"AWAKE!"

  The word that rose from behind Ignis as he walked toward the melting palace gates did not merely tear through the air. It ripped through that thin, invisible membrane between life and death itself.

  Hope's voice did not sound human. It was as if thousands of dead souls were screaming through his throat at once. The green in his eyes blazed so fiercely that even the surrounding water cooled under the pressure of his lethal aura. Hope slammed the shaft of his scythe violently into the shattered marble floor.

  [HIDDEN CLASS TRAIT: AWAKENING OF SOULS]

  The entire battlefield was suddenly swallowed by pitch-black shadows. The ground transformed into something like liquid ink, and from within that darkness, the nightmares Hope had slain in his past bloody battles began to rise one by one.

  First, a colossal figure of magma and stone emerged: Flame Tyrant.

  Then came a monstrous, muscle-bound abomination with two heads, wielding a massive mace forged from its own bones: Two-Headed Ogre.

  The loudest presence rising from the shadows was Obsidian Alpha.

  And finally, the Bonebreakers — the army of Obsidian Alpha — climbed out from the abyss.

  These creatures were not in their living forms. Their bodies were completely pitch black, as if molded from solidified shadow. Yet instead of blood, a bright, phosphorescent green energy — symbolizing Hope's soul power — flowed through their veins. In their jet-black faces, cruel luminous green eyes pierced through the darkness, locking directly onto Ignis.

  Standing before the melted palace gates, Ignis slowly turned around.

  Smoke drifted from his burning shoulders as he gazed at the green-veined shadow monsters surrounding him. In his weary eyes, for the first time in centuries, a faint spark of interest flickered.

  "Well now… an Architect who whispers to the dead," Ignis said dryly. "How ironic. You answer the man who was never allowed to die with an army that refuses to let the dead remain dead."

  Hope ignored him and extended his scythe forward.

  "Shred him!"

  The shadow creatures lunged at once. Obsidian Alpha moved faster than sound, driving its claws into Ignis's right shoulder. The Two-Headed Ogre brought its massive mace crashing down onto Ignis's head, while Flame Tyrant and the Bonebreakers sealed off his escape routes.

  BOOM! CRACK!

  Ignis did not even flinch.

  The instant the Ogre's mace struck his head, the weapon melted into green vapor. When Obsidian Alpha's claws pierced his volcanic skin, the creature's shadowy black arms ignited in flames.

  "These are nothing but toys to me, child," Ignis said, waving his hand dismissively.

  [CRIMSON WAVE]

  A horrifying ring of fire exploded outward. The Two-Headed Ogre and the Bonebreakers instantly vaporized into green sparks.

  But Hope had expected that.

  They were bait.

  From the blind spot created by Ignis's expanding fire wave, Hope burst forward.

  [Shadow Step]

  The tip of his scythe, condensed with green flames, came down directly toward the glowing core in Ignis's chest.

  [Hellfire]

  At the last second, Ignis caught the scythe's blade in midair with his bare, burning hand.

  CZZZZZ!

  Green soul fire and crimson destruction flame collided. The water around them boiled violently from the reaction of the two impossible infernos.

  "Why do you resist?" Ignis asked while gripping the scythe. His eyes locked directly onto Hope's. There was no hatred in his face. Only a profound emptiness. "What are you protecting? This kingdom? The Sirens? They are a cruel, selfish, arrogant race. And those Octopuses above are bloodthirsty barbarians. Or do you simply enjoy pretending to be a hero?"

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  Hope clenched his teeth as he tried to push the scythe forward. His body was being scorched by the unimaginable heat radiating from Ignis.

  "I'm not a hero," Hope said, struggling for breath. "I'm not anyone's king or savior. I don't even care what the Sirens are!"

  Ignis tilted his head slightly.

  "Then you should understand me, little Architect," Ignis said, his voice like a whisper from the ocean floor, yet piercing directly into the mind. "Centuries ago, I was created as a weapon by the so-called SUPREME kings you revere. I was subjected to countless experiments and eventually unleashed to wage wars and conquests. Then they grew afraid of me. I grew stronger with every battle. Since they could not control me, they struck a deal with the Sirens. In exchange for aiding the Octopus Massacre, the humans cast me into the depths of this cursed ocean. The water does not kill me. It heals me. My flesh regenerates every second… only to burn again."

  The core in Ignis's chest pulsed painfully.

  "Hundreds of years… do you know what it means to burn alive every second, every fraction of a second, child? I cannot close my eyes. I cannot sleep. I cannot dry. That cursed stone called the Heart of the Sea is the very lock that binds me in this underwater hell."

  Ignis slowly began pushing the scythe back toward Hope. His physical strength alone was immense.

