The dust had barely settled on the 10-kilometer wasteland when Minister Brokk arrived, guided by the immense residual energy signature of the clash. He found King Winston barely conscious, slumped on the pulverized ground, his body riddled with burns and heavy bruising, the black crystalline contamination on his shoulder sealed but throbbing.
Brokk, though mentally weakened by the Silver Lyre, possessed the loyalty of a Tier 6 veteran. He carefully secured the King onto his shoulder, utilizing a weak, localized Void Spell to minimize the jarring of Winston's injured body. They returned to the ravaged Linston Town, taking shelter in the temporary hospital established by the cured townsfolk.
Winston was immediately placed in critical care, his body covered in thick, medicated bandages.
Meanwhile, Jai lay in the hospital, his condition severe. His chest had been crushed by Maxiven's Earth Fist, and the sheer psychic drain of the Fleeting Golden Dream had left his Spirit Core brittle. His consciousness had slipped beyond the physical realm.
Jai found himself enveloped in a place of pure, blinding light—the Golden Void. He saw her: Dominatrix, the ancient Emperor, magnificent in her golden robes that covered her entire body, radiating an untouchable, eternal authority.
"My son," she welcomed him, her voice resonating not with sound, but with pure thought.
Jai walked toward her, nervous, but compelled by his lineage. Dominatrix motioned for him to approach and gently made him rest his head on her lap. She began to softly rub his golden hair—a detail that confirmed this was his true form, not a mere disguise.
"My son," she began, her tone gentle yet critical. "You nearly fell to a mere Tier 7 Master. How do you believe you can become the strongest and spread our family's name across the dimensions if you cannot control your battles?"
"Madam," Jai whispered, the gravity of his near-death experience weighing on him. "Did I die?"
Dominatrix smirked, a flash of ancient power in her eyes. "No, you did not. I will not allow my son to die in such a foolish, inconsequential skirmish. Do not speak such harsh thoughts."
Jai relaxed slightly under the warmth of her hand. As he drifted, he remembered the strange vision he'd had during his previous recovery. "Madam, I saw a person with black hair and red eyes in a vision. Do you know who that person is?"
Dominatrix's expression turned utterly serious—the first sign of true concern. "The world will tell you who he is when the time comes. Worry not about ghosts of the future."
Before Jai could press further, the sense of their connection shattered. Dominatrix's presence retreated, and his consciousness was forcefully teleported back into his damaged physical form.
Jai's eyes snapped open in the hospital cot. He was awake, but immobile, his body constrained by the trauma.
James rushed forward, his face etched with relief, and hugged Jai tightly. "Arthur! Why do you do these things? I honestly thought you died when that massive Earth Fist struck you!"
Zayn approached, offering a rare, genuine smile—a sign of his profound relief that his friend-in-arms was alive.
Jai, ignoring his searing physical pain, focused on the immediate threat. "How is King Winston? Is he stable?"
James's smile faded. "He's alive, but barely. He can't walk yet due to the injuries from Lenard—a Tier 5 fight takes an impossible toll."
Minister Brokk entered the room, nodding. "The King is conscious, Arthur. He needs to see you."
James gently maneuvered Jai into a wheelchair. As they rolled toward Winston's room, Jai saw the extent of the disaster: Winston was fully covered in bandages, his face drawn, looking decades older.
"Sir," Jai began, trying to sound cheerful. "I trust you won the fight?"
Winston managed a weak grin. "If I had lost, I'd already be in a coffin." Everyone laughed, but the sound was thin, edged with sadness over the massive injuries their King had sustained.
Jai was firm. "We need to get you back to the main Dwarf Kingdom. Only their main hospital can properly treat a Tier 5 Dark Contamination injury."
Brokk intervened, his gaze dropping slightly. "Arthur, we must stay here for a few days for your immediate wounds to seal. The town… the town is fully destroyed, utterly pulverized by Zeron's pressure." Brokk's voice tightened with grief. "After we recover, we will return to the Kingdom to explain my town's problems and plead for restoration funds."
