In Eldoria Forest.
The battlefield had already lost its shape.
What once resembled ground was now a writhing nightmare—dozens, no, hundreds of serpents twisting, hissing, multiplying with every blink. Their bodies flickered like broken reflections, illusions layered upon illusions, suffocating reality itself.
Draves moved.
A single step~ A single swing~ then carnage.
His blade carved through the air with a force that screamed. One serpent split in half… then another… then ten more. Their bodies dissolved into nothingness, bursting like smoke under pressure. Yet they kept coming.
"Ah....", A faint sigh came through his mouth and then slash~ Cutting through every illusion, he moved.
Beside him, Stok stood still—but his eyes burned.
A faint glow pulsed from within them, unnatural… inhuman.
His stood in a opposite direction from Draves, observing something through his blessing that allow him to seek in future for ten seconds.
"I can see him", He muttered. "But something is wrong...", He added.
"It is not moving... It is just standing there like it is waiting for some kind of orders.", Stok spoke as he put one hand at his head blocking the view of his other eye to see more precisely.
"I see", Draves spoke narrowing his eye.
Another wave lunged.
Draves didn't dodge—he tore through them.
Each swing of his blade wasn't just a strike—it was annihilation. Illusions shattered violently, fragments of shimmering venom splashing across the ground before fading into nothing. The air reeked of poison that wasn't real—but felt painfully so.
Draves exhaled heavily.
Then~ He smiled as if something ring in his head.
"I've got it."
Stok glanced at him. "A plan?"
"Let's slice his head by getting close.", Draves spoke as he sliced another snake head with his sword.
"Wait, how?", Stok gaze at him as the large rocks around him start to levitate.
"Blessed authority", He muttered.
and then~ chunks of earth tore free from gravity, lifting into the air as if dragged upward by an unseen force. One by one… then dozens… forming a jagged, floating path into the sky.
"Follow me.", Draves spoke shifting his gaze towards Stok who responds " I see"
Draves leapt.
His foot landed on the first floating rock—then the next—then the next. Stok followed immediately, his glowing eyes scanning everything, every distortion, every ripple in reality.
Behind him followed Stok and below them, the illusions thrashed violently, as if angered… as if aware.
Higher.
Higher.
The wind sharpened, slicing against their skin. The battlefield shrank beneath them, the illusion serpents now nothing but a wriggling mass far below.
"Sir Draves please stop."
Stok's voice cut through everything.
Draves froze mid-step.
"Something is wrong," Stok whispered.
A heartbeat.
Silence. ~
And then~
It appeared at front of them.
Not an illusion. Not a distortion.
The real serpent.
The fake, artificial beast of corruption.
Its massive body coiled in mid-air, scales glistening with a sickening sheen. Its eyes burned with something ancient… something hateful. Its mouth opened—
—and the world screamed.
Hundreds of poison stings shot forward like a storm of needles, tearing through the air faster than sound itself.
The stings were same as before which were stopped as the illusions had appeared but right now those poisonous stings were launched at them.
They couldn't dodge.
They couldn't block.
Death was certain—
CRACK!
But before death reaper stood a giant frozen wall.
A wall of ice erupted in front of them.
Thick. Solid. Absolute.
The poison stings slammed into it, embedding deep, hissing as they melted into the frozen surface.
"I thought so."
Riya's voice.
Draves didn't look back.
"…Perfect timing."
His grip tightened on his blade.
"This is it."
Before Stok could respond—
Draves jumped.
He launched himself over the ice wall, straight toward the serpent.
But—
Something was wrong.
His eyes shifted downwards as he passed the wall.
The serpent… had shrunk.
Its massive body compressed, its head lowering just beneath the height of the wall. A trap. A calculated adjustment.
Draves' eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
He was going to miss.
He was going to fall.
"Tch—!"
In mid-air, with nothing beneath him, Draves twisted his body violently and swung.
His blade roared.
A slash tore through the air—wild, desperate, but devastating.
Cutting through the air.
Cutting through the solid.
Cutting through the atom.
Cutting through the existence itself.
CRACK.
One of the serpent's fangs shattered.
A massive, jagged tooth spun through the air, drenched in black venom.
And then—
The serpent screamed.
A sound so violent it tore through the sky itself.
The air compressed—then exploded outward.
A shockwave erupted from its body, crushing everything in its path. The floating rocks shattered instantly. The ice wall behind them cracked and disintegrated.
Draves, Stok, and Riya—
—were thrown back like broken dolls.
The world spun.
Wind howled.
Pain surged.
Draves hit the ground hard, his body skidding across stone, blood spilling from his lips. His vision blurred—but he forced his eyes open.
Through the chaos…
Through the dust…
He saw something.
Someone.
A figure.
Standing on the serpent's head.
Completely still.
Untouched by the storm.
Before Draves could even process it—
The figure moved.
A single motion.
A sword plunged down.
Straight into the serpent's eye.
A wet, horrific sound echoed as the blade pierced deep—too deep.
The blood spilled and outwards.
Serpants eye become reddish as red.
It convulsed.
Its body twisted violently in the air.
And then—
The figure ripped the sword upward.
The force which he put at that moment was enough to rip the eye with the blood splashing on him. His face. His cheeks. His clothes.
The eye torn apart.
Blood—thick, black, and steaming—erupted like a fountain.
The sword which pierced through it was cover with red blood.
The serpent's scream this time… was no longer rage.
It was agony.