Eron slowly dropped to his knees.
His hands trembled slightly.
His eyes had turned red, and tears gathered in them as if they were about to fall at any moment. Yet he forced himself to hold them back.
Through telepathy his voice reached me.
Calm.
But the calmness carried far more emotion than shouting ever could.
"Lysandria… enslave every elf in Ryn's team."
For a moment I thought I had heard him wrong.
"What?"
Suddenly his voice erupted.
"I said enslave every elf present in Ryn's team!"
For a brief second I hesitated.
Not because I refused his command.
But because somewhere inside my heart I also wanted the answer.
Before the elves could even react, my magic moved.
The ground beneath them split open.
Countless plant roots burst out and wrapped around their bodies, binding them tightly until only their heads remained free.
The other teams that had just revived stared in shock.
Eron turned toward them and shouted.
"You have nothing to do here!"
"You can leave!"
And it was true.
They had only revived because of the perks that came with Ryn's sacrifice.
None of them had any reason to remain.
One by one, they left.
They knew Seraphine was with us, and none of them wanted to provoke another battle.
Soon only we and the captured elves remained.
Eron walked toward them.
His face was red with anger.
He stopped directly in front of the elves who had survived until the end.
"Tell me one thing."
"Was this Ryn's plan?"
The elves hesitated under his gaze.
Finally one of them spoke.
"Yes… destroying the throne was part of his plan from the beginning."
"But drinking the devil girl's blood… and that sacrifice… that was not."
Eron's rage exploded again.
His blade flashed out and stopped just inches from the elf's neck.
"Stop wasting my time!"
"Tell me everything you know about him!"
The elves quickly began explaining.
"When the tournament started, we were searching for a teammate who could fight in close combat. One of our partners had died earlier, so our formation was incomplete."
"Then we saw him fighting the demon general."
"After witnessing that battle, we decided to become his subordinates and cooperate with him for the tournament."
"Later, one of our friends who had died in the Summoning Trial contacted us through his lineage power."
"He told us about a hidden mission."
All of us focused on the elf.
"A hidden mission for souls," he continued.
"The souls of players who died in the first round could return temporarily. If they killed enough targets or gained enough points, they would revive."
"The assassin who attacked players was one of those souls."
"We agreed to help because many of our friends had died there."
Eron clenched his fists.
"I don't care how your team was formed!"
"Tell me about Ryn!"
The elves lowered their heads.
"We don't know much about him."
"He never told us where he came from or what he was doing before joining the tournament."
"He only said he needed the artifact to fight a certain beast."
"Nothing more."
The elf paused before continuing.
"After the final round began, he gave us our tasks."
"But… he seemed very angry."
"He kept staring at the sky."
"And he warned us not to harm the prisoner he had captured."
"At most we were allowed to freeze him or restrain him with gravity magic."
Eron's eyes narrowed.
"And the whisper?"
"What did he tell you?"
The elf swallowed nervously.
"He told us to chain him… and beat him until his eyes became watery."
All of us froze.
"We asked him why."
"He said there was a way to revive all the teams who had died in this mission."
"But doing so would force us to split the reward with Lysandria's team."
"He said it might be selfish… but asked if we could help him."
"We agreed."
"But when we started beating him, nothing worked."
"His body's passive healing was far stronger than we imagined."
"Normal attacks didn't affect him at all."
"It felt like he had endured far worse pain before."
The elf continued quietly.
"Then he explained the rest."
"He said Lysandria's team would eventually rush in."
"So we needed to ignite fire beneath his feet."
"He would use the agony and emotion to ignite his Flame of Despair again."
"And destroy the crown and throne."
Aeldir spoke coldly.
"So he tortured himself… just for that?"
The elf nodded slowly.
"We asked him the same question."
"Why was he pushing himself so far?"
"He replied…"
The elf's voice lowered.
"I cannot save everyone."
"But if I can save even a few… it is worth it."
Silence fell around us.
The elf continued.
"When we hesitated, he summoned dozens of water arrows above our heads."
"And told us to follow his orders."
"He said there was a 90% chance his brother was in Lysandria's team."
"And if his brother was leading them, they would rush in soon."
Eron's voice suddenly cut through the air.
"Why 90%?"
"If he thought I was there, why wasn't he certain?"
The elves exchanged glances.
Then one of them spoke again.
"We asked him that too."
The elf took a slow breath.
"He said there was a girl in Lysandria's team."
"She carried a scent very similar to his."
"He said if he wasn't mistaken… her name was Elara."
The elf lowered his head.
"That was why he believed there was a high chance his brother would also be there."
No one spoke for a moment.
Tears finally escaped Eron's eyes.
His rage slowly faded.
He looked toward Mira and asked quietly,
"How… could Ryn plan something like this?"
I released the elves from my magic.
"Leave," I told them.
"Run as far as you can."
Most of the team members were emotional.
But strangely, I felt something else.
Admiration.
Not rage.
Not regret.
Just admiration for the strange bond between those two brothers.
Before anyone could say anything else—
A screen suddenly appeared before us.
{SYSTEM NOTICE}
{Corruption detected in the Summoning Trial of your entire team}
{The trial must be repeated}
{This time… as a team}