The Mountain Range Terrain
Jagged cliffs and rolling rock ridges stretched endlessly under the sun's harsh gaze. Dust clung to boots. The air was thinner here—less forgiving.
Team Crimson moved with tired, quiet resolve.
Zezzy's eyes flicked up to the floating mana stones pulsing above the battlefield—each one a timer set into the sky like a god's clock.
They shimmered faintly—three stones dimmed, five remained.
"Six hours down…" she muttered. "Two to go."
She looked back at the others.
"How's everyone holding up?"
Liena, walking just ahead, gave a grateful smile.
"Thanks to Helion, we're still standing."
She nodded toward him.
"You took out almost every creature that crossed our path while Zezzy and I recharged."
Helion gave a modest shrug, not slowing down.
"No worries. You two needed time. And Yuri's been on full defense mode with the egg, anyway."
Yuri, a few steps behind, carried the golden egg wrapped tightly in roots and stone. He gave a quiet thumbs-up.
Helion glanced again at the sky.
"We're almost to the next point. Let's stick to the plan and finish strong."
Zezzy yawned and stretched her arms overhead.
"That means it's your turn to rest now."
She winked.
"You've been tanking for three hours straight. Take five."
Helion smirked, then leaned against a large stone ridge, sliding down to sit beneath its shadow.
"Alright… that actually sounds great," he said, exhaling with a short laugh.
A familiar voice echoed inside his mind—calm and firm.
"Luminox…"
"…You fought well. This power—it's becoming yours. With every battle, you shape it."
Helion closed his eyes briefly, letting the voice settle inside him like steady light.
He opened them again, raising a trembling hand.
The fatigue was finally creeping in—subtle at first, but now undeniable.
"Seven… maybe ten creatures since Pearl…" he whispered to himself.
"…I'm starting to feel it."
He let the mountain breeze wash over him.
But just for a moment.
The ground shook.
A low, thunderous thump… thump… thump echoed through the mountain pass.
Pebbles danced. A ridge cracked.
Helion's eyes snapped open, senses immediately alert—but as he pushed himself to stand, his body locked.
Too late.
The brief rest had allowed the exhaustion to take hold. His limbs were heavy, muscles slow to respond.
"Something's coming…" Zezzy whispered, already drawing her blade.
Yuri's eyes reflected the growing shadow cast across the rocks. He adjusted his glasses with shaky fingers.
"What the hell is that?"
Out from the twisting path between cliffs…
A massive figure emerged.
Ten feet tall, at least. Muscles like chiseled stone.
Its single, glowing eye burned bright yellow at the center of its brutish face.
A Cyclops Beast—its body armored in natural bone plates, jagged tusks protruding from its shoulders, and a club carved from a tree trunk gripped in its hand.
Liena's wind faltered for a moment.
She took a step back, her voice barely above a breath.
"That's… a Cyclops Beast."
She had read of them. Heard the legends.
But never seen one in real life.
"Its mana is insane…" Zezzy said, a bead of sweat trailing down her temple.
The very air around the creature shimmered—raw energy oozing from its skin like heat off desert sand.
Helion, trying to push off the boulder behind him, grimaced.
His arms trembled.
"Damn it… my body's locking up."
Letting himself rest, even for a minute, had been a mistake. His reserves were recovering—but his muscles were slow to follow.
The Cyclops raised its club.
It roared.
The cliff walls trembled.
And then—it charged.
Liena's voice cut through the tension.
"First Form—Temporal Air!"
She thrust her palms forward, and powerful gusts of wind exploded around the charging beast. The air thickened, distorting like rippling glass. For a second, the Cyclops staggered—its movement slowed ever so slightly.
But not enough.
The beast roared and broke through.
It surged forward with terrifying momentum, every step shattering stone beneath its feet. The force of its charge sent shockwaves down the cliff walls.
Zezzy reacted instantly.
Her eyes narrowed.
"First Form—Pressure Resin!"
Streams of compressed water burst from her fingertips, slamming into the creature's chest like drill shots—impactful, clean, fast.
But useless.
The water attacks splashed off its thick hide.
The Cyclops didn't even flinch.
"It's like its entire body is armored mana!" Zezzy shouted.
Her heart pounded. "Even my densest form didn't break through!"
Yuri stomped the ground, eyes sharp behind his lenses.
"Spirit Skill—Transmute!"
The terrain just ahead of the creature shimmered and warped.
Rock and soil melted into mud, churning like quicksand.
The Cyclops stepped forward—and began to sink.
For a moment, it looked like the trap had worked.
But the beast roared with fury and raised its massive club.
"YURI, MOVE!" Zezzy screamed.
Yuri dove to the side as the club smashed down where he stood—the shockwave cracked the cliffs and launched dust in every direction.
But the mud was already starting to harden. Yuri's trap was reshaping.
The Cyclops roared again—lunging toward Yuri, rage blazing in its single glowing eye.
Helion, still bracing against the tree, watched all of it unfold—his breath sharp, his hands trembling.
Helion screamed, his voice breaking with desperation,
"All of you—get out of here! Get yourselves and the egg to safety!"
