The crimson graveyard shook violently.
Not from the serpent.
From Aldric.
Every attack he unleashed now tore pieces out of the domain itself.
Crimson chains shattered mid-air. Ancient blood sigils flickered and broke apart. Entire stretches of the graveyard distorted under the strain of his monstrous mana consumption.
And at the center of it all—
Aldric was bleeding.
Badly.
Blood poured continuously from the corner of his mouth. Thin crimson streams ran down his face from his eyes, while cracks spread across his skin like fractures in overheated glass.
Still—
he attacked.
**BOOOOOOM—**
The massive blood-red poleaxe slammed into the Veil Serpent's scales again.
A shockwave erupted through the storm.
Silver-black scales cracked—
then repaired almost instantly.
Aldric's breathing turned rough.
"…Damn…"
Another cough tore through him.
Blood splattered into the crimson mist beneath his feet.
His wings flickered violently behind him now—unstable, wavering at the edges like torn fabric.
The Veil Serpent moved through the graveyard without urgency.
Ancient silver eyes observed him calmly through the storm.
Almost thoughtfully.
Then its voice echoed again through the domain.
**"For all the authorities I have witnessed…"**
The serpent's endless body shifted slowly beneath the blood-red sky.
**"…yours does not hold even a fragment of the candle they once carried."**
Another pulse of pressure rolled outward from the calamity.
The graveyard trembled.
Entire mountain-sized skeletal remains collapsed into dust beneath its mere presence.
Aldric spat blood downward.
Then grinned anyway.
"Yeah?"
His poleaxe rose again.
"Then shut the hell up."
**BOOOOM—**
He vanished.
Reappearing beside the serpent's colossal head in a crimson explosion.
The poleaxe descended again. And again. And again.
Each strike detonated through the storm with catastrophic force.
Crimson mana burst across silver-black scales while chains erupted upward from the graveyard, attempting to bind sections of the serpent's body.
But it wasn't enough.
Not even close.
The Veil Serpent endured everything.
Its scales barely fractured. Its movements barely slowed.
Aldric understood it too.
His attacks weren't winning.
They weren't even truly hurting it anymore.
Only delaying it.
Only distracting it.
And every second cost him more mana.
More blood.
More of his body.
Inside—
he could already feel it.
His mana channels tearing apart.
His organs collapsing under strain.
His bones cracking each time he forced out more blood constructs.
Half his vision blurred crimson.
Still—
he laughed weakly.
"…What a damn monster."
The serpent watched him silently.
Then—
**"Why persist?"**
Silver lightning crawled through the graveyard skies.
**"You know you cannot defeat me."**
Aldric swung again.
**BOOOOM—**
Another crimson explosion.
Another useless strike.
He coughed blood afterward and didn't slow down.
"I said…"
His breathing shook now.
Crimson wings flickered violently behind him.
"I don't care."
The Veil Serpent's eyes narrowed slightly.
Aldric pointed the poleaxe toward it.
"Alright… you see, the one you might have spoken about is now leaving."
Another cough.
Blood dripped from his chin.
"That means you get to play alone now, since I'll be going too."
The storm rumbled.
For several long seconds—
the serpent simply watched him.
Ancient. Massive. Unmoving.
Then—
Aldric smiled.
Wide.
Wild.
Completely unhinged.
"Alright."
Crimson mana erupted around him one final time.
Violent enough to distort the graveyard itself.
His draconic wings expanded to impossible size while every remaining blood sigil across the domain ignited simultaneously.
The Veil Serpent's silver eyes sharpened instantly.
Every storm current across the graveyard twisted inward.
The ancient calamity felt it—
the shift.
The buildup.
The final surge of mana gathering around Aldric's collapsing body.
Silver lightning began converging toward the serpent's jaws again, as if preparing for the final clash.
Watching.
Waiting.
And then—
nothing happened.
Aldric grinned.
Blood dripping from his mouth.
Cracks spreading across his body.
His wings stretched one final time—
then folded sharply inward.
**BOOOOOOM—**
He launched away.
Not toward the serpent.
Toward the ship.
A crimson streak tore across the collapsing heavens while the Graveyard of a Thousand Bloods began breaking apart behind him.
The massive domain flickered violently.
Ancient skeletal mountains dissolved into ash. Endless crimson chains shattered into drifting particles of light. The blood-colored sky fractured like broken glass.
The Veil Serpent remained motionless within the fading domain.
Watching him leave.
Watching the fleeing fortress in the distance.
The storm slowly calmed around its colossal body.
Silver lightning faded into distant residual currents.
For several long moments—
the ancient calamity simply observed the disappearing crimson streak cutting through the clouds.
Then the voice echoed softly through the storm.
Not angry.
Not hostile.
Thoughtful.
**"…It seems I was mistaken."**
The serpent's endless silver eyes narrowed faintly.
**"…The one below carries his scent…"**
Far across the storm—
the fortress continued fleeing toward the edge of the Veil Sea.
Blue mana trails burned behind it while unstable currents gradually weakened around its hull.
The serpent watched in silence.
Ancient thoughts moving beneath ancient awareness.
**"…But it is not the same."**
The storm churned quietly beneath its body.
The black ocean below slowly settled.
Then—
another presence brushed against its awareness.
Subtle.
Small.
Yet wrong in a way the serpent had never encountered before.
Its silver eyes shifted slightly.
Toward the ship again.
Toward something aboard it.
The Veil Serpent went still.
For the first time in countless ages—
uncertainty touched its thoughts.
Not fear.
Something stranger.
Something it could not classify.
The presence felt… impossible.
Not hidden.
Not absent.
Simply beyond recognition—like staring into a void where reality refused to confirm what it was seeing.
The serpent's silver eyes narrowed further.
**"…What are you?"**
No answer came.
Only silence.
The storm trembled faintly.
Then—
the Veil Serpent closed its eyes.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
And the storm responded.
Clouds rolled inward. Lightning dimmed. The pressure of the Graveyard of a Thousand Bloods collapsed back into the depths.
The colossal body descended beneath the clouds once more.
The silver light vanished one by one into the dark.
And the Veil Sea returned to silence.