WOOOOOOOOOOM!

The Blood Moon pulsed.

High above the burning city, Charron the Undying didn't rush. He didn't scream. He simply floated downward, his tattered grey robes billowing around him like smoke.

He looked less like a warrior and more like a natural disaster.

"A child," Charron's voice echoed, not from his mouth, but from the air itself, vibrating in Damien's bones. "And a mongrel."

He pointed his dragon-spine staff at the World Tree.

"The Master desires the seed. All else… is dust."

Tap.

He tapped his staff against the air.

BOOM!

A massive, concentric ring of grey necrosis magic expanded from his position. It washed over the upper branches of the World Tree.

Instantly, the vibrant, glowing leaves turned grey and crumbled to ash. The wood rotted. The bioluminescent lights died.

The rot was spreading downward, straight toward the Queen's chamber.

"He's rotting the tree!" Lyra screamed from the high tower. She fired a volley of wind arrows, but they dissolved into dust before they even touched Charron's shield.

"Isabelle!" Damien shouted. "Shield!"

Isabelle didn't hesitate. She stepped onto the balcony, her eyes blazing ruby red.

"Fire… Wall!"

She threw her hands up. A massive curtain of crimson hellfire erupted, forming a barrier between the rotting spell and the Queen's room.

HISS!

The grey rot collided with the demon fire. The sound was like screaming metal. The rot ate the fire, but the fire burned the rot. It was a stalemate, but Isabelle was shaking.

"He's strong, Young Master!" she gritted out, sweat pouring down her face. "His mana… it feels like an ocean. I'm just a pond."

"Hold it!" Damien ordered, his mind racing.

'Peak 7th Order. Maybe pseudo-8th. This isn't a fight I can win with brute force. My Dual-Core is powerful, but I only have 500 DP. I can't afford a long battle.'

"System! Scan weakness!"

[Scanning…] [Target: Charron the Undying.] [Weakness: None found in current state. Target is a Lich-type entity. Physical body is a construct. True core is hidden.]

"Great. A boss with no weak point," Damien muttered. "Just what I needed."

But before he could formulate a plan, a new sound cut through the chaos.

DING! DING! DING!

It wasn't a notification from his System.

It was the Voss Family Emergency Transmission stone in his pocket. The one he had linked to his mother's communication crystal before he left.

It was glowing a frantic, pulsing red.

'Red? That's the highest priority. That means…'

Damien pulled the stone out. A shaky, corrupted voice message projected into his mind. It wasn't Elizabeth. It was Elder Magnus.

"Young Master…! Cough! The barrier… shattered. The Second Prince… he brought… the Twilight High Priests. Three 8th Orders…! The Patriarch… he's losing control. The Void… it's eating him! We can't hold them back! You must—"

Static.

The transmission cut off.

Damien froze. The world seemed to stop.

Three 8th Orders. The Void Mark consuming Theron. The barrier shattered.

His father was dying. Right now.

If he left now, if he used the Shadow Medallion to teleport out of here, he might make it.

He might be able to use his 500 DP to stall the Void Mark or use his Dual-Core to surprise the attackers.

But if he left…

"Arghhhhh!"

Behind him, Queen Aelinor screamed. A pulse of raw life magic exploded from her body, cracking the bedframe.

"The baby!" the healer shouted. "She's coming! The mana backlash is killing the Queen!"

If he left now, the Queen would die. The Princess, the only source of the Tears that could save Theron and help him master his two abilities, would die, and Charron would rot the World Tree to nothing.

'Choice,' Damien thought, his grip on his sword tightening until the leather creaked.

'This is forcing me to make a choice. Save my father now and lose the cure? Or save the cure and risk my father dying before I get back?'

"Young Master?" Isabelle looked back at him, sensing his turmoil. Her fire shield was flickering. "What do we do?"

Damien looked at the red stone in his hand. He looked at Charron descending from the sky.

He remembered his vow.

'I am a Greedy King. I don't choose.'

He crushed the transmission stone in his hand.

"We fight," Damien said, his voice low and terrifying.

He looked up at Charron. His eyes snapped. The blue vanished.

Left Eye: Abyssal Black. Right Eye: Dragon Gold.

The air around him exploded. The Dual-Core state erupted.

Golden lightning arced from his right shoulder. Black mist poured from his left.

"Isabelle," Damien commanded, stepping onto the balcony rail. "Drop the shield."

"What? But the rot—"

"Drop it. And focus everything you have on gravity."

Damien pointed his sword at the Lich General.

"He wants to rot the tree? Fine. Let's bring him down to the roots."

"Gravity… Singularity!"

Isabelle trusted him. She dropped the firewall and clapped her hands together.

BOOM!

A massive purple sphere of gravity appeared directly on top of Charron. The Lich, who had been floating arrogantly, suddenly dropped like a stone.

"Insolent!" Charron hissed, raising his staff to counter the spell.

But he wasn't ready for the second hit.

Damien launched himself off the balcony. He didn't fly; he used Shadow Step to teleport directly into the gravity field.

"Dual-Art: Golden Dragon Claw!"

Damien appeared above the falling Lich. His right arm was coated in a massive, spectral dragon claw made of golden aura.

He swung down.

CRASH!

He smashed Charron directly into the roof of the lower palace. Tiles shattered. Wood splintered. The 7th-Order Demon General was spiked into the ground like a volleyball.

Damien landed on a gargoyle, panting, his mana veins burning.

"One hit," Damien growled. "I have to finish this fast. Dad… hold on."

From the cloud of dust below, a cold, dry laughter echoed.

"Hehe… heavy. Very heavy."

Charron rose from the rubble. His robes were torn, but his skeletal body was unharmed. A green, ghostly shield flickered around him.

"But," Charron pointed his staff at Damien. "You are still just a child."

Fwoom.

The dust around Charron turned into green, spectral skulls. Hundreds of them. They screamed, flying toward Damien.

"Round two," Damien spat, readying his sword. "Isabelle! Don't stop the pressure!"

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