The battlefield had ceased to resemble a battlefield.
The city was gone.
The mountains surrounding it had been reduced to broken fragments of stone.
The sky was filled with black, violet, and golden energy.
At the center of the destruction stood Lunaria.
His long hair had turned pitch black with faint purple streaks running through it. Abyssal power poured from his body, twisting the space around him.
Across from him floated the golden-eyed stranger.
Neither spoke.
Neither moved.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Their powers collided again.
The impact tore through the remaining ruins.
Ash, Kael, Riven, and Juno were thrown hundreds of meters backward.
Ash dug his fingers into the shattered ground and forced himself upright.
"Lunaria!"
Kael wiped blood from his mouth.
"We can't keep this up."
Riven struggled to breathe.
"We're already beyond our limits."
Juno stared at the sky.
"Something is wrong."
Ash looked at him.
"What?"
Juno pointed upward.
"The destruction isn't coming from their battle anymore."
Everyone looked up.
The sky was changing.
The clouds disappeared.
The sun disappeared.
The stars disappeared.
Even the light itself seemed to be fading.
Then—
Everything stopped.
The flames froze.
Falling stones froze.
The wind froze.
The dust remained suspended in the air.
Lunaria stopped in midair.
The golden-eyed stranger stopped as well.
Ash couldn't move.
Neither could Kael, Riven, or Juno.
A voice descended upon the world.
"Enough."
It wasn't loud.
It didn't need to be.
The single word carried absolute authority.
The golden-eyed stranger's expression changed.
"No…"
Something appeared above the battlefield.
It had no face.
No recognizable body.
It was formed from countless glowing threads stretching throughout the heavens.
Some threads were bright.
Some were dark.
Some had already been severed.
The golden-eyed stranger stared upward.
"Fate…"
The entity did not answer.
A single thread descended.
It wrapped around the stranger.
His golden aura exploded.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
He unleashed every ounce of power within his body.
The world shook.
But the thread did not move.
It tightened.
His body began cracking.
"No!"
The thread tightened again.
His physical form shattered into countless pieces.
His soul was dragged from the remains.
Then—
He disappeared.
Fate turned toward the others.
Ash's eyes widened.
"No…"
A thread wrapped around Kael.
Kael immediately fought against it.
"LET ME GO!"
Another wrapped around Riven.
Riven attempted to disappear into concealment, but the thread followed him.
Juno activated every skill he possessed.
Nothing worked.
Their strength meant nothing.
Their training meant nothing.
Their ranks meant nothing.
They were standing before something that existed beyond power itself.
Kael looked toward the others.
"So this is it…"
Riven gave a bitter smile.
"Looks like it."
Juno closed his eyes.
"I refuse to believe this is the end."
Ash struggled desperately.
"Lunaria!"
Lunaria remained suspended in the air.
His black hair floated around his face.
His eyes were still focused on Ash.
A thread wrapped around his body.
Lunaria resisted.
His abyssal aura erupted.
BOOOOOOM!
For several seconds, the thread was pushed back.
Then Fate tightened its grip.
Lunaria's body began breaking apart.
Ash screamed.
"NO!"
Lunaria reached toward him.
"Ash…"
Ash stretched his hand toward him.
"Don't leave me!"
Lunaria smiled.
"You won't be alone."
Their fingertips moved closer.
Almost touching.
Almost—
SHATTER!
Lunaria's body dissolved into countless black and violet particles.
Ash's eyes widened.
"LUNARIA!"
Kael disappeared.
Riven disappeared.
Juno disappeared.
Finally—
Ash's body began dissolving.
His last sight was the empty space where Lunaria had been.
His final thought was simple.
I promised we would return.
Then his body disappeared.
Silence consumed the world.
The city was gone.
The monsters were gone.
The guilds were gone.
The world they had fought to protect was gone.
But five souls remained.
Lunaria.
Ash.
Kael.
Riven.
Juno.
They floated within an endless void.
No bodies.
No weapons.
No voices.
Only souls.
Fate appeared before them.
The countless threads surrounding the entity moved toward them.
Their memories were pulled away.
Their battles.
Their training.
Their friendships.
Their pain.
Their victories.
Their failures.
Their home beside the waterfall.
Lunaria and Ash's relationship.
Everything was taken.
The souls became silent.
Then Fate separated them.
Five different paths opened.
But instead of returning them to their former world—
Fate sent them beyond it.
Beyond their universe.
Beyond their known reality.
Beyond everything they had ever understood.