Torches lit up the ruined battlefield one by one, like the world refusing to go dark even while everything else was breaking.
Jhonathan stood at the center of it.
Three lives.
A strange rule imposed by something higher than the battlefield itself.
Across from him, she didn't hesitate.
Her hand reshaped itself—bones and mana twisting into an illustrious blade, glowing like a fragment of night-sky trapped in metal.
She moved instantly.
No warning.
Just arrival.
Jhonathan raised his arm and covered it in dense mana.
The clash sent a shockwave through the ground, cracking stone outward in a perfect circle.
He had blocked faster attacks before.
Impossible speeds.
Blinding strikes.
But this—
this wasn't just speed.
It was layered motion.
Tentacles erupted from the ground, each one moving with a rhythm that broke prediction itself.
He tried to defend.
But the pressure escalated.
Fast.
Too fast.
Three seconds.
That's all it took.
His arm detonated under the strain.
Not from impact alone—
but from overload failure.
The tentacles didn't just hit his body.
They invaded his perception, distorting timing itself.
His vision blurred.
His mind fractured.
TWO LIVES LEFT
"…I need Phase Two…"
He pushed forward anyway.
Running through collapsing ground, tanking hits that should've erased him instantly.
The battlefield warped.
Then—
she created an illusion.
A perfect execution.
Jhonathan was "killed" in a single imagined instant.
She turned away.
Disregarding the body like it was already irrelevant.
Then—
"REBOOTING…"
Time snapped.
Jhonathan's hand shot forward.
He grabbed her head mid-motion.
The illusion shattered instantly.
She froze.
Then slowly—
she removed her mask.
Her expression was calm.
Almost tired.
"…So you noticed."
Jhonathan's breath stopped.
"…You're…"
She pulled back her cloak slightly.
A horn—single, massive, unnatural—reflected torchlight.
"I am Draco May."
A pause.
"…Twin sister of Draco Jay."
Silence fell across the battlefield.
Then—
Arthur, God of Benevolence, laughed somewhere beyond the world.
Not gently.
Not kindly.
But amused.
"Oh… this is interesting."
Jhonathan stiffened.
Arthur's voice echoed directly into his mind.
"…What you are fighting…"
A pause.
"…is your fiancé."
Jhonathan's eyes widened.
"…What?"
Arthur's tone softened slightly.
"…By the way."
"You passed, little one."
The torches flickered violently.
Somewhere in the distance—
a portal shimmered.
Then collapsed.
Arthur continued calmly.
"The only way out… the portal to Levincia…"
"…is blocked for seven months."
Draco May smiled faintly.
"…Then I guess we're stuck together."
Jhonathan tightened his fist.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Just realization.
This wasn't just a battle anymore.
It was a sealed era.