[Howler's Hideout – Nightfall]
The guards moved with tense urgency, boots pounding against stone, eyes sharp, weapons drawn. They sprinted across the grounds in a chaotic loop uneasy, alert, and hunted.
High above the mansion's walls, a Royal Maze stood still his eyes closed, yet seeing everything.
His mana pulsed through the estate like a heartbeat. Every sound. Every flicker of movement. Every breath. Nothing escaped him.
Around him, soldiers patrolled the grounds in tight formations… until suddenly, they didn't.
One by one, their patterns broke.
Moments later, the Maze sensed it silence. The rhythmic march had stilled.
Opening his eyes, he stepped outside, confusion in his gaze. Bodies his soldiers lay scattered across the courtyard, unconscious.
He gasped, raising an alarm
But a cold chill sliced down his spine. His instincts screamed one word: Run.
Before he could move, a massive fireball hurtled toward him from the shadows.
He barely raised a mana barrier in time glasslike energy cracking under the force.
"What in the ?" he muttered, stumbling back.
The mana… it's overwhelming. Like an 8th Circle Maze... Who are they? What do they want with Howler?
From the smoke stepped a figure in a cloak Ruby. Her eyes glowed with restrained fury.
"Get out of the way," she said, voice razor-sharp. "We don't want to kill you. We're only here for the truth."
The Royal Maze narrowed his gaze. "You think I'll betray the man I ordered to protect?"
Ruby raised her hand. "You're not protecting a man you're shielding a monster."
Without warning, the Royal Maze lashed out an arc of lightning erupting from his palm with deadly precision.
Ruby vanished in a blink, reappearing behind him.
BOOM!
A blast of compressed wind knocked him back, his armor scraping against the ground.
He rolled, recovered, and stared.
She's not a normal mage… she's dodging spells meant to level fortresses.
They clashed arcane bolts and barriers flashing across the field. The night roared with the sound of magical combat, a storm between two masters.
The Maze hurled a lightning bolt charged with royal-grade mana direct hit.
Ruby didn't even flinch.
"What…?" he whispered. "Why didn't it work? That attack should've melted her bones."
Ruby stood amidst the sparks, cloak fluttering.
She raised her hand again.
"I warned you."
[Inside Howler's Mansion – Night]
Meanwhile, Alex reached the top floor of the mansion, standing before a massive, ornately carved door.
Just as he reached for the handle, a knight stepped out of the room armor clanking, eyes cold.
He stopped short, glaring at Alex.
"Who are you? Who sent you?"
Alex cracked his neck and took a slow breath. "I'll tell you after I deal with him. He's mine."
The knight's aura flared.
With a sharp hum, a blade of pure energy formed in his hand, radiating lethal power.
Alex grinned.
"It's been a while… since I tested my aura in a real fight."
He drew his sword slowly.
A brilliant white aura wrapped around the blade like a flame. He gripped it with both hands, lowering into his stance.
Then, in a heartbeat they vanished.
FLASH.
A shockwave burst through the corridor. In the same second, they reappeared Alex sliding to a stop, blood trailing from his chest. A deep cut had sliced through his jacket and into the armor-plate beneath.
The knight staggered, a massive gash torn through his breastplate. Blood splattered the floor.
Alex exhaled sharply, knees nearly buckling.
The knight collapsed behind him unconscious.
Alex poured an elixir over his wound and tied a cloth around it.
Breathing hard, he opened the door.
And froze.
Inside, under dim candlelight… Howler sat on the bed, drunk, naked, swirling wine in one hand unbothered.
On the bed beside him a dead woman. Her body cold. Her neck bruised with strangle marks. Her face distorted by pain and terror.
Alex's patience snapped like glass.
His steps echoed with fury as he walked forward, aura flaring.
Outside, Ruby felt it.
The mana pressure around the mansion spiked violently like the calm before a storm had been shattered.
She turned to the Maze.
"No more games," she muttered.
A massive lightning bolt tore from the sky, smashing into the Maze. The impact flung him into the ground, unconscious.
Her cloak burned away, revealing her face Princess Rebecca.
The Royal Mage's eyes widened in disbelief. "P-Princess… you're alive?!"
She didn't answer. She flew off toward the source of that energy toward Alex.
Inside the room
Alex stood over Howler, whose arms had been severed, blood soaking the marble floor. He writhed and screamed, naked and broken.
Rebecca landed just in time to see the carnage.
Her eyes flicked to the bed.
She stopped breathing.
A woman's lifeless body lay sprawled across the sheets. Bruises. Finger marks on her throat. Horror carved into her final expression.
Her voice cracked. "Damn it, Alex… you always hold back. But this time… you didn't."
She rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his shaking body.
"Alex. Please. Snap out of it! Look at me!"
Alex blinked, dazed, and slowly lowered his sword. His shoulders dropped as he walked to the corner, lighting the lamps around the room with trembling hands.
Howler groaned, blood gushing from his wrists, screaming in agony.
Alex ignored him. He stepped toward the bed and gently covered the woman's body with a white sheet.
His voice, raw and low, cut through the silence.
"Howler…"
Alex turned, eyes burning.
"…I'm out of patience."
the man was timbling with pain and fear .
