Silence fell throughout the pyramid.

The once roaring battlefield that was filled with screams, metal and chaos, was now wrapped in a suffocating stillness. The air hung heavy and suffocating as if the world itself had frozen in awe and fear.

The massive flaming sword still burned where it had fallen through. It impaled the demon through its chest. The fire crackled like a divine hymn, a holy contrast to the demon's unholy aura. The demon's body cramped beneath the weight of the weapon. It pinned the demon like an insect beneath divine judgment. Flames licked its corrupted flesh, not burning it in the traditional sense but purging it, consuming the abyssal energies that clung to its form like a second skin.

"W-What is this power?.." the demon screamed in agony, it's voice twisting into unnatural tunes. "Whose blade… WHOSE WRATH IS THIS?!"

Its panic painted across its grotesque face, eyes rolling madly, muscles convulsing as it tried to pull itself free but the sword wouldn't budge. It wasn't merely steel or flame. It was authority. A verdict. A sentence.

From behind the demon, the cult leader roared in disbelief.

"NO!! She was never meant to be here."

"SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE WESTERN FRONT"

His voice was one of confusion, panic and hate, all tangled into a single cursing note.

As the dust and debris cleared, all eyes turned skyward.

She stood or rather, floated above them, a lone figure draped in crimson and gold, her long coat rippling in the burning winds that responded only to her presence.

Chancellor Seraphina Veal

Her amber eyes, glowing like twin suns, she stared down with a gaze that was not meant for men. It was meant for monsters.

She didn't shout. She didn't posture. She merely looked.

At the demon.

At the cult leader.

And finally, at the broken battlefield below.

Her gaze moved to Ryker, he is still kneeling at the center of his fading domain. He looked more like a dying angel than a boy, blood trailing from his eyes, nose and mouth. His hands trembled as his healing light finally began to fade.

Seraphina's voice finally came, it was clear and measured, soft, yet carrying the weight of command.

"…Good job holding out until now."

Then, without shifting her gaze, she declared,

"All of you….leave…"

It wasn't a request.

It was an order and a promise.

The cult leader's expression darkened. "YOU THINK I WILL LET ANY OF THEM ESCAPE!!!!"

He screamed and lunged towards her with a torrent of cursed lightning manifesting into a jagged blade in his hand. "You think a sword and a pretty face is all it takes to stop me?"

"I will cleave you in half….VEAL!!"

He swung his sword,

And the air exploded.

Seraphina raised a single hand and caught the attack midair. The force of the strike triggered a sonic boom, shaking the pyramid's very foundations. Cracks laced across the structure as tremors shot down into the earth.

The cult leader was thrown back, coughing blood from the recoil. His weapon shattered like glass.

She hadn't even moved from her place.

Arthur, who had frozen in stunned awe, snapped back to life. "RUN!!" he screamed "EVERYONE MOVE NOW!!"

The students didn't need to be told twice. Some grabbed their injured friends. Others simply ran. The battlefield that moments ago had felt like the end of the world now turned into a wild desperate headlong rush for life.

Arthur turned toward Ryker, who was still kneeling, still bleeding. The light around him was almost gone now.

"Ryker!!!" Arthur shouted as he slid beside him. "Can you hear me?"

Ryker looked up, barely. His eyes were clouded, his lips pale. Blood streamed from his face like tears and his breath was a slow, rattling wheeze.

Arthur didn't wait. He hooked an arm under Ryker's shoulders and lifted him up. "I got you. I got you, don't worry"

They moved.

Behind them, Ryker's light finally collapsed into nothing, the radiant power blinking out like a dying star.

Ryker with his eyes barely opening, looked as the system erupted with warnings,

[ALERT!!!!!]

[Critical overuse of Sacrificial Restoration]

[12% life force remaining]

[Warning!!!!]

[Neurological instability is rising.]

[To preserve the user, Emergency Vegetative Stasis will be activated]

[Skill growth accelerating… Affinity comprehension is increasing…]

[Survival probability without stasis is 1.9%.]

[Initiating shutdown…]

Ryker's grip on consciousness slipped with every breath. But he looked back one final time.

Up at her Seraphina.

The one who arrived in flame and fury.

She hadn't even looked at them again.

Because she didn't need to.

'Good…' Ryker thought with a weak smile.

'We will be fine…'

And then, blackness. Ryker lost his consciousness

******

Outside, the students were almost out of the pyramid. Many limped, many bled but hope pushed them forward. Hope that had returned the moment she had arrived.

Back within the battlefield's heart, the cult leader charged again but this time with desperation bordering on madness. The demon despite its grievous wound shrieked and tore itself free from the sword's impalement. It's fury overriding the pain.

"You arrogant witch!!" the cult leader screamed. "Do you truly think you can take both of us alone!!!"

Seraphina floated downward, her boots now lightly touching the cracked stone floor.

She smiled.

But it wasn't a kind smile. It was a smile of unshackled wrath.

"You are asking the wrong question…" Her voice echoed reverberating with power.

Her gaze narrowed.

"You should be asking whether the two of you can survive me."

The cult leader's eyes twitched.

"…Kael Throne."

He froze.

She said his name.

His real name.

"You… remember?"

She raised her hand.

"I counted every day," Seraphina whispered, and her voice trembled with something deeper than anger, it was revenge…

"Eight. Fucking. Years."

She clenched her fist.

The entire space around her warped.

Circles of golden light spiraled into the air, layering over one another like celestial glyphs. The temperature skyrocketed. The very mana in the air began to quake, reshaping itself under her will.

Seraphina's body glowed no, it radiated like a living sun.

"Domain Expansion…."

"Solar Requiem"

A dome of incandescent light exploded outward, swallowing the cult leader and the demon. The walls of light pulsed alive and searing and with a final flash. It snapped shut, sealing all three of them inside.

Outside, the students kept running.

They didn't stop. Didn't look back.

But the sky behind them burned as if a second sun had risen over the battlefield.

And within that sun,

Seraphina Veal finally began her vengeance.

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