Mia's vision shattered into fragments of light and shadow as the Dragon Sage's fist collided with her.
The impact was merciless.
A sickening crack echoed through the courtyard as her skull fractured, the force deforming her delicate features beneath the crushing weight of the blow. For a fleeting second, everything went silent—like the world itself had recoiled.
Her body was hurled through the air, limp and weightless, before slamming into the ruins of a broken structure.
She struck the wall hard..
and then came the sound of tearing metal.
A jagged iron beam, exposed from the wreckage, pierced straight through her abdomen, stopping her mid-flight.
Blood dripped down the cold steel.
And the battlefield fell still.
At that very moment, Ethan's blade found its mark, slicing through the Dragon Sage's neck with deadly precision, striking the hidden weak point he had been hunting.
The beast staggered, its roar echoing across the ruined city.
But what should have been a moment of triumph came at a devastating cost.
Mia lay motionless, blood pooling around her.
"No! My daughter!" Queen Kia screamed, her voice shattering through the chaos. She tore across the rubble, desperate, every ounce of strength propelling her toward Mia's broken body.
King Cazer froze, his hands shaking uncontrollably as his eyes took in the scene before him. He had never imagined anything like this could happen—not to his child, not in his city.
Gondolin, once a fortress of power and pride, now lay in ruins, torn apart in mere hours from afternoon to night. And now… his daughter lay broken before him.
Tears streamed down his face, unheeded and unstoppable.
"No… no, no, no!" he choked, voice cracking. "This can't… this can't be happening… This isn't real…"
The Dragon Sage clutched its severed neck, pain lancing through its massive body. It had never anticipated Ethan's cunning, wasting no time, calculating every strike, predicting its every move with ruthless precision.
In a blur of motion, Ethan darted toward Mia.
Her body trembled, battered and broken, each breath a desperate fight against the darkness creeping in. Blood stained her clothes, and her hands fumbled weakly against the ground.
Ethan caught her, gripping her hand tightly, refusing to let her slip away. Despite her critical condition, she clung to life with the last of her fading strength.
Ethan wasted no time and summoned the system, requesting a Lifestone Elixir.
DING!
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[Item: Lifestone Elixir]
[Quantity: 3/10]
With urgency clawing at his every movement, he crushed the elixir against her frail body. A brief glow radiated outward, fading almost instantly.
But the critical injuries didn't heal. Mia remained on the edge, her life hanging by a fragile thread.
"What…?" Ethan muttered, his voice tight with disbelief. Why isn't it working?
[This damage is beyond the Lifestone Elixir's level.]
His heart sank. The sheer scale of Mia's injuries was far beyond what a single elixir could mend at his current strength.
The Dragon Sage's power had left wounds deeper than any ordinary magic, or item, could repair.
Damnit… Ethan cursed inwardly, his thoughts shaking. I can't let someone else die. Not here. Not ever again.
"Stay with me, Mia," he said hoarsely, ignoring the agony in his broken jaw as he gripped her carefully and pulled her free from the jagged iron that had impaled her. Blood followed as the metal slid out, and he quickly pressed his hand against the wound, trying to slow it.
"Please… please…" Queen Kia sobbed, collapsing beside them. "Save my daughter. I beg you…"
Her voice trembled uncontrollably, each word breaking apart as tears streamed down her face.
Blood poured relentlessly from Mia's mouth and the deep wound in her abdomen, soaking into the shattered stone beneath her. It spread outward in dark streams, creeping across the ground until it touched Ethan's boots.
I'm losing her…
The realization struck harder than any blow he had taken.
At this rate… she won't make it.
Ethan pressed both hands firmly against her wounds, trying desperately to slow the bleeding, to hold her life in place through sheer force of will.
The battle. The Demon. The countdown.
For that moment, none of it mattered.
"You dare ignore me?!" the Dragon Sage roared, its voice splitting the night. "I despise being ignored!"
Enraged, it charged toward Ethan, each step cracking the ruined courtyard beneath its weight. Flames spiraled violently around its outstretched arm, fire magic coiling tighter and tighter as it prepared to unleash another devastating punch.
