The battlefield remained silent after the Brahmastra.
Too silent.
The ruined plains stretched endlessly beneath broken skies while divine fire still burned across the earth in scattered waves. Smoke drifted upward slowly from the destruction while fragments of corrupted energy faded from reality itself.
The fracture was gone.
The army had been nearly erased.
And for one brief moment—
it looked like the war was finally over.
The villagers stared across the battlefield in complete disbelief while evacuation groups slowly stopped moving through the forests.
Nobody could fully understand what they had witnessed.
An entire army destroyed by one man.
The sky itself shattered and restored again.
It no longer felt like something humans were supposed to see.
At the center of the ruined battlefield—
Arin finally dropped to one knee.
The strain hit him all at once.
Brahmastra wasn't an Astra meant for ordinary usage. Even divine warriors feared its consequences. The sheer amount of spiritual pressure required to summon it through Vijaya had pushed his body far beyond its limits.
Blood slowly dripped from his fingertips onto the shattered earth beneath him while golden energy flickered uncontrollably around his body now.
His breathing became uneven.
Heavy.
Pain spread through every part of him like fire crawling beneath skin.
But even then—
he tried standing again.
Because deep down he already knew.
Something was wrong.
The battlefield felt… incomplete.
Then suddenly—
the ruined sky darkened again.
Liora's eyes widened instantly from the forest edge afterward.
"No…"
A deep sound echoed across the battlefield again.
Not thunder.
Laughter.
The Entity still remained.
Far beyond the ruined plains, darkness gathered once more while shattered remnants of the surviving army slowly converged toward it. Thousands of corrupted bodies collapsed together unnaturally while black energy consumed them entirely.
The remaining army wasn't retreating.
It was being sacrificed.
Arin slowly looked upward afterward while still struggling to breathe properly.
And then he understood immediately.
The Entity had waited.
Waited for him to exhaust himself.
Waited for Brahmastra to end.
And now—
it was using everything left in one final attack.
The entire battlefield trembled violently afterward.
The sacrificed remnants of the army dissolved completely into darkness while an enormous sphere of corrupted energy formed above the Entity itself.
The pressure released by it dwarfed everything from earlier.
Even the forests behind the battlefield began dying beneath its presence. Trees withered instantly while the ground cracked apart spreading corruption endlessly outward.
Riven stared toward the sky in horror afterward.
"What the hell IS that…"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone understood instinctively.
That attack would erase everything.
The villages.
The forests.
Everyone evacuating south.
Everything.
And Arin—
in his current state—
could barely stand anymore.
Liora immediately started running toward the battlefield.
"ARIN!"
But she was too far away.
Far too far.
The Entity raised one massive arm afterward.
And the corrupted sphere descended.
The sky screamed.
The attack fell toward the villages like the end of the world itself.
Arin's vision blurred heavily now while blood continued running down his arms. His body screamed at him not to move again. Vijaya itself flickered weakly beside him beneath the strain.
But behind him—
people were still running.
Children.
Families.
His home.
Liora.
Slowly—
Arin forced himself back onto his feet.
The movement alone nearly made him collapse again immediately.
But still—
he stood.
Golden flames reignited around him weakly while broken space distorted around his body once more.
The Entity watched silently.
Almost curiously.
As if wondering whether he could truly continue fighting after surviving Brahmastra.
Arin raised Vijaya again.
His hands trembled violently now.
Not from fear.
From exhaustion.
Then he moved.
Space shattered beneath him as he launched himself directly toward the descending attack.
The battlefield exploded from the impact of his movement alone.
And then—
the collision happened.
The corrupted sphere crashed directly against Arin's remaining power.
The world disappeared beneath black and gold light instantly.
The impact shattered the ruined plains even further while storms erupted across the skies violently.
But this time—
Arin couldn't stop it completely.
The attack broke through.
And the Entity finally moved.
A massive shadow crossed the battlefield instantly before slamming directly into Arin midair.
The impact sounded like mountains colliding.
Arin crashed through the ruined plains violently, tearing across the battlefield for hundreds of meters before smashing into broken earth hard enough to create another crater.
Liora froze afterward.
"…Arin…"
Before he could recover—
the Entity struck again.
A massive dark arm grabbed him directly before hurling him across the battlefield like he weighed nothing.
The ground exploded repeatedly beneath each impact while blood sprayed across shattered earth.
Even Vijaya disappeared momentarily from his grasp beneath the force.
The others immediately tried moving forward now.
But the pressure radiating from the battlefield stopped them completely.
They were too weak to enter it.
Too weak to help him.
Riven slammed his fist against the ground afterward furiously.
"DAMMIT!"
Meanwhile—
Arin could barely move anymore.
Every bone in his body felt broken now.
His vision blurred heavily while blood covered half his face. The Entity towered above him through darkness before striking him again hard enough to send him skidding across the battlefield once more.
And through all that pain—
his thoughts kept returning to one thing.
The promise.
The one he made beside the lake beneath the stars.
I will come back.
But now…
he finally understood.
He might not be able to keep it.
The Entity slowly approached him afterward while darkness spread endlessly across the battlefield once more.
And far away near the forest edge—
Liora was still screaming his name.
Arin slowly lifted his head afterward.
Then through blood and exhaustion—
he looked toward her one final time.
And reached out weakly.
His voice barely worked anymore.
But he forced the words out anyway.
Loud enough for her to hear.
"…Liora…"
The battlefield became silent again.
Everyone looked toward him now.
Golden light flickered weakly around his broken body while the Entity loomed behind him like death itself.
Then finally—
"I'm sorry…"
Liora's breathing stopped.
Arin's voice shook slightly now for the first time.
"I don't think…"
Blood fell from his lips onto shattered earth.
"…I'll be able to keep my promise this time…"
The wind moved violently across the battlefield afterward while tears slowly formed in Liora's eyes.
Arin smiled weakly despite everything.
"I have to do this…"
His gaze slowly shifted toward the villages behind her.
"…to protect everyone…"
Then finally—
his voice broke completely.
"But…"
He looked back toward her one last time.
"…I may end up dragging you down with me."