“Tia.”

Nael retreated a step, having barely avoided Tia’s blade. Her brows furrowed.

“Are you truly going to keep interfering?”

“If I don’t, you’ll make an even greater mistake.”

Tia’s face twisted with quiet pain.

“Like it or not, Clay chose that path. We have to respect his decision.”

“No.” Nael shook her head, “Clay is lost in chaos. Whether he forgives us or not, I won’t leave him in that place.”

Even if it was his choice, she refused to accept that he belonged there.

“Clay belongs where he was meant to be.”

“Nael...”

“Don’t you be the one to make a mistake,” Nael warned, “This may be the only chance to help him.”

But Tia didn’t back down. Instead, she raised her sword of light higher.

“Then I have no choice either.”

She glanced behind her—where Beatrice was gasping for breath.

“Beatrice. Step back for now. This place is too dangerous.”

“You’re worried for me?”

“Yes.”

Beatrice was the one Clay leaned on. Tia hated acknowledging that—but she had decided not to wound him further by clinging to right and wrong.

“You’ve used too much magic. Whatever task you think you still have, for now, retreat.”

“How laughable.” Beatrice gave a hollow chuckle, “You tell a member of the Four Generals to accept help from a human?”

“Even if you don’t like it—accept it.” Tia’s voice was sharp and curt, “It’s not as if I’m saying this because I like you.”

Beatrice studied her quietly, then sighed.

“Very well. It costs me nothing to oblige.”

She beat her wings and lifted into the air.

“But I won’t forget that you made me owe you a debt.”

“Beatrice!”

Nael shouted, moving to pursue her—but Tia was there, blade slashing.

Clang!

Nael instinctively raised her gauntlets to block.

“Tia!”

Her voice roared with anger.

“Do you even understand what you’re doing?!”

She spun, driving her fist toward Tia. The empress raised her blade and deflected it.

Their faces were close, fury between them.

“That woman is one of the Four Generals! She’ll drag Clay deeper into darkness until he can never return!”

“Clay is already in darkness.”

Tia’s voice cut cold.

“And it was us—his comrades—who put him there.”

The clock could not be turned back. If only they’d known the regret to come, they might have chosen differently—but all of them had chosen foolishly.

This was only the result. It wasn’t the demons’ fault, nor Beatrice’s.

“Stand down, Nael. Don’t make another choice you’ll regret.”

“Tiaaaa!”

Nael’s eyes burned. She charged, this time without restraint.

Tia swung, but Nael’s speed pierced through. Her fists hammered dozens of strikes against Tia’s body.

“!”

Tia couldn’t block them all. Pain shot through her as she staggered back.

Nael pressed forward without mercy.

“If this is what you believe, then I’ll crush you here!”

Her steps struck with True Step, her aura blazing. Tia wrapped herself in divine barriers, but every one of Nael’s blows thundered against them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions rocked the air.

Tia threw aside her sword. In this state, it was useless—she would only fall.

Fwoooosh!

A mark of the Sun flared across her back, a blazing sigil.

She spread divine power through every fiber of her body, amplifying her physical strength.

Boom!

Her fist met Nael’s punch head-on.

“?!”

Nael’s fist halted against Tia’s hand. Physically, Nael was superior—anyone could see that. Yet here, she was stopped cold.

“You...!”

“I can’t match you in raw strength,”

Tia’s golden eyes burned.

“—but the amount of power I channel far exceeds yours.”

It was inefficient. Far too much holy power bled away in using it this way—but it was enough.

Without a true sword to sharpen her strength, she poured everything into her body, raising her endurance to clash head-on.

“Let’s see which lasts longer—your aura, or my divine power.”

Nael had overdrawn her aura. Tia was burning her body with reckless divine amplification.

Both gambled their lives.

“You fool...” Nael growled, “Do you really have to throw yourself away so stupidly?!”

“The fool isn’t me.” Tia’s gaze pierced her, “I told you. Let him go.”

Clay’s old companions had no right to call him back. They had no right to force him anywhere.

“Let Clay live as he chooses.”

If they hadn’t been able to let him go before, they had no excuse to cling now.

“Stop your selfishness.”

It was the greatest mercy they could give him.

“No!”

