The battlefield froze.
For the first time since the fighting began—
even the explosions seemed quieter.
High above the burning military district—
Draven stood atop the shattered artillery platform.
Smoke drifted around him.
Firelight reflected against the dark hood concealing his face.
Below—
soldiers.
Commanders.
Mages.
Crossfall observers.
Syrian.
All of them watched.
Because the mana gathering around the bow had become impossible to ignore.
The folding spiral hidden deep within Draven's body trembled violently.
Not unstable.
Not anymore.
Focused.
Every layer of compressed mana folded inward—
again.
And again.
And again.
The endless spiral rotated faster.
Dark crimson strands leaked from beneath the cloak.
Then poured outward.
Thin at first.
Then countless.
Like rivers of blood-colored light flowing through his body.
The surrounding air distorted.
The artillery platform beneath his feet groaned.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Steel began splitting apart beneath the pressure.
Far below—
one mage looked upward.
His face turned pale.
"...What is he doing?"
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Draven slowly raised the bow.
The blue mana vanished.
Replaced entirely by dark crimson light.
The forming arrow grew brighter.
Denser.
Layer after layer of folded mana compressed into a single point.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Until the arrow no longer resembled mana.
It looked like a fracture in reality itself.
The black cat resting upon his shoulder stared with wide purple eyes.
Even it seemed to sense the terrifying power gathering there.
Draven's crimson gaze lifted.
Straight toward the largest warship in the sky.
The flagship.
The vessel bearing the Holy Empire's crest.
The one he had crossed kingdoms to find.
The one carrying people he had never forgotten.
Silence.
Then—
he pulled the string fully back.
The entire military district shook.
Searchlights flickered.
Barrier formations screamed warnings.
Emergency arrays activated across the flagship.
A voice echoed from the vessel.
"MAXIMUM DEFENSIVE FORMATIONS!"
"HURRY!"
Golden barriers erupted around the warship.
One layer.
Then another.
And another.
Holy mana surged through the air.
Military-grade defensive formations unfolded in rapid succession.
Dozens of protective barriers stacked together around the flagship.
The strongest protection available.
Far below—
the masked Crossfall woman stared upward.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"...Too late."
Draven released the string.
TWANG.
The arrow vanished.
No sound followed.
For a fraction of a second—
nothing happened.
Then—
high above Blackwater—
space itself seemed to ripple.
The crimson arrow appeared directly before the flagship.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The first barrier shattered instantly.
Like glass.
The second survived less than a heartbeat.
The third lasted no longer.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Golden defensive layers collapsed one after another.
Mages screamed.
Formation masters desperately poured mana into the failing arrays.
It made no difference.
The air detonated.
Shockwaves erupted across the sky.
The flagship shook violently.
Yet the arrow never slowed.
Not even slightly.
It continued forward.
Relentless.
Unstoppable.
Then—
it struck the hull.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
The explosion illuminated nearly half the city.
The flagship lurched violently.
Steel armor plates twisted inward.
Runic formations shattered.
Entire sections of the outer hull collapsed.
The crimson arrow drilled directly through the vessel.
Straight through decks.
Walls.
Bulkheads.
Armor.
Everything.
Its path precise.
Merciless.
A heartbeat later—
the opposite side of the ship exploded outward.
A colossal hole tore completely through the flagship.
Fire erupted from both sides simultaneously.
Chunks of burning metal rained across the sky.
The vessel's barrier arrays died instantly.
Its engines flickered.
Failed.
Then screamed.
Alarms echoed across the battlefield.
"FLAGSHIP BREACHED!"
"CORE DAMAGE!"
"CORE DAMAGE!"
The massive warship began tilting.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
Smoke poured from the catastrophic wound running through its center.
Fire spread across entire sections of the vessel.
Far below—
every soldier stared upward in horror.
The impossible had happened.
A single arrow.
One attack.
And the Holy Empire's flagship had been crippled.
Silence consumed the battlefield.
Even Aldric stopped fighting.
Standing atop a mountain of shattered steel while flames danced along Dawn's blade.
"...Well."
A pause.
Then he laughed.
"That's definitely one way to knock on the front door."
Above—
burning debris fell from the sky.
The wounded flagship groaned beneath catastrophic damage.
And standing alone atop the ruined artillery platform—
Draven lowered the bow slowly.
Crimson eyes glowing beneath the hood.
Waiting.
The crippled flagship tilted violently across the night sky.
Smoke.
Fire.
Screaming alarms.
Entire sections of the vessel burned as the massive warship struggled to remain airborne.
For a brief moment—
it looked as though the ship might survive.
Then—
something went wrong.
Very wrong.
Deep within the vessel—
the damaged mana core finally failed.
A pulse of unstable energy erupted through the ship.
Every remaining formation array flickered.
Then shattered.
Mages aboard the vessel immediately realized what was happening.
Their faces drained of color.
"...No."
One officer lunged toward the emergency controls.
"STOP THE CORE—!"
Too late.
The fracture running through the heart of the ship reached the central mana reactor.
The unstable energy contained within finally collapsed.
And the flagship exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The night sky vanished beneath blinding white light.
A sphere of fire expanded outward from the center of the vessel.
Steel armor melted.
Support structures disintegrated.
The shockwave tore through the surrounding clouds.
Nearby warships were hurled sideways through the air.
Searchlights shattered.
Windows exploded across nearby military towers.
For several seconds—
nothing existed except fire.
Then came the debris.
Thousands of burning fragments rained downward across Blackwater's eastern district.
Entire sections of the flagship broke apart as they fell.
Flaming wreckage streaked across the sky like meteors.
Soldiers stared upward in absolute horror.
"...The flagship..."
"...It's gone..."
"...Dear gods..."
Even the battlefield itself had stopped.
Nobody fired.
Nobody moved.
Nobody could.
Because an imperial flagship—
a symbol of power.
A symbol of authority.
A symbol of the Holy Empire itself—
had just been erased from existence.
Far away—
Syrian stood frozen.
The burning reflection of the explosion filled her blue eyes.
"...What..."
One of the Crossfall members swallowed hard.
"...He destroyed it."
Even the masked woman remained silent.
Watching the shattered remains of the flagship fall from the sky.
For perhaps the first time since arriving—
even she seemed unable to find words.
Below—
Aldric stared upward at the exploding wreckage.
A piece of burning metal larger than a house crashed through a distant tower.
CRAAAAASH!!
The structure folded inward instantly.
Fire erupted from its upper floors.
Aldric blinked once.
Then slowly looked toward Draven.
The grin on his face widened.
"...Yeah."
He rested Dawn across his shoulder.
"Definitely the front door."