Jessica and her crew froze at the base of Mildonia's towering white citadel.
Before them lay a mountain of corpses, blood spreading across the marble like an endless tide.
Gunfire cracked. Screams collided. The scene was nothing short of hell itself.
The prisoners were still rioting, but against the sheer firepower of the Old Doal army, their collapse was inevitable.
"…This is horrific."
Jessica's voice quivered, fragile as a dead leaf caught in the wind.
One of her men, trembling, shouted at her.
"Boss! There's no way we can cut a deal here! We've gotta retreat!"
"You're right. Get back to the ship—now."
"What about you, Jessica?"
"I'll catch up. There's something I need to do first."
Before they could stop her, Jessica hurled herself alone into the maelstrom.
The four men obeyed her order and bolted, vanishing into the chaos.
Endi and Frod burst onto the elevator floor.
Nine elevators rumbled, descending one after another from the upper levels. Reinforcements.
Frod caught sight of the express elevator to the fortieth floor rising instead of falling. Suspicion glinted in his eyes. Who was going up?
"Damn it. The elevators are a lost cause—we're too late!"
"Then the stairs are our only option!"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
Endi didn't hesitate. He charged up the stairwell at breakneck speed, forcing Frod to follow, grumbling.
Their pounding footsteps thundered like war drums through the tower.
"By the way," Frod panted, "the girl you said you wanted to save… was her name Lamia?"
"Yes! You know her?!"
Even while sprinting, their words tumbled out in bursts.
"So it's true. She's been captured."
"Why are they after Lamia?"
"They say she has… a mysterious power. Rumor is, the Guild Sovereign plans to use it to exact revenge on the Kingdom of Nakatham."
"A mysterious power? And this Guild Sovereign—who the hell is he?"
"No one knows what her power is. But the Sovereign—the Guild itself—was once Supreme Commander of the Doal army. A strategist so cunning they called him 'the Mastermind.'"
"So that bastard's trying to settle the score from the Fifth World War? And Lamia's just a pawn? Unforgivable. I'll smash him into the ground!"
Endi's fury blazed, driving his legs faster, faster.
"You really like her, don't you?"
"N-no, it's not like that!"
His darting eyes betrayed him, rippling with embarrassed denial.
At the tenth floor, a swarm of soldiers came storming down.
"There! It's them!"
"Hah! So these two are the only ones bold enough to try a head-on charge?"
Caught by surprise, Endi and Frod barely dodged the first volley.
Frod answered with a roar of gunfire, forcing the troops into cover.
Endi tore through them, scattering the soldiers like leaves in a gale, sprinting upward as if he himself were the storm.
Meanwhile, Darmaine and three subordinates crept up to the fortieth floor and held their breath as they climbed toward the forty-fifth.
The silence was suffocating, heavy as a burial shroud.
"Still, Admiral… you're one cruel bastard, aren't you?" one muttered nervously.
"Idiot. Somebody's happiness always rests on someone else's corpse. Peace is nothing more than a song sung over mountains of the dead."
His words dripped like venom, and his men recoiled.
At last, they reached the forty-fifth floor. The silence pressed in tighter.
"Here we are. This floor holds the Guild and Lamia's chambers. It won't be easy. You three—make some noise. Blast everything that moves down the opposite hall."
"What about you, Admiral?"
"Trust me for once. I'm not about to abandon you. If things get ugly, I'll be right there."
"Yes, sir! We'll follow you to the grave!"
Blinded by loyalty, they burst out, guns blazing, charging down the wrong corridor.
"Stop them!"
"What are you doing!?"
The guards gave chase. Darmaine smirked.
"Gyahaha! Nothing's better than stupid subordinates. With pawns like that, ruling from the top is easy."
The hall outside Lamia's chamber lay empty. Darmaine smashed the door and strode in.
"Yo, Lamia. I came to save you."
"You… why are you here?"
Her wide eyes were those of someone staring at a ghost.
"Endi's alive. He's fighting right now to reach you."
"That's… impossible… is it?"
Her hands flew to her mouth, caught between shock and fragile hope.
"You must have felt it—the rebellion downstairs. I brought my crew to escape Mildonia. Endi and I joined forces, staged a coup. He's heading for the Indus vessel even now. Time's short. Let's go."
"…I don't believe you."
Her gaze was ice, frozen and unyielding.
Darmaine's face twisted.
"Damn it! I said we don't have time! Stop stalling!"
Then he felt it—the presence behind him.
He turned. The Guild stood there.
"D-Darmaine… what are you doing…?"
"Shut up, you runt!!"
Darmaine lashed out recklessly, his fist slamming into the Guild with all the weight of his pent-up fury.
"See? Now you get it—I'm a rebel. I'll get you and Endi safely to Barelalc. Trust me!"
"…Fine."
Half-doubting, Lamia stepped after him.
But the hallway was already filled with soldiers, rifles leveled.
From behind them, Jackson approached, his greatsword dripping blood.
"Darmaine. What the hell are you playing at?"
"H-hey, relax. I just came to make sure Lamia hadn't been taken back by the enemy."
His excuse crumbled like sand.
Jackson sneered.
"Your men spilled everything before I cut them down. Don't think you'll die easy."
"Damn those loose-lipped fools!"
Darmaine's face contorted.
Jackson's cruel grin widened.
"Don't even think of using Lamia as a shield. You're finished."
Cornered, Darmaine snapped.
In a final frenzy, he seized Lamia and hurled himself through the corridor window, shattering the glass.
"To hell with it all!!"
His roar echoed like a plunge into the abyss.
Clutching Lamia, he leapt from the forty-fifth floor into the void.