Carine Forest — Forward Battlements
"Kleber."
Logos never looked away from the towering abomination.
"Have the troops fall back."
Kleber immediately straightened.
"Yes, my lord."
"Withdraw beyond the chemical barrier."
"Rearm every Bane with long-range weapons."
Logos pointed toward the advancing giant.
"When the mist begins to dissipate..."
"...we surround it."
A brief pause.
"Then we kill it."
Kleber nodded once.
He turned toward the signal officers.
"Relay the order."
Bugles echoed across the battlements.
Black-armored soldiers immediately began withdrawing.
No shouting.
No panic.
Every movement had already been rehearsed.
Entire formations disengaged with mechanical precision while artillery crews hauled guns farther behind the chemical barrier.
Then—
"No need."
The voice came from beside him.
Adrean stepped forward.
"I'll buy you the time."
For the first time since the creature appeared—
Logos looked away from it.
"...How?"
Darian barked a laugh.
"If you knew his campaigns..."
"...you wouldn't ask."
Logos looked between them.
"...Elaborate."
Adrean smiled.
"A battlefield isn't merely terrain."
He looked toward the advancing abomination.
"It has momentum."
"And sometimes..."
"...you steal it."
Golden attendants hurried forward.
The Regulus Exo-harness unfolded around him.
Massive plates rotated into place.
Layer after layer sealed around his body.
Each locking mechanism slammed shut with a thunderous metallic report.
BOOM.
The final breastplate locked.
Golden runes awakened.
One.
Ten.
A hundred.
Mana poured through the armor until Regulus resembled a walking star.
The pressure alone forced nearby officers to step backward.
Several younger knights instinctively lowered their eyes.
Even Logos raised an eyebrow.
Interesting.
Beyond the poisonous mist—
The colossal intelligence continued dragging itself forward.
Each movement uprooted forests.
Each step split hills apart.
It looked unstoppable.
Adrean rested the greatsword across one shoulder.
Then smiled.
"Watch."
The visor sealed shut.
Golden light erupted from every seam of Regulus.
Mana condensed around him until the surrounding air began vibrating.
Then—
He crouched.
The battlements groaned.
Stone fractured.
Steel supports screamed.
Several commanders grabbed nearby railings.
"...Saints..."
Then—
He launched.
The wall exploded beneath him.
Not from impact.
From acceleration.
Regulus vanished.
Only a streak of gold remained.
The shockwave reached the battlefield a heartbeat later.
Clouds tore apart.
The poisonous mist rolled backward.
Even the colossal intelligence stopped moving.
For the first time—
It looked up.
The battlefield froze.
Soldiers.
Knights.
Corrupted creatures.
Every eye followed the same point.
High above—
A single star.
Growing brighter.
Growing larger.
Growing faster.
Until it resembled a second sun falling from heaven.
Darian grinned.
"There."
"He noticed."
Thousands of roots erupted upward.
Entire forests of black tendrils reached toward the descending prince.
Far too late.
Adrean descended.
Greatsword raised overhead.
Golden mana compressed around the blade.
Not flame.
Not lightning.
Weight.
Force.
Pressure so immense the air warped around it.
His voice rolled across the battlefield.
"I AM ADREAN GAB!"
Thousands of fused mouths answered in unison.
"I DON'T CARE!"
Adrean laughed.
"Then remember the man who kills you."
He struck.
The impact erased sound.
For one impossible instant—
The world stopped.
Then—
Everything broke.
A circular shockwave burst outward.
Burning trees flattened for hundreds of meters.
The poisonous mist vanished instantly.
Stone became liquid beneath the force.
Black roots evaporated.
Entire sections of the abomination folded inward as if struck by a falling mountain.
The battlefield lurched.
The battlements trembled.
Soldiers struggled to remain standing.
Even the colossal creature was driven backward.
Logos narrowed his eyes.
"...Interesting."
Not because of the strike.
Because it survived.
When the dust settled—
Adrean stood alone inside a crater hundreds of meters wide.
Around him—
Nothing remained.
No trees.
No nests.
No corruption.
Only shattered earth.
Ahead of him—
The gigantic intelligence writhed.
A third of its body had simply ceased to exist.
Yet already—
Black roots were growing.
Replacing.
Rebuilding.
Adrean watched the regeneration.
Then laughed.
A genuine laugh.
"Now that's more like it."
The enormous creature answered by lifting an entire mountain of roots toward him.
It crashed downward.
Adrean disappeared beneath the descending mass.
Then—
A golden streak erupted upward.
He burst through the attack.
Spun once in midair.
And drove his greatsword downward again.
This time not to overpower it—
But to carve through it.
The blade split the gigantic limb from wrist to shoulder.
The severed mass crashed into the forest like a collapsing fortress.
Adrean landed lightly atop the fallen roots.
He rested the greatsword across one shoulder.
Looking up at the towering nightmare.
"This..."
A grin spread beneath the visor.
"...is going to be fun."