On that collapsing, blood-soaked island, a brutal battle of a wholly different caliber raged.
The Saint of Dawn, Liora, found herself face to face with one of the strongest demons alive .. Rank Thirteen, Geppetto.
Hovering aloft with a filthy grin, Geppetto struck at Liora from afar.
She gathered her full golden power and fought savagely to survive and kill the demon before her—but she could barely gain a single step. Geppetto drowned her in a torrent of long-range strikes, a black flood threatening to swallow her whole.
"You’re a support," he drawled, "while I’m a wave controller. I suppose our methods rhyme .. but the gap in power is simply too vast."
Crouched in midair, elbow resting on one knee, Geppetto watched Liora struggle, clearly entertained.
"To be frank, I still don’t understand why I was summoned to this dreary place and told to hunt the likes of you... You’re far too weak to be a threat."
BOOOOM!
Explosions rolled one after another as Geppetto put on a dazzling show of destructive force. Then, with unnerving calm, he raised a hand toward Liora. It spasmed grotesquely as black lines crawled across it.
"You should’ve stayed hidden, Saint of Dawn. You have no idea how terrifying this world truly is."
With a flick, a baleful dark wave rippled out. Liora’s face went grave.
That aura—nothing in her life had ever felt like it.
"What in the hell is this damned aura?"
Filthy. Lightless. Lethal.
"Allow me to show you a glimpse of true horror," Geppetto smiled.
The island shuddered under a savage quake as something supernatural unfolded.
Once, thousands had stood upon this ground .. followers of the Church who all perished in the last battle. They should have remained dead. Yet at Geppetto’s gesture, the corpses began to rise, one after another, an eerie blackness flooding their eye sockets.
Liora looked down. She was surrounded from every side—hundreds of dead men and women, reanimated.
They didn’t look like corpses anymore, nor like zombies; they looked exactly as they had before they died. If not for that blackness in their eyes, anyone would have thought them alive.
It was a terrifying, worldbreaking ability .. so long as the bodies were in his grasp, Geppetto could exploit the dead.
"Thousands, and all of them trash... what a waste," he sighed, annoyed to find nothing truly valuable .. Blattier hadn’t left a body behind, and even if he had, his power had guttered at the end.
Forcing Liora to fight the Church’s flock all over again, Geppetto smiled anew.
"It’s been a while since I had a proper fight. Do your best, Saint .. try to live as long as you can, because I’m going to enjoy every moment of this~"
Bodies clawed out of the ground one after another, a rain of darkness fell without end from the sky, and Liora stood trapped in the middle of it all.
Between darkness and light, a thunderous battle raged far from the eyes of the world .. a harsh glimpse of the horrors the future hid from humankind.
...
...
...
Far from Nocthira, Frey Starlight and the others passed through the far side of the waterfall and returned to the sacred island of Scicelia.
The waterfall was no longer what it had been; with the World Tree shattered, it had begun to lose its luster, and it showed.
Unlike Nocthira’s black sky, Scicelia basked in morning sun .. it was already day.
"It’s been a while since I stood under sunlight," Snow Lionheart said, lifting a hand to shade his eyes as he looked up.
"It’s been days since our war with the Church began. I’m guessing a lot has changed," Frey said, walking without hurry—words that put a bitter look on Uriel’s face.
"A lot has changed .. starting with all the souls lost in that sacrificial rite..."
The more Uriel thought about it, the more her heart hurt. Her voice had led millions to throw their lives away for Platier. The only reason she could keep fighting now was to atone, even a little, for the guilt gnawing at her.
"This wasn’t your fault. The culprit’s already in the ground," Frey said, trying to comfort her. Snow nodded.
"We can’t change the past, but the present and future are still in front of us. All we can do is win this war and save whoever remains... It’s the least we can do for those who already died."
"You’re talking with confidence now, Snow. So that’s the kind of strength you gained," Frey smiled.
"I’ve still got a long road ahead," Snow laughed softly, "but at least I know I’m not walking it alone."
"Right."
Both men turned to Uriel behind them.
"Come on, Uriel. You don’t have to carry this by yourself. You’ve got the strongest allies possible."
"I doubt you’ll find better support anywhere .. because we’re the strongest," Snow said with easy certainty. Uriel hesitated, flustered .. then smiled, genuine and bright, and hurried to catch up.
"Yes!"
She’d worn a harmless, practiced smile for so long, masking what she really felt. Not this time. Now she knew that the greatest warriors of her era were ready to fight for her .. and share her burden. It was a bond she cherished.
Together, the three made their way across the island, following Frey.
At first they simply trailed him in silence, until Snow stopped, not understanding what they were doing.
"Frey, where are we going? Shouldn’t we just head back using your teleportation?" They were, after all, stranded on a far-flung island in the open sea.
Frey hadn’t been able to use his ability while they were on the skyborne island—the barriers cut it off from the rest of the world.
Here in Scicelia, it should have been easy.
And it would have been... yet Frey led them somewhere else.
"There’s something we have to take care of first. Or rather, someone who’s still waiting for us," Frey said, voice cool as his eyes darkened.
He clenched his fist, feeling raw power course through his veins.
The shadow was gone now—nothing left to shackle him. You could say this was the peak of his life thus far.
Snow felt momentarily lost by Frey’s words, until he realized whom his friend meant.
A few minutes later, the three stopped when a fourth figure stepped out ahead of them.
A familiar one.
"You... Aegon!" Snow spoke the prince’s name as the man emerged from between the trees, the same easy smile on his face.
"Incredible... you all survived," the prince said brightly, and Snow frowned.
"Didn’t you leave with the Church’s bishop? I thought you’d already fled the island," Snow asked, as Aegon strolled closer with his usual light steps.
"That was my plan, but I decided to wait when a strange barrier cut the sky island off from the world. Curiosity got the better of me," Aegon said, narrowing his eyes at Frey and the others.
"And I see the result far exceeded my expectations. Your being here means you defeated Blattier... astonishing."