Dawn brought no light, only a thick fog of mana that covered the remains of the kingdom like a diseased sea. The ruins of the Douglas Duchy were no longer fit for human life: peaks split at unnatural angles, vegetation exhaling magic, and stones pulsing with a strange power. The air burned with every breath. No one could ever live there again.
Lusian silently gazed upon the devastation, wearing for the first time a face devoid of strength, utterly consumed by exhaustion.
Albert arrived along the remnants of the road.
"My lord."
Lusian turned his head.
"The caravans will depart before noon. Everything is ready."
Behind the old butler, thousands of civilians and soldiers prepared to leave: loading provisions, securing beasts, and gathering whatever the fire had spared. An entire people preparing to abandon their home.
A general approached and bowed his head.
"Duke Douglas... Take us with you. Wherever you go, we will follow."
Lusian did not answer. He stared at the ground, one question circling endlessly through his mind: Why don't they hate me when I am the one who destroyed their home?
Albert saw the guilt in his eyes.
"My lord, listen to me." The old man gestured toward the devastated land. "The Duchy is not these stones or these walls. The Duchy exists to serve its lord. It has always been that way."
Lusian remained silent as he felt Kheris's divinity assimilating into his body with every heartbeat.
"All right," Lusian sighed, exhausted. "Find a place where the mana doesn't burn and the beasts will leave you alone. Albert, lead them."
"Understood, my lord."
"And what will you do?" the general asked.
Lusian looked at the scars across the sky.
"I won't go with you. The gods won't accept what I carry inside me. They'll send heroes, armies, or something worse. I won't let thousands die simply because they're near me. My only option to protect them is to disappear."
He looked at his people one last time.
"While you rebuild, I will travel alone."
Albert swallowed hard, on the verge of tears.
"When we find a safe place... when we establish the new kingdom... will you return to us?"
Lusian's gaze hardened.
"Yes. When they can no longer use you to reach me... I will return."
Albert bowed his head. There were no speeches or ceremonies.
The drums began to sound, and the caravans set out. Wagons, soldiers, and entire families disappeared into the mist, watching as the Douglas banners slowly faded into the haze of the new world.
Lusian remained motionless until the last wagon vanished beyond the horizon. Only when he was completely alone did he look at the ruins, and then up at the sky.
"Let the gods come..."
The wind lifted a cloud of mud and mana. Lusian adjusted his cloak.
"This time, I won't wait for them."
He had barely taken a step when several voices stopped him.
"Did you really think we'd let you go alone?"
Lusian slowly turned around. Elizabeth walked among the stones, dressed in light traveling clothes. Her face was exhausted, but her gaze remained firm.
"If you thought you were going to walk straight into death on your own," she said, "then you still don't know me."
"Elizabeth..."
"No." She raised a hand. "Don't even try."
Emily appeared beside her, pale from the curse that still burned within her.
"I told you once," she murmured. "It doesn't matter where you go. I'll go with you."
Kara arrived next, carrying her enormous sword wrapped in bandages to contain the destructive magic emanating from its blade.
"Besides," she said with a sideways smile, "who's going to pull you out of the mud when you do something stupid?"
"I don't do stupid things," Lusian replied.
Kara laughed.
"Of course you don't."
Isabella stepped forward, her eyes red from crying, and stopped in front of him.
"Were you going to abandon me?"
Lusian opened his mouth, but she cut him off immediately.
"You promised you'd take care of me. Or did you only use me to get me into your bed?"
He sighed.
"Isabella..."
"My path is yours, Lusian," she declared. "Until the very end."
Adela approached alongside her white tiger and placed a hand on Lusian's arm.
"We're not a burden," she said calmly. "We're your strength, and you're ours."
Then Dayana appeared. She descended from a rock with effortless grace and silently observed Lusian. Her vampiric vision pierced through the duke's skin, revealing the truth: an overwhelming energy was merging with his arteries and mana.
A shiver ran down Dayana's spine—the instinctive panic of a hunter realizing that its prey had become something greater.
She smiled slowly.
"I won't pretend this is a good idea."
"Then go back," Lusian said.
"No. I said it isn't a good idea, not that I was going to miss it."
Lusian did not answer. The six of them stood before him: Elizabeth, Emily, Kara, Isabella, Adela, and Dayana.
He closed his eyes, exhausted.
"You don't understand what's coming."
"We know," Elizabeth said.
"No." Lusian lowered his voice. "You don't understand. The gods won't stop. They'll replace their heroes again and again. They can wait for decades. And if they don't kill me, they'll go after anyone standing beside me."
No one moved. Elizabeth stepped forward.
"We know."
"Then leave."
"No." Elizabeth faced him squarely. "You can decide where you go, but you don't get to decide for us."
Emily drew a breath.
"If the gods come for me, let them come."
Kara tightened her grip on her sword.
"And if they come for me, they'll have to fight."
Isabella pressed herself against him.
"I don't want a home where you aren't."
Adela nodded calmly.
"We've already lost enough."
Dayana smiled, revealing her fangs.
"Besides, I'm curious."
Lusian looked at them one by one. He knew that taking them with him would put them in danger, but he no longer had the strength to push them away.
He slowly exhaled.
"All right. We'll walk together."
Elizabeth smiled, Emily sighed in relief, and Kara let out a laugh.
Lusian turned toward the horizon. Behind him lay the ruins of the Douglas Duchy. Ahead stretched only unknown lands and an impossible war. The gods had heroes and infinite time, but they could not find him.
Lusian began to walk, and the six women followed. There was no glory in their journey; only six people sharing the same fate, and a man determined to disappear from the sight of the heavens.
Far away, in the Celestial World, the gods debated his whereabouts. They knew that Kheris's shadow still lived, but they did not know where to look.
And Lusian would make sure they never found out.