Ryo had won the fight against the prince, but the victory felt hollow. Every limb burned, every breath tore at his chest. His damik flickered weakly. He could barely remain upright, knees trembling, body screaming from his drawbacks.
The prince, though bloodied and bruised, staggered to his feet. No armor, clothes torn, blood staining his side. Yet his gaze was unwavering, sharp, and filled with conviction.
He walked toward Ryo with measured steps.
"So tell me," the prince said, stopping just a few feet away,
"where did that belief in freedom take you?"
Ryo coughed, forcing a weak voice. "…Here."
The prince's lips curved faintly. "You think this is victory? This world, if left unchecked, would collapse. Chaos would reign. Freedom is a lie."
Dry wood twisted and coiled in his palm, merging into a jagged dagger. Roots writhed as if alive. "This world doesn't need freedom," he continued.
"It needs order. It needs a just ruler."
Ryo coughed blood, chest heaving. "…You think… that's you?"
"No," the prince said calmly.
"My father is."
Behind him, invisible and silent, Ludiga and Rimazu had arrived. Rimazu, cloaked in stage 2 invisibility, moved beside Ludiga. Ludiga's diamond energy was perfectly concealed, a silent promise of precision and lethality. They had already defeated their opponents and now waited, unseen.
The prince's eyes narrowed. "I want this world to serve him. Equal. Even the Ranians. But if I asked… he would have refused."
Raising the dagger over Ryo's chest, he whispered, "So I took matters into my own hands."
Ryo rasped, "And your mother?"
"She had an incurable disease," the prince said flatly. "Death was inevitable. She would have died anyway."
He leaned down. "You've been alive for too long."
The dagger plunged downward—
A metallic sound rang out.
The wooden blade shattered mid-strike.
A diamond blade had pierced straight through the prince's chest from behind. Blood spilled onto the cracked earth. Ludiga stood there, hand extended, diamond energy glowing around the blade. Rimazu moved instantly, prepared to intervene.
The prince froze, eyes wide. Blood ran from his lips. His knees buckled. He lifted his gaze toward his father, Ludiga.
"You…" he whispered, weak but deliberate.
"You proved my point by killing me. You are a just ruler."
His body collapsed to the cracked earth. Still.
Ludiga's eyes widened in shock, grief, and disbelief. Rimazu moved quickly to Ryo, lifting him gently. Ryo's body trembled from his drawbacks, his damik barely holding. Dust swirled around them, eddies of dirt and shattered wood filling the battlefield.
The prince's faint voice lingered, even in death. "I wanted the Ranians to live with us as equals… but if I had asked… you would have refused… and by dying… you have proven my point."
Ryo, exhausted and barely able to stand, looked on silently. He could feel the weight of the fight in every muscle, every bone, but he made no comment, only breathed through the pain.
Ludiga sank to his knees beside his son's lifeless body. His hands shook uncontrollably. Tears ran down his face. "Why… why all of this?" he whispered, his voice breaking.
The battlefield remained still except for the faint rustle of dust across the cracked ground. Broken trees cast jagged shadows. The prince's death, and the diamond blade that had ended him, left a mark deeper than any wound.
Rimazu carried Ryo back toward the palace carefully, her invisibility fading. Ludiga followed, silent, broken, yet alive.
No grand declarations were made. No themes were explained. The world outside would continue, but the battlefield held the echoes of tragedy, ambition, and the cost of power written in blood.