Victory in Ashes

I felt like my attacks really hit them. But I could feel something strange, this was the feeling when my enemy was not completely defeated.

Something felt… wrong.

I stood still for a moment, catching my breath, and Envi's voice echoed urgently in my mind.

"Nao… there's no system notification saying you've defeated them. That's not normal."

My heart sank.

And then—from the smoldering crater left by my last attack—Lucius emerged.

But he looked different.

His body was wrapped in both seething darkness and shimmering light, a shifting vortex of contradictory powers. His very presence felt overwhelming, unnatural—like a walking paradox.

He smirked arrogantly, his voice echoing like two layered tones: light and shadow.