Meanwhile, in the great forest of King Oberon.
Inferno had engulfed the entire place.
The forest that once stretched endlessly in shades of green and gold was now painted crimson beneath the night sky. Flames climbed the ancient oaks, crawling along their branches before bursting outward like burning flowers.
Trees that had stood for centuries cracked beneath the heat, their enormous trunks collapsing one after another as sparks scattered into the air.
The luminous stones that once marked peaceful paths through the forest could barely be seen beneath layers of ash.
Villages woven into the trees were consumed alongside the forest.
Fey folk fled in every direction.
Pixies flew desperately above the burning canopy, their tiny wings illuminated by the inferno beneath them. Elves carried children through the smoke while satyrs and dryads abandoned their homes, running across paths already being swallowed by flame.
There was no music.
No laughter.
No gentle sound of streams or leaves rustling beneath the wind.
Only screaming.
Only fire burning.
Even the rivers running through Oberon's territory reflected nothing but orange and red, their surfaces glowing beneath the burning forest surrounding them.
And far beyond everything else stood the Great Oak.
The colossal tree that once towered above Oberon's territory like the heart of the entire Fey Region was surrounded by fire. Smoke curled around its enormous branches while flames crawled across the roots surrounding its base.
Above the burning forest, something moved.
A gigantic silhouette floated beneath the smoke-covered sky.
At first, it looked like a dragon.
Then the flames illuminated its body.
Three hound-like heads emerged from the darkness, each one twisted into a savage snarl.
Their mouths were lined with rows of jagged fangs, and between those teeth burned a violent orange glow, as if furnaces had been buried inside their throats.
The rest of its body was even more unnatural.
Black armor covered its frame from head to tail, overlapping like the scales of some mechanical dragon. Crimson light pulsed through the gaps between each plate, spreading across its body like molten veins.
Every movement made those glowing lines flare brighter, accompanied by streaks of red lightning that crawled across its limbs and necks.
Its wings stretched wide above the forest.
Each wing was formed from long, segmented blades, sharp and angular, more similar to weapons than anything meant for flight.
Strange circular mechanisms were embedded along its body and wings, glowing faintly beneath the inferno surrounding it.
Behind the beast, a long armored tail curved across the sky, its surface covered in jagged plates and spikes.
It hovered above Oberon's territory like something that did not belong in this world.
Fire poured from beneath it, spreading across the forest wherever it passed. Every movement sent another wave of embers raining upon the land below. Its shape was barely visible through the smoke, illuminated only whenever another explosion of flame erupted around its body.
The creature hovered above Oberon's kingdom as though watching the entire forest burn beneath it.
"Master... That is..."
"I rarely have a chance to see something like that. Perhaps, it's a Demon Lord Envoy," Thalamik said. "It looks similar to Vepar when she absorbed Focalors' demonic core." His blue eyes scanned the area.
"Moreover, what we should be concerned about is..."
"Oberon himself..." Momoka continued her master's words. "You are right. Let's go find..."
"Wait." Thalamik held Momoka's hand back. He conjured water and threw it at the flames, only for the flames to remain uninterrupted. "These aren't ordinary flames. Somehow, they can sustain themselves even if they get splashed with water. All of these flames are connected to that beast. As if they are a part of its body."
The further he thought, the more it made him feel that the beast was similar to Vepar.
"I can't seem to locate him since there is too much magical energy in this territory. We need to move."
They moved quickly along the riverbank, keeping low beneath the smoke.
The heat grew worse the deeper they went.
What had once been a clear stream running through Oberon's forest had already begun to shrink.
Momoka suddenly stopped.
"Master."
Thalamik followed her gaze.
Someone was lying near the river.
At first, he almost mistook the figure for another burnt corpse.
Then it moved.
Barely.
The man was propped against the remains of a tree, breathing in short, uneven gasps. His clothes were almost completely destroyed on one side.
His right arm was gone. Destroyed, leaving only his upper arm and the remainder of his lower arm in the form of almost disintegrating bones.
"Oberon..." Momoka muttered, her eyes twitching.
The Fey King lifted his head weakly.
His face was barely recognizable compared to the calm, graceful man they had heard about or seen in photos. The entire right side of his face had been burned horrifically. One of his eyes remained tightly shut beneath the damaged skin, while the other struggled to focus on the two figures approaching him.
His breathing was desperate and painful.
Beside him, what seemed to be the remains of a river hissed violently.
Water continuously evaporated into steam, yet Oberon remained there, pressing himself against it as if the small amount of moisture was the only thing keeping his body from burning any further.
Momoka shivered at the sight.
Thalamik stayed silent as he looked around once.
There were no guards.
There were no retainers.
There were no Fey soldiers.
There was only the King of Fey, Oberon.
The same king who Raymed said was able to defeat a fragment of Belial now sat against a scorched tree with one arm missing.
This monster is truly another level of disaster.
