The red-haired twins and Valier were watching the fight below intently.
"Methuselah is quite interesting," the red-haired boy said with a smirk.
"Methuselah?" Nivea asked.
"Yeah, Methuselah—because of his white hair and the fact that he's lived far beyond the average lifespan of mortals. So, he's a Methuselah," the red-haired boy replied.
"You give some wicked names, Reggie," Nivea said.
"Muahahaha!" Reggie laughed maniacally.
After releasing an EMP shockwave, Iode picked up his severed right arm. He siphoned the black flames burning over it into his mouth, then reattached the arm. As soon as he did, it began to integrate itself back into his body, slowly healing.
In Valier's seat, Nivea and Reggie were stunned—even Valier frowned.
"Did he just eat the black flame? He's going to burn from the inside out! Is he crazy?" Nivea exclaimed.
To their surprise, Iode unleashed a huge beam—an unstable fusion of black flames and his signature purple energy blast.
He fired the attack at the left lieutenant, who had just gotten to his feet. Though caught by surprise, the lieutenant wasn't unguarded. He quickly raised a wall of black flames to shield himself, but the beam was too powerful. It tore through the wall like paper.
The flame wall didn't hold, but it bought enough time for the lieutenant to escape the blast's core.
"If he could do that, why didn't he do it earlier when the flames hit him?" Reggie asked.
"Maybe his brain just booted," Nivea replied dryly.
Reggie looked at her. "You give some wicked remarks," he said, and the two of them laughed.
"I'm rooting for you, Methuselah!" Reggie shouted. Valier sat silently with a subtle frown.
"It worked. Who would've known? When my energy blast hit his black flames earlier, it took about twenty seconds before the flame started burning over my blast. I thought—if I swallow the flame and unleash it again just before the twenty seconds elapse, I might take little to no damage."
—Iode thought.
The right lieutenant charged and thrust his lance forward. Unlike earlier, where he struck once, this time the jabs were relentless—an uncountable barrage.
SPEAR ART: RAINING SPEARS!
Iode's eyes widened. Valier's stigma shimmered—and a massive shield appeared between the rain of spears and Iode.
"Father," Nivea asked, "I thought this guy hated you. Why's he using the stigma's power so much?"
Valier said nothing, his gaze locked on the battlefield.
Behind the metal shield—which began to bulge under the relentless strikes—Iode locked eyes with the left lieutenant, who was already launching another stream of black flames.
Iode clenched his teeth. Escaping would be ideal, but with the jabs flooding every path, evasion meant death.
Turning around, he brought his hands together and unleashed an energy blast to counter the flames. But unknown to him, the spear jabs had already begun tearing through the shield's weakened structure. It was only a matter of time.
The shield shattered.
The spear jabs tore through and struck Iode's back multiple times.
"Gah!!!" Iode grunted, pain searing through him. Though his large wings and scaled back offered some protection, the spears pierced deep, burning through the flesh and drawing blood that sizzled in contact with the black flame.
He twisted his body in agony, attempting to redirect his left hand to intercept the jabs—but the left lieutenant appeared in a flash and delivered a brutal kick to Iode's neck, flinging him across the field.
The two lieutenants didn't relent. The left one fired more black flames at Iode's fallen form while the right resumed his relentless jabs.
"Gah!!!" Iode screamed, engulfed in black flames. His body felt like it was being shredded and melted simultaneously.
To make matters worse, the left lieutenant summoned his own spear from his seat and joined the right lieutenant in the jabbing assault.
Burning alive. Being skewered repeatedly. His body struggled to heal—but each attempt drained more and more energy. If it continued, he would burn out completely.
"He can't use Warrior's Fury—not now. That'd mean instant death. But he can't afford to die either…"
—Valier watched intently.
"Will you change fate again, Iode?"
"No," Valier corrected himself, "meeting Nyx… that changed everything. All the futures I foresaw ended with Hades cursing him for eternity. The paths varied, but the ending never did: divine punishment. Yet, Nyx's intervention disrupted it all."
"What is it about this mortal that even I cannot see?"
As Iode writhed in agony, his transformation slowly began to revert. Consciousness slipped. But somewhere in the haze, a single image burned bright in his mind.
"Roxanne… Roxana… My prides… my kids… I want to see them again. No! I REFUSE TO DIE HERE! I'M GOING HOME!!!"
From Iode's chest pocket, the dark ball Nyx had given him cracked—and shattered.
A dark smoke escaped, shimmering with a golden pulse. It seeped into Iode's body through his skin, finding its way to his Mana Vessel and pooling within his Mana Core.
A violent reaction erupted. Mana bubbled and boiled out of him, racing through his veins, suffusing his organs.
"ARGHHH!!!" Iode roared as darkness consumed the castle. A blinding pulse followed—a shockwave that obliterated Valier's castle into rubble and flung everyone, except Valier, away.
When the dust settled—
Iode stood alone.
His body cloaked in dense shadows. His eyes glowed with a violent purple blaze. His claws had grown darker, sharper. His scales were pitch black and jagged. His face radiated fury.
Valier jolted in his seat, stunned...