Heat surged forward like a tidal wave.
Queen Kia's eyes widened in horror. She looked up at the approaching monster, then at Ethan, still kneeling beside Mia.
"Hey! Kid—watch out!" she screamed.
But the warning came too late.
The Dragon Sage's blazing fist was already descending—and Ethan's face was directly in its path.
The Dragon Sage's eyes widened in shock.
Its flaming fist had been stopped; Not by steel or by magic. But by a single, bare hand.
Reinhard stood before Ethan, his palm firmly intercepting the inferno-wrapped punch. The fire that could melt stone curled uselessly around his skin, unable to advance another inch.
"Forgive me, Master," Reinhard said calmly, though his eyes burned with unmistakable bloodlust. "But I cannot sit idle and watch this beast reduce you to ruin."
His gaze shifted to the Dragon Sage.
The deep gash Ethan had carved into its neck was already sealing itself shut. Flesh reformed. Scales fused. The wound vanished as though it had never existed.
The monster had regenerated.
Then it struck him.
Reinhard…
Ethan had always seen him as a warrior—an overwhelming force standing between him and death. But before that, Reinhard was something else.
A doctor. The man who had saved his life. Twice. If anyone could pull someone back from the edge…
"Reinhard!" Ethan called out urgently, forcing his broken jaw to cooperate. "Leave the Demon to me. Please, save Mia. She doesn't have much time left."
For the first time since the battle began, there was something raw in his voice.
Desperation.
Just as Ethan began to rise, ready to switch places with Reinhard, who was already clashing fiercely with the Dragon Sage....
A weak tug stopped him.
Mia's trembling fingers had latched onto his cloak.
He looked down.
Through unbearable pain, her body shaking violently, she struggled to speak. Blood spilled from her lips, staining her chin as it filled her mouth faster than she could breathe. Tears streamed silently down her face, carving fragile paths through the dust on her skin.
Even now, She was trying to say something.
"Please… Black… Blade…"
Her voice was barely air. Barely sound.
"Please… save my pa… rents… Save… Gon… do… lin…"
Each broken syllable struck Ethan like a hammer to the chest. His hood slipped forward, casting his face into shadow.
And for a split second, he wasn't in the ruined courtyard anymore.
He was back in Almsworth. Smoke. Screams. Blood. His parents burning in flames. His little brother. Ane. Bolivia. Every loss. Every failure. Every moment he had been too weak.
Too late.... His fingers tightened around her hand.
Not again.
He would not watch another family fall apart in front of him.
He couldn't bear it.
The image of someone dying right before his eyes, helpless, vulnerable—seared into him like fire.
The last words of his mother echoed in his mind: "Live well… live happily… make yourself my son…"
They came back in a flash, a tidal wave of grief and fury crashing over him.
Pain and rage intertwined, coiling around his chest so tightly he could hardly breathe.
All he had ever wanted was peace.
And yet, it had always seemed just beyond his reach, forever out of grasp.
Tears streamed slowly down his face, glistening in the dim light. Even through her blurred, life-and-death haze, Mia could see them.
Then, with his eyes closed, he gave her a faint, unwavering smile.
"I promise… I'll save everyone," he whispered. "Just… watch me do it."
Mia caught a glimpse of the weight he carried—the burdens he bore silently, the pain he refused to share. And yet, that smile… it was like sunlight breaking through a storm.
For a moment, even on the edge of death, she smiled back. His resolve gave her hope. His smile gave her tomorrow.
Ethan rose slowly from her side. His movements were unhurried, measured yet carried a quiet, suffocating authority. His hood remained low, shadowing most of his face as he stepped forward.
Reinhard crossed past him without a word, immediately kneeling beside Mia to begin treatment.
Ethan kept walking.
Step. Step. Until he stood directly before the Dragon Sage.
Then, he lifted his head. From beneath the hood, one crimson eye ignited, glowing like a burning ember in the dark. The other remained concealed in shadow.
