Lunia''s eyes gleamed with hope, her breath hitching at the sight of such powerful warriors standing against the monstrous threat. Beside her, Nemsus was tense, worried. But Delilah and Nero… their faces remained cold, unreadable.


    Unlike the others, they weren''t fooled.


    They had seen too much to place their trust in nobles.


    Escape was almost impossible, yet their minds refused to stop searching for a way out. Trapped, powerless, hunted—fear pressed down on them, suffocating. But surrender wasn''t an option. Not yet.


    Viser exchanged a glance with both of them.


    Nero spoke again, his voice quieter this time. "What are we going to do?"


    Viser didn''t answer right away. His gaze remained locked on the battle, calculating. "I''m waiting for a chance. If they push the fight just a little farther away, I can protect us outside this shell. But for now…" His expression darkened. "The shockwaves alone could kill you."


    Nero clenched his jaw, feeling both embarrassed and strangely grateful. Viser could have saved himself if he had wanted to. Yet here he was.


    "Why don''t we just wait here?" Lunia asked. "They look like they''re winning."


    Nemsus nodded in agreement.


    "We can''t," Nero said firmly. His black eyes flickered to the screens, scanning the battlefield. "One mistake, one misstep… if they get even a little closer, we''ll be caught in the fight."


    "But they won''t let the monster near us," Hilda argued. "They''re nobles."


    Nero''s lips curled into something between a smirk and a sneer. "Not after what happened. The vil—"


    "Shut your mouth, Nero."


    Viser''s voice cut through the air like a blade, sharp and furious. His glare burned into the boy, but Nero only met his gaze with indifferent defiance.


    The room tensed.


    Nemsus frowned, confused by his father''s sudden anger. Delilah, however, merely looked at her brother and said nothing.


    Nero felt something close to satisfaction. As long as the people he truly cared about—Viser, Delilah, and Nemsus—were alive, nothing else mattered. He wouldn''t wish death upon the others, but if it came down to choosing… his priorities were clear.


    His attention shifted back to the screen displaying the eight sages battling the black wolf.


    "They''re not fighting to win," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "They''re stalling. Buying time. Either they think the emperor will finish his fight and come help, or they''re waiting for another kind of backup." His gaze sharpened. "And there''s greed in their faces. For what? The runes?"


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    Nero exhaled sharply, shaking his head. That wasn''t the real problem.


    "That wolf…" His voice dropped. "He''s just walking. They haven''t even hit him properly once, and he''s not even bothering to move."


    Then it hit him.


    He remembered what Viser had said earlier. But before he could speak, Delilah beat him to it.


    "You said there were two Sovereigns," she said, her tone cold and sharp. "Where is the other one—the emperor?"


    Viser didn''t react immediately to Delilah''s question, but something flickered in his eyes—something unreadable.


    "Probably on a political mission outside the empire," he said. "Being emperor is more than just fighting. But I''d guess he''s pushing back here right now. They wouldn''t risk missing a chance to gain level 5 runes."


    He exhaled, rubbing his forehead. "There are at least five other sages within the empire, but right now, they''re not here."


    Silence stretched for a second before he continued, this time more deliberately.


    "Some are probably with the emperor. Some didn''t make it in time. Some are guarding the borders." His voice dropped, turning grim. "And one of them is already dead."


    The shift in tone made the room even more tense. Nemsus frowned, glancing at Nero, who already looked like he had an answer.


    "Sage Arus," he said flatly. "How do you think those two beasts got here? The Blue Castle is probably rubble as we speak.


    Their heads turned toward another screen—one displaying the old emperor''s fight.


    Unlike the other battle, this one looked… different. The panther facing the emperor was injured but healing at the same time, its massive body trembling as if weighed down by something invisible.


    It looked like it was holding up a mountain on its back.


    A gravity spell, Nero realized.


    Meanwhile, the old emperor was a storm of fire. Everything he touched burned. Spears of flame rained from the sky, blazing with destructive force. But something was wrong.


    The fire wasn''t hitting the beast.


    The moment the attacks neared their target, they slowed—like they didn''t want to strike. Like something was resisting them.


    The beast was controlling the ground, shifting it as though it were liquid. The terrain moved beneath its feet, carrying it without requiring it to move its legs. At the same time, tendrils of stone and a strange liquid metal lashed out, hunting the emperor down like living creatures.


    Rocks, sharp as blades, shot through the air at terrifying speeds.


    Gaius dodged each one effortlessly. With a flick of his wrist, he grabbed them mid-air using gravity magic—then sent them hurtling back at the monster with twice the force.


    Back and forth, the exchange continued, neither side relenting. The battlefield burned, cracked, and twisted under the weight of their power.


    The two battles raged across the land. They didn''t seem to be ending anytime soon. Yet, despite all the destruction and the area they were fighting in, they never drew close to one another. It was clear—the humans were determined to keep the two beasts apart, ensuring they never converged on the same battlefield.


    Viser was waiting for them to move a little farther, just far enough for him to take the kids and run.


    As they watched, Nero felt something shift deep within his heart—a sensation both powerful and strangely familiar. Instinctively, he turned his focus inward, peering into his Eny.


    And there it was.


    A slow smile spread across his face as he spoke, his voice laced with quiet satisfaction.


    "The Refiner layer has finished its evolution."


    Nero was happy. Now, he only needed to find an ice rune in level two, and he would be able to ascend.


    Viser silenced him with a sharp glance before sending a message using his willpower. "Remember, Nero. Don''t even think about ascending now. You''ll need intense concentration for that."


    Nero rolled his eyes, his smirk widening. "Don''t you think I don''t know that?"


    With that, their attention snapped back to the flickering screens. The battle hadn''t changed much—both sides were still locked in their brutal clash. But the white panther was now taking hits more frequently. Yet, each wound vanished almost instantly, its injuries healing at an unnatural speed.


    Nemsus furrowed his brows. "Do all monsters have this kind of crazy regeneration?"


    Nero and Delilah wanted to know that too. They looked at each other, then moved their heads toward Viser.


    He shook his head. "No. Haven''t you noticed how the spears slow down just before reaching it? That''s the effect of its Time Rune. The same rune is reversing the injuries, pulling them back to a previous state. But that won''t last forever. Time Runes consume far more mana than most others. At some point, the beast will be forced to stop its healing. But…" He paused, his expression darkening. "The same goes for the old emperor.


    Monsters usually have a larger Eny, therefore larger mana reserves than humans. This is a battle of endurance—whoever runs out of mana first loses."


    On another screen, a sudden cry of pain rang out. One of the eight nobles—Duke Tiven—had lost an arm. His face twisted in agony as blood poured from the severed limb. The black monster had almost taken his head, striking with a tail of living shadow that emerged from the ground—an extension of its own darkness, formed through dark matter.


    Then, something shifted on another screen.


    A streak of red shot through the sky.


    A woman.


    Her long, crimson hair was impossible to miss, even from a distance.


    Viser''s eyes narrowed. "That''s one of the emperor''s guardians—directly under his command."


    Without hesitation, she dove straight into battle. But she wasn''t helping the other nobles.


    She was going to aid Gaius.