[Choose wisely]

Kael sprinted through the winding tunnel, his breath sharp, his boots echoing off damp stone.

Yue's voice drifted beside him—tense, urgent.

"You need to be quick. If Veyran catches up, everything ends here."

Kael nodded grimly, eyes locked forward.

They passed rows of sealed vaults—thick iron doors lined with arcane seals, humming with forbidden power.

Yue murmured, "Only the Duke can access those—don't waste time."

Kael exhaled hard, ignoring the allure of cursed relics and buried sins.

He pressed on.

But then—the air shifted.

Cold.

Still.

Too still.

Like a beast lay sleeping beneath the stone.

A pressure built around him.

The mana felt thicker.

Heavy.

Watching.

Kael didn't slow.

He ran faster.

And then—at the tunnel's end—a door.

Older. Rusted. Scorched.

He yanked the earlier key from his ring and shoved it into the lock.

Click.

The door creaked open—slow, reluctant.

Smoke spilled out.

Thick. Chemical. Sour.

Kael coughed, eyes watering as he pushed through.

"Quick—go!" Yue snapped.

He stepped inside.

At first, all he saw was shadow and smoke.

And then—

The haze parted.

Kael froze.

His heart stuttered.

There, chained to the far wall like a crucified relic, was a man—barely human anymore.

Golden hair, matted and soaked in blood, hung in clumps across his face.

Both legs twisted—broken.

His arms stretched above him, shackled in cruel iron, joints dislocated. Spikes pierced his palms and shoulders, holding him upright in a torturer's display.

His eyes were gone.

Gouged.

Empty sockets stared into nothing.

Insects crawled freely across his skin—nesting in open wounds, feasting.

And yet—

He smiled.

A slow, awful smile.

Not mad.

Not broken.

Just… waiting.

Kael took a step back, blood cold.

The man on the wall stirred.

Chains rattled.

His ruined face tilted toward Kael, blind sockets fixed where eyes used to be.

"You made it here, boy?" the General rasped, voice like iron dragged across stone.

"Do you not fear him?"

A faint smile ghosted his cracked lips.

"The Duke, I mean."

Kael met the hollow gaze without flinching.

"I fear nothing."

Behind him, Yue snorted.

That was a lie.

Rats still made him twitch.

But it didn't need to be said out loud.

The General chuckled.

"So? You've come to free me, is that it?"

Kael nodded once.

"Yes."

A dry laugh echoed through the smoke-choked cell.

"Why? Out of mercy?"

"No," Kael said calmly.

"I want you to work with me."

That earned a proper laugh—low, rough, mocking.

"You? Bend me to your will?" His voice cracked like thunder.

"I am the Divine General.

Feared across all provinces of Velmora.

Do you have a death wish, boy?"

Kael didn't blink.

"I can offer you something you want more than life."

The General went still.

"Oh? And what's that?"

Kael took a step closer.

His voice dropped, a whisper laced with steel.

"Revenge."

Silence followed.

Thick.

Heavy.

Then… a slow, guttural chuckle.

"I like you," the General said.

"But if you want me at your side—you'll have to earn it."

His broken body shifted, chains groaning.

"Fight me. Break me. Or die trying."

Yue stiffened behind Kael.

Rank 3.

Even crippled, even blind—he was still a monster.

Kael said nothing.

He stepped forward.

"Wait—" Yue whispered, grabbing his shoulder. "You won't survive."

Kael looked at her, calm and resolute.

"Then just tell me the codes."

Yue exhaled shakily.

Then nodded.

She whispered the unlock sequence—one she'd gathered through "staking," cough cough spying, as she liked to call it.

One by one, the bindings released.

With a final hiss, the last shackle clanged to the ground.

The General collapsed forward—limbs trembling, bloodied feet slipping on the stone.

"Hah… finally," he breathed.

"My hands… they've been frozen in blood for too long."

Kael said, voice sharp with urgency,

"We don't have time."

The General tried to stand.

Both legs gave out beneath him.

He chuckled darkly.

