Amal stood, her body trembling but her eyes blazing.
"I am a Soul Rank user," she said, voice sharp as thunder. "I am the strongest one here. Let's dance."
Ash flared around her — white and silver, swirling like living ghosts. In an instant, she vanished. The ground froze under the echo of her steps.
On the ground, Sai forced himself up, fire still burning in his lungs.
"Tai… we can do this," he growled.
Flames burst from his back, forming wings that lit the battlefield in gold and crimson.
Tai smirked, his serpent eyes glowing.
"We will win."
Sai soared into the air, flames igniting the night as Amal reappeared behind Bastar, her ash forming a spectral blade.
She swung — clean and perfect. The strike tore through his leg, sending Bastar crashing down with a roar.
But the mountain itself pulsed — molten wounds on Bastar's skin sealing instantly.
He rose again, fury blazing like a volcano.
Sai roared back, wings spreading wide. From the sky, he unleashed a storm — pillars of fire falling like bombs, shaking the world.
Bastar screamed, his rage shaking the heavens.
He leapt upward — straight toward Sai.
But Tai's voice cut through the chaos.
"You aren't going anywhere."
In a flash, his body elongated, golden scales bursting out — the King Serpent revealed.
He coiled around Bastar, trapping him mid-air. The pressure alone cracked stone and bone.
Sai looked down, nodded once.
"Thank you."
Then he thrust his hand forward — a blazing inferno gathered in his palm.
"Burn."
Flames poured straight into Bastar's open jaws.
The sky turned red.
The mountain screamed.
Bastar roared, his voice shaking the skies.
"Enough!"
With one violent surge, he shattered Tai's grip — bones snapping, scales tearing.
Before Tai could react, Bastar's claws clamped onto his jaw and cracked it with a brutal twist.
Tai hit the ground, blood spilling from his mouth, eyes dazed but still burning with defiance.
"Amal…" he whispered, searching — but she was gone.
Bastar's shadow loomed over him.
"You think you are the strongest?" he said, voice calm and cruel. "You're merely a Soul Rank… a child among demons."
He raised one finger — and the mountain exploded.
For one terrible instant, everything within a kilometer turned to ash and flame.
Amal barely escaped, her body torn and burnt by the blast. She stumbled out of the smoke, gasping — but Bastar was already there.
"There you are," he growled.
He grabbed her by the arm and hurled her across the battlefield. She crashed into Sai, both of them slamming into the rocks.
Bastar laughed — deep, monstrous, unstoppable.
"Kings? Heroes? You're nothing but sparks before the fire."
Below, Bastar walked through rivers of lava.
Each step melted stone. He scooped molten fire into his hands, the glow painting his face with hellish light.
He towered over Tai, broken and bloodied on the ground.
"Your reign ends here, King of Snakes."
He poured the lava onto Tai's chest.
Tai screamed — but through the agony, he laughed.
"Is that all you've got?"
Before Bastar could finish, a sword cut through the air — slicing his arm clean off.
The demon turned, smirking as his limb regenerated, molten blood fusing like liquid metal.
"So… the soldier returns."
Xei landed before him, catching his sword mid-spin, eyes burning green.
They clashed — steel against hellfire — every strike lighting the sky.
But Bastar only laughed, louder each time.
Ash and lava erupted from his wounds, burning through Xei's armor, scorching his skin.
Xei screamed — still swinging.
Bastar grinned. "Greed was wrong about you."
A portal tore open behind him, green energy spilling out.
From it stepped Greed, clapping slowly, eyes glinting like coins in flame.
"Was I?" he said softly.
"Fight!" a voice shouted — Shi stumbling forward, bloodied but defiant.
Greed turned to him, almost amused.
"You should've stayed dead, old man."
In one blur of motion, Greed's blade flashed — Shi's head fell.
The body dropped before Sai, Amal, Tai, and Xei — silent.
For a moment, time froze.
Four warriors… staring at the man who had guided them now lifeless at their feet.
Their hearts shattered — their rage awakened
Wind howled around them, tugging at their clothes and whipping dust and loose stones into the air. Amal knelt beside him, pressing her hands against his chest, her fingers trembling. "Master… wake… please," she begged, her voice barely carrying over the roar of the mountain.
Xei staggered closer, eyes wild, voice almost lost to the gusts. "Please… just wake! I'll build you the biggest house… the grandest… anything… just wake, so we can have a long moment… together!" His words were swallowed by the wind, yet he leaned in, shouting over it, desperate to be heard.
Tai's hand rested firmly on Amal's shoulder, grounding her as the earth beneath them seemed to rumble. "Master… it's okay. He's here. He won't leave you," she said, her voice steady, a tether in the chaos.
And then Sai… Sai's scream tore through the mountain air, echoing against cliffs and ridges, vibrating through stone. "Please! Please! Please! PLEASE!" Each cry jagged, raw, a storm of terror and helplessness that seemed to shake the very sky.
Above them, dark clouds swirled, shadows racing over jagged peaks, as if the mountain itself felt their panic. Stones slipped beneath their feet, wind snapped at hair and clothing, yet still they clung to him, hope and fear intertwining in every desperate heartbeat.