Forward.
I took another step.
Then—
I stopped.
Something was wrong.
The battlefield was supposed to be changing.
The fourth stage was supposed to begin.
The Tower had already announced it.
Yet—
Nothing happened.
No new guardian.
No transition.
No notification.
Only silence.
I frowned slightly.
My eyes moved across the battlefield.
The broken volcanic landscape stretched before me.
Cratered ground.
Collapsed mountains.
Rivers of cooling magma.
Nothing moved.
Nothing remained.
Kragar was gone.
I had watched his body dissolve.
I had watched the crimson light disappear.
I had felt his presence vanish.
The battle was over.
Wasn't it?
I remained still.
Then—
A memory surfaced.
Caelion.
His voice.
His eyes.
The way he had looked at me when he spoke.
My expression slowly hardened.
"Tell me."
"When did you believe you had won?"
I remembered.
"The moment..."
"…you drove your hand through its core."
My fingers tightened.
"You struck."
"You confirmed the hit."
"And then..."
"You relaxed."
A faint chill ran through me.
"In battle..."
"Certainty is poison."
I stared at the battlefield.
"A wounded enemy may regenerate."
"A dying enemy may take you with it."
"A defeated enemy may still possess one final strike."
My breathing slowed.
"Many warriors survive impossible battles..."
"…only to die after believing they had already won."
I had landed the perfect strike.
I had nearly lost my life.
My attack had been flawless.
So had my mistake.
My eyes narrowed.
"…No."
I looked toward the place where Kragar had disappeared.
"I don't believe it."
The moment the words left my mouth—
BOOM!!!
A tremor shook the ground.
I didn't move.
Another followed.
BOOM!!!
This one was stronger.
The volcanic landscape trembled beneath my feet.
The cooling magma began moving again.
Not flowing.
Pulling.
Every trace of crimson energy left behind by the battle began gathering toward one location.
My pupils contracted.
"…What?"
The crimson fragments that should have vanished completely—
Were moving.
Returning.
Gathering.
The pieces of Kragar's shattered armor were being dragged across the ground.
But they weren't returning to his previous form.
They were changing.
The armor had served one purpose.
Containment.
Sealing the overwhelming flame inside a body that couldn't completely contain it.
But now—
The armor wasn't needed.
The fragments melted.
One by one.
They became streams of molten crimson metal.
Then—
They flew toward the center of the battlefield.
BOOM!!!
A sphere of crimson light formed.
I stared at it.
My instincts warned me not to approach.
So I didn't.
I watched.
Patiently.
Carefully.
Then another memory surfaced.
Not Caelion this time.
Something I had learned from the System.
The laws of flame.
A sealed flame existed for a reason.
A flame that continued burning—
Until nothing remained.
My expression became serious.
"…A sealed flame."
The sphere pulsed.
BOOM.
A second pulse.
BOOM.
Stronger.
The pressure increased.
I felt it against my skin.
The crimson sphere began shrinking.
Not weakening.
Compressing.
I understood immediately.
Kragar wasn't returning.
He was rebuilding.
But something was different.
The energy wasn't simply gathering around a core anymore.
It was being forced inward.
Deeper.
Denser.
Into something capable of holding it.
My eyes narrowed.
"…His body."
Another pulse.
BOOM!!!
The entire volcanic domain shook.
The sphere cracked.
CRACK.
A second crack appeared.
CRACK!!!
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
The sphere exploded.
I raised my arm against the shockwave.
A wall of crimson flame swept across the battlefield.
Mountains disappeared beneath it.
The ground melted.
The sky turned red.
I remained where I stood.
My body was pushed backward several meters.
I dug my feet into the ground.
When the flames finally cleared—
I saw him.
Kragar.
Standing.
But not the same Kragar.
The armor was gone.
Completely.
Nothing remained of the heavy plates that had covered his body.
Instead—
His body itself had changed.
His skin was darker.
Denser.
Covered in glowing crimson lines.
Like cracks running through a furnace.
His muscles were more defined.
Not excessively.
Refined.
Compact.
Powerful.
The flame wasn't leaking from him anymore.
It wasn't raging around his body.
It was inside him.
Contained.
My eyes narrowed.
"So…"
Kragar slowly raised his head.
His red eyes opened.
For the first time since the battle began—
There was clarity in them.
Not greater control.
Something deeper.
Understanding.
He looked at his hands.
Opened them.
