Sai's eyes blazed, twin infernos burning through the storm.
He spoke a single word—
"Hell."
Amal's hair lifted, weightless in the rising heat. Her eyes darkened, filled with ash that drifted beyond her control.
Xei gripped his sword tight, but a voice echoed within him—Flora's voice.
"Forgive him."
"Why should I?" Xei hissed, fury trembling in his voice.
Flora's tone softened, almost sorrowful.
"Because his death would waste everything your master fought for… everything he built in you."
Xei's grip wavered. "What do you know?"
Flora's whisper came like wind through dying flames.
"You'll become that man again—the one who drowned his heart in blood. Blood spilled like wasted water."
Xei froze, staring at the others. Anger still burned in him, but it twisted into something heavier—shame, grief, memory.
Tai turned to face Bastar.
"Zarathiss…" Bastar muttered, eyes widening.
"If becoming my father breaks these chains," Tai said quietly, "then I will become him."
And before their eyes, Tai's form shifted—
scales gleaming, power crackling.
He became the one Sai had once fought—
Zarathiss, the Serpent King.
The form that had once made even the kingdoms tremble.
The ground cracked under their feet — the mountain no longer rock, but trembling flesh of something alive.
Bastar stood tall amid the firestorm, his body dripping molten ash, eyes like black suns.
"Do you see now?" he roared. "This is Demonic Ash—beyond gods, beyond death!"
Ash waves erupted from his body, turning air into poison, flame into shadow. The sky above bled red.
Amal stepped forward, ash burning silver around her. Her voice cut through the chaos.
"Then let me show you what it means to defy a god."
She vanished. In her place, streaks of soul ash ripped through the battlefield like comets, carving through Bastar's armor. She reappeared behind him, blade of condensed ash glowing white-hot, and slashed.
Bastar grunted, but the wound healed instantly — the demonic ash sealing the cut like melting iron.
"You've grown stronger," he growled, "but strength without despair is meaningless."
He raised his hand — the air folded inward. A pulse of raw ash burst out, flinging Amal through the air like a broken comet.
"AMAL!" Sai shouted, flames igniting his body.
His wings burst out, enormous and molten, each flap scattering meteors across the mountain. He shot forward, his punch landing like a star colliding with the earth. Bastar's chest caved, but the demon only laughed, gripping Sai's arm mid-blow.
"Your fire burns bright…" Bastar sneered. "But I am the ash left after all fires die."
He twisted — a brutal snap — and hurled Sai through a cliff face.
Tai's voice boomed, rattling the stones.
"You think we burn alone?"
The ground split open beneath him. Golden scales erupted along his body as he shifted fully into the King Serpent, his aura shaking the clouds. His fangs dripped molten venom.
"I am Tai, son of Zarathiss—your end."
He lunged, coiling around Bastar with earth-shattering force. The mountain groaned under their weight. Bastar roared, his ash leaking through Tai's coils, eating away at the serpent's scales like acid.
Amal reappeared above them, eyes glowing pure white.
Her ash condensed into wings of light.
"I won't let my brothers fall!"
She raised both hands, summoning a storm of spectral blades — each one forged from her soul ash. The blades rained down, piercing Bastar's back, pinning him to the crumbling mountain.
Sai emerged from the flames below, his voice shaking the heavens.
"FLAME OF ETERNAL HELL!"
He slammed both fists into the ground — fire erupted from every crack, climbing up Bastar's body like the wrath of the underworld.
Bastar screamed, the ash around him flaring darker than night.
He burst free, burning but laughing — the sound cracked the sky.
"You three together…" he rasped, smoke rising from his flesh. "You almost remind me of what the gods feared."
His ash flared — black lightning mixed with molten smoke.
"But remember this—"
He raised his hand, and the mountain itself began to crumble, lava turning into living creatures made of ash.
"—I am the mountain's heart. I do not die."
The battlefield drowned in darkness.
And still, Amal, Sai, and Tai stood — bleeding, burned, but unbroken.
The battlefield was fire and ruin — ash falling like snow, the sky cracked by lightning born of rage.
Amal lay gasping against the rocks. Tai's scales were broken, gold stained with blood. Sai's wings flickered, his flame thinning.
And then — silence.
A whisper of wind.
