A flash of violet light enveloped them, the force of Nanami’s teleportation magic twisting the air. For a split second, Dawn felt weightless, then the sensation of being yanked forward sent her stomach into knots. The world around her blurred, shapes warping, voices muffled—until the teleportation ended as abruptly as it began.

She stumbled, barely catching herself against a stone wall.

The air was thick with dust, cold, and eerily stagnant. The massive stone walls towered above them, their surfaces worn and cracked with age. Faint engravings stretched along the corridors, depicting stories Dawn could not yet understand. A deep, unsettling energy pulsed beneath her feet.

“This,” Ramira’s voice echoed through the still air, “is the Reaper’s Tower.”

Dawn turned, looking behind her where Nanami still stood just outside the teleportation sigil she had drawn. Her pitch-black eyes surveyed the ruins with a quiet intensity.

“You’re not coming in?” Dawn asked, catching her breath.

Nanami’s expression remained unreadable. “I have other things to handle.”

Soo-Hun scoffed. “Sounds like an excuse to sit out a fight.”

Nanami didn’t flinch. “Believe what you want. I’ll be waiting outside. Don’t die.”

And then, before anyone could protest, she disappeared in another pulse of violet energy.

Ramira sighed. “Figures.”

Dawn frowned but turned back toward the corridor. The air inside felt heavier the further they walked, the silence pressing in on them.

“The Lunar hid here?” Satoshi finally broke the quiet, glancing at the old carvings on the walls.

Ramira’s gaze darkened. “Because they had nowhere else to go.”

The weight in her voice sent a chill through Dawn’s spine, but she held her tongue. They pressed on, the eerie silence stretching between them. It wasn’t until they had walked for several minutes that Dawn finally spoke.

“You know a lot about this place,” she muttered.

Ramira didn’t look at her. “I should.”

“Why?”

A pause.

Then, a quiet chuckle. “Because I was cursed.”

Dawn parted her lips to ask more, but before she could, the massive iron doors at the end of the hall creaked open.

They had arrived.

A dimly lit chamber stretched before them. At its center stood a man, draped in red and black robes, his long blonde hair cascading over his shoulders. His crimson eyes gleamed as he smirked, arms crossed in casual amusement.

“Ah,” Anuva mused, his voice laced with amusement. “The fugitives finally arrive.”

Dawn stiffened. There was something about him—controlled, confident, and utterly unconcerned.

Stolen novel; please report.

Ramira took a step forward. “Save the theatrics. We know why you’re here.”

Anuva tilted his head, his smirk widening. “Do you? Then you must also know how pointless this is. The Legion will find you soon enough, and when they do—”

“We’ll be long gone,” Ramira interrupted, voice sharp as steel.

For the first time, Anuva’s smirk faltered. His red eyes darkened, and then—

His body convulsed.

A pulse of raw energy erupted from him, his head snapping upward as his limbs tensed unnaturally.

A new voice rumbled through the chamber.

“Ah… I was getting bored.”

His eyes flickered—a fiery orange, then a deep brown, then crackling yellow.

The ground trembled.

Flames erupted.

Stone surged upward.

The wind howled, slashing through the chamber like unseen blades.

Lightning crackled around Anuva’s form before a tidal wave of water surged forward.

Dawn barely had time to react before fire shot toward her. She transformed her dagger into a sword with a press of the hidden button at the hilt, but the moment it expanded into a full blade, she stumbled, nearly dropping it.

She swung with both hands, but the sluggishness of her movements left her wide open. As she barely managed to block the attack.

Satoshi darted past her, dodging through the battlefield with rapid punches, his lightning-charged fists colliding with Enmei’s earthen shields. Celestial fired her twin pistols, bullets infused with her magic, twisting through reality itself to find their target.

Ramira’s spear, once hidden as a simple ring, extended into its full deadly form. She moved with precision, her nature magic weaving vines through the cracks in the stone, trying to slow Enmei’s movement.

Soo-Hun, gripping her blood-forged sword, slashed through the air, her strikes controlled and brutal. Each wound she inflicted only added more fuel to her magic.

Enmei laughed, his eyes flashing light blue as water swirled toward Celestial, but Dawn intercepted, countering with her own wave as she was starting to get use to the heaviness and learned to make it work.

“You fight well,” Enmei mused. “But one of you… ah, yes.”

His smirk deepened.

“One of you is a God.”

Silence fell between them, even as the elements raged around them.

Dawn’s breath hitched.

“What?” Satoshi snarled, lightning crackling at his knuckles.

Enmei chuckled, his eyes flickering between orange and yellow. “I was expecting a good fight, but now? Now I’m truly interested.”

Soo-Hun grit her teeth, gripping her sword tighter. “Tch. What the hell are you talking about?”

Enmei only laughed. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

Dawn’s mind raced. ‘A God? Here? That’s impossible… right?’

The battlefield roared back to life.

Soo-Hun lunged at Enmei, but his eyes flashed yellow, lightning crackling through the air as a bolt slammed into her.

She screamed, body convulsing before she collapsed to her knees.

“Ruby!” Celestial shouted, grappling upward with her pistols, firing rapid shots.

Enmei grinned, but his amusement wavered as Soo-Hun let out a low, growling laugh.

“You really think that’s enough to stop me?”

Blood dripped from her fingertips.

She stood.

The entire room pulsed.

And then—

Crimson energy exploded outward.

The sheer force of her magic cracked the walls, shattered the ground, and consumed Enmei in a vortex of destruction.

His smirk vanished. "Shit—”

He tried to escape, eyes flickering blue as water surged around him, attempting to push back the explosion.

But it was too late.

The blast engulfed everything.

“You’re on your own human,” Enmei muttered as he gave Anuva back control.

Dawn barely managed to summon a shield, water forming into a protective dome as Ramira’s vines coiled around them, reinforcing it.

The tower trembled.

And then—silence.

As the dust settled, Anuva’s body lay motionless, blonde hair sprawled around him like a fallen king.

Enmei was gone.

Soo-Hun stood in the center, blood-stained and silent.

Ramira exhaled. “Well, that went better than expected. Seemed the plan worked”

Dawn turned to her, eyes wide. “Better?! Nowhere in the plan did you tell us we were bait!”

Ramira smirked. “You would have hesitated if you knew.”

Before they could argue, Celestial pointed toward the entrance. “We need to leave before this whole place collapses!”

They didn’t need to be told twice.

As they emerged into the night air, Nanami stood waiting, arms crossed.

She wasn’t looking at them. She was deep in thought, her gaze distant, dark.

“One of you is a God,” she muttered under her breath.

Dawn wasn’t sure she was even speaking to them. Before she could question it, Nanami’s black eyes flickered with violet energy. The magic surged, swirling around them.

“Close your eyes,” she ordered. “We’re heading back.”

The world twisted once more.

They vanished.

None of them noticed the faint sound of footsteps following behind them.