“AKITSU!”

  Rhen Calder’s voice tore itself raw the instant the ground split apart.

  He lunged forward without thought, without fear—fingers stretching desperately toward the widening裂, toward Akitsu’s falling form. Blood already streaked Akitsu’s face, red against gray stone, as he vanished downward.

  A steel-clad arm wrapped around Rhen’s chest and yanked him back with brutal force.

  “LET ME GO!” Rhen screamed, kicking and thrashing.

  “Kid—NO!” a royal knight barked, hauling him away. “You’ll die!”

  “That’s my friend!” Rhen fought like something feral, nails scraping uselessly against metal. “LET ME GO BACK!”

  Lemon shrieked from Rhen’s collar, voice cracking with terror.

  “AKITSU! AKITSU!”

  The裂裂裂 widened violently, swallowing buildings, screams—and Akitsu Shouga himself.

  The knight slammed Rhen behind a broken stone wall just as debris rained from above, stone and dust exploding around them.

  The city did not stop screaming.

  Explosions thundered overhead. Rhen looked up through tearing eyes just in time to see dark shapes streaking down from the sky.

  Elves.

  They rode massive birds with wings stretched wide, their shadows sweeping across burning streets. From their grips, glowing orbs fell—slow, deliberate.

  “BOMBS!” the knight shouted.

  The ground erupted again.

  Fire consumed entire streets. Civilians vanished in blinding flashes of heat and sound, screams cut short mid-breath.

  Rhen clutched his head, gasping. “This—this isn’t real—!”

  Then came a wet, grinding sound from below.

  The street bulged.

  Cracked.

  Burst open.

  Giant moles erupted from the earth—monstrous, armored beasts with iron-plated hides and gaping maws. They surged upward, seizing fleeing civilians and dragging them screaming back into the ground, stone collapsing after them like a closing grave.

  “No—no—no—” Rhen choked, horror freezing his limbs.

  Lemon clung to him, trembling violently. “Rhen… this is wrong… this is very wrong…”

  “Move!” the knight roared. “We need to move NOW!”

  They ran.

  Smoke scorched Rhen’s lungs. Ash burned his eyes. He stumbled over shattered stone—over bodies—and each time the knight yanked him upright, refusing to let him fall.

  They turned a corner—

  And the chaos stopped.

  No screams.

  No explosions.

  Only silence.

  Too much silence.

  Dust and smoke hung thick in the air, swallowing the street ahead.

  Rhen’s heart pounded so hard it hurt. “Why did it stop…?”

  “I don’t like this,” Lemon whispered.

  The knight raised his shield slowly. “…Stay down.”

  Then—

  A brilliant pink light ignited ahead.

  “GET DOWN!” the knight roared.

  The explosion erased sound itself.

  The world turned white.

  The ground convulsed like it was alive. An entire quarter of the kingdom—everything to the right—vanished. Buildings lifted into the air, twisted, and disintegrated mid-motion.

  Rhen felt himself thrown backward as the knight tackled him to the ground.

  A heartbeat later, the shockwave hit.

  Houses flew.

  People flew.

  Stone shattered.

  Wind tore past them like a living thing, ripping roofs free and flinging debris overhead.

  Rhen screamed into the ground, fingers locked into the knight’s armor as the world tried to tear them apart.

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  Lemon buried himself against Rhen’s neck, shrieking.

  Then—

  Silence again.

  The wind passed.

  The dust settled.

  Slowly, the knight lifted his head. “…Alive?”

  Rhen coughed violently, chest burning. “…I think so.”

  They staggered to their feet.

  What remained of the kingdom burned.

  Rhen looked into the distance—and froze.

  A dragon.

  No—

  The dragon.

  Ocean-blue scales gleamed amid smoke and flame. Two massive heads, each bearing three glowing eyes. Four legs crushed stone beneath its weight. Four wings stretched wide, tearing the sky apart with their span.

  Its tail, lined with razor-sharp spikes, coiled behind it like a living weapon.

  Rhen’s knees gave out. “…That’s… that’s not real…”

  The right head opened its jaws.

  A familiar pink light gathered inside—brighter, denser, pulsing with annihilation.

  “It’s charging again!” the knight shouted.

  The light swelled—

  Then—

  BOOM.

  Not an explosion.

  A punch.

  Something struck the dragon’s head from above with devastating force, slamming its jaws shut. The dragon roared as the energy detonated inside its mouth.

  Flesh tore. Light erupted outward. The right head collapsed in a violent spray of energy and blood.

  Before Rhen could even breathe, a figure landed in front of them.

  Black hair streaked with gray and white. Calm black eyes. Clothes torn and scorched, yet posture steady—unshaken.

  “…Are you two alright?” the man asked evenly.

  Rhen stared. “W-What… who are you?”

  “We’re fine!” the knight snapped. “Name, now!”

  “Later,” the man said. “Follow me if you want to live.”

  The dragon roared behind them.

  The man turned and ran.

  The knight didn’t hesitate. “MOVE!”

  They sprinted through ruins that had once been streets. Fires burned unchecked. Elves slaughtered civilians openly—on horseback, from the air, without pause or mercy.

  Rhen watched an elf cut down a pregnant woman without slowing.

  “…Why…” Rhen whispered.

  Lemon shook violently. “They’re not soldiers… they’re butchers…”

  They reached a shattered tunnel entrance.

  Bodies lay everywhere.

  The passage had collapsed.

  Elves stood nearby, blades dripping red.

  The man stopped short. “Damn.”

  The knight raised his sword. “Orders?”

  “You three go,” the man said calmly. “I’ll handle this.”

  Rhen grabbed his sleeve. “Wait—!”

  “GO.”

  The man stepped forward alone.

  The knight pulled Rhen away, sprinting east.

  They passed royal knights clashing with elves—steel ringing, magic flaring. The knights were holding, barely.

  Rhen glanced back once more.

  The dragon was bound in massive glowing chains, roaring in fury as it struggled against an unseen force.

  “…Akitsu…” Rhen whispered.

  The emergency exit loomed ahead.

  Royal knights waved them through.

  “CIVILIANS THROUGH! MOVE!”

  They burst outside the walls—into the mountains, smoke rising behind them like a funeral pyre.

  Rhen collapsed to his knees.

  Lemon slid down his chest, silent at last.

  “…We survived,” Rhen whispered.

  But the words tasted wrong.

  Akitsu wasn’t there.

  And the sky behind them still burned.