"Ah... Ah... I refuse to accept this! I won't acce—"
King of Dusk screamed, his voice echoing across the battlefield. But before the final words could leave his mouth, his enormous head was sent flying through the air. In a single decisive instant, his life came to an end, officially marking the conclusion of the reign of the heretic king.
Boom!
The severed head crashed into a nearby mountain, while the gigantic gray body collapsed to the ground, drowning in blue blood that spread outward into vast pools, staining the earth around it.
At the same time, Sophia sat down against a massive boulder, gasping for breath after the unimaginable effort she had poured into this battle. Every muscle in her body cried out from the overwhelming pain and exhaustion.
Then, a young man who appeared to be in his early twenties appeared before her. He had long blue hair and wore loose, simple clothing. The moment Sophia saw him, she called out in a voice overflowing with longing and relief.
"Father."
She tried to stand, but Dan quickly stepped forward and gently pressed a hand onto her shoulder, easing her back into a seated position and preventing her from straining herself further.
"There's no need to stand, my little girl."
A warm, radiant green light spread around her, enveloping her entire body and flowing into every exhausted cell. At the same time, all the fatigue and injuries that covered her from the battle which had lasted nearly twenty days completely disappeared.
Smiling as he looked into her eyes, Dan said,
"How have you been, my little girl? I've missed you."
Before Sophia could answer, a young woman who appeared to be about Dan's age suddenly appeared. She possessed remarkably youthful features, and her eyes were filled with gentle maternal warmth. Without hesitation, she rushed toward Sophia and embraced her tightly.
The young woman paid no attention to the vast destruction surrounding them, nor to the enormous corpse lying in the distance within a pool of blue blood. Without the slightest hesitation, Sophia returned the embrace with equal strength and longing, wrapping both arms tightly around the young woman as though afraid she might disappear, and said in a trembling voice filled with longing and tears gathering in her eyes,
"I've missed you so much, Mother."
Dan had deliberately brought his wife, Hina, to see their eldest daughter, Sophia, because he knew just how deeply she longed for her mother. Although very little time had passed for them since Sophia entered the Inner World, more than seventy years had passed from Sophia's perspective.
Although Dan spoke with her from time to time, she had missed her mother dearly. Sophia had always been extremely attached to Hina and rarely spent much time apart from her during their ordinary daily lives. Because of that, those seventy years without her had left a deep, painful emptiness in Sophia's heart.
For that reason, after everything she had endured in this battle, this reunion was the happiest thing she could possibly have wished for. At that moment, Sophia was not seeking personal glory or praise for her strength. After seventy years, all her heart truly desired was this warm embrace from her mother, Hina, and the sight of her youthful father.
This warm family reunion, standing amid a wasteland of destruction beside the lifeless corpse of King of Dusk, was truly the greatest happiness and the finest reward she could have hoped to receive.
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