Of course you are."
A familiar voice answered.
Aris turned.
"Lucky?"
The white-haired boy smiled.
"That's right."
Lucky's long white hair danced beneath the fractured heavens, every strand flowing as though gravity had forgotten him. His bright pink eyes shimmered with playful confidence.
Standing beside him were Merlin...
...Genius...
...Ainsley...
...and dozens of soldiers from the Church.
Aris let out a relieved breath.
"...Thank you."
"We're not letting you fight alone anymore."
Lucky grinned.
Ainsley stepped forward.
Though centuries had passed, age had never claimed him. His face carried the wisdom of an old man, yet his body remained youthful, preserved by Lumen's gift long ago.
His tired eyes met Lumen's.
"...I trusted you."
Silence.
Lumen sighed dramatically.
"Oh, please."
"Don't start this sentimental nonsense."
Ainsley's expression remained calm.
"I called you my friend."
"And now..."
"...you've betrayed everything."
Lumen laughed.
"A friend?"
"That title died a long time ago."
Merlin slowly raised his revolver.
"So."
"You're admitting it."
Lumen spread his arms.
"Guilty."
"And today..."
"You all die here."
His Wrath exploded outward.
The ground cracked.
The Blood Army roared behind him.
Genius quietly adjusted his glasses.
Not a word escaped him.
Merlin glanced toward Aris.
"...Ready?"
Aris nodded.
"Always."
Merlin looked toward everyone.
"Ainsley."
"Lucky."
"Genius."
"You three deal with that monster."
He pointed toward Metronome.
"I'll take Lumen."
"Aris is with me."
He turned toward the remaining soldiers.
"The rest of you."
"Push back the Blood Army."
"Church reinforcements are on the way."
The soldiers nodded.
"Yes, Sir Merlin!"
Merlin spun his revolver once.
"Move."
The battlefield erupted.
"Bastards!!"
Lumen roared.
Both armies crashed together.
Steel.
Blood.
Gunfire.
Wrath.
Everything exploded at once.
Merlin disappeared first.
His long blonde hair swept behind him as he slipped between enemies like flowing water.
Bang.
A Blood soldier's skull folded inward.
Bang.
Another's weapon collapsed into dust.
Bang.
A third lunged—
Merlin sidestepped by mere inches.
His revolver spun around his finger before firing backwards without looking.
The bullet erased the man's chest.
His Sin of Dissonance didn't merely destroy.
It forced reality itself into contradiction.
Matter forgot how to exist.
Metal bent into impossible angles.
Stone unravelled into ash.
Bodies fragmented as though existence itself rejected them.
Every shot created tiny collapses in space.
Behind Merlin—
Aris moved like an ocean.
Countless black tentacles burst from beneath him.
Some shielded Merlin.
Others skewered charging enemies.
Entire squads vanished beneath waves of darkness.
Lumen raised his hand.
Wrath gathered.
Thousands of crimson rumbles condensed into one devastating blast.
"DIE!!"
The beam erupted.
Merlin didn't move.
"...Anti Matter Field."
A silent sphere expanded.
The incoming beam entered...
...and ceased to exist.
Not blocked.
Not reflected.
Erased.
Particles unravelled before touching Merlin.
Even light bent strangely around the field.
Lumen clicked his tongue.
"...Damn you."
"You always ruin everything."
He knew.
Merlin's mastery exceeded what someone of his level should possess.
Merlin casually twirled his revolver.
"You talk too much."
Several black bullets appeared around him.
Without firing—
They launched.
Each round curved through impossible trajectories.
Lumen narrowly dodged.
One bullet erased an entire mountain behind him.
Another carved a perfectly circular void through the battlefield.
Merlin smirked.
"Embarrassed already?"
Lumen's veins swelled.
"SHUT UP!!"
Wrath engulfed him.
Bone-like armour erupted from his flesh.
Thousands of crimson arms unfolded from his back.
Each hand gripped a blade forged entirely from hatred.
He swung.
The air screamed.
BOOM!!
The strike never reached Merlin.
A deafening rifle shot echoed across the battlefield.
The gigantic sword shattered.
Far away...
A small girl remained kneeling atop broken ruins.
She steadied an enormous steam-powered sniper nearly twice her own height.
