From the ruins of the Goblin City, smoke still curled into the sky like dying breath. Silence should have followed victory. Instead—something moved.
Out of the haze stepped a figure.
A Goblin Ninja.
Before anyone could react, a massive shuriken tore through the air. It struck Jhonathan's helmet with devastating force, shattering it into fragments of metal that scattered across the ground.
The crowd froze.
Then the ninja moved again.
In an instant, he split—then split again—until thousands of shadow clones filled the battlefield. Each one lunged toward Jhonathan's exposed head, aiming for the one vulnerable point left.
Sylviana shifted beside him, but there were too many.
Jhonathan exhaled.
Something inside him sharpened.
A blade formed in front of him—condensed from pure magicules, unstable and raw. But he did not use it like magic. He drove it into the ground instead.
The earth cracked.
A violent surge of force erupted outward—not spellcraft, not technique, but pure strength forced into reality. The clones were obliterated instantly, dissolving like smoke under pressure.
The Goblin Ninja staggered back.
Jhonathan stepped forward.
He swung.
The strike did not glow. It did not shimmer. It simply happened.
A massive shockwave tore across the ruins, flattening what remained of the Goblin Utopia in a single devastating arc. The force alone was enough to silence even the wind.
The Goblin Ninja froze in terror.
His confidence broke.
In moments, he was bound and dragged forward, still shouting.
"LET ME GOOOOO!"
Jhonathan didn't even look at him.
"You're coming with us," he said flatly.
The ninja blinked. "W-what?"
No one answered.
By the time the dust settled, the group had already begun moving again.
The Goblin Ninja, still tied up, was forced to follow behind them, ranting and struggling as if reality itself had betrayed him.
But something had changed.
The path ahead was no longer just survival.
It was direction.
The First Star—Pride—was drawing near.
And with every step, the weight of what Jhonathan was walking toward became heavier… and more inevitable.