For nearly an hour we had fought without pause.
Every movement had become heavier.
Every strike slower.
Hope itself had begun to fade.
And yet… the gamble remained.
A choice I knew I should never make.
Even my own self would have opposed it.
But my clover was not here.
Without it, I could not interfere properly in the battle.
And if we died here…
He would regret it far more.
So I made my decision.
"I use the Gamble Recruit."
The system responded instantly.
I selected the only name that came to my mind.
RYN VAN ASTRIN.
Everyone turned toward me.
"Lysandria, why?!" Eron shouted.
"Is it really necessary to disturb him again?"
Their voices carried protest… but not rejection.
Deep down, it seemed they all wanted the same thing.
Not to survive.
But to see him again.
The sky tore open.
A massive portal formed above the battlefield.
From within it came a deafening roar.
Even the Corpse Collector frowned slightly.
Something fell from the portal.
No.
Someone.
The body crashed onto the battlefield like a discarded corpse.
For a moment none of us moved.
It was Ryn.
But what terrified us wasn't that it was him.
It was his condition.
His clothes were still burning.
One arm had been completely torn away.
Blood poured from nearly twenty different wounds.
Deep slashes.
Burn marks.
Claw-like injuries that looked too large to belong to any normal creature.
It looked as if he had fought something enormous.
Something ancient.
Something powerful enough to tear a man apart.
The battlefield fell silent.
Even the undead paused.
It felt…
Like he had faced a dragon alone.
But injuries alone could not tell the whole story.
The Corpse Collector slowly closed her grimoire.
For the first time she picked up her staff properly.
Her calm voice carried across the battlefield.
"I want that corpse."
Her entire army moved instantly.
At the same time she launched a blazing fireball.
It shattered Mira's barrier in one strike.
The battle resumed.
Eron and the others forced themselves to stand.
Their bodies were exhausted.
Their mana nearly gone.
But they had been given a task.
Protect Ryn.
Until he recovered.
They fought like people with nothing left to lose.
One corpse fell.
Then ten.
Then twenty.
Every body burned completely to stop it from rising again.
But the army still surrounded us.
Hundreds of monsters closed in from every direction.
The Corpse Collector raised her staff again.
The earth exploded beneath us.
An earthquake spell.
The ground cracked violently.
Our formation collapsed as everyone stumbled.
That single opening was enough.
Goblins rushed forward like hungry wolves.
Their blades slashed into our ribs before we could react.
They aimed for our necks next.
But Eron's voice echoed through telepathy.
"Prepare healing spells."
Then he roared aloud.
"THE HUNDRED FOLDS OF WINDBLADES!"
Invisible currents exploded around him.
Hundreds of razor winds tore through the battlefield.
The goblins were shredded instantly.
Their bodies scattered across the ground.
But the attack drained Eron completely.
Blood spilled from his mouth as he barely stayed standing.
Elara rushed to his side to heal him while Aeldir and Mira protected them.
None of us noticed the real danger.
An Oni had slipped behind our line.
Before I could react—
Its sword swung down.
I barely stepped back in time.
The team turned toward me instinctively.
That moment of distraction was enough.
More goblins rushed in again.
Everyone received another deep cut.
We were losing.
Ryn's arm had almost regenerated.
If we could hold the line for just a few seconds—
We might win.
But hope vanished when Seraphine suddenly screamed.
Her voice was filled with pure terror.
Before any of us understood what was happening—
She destroyed every beast near us in a single burst of power.
Then she forced us into a corner and created a barrier around us.
We stared at her in confusion.
Relieved to survive.
But the Corpse Collector spoke calmly.
"Bring me that body."
An Oni moved toward Ryn.
Then suddenly—
It stopped.
Its body separated into twelve pieces.
Ryn slowly sat up.
He yawned.
"Where am I?"
A system screen opened before him.
At the same moment the remaining undead army rushed toward him.
We tried to rush out of the barrier to help.
But Seraphine shoved us back.
Her face was pale.
Her eyes filled with fear.
"Can't you see?" she said.
"Or does your love for him make you blind?"
"That… isn't Ryn anymore."
On the battlefield Ryn wiped the blood from his face with one hand.
He looked at the approaching monsters.
His expression was almost bored.
"At least send someone worthy to fight."
Then he spoke quietly.
"THOUSANDS FOLDS OF WINDBLADES."
Nothing seemed to change.
The air did not move.
No storm appeared.
But for a moment it felt as if the world itself had stopped breathing.
The monsters took one more step forward.
Then every single one of them fell apart.
Their bodies separated into perfect pieces.
So cleanly cut that it almost looked like meat prepared for cooking.
Behind us Seraphine whispered with trembling lips.
"You don't understand…"
"In this battlefield…"
"That isn't Ryn."
Her eyes remained fixed on him.
"That is the devil awakened by my blood."
"When this form appears… our emotions begin to synchronize."
"And the closer we are… the stronger it becomes."
Her voice trembled.
"And that devil…"
"…is far more dangerous than anyone standing here."
High above the battlefield, the Corpse Collector smiled slowly.
At last.
She had found an opponent worth fighting.