The woman watched them in silence.
The night wind stirred through her black hair, lifting a few loose strands as it carried the distant scent of smoke and burning metal.
Below—
Blackwater continued to burn.
For a brief moment, no one moved.
Not the woman.
Not Draven.
Not even the tension in the air itself.
Then she clicked her tongue.
"You know…"
Her gaze slowly settled on Draven.
"…I don't feel particularly good about killing a kid who's already standing on his last leg."
A pause lingered between her words.
Then her eyes narrowed slightly, as if reconsidering her own judgment.
"Well."
"At least I *think* you're a kid."
Draven stared back at her.
Blood still stained what remained of his clothes, darkened and dried in uneven patches.
Yet his injuries—those that had been severe moments ago—had already begun to close. His side, once torn open, was already in the process of healing.
His expression, however, remained completely flat.
Unbothered.
Unchanged.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"Tell yourself whatever makes you feel good, old hag."
Silence dropped instantly.
The air seemed to tighten.
Then—
"Get going already."
Draven's crimson eyes narrowed slightly.
"What are you still standing around for?"
The woman blinked.
For a brief second, she looked genuinely surprised, as if she hadn't expected that answer at all.
Then a vein twitched faintly on her forehead.
Nearby—
Aldric glanced between the two of them.
Then he let out a low chuckle.
"Hm."
A pause.
"Right."
His grin widened.
"Let's go."
Then he tilted his head slightly toward Draven.
"Though I don't remember you ever being in such a hurry to leave before."
Draven's expression did not change in the slightest.
"How annoying."
The woman's eyebrow twitched again.
Before she could respond, Aldric suddenly burst out laughing.
"HAHAHAHA!"
"That's actually fair."
The woman slowly lowered the cigarette between her fingers.
"…You little bastard."
Draven ignored her entirely.
Aldric's wings spread wide behind him.
BOOOOM!!
The air detonated beneath him in a violent burst of force.
Without another word—
he shot into the distance, carrying Draven with him.
A black streak tore across the night sky, vanishing in seconds as though it had never been there at all.
The woman watched them disappear beyond the horizon.
The laughter faded.
The wind settled once more.
Silence returned.
For a long moment, she simply stood there, unmoving.
Then she finally muttered under her breath,
"…Old hag?"
A pause.
Her eye twitched.
"…Damn little bastard."
She kicked the slab beneath her foot.
CRACK!!
The stone fractured instantly, splitting apart under the force.
The woman immediately regretted it.
Because now she was falling.
"…Ah."
A brief silence followed.
Then—
"Oh right."
"I can't fly."
Down she went.
The world dropped away as gravity took hold.
Wind howled violently past her ears, tugging at her coat and hair as the broken slab she had been standing on spun away into the darkness above.
For several seconds, she simply fell.
Arms crossed.
Expression unchanged.
Almost bored.
"…Old hag."
A vein twitched again on her forehead.
"…Damn little bastard."
The ground rushed upward to meet her.
Closer.
Closer.
Closer—
Then—
SHHHH.
Her body shifted subtly.
The long katana at her side moved just slightly in its sheath.
In that instant, the air itself seemed to split apart, as though space had been gently cut open.
Her descent slowed immediately, as if the world had decided to obey a different rule.
A moment later—
she landed lightly atop the roof of a warehouse near the outskirts of Blackwater.
Not a single crack formed beneath her feet.
No sound followed.
Only silence.
The woman stood still for a moment, gaze drifting toward the distant horizon where Aldric and Draven had vanished.
Nothing remained.
No visible trace.
No lingering mana signature.
Nothing at all.
Gone.
She studied the empty sky for a few seconds longer.
Then she shrugged faintly.
"Oh well."
A cigarette appeared between her fingers as if conjured from nothing.
A small flame flickered at its tip.
She took a slow drag.
Exhaled.
Smoke drifted upward into the night, dissolving into the cold air.
"They managed to escape."
A pause.
"Good for them."
Her gaze shifted toward the burning military sky port in the distance.
Even from here, the fires were still visible—faint orange scars staining the horizon.
"…Though I hope the space port can still be used after all this."
Another drag.
The corner of her mouth twitched slightly, almost amused.
"Otherwise it's going to be incredibly inconvenient."
With that, she turned away.
And vanished into the night without another sound.
---
Meanwhile—
at the military sky port—
the aftermath was finally becoming fully visible.
And it was catastrophic.
Entire sections of the port had simply ceased to exist.
Platforms lay collapsed, shattered into ruin.
Steel frameworks were twisted into grotesque, contorted shapes, as if crushed by an invisible hand.
Burning wreckage littered every direction, casting flickering orange light across the devastation.
The remains of the Holy Empire flagship still smoldered among the ruins, its once-mighty structure reduced to a broken husk of scorched metal and fractured mana cores.
Smoke blanketed half the district.
The smell of blood, ash, and burning steel hung heavily in the air.
Everywhere—
people were working.
Holy knights moved through the wreckage in coordinated search patterns.
Priests knelt beside the wounded, channeling healing magic into broken bodies.
Mages reinforced unstable structures, preventing further collapses as the ruins groaned under their own weight.
Rescue teams continued to move tirelessly through the devastation, pulling survivors from beneath rubble and twisted metal.
The battle was over.
But its consequences were only just beginning.
An imperial officer stood frozen at the edge of the destruction.
His expression was completely blank.
"…How do we even explain this?"
Nearby—
another officer let out a weak, hollow laugh.
Not because it was funny.
But because he genuinely didn't know what else to do.
"The flagship is gone."
A pause.
"Half the military district is gone."
Another pause.
"And two people did it."
Neither of them spoke after that.
Because there truly wasn't anything left to say.
Farther away—
Lucan sat atop a shattered section of the platform.
His armor was cracked and scorched.
Burn marks ran across his body, evidence of the battle he had barely survived.
His sword rested beside him, half-buried in debris.
He stared silently toward the horizon.
Toward the direction where Aldric and Draven had vanished.
His jaw tightened slightly.
The memory of Aldric's laughter echoed in his mind.
The memory of Draven standing against them all—bloodied, unbroken—refusing to fall.
The memory of his uncle.
The hatred remained.
If anything—
it had only deepened.
Nearby—
Commander Roland supervised the ongoing recovery efforts despite his own injuries.
His expression was grim, controlled, but heavy with exhaustion.
The losses were far worse than he had initially calculated.
Far worse than anyone had prepared for.
And not far away—
Aurelia stood at the edge of the ruined port.
Her damaged armor was still stained with blood, the marks of battle refusing to fade.
For several long moments, she simply stared toward the horizon.
Silent.
Thoughtful.
The exact place where Draven had disappeared.
The place where she had nearly died.
Her hand moved unconsciously, brushing against the scarlet stain across her armor—the exact point where his final attack had nearly ended everything.
A cold realization settled deep within her chest.
If not for the barrier.
If not for the intervention of others.
She would have died.
The Saint Princess.
Pride of the Holy Empire.
Killed.
The thought lingered heavily.
Then her eyes slowly narrowed.
Not in fear.
Not in hesitation.
But in quiet, burning determination.
Because she had learned something tonight.
The Demon King's son was not merely dangerous.
He was not merely powerful.
He was becoming something far worse.
And next time—
she would be ready.
Above the ruined military sky port—
dawn finally began to break through the horizon.
Slow and distant light spilled across the wreckage, revealing the full extent of the devastation left behind by two monsters.