Ruby walked toward him calm, resolute and placed her glowing palm over the stumps where Howler's hands had been.
A hiss. A sizzle. Flesh burned shut.
"This is my mercy, Minister Howler," she said coldly.
Howler's wide eyes trembled as he stared at her face.
He crawled back, pressing against the cracked wall. "G-Ghost! You're dead! You died! I I saw you !"
"HOWLER!" Alex's voice cracked like thunder. "Answer me!"
His blade hovered near the man's throat.
"Who ordered the hit on the Queen and the Princess?"
Howler's lips quivered. "Gla... Gla-had... Gr... Grim "
"Say it, you bastard!" Alex's voice rose. "Or I swear I'll finish what I started."
Tears streaming, Howler screamed, "It was Second Lieutenant Glahad Akazan of the Frontier Forces! Clan Master of the Roeran Grim family!"
Alex's jaw tightened. He stepped back.
"Where are they now?" he growled.
"Why did they want to kill the Queen and Princess?"
"I don't know!" Howler wept, turning to Ruby. "Please... Princess... save me! Forgive me!"
Rebecca's expression was stone. She looked to Alex. "Let's go. We catch that bastard Glahad."
They turned but just then
CRACK!
A flash of black lightning split the hallway.
Before it struck, Darcy soared in from the side her form colossal and glowing and devoured the lightning in a fiery burst.
Alex turned back.
His eyes were no longer human. They were wrath.
He strode forward, raising his sword. No words.
Golden fire erupted from the blade as he rammed it through Howler's chest.
The man screamed not from the wound, but from the holy flame that burned his soul from the inside out.
The mansion echoed with horror.
Walls cracked from the pressure. Screams of pain, of guilt, of past sins everything was set ablaze.
Howler writhed as the fire consumed him.
"Forgive me!" he screamed his final words.
But there was no forgiveness.
Just the sickening smell of ash... and silence.
Alex stood there, his hands trembling, soaked in blood. His chest heaving.
He stared at his sword, then the ashes.
"What am I doing…?" he whispered. "Why did I kill him? Was this… right?"
Rebecca said nothing.
Later, Alex and Rebecca pulled every unconscious worker and maid from the mansion.
Then, together, they rose into the night sky Darcy beneath them, her wings parting the stars.
Above the ruins, Alex closed his eyes and prayed for the dead.
From the ashes, flickering motes of light began to rise.
Souls... turning into stars.
With a deep breath, Alex raised his hands.
He summoned a massive runic sigil in the sky, etched with mana visible to all who dared look up.
Rebecca looked at him, eyes widening. "What are you doing…?"
Alex didn't look back. His voice was hollow.
"Sending a signal."
"To whom?"
"To everyone."
He raised his voice.
"To every coward, tyrant, and parasite who thinks life is theirs to gamble!"
His eyes flashed.
"I declare this "
"To the bloody universe "
" wherever I walk, there shall be no slavery."
In an instant
A colossal pillar of fire erupted from the mansion, roaring past the clouds, turning the sky into a cathedral of flame.
Darcy flew before it, wings wide, a silhouette of divine fury.
The people in the town looked up, jaws open. The fire twisted
becoming pure gold.
Then a roar thundered across the world.
It shook cities.
It echoed in temples.
It rang in palaces.
Even the gods paused.
Even the realms listened.
Even the stars blinked.
He had declared himself.
And they had heard.
Rebecca turned to him, tears in her eyes.
"Do you really want this… this massacre? It'll start a war."
Alex looked out over the burning land.
"If we don't fight now... it'll become tradition," he said.
"Like butchering beasts for meat."
He placed a hand on Darcy's back.
"Freedom belongs to everyone. And I'll fight for every soul that still carries light. That still carries hope."
The skies turned gold.
And in the heavens, something ancient stirred.
That night, Alex sat on the edge of the bed, unmoving. His eyes were locked on his hands trembling, stained in memory. No matter how long he stared, he couldn't unsee the blood.
He stumbled into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and began scrubbing. Again. And again. Water splashed, soap foamed, but nothing could cleanse what he felt. His hands were still drenched in it in guilt, in fire, in screams.
He collapsed to the floor, shoulders trembling, breath hitching. He rubbed his chest like he was trying to hold his heart together.
A quiet, helpless sob escaped. Then another.
Then came the storm.
From outside, Rebecca heard the sound sharp, breaking, raw. Her eyes widened. She ran to the bathroom, pushed the door open
And there he was.
Alex, the boy who faced demons, fire, and death without blinking now curled on the cold floor, crying like a child, clutching his chest like it hurt to exist.
"Alex!" she gasped, running to him, dropping to her knees.
He looked up at her, eyes flooded with tears, voice cracked and desperate.
"Ruby... I can't stop seeing it. I can't stop seeing the blood on my hands... I'm helpless…"
She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into her chest. "Then don't look at your hands," she whispered fiercely. "Just hold me, Alex. Hold me instead."
But he couldn't stop. He clung to her, crying harder, shaking violently.
"Ruby... help me," he sobbed. "I'm scared…"
Rebecca held him tighter, rocking him gently.
"I'm here," she whispered. "You're not alone."