That single gaze locked onto the Demon.
And the air itself grew heavy.
"I'll ask you one question," Ethan said, his voice low and frighteningly steady. "How you answer it… will determine how painful your death will be."
Rage coiled beneath his calm exterior, barely restrained. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword so fiercely it seemed the steel might crack under the pressure.
The system flickered in the corner of his vision.
[Countdown: 14:22]
Fourteen minutes.
That was all he had left. And deep down, he knew the truth; Defeating this monster within that time frame… should have been impossible.
DING!
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[System Override]
[System Override]
The notification echoed sharply in Ethan's mind.
Across from him, the Dragon Sage's lips curled into a wide, mocking grin.
"I was ordered to," the Demon replied lazily. "There's no need to explain the details… considering you'll be dead soon anyway."
Silence followed. The wind shifted.
Ethan's grip on his sword tightened again, the crimson glow in his visible eye intensifying.
"I'll ask you once more…" he said, his voice colder than before.
"Who sent you?"
The Dragon Sage did not answer, instead, it smiled—slow, deliberate, taunting.
"And what," it asked mockingly, "do you hope to accomplish… if I tell you?"
The words pierced straight through Ethan's chest. Something inside him snapped. The crimson glow in his eye intensified, flaring brighter as fury bled into something colder—something far more dangerous.
"Fine…" he muttered. "We'll do this your way."
DING!
— SYSTEM MESSAGE —
[Percentage of Power Engagement: 6%]
[Cost of Use: Unknown]
Ethan hesitated.
The system was never generous. Overwhelming power always came with a price—and that price was never small. That was what frightened him most. Not the Demon. Not death.
The cost.
But then Almsworth flashed through his mind again. The smoke. The bodies. The helplessness.
His past life—gone. His second chance—crumbling. And now Mia—bleeding because he wasn't strong enough.
What was the point of holding back anymore?
If this world was ruled by demons…
Then he would become something worse. If survival demanded cruelty, if power demanded sacrifice.
Then so be it.
Even if it meant abandoning what little humanity he had left.
All I ever wanted… was a peaceful life. A happy ending.
If the world refused him even that, then he would carve it out himself. And if that meant becoming a beast…Then he would become one.
These thoughts passed through him in less than a heartbeat.
Then, Silence.
Ethan's mind went completely blank.
"Allow it…" Ethan murmured, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Enough talk," the Dragon Sage growled. "I'll kill you—ha ha ha!"
With a roar, it thrust its flaming hand toward Ethan's face, the air splitting from the force.
But instead of impact, there was stillness. Its wrist had been seized mid-strike. Ethan stood unmoving, gripping the massive, fire-wreathed arm as though it carried no weight at all, like a strip of loose leather caught effortlessly by a child.
The flames flickered.
And for the first time, the Demon's attack had been completely halted.
"What…?"
The word slipped from the Dragon Sage's mouth, no longer confident—no longer mocking.
What just happened?
Its thoughts spiraled into chaos. Never, not once, had its strength been stopped so effortlessly. Never had it been made to look so… powerless.
A foreign sensation of humiliation crept into its chest.
It stared at the hooded figure before it, at the single crimson eye glowing from beneath the shadow.
"What are you…?" the Demon demanded, its voice unsteady now.
"…Are you a demon?"
Ethan moved without warning. His fist drove forward and connected. The impact detonated across the Dragon Sage's face, shattering scales like fragments of broken armor. Pieces scattered through the air as the force sent the massive creature hurtling backward, crashing across the ruined courtyard.
Shock rippled through the battlefield.
Even Reinhard, steady, composed Reinhard, paused mid-treatment, his hand frozen in place as his mouth slowly fell open.
The Dragon Sage finally regained his footing, muscles tensing, ready to strike again.
But then, He froze. Something small, subtle… and terrifying.
Through the shadow of Ethan's black hood, a single horn jutted from the left side of his forehead, sharp and glinting in the dim light.
A sign of power.
A mark of something far beyond a mere human or even a mere Executioner.