The smoke from the massive explosion at the cliff had not yet cleared when the survivors began to crawl from the wreckage. In the outer regions of the battlefield, the 1st Head of the Guardian Holders slumped against a jagged rock, hacking up blood.
"Just what... what was that thing just now?" he wheezed, his vision blurry.
"Even I don't know what that was, but you have to admit, it was one heck of a bang," a voice answered.
The 1st Head looked up to see Hella and Sentry standing over him. His face darkened instantly. "Go away, kids. I am not in the mood to play."
"Neither are we, old man," Hella retorted, her hand on her hilt.
Sentry, ever the diplomat, stepped forward. "Well, how about we negotiate? You agree to stop going after Piers, and we won't have to injure you further."
The 1st Head's eyes flashed with fury. "You dare to tell me what to do, brat? Take this!" With a roar, he unleashed three high-velocity blasts of pure White Arts energy.
Sentry sighed, "Ugh, why does no one ever listen to me?" He countered with a focused wind blast. The two energies collided with a violent crack, gouging a massive crater between them.
Hella didn't wait. She leaped through the settling dust, charging for the kill. The 1st Head fired a white lance, but Sentry reacted instantly, elevating the ground beneath Hella's feet. The lance shattered the stone instead of her. Using the momentum, Hella closed the distance. Too close for the 1st Head to cast, she landed a brutal kick and followed with a sword strike—only to feel her blade slice through something that felt like hollow paper.
It was a doppelganger.
"I have seen quite enough," the doppelganger spoke in the 1st Head's voice as it dissolved. "You better get away from here in ten seconds, otherwise something disastrous will happen."
The ground beneath Hella and Sentry began to glow with a blinding white light. "Sentry, run!" Hella screamed.
Sentry partially drew his sword—invoking just enough of his secondary personality's power to boost his speed while remaining in control of his mind. They sprinted out of the zone just as a pillar of white energy erupted behind them. As the light faded, a hologram of the 1st Head appeared in the scorched earth.
"You might have escaped the blast," the image sneered, "but that does not mean you have escaped my wrath."
On another part of the field, the 2nd Head of the Guardian Holders stared at his shattered armor. He gripped his broken sword, channeling every drop of his remaining spiritual power to reforged the blade. It worked, but it left him gasping and depleted.
Before him stood two figures: a man in an azure cloak and cap, and a woman with a sharp, calculating gaze.
"Who are you two? Why are you attacking me?" the 2nd Head demanded.
Arizona adjusted his cap. "Oh, we are but humble magicians who came here to delay you. Nothing more."
"Delay me? For what?"
"Our organization wants nothing from this war," Arizona said carefully, choosing his words to manipulate the situation. "But we have personal stakes now. Demons have infiltrated the Royal Palace, and we want to kill those demons."
The 2nd Head recoiled. "Impossible! There are no—"
"Are you having difficulty, 2nd Head?" a cold voice interrupted. A high-ranking member of the Royal Army marched into view.
"What are you doing here?" the 2nd Head asked, a seed of doubt finally taking root.
"You can drop your facade now, demon," Alya commanded.
The officer chuckled. "So you know who I am. I guess there is no point in pretending further." He tore his human skin away like old clothes, revealing the twisted, grotesque form of a demon.
The 2nd Head gasped. "So it's true... you are a demon."
"Now that you have seen my true form, you have to die," the demon hissed. He turned to Arizona. "Don't think you aren't on our blacklist. In the final war, you are destined to become Arizona the Timeless Mage."
"You should first think about yourself, demon," Alya countered. "Quagmire!"
A sudden, thick swamp formed beneath the demon's feet, dragging him down. The demon sprouted wings and tried to take to the sky, but Arizona was ready. He conjured a holy lance directly above the demon's head. The creature flew straight into it, screaming as the holy magic ignited his flesh.
"Alya, can you finish him for me? I can't be bothered," Arizona said nonchalantly.
Alya trapped the burning demon in a holy cage and bombarded him with fire lances. The demon's body suddenly burst into a swarm of insects in a desperate attempt to escape. The 2nd Head, seeing his opening, shattered his newly fixed sword to release a massive wave of white energy, incinerating most of the swarm. Arizona froze the last remaining insect in a block of ice.
"That was good work, Timeless Mage," Alya teased.
"You know that whenever a Fate Demon appears, the future changes, so it means I am not the timeless mage" Arizona mused. "But this sample will be useful. And 2nd Head... I have a request. Stop chasing Piers."
