đźź Chapter 79:
🟧 Narrator's POV:
Khefi was in the second layer.
Meanwhile, Elnar, Ryo, and Takeru were stalling, trying to delay him until he entered the third layer and the flames consumed him.
Elnar created an enormous number of replicas—nearly a hundred in total.
Some took his own form, others took the forms of Takeru and Ryo.
All of them charged toward Khefi at once.
Khefi responded by unleashing a barrage of air blades, destroying the replicas one after another—
only to notice Ryo flying above him.
He fired an energy pulse at him, only to realize it was yet another replica.
It was merely a distraction for a bullet fired by Takeru—aimed straight at Khefi's heart.
Khefi noticed the bullet and opened a spatial rift, letting it pass through.
By the time all the replicas were destroyed, Khefi had fully entered the third layer.
The moment he entered it, the flow of mana inside his body destabilized.
This directly affected his Shock Absorption, rendering it inactive.
He began to burn for real.
For the first time, Khefi truly felt his life being threatened.
His skin scorched as pain overwhelmed him.
The others didn't waste the opportunity and attacked immediately.
Despite his internal energy being unstable, Khefi forced himself to concentrate on a single attack.
With Elnar exposed, Khefi fired a swift red energy pulse that passed between Takeru and Ryo and struck Elnar directly.
Because of his injured leg, Elnar couldn't dodge.
The pulse pierced straight through his abdomen, slamming him to the ground.
Blood spilled across the floor, and he lost consciousness instantly.
With Elnar down, Flame Layers dissipated—
and Khefi finally broke free.
Still, Ryo had already reached him.
Ryo's claws tore into Khefi's chest, but Khefi shifted his body just enough to prevent a deeper wound.
Grabbing his brother, Khefi left Elithius behind with Takeru and Ryo.
Elithius rushed to Elnar, panic overwhelming him as he feared losing his brother.
Ryo was equally worried about Elnar—but there was no time to dwell on it.
Seeing how easily Khefi had taken Elnar down made something painfully clear to him:
"If he wanted us dead from the beginning, we'd already be dead.
He wants us to die in the explosion."
As Khefi healed himself using his recovery technique, Takeru asked Ryo an odd question:
"Ryo… how fast would something be if you threw it?"
"I don't know. I've never tried—but it'd be extremely fast. Why?"
"I want you to throw me at Khefi."
Under normal circumstances, Ryo wouldn't have trusted those words.
But now—he understood Takeru better than ever.
"Is this one of your stupidly smart plans?"
Takeru smirked.
"Of course."
Ryo didn't hesitate.
He grabbed Takeru with one hand and hurled him straight toward Khefi, who was still healing.
Takeru felt his body launched like a projectile from a catapult.
The air slammed into his face, his clothes clung to his body from the speed, and his chest tightened.
For a moment, he feared the plan might fail catastrophically.
As he neared Khefi, Takeru fired a bullet aimed at his heart.
Annoyed beyond measure, Khefi launched an air blade the instant he noticed Takeru approaching.
He glanced at the bullet with irritation and tried to block it with his bare fist—
But just as it reached him—
[Swap]
The Factory system's voice echoed.
Takeru's arm was severed by the air blade, and his body crashed into the wall.
Meanwhile, instead of being struck by the bullet, Khefi found the bullet replaced by a long sword—
one Takeru had prepared in advance.
Khefi didn't have time to process what happened.
The sword—made of Neralite—pierced straight through Khefi's heart.
Earlier, the system had informed Takeru of a hidden feature of Factory:
he could swap objects he created with Factory itself.
The moment the sword was completed, Takeru executed the plan.
Takeru's body was covered in bruises from the impact, his severed arm bleeding heavily.
Yet part of the plan had always been to get thrown this far—
Because he was now right in front of the ruby.
"Gah… my arm's gone, my bones are shattered… this hurts way more than I expected."
He screamed in pain, but his will to survive forced him to endure.
He immediately activated Factory to absorb the ruby.
Khefi's fury escalated even further.
A wound to the heart put him in critical danger—if he didn't heal it quickly, he would die.
Still, he focused his gravitational crushing ability on Takeru, trying to stop the absorption—
But Ryo stepped in front of him.
"Not this time. I won't let you stop him."
Ryo punched Khefi in the face, forcing him back.
Khefi felt the pain—he hadn't activated Shock Absorption in that moment.
Ryo followed up with relentless punches until Khefi retaliated with a kick to Ryo's face.
Khefi then fired an energy pulse that traveled through three rifts and emerged behind Ryo.
Ryo shielded himself with his wings.
Meanwhile, Takeru had already absorbed a significant amount of the ruby.
Khefi continued healing his heart and burns, opened a massive rift, and tried to pass through it toward Takeru—
Only for Ryo to grab his leg and hurl him away.
Takeru kept absorbing.
More than half of the ruby was already gone.
Elithius pulled Elnar away from the battlefield so he wouldn't suffer further harm.
Khefi crushed Ryo with gravity, slamming him into the ground.
Using that opening, he lunged at Takeru to stop the absorption—
But Takeru suddenly received a notification:
[There is no remaining capacity to absorb more ruby.]
Takeru froze.
"You've got to be kidding me. Is my storage limited or something?"
[To increase capacity, you must either upgrade Factory or discard stored non-ruby items.]
"What is this—an old phone full of apps?"
Just as he was about to dump resources to make space, Khefi appeared in front of him.
Seeing the reduced amount of ruby, Khefi placed his foot on Takeru's stomach and prepared to finish him with an energy pulse—
But Elithius grabbed Rey again and shouted:
"Khefi! Don't you want your brother to live?"
Khefi hesitated for a split second.
That was enough.
Takeru fired at Khefi's hand, injuring it.
Khefi retaliated by kicking Takeru away from the remaining ruby and rushed toward Rey.
The gravity crushing Ryo ended.
He stood up and ran to Elithius.
Khefi grabbed his brother.
Ryo grabbed Elithius.
Takeru asked the system one final question:
"System… how much damage will the remaining ruby cause?"
[With this amount, the destruction will be limited to the palace and possibly slightly beyond.]
Takeru had absorbed far more than half.
The damage was greatly reduced—but escape was still impossible.
Another system message followed:
[By the way, the ruby has reached its peak.
The palace will explode in seconds.]
Takeru shouted the warning.
Khefi prepared to save himself and his brother by expanding Shock Absorption to cover them both—
But his heart was pierced once more from behind. It was Elnar-barely able to stand.
"Aren't you already dead?" Khefi gasped.
"I won't die… until you do."
Elnar collapsed.
Khefi panicked—unsure if he could heal his heart in time.
At that moment, Ryo acted.
He grabbed Elnar, Elithius, and Takeru, pulling them close and shielding them completely with his wings and body.
No one expected this.
Elithius stared at Ryo in disbelief.
"Ryo… what are you doing?"
Ryo smiled warmly.
"Prince… escaping is impossible. This is the best solution.
This transformation was already consuming my body—I wasn't going to live much longer anyway.
So let me do this one last thing.
Grow strong… and become a prince worthy of pride."
"No… that's impossible…"
Elithius collapsed, tears streaming down his face.
Elnar was barely conscious due to blood loss.
Elithius understood this was the right choice—
Yet all he could do was cry.
Ryo turned to Takeru.
"Takeru… meeting you was fun, even if it only lasted a few days.
It was an honor meeting you—and Haizen.
Send him my regards."
Takeru nodded with a faint smile.
"The honor was mine… Dragon Ryo."
Three seconds…
Two…
One—
The ruby exploded, and the palace was completely destroyed.