Blizzards swelled and swallowed the path whole.

Mist crept into every crevice, swirling the area into a restless, foaming plain of white.

Asahi could never name the force that drove him onward, not even after being torn apart.

Deep inside, guilt from old wounds tangled with a fierce hope for redemption, pushing him forward. This inner tumult made each step through the storm both a burden and a necessity.

That urge refused to let him rest.

First, he faced the mimic bear. It was fierce, but not entirely monstrous.

Asahi's grip tightened on the Sword of Eventide, the hilt's roughness digging into his palm. His heart pounded, each beat a drumroll for the battle ahead. As if the mimic bear were not enough, Yawman might appear at any moment to snatch away his triumph.

He drew a steadying breath, then hurled the blade with practiced aim. It cut through the mist, flashed silver, and struck the mimic bear's chest with a heavy, final thud.

Without hesitation, Asahi sprinted to Trid and seized Primrose's arm, drawing her close. "We need to stay together," he insisted. As he quickly reclaimed his blade, now slick with the enemy's darkness, he gathered his friends into a protective circle.

"Asahi, what are you doing?" Primrose asked as her pink hair was covered in white.

Fueled by a fierce need to seize control, Asahi shouted at the old man and struck out as two mimic bears burst from the mist, shrieking and echoing their victims' cries. The bears advanced while the group scrambled to react.

"Throw the reins!"

Grandpa nodded, then clutched on.

"I'm on it, damn it. Hold on tight!"

Knowing the three were immortal again, Asahi hurled himself between them and the beasts, shielding his friends as the burden of defense rested on him alone since they were unable to fight.

"Just keep driving! We're going to Blacksmith Haven."

Recalling what Primrose used in the other loop, Asahi raced to the wagon's trunk and threw all the canisters, flames engulfing the beasts. Still, they lumbered closer. Primrose gasped at Asahi's sudden drive, failing to understand its source.

"Asahi, what has gotten into you..."

Suddenly, memories of the massacre surged forth. Bodies clustered everywhere, hanging from the ceiling and strewn across the floor. Aletha's severed head—a grim result of his own selfishness—haunted him.

If he hoped to save them all, Aletha included, brute strength alone would never be enough.

So, instead of charging ahead, Asahi chose to move with caution.

He knew deep down that racing down that path would only invite chaos and disaster.

The chaos he had survived was staggering: three massacres, two botched resurrections, a terrifying capture. The horrors of Sleepy Serpent Shores and the threat to his own flesh blurred into a living nightmare. But even agony has its end. Kartara's intervention brought him clarity, set him free, and gave him a new beginning.

. . .

The mimic bears lunged, drifting toward the wagon.

Their jaws snapped, splintering a wheel and sending the wagon careening off course. Asahi clung to the back as it tumbled down the snowy slope.

Primrose pressed close, bracing for the crash. Confusion and frustration churned within them as the carriage plunged into a steep, frozen pit.

The surrounding fog grew denser, clouding the bright blue sky.

"Primrose, stay here," Asahi said, brandishing his blade. "I will find a way."

Primrose, questions swirling in her mind, nodded. Trid stepped between her and the mimic bears, but Asahi gently moved him aside, whispering as his blade caught the dim sunlight.

"Keep Primrose safe."

"Understood."

With courage he had never known, Asahi recalled his time beneath the ice. The secret world had named him their prince, the Orb of Destruction had called him devourer. Only a prince could lead. With his kingdom in ruins, this was his moment to reclaim it. But first...

(ROAR)

He had his own trials to conquer as well.

Only a true prince could seize control.

This added to his resolve. Yet what truly set his course was a memory locked away long ago.

That memory carried him back, back to Gwenneg, his homeland of snowy peaks and endless white...

. . .

It was his to defend. Once, these lands had been rolling grasslands, his to rule.

But in those days, invaders from distant worlds breached his realm.

World-ending dragons, eldritch horrors from the deep, and storms that spun without end all poured from the sea of stars; the Black Flood.

The world nearly buckled under the weight. Yet his father, Acheros, and his mother, Achlys, could quell the chaos with a single word. When the sun vanished and the Shadow Dragon drowned the world in darkness, Acheros and Achlys battled the beast for two years. Then, another recollection simmered.

"Now Asahi..."

Throughout his childhood, Asahi learned sacrifice and resilience.

His parents filled his days with tales of their battles, reminding him that every act of courage was a step toward hope.

Yet, of all their lessons, one message still burned brightest in his mind.

"Lies are what get us working today, but it's the truth that festers in our minds." Acheros held an enormous light in his hands, shimmering it as he sliced through the darkness, leading Asahi, Aletha, and Aiyana through the ruins of the war-whittled world. "Lies. Yes. The lies we tell ourselves daily get us far. But only the truth is what resolves. A thousand lies do not make up for one truth. Moreover, one truth can eclipse thousands of lies."

. . .

That message took root inside him.

At that moment, a hard truth waited for Asahi as he faced the mimic bears and the creeping slime that threatened all.

"He can't just save Aletha. He had friends, too."

With this, plus Trid, Primrose, and Grandpa, Asahi realized that he was never alone.

Trid with his intelligence and captivation, Primrose with her hope and effort, and Grandpa with his silliness and determination —all these mixtures of personalities drove Asahi to continue.

