Dev slept beside the bonfire.
The night pressed close heavy, mute, suffocating.
Dev's eyes snapped open.
A battlefield spread before him.
Sky and ground drowned in war. Winged beings tore through the air in disciplined formations, blades flashing like falling stars. Below them, humans stood packed shoulder to shoulder, spears raised, armor locked tight. Angels and men. Sky and earth. Order crashing into desperation.
The clash erupted.
Steel met bone. Wings were torn apart mid-flight. Blood rained without mercy, soaking the soil until the land itself seemed to scream. There was no retreat. No pause. Only endless slaughter battle existing for the sake of battle alone.
A figure charged toward Dev.
A sword flashed.
The world spun.
The head fell before the body realized it was dead.
Dev gasped.
He was back.
The real battlefield. The bonfire. The ground solid beneath his palms, cold and unforgiving. His breath came shallow, dragged from his chest as if the air itself resisted him.
"A dream…" he muttered.
Yet the words rang hollow.
"This does not feel like one."
He lifted his gaze.
Kai knelt beside him.
Not in fear.Not in injury.In submission.
The army was gone. No corpses. No banners. Not a single presence remained.
Silence ruled the land thick and unnatural, like the aftermath of divine punishment. The battlefield looked abandoned, empty in the way only horror could be.
Dev rose.
Kai lowered his head further, one knee pressed into the dirt.
"I greet you, king," Kai said. Then corrected himself without hesitation. "My king."
Dev did not answer.
He stepped past the bonfire and sat upon a jagged rock, posture relaxed yet heavy with authority. His gaze lifted to the sky.
Night.
Impossible.
This holo world knew no night or day only an endless red horizon stretched in eternal dusk. Yet above him, night had come.
Dev turned slowly.
His eyes met Kai's.
Killing intent poured out, dense and sharp, enough to crush weaker beings into madness.
Kai did not flinch.
"My king," he said calmly, voice steady despite the pressure, "I mean you no harm."
Dev told Kai to sit.
Without a second thought, he obeyed.
Dev asked what this place was, and what the army was.
"My king," Kai said, "I do not know. My existence began only moments ago, when you slaughtered the army before you. After I was born, the army stopped and gave me space to approach you."
He lowered his head.
"From now on, I am your servant, my king."
Dev was surprised.
"Why do you serve me?"
"I do not know, master," Kai replied. "It is like an unwritten rule in my mind that I must serve you as your servant."
Dev looked inward.
His soul core was depleted.
Then he remembered.
It had been destroyed by the army.
Confusion surfaced.
What was he supposed to do now?
Kai raised his hand.
A soul core rested in his palm.
Dev frowned. "How do you have a soul core? The army stopped when you were born."
"This was near you," Kai said. "I kept it safe."
"My king."
Dev took it.
He placed it inside his soul core storage ring only then remembering that he even had such a ring, looted long ago from the Eternal Bloodline people, a fact he had completely forgotten.
Dev ordered Kai to keep watch.
"I will sleep for some hours."
"Yes, my king."
Morning fell.
The army returned.
Kai woke Dev in urgency.
"My king the army has come."
Dev looked at Kai.
He wore armor similar to the army's, yet carried no weapon. Only then did Dev notice Kai's eyes entirely black. No pupil. No reflection. Nothing.
Dev took out his sword fragment and handed it to Kai.
"We fight together. Only then can we leave this place."
Kai crushed the fragment.
A long, heavy sword appeared perfectly fitted for him.
At the same time, Dev absorbed the soul core Kai had given him the night before.
Power surged through him.
Kai stood calm, sword in hand.
Dev crushed his own fragment.
A short sword appeared.
He activated his wings.
They did not fly.
The entire army charged.
The battle erupted.
It lasted twenty-four hours.
It did not stop.
Dev and Kai were exhausted. Dev vomited saliva, hunger and thirst tearing at him. Yet the army gave no mercy only time enough to suffer. Kai was wounded, bleeding, yet he protected Dev until the very end. Whenever Dev was in danger, Kai moved without hesitation, acting as a shield.
Dev saw it.
And was helpless.
Back to back, Dev asked, "Do you know how to stop this army? Like you did before?"
"My king," Kai answered, "if I knew, I would not wait until now."
Dev cursed.
Steel swung.Steel answered.
As both were about to fall, the army stopped.
A figure walked among them.
"What is your name?" the figure asked.
"Dev Ravenclaw."
The figure knelt.
"My king, from now on I will follow you to death. Please bestow upon me a name."
"Chiru."
As the name was spoken, both Kai and Dev collapsed.
The army disappeared again.
Far away, a bird waited.
Ruby.
Ruby was worried. According to the map, Dev should have arrived within three days but he was nowhere to be seen. Ruby searched the entire place and found nothing.
Panic set in.
Ruby screamed, threatening the holo world animals, but Dev was still missing.
"His mother will kill me," Ruby muttered, "if she knows I lost her son in this world."
Dev and Kai sat together.
Chiru looked different from Kai cheerful, restless, talking nonstop since waking.
"Do you remember anything?" Dev asked.
"I don't know, my king," Chiru replied. "But what is this place? Why is it dark? Why are you fighting this army?"
Dev looked at Kai.
"If I know," Dev said, "I will tell you. Don't worry."
Each time the army stopped, in battlefield
All blood vanished.All limbs disappeared.Heads, fragments, stains erased as if they had never existed.
When silence fell and the army disappeared, the land became empty again unnaturally so.
Then the soul cores manifested.
They did not scatter.They did not roll or embed into the ground.
They appeared where Dev stood.
Along with them came healing fragments.
Fragments formed first for Dev always enough to pull him back from collapse, never enough to grant comfort. Only after did fragments appear for Kai, Chiru, Vaal, Sethr, Karn, and Rhex precisely measured, just sufficient to keep them standing.
but more importantly no food or water came .
The next morning, the army came again.
Dev had no weapon for Chiru.
"Take one from the army," he said. "And start killing."
This battle lasted forty eight hours.
Another person appeared.
The army stopped.
He was named Vaal.
Silent. Calm. Thought to be mute until he spoke.
Next battle: sixty two hours.
Name given: Sethr.
Next battle: seventy two hours.
Name given: Karn.
Next battle: eighty two hours.
Name given: Rhex.
Now Dev, Kai, Chiru, Vaal, Sethr, Karn, and Rhex stood together in the center of the army.
Dev was exhausted.
Weak.
Bones visible beneath skin.
Eyes closing.
Rations finished.
Injured.
A straight scar cut through his left eye.
Face pale.
Shirt blackened.
Trousers torn.
Only his glowing shoes and short sword still functioned barely.
In his mind, Dev counted.
Twelve days.Twelve hours.
The army never stopped reducing only respawning.
Dev thought of awakening time. but survival came first
First thought: escape this place.
Hope faded.
Again and again, his subordinates saved him.
Hunger.Thirst.A will to live.A thirst for peace.
Dev removed his shoes.
His subordinates formed around him, protecting him, keeping him in the center.
He felt the ground beneath him.
Smelled blood.
Army blood.Faces.Limbs.Heads everywhere.
Dev stood in the middle of it all.
He bent down.
Touched the blood.
Poured it over his face.
Stared upward, laughing like a mad demon, playing in the blood.
Kai saw it and moved toward him.
Too late.
The army did not stop this time.
It went berserk.
Dev felt something within him
Everything stopped.
The army froze mid-air.
Kai, Chiru, Vaal, Sethr, Karn, Rhex frozen as well.
A ray of hope ....