He stood atop a black monolith, beneath a domed ceiling of stained glass — depicting gods long abandoned. His white mask glowed faintly with cracks of red.
"You came, Herzl," Kael said, his voice smooth and calm. "Just in time to see history die."
Herzl stepped forward, bloodied but unbowed. "Your Republic has fallen."
"Oh, Herzl," Kael chuckled. "The Republic was never a nation. It was an idea — that man can build perfection through chaos."
"Then chaos ends with you," Grim said, raising his blade.
Kael leapt down, his mask cracking slightly at the edge. "Tell me, Herzl… Have you never wondered why your hands never shake, even after killing?"
Herzl paused.
"What?"
"Because we're the same," Kael whispered. "You wear righteousness like armor. I simply wear a mask."
Without another word, the fight began.
Kael moved like wind and fire. His Inn energy warped the space around him, turning bullets to mist and bending steel like clay. Grim and Herzl fought in tandem — blade and gun, grit and fury.
But Kael was no ordinary foe.
He disarmed Grim in seconds, sending him crashing through a marble pillar. Herzl faced him alone.
"You think you've won," Kael said, dodging a flurry of strikes. "But when this fortress falls, so will the mountains — and buried beneath it… is the Leviathan Protocol."
Herzl froze. "That's a myth."
Kael smiled. "Is it?"
The final clash came like a thunderclap. Herzl, bleeding and broken, channeled every last thread of Inn within him — not for power, but for clarity.
He didn't fight Kael.
He out-thought him.
When Kael struck, Herzl let him, stepping into the pain and planting a blast mine on Kael's exposed chest — the same device used on Herzl's fallen comrades months ago.
Boom.
Kael's mask shattered.
He collapsed to one knee, coughing blood, his face revealed — not aged, but young. Too young.
"You're… just a boy," Herzl whispered.
Kael smiled through blood. "Ideas… don't age."
With a final whisper, Kael pressed a trigger in his palm — activating a countdown.
The mountain began to collapse.
Herzl dragged Grim to his feet. "We need to go. Now."
Outside: The Aftermath
Explosions ripped through the mountains as the team escaped on a stolen skyship. The Republic's final fortress crumbled behind them — consumed by flame and stone.
News spread quickly.
The Republic had fallen.
The Kingdom of Alexandria had won.
But as Herzl watched the burning mountains from the ship deck, he felt no triumph. Only emptiness.
And beneath it all — far deeper than anyone realized — the Leviathan Protocol stirred.
A heart began to beat in the darkness.