Blue hair fluttered wildly behind her.
Hazel eyes sparkled.
She waved excitedly.
"Merlin!"
"I got him!"
"I'll cover you!!"
Merlin sighed.
"...Thanks."
"Try not to shoot me."
"No promises!"
Another shot rang out.
Lumen blocked it—
Barely.
The impact alone launched him backwards.
Enraged...
He released another wave of Wrath.
Everything nearby shattered.
Buildings collapsed.
Soldiers were blown away.
Only Merlin remained standing.
His Anti Matter Field endured.
Tiny cracks spread beneath his feet.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Maintaining the field was costing him.
"...Aris."
Merlin called.
"I know."
The hollow sky answered.
Dark clouds twisted.
Then...
An impossible ocean poured from the crack above.
A tsunami descended from the heavens.
Within it...
Something moved.
A colossal tentacle.
Large enough to eclipse entire buildings.
It crashed onto the battlefield.
BOOOOM!!
The impact swallowed hundreds of Blood soldiers.
Lumen disappeared beneath the flood.
Merlin and Aris moved.
One leap.
Two.
Three.
They crossed the collapsing battlefield.
Then—
They appeared directly before Lumen.
"...Surprise."
Aris smiled.
Bang.
Merlin fired point-blank.
Lumen crossed thousands of Wrath-born arms.
The antimatter round obliterated hundreds.
Still—
The remaining fists reached Merlin.
He leaned backwards.
Barely.
The punch grazed a strand of blonde hair.
Merlin flipped over Lumen.
Landing behind him.
Aris struck instantly.
Tentacles wrapped around Lumen's body.
Merlin aimed.
Bang.
Bang.
Click.
Nothing.
No bullet.
Lumen grinned.
"...Fearmonger."
"My Wrath can infect anything."
"Even your weapon."
"It fears firing."
He kicked Aris away.
Before the kick connected—
Merlin caught his ankle.
"...Not happening."
With impossible precision—
He twisted.
Then hurled Lumen into the fractured heavens.
The enemy smashed through floating debris.
"Hahaha!!"
"You think that's enough?!"
Thousands of gigantic fists emerged from the darkness.
Each one larger than mountains.
They descended together.
Merlin looked upward.
"...Seriously?"
His long blonde hair drifted weightlessly.
His amethyst eyes glowed brighter.
"...Anti Matter Aura."
Silence spread.
Everything around him began quietly decaying.
Weapons rusted.
Stone dissolved.
The Blood Army staggered.
Even the air itself seemed to crumble.
Merlin smiled slightly.
"...Aris."
"I'm borrowing your power."
Aris blinked.
"What?"
Dark tentacles suddenly erupted behind Merlin.
Not an imitation.
Not a Sin.
His innate talent had perfectly copied Aris' abilities.
Merlin laughed softly.
"...Beautiful."
"What an amazing Sin."
The copied tentacles moved exactly as Aris's did.
No flaws.
No delay.
Merlin pointed forward.
"Together."
They leapt.
Merlin's revolver glowed.
One shot.
It sounded like a collapsing star.
The antimatter round pierced every descending fist.
Entire mountains vanished.
Reality folded where the bullet passed.
Aris' tentacles wrapped around Lumen.
Merlin's copied tentacles joined them.
Both tightened.
Lumen struggled.
Merlin fired again.
Again.
Again.
Every shot tore apart another layer of Wrath.
Aris followed with slashes of darkness.
The battlefield shook.
Lumen screamed.
Blood poured.
His body began collapsing.
"...No..."
"This... can't..."
Suddenly—
A beam of blinding light split the battlefield.
"ARIS!!"
Merlin shouted.
Aris barely dodged.
The beam grazed his shoulder.
Half the battlefield disappeared behind him.
"... Whoops."
A familiar voice echoed.
"My bad."
Luck scratched his head awkwardly.
"I might've overdone Metronome a little."
Merlin pinched the bridge of his nose.
"...Really?"
Lumen smiled.
"...Perfect."
He extended both hands.
"Metronome."
"...Merge."
Darkness swallowed everything.
The shattered sky vanished.
The battlefield disappeared.
No wind.
No sound.
No light.
Only silence.
Only rage.
Only death.
Then...
Something began to emerge from the abyss...