He tried to rise—but his legs gave out again.
Yuri scrambled back across the rocky terrain, eyes wild.
"First Form—"
But the words were cut short.
The Cyclops lunged, its massive fist slamming into the ground with devastating force.
A shockwave burst outward—blasting Yuri back. He crashed into a stone wall, crumpling beneath the impact.
The golden egg slipped from his grip—
But before it hit the earth, roots burst upward and caught it, encasing it again in protective bark and mud.
Yuri lay still, half-buried in rubble.
The Cyclops turned, dragging its jagged club behind it, towering over Yuri's fallen form.
Liena's eyes flashed green.
"Spirit Skill: Mystical Eyes of Aerithyn!"
Her gaze pierced the creature's body—mana channels lighting up in a network of glowing threads.
She narrowed in.
"I see a weak point! Zezzy—under the rib, left side! That's where the mana core is!"
Zezzy flipped her wet hair out of her face, blood at the corner of her mouth.
"Then we need to stop it. Now!"
But before they could act, chaos exploded around them.
A stone-armored bear tore through the trees, roaring as it lunged toward Liena.
A snake-beast, covered in plated vines, whipped around a tree and launched at Zezzy.
"Shit—We're outnumbered!" Zezzy shouted.
Liena forced the bear back with a blast of focused wind, sending it skidding—but another beast charged in from behind.
"Why now?!" she yelled. "Why are they all attacking at once?!"
Zezzy gritted her teeth, blocking the snake's lashing tail with her blade—it coiled again, fangs dripping with venom.
Across the battlefield, Helion stared in horror.
His team—his friends—were being overwhelmed.
And Yuri…
Yuri wasn't moving.
Helion tried to stand. One knee.
His body trembled. He couldn't.
Not again.
His breath was shallow, vision flickering.
"It's just like back then…"
He remembered the first time Luminox appeared.
He had collapsed from mana exhaustion.
He couldn't protect anyone.
Not even Loken.
"I think this time… I overdid it."
His hand clenched the dirt.
"Damn it… I won't let any of you get hurt!!!"
A single tear slipped down his face, steaming against his skin.
"Grandpa Loken…"
His voice cracked.
"I'll never let what happened to you happen to anyone I care for again!"
The air began to hum.
Helion's fingers dug into the earth—but then, something shifted.
A strange calm.
His eyes opened—glowing a brilliant, blinding white.
Light gathered around him, not wild or out of control—but steady. Pure. Resolved.
As if unseen hands were lifting him, Helion rose, floating inches above the ground. The dust and debris parted around him like water.
He reached for his sword—
And the moment his fingers touched the hilt, a radiant burst exploded from the blade.
A brilliance unlike anything before.
The Solstice Edge pulsed with light—so strong, the shadows themselves seemed to recoil.
"Spirit Skill: Solstice Glow…"
He raised the blade into the sky—
The light wrapped around the steel, flowing like a stream of gold.
"…Miracles light!!"
A wave of warmth burst outward.
Zezzy, Liena—even Yuri's bruised form—were hit by a sudden wave of revitalizing mana. Cuts began to close. Pain eased. The battlefield itself seemed to breathe again
But Helion wasn't done.
The light now concentrated around his blade's edge.
His brows lowered, eyes burning with resolve and fury.
"With anger…"
"…and the will to protect—"
He slashed the air.
"Solstice Glow: IMPERIAL SLASH!!"
A colossal beam of light erupted from his blade—thick, radiant, and white-hot.
It tore through the air, roaring toward the Cyclops in a line so clean, it seemed to divide the world itself.
The beam struck the monster head-on.
There was a moment of silence.
Then—the Cyclops' body split.
Not violently, not messily—perfectly. Cleanly.
It didn't just fall. It disintegrated, turning to shimmering dust that scattered into the air like a storm of gold flakes.
The battlefield fell still.
The monsters that had been charging faltered—their will shattered in the wake of the light.
Helion dropped back to the ground, blade lowering as his eyes dimmed.
Chest rising and falling slowly—
But his stance never wavered.
The light still lingered in the air—soft, golden, and pulsing like a fading heartbeat.
Empowered by Helion's Solstice Glow, Zezzy and Liena didn't hesitate.
"First Form: Pressure Resin!!"
Zezzy launched a concentrated beam of pressurized water, slicing clean through the snake-like beast.
"First Form: Temporal Air!!"
Liena raised her hands, the wind around her surging like a tempest. A single downward motion—and the air itself slammed the bear creature into the ground, flattening it with raw force.
Both monsters collapsed—dissolving into mana ash.
Silence.
Then—
Helion stumbled forward. One step. Two.
His sword nearly slipped from his hand.
"Damn it…" he muttered.
"I'm out of mana… again…"
He dropped to one knee.
From the rubble behind him, Yuri emerged—wounds mostly closed thanks to the Miracles light, but still limping.
He looked up, breathing heavily.
Then he saw Helion.
And his eyes welled up.
"Helion… thank you. You saved me."
He rushed forward, clutching the golden egg in his arms, still wrapped in protective roots.