Oberon's remaining eye slowly opened wider.
"Are you... Thalamik?"
His voice came out dry.
***
"We need to go someplace safer."
Momoka nodded immediately.
The two of them helped Oberon move away from the riverbank. What they needed was a portion of land that had only barely been touched by the flames.
Upon finding the ideal place, Thalamik stepped forward and raised one hand.
"Push!"
A pulse of magical energy expanded outward from his body. The surrounding flames were immediately pushed away. He had created a small safe space inside the burning forest, approximately around 5x5 meters.
"Momoka," he said as Momoka nodded. He put a hand on Momoka's shoulder. "I will supply you with magical energy when needed. So don't use any of your own mana. And tell me everything you're doing."
Momoka smiled before saying, "Thank you, Master."
She knelt beside Oberon and placed both hands near his chest.
The concept of supplying mana for Thalamik was that he would emit usable mana near the user, and the user could instantly use what was available in the air to perform their own spell.
"Reducing his consciousness to prevent psychological damage."
A soft glow formed between her fingers. Both tapped Oberon lightly on the forehead.
His breathing slowed, and the tension in his face disappeared almost immediately. Upon closing his eyes, Momoka moved her hands toward the burned side of Oberon's body.
"I'm starting with the damaged tissue and skin."
Her mana spread across his entire body.
The blackened flesh began to change slowly, as if there was a beat to it.
Dead tissue peeled away as new flesh regenerated underneath it. Torn muscle fibers reconnected. Blood vessels formed again beneath the skin. Then came the muscles and skin.
Thalamik watched silently, supplying his magical energy to Momoka.
The burns covering Oberon's body gradually disappeared until it was back to normal again.
Momoka then moved her focus toward his missing arm.
"This will take longer."
"Roger that," Thalamik said, focusing on flowing magical energy around Momoka for her to use.
A large sum of mana gathered around Oberon's right shoulder.
"Bone regeneration first."
A pale structure slowly extended from the remains of his arm.
The damaged humerus slowly regenerated, then the radius and the ulna. After perfect construction, his hand was made finger by finger.
Momoka continued.
"Next is the nervous system."
Thin strands of mana spread across the newly formed arm as a mold. Slowly, they touched the remaining nervous system. To regenerate it, Momoka needed to make the regenerative nerve cells grow into the already predetermined mold.
Momoka's breathing became heavier.
"Nervous system completed."
Muscle began wrapping around the bones. Then she regenerated the veins and flesh. Finally, skin spread across the reconstructed arm.
Momoka shifted her attention back toward Oberon's face.
She healed the burns around his neck and cheek. But some marks remained.
Deep scars stretched along the right side of Oberon's face and shoulder.
Momoka stared at them for a moment.
"I can't remove everything."
"That's fine."
She nodded.
Momoka then placed two fingers against Oberon's forehead again.
The glow faded.
Oberon's eyes slowly opened.
He inhaled sharply.
Then stared at his right hand.
His fingers moved.
Once.
Twice.
He clenched them.
A weak laugh escaped him.
"...Impressive."
Momoka leaned back.
Oberon slowly sat upright.
His body had been restored almost completely.
Only the scars remained.
Permanent traces of what had happened.
He looked at both of them.
"Thank you."
His voice was still exhausted.
"But I suppose you both want to know what happened."
Thalamik said nothing.
Oberon took several breaths before finally speaking.
"A girl appeared in my court near the Great Oak Tree," Oberon began. "She appeared completely out of nowhere. None of my guards saw her enter the territory, nor did anyone feel her presence before she was already standing there."
Momoka listened attentively beside him while Thalamik remained silent.
"At first, I believed she was merely another intruder. Yet the first thing she told me was that she had come specifically to kill me."
"Under whose orders?" Momoka asked.
"The Demon King."
Hearing that answer, Momoka's expression became more serious.
Oberon looked downward for a moment, seemingly recalling the battle.
"She challenged me directly. One against one. I accepted because, at the time, I didn't believe she posed enough of a threat to endanger anyone else. I also had my abilities measured from defeating a fragmented Belial by myself."
He slowly clenched his newly regenerated right hand.
"And I was correct, at least initially. She was powerful, but I still had the advantage. Had the battle continued normally, I believe I would have defeated her."
"But then she threw something toward me."
Oberon raised his hand toward his chest as though he could still feel whatever had struck him.
"A black ring."
Thalamik's blue eyes sharpened almost instantly.
Something he had faced once before.
-~
Confident in his ability, Thalamik let the ring hit him.
TUNG~
The black ring hummed as it restrained Thalamik's body.
"What?"
Thalamik's eyes twitched before he realized that he was immobilized. His body couldn't move beyond the restrictive area that the ring had created. He could still wiggle around, but he just couldn't seem to move freely enough.
-~
It took great effort for Thalamik to get free from that attack. It was as if his body was locked.
