The darkness slowly receded.
At first, Luca could hear nothing except the violent pounding of his own heartbeat, each beat reverberating through his skull as though his body itself were desperately trying to drag him back into consciousness. Then came the wind, carrying the bitter smell of smoke and blood, followed by the distant roar of explosions that shook the earth beneath him.
His eyes slowly opened.
The battlefield was still there.
It stretched farther than his eyes could comprehend, an endless landscape of destruction beneath a sky drowned in black clouds. Towering pillars of smoke rose from burning fortifications, while distant mountains were partially hidden behind the haze created by countless fires. The ground beneath Luca was soaked with blood, churned into thick mud by the countless feet, hooves, and weapons that had crossed it.
Broken swords protruded from the earth.
Shattered shields lay scattered between bodies.
Torn banners from kingdoms that Luca recognised fluttered weakly in the hot wind, their colours almost completely obscured beneath soot and blood. Somewhere in the distance, a horn sounded before abruptly being silenced by an explosion that sent another column of fire into the sky.
This wasn’t a battlefield where a battle had just occurred.
It was a battlefield where an entire war had been lost.
Luca slowly pushed himself upright.
His body felt heavy.
There was no overwhelming power coursing through him.
No divine protection.
No legendary armour.
No army standing behind him.
He looked down at himself.
His clothing was torn.
Blood covered his arms.
His hands were bruised.
A crude sword hung from his waist, its edge chipped from countless clashes.
For some reason, that frightened him more than anything else.
He wasn’t the Luca Valentine who had fought monsters beyond his level.
He wasn’t the student who possessed abilities capable of bending space and time.
Here...
He was simply a warrior.
One among thousands.
And yet he was still standing.
A deep roar suddenly shook the battlefield.
Luca looked up.
The enormous creature he had seen earlier was approaching through the smoke.
Every step it took caused the earth to tremble.
Its body was covered in dark armour-like scales, while enormous horns curved backward from its skull. Crimson light burned within its eyes, and the pressure radiating from it was so immense that nearby flames bent away from its body.
Luca slowly tightened his grip around his battered sword.
The creature stopped several dozen metres away.
It looked down at him.
Then...
It laughed.
The sound rolled across the battlefield like distant thunder.
"You are still standing?"
Luca wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"I suppose I am."
The creature stared at him for several seconds before shaking its enormous head.
"Forget about the Demon Generals."
Its voice carried an almost insulting amusement.
"You aren’t even worthy of fighting me."
Luca’s expression remained unchanged.
The creature continued.
"Do you understand how insignificant you are?"
It raised one enormous hand.
"Those who call themselves heroes have fallen by the thousands."
"Those who wield the power of kings have already become corpses beneath my feet."
"You..."
Its crimson eyes narrowed.
"...are merely another soldier who has refused to understand that the battle is already over."
Luca slowly raised his sword.
His arms trembled.
His legs were exhausted.
Every breath hurt.
Yet his eyes remained unwavering.
"Then..."
He adjusted his stance.
"...why are you still talking to me?"
For the first time, the creature’s smile faded.
Luca charged.
The distance between them disappeared almost instantly.
His battered sword rose toward the creature’s chest, but an enormous claw swept across the battlefield before the strike could land.
Luca barely managed to block.
The impact sent him flying.
His body crashed through the remains of a stone barricade before rolling across the blood-soaked ground.
Pain exploded through his shoulder.
He coughed violently.
The creature walked toward him.
"Pathetic."
Luca pushed himself upright.
The creature attacked again.
This time, Luca didn’t attempt to block.
He moved.
His body twisted sideways as the enormous claw tore through the place where he had been standing, sending shattered earth into the air.
Luca stepped forward.
His sword struck.
The blade scraped across one of the creature’s scales.
A shallow line appeared.
Nothing more.
The creature looked down at the mark.
Then laughed.
"That is your strongest attack?"
Luca’s breathing became heavier.
"No."
He wiped the blood from his lips.
"That wasn’t my strongest."
The creature’s eyes narrowed.
It attacked again.
Luca dodged.
Another strike.
He ducked.
Another.
He rolled beneath the sweeping claw and drove his sword upward.
This time...
The blade actually pierced between two scales.
The creature roared.
Its enormous arm swung downward.
Luca barely escaped before the ground beneath him exploded.
He stumbled backward.
His vision blurred.
His body screamed at him to stop.
But Luca kept moving.
Again.
And again.
He attacked.
He dodged.
He was thrown across the battlefield.
He stood again.
The creature struck him down.
He stood again.
Blood flowed from his forehead.
His breathing became ragged.
His sword arm began trembling.
Yet he refused to surrender.
"Why?"
The creature suddenly asked.
Luca didn’t answer.
"Why continue?"
Another attack came.
Luca narrowly avoided it.
"You know you cannot win."
Luca stepped forward.
"Perhaps."
His sword flashed.
"But I don’t need to believe I can win."
The creature’s claw swept toward him.
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
For the first time...
Something faintly changed around his body.
The space immediately beside him distorted.
