The battlefield split in two.
At one side—
the Demon pressed against the Queen's authority.
Each movement of its body cracked the air.
Each command she issued bent the city around it.
At the other—
Riguta walked forward.
Calmly.
As if stepping into a quiet garden rather than a collapsing war.
Monsters poured from widening fractures behind him.
Knights screamed orders.
Captains moved to intercept.
Stone burned.
Steel shattered.
And still—
Riguta walked.
"…You've all performed well."
His voice carried without effort.
Soft.
Clear.
"…Now be useful."
Kael moved first.
No words.
No warning.
Gravity detonated beneath his feet.
The ground imploded as he launched forward—
a spear of force aimed directly at Riguta's chest.
Riguta did not flinch.
He lifted one finger.
The space before him folded.
Kael's strike vanished into the distortion—
then exploded fifty paces to the left—
tearing through an abandoned tower.
The tower collapsed in thunder.
Kael landed hard—
eyes narrowing.
For the first time—
his enemy had not blocked.
Had not dodged.
Had simply decided the attack would happen elsewhere.
Riguta tilted his head.
"…Straightforward."
Kael's aura deepened.
"…Effective."
Sora blurred in from the side.
No formal charge.
No clean line.
He leapt onto broken stone—
kicked off sideways—
twisted mid-air—
then came down with a wild spinning strike.
Riguta's eyes followed him.
Barely.
The space beside Sora warped—
trying to redirect him.
Sora changed direction again for no reason at all.
"Missed."
His heel crashed toward Riguta's shoulder.
Riguta stepped back half an inch.
The strike scraped past—
shattering the ground instead.
Dust burst upward.
Riguta looked mildly annoyed.
"…You are inefficient."
Sora grinned.
"And you talk too much."
He attacked again immediately.
Punch.
Kick.
Burst-step.
Improvised rhythm.
No pattern to read.
Riguta moved more now.
Still minimal.
Still precise.
But moving.
Across the field—
Johan watched.
Not the fists.
Not the blasts.
The positions.
Kael drove from the front.
Sora harassed from the side.
Riguta shifted only where needed.
Each motion placed someone else where he wanted them.
Johan's eyes sharpened.
"…He's arranging us."
Myra, nearby while holding back smaller creatures, glanced toward him.
"…What?"
"He isn't reacting."
Johan stepped forward slowly.
"He's building a shape."
Far behind them—
the Queen stood alone before the Demon.
"…Sever."
A line of sovereign force sliced the street apart.
The Demon turned its shoulder.
The command carved stone—
but not core.
She raised two fingers.
"…Lower."
The sky itself seemed to descend.
The Demon sank knee-deep into fractured ground—
then pushed upward again.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
A single bead of blood slipped from the Queen's lip.
No one saw it.
Except Johan.
Urgency struck him.
If Riguta remained free—
the Queen would be forced to hold forever.
And even she had limits.
He moved closer.
Kael saw him from the corner of his eye.
"…Stay back."
Johan ignored him.
Riguta smiled faintly.
"…There you are."
The battlefield clicked into place.
Kael lunged.
Sora attacked high.
Johan entered the gap between them.
Exactly where Riguta wanted.
Space closed.
A cube of warped air formed around Johan—
transparent—
silent—
inescapable.
Sora slammed into it.
CRACK.
The barrier rippled—
but held.
Kael's gravity crushed downward.
The cube bent—
but did not break.
Inside—
Johan faced Riguta alone.
Riguta stepped through the distortion as if passing through water.
Now standing only an arm's length away.
Johan's body tensed.
Riguta studied him.
Not with hatred.
With fascination.
"…Calm under pressure."
His gaze moved over Johan's eyes.
His breathing.
The flow of aether beneath his skin.
"…Pattern recognition beyond training."
He lifted a hand—
and touched Johan lightly at the forehead.
A violent pulse of perception flashed through Johan's mind.
Fragments.
Shapes.
Memories not his own.
Countless faces.
Countless deaths.
Countless bodies.
Johan staggered.
Riguta's smile changed.
For the first time—
genuine interest.
"…Magnificent."
Outside the cube—
Sora's fists were bloody from striking the barrier.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Kael planted one hand on the ground.
Gravity condensed into a single point.
The cube groaned.
The Queen's voice cut across the city.
"…Break."
Authority struck the distortion from afar.
Three forces collided.
Sora's chaos.
Kael's weight.
The Queen's law.
SHATTER.
The cube exploded into fragments of warped light.
Sora shot through the opening first.
He grabbed Johan by the collar and pulled him back.
"Back off from my friend."
Riguta stepped away untouched.
Still calm.
Still smiling.
Johan breathed hard.
His mind still ringing from that brief contact.
"…What… are you?"
Riguta answered without hesitation.
"…Someone searching."
He looked past Johan—
toward the Demon.
Toward the Queen.
Toward the kingdom itself.
"…And I've confirmed enough."
He raised both hands.
Every fracture across the city answered.
The gates widened.
The sky darkened.
The Demon's body pulsed with deeper form.
Beneath the palace—
something enormous stirred.
Knights across Varkhast froze.
The Queen's gaze lifted sharply.
For the first time—
true alarm flickered in her eyes.
Riguta's smile remained small.
Certain.
Then he looked directly at Johan.
"…When next we meet…"
A pause.
"…come with a body worth taking."
The world shook.
And beneath the capital—
a second catastrophe began to wake.