Not just those, but also all those times in Toivo's mansion, Kendra, and the fight with the Guardian. Phthonus and his drive to help Asahi and Aletha.

Even Ames, who was dormant for so long, came to help him despite the atrocities he had committed against everyone.

Kartara, Telos, Aletha...

He realized his actual battle was not just against monsters, but against his own selfishness. He had never been alone.

. . .

As he closed in on the mimic bear, a spark of confidence ignited inside him. He slashed at its tongue, forcing it down. Gasping in the icy air, Asahi carved through the beast, then crushed its head beneath his boot, dark fluid splattering. He turned to Primrose, Trid, and Grandpa—only to see another nightmare rising behind them.

An ice golem, bristling with gnashing mouths, towered behind them. It struck, but Asahi's quick reflexes saved the group. He faced the monster, blade ready, parried its attack, and shoved his friends to safety.

"What are you doing, damn it? Can't you see we're trying to help you?"

"Not if I can help you first," Asahi said with a slight smile.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Grandpa retorted.

Asahi nodded, then tried to circle the golem. Its frozen armor was impenetrable, calling up memories of old battles, especially with Alaunus. When he finally struck, the monster hurled him several meters away. Fresh cuts burned and throbbed in his skin, but he refused to yield.

It dragged up memories of that nightmare in Astait's Prison, but even that could not stop him. His sword lay just out of reach, death only steps away. The cold rattled his bones, freezing him to the core as the ice golem closed in, with Primrose, Trid, and Grandpa nearby. Asahi froze, uncertain what to do.

(WOOSH)

A colossal ember swallowed the monster. Asahi felt a rush of warmth surge through him as he watched—

(WOOSH)

An even greater flame spiraled around the ice, dissolving it into steam and nothingness.

Asahi raised an eyebrow, scanning for the source of the blazing firestorm.

Then an orange-haired young woman darted into view, unleashing another torrent of fire that incinerated the slimes to ash.

"There are refuges here! Get them to safety, now!" A dark-haired man in fur strode in, fire curling around his hands. Asahi stepped back, watching as flames spun in a deadly dance. "We'll handle the rest. Get them to safety, you hear? Call for a flame spire!"

With a nod, the two flame wielders summoned a spire.

A sonic boom shattered the air as the blizzard collided with burning wreckage. Shards of flame scattered on the firmament. Heat pressed in from all sides. Fire tore through the clouds and slammed into a frozen hill, rivers of lava carving paths through the snow.

Laughter echoed as embers rained down on the five ice golems locked in battle with the oncoming blaze.

"They just don't know when to stop!"

The orange-haired woman, purple eyes blazing, seized Asahi and battled her way through five leaping slimes and the golems, finally reaching the carriage. Asahi blinked, watching the magic-wielders unleash waves of fire that melted every frozen monster, mimic bears included, into nothingness.

He had no memory of this ever happening in other loops, but found no reason to protest.

"Who are you all?" Primrose asked as Asahi, Grandpa, and Trid stood behind the wall of flames.

Trid, eyes suspicious, turned over and muttered beneath his breath.

"These are the work of the Flameweavers." He said as orange and blaze swallowed the snow-covered forests. "A group of elite warriors trained in the art of manipulating fire. They draw their power from the Greater Ruler of Fire, Agni, which allows them to conjure flames of immense heat and intensity. I'm surprised to see them here, of all places."

Another flame, even larger, whirled around the ice, melting it into nothingness.

"Agni?"

Then, before Asahi could question, memories of the encounter at the table flickered into view.

. . .

"So, my children, where should you reside?"

The Greater Ruler of Fire, Agni, with dark hair and tan skin, had controlled his flames and conjured them at his places in Gincad, in Gwenneg. He was tall and sturdy, powerful and strong, and had created a molten moon for all to use. Volcanoes erupted and formed at his will.

It was said that spires of fire descend from the heavens to grant everyone warmth from the freezing age of the world.

When the Ruler of Snow went berserk and froze a fraction of the world.

Agni's fire pillars would consume all frost. And it was because of him that the world was able to survive, especially Gwenneg.

. . .

"He's the Greater Ruler of Fire?" Asahi asked, questioning how Trid knows this information. "Paxon, stop hiding stuff from me."

"Indeed." Trid nodded with approval, answering even more questions with his knowledge. "Back in ancient times, there arose primordial descendants that came from Greater Rulers. They are only a fraction of their progenitors. They are called Lesser Rulers."

Memories began to surface in Asahi's mind.

The Lesser Rulers of Cleira, who had gathered in the Academy, wanted to live under the shadow of their predecessors. The houses that gather around the castles, all of it, he recollected it all.

Asahi, clueless how Trid got this information, asked...

"How did this knowledge come to you?"

"From the damn prophecies of Alaunus," Grandpa said. "They mentioned a world filled with rulers, damn it."

Grandpa, who had refrained from talking, began to speak as Trid followed in his footsteps.

"See, when I explored the damn world, I discovered these damn prophecies. They are everywhere in Vehemat. I've seen them all myself cause I was one of the ones who made the damn maps ourselves."

As the flames died down, Asahi, after being escorted by the three, felt himself lifted by someone and drifted into contemplation.

"What really happened to all the Rulers of Cleira?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.