Yuri reached Helion, wrapped one arm around him, and helped him stand—his shoulder bracing under Helion's weight.
"Come on, man. I've got you."
From the side, Zezzy and Liena rushed over, still glowing with residual mana.
"Helion!" Zezzy called. "You alright?!"
Liena's green eyes still shimmered faintly as she reached him, inspecting him quickly. "You need to lie down. You burned through everything."
Helion gave a weak smile. "Did we… win?"
Zezzy grinned, sliding her sword back into its sheath. "Not yet. But you won. We just cleaned up after your light show."
Liena touched his arm gently, nodding. "Thank you, Helion. You saved all of us."
Yuri adjusted his glasses, still holding the egg tightly.
"Let's get out of here before more creatures show up."
The four stood close—beaten, battered, but standing.
And still together.
Zezzy glanced up at the sky, eyes narrowing at the glowing stones slowly shifting in color overhead—the ancient timekeepers.
"We're close to the final hour…" she muttered.
She turned, cracking her fingers with a confident smirk.
"I think we can make this long stretch count."
Helion opened one eye from where he sat propped against a boulder, exhaustion still tugging at every part of his body.
Zezzy looked at him with a mix of warmth and command.
"You? You're taking a nice long rest. Got it?"
Helion exhaled with a smile. "Yes, ma'am…"
Liena stepped forward, her hands glowing faintly with wind mana as she focused, gathering up the swirling air around them.
"I'll keep us mobile. Fast and quiet," she said, calm but focused. The breeze picked up instantly, as if answering her voice.
Yuri knelt beside Helion, tapping his staff lightly against the ground. Roots slithered up gently—forming a soft cradle of bark and moss around Helion's back and arms, elevating him comfortably.
"Here," Yuri said, adjusting his glasses. "One deluxe support twig. Comes with lumbar care and complimentary backrest."
Helion chuckled weakly. "Five stars… best service I've had in the draft so far."
Yuri smirked. "Well, you earned it. Now sit tight, light boy. We've got it from here."
Zezzy stepped ahead, her stance sure, her blade glinting again in the fading light.
Liena hovered just above the earth, wind rippling through her hair.
Yuri stood tall beside them, egg secure, focus sharpened.
Team Crimson was moving again.
And now?
They were almost at the end.
The stadium was no longer cheering.
It was roaring.
From the nobles in their silk robes to the street-born commoners in the upper seats—all eyes were locked on the crystal screens. And every screen showed one thing:
Helion's Imperial Slash.
That wave of light.
That final stand.
That refusal to let anyone fall.
"Did you see that?!" someone in the crowd screamed.
"It was that light again! That same brilliance!"
"He took down a Cyclops! Alone!"
Whispers turned into debates. Cheers turned into declarations.
"Could he be stronger than the Valdens?"
"Even Renza??"
The nobles balked at the suggestion—but they didn't deny it.
⸻
In the captain's gallery—silence.
No more chatter. No more jests.
Even Arion, Arinelle and Axel sat forward, their eyes locked on the scene.
Syrus stood up, fists clenched, heart pounding.
A grin stretched across his face.
"Atta boy…" he whispered.
"You did it this time."
"You protected the ones you cared for."
⸻
Beside him, Zeyr Chrono stood still, the wind catching his dark cloak.
Loken—the ghostly white wolf at his side—lowered his head, golden eyes glowing.
Zeyr's eyes shimmered.
A single tear escaped.
It caught on the wind, falling silently to the polished marble beneath them.
The strongest warrior in the world—the man once called the Hero of Time—wasn't moved by raw power.
He felt something else.
The ripple.
Not just of light.
Not just of magic.
But of loss.
Of Loken's memory.
Of Helion's will to never let history repeat itself.
Zeyr smiled faintly, gaze locked on the boy who now stood—exhausted, trembling, but unbroken.
"Spectacular, Helion…"
He placed a hand over his heart.
"Grandpa Loken would be proud Helion."
And for once…
The legend bowed his head.
Not to a king.
Not to a captain.
But to a boy with light in his heart, and the courage to protect with it.
Far above the common cheers, in a private skybox lined with marble and velvet curtains, Vlad Valden lll, head of House Valden, sat alone—separated from the roaring masses.
A glass of aged crimson wine swirled lazily in his hand as he gazed at the crystal projections.
Helion's light was still flickering across the sky.
The boy's blade had carved a Cyclops in half. He stood there now, surrounded by teammates, the crowd screaming his name.
Vlad's lip curled.
"Hmmmm… That was impressive," he admitted, voice smooth as silk and just as sharp.
He lifted the wine glass to his lips… then paused.
"But…" he exhaled coldly.
He turned his head away from the screen as if offended by the boy's existence.
"Still just a peasant."
He placed the wine glass down with mechanical grace.
"Not worth the kingdom's resources."
He didn't need light.
He didn't care for valor.
Bloodline was all that mattered.
Valden blood.
And in his eyes…
Helion had none.
The screen behind him still glowed—showing the boy who had just saved his team, burned his soul, and lit the sky.
But Vlad never looked back.