The blast from Morix and Gabriel's clash had barely settled when dust rolled over the battlefield like a second wave of smoke. For a moment, no one moved. Soldiers human and demonic stared nervously at the swirling crater where the two monsters stood.
Rales placed a hand over his eyes, squinting.
"Damn… they're really tearing the land apart."
Lucia didn't even hear him. She took one trembling step forward.
"Morix… please hold on…"
Facilia touched her arm gently.
"Lucia, wait. Look at him."
Her voice trembled but with fear, not weakness.
Morix stood in the center of the crater, chest rising violently, red lightning crawling across his skin. His pupils were almost gone swallowed by darkness.
Lucia whispered, "This isn't just rage. Something is… wrong."
Rales nodded grimly.
"Because he's not thinking. He's just… reacting."
Facilia exhaled sharply, voice dropping.
"It's the Wrath Blessing. The more he fights while emotionally unstable, the more the Blessing overrides his mind. He can't use his experience… his techniques… he becomes pure instinct."
She looked at Lucia.
"He's not fighting like Morix right now. He's fighting like Wrath itself."
Lucia's eyes widened with a sudden realization.
"So Gabriel isn't overpowering Morix… Morix is overpowering himself."
Rales clenched his jaw.
"That idiot… he's the strongest person here and he still refuses to slow down when he needs it most."
Facilia nodded.
"And Gabriel noticed it."
Gabriel's Smile
Inside the crater, Gabriel dusted his shoulder casually, as if Morix's explosive attack had only knocked off a bit of imaginary dirt.
"You're loud," Gabriel said, rolling his neck. "And messy. And very, very angry."
He tapped his chin thoughtfully.
"But strength without clarity is nothing more than noise."
Morix let out a guttural growl half human, half something else. His body flickered with unstable bursts of crimson light.
Gabriel grinned.
"Oh? You're transforming while fighting me? How arrogant."
He raised his hammer.
"I like arrogance. But only when it's earned."
Morix lunged, fist cutting through the air like a burning meteor.
Gabriel didn't dodge this time.
He stepped into the punch.
Their collision sent a shockwave that flipped corpses, toppled trees, and cracked the ground. But only one of them staggered back.
Morix.
Gabriel didn't move an inch.
He raised a brow.
"You hit like thunder, boy. But thunder without lightning…"
He leaned forward, golden eyes flaring.
"…is just noise."
He slammed the head of his hammer into Morix's stomach.
Morix flew.
He crashed through two broken siege towers, skidding across the dirt until he dug a deep trench with his body.
Lucia screamed, "Morix!"
Gabriel looked over his shoulder at her.
"You should call him back before I get bored."
Morix Tries to Rise
Morix stood, screaming in pain but not from the wound. From the pressure inside him. His veins bulged, his aura convulsed violently.
Lucia took a step but Facilia held her back firmly.
"No! If you go now, he will strike you by instinct. He can't tell friend from foe."
Lucia clenched her fists.
"So what do we do? Just watch him suffer?!"
Facilia's eyes softened.
"We trust him. And we trust that someone will reach him."
Rales crossed his arms.
"And right now, that 'someone' is the last person Morix wants to hear."
Gabriel Approaches the Broken Warrior
Gabriel walked toward Morix with slow, heavy steps, each one echoing like a war drum.
"Stand up properly," he said calmly. "If you're going to fight the sun, at least do it on your feet."
Morix pushed himself up again, teeth grinding, blood dripping down his jaw. His arm warped with dark red energy, his muscles pulsing uncontrollably.
Gabriel watched the shaking arm.
"Overusing borrowed power… not even channeling it properly."
He sighed.
"You're lucky you didn't explode."
Morix roared and charged again.
He swung wildly fast, brutal, desperate. But each attack was blocked with a single hand, a twist of the wrist, a small shift of Gabriel's body.
Gabriel chuckled.
"Where is the boy who surprised me earlier? Where is the fighter who trained for years?"
He slapped Morix's fist aside.
"All I see now is a child throwing a tantrum."
Morix's fury spiked.
Lightning burst from his back.
His speed doubled.
His punches blurred.
