"Now you've done it..."
The Blood Monarch's voice was low, mocking, eyes burning with wild delight. The severed stump of his arm twitched — flesh knitting, tendons sprouting like sick roots, muscle regrowing itself in pulsing knots of red. Within heartbeats, a new arm had fully formed.
"You pitiful little humans can't do anything to me."He threw his head back and laughed. "Nothing at all! Hahahaha!"
And in the very next instant — he vanished.
He appeared in front of Rhen in the blink of an eye. His bloody claw speared straight through the man's chest. Then he tossed him aside like worthless garbage.
"Rhen…?" Ellie whispered, barely upright.
Suddenly, claws plunged toward Ellie.
She couldn't even move — already bleeding, half-limp on the ground — before the Monarch's fist closed around her collar, lifting her effortlessly into the air like a broken doll.
"At last…" he breathed, eyes gleaming as she dangled helplessly. "So much potential. My core."
Then — everything shifted.
A silent force crushed downward, as though the sky itself had fallen onto his back.
The Blood Monarch froze mid-motion. Confusion sparked across his face… slowly turning to disbelief as his knees buckled and were driven into the sand.
"...Impossible…" his voice fell to a whisper — horrified realization blooming across his features. "Me? Forced down?"
And then rage – raw, volcanic — ripped through him."ME — THE BLOOD MONARCH — BROUGHT TO MY KNEES?! HOW DARE YOU!"
Veyr stepped out of the dust. His breath steamed in the unnatural air, sweat and blood caked across him, yet his eyes burned like sharpened blades. He said nothing — just walked forward and placed his foot squarely on the Monarch's skull.
Ellie could only stare. This was Veyr?
The Monarch erupted, breaking the unseen force with a roar. He launched upward, swiping wildly — yet his movements were slow, dragged down as if the very air resisted him.
Veyr blurred out of sight — reappeared behind the creature, two fingers gently touching the Monarch's spine. Glyph-light flashed across his palm.
Then he leapt backward, keeping his distance.
"I can't defeat you," he said quietly, "not yet."
The ground answered. Boulders, stone shards, sand — everything was dragged toward the Blood Monarch as if gravity itself had turned sideways. Debris wrapped around him layer by layer, creating a massive, jagged cocoon of rock.
He raged inside it, hammering at the walls, red light leaking through cracks.
Veyr drew his short sword, stepped close, and laid only the tip of the blade against the stone prison. His glyphs pulsed — then he hurled the sword far off toward a distant sandstorm.
Ellie's vision blurred. For a split-second she saw something — not here, not now… a glimpse two seconds ahead. In that vision, a torrent of liquid blood sliced clean through Veyr's body.
"VEYR!" Her mouth moved before her mind caught up. Something inside her core thundered, pulsing wildly — silver pressure burning through her veins.
At the same instant, a blood beam erupted from inside the stone block — hurtling toward Veyr. Just as it hit, a thin silver glow shimmered over him — deflecting the killing force like glass breaking water.
Ellie slumped, half-conscious, sweat on her skin — but the silver light still flickered in her chest, connecting to him.
The rock prison shuddered. Something inside bellowed. The Blood Monarch — panicking now — was suddenly dragged backward, yanked violently through sand and air toward the point where Veyr's thrown sword had landed, disappearing into the churning dust.
Silence returned to the scorched land.
Veyr stood completely still, that silver glow fading slowly from his skin. His body wavered slightly.
Ellie sagged where she lay, blood soaking her side, the small stone still clutched in her trembling fist.
From the sand came a rough sound. Rhen pushed himself weakly upward, coughing hard, his staff still clenched in a bloody hand.
"Remind me…" he rasped, voice cracking, "…never again to advise you two on restraint."
He collapsed again face-first into the dirt.
Veyr turned his head, locking eyes with Ellie across the broken field. There were no words — only a silent recognition between them.
Whatever peace they once had…
…the war had truly begun.