William hissed and hurled a chunk of concrete at him. Kaivan dodged, but his footing slipped. William seized the moment, lunging forward and driving a punch into Kaivan's stomach.
THUD!
Air burst from Kaivan's lungs. His body buckled. Before he could rise, a sharp kick struck his arm.
CRACK!
The Tome Omnicent slipped from his grasp and skidded across the floor. Kaivan collapsed to one knee, clutching his throbbing arm. "Damn…" he muttered. William strode closer, his eyes glowing with the thrill of victory.
But before he could deliver the finishing blow, a heavy crash echoed from the doorway.
Felicia appeared, dragging a struggling Isabel, with Ethan following close behind. Her eyes scanned the room, then locked onto Kaivan. "Kaivan!" she shouted, sharp, desperate.
A thin mist drifted through the ruined hall, filled only with pounding hearts and ragged breaths. The smell of blood and dust hung thick. Dim light trickled through the broken walls, illuminating unmoving figures scattered across the floor.
In that atmosphere of death, William stood frozen. Dust and blood coated his body, his earlier fury nowhere to be found. His expression hollowed, he did not move.
His gaze stopped at the object in Felicia's hand.
A triple-stick nunchaku.
William's fingers trembled, faint, but undeniable. As if an old wound had been ripped open. "That…" he whispered, voice fragile. Not merely surprise, there was hurt, memory, and collapse. His eyes shifted: confusion, dawning realization, then a quiet, sinking emptiness.
Felicia did not speak. She stood firm, slender yet unyielding, like an elegant shadow of death. Her black hair flowed softly in the faint wind of the ruins. Her crimson eyes pierced him, without anger, without sympathy, but telling him one truth:
"Rapi has fallen."
William flinched as if stabbed from within. Not from injury, but from truth. Every subordinate he had shaped, trained, and trusted, defeated. Their bodies lay scattered like remnants of a broken performance. Not one remained standing.
Only him.
And the silence.
Kaivan stood on unsteady legs, his whole body trembling. His breaths came sharp and ragged, yet his eyes still burned, not with anger, but with a quiet understanding. He no longer saw William as a monster, but as a man who had lost everything.
"I'm fine," he rasped. Blood streamed down his temple and soaked his neck. His knees were ready to give out, but he refused to fall. "Get out of here. Follow Ethan."
Felicia turned, calm as ever. Her gaze swept over Kaivan's battered body. She knew the wounds were deep, yet she also knew that Kaivan's resolve was harder than steel. With a silent nod, she moved.
Her hand closed around Isabel's arm as the pink-haired girl struggled. "Let go! I have to go to Kaivan!" Isabel cried, her voice shaking.
"Easy, Isabel. He'll save us," Felicia said, her tone flat but firm. Her grip allowed no escape, yet held no cruelty. She pulled Isabel away.
Ethan followed behind them. His eyes were sharp, scanning the corridor. His hand tightened around his weapon, silent, but ready. Every step carried tension.
Now, only Kaivan and William remained.
Silence swallowed every trace of sound. Five meters separated them. The air between them grew heavy and taut, like an invisible thread slowly strangling the room.
"You're alone now, aren't you?" Kaivan murmured, his voice scraping over wounds that couldn't be seen.
William clenched his jaw. His gaze ignited, rage, regret, a storm of both. "You want to know who sent me, don't you?"
Before Kaivan could reply, William exploded.
He shot forward like a shadow torn from the earth. His steps were short, fast, then he leapt, launching a horizontal kick straight toward Kaivan's head.
Kaivan flinched. He tried to retreat, but he was too slow. Instinct took over; he rolled sideways, reaching out toward one thing,
Tome Omnicent.
The book lay only a short distance away. His fingertips brushed the air just inches from it,
THUD!
William's kick slammed into his arm. Kaivan's body flew, crashing into rubble. Omnicent slipped from his grasp, skidding across the floor and bouncing out of reach. His last hope tumbled with it.
Kaivan groaned, pain rippling from his arm to his back. But strangely, William didn't follow up. His body wavered, his breathing slowed, his vision dimmed.
Kaivan, still on the ground, blinked in confusion. "What's happening to you?"
William didn't answer. His body trembled, his eyes unfocused, veiled in a thin mist that writhed like a shadow. Slowly, he dropped to his knees… and collapsed.
THUMP.
Kaivan's eyes widened. "Why is he… falling asleep?"
But from William's half-open lips came a broken whisper: "...Mastery of the Dream Realm… Thoughts in Sleep…"
The words echoed inside Kaivan's skull, stirring something deep. A pressure, unseen yet suffocating, curled around him.
Inside William's dream, the world shifted: a land of black soil, a sky swirling in crimson. William stood clad in ornate armor that gleamed like living metal. Before him, Kaivan moved sluggishly, as if time itself rejected him.
William lunged, his fists striking like storms. The ground shook each time his gauntlets cut through the air.
Meanwhile, in the real world, William's sleeping body suddenly surged forward. Defying gravity, he flew toward Kaivan.