Aron's breathing was ragged, his face covered in sweat and the blood of others. He looked at Seren beside him, who wasn't much better off, as he struggled to his feet and helped his wife up. It had only been a few minutes since the two young dragons began their assault on their fighters, but a large portion of them were already dead.

After helping his wife to her feet, he grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the battle.

"What are you doing?" Seren asked.

"Getting you away from the chaos."

Seren ripped her hand away from her husband. "Me or yourself?" She glared at him.

"Seren, please, now is not the time to—"

"Your son is out there! And all you can think about is running away?" Seren chastised Aron.

Aron's shoulders slumped for a moment as he looked around at those who had already died around him. He then turned to Seren, but before he could say anything, he pulled her behind him and held out his hand, creating a spatial barrier. There was a massive explosion, and when the dust cleared, Lord Cefketa was standing in front of the two of them.

"Yo..." He greeted them with a fanged smile.

"Where is Selistar?" Seren asked.

"He still has his hands full with Mythara—no need to worry." Cefketa chuckled as he prepared his scythe to reap.

Before he could say anything else, Aron charged, sending a slashing motion with his hand. Cefketa lazily parried the strike and looked to the side to see that space had been severed. Cefketa raised an eyebrow.

"Oh... so you're not completely useless."

"Bastard!" Aron shouted as he reached out to grab Cefketa by the collar.

Cefketa stepped backward and slashed at Aron's arms, only to see his blade disappear through space. Cefketa sighed as Aron's arm reached out through space and grabbed his collar. The two of them were then transported into the exosphere.

Cefketa groaned as he stared toward the distant sun on the horizon of deep space. Aron extended his arms, forming a pocket of space around them to trap Cefketa and prevent him from teleporting away. Determination burned in Aron's eyes—but it vanished as the space he created shattered under the sheer pressure of Cefketa's wingbeats.

"Boring. I played along to see what you could show me, but you spatial users use the same skills." Aron's body froze.

Cefketa was speaking, but his mouth wasn't moving, and his words weren't entering Aron's mind either. That voice came from the vacuum of space, like creation was speaking to him directly.

"Why does it feel like I just lost a few minutes? Did you finally get it right, kid?" Cefketa asked, smirking as he looked down at the Earth, ignoring Aron.

"It looks so small and fragile now."

"I call this System Clockwork Paradox," Mythara chuckled to himself. The world had already slowed to a crawl.

"I don't know why I'm telling you that—you won't be able to hear me." Mythara shrugged as he looked at Selistar and Gladiolus, frozen in place.

The Clockwork Paradox system did not affect time itself, but it slowed the momentum of everything within a certain range. Mythara could do this to a certain extent before, but it put a massive strain on his body, and he couldn't move much during it. With this system active, neither of those were problems.

Mythara scanned the devastated landscape around him, taking in the destruction Cefketa had wrought single-handedly. His eyes then shifted to Aron, who was reaching out toward Cefketa.

A faint ticking echoed in Mythara's ears—inaudible to anyone else. It was the countdown of the System: once it hit 200 ticks, it would end on its own—just over two minutes. Without hesitation, he approached Selistar and delivered a devastating roundhouse kick to Gladiolus' head. Thanks to the gravitational field surrounding her, her skull wasn't crushed, but the shockwave was strong enough to rattle her brain and knock her out cold.

Mythara then turned his attention to Selistar and knocked on his head. He saw the spatial barrier ripple under his pressure and groaned. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even be able to see the ripple, but with everything slowed to a crawl, he could see it clearly. The barrier had more give than he would have hoped for. That would make it more difficult to forcefully break. He could brute force his way through it like Cefketa had done, but he would need to come at it with a little more finesse.

Mythara formed a gun and took several shots at Selistar's head. Once again, the barrier rippled, but nothing affected it. The sounds of the System continued to tick as Mythara continued to figure out what to do. He even tried to sever the space that composed the barrier, but nothing happened.

"What am I missing? What am I not seeing?"

