The sky bled crimson.
Like a battlefield painted across the heavens, clouds stretched in violent hues overhead.Below, Riah stood motionless—eyes locked upward, her flame-wreathed form shimmering with tension.Around her, the others remained still—Jessie, Lihanna, Felicia, Tyrone, Kamaki, Raijin, Neve, and Gendai—none dared speak.As if the world itself had stopped to watch.
Far ahead, on the scorched battlefield…
Kazimir staggered.
Blood dripped from his mouth, his breath ragged, limbs shaking.
And then—
BOOM.
A searing beam of vampiric shadow and cursed blood tore through the sky.
Straight through his chest.
His eyes widened.
"—Gh!"
Blood sprayed into the air.The world tilted.Time slowed.
Kazimir's body shook violently—his strength cracking like a shattered sword.
High above, Ingress hovered—eyes wild, victorious.A madman cloaked in shadow, towering like a demon wrapped in holy delusion.
Kazimir lunged backward, his right arm limp and blackened. He blocked with his left—parrying Ingress's rapid strikes, each clash louder than thunder.
Clang! Clang! CLANG!
The world echoed with steel and despair.
Ingress narrowed his gaze.
He could smell it now—Kazimir's weakness. The blood in the air. The decay in his arm.
A twisted grin stretched his lips.
And then—he raised a new weapon. A sword of unknown make.Etched with runes. Dripping with necrotic energy.Behind him, a circle of magic tore open reality itself.
Kazimir looked up.And saw it.
An Eye.
Massive. Watching.Ancient beyond comprehension.
Then came the shape.
A silhouette.Wings. Fangs.Not a dragon.
A god that had forgotten how to die.
"…Necromancy…?" Kazimir whispered, trembling. "That's Mia's… power…"
The air split open with a deafening roar.
The dragon rose from the abyss—its wings eclipsing the sky, bones wrapped in arcane steel.A being of divine wrath, animated by hate.A High Dragon.A dead god reborn.
Riah gasped.Her voice barely left her throat.
"A… dragon? What… is this…?"
Neve's tone was colder than ice.
"That's not Ingress anymore. That's a god complex with a heartbeat."
Tyrone shouted, voice breaking:
"Look at Kazimir's arm! His right arm—it's rotting!!"
Gasps followed.
Black. Lifeless.Corrupted.
Raijin clenched his fists."Did that cursed blade… infect him?!"
Riah couldn't take it anymore.
"Enough," she hissed. "Screw this."
She stepped forward.Eyes glowing like dying stars.
"I'm going in. No matter what."
Lihanna stood beside her.
"Say the word."
Riah's voice cut like steel.
"Unleash the Maw, Kazimir… even if it destroys the world—don't die."
Kazimir stood, barely.Left hand gripping the nodachi.The dragon loomed like a titan behind Ingress.
And then—
He moved.
A blur of lightning.
Kazimir launched upward.His blade struck Ingress's chest—cracking his ribs.
BOOM.
The sky buckled.
The High Dragon roared, wings smashing the skyline.
Raijin's voice broke the silence.
"That… that's a world-tier threat!!"
Tyrone backed away, overwhelmed."Ingress has that kind of power?! This dragon could fight the gods!"
Far below, across the globe—
Humanity watched in silence.
And chose.
Not Kazimir.
Solaris.Worshippers fell to their knees.But not for the hero.For the monster.
Jessie screamed.
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! That thing is not your savior! Kazimir is the one saving you!! Are you all blind?!"
Neve placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her voice a whisper of pain.
"They've already chosen."
A pause.
"…Kazimir's not their hero. He's their weapon."
The dragon inhaled.
And the world burned.
DIVINE FIRE.
Kazimir ran, dodging pillars of flame.Shadows rained like razors. Ingress laughed, high above—raining blood-red bolts from the sky.
Kazimir jumped, nodachi overhead.
He pierced the dragon's eye.
A scream tore from its throat.
Then—
WHAM.
A direct hit.Flames engulfed him mid-air.He crashed.
CRASH.
His blade shattered.His body hit stone, skidding across scorched ground.
Blood pooled beneath him.
His aura—gone.
"KAZIMIR!!"
Riah bolted.
Her body exploded in light—the Pyre of the Origin Flames.
Pure vengeance incarnate.
"Felicia—get to him!" she roared. "I'll take the dragon!!"
Everything shifted.
Lihanna—Red Inferno Wave.Tyrone—Beast Form Unleashed.Felicia—Phoenix Ember Mode.Kamaki—Awakened.Jessie—Violet Crown Flame.Neve—Absolute Zero: Full Power.Gendai—Silver Emerald State.
They moved. Together.
Felicia and Gendai reached Kazimir first.
He lay motionless.
Face pale.
Still bleeding.
Felicia dropped beside him.
Flames formed in her palms—gentle, not searing.
Phoenix energy seeped into his wounds.
Gendai fell to her knees, placing his head in her lap, trembling.
"You're going to be okay," she whispered, trying to smile. "We're here… Just hold on…"
Felicia bit her lip, forcing focus.
"This… this is gonna take a while."
Gendai looked at her, alarmed.
"What?! Why?!"
Felicia looked down.
"My flames aren't like Riah's. Hers burn the injury away instantly. Mine… heal slowly. I can save him, but I need time."
A pause.
"Please… protect him until then."
Gendai looked down at Kazimir's broken body. Her voice cracked.
"Why didn't you let us help…?"
Her tears fell.
"Why did you always carry it alone…?"
She reached down—touching his cheek. Warm blood soaked her fingers.
"It was your fight, I get that… but dying like this…"
Her voice broke.
"It's torture."
Her tears dropped.
And in that moment—
Kazimir stirred.
Eyes fluttered.
Breath shallow.
But he heard her.
Even now…
Even from the brink of death—
He heard her.