The Dragon spoke, his voice heavy with a profound sense of defeat and lingering regret: "I am truly sorry... neither I nor Zis possessed the strength to do anything of significance. What occurred was entirely abrupt, a sequence of events we never could have anticipated. They managed to strike us down completely, but only after they succeeded in unearthing the secrets of our abilities and exposing our most fatal weaknesses."
ice responded, his tone draped in a haunting stillness and eerie calm: "Do not apologize, my friend. This is simply the inevitable cycle of existence... death. In truth, I do not harbor any fear of the end. To me, life is nothing more than passing time and fleeting hours where we achieve nothing of true value beyond the cycle of eating, drinking, and deep slumber. I feel deep within that there must be a greater, more sublime purpose for our existence than this. We live this way, devoid of any real aim, much like common cattle. My time has arrived, and so has Aya's, so there is no longer any point in these words."
Zeus muttered, his mind deeply analyzing the grim reality of the situation: "Hmm... I can only surmise now that this mad, black-hearted fool fancies himself some sort of 'grand guardian,' haha. He deludes himself into thinking that this barbaric torture will somehow rouse you from your stupor. It is clear he has become far too entangled with the outside world. Well, my apologies serve no purpose now and will not alter this bitter reality, for I have been eternally sealed. However, because your mother foresaw that an assassination was imminent, she prepared a sophisticated system for you—forged from the vast expertise of your parents—to provide you with some measure of aid. I never accounted for the possibility of being sealed myself; therefore, I shall cooperate by merging entirely with Kylia (The System) to grant you the necessary support through the levels. For now, I will bestow upon you a temporary surge of power to prove your true mettle to that man. This power is drawn from Level 15, and it will last for a mere five minutes. You must exert every effort to grasp its true essence to achieve the greatest possible feat."
ice whispered, his voice trembling with weakness: "It's useless..."
Before ice could even utter the final words of his sentence, the faint traces of relief vanished from his face, replaced suddenly by searing flares of agony and terror. At that precise moment, the dark figure, Zis, reappeared. He advanced toward ice's exhausted body with slow, cautious steps filled with genuine shock, wondering to himself: "How could he possibly perish so easily?"
While a mere four steps still separated them, the heavy silence of the chamber was pierced by the sound of ice's rapid, frantic heartbeat. ice's hands began to twitch, moving back and forth in a desperate struggle against unseen forces. Suddenly, a thick, mocking voice resonated through the air: "Hahaha! How could I ever die at your hands, Zis?"
In that pivotal moment, it became terrifyingly clear that the "Insect" was a true and lethal instrument of torment; it had completely decimated the emotional centers responsible for fear and dopamine within his mind. ice's blue eyes dilated to an unsettling degree, and the very chains binding him began to ignite, burning until they were nothing but ash scattered by the wind. ice's hands slumped onto his knees in visible frailty, and while his head remained bowed toward the earth, his eyes suddenly snapped upward. His pupils constricted like those of a serpent, engulfed in a terrifying crimson aura as he stared directly at Zis, declaring: "I will show you!"