The instant Lucielle emerged, Rey knew this fight would be unlike any other.
Her pure white hair cascaded to the ground, an eerie contrast to the dark markings that twisted around her face and arms. Her nine horns curved elegantly, a floating crown of darkness hovering above her head. Her wings—multiple and vast—spread wide, crackling with raw, uncontrolled power. Her tail swayed behind her, a monstrous appendage despite her humanoid form.
And her eyes… black voids with glowing crimson—as if they devoured light itself.
This was not the Lucielle he once knew.
The air itself warped, tremors ripping through reality as her presence threatened to collapse the entire tower.
Yet Rey did not hesitate.
As soon as she moved, her hand a blur of annihilation, Rey grabbed Adrien's clone and threw it into her attack.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!
A blinding explosion of energy erupted as the clone disintegrated instantly, erased without resistance.
But Rey was already moving.
He lunged, his body blurring through space as he closed the distance, his hand glowing with the immense power of [Ultimate Ray].
Lucielle met him mid-air, her pale fingers twisting reality as she unleashed a blast of pure destruction—a collision of magic, concept, and devastation.
They clashed.
Another roaring eruption resounded, causing the dark metallic ground beneath them to shatter—turning into whatever was less than dust in an instant. The walls soon followed, until the entire structure began to experience rapid deterioration and structural collapse.
In barely a second—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!
The entire tower exploded, obliterated in the wake of their battle as they broke into the open sky.
Below, the battle raged on, Rey's army of Fairies, Elves, Humans, Dwarves, and Giants fighting against Adrien's Dragonoid-hybrids, mutated beings with scaled flesh, wings, and draconic power.
But none of that mattered now.
The Northern Continent itself trembled as Rey and Lucielle tore through the atmosphere, their every strike warping reality and sending shockwaves that devastated the land beneath them.
Lucielle's wings flapped once, and the sky shattered like glass, creating void fissures that sucked in everything nearby.
She raised her hand.
[World Destruction].
A black sun materialized above her palm, a celestial body of ruin, pulsating with pure annihilation.
Rey reacted instantly.
He twisted his body mid-air, activating [Mass Effect], extending his influence around him so it covered the entire area of impact. Once he was done, he glared at the dark orb being generated, shifting the gravity around him to warp away from the attack—but Lucielle had already anticipated it.
With a flicker of [Perfect Domain], space folded around Rey, trapping him in a sealed battlefield where her destructive magic was absolute.
Rey's eyes narrowed.
She was fast.
She was strong.
And—most of all—she had lost herself to the power she now wielded.
He vanished in an instant, using a Skill in [Doppel] to split into multiple versions of himself, each one attacking with different SS-Class Skills.
Lucielle countered with inhuman precision, her mastery of [All Magic] allowing her to conjure every possible defensive and offensive spell simultaneously.
It was a battle of pure supremacy, their movements too fast for the eye to follow, their attacks tearing through dimensions, each strike shaking the very foundations of existence.
For every wound Rey inflicted, Lucielle used [Reset], rewinding reality to undo the damage.
He crushed her ribs—they healed instantly.
He severed her arm—it restored itself before it could even hit the ground.
He unleashed [Ultimate Ray], obliterating her upper body—she rewound time and returned to perfect form.
'We have equal Stats, and the battle will continue to drag on endlessly because of her [Reset] if I don't do something different…'
Right as he was having this thought, Lucielle attacked again, her spear of condensed destruction aiming straight for Rey's heart.
But this time—
He let it hit.
The world twisted.
Time rewound.
Rey felt the skill activating, saw the flow of causality unraveling as Lucielle's [Reset] rewrote the event.
He had already copied it.
'It's practically impossible for the Dragon Emperor to die in H'Trae—not just because of [Reset], but also [Evil Personified].' A flash of understanding filled his eyes as he narrowed them on the entity before him.
As calm as his analysis was, he could feel his heart bleed just from staring at her.
'Not fair… this isn't fair…' He thought within himself. 'I was powerless to stop Alicia from dying… I had to let Esme go as well, and now…'
He fought back the feelings of hesitation that wrapped themselves around him—coiling around his heart as he stared at the lost and completely transfigured Lucielle.
"... Do I have to let you perish too?"
WHOOOOSH!
Lucielle lunged at him with an even greater attack—several times more devastating than the previous ones—but her next strike never landed.
Rey's hand caught her wrist mid-motion, his fingers tightening like an unbreakable vice.
Her glowing eyes widened in shock.
For the first time—she hesitated.
Rey stared at her.
He had no more reason to drag this out.
He could end it now.
She had become a monstrous force of destruction, far beyond salvation.
Killing her would be easy.
His hand tightened around her throat.
He raised his other hand, energy gathering, forming a series of patterns using the SSS-Class Skills at his disposal which were surely powerful enough to erase her completely.
She had to die.
He knew that.
But then—
Lucielle's lips curled into a twisted, sorrowful smile.
'W-what…?!' His eyes widened as he saw this—witnessing a glimpse of the woman he once knew within the monster he held.
And then, right before he could fully comprehend this sight—
ZZZTTTTZZZZ!!!
—She self-destructed.
VWUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMM!!!
The world screamed.
Her body erupted in an explosion of apocalyptic energy, a detonation so vast that it threatened to consume the entire Northern Continent.
The battlefield shook violently, both Rey's and Adrien's forces staggering under the sheer force of the destruction.
Everything was about to be erased.
Rey's expression hardened.
This had to stop.
He had to make his choice—right here, right now.
Below him were hundreds of thousands of people who were risking it all to save this world—to reach a better future for H'Trae. Lucielle was strong enough to destroy everything they had worked so hard for, which meant he had to stop her.
There was no choice.
'I have to do it… I have to end this.'
He moved faster than light, his body piercing through the flames, reaching Lucielle's core—the epicenter of her detonation.
His hand shot forward.
And he stabbed her through the heart.
Lucielle's glowing black eyes widened, her body jerking violently as Rey drew her in close, his forehead pressing against hers.
A golden glow surrounded them, an overwhelming force pulling them away from reality—
"[Domain of Man]..." He muttered, activating his Skill.
Everything shifted.
The battlefield, the continent, the war—all of it vanished.
They entered a different plane, an alternate dimension crafted by Rey's overwhelming power.
Lucielle's breath hitched, her fingers weakly gripping his wrist.
For the first time in the fight, her eyes cleared, her voice barely above a whisper.
"R-Rey?"
"Lucielle…"
He closed his eyes, his grip firm but not cruel.
Then, as her consciousness faded into the depths of the abyss, his voice solemnly echoed in the vast—empty space.
"... I'm going to save you."