Dark blue lightning and crimson energy rained across the battlefield.
The sky itself looked shattered.
Fragments of stars drifted through the darkness like burning ashes, while black, red, and blue lightning spread endlessly across the heavens.
Even the remaining mountains around the battlefield had begun collapsing.
Huge cracks spread through the earth.
Rocks crumbled into dust.
Far away from the center of the battle—
Sota's body was violently thrown backward by the shockwave.
"THAMM—!"
His back slammed against a giant stone.
For several moments, everything around him became blurry.
"…Ugh…"
His vision trembled.
Slowly—
His eyes began opening.
The moment he looked ahead—
His pupils widened violently.
His entire body froze.
In front of him—
The world had changed completely.
A massive darkness covered the sky.
Countless stars shimmered inside it.
Blue lightning roared across the heavens while crimson energy twisted through the air like giant serpents.
It no longer looked like a battlefield.
It looked like a piece of outer space had descended onto earth.
"W-What…"
"…is this…?"
Sota's voice trembled.
Then suddenly—
The enormous cosmic sky ahead of him began shrinking.
The darkness compressed inward.
The stars folded into themselves.
The lightning collapsed toward a single point.
Slowly…
The giant sky became smaller and smaller—
Until it turned into a tiny black sphere floating in the air.
Sota stared at it in disbelief.
The sphere looked unstable.
As if an entire world had been compressed into something no larger than a human head.
He quickly stood up and began running toward it.
But after taking only a few steps—
He noticed something.
A tiny crack appeared on the surface of the sphere.
"…!"
Sota instantly stopped moving.
The crack slowly spread across the surface.
Another crack appeared.
Then another.
The sphere trembled violently.
For a brief second—
The entire world became silent.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOM—!!
The sphere exploded.
A terrifying wave of energy blasted across the battlefield.
Sota was thrown far backward once again.
Blinding white light swallowed everything.
The world disappeared inside the explosion.
Sota could barely open his eyes within the overwhelming brightness.
His ears rang violently.
Dust and light filled the air.
Then—
Through the fading white glow—
He saw a figure standing.
A shadow holding a sword.
And beside that figure—
A body was lying motionless on the ground.
The dust slowly began settling.
The light faded little by little.
And the moment Sota finally saw clearly—
His mouth remained open in shock.
"…H-How…"
"M-Medusa…"
Standing amidst the destroyed battlefield—
Medusa held his black sword tightly in one hand.
Blood flowed from his forehead.
His armor was broken.
His body trembled from exhaustion.
But his eyes—
His eyes were fixed only on Mike.
Sota's lips trembled.
"M-Medusa…"
"…you won…?"
The dust finally disappeared completely.
Silence covered the battlefield once again.
Then Medusa spoke quietly.
A broken voice filled with pain.
"…Why…"
"…did you do this…?"
"…Mike…"
At that moment—
Inside the collapsing darkness from earlier—
A memory resurfaced.
The final clash between Mike and Medusa.
Their swords had been locked against each other inside that cosmic abyss.
Energy exploded around them endlessly.
And amidst that destruction—
A weak voice reached Medusa.
"Medusa…"
"…thank you…"
Mike's eyes had slightly regained their humanity.
For the first time—
The madness inside them weakened.
His voice trembled softly.
"I could never completely escape this curse…"
"But…"
"You and Sota…"
"…treated me like a human."
"…not a monster."
Tears slowly gathered at the corners of Mike's eyes.
The darkness surrounding him trembled violently.
"You two…"
"…thank you…"
A faint smile appeared on his face.
A painful smile.
"One day…"
"I wanted to spend more time with both of you…"
For a moment—
The real Mike finally returned.
Then slowly—
Mike lowered his sword.
The overwhelming darkness around him began fading.
"Don't blame yourselves…"
Those were his final words.
And then—
A massive light swallowed both of them entirely.
The memory ended.
Back in reality—
Mike's body lay motionless on the destroyed ground.
Medusa knelt beside him silently.
Blood dripped from Medusa's chin onto the earth below.
His grip on the sword slowly weakened.
"…Mike…"
"…I wish…"
"…I could've saved you…"
The wind quietly passed across the ruined battlefield.
The stars above had disappeared.
The crimson lightning was gone.
Only silence remained.
A painful—
Unbearable silence.
And beside Mike's lifeless body—
Medusa lowered his head for the first time.