With Tom trapped deep within the ravine and Moriarty locked in combat with one of the demon vessels inside a heretic circle, there was nothing left to shield the base from the rest of the heretic army's advance.
"General, you have to make a decision, now. We've already lost the support of the angels. There isn't much time before they reach us," the old general said, standing beside T-3, serving as his advisor.
"…Ready the cannons," T-3 ordered, his gaze fixed through the Dragon Skull's left eye.
The winged portions of the dragon's skeletal frame began to shift. Ancient bone groaned as hidden mechanisms activated, and the massive ribs spread apart. From within the corpse emerged colossal cannons, their barrels sliding forward like fangs being unsheathed, slowly angling toward the oncoming heretics.
Blue specks of condensed energy gathered at the mouths of the cannons, growing brighter as targeting runes locked into place.
The advancing cavalry, disfigured humanoids fused to mutated horses, noticed the movement. Their already-frantic charge intensified, hooves tearing into the scorched earth as they surged forward. But there was no path wide enough to escape what was coming.
"Fire!" T-3 shouted.
Blinding blue beams of laser energy erupted from the cannons, carving straight through the battlefield. Everything in their path was vaporized in an instant.
They vanished before they could scream, erased so fast that nothing remained.
"…What. Have. You. Done?" The demon vessel standing before Moriarty spat the words, each syllable trembling with pure, unrestrained rage.
"Evened the playing field," Moriarty replied calmly.
In the aftermath, something unnatural stirred.
From the scorched ground where the heretics had been vaporized, thousands of black butterflies rose into the air. They emerged in silence, wings beating softly as they spread outward, splitting into twin, shifting kaleidoscopes of shadow that blotted the sky.
One of them drifted lower than the rest, descending slowly toward the ravine—its wings folding as if guided by intent.
BOOM!
A colossal explosion tore through both sides of the ravine at once. The shockwave hurled shattered stone and debris outward, crushing and maiming the heretics who stood too close. The cliff faces collapsed inward, rocks cascading down in a roaring torrent, sealing the gap in a violent landslide.
"By #####'s grace! Move!" The demon vessel facing Tom screamed in panic, yanking hard on the reins. The warped horse shrieked as it leapt backward, hooves scrambling through the air as it floated upwards.
From the moment the ravine sealed shut, icicles erupted outward, launched with murderous force from the frozen walls. They tore through flesh and bone alike. The heretics barely had time to register what was happening before their mounts were impaled mid-motion, bodies skewered and frozen in place.
In seconds, the ravine transformed into a grotesque monument, a massive iceberg of blood, bodies suspended within it like insects trapped in amber, their final expressions locked in terror.
Tom exhaled slowly.
His form shifted as the excess blood withdrew back into him, flowing inward like a tide being pulled by an unseen moon. The monstrous silhouette collapsed, layer by layer, until only his human shape remained.
"Trying to trap me in a ravine was smart," Tom said calmly, his voice steady amid the carnage. "I'll give you that."
He raised his gaze to the demon vessel.
"But there's a saying among the mortals where I come from…" A faint smile touched his lips. "Still water is one of the most dangerous states of all. You never realize you're drowning in it… until it's far too late."
"That is true," the demon replied calmly, almost indulgently. "But you should know this, demons of the Knight rank do not retain their own Mana Path after death."
He slowly raised the vessel's right hand high into the air. White fumes spiraled upward from its stride, scorching the air with every step.
"We wield the Mana Path of our current host," the demon continued. "So tell me, Hunter… can you guess who this vessel once belonged to?"
Tom tilted his head.
"Your mom?" he asked lightly. "Oh, wait. That's a man's corpse you're wearing, so your dad? Nah… you're far too old for that." He paused, then grinned. "An illegitimate offspring, maybe?"
"…I expected nothing less from a hunter," the demon sighed, lowering its raised hand.
There was no anger in its voice now, only weary contempt.
"Then bear witness," he said coldly. "To the strength of one of the last dragons of this planet… a creature I personally beheaded."
"So…" Tom said flatly, his expression twisting in open disgust. "You have a fetish for wearing the corpses of the people you behead? That's… gross."
The demon moved.
In the blink of an eye, it closed the distance between them, the halberd in its grasp igniting into white flame. The weapon screamed through the air as it slashed toward Tom's neck.
Tom didn't dodge.
His body split cleanly at his throat, dissolving into twin streams of water just as the blade passed through. The halberd met no resistance as the attack carved harmlessly through empty space. A heartbeat later, the water flowed back together, reforming Tom's body as if nothing had happened.
He glanced at the demon, unimpressed.
"Not to disappoint you," Tom said dryly, "but maybe that dragon was already out of juice by the time you killed it." He shrugged. "I can't think of any other reason you'd believe an attack that slow would actually hit me."
"Did I?" the demon asked softly, its gaze fixed on Tom's neck. "I suggest you take another look."
Tom frowned and reached up.
The water along his neck hadn't fully reformed.
The droplets trembled unnaturally, hovering just apart from one another, repelled, yet straining to reconnect, as though some invisible law was forcing them into conflict. His regeneration... was being argued with.
"What the hell kind of Path is that?" Tom asked, genuine surprise slipping into his voice.
The demon chuckled. "If I told you, I wouldn't get to watch you slowly unravel while trying to understand it, would I?"
He took a step closer, savoring the moment.
"If I explained it to you," the demon said with a low chuckle, "I'd lose the pleasure of watching you come apart while trying to understand it."
"But I'll be generous, just this once. It's classified as a minor Path. Funny thing is…" A small laughter resounded within the surroundings. "The dragon who wielded it was a wizard. In his hands, it rivaled even the major Paths."
"He destroyed over a thousand of my vessels... Nearly ended me even..." The demon's voice dropped. "You'd be surprised how fortunate I was to discover that even someone like him had a weakness..."
"Family... That bloody idiot traded his life for a bloody child... Hah, I can't believe how stupid you mortals can be sometimes!" The demon laughed again. "... Hah, it's truly a wonder to me how pests like you live so long."