Mythara's eyes widened as his pupils—unbeknownst to him—narrowed into glowing slits. With his enhanced vision, he noticed flaws in Selistar's barrier. He struck it with a punch, and the surface rippled. The ripples revealed more imperfections. He punched again, and the overlapping distortions amplified the weaknesses in the barrier.

"I see it!" Mythara chuckled as he stepped back and summoned his guns.

He rattled off shots, watching the ripples multiply and overlap. The imperfections began to coalesce over Selistar's right shoulder. The bundle of imperfections glowed like a shining beacon as the final ticks counted down.

Mythara fired a final shot. The energy round spun at an incomprehensible speed, its momentum pushed to the absolute limit. As the last tick of the System echoed, Mythara let out a chuckle—the bullet struck the weak point in the barrier.

"Bang!" he chirped, just as the sound of shattering glass rang out, marking the collapse of Selistar's barrier, and the end of his System.

Everything began to move normally, and Selistar processed the large gaping hole in his shoulder.

"ARRGHHH!" Selistar let out a pained shout.

No one could process what had happened. Selistar and Gladiolus had been perfectly fine, but in an instant, Selistar's right arm was barely connected to his body, and Gladiolus was falling out of the air, unconscious. They hadn't even blinked, and none could process what happened.

An enraged Selistar looked at Mythara as his black mask peeled away.

"Well, it's still not good enough to beat Cefketa, but I guess it's good enough to deal with you." Mythara smiled.

Selistar looked at his arm and then over at Gladiolus on the ground. He still didn't understand what had happened. Even Gladiolus' Spoilers couldn't process what was going on. Then a burning ball of light streaked across the sky and exploded on the ground before them.

Aron looked like a ragged mess as Cefketa kicked him through the air toward Selistar, who caught his father with his free arm.

"You really did a number on him, huh? Well done," Cefketa complimented.

"Yeah, well, I still need to improve the System and—"

"Just take the compliment, kid. God damn." Cefketa chuckled, and Mythara giggled in return.

The remaining Chasers and Persequion in the area gathered around them. There were still plenty left. Selistar looked over and saw Duendes and Mawu, but there was no sign of Franky and the others. Selistar glared at Cefketa.

"Zac, you didn't..."

"No, I didn't kill them. I just left them with gifts to help them reflect on their sins," Cefketa chuckled.

"Their sins? You speak like you're some kind of god!" Selistar shouted.

"And you tried to run our lives as if you were!" Mythara was the one to respond this time.

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"Judging who or what had the right to exist in this world. What do you call that if not playing god?" Mythara asked.

"Everything we did, everything we did—"

"Is for the betterment of humanity. But humans aren't the only ones who live on this planet... Selistar." Mythara cut him off.

"Do you not care about humanity? You're human, aren't you? So why are you trying to destroy the only human force capable of standing against those creatures?" Aron pleaded with Mythara. There was no point in trying to fight them directly—their only hope was to turn the two against each other.

"I do care for humanity, and I WAS human. I don't wish for Heka's or the Chasers' destruction. I wish to destroy what you have become," Mythara spoke.

In the distance on the cliff, The Conductor nodded his head in agreement and let out a sigh of relief. As long as Mythara held that belief, they would not need to worry about him being dangerous to humanity.

After speaking those words, Roratha walked out from a portal and stood next to Cefketa, slightly bowing her head to him.

"Say what you will," Cefketa motioned for Roratha to speak her mind.

"I promised I would observe and decide how the Theronites would move. I believe Mythara has proven his claims beyond a reasonable doubt."

"Roratha, what are you doing?" Selistar called out.

"Whether Mythara is or is not Auranthos' Threnos has always been disputed. I'm simply bringing that discussion to an end."

"That's not your decision to make," Aron shouted.

"You are correct—it is a decision collectively decided on by the Theronites. And all the Theronites under your influence are now dead," Roratha spoke as she and her son smirked.

It wasn't hard to figure out that every Theronite who made a move during this event was somehow tied to Aron. It was one of the reasons Mythara was not hesitant to kill any of them.

