CHAPTER 366: CHAPTER 265 - FINALLY OVER.

The crater was still burning.

From the thousands of cracks across the ground, steam and lava poured out as if the ground were bleeding.

At its center lay the black dragon—its colossal body split cleanly in half.

The wound was so deep it carved through its core, where molten organs still steamed.

Its tail twitched once, twice... then went still.

But the silence wasn’t peace.

Because near its dead body, surrounded by purple flames, lay Raven.

His dragon body was torn apart—sliced from shoulder to torso. Scales crumbled into ash, his wings lay tattered like broken glass, and as he bled out, the red faded from his skin.

Slowly, painfully, his draconic form began to melt away, revealing his human body beneath—pale, burned, and trembling with each shallow breath.

Turns out, he hadn’t been able to avoid Graye’s attack.

He did move away at the last moment, avoiding instant death, but the strike still injured him enough to put him in this condition.

Now, he was bleeding out.

The wounds from the dragon, added to Graye’s final attack, had all made it so that Raven was sure that without urgent treatment, he would die.

No, maybe it was already too late, as he could feel his life leaving his body.

’Could Lia be able to save me?’ He wondered, though he knew that she couldn’t.

He had already used the extra life she gave him.

That was when Graye’s scream broke the stillness.

"RAVEN!!" She crashed down beside him, sliding to her knees.

Her armor melted away into her travel gear as she scooped his limp body into her arms. His head fell against her chest, his faint breath warm but weak.

"Why didn’t you dodge, you idiot?!" She choked, tears streaking through the soot on her cheeks. "Why didn’t you move?!"

Raven didn’t answer.

His lips twitched as if he wanted to smile, but the pain was too much. Even moving his fingers made his vision flicker. His regeneration—usually so fast it seemed unfair—wasn’t working.

He had nothing left to burn.

Sure, it was a Vaise family trait, and it worked passively, but it still needed a bit of mana in the body. Right now, Raven didn’t even have a drop of mana left.

He had pushed himself so hard at the last moment, trying to maintain the dragon form for a second longer, that he even had to burn some of his life force to keep the dragon form active.

Right now, however, his half-lidded eyes remained fixed on the dragon’s corpse.

A faint light glimmered in them—his Fate Eyes.

The massive carcass blinked with threads of violet energy only he could see.

’An opportunity,’ he muttered inwardly, realizing what that meant.

Above all, it was ranked Violet, which was the highest rank in its classification.

However, he couldn’t understand what kind of opportunity a dead god-dragon could give a dying man.

Graye, on the other hand, didn’t care about the dragon anymore as her trembling fingers brushed his cheek. "You stupid... beautiful... idiot..." She pressed her forehead against his, sobbing quietly.

Then, more voices echoed.

"GRAYE!!"

She turned sharply as the rest of the group came sprinting into view—Selena’s cloak torn and fluttering, Siris half-covered in blood and frost, Clara running beside Jessy, and Alex carrying Nibbles on his shoulder, the squirrel holding a glowing mana stone.

The corrupt panther and its mother followed, growling anxiously.

Even Jake, who had moved away from the fight when Raven had ordered him to, jumped out of the shadows.

But then they froze as they saw Raven.

For a second, no one spoke.

Then Selena was the first to kneel beside him, her composed face cracking. "Raven..."

Siris’s daggers fell from her hands, clattering uselessly against the ground. "No, no, no—you’re fine. You have to be fine. You always are."

Clara pressed her hands to his chest, her calm voice trembling. "Raven, you’ve already thought of something, haven’t you? You always do. You always have a plan for everything—"

Raven only smiled faintly, his breathing ragged.

Jessy exhaled shakily, kneeling next to Clara.

"You seriously picked now to take a nap?" She tried to joke, her voice cracking. "What, you trying to upstage us again, you show-off?"

Even Alex forced a laugh, his face pale. "Bro, if this is another one of your ’gotcha’ moments, I swear—say ’plot twist’ right now or I’m throwing Nibbles at your face."

Nibbles held up a sign with trembling paws: "Say ’Gotcha,’ please."

Jake, however, could only grit his teeth.

Graye let out a choked laugh, half sob and half disbelief. "Y-You guys... it’s not funny—"

But then Raven’s lips curved again, weakly. "I told you... my timing’s... dramatic."

Their laughter faded.

That smile—that same fearless, annoying, and confident smile—wasn’t supposed to be his last.

The silence that followed was crushing. The air grew thick. Even the corrupted winds of the Expanse seemed to pause.

Then—

A cluck

was heard.

