Reinhard continued rushing downward through the inferno, and the burning flower had finally turned into ashes. Its screams had faded away with the millions of voices reduced to faint echoes that grew quieter with each passing second.

Flames burst from the walls ahead without warning. He leapt, soaring over the eruption as golden-red fire exploded beneath him. His boots hit a root pathway on the opposite side, momentum already carrying him forward.

A section of the interior collapsed with massive roots falling from above.

Reinhard tracked their descent with Fenrir's enhanced perception and calculated the trajectories. He then launched himself off his current pathway, sailing through open air, and then his boots touched a falling root mid-descent, using it as a stepping stone. He kicked off immediately, the motion redirecting his momentum toward another pathway that remained stable.

The root he'd used crashed into the burning platform below, disintegrating on impact.

Reinhard slid down a spiraling pathway, his left hand dragging against the surface for balance while his other hand continued producing flames. The slide transitioned into a vertical drop into a gap where the pathway had burned away completely.

He fell twenty feet before catching a root with his free hand. His fingers closed around charred wood, slowing down his descent, and then he swung his legs, building momentum, and then released.

The motion carried him to another pathway, and he was running again after landing with a roll.

The bottom became visible through gaps. Fire had caught the lower sections, with the flames consuming the base where they'd first entered. The entire space was an inferno now, golden-red light painting everything.

Reinhard furrowed his brows, scanning the burning floor for any sign of safe passage.

How am I escaping this now?

His eyes widened.

The golden Melo warriors appeared through the flames, their spectral forms shining brighter than the fire around them. They were also carrying the others, Marie's platinum hair was being held against Erza's shoulder.

Joseph's unconscious form was slung over Bargest's back. Janus, Amiya, Veryn, and even Honor's massive frames were all being carried by different warriors.

Reinhard grinned fiercely as he continued rushing down, running along roots that were seconds from collapsing. His path angled toward where the warriors waited, calculating the trajectory needed to reach them.

Thirty feet of vertical distance remained, then twenty, and then ten.

Reinhard launched himself off the final root pathway, sailing through the air with arms extended. Fire exploded around him, bursts of flame erupting from the walls as the tree walls shattered around him. He passed through the explosions, protected by the same fire that consumed everything else.

Then something massive struck from above.

A terrifying black-crimson bird burst through the tree's side, avian form the size of buildings, composed of concentrated darkness mixed with blood-red energy. Its shriek made space crack, the sound carrying power that transcended mere noise.

It was Vlad's attack, Reinhard recognized instantly, and realized it was the last Ancestor unleashing everything to finish the King Root.

From the opposite side, aurora light formed multiple massive balls, each one containing compressed magical energy that blazed with colors beyond the normal spectrum.

They stayed suspended for a second before shooting inward. Brunhilde's power was devastating and beautiful simultaneously.

The two attacks crashed into each other at the pale tree's crown.

The collision created an explosion that dwarfed everything preceding it!

The black-crimson meeting aurora radiance, both forces devouring the tree's upper half in cascading annihilation. The aurora light spread downward in waves, painting everything in shifting colors that made eyes water. The black-crimson energy followed, consuming what the aurora missed.

Reinhard reached the golden warriors as reality exploded above them. His boots touched the platform where they'd gathered, momentum carrying him into a stumbling run. The warriors closed ranks around him and the unconscious allies they carried, forming a protective circle.

Before then, a light shined that consumed everything.

Reinhard's eyes closed instinctively against the radiance. He felt weightless suddenly, as if gravity had ceased functioning. The sensation of falling and rising simultaneously, moving in all directions at once.

Before he then blinked and his eyes opened to pure white. Not brightness but actual whiteness, the absence of color rather than its overwhelming presence.

The space extended infinitely in all directions, featureless and impossible to gauge depth or distance. He muttered, confusion evident. "Did Odin summon me here?"

A chuckle answered him, it was familiar, warm, carrying joy mixed with satisfaction.

Reinhard turned around, and his eyes widened.

Over fifty golden Melo warriors stood before him, their spectral forms more solid here than they'd been in the burning tree. All of them were grinning, smiling with expressions that suggested contentment.

Bargest stood at the front, his wild grin matched by Erza's softer smile. Voyer, Garius, Thane, Corvin, Mira, and Senna, all seven of the campfire group are present. Behind them, the warriors who'd sacrificed themselves in the final charge, each one intact and whole.

Reinhard could see it now, the faces of the warriors who had sacrificed themselves in those final moments appeared.

Each one restored to the shape and substance of the person they had been before the tree, before the Silence, before the centuries of being trapped in memory and duty.

The gaps in the formation were gone, the wounded were unscarred, and even the reckless ones who'd been battered into golden dust by the roots looked freshly remade, their armor unblemished, expressions unburdened.

Before Reinhard could ask where they were, they began speaking.

"Thank you, Supreme Commander!"

"You actually did it!"

"The Dark Silence has ended!"

"We're finally free!"

"You fulfilled our dearest wish!"

Their voices overlapped, creating a chorus of gratitude that made Reinhard's throat tighten. For a moment, he simply listened, letting himself absorb their joy, their laughter.

The way they cheered and ribbed each other with the ease of old soldiers who'd finally put down their weapons.

But the tone shifted after a moment, the joy giving way to a more somber undertone. It was Bargest who spoke first, his voice gentle, the wild aggression that had carried him through battle now softened by something like paternal pride.

"But now, it's time for us to go," Bargest said simply.

Reinhard trembled, the words hitting harder than he'd expected. He had known that this was what victory would mean, but the reality of it was harder than he thought.

He looked from face to face, Voyer, Garius, Thane, Corvin, Mira, Senna, and the rest of the Melo Golden Warriors.

He recalled seeing them from Dune memories, them fighting with him through the forest and rushing upwards in the tree. They had protected and helped him so much, so to hear that they had to go made him feel uneasy.

"Do... Do you guys really have to go?" Reinhard asked. The question escaped as a whisper and surprised even himself. He had never been one for open displays of this type of emotion or missing someone.

But in this blank infinity, pretense felt impossible, and these guys weren't strangers or new friends.

All of them blinked, a wave of surprised laughter rippling through the group.

It was the reaction of people who had not expected to be missed, who had not expected to matter beyond their last orders, and the realization seemed to delight them.

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