It lasted for less than a second.
Just enough.
The incoming claw seemed to slow.
Not completely.
Only slightly.
Luca slipped through the tiny opening created by that distortion.
His body passed beneath the creature’s attack.
His battered sword rose.
He struck.
A shallow cut appeared across the creature’s abdomen.
The creature’s eyes widened.
Luca landed several metres away, stumbling as his knees nearly gave out beneath him.
He looked at the blood upon his sword.
Then toward the creature.
The creature slowly touched the wound.
A strange silence followed.
"You..."
Its expression changed.
"...used space."
Luca’s breathing remained heavy.
"I barely did anything."
The creature’s eyes narrowed.
"Do not misunderstand."
A terrifying pressure erupted from its body.
"You have merely demonstrated that you can delay your death."
Luca tightened his grip.
The creature disappeared.
Luca’s instincts screamed.
He tried to move.
Too slow.
The enormous claw struck him across the chest.
His body was launched through the air.
He crashed into the ground hard enough to carve a deep trench through the battlefield.
Blood spilled from his mouth.
His vision blurred.
Yet even then...
His fingers moved.
The faint distortion of space appeared once more around his hand.
Not enough to escape.
Not enough to win.
Only enough to pull his sword back toward him.
Luca wrapped his fingers around the hilt.
He slowly pushed himself upright.
The creature watched him from a distance.
For the first time, its expression carried something other than amusement.
It looked almost...
Curious.
Luca raised his battered sword again.
The battlefield burned around him.
Thousands of bodies surrounded him.
The sky itself seemed to be collapsing.
And yet the ordinary warrior standing among the dead still refused to kneel.
The creature stared at him.
"You truly don’t know when to give up."
Luca’s exhausted lips curved into the faintest smile.
"I’ve been told that before."
Then he stepped forward again.
And the battlefield swallowed them both.
The creature watched him in silence.
For several moments, neither moved.
Then the creature slowly raised its hand.
Luca’s instincts screamed.
He tried to move.
His legs refused.
The enormous claw swept forward.
Luca forced his body to respond, twisting desperately to avoid the centre of the attack.
He was too slow.
The claw struck him across the side.
A violent impact sent him flying through the air before his body crashed into the remains of a shattered fortress wall. Stone collapsed around him, burying him beneath a cloud of dust and debris.
For several seconds...
There was no movement.
Then a hand emerged from the rubble.
Luca dragged himself free.
Blood flowed freely from his mouth.
His vision had become blurry.
One of his arms hung uselessly beside him, while his remaining hand struggled to maintain its grip upon the broken sword.
The creature approached slowly.
"You still refuse to kneel."
Luca looked up at it.
His breathing was barely audible.
"Seems..."
He coughed violently before forcing himself to continue.
"...I wasn’t built for kneeling."
The creature stared at him.
Then it attacked.
Luca moved.
His sword rose.
For one final time, he gathered every remaining fragment of strength within his body.
Space trembled faintly around him.
Time slowed.
Only for an instant.
But it was enough for Luca to see the creature’s attack approaching.
He stepped forward.
His sword pierced through the smallest opening he could find.
The blade entered between the creature’s scales.
For the first time...
Luca’s weapon reached something deeper than its armour.
The creature’s eyes widened.
Luca smiled faintly.
But the creature’s other hand was already moving.
The world returned to its normal speed.
The enormous claw struck Luca directly in the chest.
His body lifted from the ground.
His sword slipped from his fingers.
The force of the attack carried him several metres before he landed upon the blood-soaked earth.
He didn’t move.
The battlefield continued around him.
Soldiers screamed somewhere in the distance.
Fire continued consuming the remains of the fortress.
The sky continued darkening.
Yet Luca could hear none of it clearly anymore.
Everything sounded distant.
Muted.
His vision slowly narrowed.
He tried to breathe.
Nothing came easily.
His chest refused to rise properly.
Warmth slowly spread beneath his body.
Blood.
He stared blankly at the sky above him.
For some reason...
It looked beautiful.
A strange thought entered his mind.
So this is it.
His fingers moved weakly.
He tried to reach for his sword.
It was several metres away.
He couldn’t feel his legs anymore.
His remaining strength was disappearing rapidly.
The creature stood somewhere in the distance, watching him.
But Luca no longer cared.
His eyes slowly closed.
Faces began appearing in his fading consciousness.
Aurelia.
Kyle.
Aiden.
Eric.
Seraphina.
Astra.
The Saintess.
He remembered their smiles.
Their voices.
The arguments.
The laughter.
The quiet moments.
The promises he had made.
The things he had never managed to say.
His lips moved faintly.
"I’m sorry..."
He didn’t know who he was apologising to.
Perhaps all of them.
Perhaps himself.
His breathing became slower.
The battlefield gradually disappeared from his vision.
The last thing he heard was the distant roar of the creature.
Then...
Nothing.
Luca’s fingers finally loosened.
His hand fell still against the blood-soaked earth.
And the young man who had fought until his body could no longer obey him...
Finally died.