The battlefield had been reshaped into a canvas of chaos. Mountains had shifted. Rivers boiled. Entire battalions had vanished under the might of Rocky's summoned army, yet the Demon Lord Carbrarra stood unshaken. His gaze, cold and calculating, swept over the battlefield, lingering on every summon, every knight, every ghostly blade, every flickering banner.
But there was something more in his eyes today. Something that no one had anticipated.
He lowered his hand. The army of a googol beings behind him froze, as if awaiting his word. The air settled. Even the gravitational field of the Wrath Dragon stabilized, sensing a shift in the natural order.
Rocky, standing at the center of his summoned force, felt it immediately—a heaviness beyond the mana pressure, beyond the crushing presence of Carbrarra himself.
Risha's wings flexed instinctively, her aura flaring defensively. Happy hovered higher, scanning the endless lines of demons for a hidden threat. Lysreth's threads of probability fluttered anxiously. Even the Guardian Wolf growled, the sound vibrating through the shattered stones like rolling thunder.
Carbrarra finally spoke.
"Do you see now?" His voice echoed across the battlefield, clear and calm, slicing through the chaos. "All of this… all your triumphs, all your summoning, all your loyalty and courage…"
He gestured slightly. His army did not move, but the sheer weight of his command caused the battlefield to quake. "All meaningless, unless the scales of the universe are set."
Rocky tightened his fists. "What are you talking about?" he shouted, voice carrying over the din of magic and battle. "You're trying to destroy everything! Why?"
Carbrarra smiled faintly. "Because you do not understand. You cannot. The universe is not a playground. It does not favor the weak, the sentimental, or the brave."
He took a step forward, and reality itself seemed to bend slightly beneath his presence. "Long ago, I loved someone," he said, his voice softening just enough to feel human. "Someone I swore to protect, someone whose existence was precious… and yet, the balance demanded sacrifice. The natural law does not bend for affection. It does not forgive for love. To restore equilibrium…"
He paused, letting the words sink. The battlefield grew silent in their weight. Even the knights, forming ranks at a distance, stopped advancing.
"I must kill her."
Rocky's heart stopped.
"Who?" Risha demanded, voice trembling as her aura flared.
Carbrarra's eyes focused on the horizon, where Sylvia and the Knight Army had formed a protective wall around the city. "Her," he said. "The one I love. The one whose existence defies the universe itself. If I do not end her, the balance will unravel, and all creation will pay."
Sylvia stiffened. Her hand gripped her sword tighter, the cold metal biting into her palm. She exchanged a glance with Rocky—fear and determination mirrored in their eyes.
"You're insane!" Rocky shouted. "You don't destroy love to maintain balance. That's… that's murder!"
Carbrarra's smile widened, but it carried no warmth. "Murder? Perhaps. Necessary? Absolutely. The cosmos does not care for morality. The threads of life and death are not woven for sentiment—they are woven for stability. Every action must have a reaction. Every bond must be weighed. Every anomaly corrected."
Risha's wings flared, throwing shadows over the gathered knights. "And you think killing her will satisfy the balance? The universe isn't just numbers and equations—it's people, it's choices, it's life!"
He stepped forward again, and the earth cracked with each step. "And yet," he said, voice resonating like the tolling of an impossibly large bell, "my power alone is insufficient. That is why I called the generals, that is why I summoned a googol soldiers. To ensure the act is done. To ensure equilibrium is restored without error. Nothing less will satisfy the cosmic order."
Happy shrieked, flying above the battlefield. "You can't just—she's a person! She's alive! You don't get to—"
Carbrarra's hand flicked subtly. One motion. Happy froze midair, her wings suspended as if gravity itself held her.
"Summoners," he said softly, almost intimately. "All of you cling to your attachments. You cling to hope. You cling to love. But attachment is weakness. You see her as precious because you see value where there is none to the cosmos. That is why you will fail."
Rocky's eyes burned. The Guardian Wolf growled, forming a defensive circle around him, Risha, and Happy. "We'll see about that," he growled. "We fight for her existence. And we will not let you take her!"
Carbrarra's smile hardened. "Then your rebellion and your army are futile. I do not fear numbers. I do not fear force. I only require the outcome."
Sylvia tightened her grip on her sword. The Knight Army shifted behind her, ready to charge. She whispered, "Rocky… whatever happens, we survive. Together."
Rocky nodded. "I know."
Carbrarra lifted his arms, summoning waves of mana so dense that the sky darkened further. The generals of Carbrarra aligned behind him, their forms pulsating with power, ready to strike. Every demon, every beast, every entity beyond mortal reckoning, waited for the signal.
The stage was set.
This was no longer just a war.
This was a cosmic reckoning.
Carbrarra's true goal was no longer hidden. He was not simply a conqueror, not simply a tyrant. He was a force of balance itself, willing to kill what he loved most to correct the universe—and he expected no one to stop him.
But Rocky, standing with the Guardian Wolf at his back, Happy swirling through the skies, Risha's aura burning like a second sun, Lucifer wielding Excalibur with unwavering authority, Nikkei radiating victory itself, and every summon that had ever served him ready to act…
They were about to prove that love and choice could defy even the weight of cosmic law.
And as the first generals moved, the battlefield erupted once more—not in despair, but in determined defiance.
The war was no longer about survival.
It was about protecting what Carbrarra deemed expendable: love itself.
The fight for the universe—and for Sylvia—had begun in earnest.