After that, Von led everyone away from the battlefield.No one spoke.Despair hung heavy in the air.
Ray was more than a leader.He was a father.He took them in, protected them, stood at the front of every fight—and now he was gone.
They made it to Vinatus, the city of Lustaria—one of the Seven—far up north in Windrise.They stayed at a quiet inn.
At the dinner table, no one touched their food.How could they?The weight of losing Ray crushed their spirits.But the one hit hardest was Elias.
She'd always admired him. Respected him. And in the end, she loved him.Now, with him gone, it felt like her reason to keep fighting, to keep living, had been ripped away.The missions. The wars. The purpose.It all felt meaningless now.She just wanted to give up.
Joseph was fuming in silence, rage simmering under his breath.On the way to Vinatus, he kept kicking rocks, throwing his gear, breaking whatever was near.
Wendy, despite feeling the same sorrow, tried to calm him down. She whispered words, held his arm, did her best not to break.
Stella, meanwhile, remained mostly quiet.She hadn't known Ray well.She'd only joined the group days ago.Yet there was a cold, hollow feeling in her chest—a strange echo of the same emptiness she'd felt when she lost Lumine… right in front of her eyes.
Von, as always, looked composed.But deep down—if anyone hurt the most—it had to be him.
---
"Joseph... Wendy..."Von knelt on the ground, cradling their lifeless bodies in his arms. Bloods of his and his comrades mixed on his body and also his tears.
"No... After everything we've been through… we still didn't make it."His voice cracked."I'm pathetic."
His eyes lifted to the horizon, where a growing darkness consumed the earth.And in the heart of that darkness stood a woman.A demonic mask on her face.Her aura pulsed—immense, oppressive, final.
"With my death," Von whispered, "so fell humanity."
Then—A dark spear pierced his heart.
"Where… am I?"
Von's soul floated above a vast, still lake.There was no land. No sky.Only endless water, reflecting light from nowhere.
A glow appeared in the distance.It moved closer, slowly taking the shape of a figure—radiant, divine.Three pairs of wings unfolded from its back.
Von shielded his eyes.
"Oh, child," the being spoke softly. "We have seen your sorrow. Though your life has ended… we, the Archangels, have chosen to act. We offer you another chance."
"Another chance…?" Von asked.
"Reincarnation," said the Archangel."This gift is rare. But because your essence is tied to time itself, you are eligible."
"I don't… I don't understand…"
"You will return to when you were eighteen. This gift will repeat—so long as you do not perish within three years of rebirth. If you survive, the cycle resets. If not, it ends."
She waved her hand gently over his eyes.Von's eyelids grew heavy.Her voice faded, but one last whisper reached him before sleep took hold:
"You are too precious to our Father. You must reach the ending.Von Erminsul, the Protagonist.Live the life Heaven awaits to see fulfilled."