The forest path had been silent for hours. Only the rhythm of hooves echoed through the trees, carrying Lucy and Alfie deeper into the darkness. Neither spoke, until Lucy finally broke the silence, her voice firm yet heavy with regret.
"So stop blaming yourself, Alfie. You're not the only one at fault. I failed to protect my student. Not the first time… but I swear it will be the last. Once we rescue Rebekah."
Alfie's lips curved into a small smile. He urged his horse forward, riding faster beside her. Hours blurred past as the road stretched on. By the time the sun began to sink, they emerged from the forest onto a vast open field scarred with destruction—the aftermath of Bruno's battle with the Protector.
The air stank of scorched earth and bone dust. Craters sprawled across the landscape like the remnants of a battlefield.
Lucy's eyes sharpened instantly. She felt it. A gaze cutting into them.
"Get down, Alfie. Someone's watching us."
They both dismounted in one motion. Lucy keeps their horses into her storage ring and advanced cautiously into the fractured terrain, Alfie close behind. Then—
SWITCH MODE.
The Protector appeared directly before them, his hollow stare locked with Lucy's unflinching gaze.
Alfie moved before Lucy could give the order. He dashed to the side, blade in hand, slashing at the figure's neck. The Protector blocked it with his bare palm, then retaliated with a vicious kick to Alfie's stomach that sent him skidding across the field.
"Alfie!"
Lucy blurred forward. Her hand gripped the Protector's throat with monstrous strength, lifting him slightly before slamming a punch into his gut. The impact hurled him back across the broken ground, straight toward the volcano's base.
Alfie staggered up, clutching his stomach, Lucy Switched beside him.
"Don't you ever make reckless moves without my permission again. Understood?" Her voice cut like steel.
Alfie wiped the blood from his lips, bowing his head. "Forgive me, Master… I thought I could take him."
Before Lucy could reply, the Protector's back split open. A wave of bone and Renshi flooded out as his serpent heads writhed and screamed.
But then—
STOP.
A voice, low and ancient, tore through his skull. The Protector froze, his technique dissolving instantly.
The ground trembled.
The volcano ahead of them roared alive. The world itself convulsed as the earth split, rock crumbling, forests quaking. Lava spewed into the sky, its glow drowning the twilight sky in fire.
Lucy's instincts flared. She grabbed Alfie, switching rapidly from rock to rock as the land beneath them shattered into floating islands of stone. Lava geysers erupted all around, spraying molten death.
"What's happening, Master?!" Alfie shouted over the chaos.
Lucy's unfurled as she pulled him across the collapsing earth. "The volcano isn't natural. That thing is controlling it!"
Her eyes fixed on the figure rising before the blazing crater. A silhouette cloaked in black robes inscribed with glowing golden runes. His steps carried him forward on the very air, each one a short, precise switch, closer and closer.
At his side trailed the Protector—like a mere shadow.
Lucy's pulse thundered. That aura…
"No. It can't be…" wings glimmered as her Renshi surged, light crackling through her veins. She shifted into her Third Change of her light Renshical side, feathers radiating white fire.
The figure spoke.
"Calm yourself, woman. I did not come to battle you."
His presence silenced the atmosphere. His robes danced in the rising heat. His hair—ashen white, wild as a storm. Crimson eyes burned from a face of charcoal skin, pulsing with unstable Renshi. In his hand, a blade writhed with shadow and flame. Cursed veins of crimson Renshi crawled along its steel, wrapping around his arm like living serpents, it's presence is intimidating,he was no ordinary darkside spirit it was a MILLENNIUM WIZARD DARKSIDE SPIRIT.
The forest stopped breathing. Even the wind refused to move.
Lucy's lips parted. Her fists trembled as recognition struck.
"You… it was you, back then…"
A faint smile curved across the being's lips. His voice rumbled like molten stone.
"I'm glad you remember. But I am not fully awake. Still dreaming… still resting. You should not disturb my slumber. And you should not play with my toys without permission."
He lifted a single hand. A portal bloomed in his palm. The Protector screamed once, before being swallowed whole into the abyss.
Then, slowly, the Millennium Wizard darkside spirit lowered his cursed blade. His boots almost touched the earth few inches from it—yet the mere aura from his presence shattered the ground thirty meters from every side,with a crater fourty feet deep, the force devoured Lucy's protective barrier that's long distance from the crater in an instant.
"Alfie!" Lucy cried as Alfie slipped into the gaping chasm forming beneath,caused by the aura making the earth rumble again. She switched instantly, clutching him as he clung desperately to a jagged stone. Wings flared, she pulled him free, soaring back to solid ground.
The Millennium Wizard darkside spirit voice shook the air itself.
"You humans disturb my peace, then claim we are the ones chasing your Renshi."
He walked through the air, crimson eyes blazing,with each step destroying the earth beneath his feet, drawing ever closer to Lucy and Alfie, who now stood together against the weight of a legend.