"Mythara hasn't even reached the age of twenty and has already defeated the self-proclaimed strongest Persequion in history. He was born a human and made into a Dragon. He still values humanity and seeks to see it flourish."

"What of the coming storm?" Seren smiled and asked.

Roratha smiled back and nodded her head. "We now know of the existence of Firmatha Sanguar. If that is not a storm approaching, I don't know what is. Once again, Mythara stands here as someone who can bridge relations between us and them."

"Bridge relations?" Aron scoffed. "You wish to join hands with those creatures? Blasphemy!" he shouted.

"How ever Auranthos' Threnos chooses to guide us is his decision and his alone. So I ask you, my brothers and sisters: Do you believe?"

As she spoke, multiple portals opened, unleashing a flood of Theronites. More than two hundred Persequions and Chasers had gathered for a final stand—but now, nearly a thousand Theronites were pouring through the portals.

"We believe!" shouted nearly a thousand Theronites in unison.

On the cliff above, the Tiny Tots and the monsters narrowed their eyes in concern. They had believed they fully understood the Power of Heka—but these Theronites far exceeded their expectations. None matched Selistar's strength, except perhaps Roratha, but many came close—and they doubted this was the full extent of their force.

"We bow and greet Auranthos' Threnos. Please guide us through the coming storm," Roratha bowed her head to her son, and then the other Theronites standing around them bowed their heads in unison.

"Please guide us through the coming storm!"

Selistar said nothing. His arm had already healed, and now he was tending to Gladiolus. Everything is over now. He could not contend with Cefketa and Mythara; now they had the full force of the Theronites behind them. Even Selistar was not aware of the full force that the Theronites possessed. The best he could do was hope that he could plead his mother's case. Selistar sighed in despair as he resigned himself to defeat.

"Do you accept your position?" Roratha asked her son.

"Do I have a choice?"

"Your choice is the only one that matters. If you believe yourself to be Auranthos' Threnos, then you are," Cefketa smiled at him.

Mythara chuckled and then said, "Then I accept."

There was a boisterous cheer from the Theronites and the Persequions and Chasers who were there dropped to their knees. All of this had been for nothing. Now, if Mythara decided to pursue things, he could mark them as heretics, and there would be nothing they could do.

"I guess there's only one thing left to do," Cefketa turned his attention toward Seren.

"Don't make a move..." Mythara warned the Theronites. They all stood uniformly with their hands behind their backs as they parted the way for Cefketa to walk through.

"Zac, please!" Selistar called out.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It's okay," Seren called out to Selistar, who just closed his eyes and looked away.

"No! NO!" Aron shouted as he jumped to his feet, pressing a button on his watch. He then held his hand in the air.

"If we're going to die, I'll take you all with us!"

The sky split open as space parted, revealing twenty-four twenty-meter-long metal rods that were launched from orbit. They flew through the open space, crashing toward the island at hypersonic speeds.

"Are you crazy?!" Seren shouted at her husband.

They had constructed the Rods of God about a decade ago. Only someone with spatial abilities could guarantee their accuracy. Even still, this was supposed to be a last resort—to use even just one—but this madman had called down their whole payload.

Before anyone could panic, Cefketa and Mythara had already exploded off the ground toward the approaching rods. The Clockwork Paradox System appeared behind Mythara as he extended his hands to project it forward. The rods came to a screeching halt. Cefketa started to laugh as dark energy began to radiate from his body. That energy shot forward like a wave, engulfing everything in its path. It covered the sky and erased everything in its path. It even devoured the influence that The Clockwork Paradox System created over the rods.

Mythara was shocked as he witnessed something beyond his comprehension—that dark energy was unlike anything he had ever encountered. The Rods of God vanished into nothingness, and his Clockwork Paradox System was forcefully terminated, as that energy devoured its' influence. Though Mythara kept his expression neutral, the terrifying power he had just witnessed shook him to his core.

As the two dragons descended and turned their attention toward the crowd below, every person on the battlefield looked up at them with the reverence typically reserved for gods.

"Tsk..." Cefketa scoffed as he shot toward the ground, aiming for Seren.

