"What happened to you?"
Nothing. I'm just tired.
Tired of watching this world.
Nothing feels right anymore.
I've seen countless worlds... countless civilizations.
No matter where I go, the same people always exist.
People who crush the weak.
People who rule through fear.
Why can't everyone unite against them?
What's stopping them?
...
No.
Maybe the problem isn't the world.
Maybe...I'm simply tired.
"Can you hear me?"
Yes.
I hear every word.
I'm just... too exhausted to answer.
"Do you know who I am?"
Does it even matter?
I can barely think.
One of my allies is dead...
And I couldn't save him.
If I had returned sooner...
He would've survived.
He told me so many plans.
He wanted to marry Nini.
Leave all these battles behind.
Build a quiet little family.
Yesterday...
He smiled while talking about it.
He was finally looking forward to life.
...
Now he's gone.
No...
He chose to sacrifice himself.
"Was that really your fault?"
...Yes.
I was too weak.
If I can't protect my own comrades...
Then I have no right to speak about justice.
Anything I say would become hypocrisy.
"Then why are you still resting while your friends are fighting Haidoro?"
...
My eyes snapped open.
What...
What am I doing?
Yash...
Griho...
Everyone's still fighting.
But...
Can I even help them anymore?
"You can. Stop underestimating yourself. Everyone gets their moment. Surya had his. Now it's your turn."
...
"What was your dream?"
...
My dream?
I wanted to become the Leader of the Immortalus Society.
"Why?"
Because...
I was a coward.
I never had a dream when I became a sorcerer.
So I picked one.
Without ever understanding the burden that came with it.
"Has that dream changed?"
...
Yes.
Being the Leader...
doesn't matter anymore.
Now...
I finally know what I truly want to become.
"What do you want to be?"
...
"A savior."
I slowly rose to his feet.
Some of my hair had turned blue.
Probably because of Trigger Four.
It didn't matter.
My body felt unbearably heavy.
Using Trigger Four had consumed an absurd amount of Dark Energy Reserves.
More than I had ever used before.
Yet...
Strangely...
I still didn't feel empty.
That thought alone sent a chill down my spine.
I'll check my reserves once I return to Earth.
Surya gave up his life.
That truth would never change.
But the future...
The future could still be protected.
Regretting the past wouldn't save anyone.
Protecting tomorrow would.
Griho must have returned by now.
He and Yash were probably keeping Haidoro occupied.
I couldn't tell how much time had passed.
But waiting any longer wasn't an option.
I clenched my fists.
"I won't hold back anymore."
"No matter what stands in front of me..."
"I'll defeat Haidoro."
"That's all that matters."
With renewed resolve...
I began running toward the distant destruction.
After several minutes...
I arrived.
...
My pupils shrank.
"So..."
"It really happened..."
My knees gave out beneath me.
Again...
Again...
Why did this always happen?
Ganaraj lay motionless.
I could still hear a heartbeat.
He was alive.
Barely.
Yash stood nearby, bloodied yet unbroken.
Griho was covered in fresh wounds despite only recently recovering.
But none of that shattered Pratik.
What truly broke him...
...was Ganari.
She wandered toward the edge of the cliff.
Her empty eyes searched the air.
"My Lord...Where are you...? I...your servant..."
"...am still here..."
Her voice trembled.
She smiled faintly.
Then...
She stepped forward.
No hesitation.
No scream.
She disappeared into the endless sea of magma below.
...
Nobody moved.
Nobody could.
Haidoro stood before them.
Watching.
Another family...
Gone.
"GRAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!"
*
Pratik's scream echoed across the shattered world.
Even the battlefield fell silent.
Yash immediately teleported himself...
Griho...
And Ganaraj away.
Good.
That was enough.
Now...
He could end this.
Haidoro himself was injured.
Good.
Maybe...
Just maybe...
This time—
No.
None of that mattered anymore.
"It seems you've returned."
"But you have very little time."
"Tell me..."
"How exactly do you plan to defeat me?"
As he spoke...
Haidoro transformed into his Dragon Beast Form.
[Pratik]: Shut... THE HELL UP! Trigger 4, PLASMA!!
Everything around Pratik melted.
Then evaporated.
Haidoro walked toward him...
Unafraid.
Before either warrior reached the other...
The earth itself split apart.
Their first collision erased everything for miles.
Thousands of exchanges erupted within a single instant.
The violence became impossible to perceive.
The force surrounding Pratik bent inward...
As though gravity itself had begun collapsing around him.
"Hmph..."
"Magma Breath."
A colossal torrent of magma roared toward Pratik—
Only to vaporize before reaching him.
"My assumption was correct..."
Haidoro activated...
Range Shiftling: Convergence.
It failed.
Pratik's Divergence nullified it completely.
Nothing solid remained beneath Pratik.
Everything around him had become plasma.
He floated effortlessly within the inferno.
Thunder was impossible.
Even the clouds had turned into plasma.
Every pulse released from Pratik flattened the landscape with sonic shockwaves.
The planet's crust vaporized.
Oceans disappeared.
The world was becoming nothing more than scorched rock.
Even Haidoro...
Could feel the heat.
His natural armor...
Was beginning to soften.
"So..."
"This is the power born from your determination."
"Let's see..."
"If it can overcome my rage."
Dragon energy gathered inside Haidoro's jaws.
Range Shiftling—Mild Amplifier.
150%.
Pratik slowly raised his hand.
[Pratik]: You're wrong. This isn't determination against rage.
...
[Pratik]: It's rage...Against rage.
His own amplifier ignited.
200%.
Even his Range Shiftling trembled beneath the impossible temperature.
Without Pratik sustaining it...
It would've vaporized instantly.
Then—
Both attacks erupted.
Dragon Breath.
Plasma Output.
Dark Energy.
They collided at relativistic speeds.
Reality screamed.
Everything turned to dust.
The planet...
Exploded.
A world larger than Earth shattered into countless fragments.
Most of it vaporized.
Only scattered rocky remnants escaped into space.
Both fighters crashed onto one surviving fragment—
Barely the size of a city.
Haidoro's Dragon Beast Form collapsed.
His natural armor had shattered.
His body bled from countless wounds.
He reverted to his Dragoling form.
Barely able to stand.
Then...
"Hahahahahaha!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Haidoro froze.
Pratik...
Was laughing.
His body was heavily wounded itself.
His skin burned.
Blood covered him.
He should've collapsed.
Instead...
He walked forward.
Smiling.
A smile that felt completely wrong.
[Pratik]: I made you a promise...
Haidoro remembered.
Their very first encounter.
The dog collar.
Pratik seized it.
[Pratik]: It's time...to repay everything.
He fastened the collar around Haidoro's neck.
Then dragged him across the broken battlefield.
Again.
Again.
Again.
"Hahahahaha!!"
"Wahahahaha!!"
He slammed Haidoro into shattered rock after shattered rock.
[Pratik]: Isn't this... Karma?
Haidoro finally grabbed the chain.
With one violent pull—
Pratik was hurled away.
[Haidoro]: You'll regret that...
Haidoro growled, grabbing him by the throat.
Pratik answered with a Dark Energy-coated kick directly to Haidoro's face.
The impact forced them apart.
They stood facing each other.
One bleeding.
The other laughing.
"Hahahahaha!!"
"Wahahahaha!!"
For the first time...
Haidoro's instincts ignored his pride.
Every instinct screamed the same thing.
Run.
This wasn't merely a human anymore.
Something darker...
Had awakened within him.
The true monster...
Was Pratik.
To be continued...