"What?" the 2nd Head barked.
"Piers has an alternate personality named Rei," Arizona revealed. "And it is Rei who is destined to kill the Fate Demon."
The 2nd Head stood in stunned silence. He thought The Holy Sword chose him... he wields both light and dark. Perhaps he really is the one meant to bring balance.
"As you say," the 2nd Head replied, his eyes narrowing. "I will stop chasing after Piers."
Arizona and Alya shared a knowing smile and vanished into the shadows.
In the city of Astria, the fallout of the dungeon outbreak reached its climax. Daina, consumed by grief and rage over Eugene's apparent death, had charged into the monster stampede like a woman possessed.
In Astria, the aftermath of the dungeon outbreak was grim. Daina, consumed by the "death" of Eugene, had descended into a murderous rage.
"I am going to murder these cretans!" she screamed, charging into the monster stampede.
Bart tried to stop her, but she was gone. Bart turned his attention to a crying child. "Come with me, boy. I'll get you to safety."
Bart utilized his Terran Catcher spell to locate survivors and erected three-sided earth walls to shield them as he ran. Ava joined him, and together they orchestrated a massive evacuation. Daina, meanwhile, was fighting huge monsters with a reckless abandon that was quickly draining her strength.
She found herself huffing, facing an endless wave of beasts. Just as she was about to charge again, she saw a woman and two girls cornered by a giant monster's fist. Without thinking, Daina moved—not to kill, but to save. She intercepted the blow, guiding the civilians to safety as the building behind them crumbled.
What have I been doing? Daina thought, her heart slowing. Master Sigil, I'm sorry... but I can't use rage anymore. Not when there's someone to save. Daina said "Bart let me help you I will make way for you to get those civilians out. Bart said "yes I am coming" Daina started making way stopping all the monsters from reaching the civilians and they get them out of the town.
The town was cleared. The survivors gathered at the refugee camps, As Bart, Daina and Ava came the people they saved came out and said "we thank you for saving us young heroes tell us what you need and we would provide it" watching their happy faces Daina became conflicted because now she knew that her master was wrong about rage being a powerful weapon but then what was it if not that. Her foundation was shattered.
"Ava," Daina whispered. "Where is Eugene?"
Ava led her to the makeshift morgue. Daina sat by Eugene's body. "Eugene... I still have much to learn but I guess I have to learn it without you now." Daina had a tear ran from from his left eye but she wiped it out and said "but I'm willing to let you go now. I will be free from my constraints everything I had had and start anew."
A few days later, a funeral was held. The local carpenters provided a fine coffin, and a priest of the Mystic Church changed Eugene's clothes to that of white clothes and performed the rites. As the prayers concluded and the coffin was lowered into the earth, the lid suddenly flew open with a loud thud.
Eugene sat up, gasping for air.
"A GHOST!" the priest screamed.
Daina, Bart, and Ava jumped back, terrified, until Eugene hopped out and delivered a swift punch to each of their heads. "I am real, dammit!"
"But... you were pierced through the heart!" Ava stammered, rubbing her head.
"And you think that's enough to kill me?" Eugene grumbled. "My body is so attuned to holy magic that it can heal and resurrect me even if I'm sliced in half or if nothing remains. I'm basically immortal."
"So the idiom is true," Bart groaned. "'A scourge lives a thousand years.'"
Eugene punched him again. "The 'Fate' didn't want me interfering in that specific war, so it 'disconnected' me."
Daina almost had a tear drop off but now that Eugene was here she knew she find the answers to her questions. the preist of the mystic church was very glad to see it because once the word gets out that the youngest son of the saint has been chosen by holy magic himself the church would get a high authority rivalling that of the imperials.
The Mystic Church priest's eyes glowed with greed. "Oh, my boy! You must come to the Church! The world must know the Saint's son is immortal!"
Eugene looked at the priest with pure disgust. "I don't belong to your church. I revoke my candidacy." Eugene turned to Bart, Ava and Daina and said "Next time these you three give me a funeral, don't make it like that of the mystic church."
"You can't resign! You are a Saint candidate!" the priest sputtered.
"The Mystic Church is corrupted, rigid, rude, and ill-suited for me," Eugene declared. "They don't deserve my power. I'd rather be an atheist."
Daina burst out laughing. "A Saint calling himself an atheist? That's the line of the year!"
As the group walked away, the priest watched them with a predatory gaze. "Oh, boy... don't think you can escape our grasp. We will have you, one way or the other."