Jai, absorbing the true scope of Zeron's destruction, nodded heavily. He agreed to the delay, understanding the practical needs of their recovery and their duty to the survivors.
Meanwhile, in a hidden, black-rock cavern deep beneath the mountains, Zeron, the Tier 3 Master, held the remains of Lenard, the defeated Tier 5 Master. Lenard's body was a mangled mess, the lower half vaporized by Winston's final Light attack.
Zeron gently laid Lenard's upper torso onto a carved stone slab. He then teleported back to the mountain wasteland, diligently searching through the pulverized dust until he found Lenard's scattered remains.
Returning to the cave, Zeron positioned the pieces. He channeled his elemental power and unleashed a powerful, rare spell: "The Revivor"—a specialized Nature Spell capable of rapid, accelerated bio-regeneration. Magically, Lenard's body stitched itself back together, the Dark and Ice elements within his core stabilizing the process.
Lenard gasped as his consciousness returned. "My King, if our strategy is compromised, King Winston will have fortified his defenses across the entire Kingdom."
Zeron sighed, a chilling sound in the silent cave. "Victory is not guaranteed in this immediate war, Lenard. But I am absolutely certain that one day, this entire Dwarf Kingdom and its people will die."
Lenard, still weak, pushed himself up. "How, My King? Even with our forces and the Obsidian Artifact?"
Zeron smirked, his blue eyes distant, staring into a terrifying future. "When I was in the spirit state during my resurrection, I saw a glimpse of what is to come. A man with black hair and red eyes, his massive blue sword stained crimson with the blood of the Dwarf people. He killed everyone—not even the children were spared. He looked like a demon king."
Zeron's voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He is the force that will succeed where we might fail. He is coming to cleanse this realm."
Lenard was visibly shaken. "When do we launch our full assault, My King?"
"Patience," Zeron replied, absolute confidence restoring his composure. "It is not the time. We have to wait, gather our forces, and make our troops even stronger. We will let the fate I saw unfold."
Approximately 27 days passed. The main hospital's powerful healing magics, combined with the princes' robust Tier 7 and Tier 9 cores, fully closed their major wounds. Winston could walk slowly, though the contamination still lingered. Jai was fully mobile, the immense trauma to his chest sealed.
They had recovered enough. The political duty, the need for advanced medical treatment, and the fear of Zeron's unknown power drove them forward.
They began their journey back to the Dwarf Kingdom's center, where the King's palace lay—ready to face the next stage of the war.
The long journey back to the royal palace in the Dwarf Kingdom was somber. Despite their physical healing, the psychological burden of facing Zeron weighed heavily on them. Jai focused on mastering the Sliding Dragon artifact, pushing his body to the limit to refine its Tier 8 energy. James meticulously reviewed the Shadow Ledger intelligence, searching for any weakness in Zeron's known tactical patterns. Then Brokk give jai the artifact that he collected from the velorina corpse a tier 8 fire artifact(Flying Volcano) After seeing that jai looks happy and said :"Thank You!".
But it was Zayn who suffered the most. He rode in silence, his powerful Tier 8 magic strangely muted. He replayed Winston's final words, "Tell my younger brother, Zayn..."
The thought that the terrifying force who flattened ten kilometers of mountains—a force that now wielded the power of Dark Law—was his own older brother, Zeron, crippled him. Zeron was the prince he had mourned and idolized. Now, Zeron was a monster, a Tier 3 prodigy who was somehow stronger than a Tier 5 master.
Zayn gripped his staff until his knuckles were white. He had a duty to his King and his people, but could he truly strike down his own blood? He remembered the cold, dismissive look in Zeron's eyes from the one vision he'd shared with Jai. Zeron wasn't just an enemy; he was the future of Dwarf destruction. This personal conflict, this profound dread, made the path ahead darker than any Shadow Ledger plot. They were rushing toward a political maelstrom and a battle of brothers