The sea winds howled as Bumble’s fleet drew ashore, titanic ships blotting out the horizon. The largest vessel’s shadow swallowed the beach whole, its steel hull bristling with weapons and banners of the Binding Hand.

  With a dull thud, Bumble dropped Strata’s broken body into the sand. The elf groaned, clutching his jaw where Valerius had struck him, blood streaming from his nose.

  Strata raised his gaze, blue eyes burning with humiliation.

  “You… what are you doing here?”

  Bumble’s smirk was casual, but his words heavy.

  “I should be asking you the same thing.”

  Strata staggered upright, looking past Bumble at the colossal fleet looming behind him. His breath caught.

  “You brought your fleet? …Are you declaring war against the Kottors?”

  Bumble shook his head, his voice low, calculating.

  “No. I didn’t know they were here. Their presence has… complicated my mission.”

  At the edge of the flagship, a tall Aurellian with brown hair leaned against the railing. His voice carried across the shore like a whipcrack.

  “Strata! You look like hell. Don’t tell me a pack of criminals gave you trouble?” He grinned wide, eyes mocking. “Bleeding like that? Are you sure you’re still worthy of being called a Warbringer?”

  Strata winced, clutching his temple. “Ugh… my head…”

  The Aurellian leapt from the deck, landing hard on the sand. Ten feet, five inches tall, his black suit marked with the insignia of the Binding Hand. Two futuristic guns hung at his sides, gleaming with deadly light.

  This was Pytho — one of Bumble’s Five Warbringers.

  “Take a rest, Strata,” Pytho said, his tone cool but biting. “You look like you need it.”

  Then he turned, barking orders to the soldiers clustered at the shore.

  “Those below the rank of Captain — stay behind. The rest, follow me.”

  His voice brooked no hesitation. Boots thundered behind him as Binding Hand elites moved.

  Far above, on a mountain peak, an old man with long white hair and beard stirred from his seat. His eyes, sharp as blades, turned toward the distant fleet.

  “Unexpected guests… daring to tread upon my island without permission?” He rose, his aura rippling the air. “Let’s see what business they think they have here.”

  ---

  Back on the battlefield.

  Valerius knelt beside his fallen brother. His arm was under Eryndor’s back, steadying him. “Sorry I was late,” he muttered. “Hold on. I’m going to get Ziraiah.”

  He bolted away, landing beside his unconscious sister. His jaw tightened as he looked at her pale face.

  “He’s going to pay for this.”

  Scooping her up, Valerius shot back. He laid her beside Eryndor. “Where’s that healing thing you guys use?”

  A potion shimmered into Eryndor’s hand. He poured it onto Ziraiah, then another onto his own wound. Slowly, her eyes fluttered open.

  Valerius’s voice softened. “Hey. You’re okay.”

  Ziraiah jerked upright, panic blazing in her eyes. “The flag—!”

  “Don’t worry. Eryndor has it.”

  But her head whipped around again. “The princess! Where’s Eliana?!”

  Valerius leapt before she could finish. He landed beside Eliana’s broken body, unconscious amid rubble. For a moment he simply stared at her, jaw clenched, then lifted her carefully into his arms.

  He returned, his boots cracking stone, and set her down beside Ziraiah. “Potion.”

  One appeared instantly. Valerius seized it, poured it over her wounds. Eliana stirred, lashes flickering, and opened her eyes weakly. She saw Valerius above her.

  “…Le…?”

  He forced a smile. “Yeah. You’re safe.”

  But then Ziraiah’s eyes widened. Her voice dropped into a whisper.

  “Val… behind you.”

  Valerius raised his head.

  All around the crater’s edge, soldiers stood — dozens, no, hundreds — Binding Hand troops with guns and blades drawn. At their center, towering, immovable, was Bumble.

  The memories hit Valerius like a blade. The Beniek Ruin. The stone disk. Severing Eryndor’s leg. The helplessness.

  His face darkened.

  Bumble smirked. “Stand down, all of you. This one’s mine.”

  The earth itself began to tremble. A windless pressure spread outward from Valerius, invisible yet suffocating. Eliana, still weak in his arms, felt the shift. His pleasant expression twisted into something terrifying.

  Valerius’s aura flared — unseen by most, but Bumble saw it clearly. His smirk thinned into something sharper.

  “I can’t believe it… You’ve grown this strong in just three years. I should have made sure you died back then.”

  Eryndor’s breath caught. He turned, followed Valerius’s glare — and froze.

