"Roar!" Clare, though only half-awakened, had already broken through the limit of her youki. In the original story, because of the bond she formed with Jean during the battle in the Western Abyss, Clare later helped Jean return from awakening using a youki resonance. So during the northern war, Jean did the same for Clare—though she gave her life in the process.
But thanks to Kaitou Kid's butterfly effect, Clare and Jean had only just started to understand each other on the northern battlefield. They hadn't formed that deep bond yet. Jean had no idea how to help Clare.
It looked like Clare's awakening was inevitable. But no—it wasn't. Under the stunned gaze of the other Claymores, her youki quickly withdrew, and she returned to normal. Then she passed out.
"What just happened?"
Whatever it was, Clare was safe—and that was all that mattered. The battle had been brutal. Seventeen Claymores had died at the hands of the Awakened Ones, most of them killed by the Lion King.
The snow, stained red, sent a chill through everyone's heart.
"It's over." The battle was done, but no one who survived could find peace. They swallowed suppressants to fake their deaths, but the fallen still needed to be gathered.
By the time Kaitou Kid arrived, the fight had ended barely a dozen minutes ago. The surviving Claymores were already tending to the corpses.
Kid didn't find any girl left with a breath worth saving. He sighed quietly. Under the puzzled eyes of the survivors, he began fixing the torn-up bodies—at least making sure their faces could rest in peace.
He worked in silence. No one interrupted. Jean and Clare didn't say anything either.
It took a long time to piece together the dismembered remains, but their brains had long since lost all signal. Kid couldn't save them. "This is all I can do." He clasped his fists together and raised them over his head.
The snowfall grew thicker. A cold wind swept over the Claymores.
Centered on Kid, the wind lifted flakes of snow around him. He raised his shoulders high, gathered power at his waist, then slammed his joined fists down. "Mercy of the Goddess of Dawn!"
Boom! The goddess who pitied the dead cast down the purest ice, covering the fallen bodies.
The ice, at absolute zero, instantly sealed seventeen warriors who had died to protect the continent. Their forms would remain untouched, eternally guarding this land.
"Whoa..." Kid exhaled white mist. The ice transformed into a memorial. It was a monument only Microcosmos could destroy—a monument watching over the North.
Then Kid planted seventeen greatswords around the memorial. That was all he could do.
"If you need help, go to the Earthlings' outpost in the South. We have nothing to do with the Organization. We can offer you shelter," Kid said.
"Thank you. If needed, we'll go." Actually, they were planning to head north. It was remote and rarely visited—perfect for hiding. Isley had once hidden in the North too, and the Organization never found him.
"You're welcome anytime. I've got to go now." Kid sensed an overwhelming youki in the South. He had to check it out. He believed the seeds he planted would eventually lead these seven southward to seek help from Earthlings.
Meanwhile, Isley was escorting Priscilla toward her southern homeland. They never expected to run into the Dragon Descendants on a detour. A sudden battle broke out.
Two Abyssal Ones versus the seven Dragon Descendants. Even they couldn't handle it.
And Priscilla wasn't just an Abyssal One—she was beyond it. Her power was unfathomable. Before the knights even had time to transform, three of them were already dead.
That day, it felt like the flames of war from the Warfire Continent had truly blown over to the Test Continent. From south to north, battles erupted non-stop. It was as if every living creature on this planet was doomed to face endless life-and-death struggles.
The Dragon Descendants encountered an Abyssal One for the first time. Though they had intelligence reports, they still underestimated the strength of the Abyss—more accurately, they underestimated Priscilla.
"Transform!" There was no time to hesitate. If they didn't transform now, they'd never get another chance.
Their short, bristly hair looked like it had actually caught fire. As they transformed, their three-eyed, mask-like faces turned more human-like. Scales reinforced their bodies. Their arms became long and massive. Their heads, backs, and elbows layered up like stone armor, and their legs turned serpent-like.
They had plenty of techniques for fighting special warriors. The moment the transformation was complete, they launched an assault. Their huge arms, longer than their knees, suddenly clamped down on Isley and Priscilla.
"Let go of Priscilla!" Isley broke free, drew his bow, and loosed several arrows to break Priscilla out of danger. Then his hands shifted into a blade and a shield, charging into melee against the Dragon Descendants.
The Claymores were originally created to fight the Dragon Descendants, which showed how tough the Descendants' armor had to be. Isley's blade struck their armor, but it only sparked—no damage at all.
"Roar!" Once transformed, the Dragon Descendants couldn't go back. They had to survive in that form from now on. Kill! One of their long arms grabbed Isley's shoulder.
Rip. A spray of purple blood burst to either side like a fountain.
Isley, for the first time, realized how vast the world really was. The Dragon Descendants were terrifyingly strong. Unfortunately, he hadn't come to fight. He just got surrounded and forced into it.
"Roar!" The Dragon Descendant tried to finish him off, going for Isley's neck. But before the blow could land, he suddenly felt his strength fading. His body temperature dropped fast.
It was Priscilla. She had already finished her side of the fight. None of the Dragon Descendants had survived.
"Impossible…" the captain of the seven knights muttered in shock. Then he looked down to see Priscilla, face emotionless, twisting the arm she'd driven into his abdomen. Her fleshly wings, shaped like butterfly wings, flapped behind her.
Pain surged to his brain. Blood poured out.
Rip! Priscilla tore the giant Dragon Descendant in half from the gut, then licked the blood off her hand and said flatly, "Disgusting. Boy guts taste the best."
Why did something like this even exist? The Dragon Descendant couldn't understand, even at the moment of death. His final thought was: This kind of monster must never be allowed to leave Test Island alive.
The dead Dragon Descendants rotted quickly, leaving behind only huge skeletons. That's why the Organization wanted to capture them alive—dead ones had no meat left.
Priscilla reattached Isley's arm. The two of them returned to human form and went to find Raki, who had hidden before the battle began. In a fight like that, ordinary people could only stand and watch.
Even though Raki had now seen their true forms, since the Dragon Descendants had attacked first, he still didn't believe Isley and Priscilla were bad people. He remained willing to follow them south.
Honestly, Raki was pretty thick-skinned. He'd probably hit it off with Clare.
The horses had run off in fright, so the three of them had to head south on foot. By the time Kaitou Kid arrived, there were only a few skeletons left and some scattered weapons from the Dragon Descendants.
"They're all dead?" he muttered.
He hadn't expected the Dragon Descendants from Warfire Continent to be completely wiped out by Abyssals. How pitiful. But… could these bones be the material used to make Claymores?
Kid decided to take them all back to the Earthlings' outpost for research.