King Garrie was caught off guard. The knights and mages behind him were just as shocked. None of them had expected the Void Architect to attack so suddenly.

But they had no time to remain stunned. The enemy was already upon the king.

King Garrie immediately focused all of his attention on the battle.

With one swift motion, he drew his sword. The blade left its scabbard with a sharp metallic ring as strands of golden Magic burst from his body and wrapped around him like flowing ribbons.

The Void Architect’s arms became enveloped in ominous dark green Magic.

Only a few seconds after the oath had been completed, he had already reached King Garrie.

He swung his arm in a swift arc.

King Garrie immediately stepped backward while raising his sword.

CLANG!

The blade collided with the Void Architect’s forearm. Instead of flesh, it felt as though he had struck an incredibly hard weapon.

The impact sent powerful shockwaves across the ground.

The Void Architect followed with another strike, then another. His attacks came in rapid succession, forcing King Garrie to defend without a moment to counterattack.

King Garrie carefully observed the dark green energy coating the Void Architect’s arms.

The Magic gave off a faint hissing sound as it drifted through the air. Wherever traces of it landed, the black earth below immediately began to decay. Small cracks spread across the ground as if its vitality had been drained away.

Poison.

King Garrie immediately understood what kind of power he was facing.

The Void Architect had no intention of overpowering him through brute force alone.

He only needed a single scratch.

Even the slightest wound from those poison-covered arms would allow the Magic to enter King Garrie’s body. Once the poison spread through his blood and Magic, his strength would rapidly decline until defeat became inevitable.

"I can’t let those arms touch me," King Garrie thought.

His movements immediately became more cautious.

Instead of meeting every attack head-on, he relied on precise footwork to evade whenever possible. When he had no choice but to block, he intercepted the attacks with the flat of his sword while making sure the poisonous Magic never reached his body.

The Void Architect continued pressing forward relentlessly.

His dark green arms sliced through the air again and again, each swing carrying enough force to crush stone while threatening to infect the king with deadly poison.

King Garrie remained calm.

His eyes followed every movement, waiting patiently for the smallest opening while avoiding even the slightest contact with the poisonous Magic.

—

The battle in the dead world had reached an even higher stage than before.

The black earth below, corrupted by endless dead energy, had been devastated in countless places. Huge craters were scattered across the battlefield. Fire, ice, hills of earth, and living plants remained spread throughout the world, creating a strange and unnatural sight.

It was a dead world filled with hundreds of elements that did not bring life to the land, but only greater destruction.

A few hundred meters above the ground, the four Dragonborn continued fighting Nyssara in her cosmic being form.

That enormous body had already been heavily damaged. Several sections had been torn apart. Many of her appendages had been severed halfway, while others had lost only their tips.

Even so, Nyssara continued putting up fierce resistance.

The Dragonborn still had to push their attacks even harder.

"Why isn’t she dead yet?!" Eccar asked through their telepathic connection.

"I don’t know how large that being’s power reserve is," Sylven replied. "But we can’t do anything except keep attacking and see what happens next."

Erend remained silent because he agreed with Sylven.

He was certain that all four of them had already reached the same conclusion.

They could not begin to comprehend everything Nyssara was capable of.

All they could do was fight with everything they had and hope the cosmic being would finally fall.

Even so, Erend could not help feeling worried. They had already unleashed attacks of unbelievable scale. It was the combined power of all four Dragonborn, focused on a single enemy. Yet Nyssara was still able to fight back with terrifying strength.

"What if we lose in the end? What if Nyssara’s power exceeds everything we’re capable of?"

Even in the middle of the battle, Erend could not stop those thoughts from entering his mind. If they lost now, they would lose their chance to save this world. He could not allow that to happen.

Erend pushed forward. His body became engulfed in blazing flames that licked through the air with overwhelming intensity. The air warped around him, while the surrounding dead energy retreated as if recoiling from the unbearable heat.

He surged straight toward Nyssara’s main body.

Erend could feel her enormous black eye staring directly at him, even though he could not clearly make it out.

At that moment, he somehow sensed Nyssara’s emotions. They were filled with hatred and anger. But there was also shame.

Erend did not understand why she felt ashamed. Nor did he have any intention of sympathizing with a being like her.

The feeling had simply entered his mind without invitation. But he now knew one thing. Nyssara was not in a good position either. She was worried, and that meant winning this battle was not impossible.

Erend opened his mouth and unleashed more fireballs. He fired them not only from his mouth but also from the flames surrounding his body. They all formed into rows of blazing fire before launching toward Nyssara at tremendous speed.

An attack like that should have been enough to destroy a city, or even a continent.

And all of that destructive power was hurled at Nyssara.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Explosion after explosion echoed across the battlefield.

Fire filled the sky, while scorching shockwaves blasted toward the world below, burning the undead and everything else in their path.

Eccar, Aesa, and Sylven saw Erend’s attack and felt the waves of intense heat.

For the moment, they simply watched in silence.

From within the mass of fire filling the sky, Nyssara’s appendages began falling once again.

—