Even Gabriel's eyes widened slightly.
"Oh? Not bad."
But even faster…
Even stronger…
It still wasn't enough.
Gabriel lifted his hammer with both hands for the first time.
"You've earned one serious strike."
He vanished.
Reappeared above Morix.
And brought the hammer down.
BOOOOOOM
The earth caved. Soldiers were thrown to the ground. A massive crater opened beneath Morix.
Lucia gasped, covering her mouth.
Rales's eyes widened.
"He put him down with that one blow…"
Facilia swallowed hard.
"No… look."
Inside the crater, buried in rubble, Morix's fingers twitched.
Then moved.
He pushed himself up on shaking arms.
Gabriel stared down at him, eyes narrowing not mocking this time, but… impressed.
"You're a stubborn one, aren't you?"
Morix didn't hear. He only roared, blood dripping, aura shaking like an unstable storm.
Gabriel's face hardened.
"Stay down, boy. You've already lost."
Morix lunged again.
Gabriel frowned.
"You really don't listen."
With a sigh, Gabriel pivoted and smashed the handle of his hammer across Morix's jaw.
Morix froze mid-charge.
His jaw cracked.
His body spun in the air
and slammed into the ground like a falling star.
This time, he didn't rise.
Gabriel looked down at the unconscious Morix and whispered:
"You fought well… but you fought blind."
As Gabriel turned away, something shifted in the air. A black mist swirled around Morix's body, cool and soft like night rain.
Lucia noticed first.
"That mist… I've seen it before…"
Rales whispered, "No way… inside his dreams?"
A silhouette appeared tall, elegant, faceless, wearing a flowing veil of darkness.
The Faceless Lady.
She knelt beside Morix, touching his cheek gently with a hand that had no fingers, no shape only warmth.
Morix's aura calmed instantly.
His muscles relaxed.
The violent lightning around him faded like dying embers.
The Lady whispered voice echoing like distant lullabies.
"Sleep, beloved storm."
Morix's eyes closed.
He slumped into peaceful unconsciousness for the first time.
The Faceless Lady vanished.
Lucia sprinted forward before anyone could stop her.
"MORIX!"
She fell to her knees beside him, holding his face.
"Morix! Please speak! Please look at me!"
Facilia knelt too, checking his pulse.
"He's alive. Stable. But drained. He needs to be taken to the capital immediately."
Lucia looked at her with teary eyes.
"I'll take him. I'll stay with him. I won't let him out of my sight."
Facilia nodded gently.
Rales walked forward, voice trembling.
"Brother… I'm worried for you too. But the battle isn't done yet."
He stepped back, exhaling.
"I'll handle things here. You rest. You've done enough."
As they prepared to move Morix, his legendary weapon the Blade of the Calamity God fell from the air, embedding itself into the ground like a meteor.
THUD.
Lucia flinched.
Gabriel glanced at the sword and smirked.
"Ah. The tantrum stick."
Rales laughed nervously.
"Can you… pick it up?"
Gabriel grabbed the handle.
Veins popped on his arm.
He pulled again.
Nothing.
His eyes twitched.
"…Interesting."
He let go.
"Tch. Not worth the effort."
Not far away, Damion watched them while slashing through enemies.
His eyes narrowed dark, burning.
"So everyone worries for Morix…"
He cut down another demon brutally.
"…but no one sees me."
He charged deeper into Mammon's army with reckless pride.
Gabriel swung his hammer over his shoulder.
"Well, that's enough entertainment."
He cracked his neck.
"No one else here is worth my time. And if I stay any longer…"
He smirked, walking away.
"…my beloved will get worried."
Rales shouted, "Where the hell are you going now?!"
Gabriel waved without looking back.
"A place with fewer weaklings."
Lucia lifted Morix's unconscious body onto the carriage toward the capital, tears falling silently.
Rales raised Morix's banner high, shouting:
"EVERYONE! PROTECT THE GENERALS! THIS WAR ISN'T OVER YET!"
The battlefield roared back.
Far above, unseen by all, red lightning cracked silently across the sky.
Wrath… was waking.
Even unconscious, Morix's destiny was shifting.