The moment Mia and Amelia rejoined the remnants of the elite vanguards, the battlefield told a story neither of them had expected. The arena—the only returning pathway, the only portal, the only hope of escaping the Devil Domain—was nothing but a pulverized crater.
The fortifications humans had built days earlier were buried under blackened rubble. Stone pillars were shattered into dust. The portal frame, once glowing with pale-blue mana, was now a warped pile of molten metal and cracked obsidian. The stench of corrupted dark energy hung in the air like rotting smoke.
All around the crater, soldiers—what was left of them—sat on broken steps or leaned against collapsed walls, defeated in spirit more than body. The healers had depleted their mana. The mercenaries had lost their bravado. Even the SS-ranked captains stood in grim silence, their weapons sheathed because there was simply nothing left to strike.
Hopelessness was thick as fog.
Mia's face sank.
