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The world stopped.
Emergency broadcasts were interrupted. Within seconds, every channel on Earth showed the same image: Mei Nuhay had returned.
In command halls, in underground shelters, in floating fortresses, and even in forgotten outposts—world leaders stared at the screen in absolute silence.
Some brought their hands to their mouths. Others dropped documents on the floor. No one dared to breathe.
Danteus, his eyes fixed on the image, had a different reaction. A low laugh escaped him. His eyes welled up, but not with sadness. It was hope—raw, real.
— She… came back — he murmured. And then he smiled.
Permission was granted. The images would be broadcast to the entire world.
The decisive battle. Victory… or the end.
On the battlefield, Mei walked through the rubble.
The wind swayed her crimson hair, and the fire surrounding her seemed to obey the rhythm of her steps—dense, rhythmic, almost ceremonial.
She turned.
Tekio was on his knees, his eyes filled with water. Fenra smiled genuinely, even wounded.
— You… — Mei said with tenderness, stopping before the two. — Were incredible.
You filled me with pride, Tekio.
Your new move was top-notch.
She reached out and ruffled Tekio's hair with an affectionate tousle, like an older sister returning home.
— I promise I'll reward you when this is over. All of it.
Tekio choked back a sob. Fenra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, as if etching that moment into her soul.
— Forgive me for leaving you like this. I was naive. But no more.
Now… I will redeem myself.
The sky answered with a scream.
Something tore through the clouds like a living spear.
— …Not him. — Fenra whispered. — I killed him. I swear I killed him…
The impact came like a divine explosion.
A punch pierced the sky.
Kaze.
His body was more savage. The mark on his face spread like black veins, and his green eyes shone like a predator's.
The blow collided with Mei like thunder.
Fenra and Tekio were thrown back, swallowed by the shockwave.
A cloud of smoke covered everything.
Silence.
And then… the smoke parted.
Mei was standing. Motionless. Unharmed. Holding Kaze's fist with one hand.
Kaze's smile vanished.
Mei slowly raised her eyes to meet his—and said, in a dry tone:
— Weak.
She lowered his arm firmly and returned the punch.
It was as if the earth itself broke. The structure collapsed, and Kaze was hurled dozens of meters, crashing through pillars, debris, and concrete like a leaf in the wind.
Mei landed softly in front of his destroyed body.
— I sense another energy in that direction — she said, looking toward the horizon. — I'll finish you now… and then take care of the next one.
Kaze stood up, staggering, but laughing. His voice came out broken by pain.
— I am an… an awakening of nature…
I am the breath of the winds…
I am immortal. I cannot die…
Whenever I get close, I just need to feed…
If I kill someone with strong energy, I come back… stronger, I always come back…
But something inside him… trembled.
— But… but… — he looked at Mei. The fire danced behind her like an ancestral army.
— I think my instincts will kill me this time…
Mei smiled, approaching slowly.
— Come on, attack me again.
— Weren't you the tough guy?
— Didn't you like a good fight?
— Where's all that bravado?
Kaze roared.
The wind answered.
A hurricane emerged around them. Kaze became one with the air. Mei was trapped in the eye of the storm.
— You can turn into wind, right? — she said, with a tone of genuine curiosity. — Hmm…
Let's see if you can turn into nothing.
She extended her hand.
Fire emerged. First as embers. Then, as waves. Then, as a hurricane of flames that consumed Kaze's.
The air caught fire. The sky burned.
Tekio and Fenra watched, awestruck, the firestorm engulfing the world.
"This woman is too strong..." Yara thought.
When the hurricane ceased, only a silhouette remained on the ground, writhing.
Kaze.
His body was a burned mass, formless. Living flesh disintegrating. Flames consuming every trace.
— You were a spirit of nature… — Mei said, her voice almost sad. — A pity Dante corrupted you.
Perhaps you'll reincarnate with a pure soul.
Kaze tried to say something. He couldn't.
Then… he fell.
Charred. Without screams. Without glory.
Turning to ashes in the wind.
Mei turned.
— Next.
And vanished at an absurd speed, like a bolt of fire.
The ground trembled under Dan's feet. His knees no longer supported his body as before. Blood streamed from deep cuts, and his aura flickered, failing in some spots. Still, he faced Hazau, even staggering.
Hazau smiled.
— You're persistent, boy. But that doesn't change the truth… — his voice reverberated, multiple, distorted, as if speaking from within several mouths. — You've lost.
Hazau moved like a distorted blur, his form oscillating between humanoid and amorphous abomination. He was about to rend Dan into flesh and dust…
But then…
She came.
The sound.
The heat.
The presence.
Like a living sentence.
Like a sun collapsing upon the earth.
The earth shook with the mere landing. Mei Nuhay had arrived.
Hazau stopped. His mouth closed.
Dan, on his knees, looked up, and then smiled.
— Y-you came…
Mei landed softly between them, her hair flaming as if the air adored her. The scene around them fell silent. Hazau's negative energy wavered.