Closed them.
A faint crimson flame appeared between his fingers.
It didn't explode.
It didn't leak.
It simply remained.
Contained.
Kragar stared at it.
Then—
He smiled.
"…So this is what was missing."
My expression hardened.
I finally understood.
His armor hadn't been making him stronger.
It had been preventing him from destroying himself.
His body had been the limitation.
The flame inside him was simply too powerful.
Too destructive.
His answer had always been the same.
More power.
More destruction.
More flame.
Because his body couldn't properly contain the energy long enough to use it efficiently.
So he had compensated with overwhelming force.
Maximum destruction.
Even if enormous amounts of energy were wasted.
But now—
His body had changed.
He no longer needed the armor.
The container had finally become strong enough to hold what was inside it.
Kragar raised his hand.
The crimson flame condensed.
A small sphere formed above his palm.
I watched carefully.
There was no enormous explosion.
No massive wave.
Yet—
The pressure was frightening.
The same destructive power that had previously required enormous amounts of flame—
Was now compressed into something smaller.
Denser.
More dangerous.
Kragar looked at me.
"…I understand now."
His voice was different.
Not louder.
Not deeper.
Simply clearer.
"The flame was never the problem."
His fingers closed around the crimson sphere.
"It was this."
He tapped his chest.
"My body."
My eyes narrowed.
A faint smile appeared.
"So you finally found your answer."
Kragar smiled back.
"Apparently."
The ground beneath him cracked.
Not because he released his power.
Because his body could now withstand it.
My instincts sharpened.
Something had changed.
A lot.
Kragar took one step.
BOOM!!!
He vanished.
My eyes widened.
He appeared directly in front of me.
His fist came toward my face.
I shifted.
Barely.
The punch passed beside my cheek.
The air exploded.
BOOOOOOM!!!
I immediately countered.
My fist struck his ribs.
BAM!!!
Kragar didn't move.
Not even slightly.
My eyes narrowed.
Before—
His body had absorbed the impact through his armor.
Now—
His body itself had absorbed it.
Kragar turned.
His elbow came toward my head.
I raised my arm.
BAM!!!
The impact drove me backward.
I landed.
My expression became serious.
He hadn't simply become stronger.
He had become more efficient.
Every bit of power was reaching its target.
No armor.
No external restriction.
No massive energy loss.
His body had become the vessel.
And that meant—
The longer this battle continued—
The more dangerous he could become.
Kragar looked at me.
Then slowly clenched his fist.
Crimson flames crawled across his arm.
But this time—
They didn't erupt wildly.
They wrapped around his fist.
Compressed.
Dense.
Focused.
His eyes sharpened.
"…Again."
I lowered my stance.
A faint smile appeared.
"Sure."
My aura erupted.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The pressure rolled across the battlefield.
The ground shattered beneath my feet.
My aura surged wildly for a moment—
Then clung tightly to my body.
I gritted my teeth.
I couldn't let it explode outward.
If I did—
I'd only be fighting fire with fire.
BOOM!!!
Another explosion erupted.
This time—
The aura was forced inward.
Sealed.
Compressed.
Contained.
The weight of it remained overwhelming.
But instead of spreading across the battlefield—
It wrapped around me.
My muscles tightened.
My senses sharpened.
My body felt lighter.
Stronger.
Faster.
The transformation wasn't about releasing everything.
It was about multiplying what I already possessed—
Then forcing that power into a form my body could actually use.
My eyes turned completely blue.
"Beast Ascension…"
I stepped forward.
"…Form I."
Kragar's smile widened.
The crimson flame around his fist intensified.
For the first time—
Neither of us moved.
We simply stared at each other.
Two different answers to the same problem.
Kragar had found a stronger vessel for his destruction.
I had transformed to close the gap between our powers.
The battlefield trembled beneath us.
Then—
Kragar vanished.
I vanished at the same time.
BOOOOOOM!!!
Our fists collided.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The shockwave tore across the volcanic domain.
Neither of us moved.
Crimson flame pressed against blue energy.
Destruction against instinct.
Two bodies.
Two powers.
Two answers to the same problem.
Kragar grinned.
I smiled back.
Then—
The battlefield trembled beneath us.
And somewhere deep inside my body…
something answered.
ROAR—!!!
My eyes widened.
The blue light around them intensified.
Kragar's expression changed.
For the first time—
he looked uncertain.
And then—
we moved.