Aron teleported in front of his wife and shouted, "I refuse to give you what you want!"

"You already have!" Cefketa's smile was almost manic as he plunged his hand into Aron's chest.

Everything—from the Rods of God to Cefketa plunging his hand through Aron's chest—happened so fast that none of them had time to properly process what had occurred. They all turned their attention toward Cefketa's maniacal laughter. Aron smiled with glee as blood flowed from his mouth. Cefketa wanted him to watch him kill Seren, but if he died first, then his revenge would mean nothing.

"What are you grinning about?" Cefketa asked.

"I won..." Aron chuckled.

"Is that right? Seren... don't you have something to tell your husband?" Cefketa asked.

Aron felt what was left of his heart jump as he struggled to turn his head to look at his wife. He thought he'd see a sad or distraught expression. Instead, what he saw was a face full of joy.

"S-Seren?"

"Finally... I can tell you what I always wanted to tell you," Seren sighed.

"S-s-seren?" Aron whimpered.

"I never loved you. For a time, I absolutely despised you. Your brother was the love of my life and always will be."

"Seren!" Aron's rage was starting to build up. It became obvious that Seren had played a hand in everything that happened. Aron thought things had gone far too well for the opposition, but he couldn't quite understand why.

"Don't get too upset—there's more. Selistar was the result of the love I have for your brother."

"What?"

"Selistar Luminara Dyrithon Murmus is the last living offspring of Drakhalon Murmus!" Seren shouted for all to hear.

Selistar's eyes widened at the revelation, stunned by the bombshell. Around him, murmurs spread through the crowd, along with a few chuckles from those who couldn't stand Aron.

"RRAAAGGGHHHH! BITCH... WHORE! I'll kill you and that bastard!" Aron shouted as he tried to pry himself free from Cefketa.

"HEHEHE!" Cefketa's laugh cut through Aron's rage.

"Well done, well done, Seren. He responded just how you said he would." Cefketa threw Aron to the ground, shaking the blood off his hand.

"That look. That mixture of rage, indignation, sorrow." Cefketa knelt next to Aron and grabbed him by the chin to look into his eyes. "Euphoric!" Cefketa chuckled.

"Mother... is this true?" Selistar, still shocked, asked.

"Yes, it's true. It's also true that your father was responsible for your cousin's death. Well, I suppose it would be your half-brother," Seren spoke again.

Selistar looked at his "father" with disgust. He felt pity for him, just for a moment. But once his mother said that, what little pity he had disappeared. Aron started to chuckle as the blood continued to flow. Cefketa looked at him, taking in the expression on his face.

"HA... HAHAHA... AHAHAHAHAHAH!" Aron started to laugh as he looked at Cefketa.

"You took everything from me, brick by brick. My sense of safety, my authority, my power... now even my whore wife and bastard child?" Aron chuckled in indignation.

"Yep," Cefketa gave him a simple response, smiling at the broken man.

"Well, I refuse to suffer alone!" Aron's gaze twisted with malice.

"What are you talking about?" Cefketa asked.

"I figured things might go this way." Aron smiled, through bloody teeth, as he tried to sit up.

"You figured I might dismantle your entire life and everything you believe in? That's some insight." Cefketa chuckled. Aron laughed while coughing up blood.

"I didn't expect that part, no. But failing to protect my whore wife was indeed a very real possibility. And you were wrong about one thing Roratha. All the Theronites-"

"Under your influence weren't killed here, and are going to attack the families of my little Tiny Tots." Cefketa interrupted Aron. Whose eyes widened.

"Hope for the best, plan for the worst. A simple principle that always yields the best results." Sage said as she walked up with the other Tiny Tots following behind her.

"I guess they were mobilized to kill our families, when you called down those rods, right?" Sage asked. Aron didn't answer, he just glared at Sage. The Tiny Tots didn't look concerned. Sage seemed very relaxed and so too did Cefketa and Mythara.

"What did you do?" Aron questioned.

"We called in some assistance from some new friends," Mythara smiled at Aron.

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