Beneath a lifeless sky, surrounded by heavy winds and the roar of burning flames...
Dark King III approached Aether, walking with slow steps as though time itself had stopped around him.
Aether lay motionless on the ground, unconscious. His body trembled every few seconds, his eyes barely open.
The Dark King slowly extended his hand...
And placed it against Aether's face.
He smiled.
That sickening smile that always came before catastrophe.
Then he murmured:
"A human... And yet, within you lies a destiny that only the powerful can comprehend... Why you?"
Between his fingers, thick darkness began to seep through—a cold, poisonous energy that slowly carved its way toward Aether's head.
But from afar...
Sirvan saw him.
He saw the evil hand.
He saw that filthy scene.
"AETHER!!"
Sirvan screamed as he charged forward in desperation, releasing water blades in every direction, desperately trying to break through the invisible barrier.
Once again...
Everything stopped at the Dark King's boundary.
The attacks bounced away as though they had never existed.
As though the earth itself had rejected them.
On the other side...
Eyria was fighting alone.
She stood before a narrow passage, preventing dozens of Dark Soldiers from advancing.
Her face was covered in sweat and blood, yet her smile refused to disappear.
The Dark Soldiers charged toward her.
Her eyes lifted.
Then she shouted:
"Explode... NOW!!"
She unleashed fire against the wall.
The entire structure erupted into flames, sealing the passage and trapping the Dark Soldiers behind it.
Then, with all the fury remaining within her, she combined wind and fire, creating a storm of flaming blades that spun like a vortex, burning everything around her.
Back to the King...
He whispered:
"How ridiculous this world is... It still resists."
Then Sirvan screamed with a voice that shook the battlefield:
"STOP!!!!"
His eyes filled with light.
He shattered the chains within himself and unleashed the full extent of his light power.
Circles of radiant light appeared around him, tearing through the magical barrier with a tremendous fiery crack.
Sirvan advanced.
But...
One strike.
A single invisible attack shot from the Dark King toward Sirvan's heart at a speed no human could perceive.
And at the moment of death...
Eyria appeared.
She leaped between the attack and Sirvan.
With everything she had, she unleashed a long, concentrated flaming strike directly toward the Dark King's chest.
The ground beneath her screamed from the force.
The attack forced him one step backward.
She smiled.
A long, fearless smile.
Then she grabbed Aether from the ground and shouted:
"SIRVAN!!"
Sirvan stared at her in disbelief.
Then he said:
"Well done..."
Eyria smiled faintly.
But she didn't know...
Her attack had not affected him at all.
The Dark King laughed.
A deep, terrifying laugh that made the very air tremble.
"You didn't even leave a scratch... and yet you smile?"
His gaze hardened.
"Humans... How disgusting you are."
He turned his head.
Behind him stood a wall of fire, preventing his soldiers from advancing.
He closed his eyes.
And when he opened them...
They burned crimson red.
Then...
He rose into the sky.
A massive sphere of darkness began forming above him.
It grew...
And grew...
Until the sky itself seemed to transform into a trench of annihilation.
Sirvan felt his strength fading.
Eyria staggered backward, exhausted.
Aether remained unconscious.
And just before every last hope was extinguished...
A small girl... beautiful and strangely serene... emerged from Aether's chest.
Her face was calm.
Her hair shimmered with an otherworldly radiance.
No one had ever seen her before.
She raised one hand.
And with a single flash of light...
Everyone disappeared.
Sirvan.
Eyria.
And Aether.
They were transported somewhere else.