Thorne staggered backward, gasping, his chest still torn open. His regeneration, usually instantaneous, refused to activate this time, as if his body had lost the very ability to heal itself.
Kyriel, meanwhile, was gradually regaining his strength. His body had almost completely purged the effects of the poison. Larva, for his part, watched Thorne's every movement with cold focus. He quickly noticed that the wound he had inflicted was not closing. It could have been assumed that his attack had finally struck true, but reality was far different. The real issue was time: the effects of the stimulant Thorne had ingested were rapidly nearing their end.
Thorne staggered again. His veins darkened beneath his skin, pulsing irregularly, as though something corrupted flowed through them. His hair, once a brilliant white, slowly turned pitch black. The crimson markings covering his body began to fade. He realized then that he had little time left. Yet he remained convinced that his salvation lay solely in the completion of his mission. Even at death's door, he would never betray the expectations of his god.
Just as he was about to collapse, Thorne steadied himself, straightened, and stood upright once more. The wound Larva had just inflicted healed instantly.
"Tss… This guy will never give up," Larva muttered.
Kyriel stepped forward, now completely free from the poison's effects.
"I don't understand your motivations, nor the purpose of this mission you hold so dearly. But don't you think we've gone far enough? Your body won't withstand another attack—there's no denying that. Let's end this here."
The effects of his poison only lasted a few minutes… This guy… Thorne thought.
A mocking smile crossed his face.
"And what about your family members, the ones I may have killed when I arrived here? Don't you feel the urge for revenge anymore?"
Kyriel's expression darkened.
"I will never forgive you. Just imagining that something might have happened to them tears me apart from the inside. But revenge is an evil even worse than regret. Killing you won't bring them back, nor will it undo the harm you've inflicted upon the apprentices of this exam. I'm not asking to be your friend… only to put an end to this fight, which will bring happiness to no one."
"Pff… Stop the fight? How boring…" Larva muttered petulantly.
Kyriel's words made Thorne boil with rage. An immense shame welled up inside him, and he began to shout.
"Take pity on me? Me? From a miserable fragment? I forbid you to pity me… I... "
He never finished his sentence.
The sky suddenly darkened. A trail of blinding light tore through the clouds, and the air vibrated under an overwhelming pressure. A silhouette descended from the sky at terrifying speed and crashed down a few meters behind Thorne. The battlefield seemed to hold its breath.
BOOM !!
A thunderous roar echoed as the figure struck the ground, carving out a massive crater. Standing at its center was a man with long white hair flowing in the wind, his mere presence summoning lightning across the darkened sky.
Neptune had entered the battlefield.
Kyriel and Larva were instantly unable to remain standing. An invisible force crushed them nearly flat against the ground. Every fiber of their bodies screamed under the pressure, as if their bones were slowly being driven into their own flesh. Breathing became a struggle; even thinking required immense effort. They spat mouthfuls of blood. Neptune's mere presence was a declared death sentence.
Strangely, Thorne seemed completely unaffected by the pressure.
A million kilometers away, in the immense arena where most of the participants had gathered, the sky darkened as well, streaked with lightning. Neptune's aura expanded across such a vast distance that when it struck the arena, the consequences were immediate. The giant screens exploded almost simultaneously. Apprentices were slammed into the sandy ground by an overwhelming pressure, unable to remain on their feet. Some lost consciousness, as did a large portion of the spectators.
Only a handful of individuals remained unaffected: the twelve commanders, the divine kings, and Larva's master. All of them instantly understood the gravity of the situation.
"This exam is suspended. I order the immediate evacuation of the arena. Let the twelve division commanders present ensure the safety of the sword apprentices and all trainees scattered across the designated territory. You are ordered to bring every one of them back safely. Coordinate your efforts."
The tension was palpable.
"Hold on, Larva… I'm coming," murmured his master, ready to cross the million kilometers separating him from his disciple.
Back on the battlefield, the situation remained critical. Larva and Kyriel lay on the ground, barely maintaining consciousness. Neptune advanced toward Thorne and stopped beside him. The closer he came, the more oppressive his aura became.
"Impressive. Under normal circumstances, you should have died instantly beneath the weight of my aura. I now understand why Thorne has yet to complete the mission I entrusted to him."
His gaze fell upon Thorne. Immediately, Thorne lowered his head and prostrated himself.
"Oh my lord… My resolve faltered, and my hands failed you. I allowed my limits to hinder your will. I beg your forgiveness."
"I see you took the pill I entrusted to you, and that its effects have now run their course," Neptune replied.
"Yes, my lord. My powerlessness drove me to such an extreme solution. But if you so desire, you can heal me. I swear that I will punish these two boys body and soul and complete my mission at last."
"Rise. You have done nothing wrong," Neptune said.
Thorne obeyed at once, his face lit with joy at receiving his lord's approval. But the very moment he stood upright, Neptune placed a hand on him. In an instant, Thorne vanished, as if he had never existed.
Gone.
Nothing remained of him beneath the stunned gazes of Kyriel and Larva.
"W–What… what did you do to him?" Kyriel stammered.
"I did him a favor. I killed him. No… more precisely, I erased him. The existence of a subordinate incapable of carrying out a mission this simple is of no use to me."
"E–Erased? What do you mean, erased?" Larva asked in turn.
"For beings such as myself, killing beings like you does not merely mean ending their lives. It means erasing them completely. His useless body and soul have been wiped from this world."
Fear gripped the hearts of the two boys. They knew their chances of survival were now virtually nonexistent, given the coldness of the being before them. Without wasting another second, Neptune unleashed a wave of dark energy toward them, a force that seemed to erase space itself.
Death was imminent.
But before the attack could reach its target, a miracle occurred.
A brilliant light burst forth from Kyriel without warning, as though his body contained a torrent of radiance long waiting for an opportunity like this to be released. The light surged forward to meet the dark energy. When the two forces collided, they annihilated each other under Neptune's astonished gaze.
The light did more than cancel out Neptune's attack—it also purged the crushing effects of his aura from the bodies of the two apprentices. Though neither could explain the origin of such a miracle, Kyriel and Larva rose to their feet at once.
What had seemed like certain death moments earlier suddenly became a chance for survival.
The confrontation was now inevitable.