The battlefield no longer resembled a city.
The ground was shattered.
Buildings had collapsed into broken skeletons of concrete and steel.
Poison thickened the air like a living fog.
Sebastian and Miasma stood facing one another.
Breathing heavier now.
But neither looking away.
Miasma studied him quietly.
"You know…" he began softly,
"This scene reminds me of someone."
Sebastian said nothing.
"The way you stand. The way you glare at me."
A faint smile curved across Miasma's face.
"Your father."
The air shifted.
Inside WHU headquarters, silence fell.
Asher froze.
Miasma continued.
"He was the strongest hero of his era."
"They called him hope."
"When his name was spoken, fear disappeared."
Sebastian's fists tightened.
"Stop."
But Miasma did not.
"He challenged me just like you are now."
"He said he would end me."
His eyes gleamed with ancient memory.
"Do you know what happened?"
A step forward.
"I broke him."
"His bones."
"His will."
"His hope."
Sebastian's veins pulsed.
Poison around them trembled.
"In his final moments," Miasma said calmly,
"he looked just like you."
"Covered in blood."
"Still standing."
A pause.
"But there was one difference."
Sebastian's voice dropped dangerously low.
"Enough."
Miasma tilted his head.
"He was alone."
Silence.
"And he died alone."
That was it.
The calm inside Sebastian shattered.
He exploded forward.
This time his speed was uncontrolled.
Fueled by rage.
His fist tore through the air—
But Miasma had already moved.
Sebastian's strike split the earth instead.
And in that opening—
Miasma's fist slammed into his chest.
The impact cracked the air.
Sebastian staggered backward.
Another strike.
Then another.
Each heavier.
Each precise.
The final blow sent Sebastian crashing into the fractured ground.
The earth caved beneath him.
Inside WHU—
No one spoke.
Asher's heart pounded violently.
Miasma looked down at him.
"History repeats itself."
Sebastian struggled to breathe.
For a moment—
His vision blurred.
A memory flickered.
His father.
Blood.
Defeat.
Isolation.
Weakness.
Miasma raised his hand.
"Let us finish this."
And then—
The communication system activated.
"Asher, what are you doing?!" someone shouted.
Asher stepped toward the mic.
His voice trembled.
But it did not break.
"Sebastian!"
The sound echoed across the battlefield.
Sebastian's eyes shifted upward.
"Asher…" he whispered faintly.
"Don't listen to him!" Asher shouted.
"That past isn't yours!"
"His choice isn't your fate!"
His eyes burned with emotion.
"Being a father isn't about blood…"
He paused, steadying himself.
"It's about staying."
Inside WHU, others stepped forward.
Oliver leaned toward the console.
"We believe in you, Sebastian!"
"You're not alone!"
"This time is different!"
Julia stepped closer as well.
"You protect him. He protects you."
Asher finished—
"I believe in you."
"We believe in you."
The battlefield went quiet.
Miasma's expression darkened slightly.
Sebastian's breathing steadied.
Slowly—
He stood up.
This time, there was no rage in his eyes.
Only clarity.
"My father was alone," Sebastian said quietly.
"I am not."
The poison around them compressed—
But differently now.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
Balanced.
Miasma's gaze sharpened.
"So that is the difference."
Sebastian stepped forward.
"History will not repeat."
The air bent violently around him.
The compression field intensified beyond anything before.
Not powered by anger—
But conviction.
The war resumed.
But the psychological balance had shifted.
And for the first time—
Miasma was no longer entirely certain of the outcome.