"Let's begin."

Kael didn't hesitate.

No taunts. No delay.

He leapt forward—striking fast, ruthless.

He wasn't going to gamble on mercy.

Four gleaming Moonblades shot toward the General, each humming with arcane energy.

Kael followed behind them like a shadow, sword raised, aiming to end this before it truly began.

But the Divine General, even blind, even broken—still felt the shift in mana.

Still reacted.

A barrier spell flared to life around him—imperfect, rushed, but enough.

The Moonblades shattered against it with sharp bursts of light.

Kael struck next—hard, direct.

Thud.

His blade met the shield and bounced back.

The barrier didn't break.

The General laughed.

Rough, mocking.

"Don't tell me… you're a Rank 1 mage?"

Kael cursed under his breath and launched another attack.

But the General raised a trembling hand.

Fire Lance.

Dozens erupted around him, streaking out in spiraling arcs.

Craters exploded across the chamber.

The air burned.

Yue's voice rang out, tense.

"Careful!

He's weakened, yes—his mana's unstable—but he's still Rank 3.

Those spells hurt."

Kael gritted his teeth.

He activated Amplification—a boost spell on his legs.

Speed surged through him.

He darted between the flaming strikes, weaving past stone bursts and fire trails—until—

One lance clipped him.

Square in the helmet.

The side of it melted.

Molten iron splashed across his shoulder.

Kael hissed and tore the helmet off, smoke rising from scorched metal.

He tossed it aside, glaring through the haze.

"Definitely not dangerous at all."

The General laughed again.

A deep, guttural sound that echoed like war drums.

"Oh, it's just starting, boy."

The General grunted — then exploded in a burst of mana.

Kael flew backward, skin burning, cloak catching fire.

The General's voice boomed across the chamber, heavy with disdain.

"You're ruthless. Good. But not enough."

Kael's left arm hung useless, dislocated from the blast.

Blood poured from his scalp, blinding one eye.

But he smiled.

"You think this is pain?"

The General growled, hurling a sphere of black lightning.

Kael barely rolled aside—it struck the floor, melting stone, releasing a scream like a dying god.

The two clashed again.

Sword met hand.

Bone met blade.

Kael stabbed his sword into the General's shoulder.

The General bit his neck, tearing into flesh with animal fury.

Kael screamed, slammed his knee into the broken leg, shattering it further.

The General howled, but did not fall.

"MoonBlade!" Kael roared, slicing upward.

The blade carved across the General's chest, splitting armor, muscle, ribs.

Blood gushed—thick, black, and steaming.

But the General grinned through crimson teeth.

"Good! Suffer for your ambition!"

He raised his hand.

"Soul Implosion."

Kael's heart lurched.

A gravity well formed inside his chest—his soul being pulled outward.

Veins bulged. Teeth cracked.

He roared, stabbing his own thigh to stay grounded, using the pain as an anchor.

With the last of his strength, he flung dreamweaver straight into the General's eye.

Pop.

The Divine General reeled back, roaring, clutching the ruined socket.

Kael collapsed to one knee, gasping, barely conscious.

Blood drenched him—his, the General's, the room's.

His ribs broken. His vision fading.

Darkness crept at the edges.

The General stumbled forward, body twitching, eyes wild.

"You… can't win…"

Kael lay in blood and shadow.

His breath came shallow.

Each heartbeat slower than the last.

The Soul Implosion had torn through more than his flesh—it had unraveled something deeper.

He felt it: the fraying of his essence, as if his very being was bleeding into the void.

He couldn't rise. Couldn't move.

His fingers curled weakly around the hilt of Dreamweaver, its once-vibrant glow now dim and cold.

Across the room, the Divine General stood—charred, bleeding, but still unbroken.

"You fought well," he said, voice like gravel beneath steel.

"But not enough."

He limped forward, each step heavy with finality.

Arcane energy began to gather in his palm—crimson and violet, forming the sigils of death.

His voice dropped into the tones of a spell, syllables ancient and absolute.

High above, Yue hovered helplessly, eyes wide with panic.

