Destruction waved on the horizon as if it were a painting crushed by the hands of an angry child.
Walls tilted…
columns bent…
and everywhere the scent of death and dust.
Even the sky itself seemed suffocated.
On the ground,
among the ruins,
SOLIMON leaned on a trembling arm,
His blood was drawing the map of the battle across his skin.
He lifted his head with difficulty,
His gaze was torn between pain and shock:
"What… does this mean, MOHITO?"
The words came out of a wounded throat,
as if begging for an explanation from another world.
MOHITO stood amid the devastation,
manifested like a ghost emerging from the heart of hell.
His crimson eyes… embers in a starless night.
And in his hand—
MORASAME gleamed as if it were the eye of a demon awaiting a new death.
MOHITO spoke in a voice like iron dragged across stone:
"I'm sorry, SOLI…
But I no longer belong to this place."
The air trembled.
Not from the force of an explosion…
but from the cruelty of truth.
From within the smoke,
a black shadow swayed,
a demonic monkey mask covering a face that knew no mercy.
He stood behind MOHITO like a companion born from darkness.
BALI whispered in a low, steady voice:
"It's time to leave."
MOHITO did not turn to him.
But he faced forward,
his steps heavy…
as if every step crushed the chest of someone he loved behind him.
"Do you think we will allow you to leave like this without an explanation?"
ZARYOUH said as he advanced toward the two
SOLIMON tried to stand—
but nano-fibre emerged from the ground…
and wrapped around their legs and arms like iron hands.
"M-MESNAS?"
The word escaped SOLIMON like a shock, refused to believe.
MESNAS was standing behind the command truck,
his head lowered…
His hand extended,
fibres launching from it as if they were part of him.
ZARYOUH shouted, trying to tear the wires apart:
"What are you doing…? MESNAAAS!!"
But the fibres tightened.
On the other side…
LOUVNA tried to exit the truck.
She pushed the door with all her strength—
But the door transformed into a digital lock, sealing automatically.
"MOHITO…" LOUVNA whispered.
"Impossible…!"
MONA screamed as she pounded on the door from inside.
ADEL tried to activate the control panel,
his fingers trembling:
"Who locked the door?!
This isn't my system!!"
He looked at OBASO…
who was moving toward MOHITO in silence,
with steps that carried no hesitation.
His face was lifeless.
ZARYOUH and SOLIMON's eyes widened:
"OBASO…?"
No one answered.
Then—
Something massive fell from the sky like a meteor.
A cloud of dust rose…
And when the smoke cleared,
ZAKI was standing there…
carrying his nano-hammer on his shoulder, without a single word.
No one commented.
No one screamed.
The silence was heavier than bullets.
BALI repeated firmly:
"Let's go."
He released it like a final command.
He vanished into the smoke.
ZAKI followed him…
then OBASO…
then MESNAS…
Each one passing beside MOHITO as if they were soldiers returning to their true commander.
As for MOHITO—
He turned one glance—
Only one glance toward SOLIMON.
A look that carried every battle…
every laugh…
every drop of blood…
every bond of brotherhood…
He turned away completely.
His steps grew distant.
Their weight was like stones falling upon their hearts.
He disappeared…
He disappeared into the smoke as a beautiful dream disappears into a merciless night.
And silence remained.
A silence that did not resemble calm…
but resembled an ending.
******************
The dust still hung in the air,
as if destruction itself refused to fall to the ground.
The sound of collapsing metal…
the smell of scorched earth…
and the echo of a battle that had ended...
Yet whose traces had not settled.
SOLIMON was still on his knee,
The nano-fibers began withdrawing from him little by little after MESNAS's departure…
But his eyes remained fixed on the road where MOHITO had vanished.
ZARYOUH stood beside him,
blood flowing from three wounds,
Yet he felt none of them…
He only felt the weight of truth that had fallen like a boulder upon his chest.
MONA… stood like a broken shadow,
her eyes fixed on LOUVNA.
As for LOUVNA,
her hand was on her chest,
her face pale,
her eyes never leaving the spot where MOHITO had vanished in the smoke.
SHOUTNA descended from the top of the shattered tower,
his steps steady…
He stood beside SOLIMON in long silence…
Then said in a low voice:
"He… has left."
No one responded.
Because everyone felt the heavy meaning behind the word.
MIZYANI remained standing at his place, looking at the sky
Stunned…
as if all the power he had been gathering had suddenly turned into emptiness.
GHAZLAN inside the truck,
the control device trembling in her hands…
not from fear, but from shock,
And she was not even able to touch the data screen.
ADEL was trying to comprehend what had happened,
But all that came out of him was:
"Why…?"
Suddenly—
The sound of many approaching footsteps.
Emergency sirens rising.
Black vehicle lights fill the entrance.
Royal Intelligence soldiers
and Special Intelligence Forces
stormed the square in their gray armor.
Their commander shouted:
"Move the wounded!
Seal the area immediately!
Check all gates!
Where is the Princess?!"
Several soldiers advanced toward SOLIMON and ZARYOUH,
But SOLIMON raised his hand with difficulty:
"Don't… touch me."
A high-ranking officer approached LOUVNA and bowed slightly:
"Your Highness… are you well?"
But LOUVNA heard nothing.
She was staring into the distant smoke…
as if waiting for a single shadow to return.
Another officer ran toward SHOUTNA:
"Sir! Reports indicate five unidentified figures left this area five minutes ago!
Are they—"
SHOUTNA cut him off coldly:
"Do not approach them."
The officer froze.
In the background,
Intelligent soldiers worked swiftly:
searching through rubble, treating the wounded, lifting debris…
But there was one thing no one could lift—
The weight of shock.
The weight of the void MOHITO left behind.
ZARYOUH approached SOLIMON, his voice hoarse:
"He… took them with him."
ZARYOUH whispered:
"OBASO… MESNAS… ZAKI…
Why did he take them?"
SOLIMON did not know the answer.
SHOUTNA alone knew.
SHOUTNA lifted his head toward the highest-ranking intelligence officer who had just arrived.
The officer said:
"We need a full report immediately.
What happened here?
Who was against whom?
And who were those who left?"
SHOUTNA looked at him sharply enough to make the officer step back:
"These questions…
will not find their answers tonight."
Then he added in a low tone,
But it sounded like a eulogy:
"One battle has ended…"
The smoke was slowly fading…
But the traces of his departure remained heavy
like a wound that does not heal.
And thus the battle ended…
The absence began.