A single voice.
"I won't kill him," Xei said quietly, standing in the storm. "But I'll protect my friends."
Flora's spirit shimmered faintly around him, her voice soft and sad.
"I never understood… why are you always the strongest among them?"
Xei opened his eyes — calm, sharp, unshaken. "I'm not," he said.
He lifted his sword. "I just woke."
In a flash, he vanished.
A streak of green light carved through the smoke — and Bastar's head jerked back, a deep cut slashing across his face.
The demon roared, stumbling.
"What—!" His hand flew to his wound, but it didn't close. The demonic ash tried to mend it… and failed.
Xei landed in front of him, blade steady.
"Flora thank you " he said.
Bastar's fury ignited. "I hate green!" he thundered, summoning waves of lava that rolled across the battlefield.
Xei sprinted forward — leaping a molten stream — his blade tracing silver lines through the smoke.
Slash!
A clean cut across Bastar's leg — black ash and molten ichor sprayed.
For the first time, Bastar staggered.
He looked down — the wound still there, stubborn, glowing with soul ash.
"What is this…?"
Xei's eyes narrowed. "A sword that remembers every fallen comrade."
He raised the weapon. Around him, the ash began to shift — drawn from the air, the ground, even from his allies.
Sai's flames pulsed brighter. Amal's ash shimmered again. Tai lifted his head, golden eyes gleaming.
Xei's voice carried over the chaos — firm, commanding.
"Now. Combine it. Everything we are — everything we've lost."
Sai stepped forward, wings blazing.
"My fire!"
Amal rose, her hands trembling but radiant.
"My soul!"
Tai bared his fangs, his serpent form coiling.
"My kingdom!"
Their power surged toward Xei — flame, ash, and gold intertwining, spiraling into his sword. The blade burned brighter than the sun.
Bastar stumbled back, the ground melting under his feet.
"You think— you can end me?" he roared.
Xei lowered his stance, calm as death.
"No," he said quietly. "I won't kill you."
He dashed forward — the world slowing around him.
"But I won't save you either."
The sword struck.
A silent flash — no sound, no scream, just light.
When the glow faded, Bastar fell to one knee, half his armor shattered, his power bleeding into the earth. The mountain stilled.
Xei turned away, his blade dimming.
"Rest, demon," he said without looking back. "Your fight is over. Ours… isn't."
The mountain was silent now.
Ash drifted like snow over the battlefield, covering the broken stones, the burned soil — and the corpses of demons.
Bastar lay among them, motionless — his chest still, his face turned toward the dying sky.
For a moment, it seemed the King of the Mountain had fallen.
But then — his fingers twitched.
A faint breath escaped his lips.
And with the last ember of his demonic ash, he cloaked his body — masking the faint pulse of his life.
Slowly, painfully, Bastar dragged himself across the scorched earth, away from the mountain and the battlefield where he had been defeated.
Each movement left a trail of molten blood, each breath a growl of agony.
He collapsed beneath a blackened tree at the mountain's edge, his body steaming.
"When… when I return to full strength," he rasped, eyes burning red, "I will kill them all… the snake… the flame… the ash… every last one…"
Then — a voice, smooth and amused, echoed from the shadows.
> "Bastar. Self-proclaimed King of the Mountain. Ruler of the Third Army."
Bastar froze.
His eyes widened.
"…Greed?"
From the darkness, a figure stepped out — coat spotless, green hair gleaming even under the ash-filled sky. His golden coin danced lazily between his fingers.
> "Correct," Greed said with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "And bye-bye."
He flicked the coin.
It spun through the air — gleaming once — and struck Bastar's chest.
There was no sound. No scream.
Only a soft pulse — like a candle being snuffed out.
Bastar's eyes went empty. His body crumbled to dust — his soul erased, like it had never existed.
Greed caught the coin as it fell back into his hand. He looked up toward the distant mountain, where faint lights still burned — where Sai, Tai, Amal, and Xei had survived.
> "I can't believe those mere humans actually did it," he said, laughing softly.
"Three thousand years of planning… and they never even realized… this entire dance was mine."
He turned, walking into the void as the ash rose higher, his laughter echoing like a curse.
> "Now," Greed whispered, coin glinting between his fingers, "let the true war begin."