"It attached itself to my body before I could properly react. At first, I assumed it was some kind of offensive spell, but it wasn't trying to destroy me." Oberon paused. "It was sealing my whole movement."
"I was unable to control my body. I was already at her mercy. Not to mention, the spells I cast almost didn't appear at all."
He let out a long breath.
"That was when I lost."
There was no embarrassment in the way Oberon admitted it. More than anything, he sounded frustrated. Yet what happened afterward clearly bothered him far more than the defeat itself.
"Normally, I assumed she would have finished what she came there to do. Instead..." Oberon's expression hardened. "She laughed."
Momoka glanced toward the inferno surrounding them.
"She stood above me and laughed as though defeating me was merely the first part of whatever she intended to accomplish."
Oberon slowly lifted his gaze toward the sky.
"Then her body began to change."
A thunderous roar suddenly echoed throughout the forest.
"GRUAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The sound traveled through the trees and shook what remained of the surrounding branches. Even inside the Mana Field, Momoka could feel the vibration beneath the ground.
Oberon stared in the direction of the roar.
"She became that."
Thalamik followed his gaze.
The enormous silhouette of the thing could be seen from afar. Its three heads moved between the burning trees as crimson magical energy crawled across its body.
"After transforming, her magical energy increased enormously. But that wasn't the worst of it." Oberon's expression became increasingly grim. "She cast an Alterity."
For the first time, Thalamik visibly reacted. A slight twitch appeared in his eye.
"An Alterity?" Momoka repeated.
"This entire territory is currently inside it," Oberon explained.
"Were there any extra rules?" Thalamik asked.
"There is another rule." His voice grew heavier. "Anyone who enters this territory is forbidden from leaving."
Momoka immediately turned toward the direction from which she and Thalamik had entered.
Oberon continued, "My subjects already fled at my instruction after realizing I could no longer defeat her. None of them could cross the boundary. The Alterity simply forced anyone inside back."
For several seconds, Thalamik said nothing.
Oberon leaned against the tree behind him and closed his eyes for a moment.
"That is everything I know."
Thalamik remained silent before letting out a sigh.
"Explaining all of that must have been difficult."
Oberon opened his eyes again.
"I should thank you for telling us."
The Fey King's expression softened slightly.
Then Thalamik raised his hand.
"Blastar."
Magical energy gathered beside him before the dark Artifact materialized into his grasp.
Momoka's eyes widened.
Without warning, Thalamik stepped forward and placed Blastar's blade beside Oberon's neck.
Oberon didn't move, staring at Thalamik.
"However..." Thalamik said calmly. "We didn't come here to save you, Oberon."
The atmosphere immediately changed.
Momoka watched her master from behind with a wary expression.
"We came here because I need an answer from you."
Thalamik slightly adjusted Blastar's position until the blade almost touched Oberon's scarred skin.
"I want to know whether you are willing to help us find whoever killed Momoka's fiancee."
Oberon's eyes shifted briefly toward Momoka.
Thalamik continued.
"Because there is one thing both of us already know."
His blue eyes remained fixed on Oberon.
"The person who killed him was a Fey."
"How can you be—" Oberon said.
"Cut the crap! If Momoka said it was a Fey, then it's a Fey. I don't care what you say. If you won't tell us who did it, I might as well just kill you where you stand."
The flames continued burning around them.
Oberon stared silently at the weapon beside his neck while Thalamik waited for his response.
Momoka looked down.
For her, this was probably one of the moments she had been waiting for all along.
-~
She shook her head. "No... but with his last breath, my fiancé told me clearly—it was a Fey."
-~
She began to remember the scene she had last seen. A grotesque scene where her human fiancé had died brutally, a gaping hole through his stomach.
She wanted justice.
But was it really the right time for her to be asking this?
"I can no longer access the Great Oak... I can't connect to..." Oberon said.
"Bullshit. I know you can use other trees in the separated regions of the Fey," Thalamik said.
Oberon looked at Momoka before saying, "I am sorry for your loss. But it's not a matter of wanting to or not wanting to. I can never truly control the wants of my people. Hence, this is precisely the reason why I didn't live near the Elven Fey. I only began to learn about what Zuatha, Lizwell, and Puck were doing recently. Even I, the King of Fey, was deceived."
Thalamik remembered a bit about what all those people had did to him. "You aren't a good king at all. An utterly idiotic king," Thalamik muttered with a scornful smile.
Oberon looked down.
"Master... That's enough," Momoka said.
Thalamik glanced at her and asked, "Then what do you want to do? Should I just kill him right here and now?"
"What I want is..."
Momoka closed her eyes as tears fell from them.
"I want to rescue the Fey here!"
Thalamik's eyes widened before letting a little laugh.
"Even if one of the person here might have killed your fiancee?"
Momoka closed her eyes again shivering as she tries to contain her stress. "Even so... I want to protect everyone here!"
"All right. Leave it to me." Thalamik smiled before turning to look at the beast above.