The echo of battle had already faded, but the forest still reeked of fresh blood and burnt mana.
The crusaders—the few still alive—were fleeing.
They were neither retreating nor regrouping; they were running like cornered animals.
Some still bore traces of Velyrion's golden glow upon their armor.Others carried mutilated bodies, torn apart by creatures born from the divine clash.
There was no fear in their eyes…
There was abandonment.
The certainty that their gods were no longer watching them.
Lusian walked against that human current.
His cloak was torn, his skin covered in dust and чужa blood, his eyes hollow—those of a man who had crossed too many lines in too little time.
A crusader recognized him as he passed:
"L-Lusian!" he stammered, his legs trembling, fear betraying him.
Lusian didn't even turn his head.
He simply kept walking.
With every step, mana sighed in the air like a dying animal.
The land of Douglas was a freshly opened corpse.
And ahead, among uprooted trees and smoking earth, two figures waited for him.
Emily.Kara.
Emily was the first to run toward him.
"Lusian!" Her voice broke, though she fought to steady it.
Kara arrived a moment later, studying him with the cold precision of a warrior.
"Are you hurt?"
"No. It's not my blood," Lusian replied, his tone softer with her than he intended. "Are you alright?"
Emily didn't answer right away.
Her eyes scanned the devastation: corpses, shattered armor, trees reduced to splintered fragments floating in the air.
"Did… the gods do this?" she murmured.
There was no accusation in her voice.
There was betrayal.
Kara clenched her jaw, holding back a cry she couldn't tell was rage or fear.
"Lusian… you know they're hunting you," she said at last. "But this… this is something else.Why?What the hell are they trying to do?Why punish everyone like this?"
Lusian took a slow breath.
He had no strength left to lie.
Nor to soften the truth.
"The gods aren't immortal," he said at last. "They need believers… prayers… they need people to worship them to keep existing.The mana phenomenon… was caused by them."
Emily's eyes widened, as if the world itself had split apart.
"Then… all these people…" She covered her mouth with both hands."They were just… resources?"
"Yes," Lusian answered.
The word fell like a stone into a bottomless well.
Kara kicked a rock in fury.
"Damn it!" she shouted. "We're their soldiers, not their livestock!"
Emily stepped closer to Lusian.
Her hand trembled as she took his.
"We came to help you," she whispered. "Not to judge you.But seeing this…" her lips quivered,"I don't know if believing in them still makes any sense."
The wind, heavy with red dust, swirled around them in small spirals, as if the world itself still writhed in pain.
Lusian said nothing.
He wanted to tell them the whole truth…
But he knew it would sound more like madness than revelation.
Then—
From deep within the ruined forest, a scream tore through the air.
Emily tightened her grip on Lusian's hand.Kara drew her sword instantly.
And from between the trees, Alejandro, Leonardo, and Xiomara emerged.
Alejandro raised his weapon, his eyes burning with hatred and grief.
"LUSIAN! We finally found you!"
A torrent of flames burst from his hands, scorching leaves and branches. Lusian reacted, deflecting the blasts with roots and debris that rose around him, turning the terrain into his ally. Each explosion lit his face, revealing focus—and restraint.
But before Alejandro could strike again, a voice stopped him:
"Alejandro, stop!" Emily cried, running toward him. "You're not the one who should do this!"
For a moment, both Alejandro and Lusian hesitated.
Alejandro's eyes—full of fury and anguish—met Emily's.
Lusian froze, stunned by her intervention.
That single second of hesitation cracked him from within.
Leonardo saw it.
It was enough.
The third prince slipped along the flank, silent as a blade through leaves.
A surge of lightning slammed into Lusian's back, burning through his shoulder and tearing a muffled cry from him. The impact staggered him, folding his body as pain coursed through every muscle.
Alejandro seized the opening.
Fire roared forward.
The flames illuminated Lusian's face—his concentration, his agony.
With a desperate effort, Lusian dodged as best he could, every movement strained, pain tearing through him.
"Enough, Leonardo!" Kara shouted, stepping between them, absorbing and deflecting the electricity with everything she had. "Don't touch him!"
Lusian struggled to breathe, blood pouring from his shoulder wound.
For a moment, doubt froze him.
Every muscle screamed.
But he couldn't afford to fail.
With a desperate surge of mana, he acted.
Spikes erupted from the ground, ensnaring Alejandro's leg and dragging him down.
Lusian moved.
One precise, brutal strike—
And the fury of Emily's childhood friend was extinguished.
Alejandro fell lifeless.
But the battle was not over.
Leonardo and Xiomara ignored Kara and Emily's cries, pressing forward relentlessly.
Leonardo's attacks shattered trunks and sparked against the air, while Xiomara shaped water into fluid whips that struck with lethal precision.
Wounded and exhausted, Lusian knew he could not retreat anymore.
Kara intercepted Leonardo's lightning, shielding Lusian while he focused on Xiomara.
With a calculated motion, Lusian seized control of the flow of mana—redirecting Xiomara's own water, binding it around her, forcing it to turn against her.
She fought with everything she had.
Her face reflected disbelief… and resolve.
But there was no escape.
With one final surge of mana, Lusian ended it.
Xiomara collapsed—soaked, drained, defeated.
The forest seemed to hold its breath.
Leonardo roared in fury, pushing forward, unstoppable.
Kara and Emily fought beside him—shouting, pushing, pleading—but nothing could halt his advance.
Lusian, barely standing, saw the opening.
As Leonardo struggled against Kara—
Lusian unleashed everything.
A concentrated strike of mana pierced through Leonardo's back—
straight through his heart.
A precise, merciless blow extinguished his obsession and fury.
Leonardo collapsed, unconscious, as the forest trembled with the echo of his final roar.
Lusian fell to his knees.
His body trembled, covered in wounds and burns.
Every breath was an effort.
Every heartbeat—a reminder of the price.
Kara and Emily approached, terrified and exhausted.
Around them lay the motionless bodies of Alejandro, Xiomara, and Leonardo.
The forest was shattered:
broken branches, dying flames, water pooled into silent mirrors.
At last—
darkness claimed Lusian.
His vision blurred.
And he collapsed unconscious among roots and debris,
surrounded by the absolute silence of the forest—
a silent witness to the battle…
and to the price of the gods.