"By the feathers of destiny, Cluckles has arrived!"

Everyone’s heads whipped around as a bright ripple split the air.

From it emerged the snow-white chicken, wearing its tattered red scarf like a war banner. Behind it stepped Argon—his body bruised, his clothes scorched, his aura flickering violently.

Cluckles flapped dramatically. "Worry not, mortals! The glorious scarf-bearer comes bearing—"

He froze mid-flap as his eyes landed on Raven. "—oh."

Argon stopped too. His gaze found his son—and for a second, the entire world went silent.

Raven lifted his head weakly, blood trickling down his chin.

"Took you... long enough," he rasped with a faint smirk.

But Argon didn’t move. His eyes widened, his face paling as his fists trembled. For the first time in a long, long while—he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe.

Was he already too late?

Was this all he could do when he had promised that he wouldn’t let anything happen to Raven?

For Argon, the world was slowly turning gray, and his other personality, which had been suppressed, was slowly taking over as Argon’s will to continue living was fading.

That was when Jessy’s voice echoed, breaking the paralysis. "Wait—! You just used long-distance teleportation, right?"

Argon blinked, barely registering the words. "...Yes."

Jessy’s eyes widened. "Then take him! Take him to Lia! She’s the only one who can heal this!"

The others’ heads snapped toward her as hope—fragile but real—lit in their eyes.

Selena grabbed Argon’s arm. "She’s right! You can do it!"

Siris shouted, "GO, YOU BIG DISAPPOINTMENT OF A FATHER!"

Graye clutched Raven tighter. "Please..."

Argon didn’t hesitate anymore. He crouched down, sliding his arms under Raven’s broken form.

"Hold on, son," he whispered, his voice shaking despite his iron tone.

Raven’s eyes fluttered open, golden and dimming. "Yeah... not planning to... let go."

With a growl, Argon slammed his hand against the air as the space was torn apart with a thunderous crack.

Light flooded the crater.

As Argon stepped into the rift with Raven in his arms, the others gathered close, shouting after him—

"Bring him back alive!"

"Don’t you dare die, Raven!"

"Cluckles believes in you, fluffy scarf and all!"

One would wonder why they weren’t all going through the portal, and to answer that question, one would have to look at the ground beneath their feet, which was trembling lightly.

Slowly, those tremors were getting more violent.

From a distance, one could see a huge horde of corrupt beasts rushing toward them.

If they were to run away now, then that wave would go straight to the Vaise territory, and although the Vaise were strong enough to face these creatures, there were too many of them.

The task Group Raven had was to decrease the number and then retreat.

However, before Argon, with Raven in his hands, passed through the portal, he paused as his expression turned cold.

The world quaked beneath him, the portal’s white light reflecting in his lifeless eyes.

But he paused because he felt something.

He turned.

There, he noticed it—the heart of the black dragon.

Others couldn’t hear it, but Argon could listen to it—the faint sound of a beating heart.

It was as if the heart was trying to hide itself from others.

In silence, Argon stepped back. The portal’s glow dimmed behind him as he vanished from sight—only to reappear a heartbeat later between the dragon’s split halves.

The air hissed as his aura erupted. His sword slid from its sheath with a metallic growl, its edge gleaming with dark red flame.

He raised it high—aiming straight for the trembling heart. He knew he had to kill it right now. His instincts told him that.

But then—

"Wait..."

Argon froze mid-swing.

Raven’s voice was weak and ragged, but it cut through the chaos sharper than any blade. His half-conscious eyes glowed faintly gold as he spoke. "Don’t... kill it."

Argon blinked. "What?"

"Capture it... Take the heart," Raven whispered, his voice fading with each word. "Keep it sealed, guarded... It’s important."

The heart pulsed again, resonating faintly with Raven’s dying aura.

Argon’s frown deepened. "You can’t mean—"

"If it... looks risky," Raven interrupted, a faint smirk forming despite the blood on his lips, "then kill it. Otherwise... trust me."

His head dropped against Argon’s chest. The glow in his eyes vanished.

"Raven—?!" Argon’s breath hitched as he shook him once, twice—no response.

Panic replaced reason.

He gritted his teeth, drove his sword through the ground beside the dragon’s heart, and with a powerful pull of mana, ripped it free—an enormous, molten core still beating.

Clutching both his son and the heart, Argon turned back toward the portal.

This time, he didn’t hesitate.

He vanished into the light.

The others just stared at the portal until it disappeared, then they turned toward the incoming horde.

For the first time, none of them spoke as they rushed forward.