"Falami, you are surrounded on all sides. You've fallen straight into our encirclement. Lay down your arms and surrender now."
The man clad in radiant golden holy armor sneered arrogantly at the figure before him, his smile brimming with undisguised superiority.
Falami stood there, wearing the expression of one who would rather die than submit. His skeletal bone battle armor was shattered and riddled with cracks, and through those fissures could be seen layers of wounds—some shallow, others deep. Mounted upon his shoulders were two beast-head pauldrons; the one on his left had already collapsed, exposing a blood-soaked shoulder beneath. His entire right arm was a gruesome sight—crimson from shoulder to fingertips, flesh torn open to the point where bone was visible. It was clearly beyond saving.
Yet despite his battered and miserable appearance, Falami's resolve to fight to the very end remained unmistakable.
He knew all too well that there was no path left for him. Even if he surrendered, death would be his only fate. The people standing before him would never allow him to leave alive.
"There is no need for further words, Lofit," Falami said coldly.
"Let us end this in battle."
With that, Falami forced the last remnants of mana within his body to surge forth. Dozens of skeletal warriors clawed their way up from the ground at his command. Moments later, as he chanted under his breath, the skeletons suddenly began to collapse—bones breaking apart and reforming—layer upon layer, merging into a single colossal skeletal construct.
Lofit's expression changed the instant he saw the towering skeletal amalgamation.
"Delina!" he shouted urgently. "Cast a Ninth-Tier Light Spell—now! The rest of us will hold it back!"
Dressed in a plain white mage's robe, Delina immediately began reciting the incantation of a ninth-tier light spell. Behind her, intricate golden sigils slowly manifested, glowing brighter with each passing second.
On the other side of the battlefield, Lofit and the others engaged the massive skeletal warrior. After several exchanges, many of their companions had already been injured. Though the giant skeleton was shattered repeatedly, it reassembled itself time and again—an endless cycle of destruction and rebirth that made it exceedingly difficult to deal with.
As the halo of light behind Delina grew ever more radiant, Falami knew his remaining time was running out.
Skeletons stood no chance against pure light magic—it was a guaranteed death sentence.
Without hesitation, Falami bit his finger and used his own blood to draw a complex sigil upon the ground.
This was his final gambit.
A desperate, all-or-nothing strike.
To anyone else, such blood-fueled magic would be suicide—but Falami was a necromancer. Damage to mere flesh alone could not completely annihilate him.
Lofit noticed Falami's actions immediately. Having once been part of the same group, he knew Falami's spellcasting methods all too well.
Without the slightest hesitation, Lofit withdrew from battle and raised his holy sword. With a sweeping motion from left to right, he constructed a semi-elliptical barrier of sacred light, enveloping himself within it.
"Morgan! Activate the Ancient Teleportation Ritual—now!"
Since Falami dared to unleash the Bloodflesh Detonation, Lofit knew there was no longer any trace of camaraderie between them. There was no need for mercy.
If Falami could not be captured alive, then he would be erased entirely.
The ancient teleportation ritual was capable of sending anything into an entirely unknown world.
Let the ancient God of Light pass judgment upon him.
Falami was unaware of their plan. He had never even heard of the ancient teleportation ritual. Oblivious to the danger closing in, he continued carving the sigils of the Bloodflesh Detonation.
Suddenly, strands of radiant light flared beneath Falami's feet.
He froze.
Something was wrong.
In an instant, he forcefully activated the Bloodflesh Detonation spell.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
A series of violent explosions erupted across Falami's body. Flesh tore apart in rapid succession, fragmenting into countless tiny pieces. Those fragments gathered and condensed into small lumps of blood and flesh, while the surrounding blood mist swiftly formed into long, slender columns.
Each column connected multiple blood fragments, stretching taut like blood-red strings.
Then—
They shot outward in all directions, streaking toward the surrounding enemies.
At this moment, Falami's body was a mangled ruin. Limbs were incomplete, flesh shredded beyond recognition. Only a pale, deathly face remained intact.
Yet he did not worry.
Necromantic arts that harmed both caster and enemy were brutal—but terrifyingly powerful. Even if his enemies did not die, they would be grievously wounded.
Buzz—!
Beams of holy light suddenly burst forth around Falami, forming a luminous ring that sealed him inside.
The blood fragments froze midair.
Tens of thousands of flesh particles hung motionless, suspended in the air—an eerie, nightmarish tableau.
In the next instant, those fragments reversed direction.
They were sucked back into the ring as if drawn by a colossal vortex.
The light barrier resembled a massive maw, devouring every last piece of blood and flesh.
Falami's face tightened.
He had underestimated them.
Though unwilling to accept it, Falami had reached the end of the road. Powerless to resist, he could only watch as the blood fragments hurtled back toward him one after another.
"Farewell, Falami."
Lofit's lips curled into a contemptuous smile—the unmistakable expression of a victor standing above the fallen.
Falami locked eyes with the man in golden holy armor as the returning fragments slammed violently into his shattered body.
Before he could react—
A blinding column of golden light erupted skyward from within the barrier.
The colossal skeletal warrior collapsed completely, its bones scattering across the ground.
The golden ring of light slowly dissipated.
Falami was