She didn't speak immediately. She just cast a look at Dan—he understood.
"Rest."
Hazau let out a slow laugh.
— So… the Empress decided to appear. I was so curious. You carry so much light… and yet you're made of pain.
He spoke arrogantly, but his mind thought the opposite.
"This is terrible, if she's here it means Vernasha fell, I'm probably next…"
Mei turned her head, calm. Her golden eyes reflected nothing but focus.
— You speak as if you understood anything beyond the void.
Hazau smiled. His black eyes spun. Dark energy accumulated around him.
— How about I feel you? I want to enter your soul, touch your essence, know what drives you. That's how I do it… that's how I did it with Levi.
— Levi… — Mei paused. She just stared seriously at the horizon.
Hazau licked his deformed teeth.
— I entered his mind when he came home. I saw everything. The woman he loved… the pain he felt when she was gone. I saw how he begged for redemption. How he… broke inside. When you argued about morals and ethics and he withdrew from the group.
You abandoned him, you know?
You're so full of talk about justice, but you break it yourselves.
He smiled.
— I laughed. Watching it all, I just laughed, you hypocritical pieces of shit.
The flame on the ground began to burn on its own.
Mei closed her eyes for a moment. Then opened them.
— Try to enter.
Hazau hesitated.
— I… what?
— Don't be shy — Mei spread her arms, welcoming. — Come on…
Come, feel my soul, my mind…
Hazau then tried, but something prevented him; his energy burned as it got near her.
— Come on, come. Mei said with arrogance.
— Is it your first time?
She smiled with scorn.
— It's okay… I'll guide you, then.
Screams.
Not hers.
His.
Hazau staggered back as if he had plunged into lava. His eyes widened. His forms began to tear from the inside out.
— T-THIS… IS IMPOSSIBLE…! How…?! What kind of barrier is this?
Mei walked, impassive.
— I created this wall when I was wounded by a poisoned blade.
From a man so fast I could barely see him.
— And I couldn't let my enemies invade me again.
She smiled subtly.
— Now, only those I allow can enter.
Hazau roared, his form trying to stabilize, but Mei was already before him.
The closer she got, the more he burned.
She took his hand.
The sound of contact was like metal melting at the touch of the sun.
Mei struck him with such speed that his metamorphosis couldn't keep up.
He burned.
And howled.
Hazau screamed, his flesh steaming.
He tried to change form—turn into mist, into a spear, into a shield…
But everything burned.
His body couldn't exist near her.
It wasn't just his hands burning.
It was her presence.
— Your essence is toxic, Hazau — Mei said coldly. — And I am the antidote.
She punched.
The ground split. Hazau was hurled away. Before he could recompose himself, Mei was upon him.
Another punch.
Flames enveloped her fist.
Then his face.
Then his chest.
Hazau couldn't react—each blow broke his form, and Mei's spiritual energy prevented him from reforming.
— This is for Levi.
Punch.
— This is for Dan.
Kick.
— This… is for everything.
She drove her hand into his chest, incinerating him from within.
Hazau howled—but there was no throat left. Only ashes.
The drones observing the battlefield's surroundings captured everything. Mei's energy, the blows, the pure incineration of corruption.
The once-covert transmission was released.
The world saw.
The image was unstable at first. Grainy, marked by noise, as if the system itself refused to bear such a presence.
But then… it became clear.
Mei Nuhay.
Enveloped in golden flames, like a goddess reborn on the battlefield. Her fist still steamed. Behind her, Hazau's ashes danced like cosmic dust. The wind bowed around her presence. It was as if nature itself was saying:
"She's back."
And in that instant…
The entire world stopped.
In the cities, soldiers with grave injuries stared at makeshift screens with wide eyes. One of them, holding his wounded arm, smiled with tears in his eyes:
— She... she's alive…
Beside him, another shouted with strength:
— MEI NUHAY HAS RETURNED!
And the soldiers, even exhausted, raised their weapons again.
Children hidden in basements saw the reflection of fire in Mei's eyes and approached the screen as if witnessing a miracle.
A little girl whispered:
— Mommy… is that her? The woman who fights for the good guys?
The mother, her eyes flooded, just nodded.
— Yes, my love. The flame of courage.
In every corner…
From military bases to the last refuge in the mountains. From refugee camps to the heart of the resistance.
Humanity watched.
And felt.
Hope.
Not the fragile hope that depends on words.
But the one born from the impossible, when a woman ignites her own death and returns stronger.
The world watched as she extinguished, one by one, those demons that haunted the population in broadcasts.
Back on the field.
Mei wiped her fist.
The warm breeze danced with her hair.
Behind her, Tekio and Fenra arrived.
They approached Dan and stood together.
Mei looked them in the eyes and smiled.
But then she turned.
She looked toward the horizon.
— Next.
And she ran, like a living phoenix about to set hell on fire.
To be continued...