  “…No.”

  At the edge stood Bumble.

  The memories of Beniek Ruin flooded him too.

  “Valerius,” he whispered, voice cracking. “Don’t—”

  But his brother was already moving.

  Valerius stepped forward, placing Eliana into Eryndor’s arms. His gaze never left Bumble.

  Eryndor gripped his arm. “Valerius. You must refrain from acting upon your anger.”

  Valerius tore his arm free, wordless, and kept walking.

  There were only two people in all the world Valerius truly hated.

  The Cannibal Man.

  And Bumble.

  His hand went to his sword.

  The blade rasped free. His aura surged, his body cloaked in invisible storm. He fortified his arm, his sword, and then — the ground itself beneath his siblings and Eliana, locking them safe within his will.

  Far away, Irisa froze mid-strike against another team. She felt it. His aura.

  “…Lerius…” She whispered, abandoning her prey. She bolted back, landing beside Ziraiah and Eryndor.

  Her silver eyes burned. “Don’t! You can’t fight him!”

  Valerius didn’t look at her. He just said one word.

  “Protect them.”

  The ground shook again.

  Bumble smirked, raising one hand.

  “Pytho. A barrier of Cushion.”

  Pytho scoffed, guns glinting as he raised them. “You don’t need it for someone like that.”

  The battlefield held its breath.

  ---

  Far away, in a chamber of shadow and firelight, the unseen watched.

  The man in white leaned forward, lips curling with delight.

  “Oooh… things are getting interesting.”

  The Orken warrior rose from his seat, fists clenched tight.

  “Bumble. I promised myself I’d kill him one day.”

  A massive woman, folds of flesh spilling like a mountain, scoffed.

  “All because he gave you that scar? Grow up.”

  The man with the green mask tilted his head. “Why would the Binding Hand send him here, of all places?”

  And then the Pharaoh, draped in gold and shadows, narrowed his eyes.

  “Looks like he has business with those challengers. Hm… wait—” He pointed, gaze fixed on the broadcast image. “That sword. Doesn't it look like one of the prizes.”

  ---

  Back on the battlefield.

  The air split apart as Valerius lunged. His sword roared down at Bumble with world-splitting force.

  The Binding Hand soldiers bolted, terrified.

  BOOOOOOM.

  The island itself split in half, cleaved open by the shockwave. The sea rushed to fill the gap, the land crumbling.

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  But Bumble stood unshaken. His hand, red with Fortis, had caught Valerius’s blade barehanded.

  He smirked.

  “Three years, huh? Just three years… and already this strong. Now I understand why you must die.”

  Valerius snarled and drove his fist into Bumble’s face.

  BOOOOOM.

  The land behind Bumble evaporated in an eruption of stone and dust as the Enforcer was blasted away, his body a red comet through the sky.

  Valerius leapt after him, sword flashing. He slashed, again and again, each strike splitting air and sea.

  Bumble blocked every blow with nothing but his forearms, his skin gleaming scarlet with Fortis. His grin never wavered.

  Valerius roared, swinging his blade in a diagonal cleave.

  Bumble tilted aside.

  SHHHHHK—

  Thirty percent of the island, from shore to horizon, was sliced clean off. The mass of land tilted, crumbling into the ocean below.

  Bumble’s grin widened.

  “Not bad. Around the level of a High General. But—”

  He vanished.

  The air cracked. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

  He was everywhere at once, circling Valerius faster than his eyes could track.

  Valerius’s heart thundered. What? He can’t be this fast…!

  And then Bumble’s voice came from all directions, taunting, echoing through the air.

  “I’m leagues above you.”

  The next instant—

  CRACK.

  Valerius’s head snapped sideways as Bumble’s fist crashed into his jaw. Three of his teeth flew, blood spraying as his body was hurled downward.

  He smashed through the island, stone detonating, until he burst out the other side into the ocean’s black depths.

  Bumble was already there.

  His scarlet fist sank into Valerius’s stomach like a sledgehammer.

  “GHHH—!” Blood vomited from Valerius’s mouth as his body shot upward, ripping back through the island, out the surface, trailing fire and gore.

  Bumble followed.

  BOOM—another punch to his ribs. CRACK—another to his jaw. SNAP—his shoulder wrenched back as bones broke like twigs.

  Bumble pummeled him mercilessly, strike after strike, every blow detonating with thunder. The sky itself split with each impact.

  “Yes… yes!” Bumble’s voice roared with savage glee. “You are talented! Perhaps the most talented this world has ever seen!”