"Kael… move!" she cried. "You have to move!"

Kael didn't answer.

He couldn't.

Time seemed to stretch.

The world muted.

The chant grew louder, the spell solidifying—a lance of annihilation, meant to end him.

Then—

Kael's lips moved.

A whisper.

A breath.

A surrender—or something more.

"Dreamweaver… First Form...."

The word fell into the air like a stone into still water.

And then—

Silence.

The Divine General blinked.

And reality cracked.

The battlefield was gone.

No stone walls. No bloodied floor beneath him.

Just a vast, hollow plane, dim and colorless, where the horizon bled into void. The air carried no wind, yet every breath tasted like dust.

He stood alone.

His voice broke the stillness.

"…What is this?"

No answer.

His hand went to his side, reaching for magic.

Nothing.

Stillness.

Then—

A whisper of motion above.

He looked up—too late.

A meteor.

Silent. Sudden. Massive.

It tore down from the blank sky like divine judgment.

"What—?"

Impact.

It didn't make sound. It just was.

Heat. Pain. Pressure.

His body folded, bones crushed, lungs bursting like overripe fruit.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!"

He awoke again—kneeling.

No wounds now. But the memory of pain pulsed behind his eyes like a second heartbeat.

"What… is this trickery?" he spat. "Illusion?"

Still no answer.

Just the hum of something ancient beneath his feet.

Like the Dream itself breathed.

He turned.

The fire came next.

It didn't burn the world. Only him.

It rose from the ground like hands—fleshless and red—pulling, clawing, igniting every inch of his body.

He screamed again, but no sound came.

Then the fire was gone.

And the cold replaced it.

Sudden. Piercing. Cruel.

His joints froze, skin split, eyes glazed over. Frost bloomed across his limbs like blooming petals of death.

He collapsed, twitching.

Then, a voice.

Calm. Close.

Kael.

But not the Kael from the cell.

This one stood taller, more composed. Robes shifting like shadows.

"You still have moves, don't you?" he said.

The Divine General raised his eyes, rage mixing with disbelief.

"You… You're not strong enough to do this."

Kael tilted his head.

"Not out there. But here…"

He gestured around.

"…you're in my realm now."

Just as the words left his mouth—

A sharp, angry cough echoed from above.

Kael flinched.

His mask hid the sweat beading on his brow—but he felt it.

That presence.

His heart thudded.

It wasn't the General.

It was—

Yue.

Her voice whispered through the shadows, coiling like silk and ice.

"Careful, Kael. You're not the king here. You're a guest… with borrowed power."

Pain lanced through Kael's skull—burning, like molten glass pouring into his mind.

He staggered.

Yue's voice echoed again, no longer detached.

Now it was urgent. Tight.

"You've used too much mental force, Kael. You're still Rank One—your body and soul can't handle this. End it. Now."

Dreamweaver trembled in his grip. The world around him wavered, glitching at the edges—cracks forming in the illusion.

He clenched his jaw, forced himself still, and spat words with false confidence.

"I can keep you here forever," he said to the Divine General, voice ragged but firm.

"Tear your mind apart one second at a time. Choose wisely."

But inside?

He wasn't even sure he had sixty seconds left.

Every heartbeat was a drum of agony.

Every second in the Dreamrealm pulled more of his essence into the sword.

His thoughts were fraying.

Logic, memory, even the sensation of self—

All slipping.

"Quick, bastard… Think…" he muttered under his breath.

Across from him, the Divine General watched.

Breathing hard.

Wary.

His eyes darted to the sky—to Yue's growing presence.

Even he sensed the instability.

Yue, high above, shimmered—no longer hovering calmly.

Her hands were raised, forming a sigil of rupture.

She was ready to shatter the Dreamrealm before it consumed Kael whole.

Kael didn't look at her.

Couldn't.

If he lost focus now—he'd fail.

The Divine General took one step forward. Wounded pride in every motion.

But then—

He nodded. Once.

"I accept my defeat."

The Dreamrealm cracked.