Knight, who had been holding that entire section of the battlefield on his own while guarding the cocoon, paused mid-fight. Even he, who rarely reacted to anything, seemed taken aback by what had just happened.
’Did you help her?’ he asked through our link, his tone carrying clear disbelief.
’No, Knight. I am as surprised as you are,’ I replied honestly, my gaze still fixed on her.
Lyrate floated above the newly formed forest, her silver glow steady, her red hair drifting behind her as she looked down at what she had created.
"How beautiful," she said softly, her voice filled with quiet satisfaction.
The forest below stretched wide, its roots embedded in the void itself, its branches still growing slightly as if alive. It was no longer a battlefield in that section.
Then, in a single flash, she disappeared. The next instant, she stood right in front of me.
"Would you like my help in closing this rift... Master?" she asked, her voice smooth, her smile carrying a charm that felt... different.
I stared at her for a moment. There was no doubt. This was Lyrate.
And yet, something about her had changed in a way I couldn’t ignore. The Lyrate I knew had never spoken like this, never carried herself with this kind teasing tone.
Her eyes remained fixed on mine, waiting.
"Lyrate," I said slowly, "I have to admit... I’m surprised by your evolution."
She smiled faintly and adjusted a strand of her hair as if it was nothing worth mentioning.
"There is nothing surprising about it," she replied. "After seeing your strength, I understood what I needed to cross that threshold myself. Once I figured it out... it was quite simple."
I let out a small breath.
"Well then, congratulations," I said. "You’re the first among them to do it."
At that, I glanced toward the others.
They were all watching and listening to our conversation very closely.
"Of course," she said casually. "That was expected. None of them have the same talent as me."
That line didn’t go unnoticed.
’Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lyrate,’ Aurora’s voice came instantly.
’Arrogant,’ Ragnar added with a scoff.
’Are you looking down on us now?’ Knight asked, his tone calm but direct.
Lyrate didn’t even acknowledge them. She dismissed their reactions as if they didn’t matter, her attention never leaving me.
"So," she said again, stepping slightly closer, "Master... would you like my help?"
I held her gaze for a second, then nodded.
"Sure, Lyrate," I said. "You have command of this battlefield now."
I leaned back and sat down on my throne once more, letting her take over completely.
Lyrate nodded with a faint smile, then turned to face the rift. In the next instant, her body dissolved into a stream of crimson light and vanished from sight, leaving behind only the lingering presence of her power.
Xeron let out a low breath and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Well... she is quite something," he said. "Who would have thought an elf would be the next World Lord to rise from the Blue Spiral Galaxy?"
I simply hummed in response, but my attention was elsewhere. My mind replayed what I had just witnessed.
It was clear now.
The flower.
That ability of hers had devoured an enormous amount of life force in a very short span of time. She hadn’t just used it to strengthen herself temporarily. She had taken that energy and pushed her body beyond the pre-origin threshold in one decisive move.
Just like I had done. But there was a difference. She hadn’t stopped at strengthening her physical body. She had crossed over completely. I could feel it clearly now, not just from her presence, but from the way her laws had changed. They felt... settled, absolute in a way mine were not yet.
And above all her domain. When someone stepped into Saint rank, their domain changed. It was no longer just an area of influence or control. It became a True Domain, something that could impose a permanent state onto reality itself. That was what she had done. Those Eternals... they weren’t just killed.
Their existence had been overwritten. Converted into something else entirely. The forest below was not an illusion or a temporary construct. It was real. A direct result of her domain enforcing its will on reality.
A small smile formed on my face. If she could reach that point...then the others could as well. I looked toward my summons, one by one. There was something new in their eyes now. A clear fire, a drive that hadn’t been there before. They had seen what was possible.
All of them, except Ash. He remained the same, standing quietly as if none of this concerned him in the slightest.
On the other side, Aurora was the most affected.
Her entire section of the battlefield had transformed into a storm of pure lightning. The void itself had turned blue under her influence, millions of bolts striking continuously, the sound alone powerful enough to tear apart anything caught within it.
She wasn’t just fighting anymore. She was venting and she was angry, very angry.
My perception tracked Lyrate instantly, locking onto her presence as it reappeared near the rift itself, far ahead of where most of the fighting still raged. She stood alone there, suspended in front of the torn expanse of space, the remaining black crystalline spikes still embedded deep within it, holding it open.
For a moment, she simply observed them.
The silver glow around her body remained steady, while faint traces of crimson drifted around her like a second layer.
Then she raised her hand.
"World Root: Sovereign Bloom."
Her voice was soft. But the effect was not. From beneath the rift, something emerged. At first, it looked like thin strands of red light, barely visible against the chaos of the void. Then they thickened, twisting and growing as they rose upward. Within seconds, those strands became roots, massive, living structures that carried both crimson and silver within them.
They did not grow slowly, instead they surged.
The roots pierced through space itself, spreading outward and upward, wrapping around the remaining spikes with terrifying speed. Each root coiled tightly, embedding itself into the black crystalline structures, not just holding them but invading them.
The spikes reacted. They trembled violently, their surfaces cracking as the roots dug deeper, spreading through them like veins.
Lyrate closed her fingers and the roots tightened. Then they bloomed. From every point where the roots had pierced the spikes, massive flowers erupted outward, forcing the structures apart from within. Crimson petals burst open across the surface of each spike, destabilizing them completely.
The spikes shattered as they were consumed. Their structure collapsed inward as the roots and blooms devoured them, reducing them into fragments that dissolved into nothing.
The rift reacted instantly. With its anchors gone, the massive tear began to destabilize, its edges pulling inward as the space struggled to close itself.
But this time something else happened. The System responded.
Across the rift, enormous runes began to appear. Massive, ancient symbols carved themselves into the fabric of space around the tear, surrounding it completely. Each rune pulsed, locking into place as if responding to a condition finally being met.
The rift trembled. The tear in space folded inward, slowly at first, then faster, collapsing under the weight of the System’s intervention. The unstable energy vanished, the distorted space smoothing out until nothing remained.
Silence followed.
And where the rift had once existed there was nothing.