  "All I want is silence. I just… want this cursed agony to end. I will destroy that stone. The ocean and everything in it will vanish, the lock will break, and I will finally die in peace. And those cursed Sirens will pay for what they did to me. Two birds with one stone. Do not stand in my way. This is not your war."

  Hope saw the bottomless, tortured inferno in the man's eyes. For a single moment — just one — the pressure on his scythe weakened.

  Hope understood all too well what it meant to be a slave to a system, to be used as a pawn without his own will. He understood Ignis's desperate, predatory longing for freedom. If he were in Ignis's place… he would have done the same. He would have burned the ocean.

  "I understand you," Hope said honestly. They were like two lonely souls clinging to each other in the heart of a blaze. "I truly do. I don't care in the slightest if this cursed city collapses. I don't care if the Sirens or the Octopuses disappear."

  A faint acceptance appeared in Ignis's weary eyes.

  But Hope turned his head slightly toward the edge of the battlefield, where the silver-haired girl lay unconscious from Leviathan's exhaustion — Princess Elara.

  The human, selfish yet unshakable determination in Hope's eyes flared once more.

  "But…" Hope said, pushing the scythe forward with all his strength again. "…if you destroy the Heart, the ocean will vanish. And Elara will die too."

  Hope locked eyes with Ignis.

  "And I will not allow her to die."

  Ignis looked at the stubborn light in the boy's eyes and let out a deep sigh — a sigh of hopelessness and exhaustion.

  "Then…" Ignis said, raising his free left hand into the air. "…you will burn with her."

  In Ignis's hand, a crimson magma sphere of unprecedented size formed. An explosion that would vaporize Hope and everything behind him down to their atoms was about to erupt. With his scythe caught, Hope had nowhere to escape.

  But death did not come.

  Instead, the water around Ignis suddenly turned into a dense, crushing shade of dark purple.

  "Don't you dare… TOUCH him!"

  From the other side of the battlefield, a girl surrounded by swirling purple auras rushed forward with both hands extended.

  Lypin.

  Having perfectly balanced the Starfallen energy within her through the Inner Cage, Lypin had finally mastered the Moon's cosmic dominion over gravity.

  [STARFALLEN: ABSOLUTE GRAVITY]

  Within a thousandth of a second, the gravity over the five-meter space surrounding Ignis increased one hundredfold.

  "Wha—"

  Ignis could not finish his sentence before he was slammed into the ground as if an invisible mountain had fallen onto his back. The marble floor shattered instantly. Under the immense gravitational force, Ignis's magma-like body was driven dozens of meters underground, buried at the heart of a massive crater.

  Hope pulled back his scythe and leapt beside Lypin, breathing heavily.

  "Your timing was perfect," Hope said.

  Lypin gave a pale smile. "Do you always have to be the hero?"

  But the battlefield was in ruins.

  A few hundred meters away, the trio who had suffered the heaviest losses stood side by side. Prince Nereus was kneeling, blood pouring from his side. King Dagon's entire ribcage had been crushed, and his daughter Octavia stood desperately in front of him to shield him. They were enemies. They had hated each other for years. But before that overwhelming power, they were all victims now.

  Lypin gathered the silver healing energy in her hands and walked toward them.

  "What are you doing?" Kai asked as he approached from behind. "Let them die! Neither of them deserves to be saved!"

  "If that flaming man climbs out of that crater…" Lypin said as she released Moonlight Healing over the weakened enemy leaders. Silver particles rapidly sealed the open wounds of Nereus and Dagon. "…we won't be able to fight him alone. This is no longer a war between Octopuses and Sirens. This is a war for survival."

  As his wounds closed, Nereus looked at Lypin in shock. "Why…" the Prince coughed.

  "Shut up and focus on healing, Prince," Bianca said, readying her daggers. "I doubt you want more people to die today."

  Octavia looked at Hope with surprise and faint admiration. King Dagon glanced at his healing arms and slowly tried to rise. A temporary truce had formed. Survival had postponed even hatred.

  As everyone tried to steady themselves—

  The temperature of the surrounding water began to rise again.

  And much faster than before.

  The enormous dark crater Lypin had created with her gravity spell suddenly began glowing with a blinding orange light.

  The ground trembled. The marble began bubbling and melting. Atlantis's ancient foundation liquefied, transforming into a massive, boiling swamp of lava.

  "He…" Kai whispered, pulling his daggers back. "…that thing isn't dying."

  From the melting edges of the crater, two crimson, lava-covered hands rose upward. Melting the ground like a swamp, Ignis's head slowly climbed from the depths of kilometers below, emerging from the boiling magma.

  The weariness on his face was gone.

  In his eyes now burned nothing but pure, uncontrolled hellfire.

  "Then…" Ignis said, his voice echoing directly inside their minds. "…I suppose I will have to turn all of you to ash."