Nael howled.

“I can’t!”

Her voice cracked.

“If I do... I won’t be able to endure it!”

If she didn’t drag Clay back to where he once was, she herself would collapse.

“Even if he chooses for himself—I won’t leave him there! For Clay’s sake—and for all of us!”

She screamed, raining blows down on Tia with everything she had.

Tia had no room to counter. She endured the storm of fists, pain racking her body.

“Khuk!”

The sheer ferocity—it was no longer aura. It was madness.

Though her own body split under the recoil, Nael did not stop.

Strike after strike after strike.

Even with divine power reinforcing her body, Tia’s defenses broke under the endless barrage.

Her body staggered, reeling.

“Aaaaahhh!”

Nael’s final strike crashed down. Even with both arms raised to guard, Tia was hurled back, sent flying.

Kwaaaaaaang!

Unable to withstand the impact, Tia slid across the ground, carving a deep trench into the earth.

Dust scattered through the air. Nael, still holding her fist extended, panted heavily.

“Haa... haa...”

She had fought countless battles. But striking through the dense veil of Tia’s divine power had taken far more out of her than she imagined.

In forcing her aura to explode at once, the recoil left her body shaking with crushing fatigue.

She staggered, barely able to remain upright.

Crack.

And then—

Tia, buried in the ground, began to rise. Slowly, painfully.

Nael’s breath caught.

“A monster... like...”

She had never expected to use such words on Tia. Yet the sight left her stunned.

Her strength was nearly gone. If Tia regained her footing now, Nael would not be able to hold out.

So she stepped forward. She had to end it here, before Tia could recover.

Her eyes burned with grim resolve. To strike Tia down, and to drag Clay back to where he “belonged.”

Standing before her, Nael raised her fist high.

“Don’t get up, Tia.”

The rubble around Tia twitched—then stilled at Nael’s words.

“Because I... don’t want to continue this.”

For a moment, she thought perhaps her plea had been answered. But the rubble shifted again. Tia was still trying to rise.

“I said I don’t want this!”

Nael’s voice cracked, filled with grief, rage, and sorrow. Her chest felt too tight to breathe.

But Tia ignored it. She forced herself to stand again.

“If you truly must...”

Nael’s eyes lost their focus.

“Then I’ll lay you down here—for good.”

Her clenched fist fell—

But never struck.

It froze in midair. Figures had appeared around her without her notice.

“Nael.”

“Stop.”

Her gaze turned slowly.

There they were—countless beastkin. Her people, who had followed, worried for her, unwilling to abandon her.

“If you go on, you’ll become nothing but a beast.”

“We didn’t come all this way to see this.”

“Please, Nael... come back.”

Their voices surrounded her.

Nael’s fist trembled, still suspended. None of them touched her. They only watched her with pleading eyes.

Cold sweat trickled down her face.

“I...”

For a moment, she wondered if they were illusions. Guilt-born phantoms. But she couldn’t tell anymore—her mind was too frayed.

She had been so consumed with striking, she hadn’t even realized what was around her.

“I’m... doing what I must.”

All she could manage was a faltering excuse.

“For Clay. Too late... but it has to be done, even late.”

“Was it this?”

The question came, piercing her.

“Was it killing the Empress of Ezer?”

Her vision blurred, then cleared.

And in it, she saw—Tia, bloodied, collapsed in a spreading pool.

“Ah...”

She had only meant to make her fall. To stop her. But instead—

A pool of blood lay there.

“H-Huaah... kuh?!”

Suddenly, a sharp blow struck the back of her head. Nael collapsed to her knees.

The blood vanished. The pool was gone.

Her blurred sight turned—and there was Tia, battered and broken, but still standing.

“You...”

Nael crumpled to the ground.

Tia, the one who had struck her down, was gasping, her body in tatters.

“Nael...”

She dispelled the remnants of her conjured phantoms, and sank to her knees as well.

“In the end... we can’t escape being dragged back by the past.”

And with those words, she too lost consciousness.

♧

“This...”

Clay’s eyes widened.

Within him, the coexistence core began pounding violently.

“No... it can’t be.”

Holy power surged upward like a tide.

Clay stared into the air, his gaze trembling.

(End of Chapter)