The man stared at the vial brimming with boundless vitality.
He looked again at Lilith's resolute eyes, then finally met Leo's unfathomable gaze.
Into the still lake of his deadened heart, a great stone had finally been cast.
His hands trembled as he accepted the potion, as though receiving a heavy redemption.
Without hesitation, he raised it and drank.
A torrent of life-force surged through his body, mending his shattered flesh and withered soul.
The scars upon his skin knit closed at visible speed, his gray-white hair regained its star-blue luster, and the runes etched into his battered armor flickered once more with light.
A powerful aura reawakened within him!
He rose to his feet, and the broken greatspear flew back into his grasp, its shaft flowing with starlight.
Dropping to one knee, he lowered his head to Leo.
His voice remained hoarse, but now it carried the strength of rebirth and unwavering resolve.
"Aragis! With this battered body and newly given life, I pledge myself to you—to serve as your shield and guard the light you command! Until the stars fade into silence and the Zerg are annihilated!"
"Good."
Leo gave a nod.
"Remember your oath."
A flash of light engulfed Aragis, and he vanished from the graveyard system.
Leo then took Lilith's hand.
"Come. Our journey is far from over. Dalton Academy still lacks many instructors…"
…
Father and daughter continued their wandering through the endless cosmos.
With steps that spanned light-years, they admired the wonders of different systems, encountering bizarre and diverse intelligent races—some pure energy beings, others dwelling within gas giants, and some who had built mechanical civilizations stretching across the starways.
At last, they halted at the edge of a vast spiral galaxy.
The system thrummed with vitality—yet the shadow of war loomed over it.
The sight before them dwarfed any epic tale:
Tens of thousands of colossal starships, arranged in a fleet that blotted out the heavens, bore the radiant sun-emblem of an empire. They unleashed searing plasma beams and devastating kinetic-magical shells, a steel torrent that shook the stars.
Their foe: a demonic armada pouring through wormholes on the galactic rim like a swarm of locusts.
Hellfire-wreathed bone-ships, flesh-vessels powered by anguished souls, massive bio-motherships thrashing with writhing tendrils…
Beams of dark sorcery clashed against shields of holy light. Explosions blossomed like fleeting supernovae across the starry sea.
Here, magic and technology intertwined.
Imperial psionics coordinated volleys, paladins shaped their faith into colossal spectral blades that carved through distant enemy ships.
The demons retaliated with meteor showers, space-rending chaos magic, and even Greater Demons manifesting their true forms to tear Imperial cruisers apart with their hands.
The war engulfed entire planets. On the surfaces, Imperial ground forces clashed in bloody combat against the demon legions.
The entire galaxy churned like a vast, merciless meat grinder.
"Father…"
Lilith's small face had gone pale; she clutched Leo's hand tightly.
The universe's majesty and serenity had been awe-inspiring before, but this—this war was only terror and devastation.
"Why… why must they do this?"
"For survival. For resources. For faith. Or perhaps… simply for the thrill of destruction."
Leo's voice was calm, unreadable.
He gently covered Lilith's eyes, though he still let her feel the weight of the battlefield.
"Sometimes, war itself is the reason."
With his will, Leo encompassed the entire galaxy, instantly perceiving the flow of battle.
The Luminous Empire was losing ground. Its defensive lines shrank by the hour. One of its critical fleets was encircled by a demonic armada many times its size, trapped in orbit around a forest world called Aelfis, on the brink of collapse.
But Leo's senses focused elsewhere—on the planet's surface, where a young woman fought at the front.
Elizabeth, the eleventh princess of the Luminous Empire.
She was no palace-dwelling royal.
Clad instead in bloodstained silver-blue knight's armor, wielding a longsword etched with the empire's solar emblem, she stood amid a forward command post reeking of charred air and filled with the groans of the wounded.
Her cropped white hair shone like shards of sunlight, while her violet eyes, now veined with fatigue and blood, burned with steel-hard resolve.
In front of the command tent, tactical crystal board in hand, she barked orders hoarsely but with crisp clarity—coordinating what remained of her troops to resist the demons' landing forces.
"The third line on the left flank needs support! The mana batteries are almost spent!"
"The medical tents are full! The priests' spirit reserves are exhausted!"
"Your Highness! The fleet in orbit won't last! We must prepare to evacuate!" cried a soot-stained officer.
"Evacuate?"
"And let the hundreds of billions of civilians on Aelfis be devoured and defiled by demons?!"
Elizabeth slammed the table, her voice rasping with fury.
"The Imperial fleet still fights! I, Elizabeth, still fight!"
"Tell General Camilo in orbit—the ground will not falter. Even if we fight to the last soldier, we will not take a single step back!"
"All who can still stand, follow me to the front! Mage Corps, prepare for one final overload casting—target the largest Hellfire Platform!"
Her command was decisive, even tinged with tragic grandeur.
The aura of an Astral Archmage blazed violently from her body.
Snatching up her sword, she charged from the command post.
She would not retreat.
Father Ham… Mother Mary… forgive me. I couldn't protect you, or the village.
But today, I will not fall back again.
Even if I die here, I will die as a soldier, as you taught me.
…
Leo and Lilith wandered unseen through the battlefield; none of the combatants could perceive them.
"Do you see, Lilith?" Leo murmured.
"War is terrifying—but it forges souls that shine."
"In despair, there is still resolve."
Lilith watched the white-haired princess charge unflinching toward the inferno.
She saw in her eyes a fire that burned to protect, and the image struck her heart deeply.
The "power" Lilith once vaguely desired now became sharply clear—power to stop tragedies like this, power to protect people like the princess and the civilians behind her.
"Father…" Lilith's voice trembled with newfound determination.
"I want… to help her."
Leo smiled faintly. "As you wish."
At the moment Elizabeth led her battered troops in a suicidal assault upon the massive Hellfire Platform… at the moment the Imperial flagship's shields above buckled under the demon fleet's fire… as the Demon Lord roared in triumph—
Time itself froze.
Explosions, beams of magic fire, demonic shrieks, charging warriors—all stilled, locked in place.
Only Elizabeth remained moving, staring in shock at the incomprehensible miracle before her.