Damon didn't turn back.

Evangeline would fight her own battles, her ideals driving her forward just as relentlessly as his own. Maybe he should have joined her and helped kill the Wind Apostle, but that enemy was hers. And Evangeline wanted him dead more than anyone.

Damon ran toward the Black Tower while the battle raged behind him. Bright flashes of golden light tore through the sky as Evangeline's clash with the apostle intensified, shockwaves rippling outward with every collision.

"Goodbye, Eva…" he muttered as he sprinted.

This was most likely the last time he would see her.

Damon had wanted to say something, anything. A final goodbye before death claimed one of them. But in the end, no words came.

He slid into the shadows, reappearing as he vaulted over a massive collapsed building. High above, darkness twisted and surged as it tried to engulf a chained angel. The combatants were distant, yet enormous spatial rifts tore open between them, warping the sky itself.

Watching it felt like witnessing a calamity.

From above, damaged feathers from Seraph Null's wings rained down like flaming meteors, smashing into the city and exploding into waves of destruction.

Damon barely leapt aside as one slammed into the street near him. The shockwave hurled him through the wall of a building.

"Cough—cough…"

He groaned, forcing himself upright as debris rained down. He rolled aside just as more rubble collapsed, then shoved a shattered wooden shelf off his chest.

A hand suddenly reached out and grabbed him.

Damon reacted instantly, shadows flaring, then stopped when he sensed a familiar aura.

Leona.

Her face was smeared with soot and blood. A deep gash tore across her side, still bleeding freely. Behind her stood Wendy, a fresh wound carved across her back.

Damon frowned as they hauled him to his feet.

"What happened to you two?"

Leona clenched her teeth, one hand pressed to her wound.

"It's too chaotic," she said through a sharp breath. "We're being overwhelmed. This is their city, they're organized."

Damon pulled out potions and handed them over without hesitation.

Leona downed hers immediately. Flesh knit together before his eyes, the bleeding slowing, then stopping.

"Everyone's heading for the Black Tower," Wendy added calmly. "But the Chained are forming a final defensive line there."

Damon wasn't surprised. Wendy understood more than most gave her credit for. Months of integration had stripped away her monster instincts and replaced them with hard-earned awareness of people, of war.

"I assume that's not how you got injured," Damon said coldly.

He looked directly at Leona.

"Who did this?"

Leona's jaw tightened.

"The Water Apostle. We had the advantage at first. Then the Fire Apostle ambushed us. Outranked. Outmatched. We had to retreat."

Damon inhaled slowly, forcing his anger down before it could surface.

"I see," he said quietly. "So that's their plan. Use the apostles to eliminate our strongest fighters while they fortify the Black Tower."

Around them, buildings collapsed as battles raged. Lightning split the air. Ice and flame collided. Artifacts screamed as they clashed, magic tearing the world apart.

All in the name of war.

Damon expanded his shadow perception, mapping the battlefield in his mind. Then he turned back to Leona and Wendy.

"If you had backup of comparable strength or higher, could you kill the two apostles?"

Leona cracked her knuckles, electricity snapping around her fist.

"The fourth class isn't as impressive as it sounds. With you joining us, we'd kill them."

Damon shook his head.

"No. I won't be joining."

He paused.

"But we all know ice beats fire, and ice beats water."

Wendy blinked, confused.

Leona smiled.

"She'll do."

A silhouette peeled itself free from Damon's shadow.

A woman stepped forward, clad in black armor that looked as though it had been forged from shattered ice. Cracks of frozen blue light traced its surface.

Her Ascendant Armor.

Shattered Ice.

Her blue eyes met Leona's gaze.

She nodded once. That was all the greeting she offered.

Leona's face lit up as she leapt forward.

"Matia! I missed you so much, I'm glad you're back!"

Matia hesitated.

Then, slowly, she lifted a hand and gently stroked Leona's beastkin ears.

"I… missed you too," she said quietly.

She actually spoke.

Wendy raised an eyebrow.

"Wait. She can talk?"

Damon rolled his eyes.

"Yes. Now go deal with the apostles. But be careful of two things. First, the Wardens. They're fourth class, but they aren't apostles."

Leona crossed her arms.

"What's the difference?"

Damon's expression hardened.

"That's the second problem. Apostles and Wardens might share the same class, but apostles possess nascent domains. They're close to fifth class, close to forming actual domains."

Leona frowned.

"How do we counter a domain?"

"You don't," Damon replied flatly. "Once they deploy one, you die. That's why you must kill them before they use it. At their stage, the cost is enormous, that hesitation is your only opening."

Leona nodded as her helm slid into place, lightning dancing along her blade.

"And if the worst happens?" she asked. "If they still use it?"

Damon turned to Matia. A faint chill radiated from her presence.

"That's why she's going with you. Her skill mimics a domain not fully, but enough to interfere."

Leona smiled beneath her helm, confidence unmistakable.

"You think the three of us can kill two fourth-class apostles?"

Damon hesitated just for a moment, then nodded.

Leona was no weakling. Wendy was a monster the impure could not easily kill. And Matia… Matia had endured decades in the dark, surviving rot and corruption itself.

She would not falter before such obstacles.

Leona grinned.

"I'll bring you their heads as souvenirs."

She vanished in a flash of lightning.

"May the goddess be with you, my friends…"

Damon raised his hand to his ear, activating his brand.

"Abellona. Can you hear me?"

Her irritated voice snapped back immediately.

"That's Princess to you. And I'm a little busy here."

"Good," Damon shot back. "That means you're not doing anything important."

"—Excuse you?"

"We need to rethink our strategy," he continued. "I have a plan. Send any available archers and mages to my location."

The war was far from over.

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