  Another punch broke through Valerius’s guard, sending him spinning.

  “But—” Bumble’s fist slammed again, cracking bone, “—you just had to be born an Elvhein who reads the ancient script.”

  Blood streamed from Valerius’s mouth. His body rattled under the storm.

  Bumble’s voice was pure venom.

  “I don’t know who taught you or how you learned. But you and your siblings cannot be allowed to live!”

  He smashed Valerius upward—then let Cushion catch him midair. The invisible barrier stretched like elastic—

  —and slingshotted him back down.

  Bumble was waiting.

  CRACK!

  His boot met Valerius’s ribs, collapsing them inward. The Elvhein choked, blood spewing from his lips, his body folding under the force.

  Valerius hurtled across the sky, limp—

  But Bumble was faster still.

  He leapt, catching him midair. His hand, rigid as a blade, hacked across Valerius’s arm.

  SNAP.

  The bone shattered. A jagged white spike of bone tore through flesh.

  “AAAHHH!” Valerius’s scream ripped the sky.

  Bumble’s eyes blazed with scarlet fire.

  “Just because you got a bit stronger, you think you can take me on, huh? I'm at least a thousand times stronger than you, brat!”

  CRUNCH.

  His fist sank into Valerius’s face, deforming it grotesquely as shockwaves ripped outward. The blow alone reached the crater where Eryndor and the others stood, buffeting them with its force.

  Eryndor’s jaw clenched, his heart pounding as he watched his brother brutalized.

  Valerius’s body tumbled, broken, bloodied, yet his eyes still burned with defiance.

  Bumble caught him by the skull, his arm stretched high.

  Then, with one mighty leap, they plunged together—

  Down, down, into the depths of the ocean.

  The pressure roared as they sank, bursting through stone, cratering the seabed. Bumble swung him like a ragdoll, slamming him again and again into the fortified ocean floor. Each impact split the ground for kilometers, water trembling like glass.

  Finally—

  Bumble hurled him upward.

  Valerius’s body tore through the ocean, bursting into the open air. He floated, barely conscious, blood cascading from every wound.

  Bumble rose after him like a demon from the abyss.

  His palm glowed crimson.

  He swung once.

  CRACK.

  The slap sent Valerius hurtling back toward the island, a crimson comet trailing blood.

  “You need to help him!” Ziraiah shouted, her emerald eyes unable to register Bumble and Valerius' movements.

  But Irisa’s jaw clenched. “He told me to protect you.”

  Before either could act—

  CRACK.

  Bumble caught Valerius’s arm mid-swing, crushing bone in his grip. The sound of shattering echoed across the ocean.

  “Still holding onto this sword?” Bumble sneered, yanking the blade from him with ease. He admired the steel for a heartbeat, its ancient radiance gleaming in his palm. “A waste. To hand something this precious to an amateur like you.”

  Valerius, bloodied and barely conscious, glared weakly up at him.

  Bumble’s blue fire eyes narrowed. “Tell me, boy—where did you learn the ancient tongue? Who taught you?”

  Valerius gave no answer. His silence was defiance.

  Bumble’s grin widened, cruel. “Not talking? Then perhaps I’ll use you as a weapon to butcher your siblings instead, huh, maybe that'll open your mouth..”

  He launching toward Plunder Island. Valerius’s body flailed limply, like cloth in the storm.

  Irisa felt the quake in her bones. She raised both arms, weaving Cushion around the group in a dome.

  BOOOOOM.

  Bumble slammed Valerius against it. The barrier screamed, cratering the earth two kilometers deep under the pressure. Irisa’s teeth grit as sweat poured down her face as she fortified the ground.

  “Damn it—!” she hissed.

  Inside, Ziraiah and Eryndor watched in horror. Valerius’s body was limp, torn, barely recognizable.

  “Oh my god… Val…” Ziraiah whispered, her voice trembling.

  BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

  Again and again, Bumble slammed Valerius against the barrier, until at last—

  RRRIP.

  The boy’s arm tore free at the shoulder. Blood geysered. Valerius was hurled upward, his severed limb still in Bumble’s grip.

  Bumble swung again, but the weight in his hand was only an arm. His eyes flicked up in annoyance. “Tch.”

  Light split the sky.

  SHHHHHHK!

  A Guardian’s beam hammered into Bumble, blasting him away. His body was hurled through the air before smashing into the ground with earth-splitting force.

  To Be Continued...