Fragnts of explosions hung frozen in the empty space, like wounds that had yet to heal. Wreckage, frozen blood, and chunks of monstrous corpses drifted slowly, painting a hellish, silent landscape that stole the breath of anyone who dared to look.
Several small ships floated nearby, barely functioning. Thick black smoke poured from ruptured hulls, casting a dark veil over the battlefield, as though the nightmare had no end. Scorched tal groaned, sparks danced along ruptured circuits—the ships were barely alive, and their crews fared no better.
On the main deck, a crowd of uniford personnel stood in stunned silence. Their gazes were fixed on four figures suspended midair before them.
Three were kneeling—shaking, hands raised like children pleading not to be punished. The fourth figure stood tall and unmoving before them, untouched by the chaos around her.
Her white robe fluttered in the void, and on her back, a glowing cross shimred faintly, a stark contrast to the cold aura radiating from her body.
Laras stared down at the three n with undisguised disgust.
"I’ll ask one more ti," she said, voice flat and sharp as a blade of ice. "How could you not know the location? Aren’t you their subordinates?"
No answer ca—only shallow gasps and trembling breaths.
Just three minutes ago, she had destroyed their flagship. The high-ranking officers had all been slaughtered by her hands—executed one by one after their cowardly ambush had failed. Now, only these three remained—low-level crew mbers begging for rcy while feeding her lies.
From her brief interrogation of the surviving crew, Laras had learned the truth.
These n were the ones who orchestrated everything.
They were the reason she had been separated from Efan and Lein. They had steered the ship into a monster-infested region to trap her. They were the reason she had nearly died, drained of energy after facing endless beasts.
If not for the sword Lein had gifted her, she would have perished—at best, captured.
"M-Milady... we’re just engineers..." the man in the middle stamred, his voice quivering. "We know nothing about the formation stone... we were just following orders!"
Laras exhaled softly, lips curling into a cold smirk.
She gazed at them one by one. All three were terrified—but Laras was far past the point of being moved. Their faces were mirrors of the suffering she had endured.
"So... you know nothing?" she asked again, this ti in a whisper.
The three n nodded quickly, almost in unison.
"In that case," Laras said, her voice regaining its frosty edge, "you no longer have any reason to live."
Their bodies stiffened.
"Milady, wait! We’re just engine operators!" the man on the left cried, his voice cracking into panic. "We weren’t involved in the command etings, I swear on my life!"
The other two followed, bowing even lower. "We were just following orders! We don’t know anything... we’re nobodies..."
Laras narrowed her eyes, her face unreadable. Yet behind the calm exterior, her thoughts were razor sharp.
She could kill them here and now—just like she had their commanders. Quick. Clean. Without hesitation. And yet... her fingers didn’t move. Sothing held her back.
It wasn’t pity.
It was sothing else. A whisper in her instincts that sothing was wrong.
As if the universe itself responded—
Crack.
A soft sound, like glass fracturing, echoed from nowhere. Laras imdiately straightened. Her eyes scanned the surroundings. Reflexively, her body flared with white light, forming a living shield of divine energy.
Then the sky above the void split open.
Blinding light pierced through, followed by majestic, winged figures descending from the fractured heavens. Fully ard angels poured down from the rift, surrounding her in all directions, forming a perfect formation like divine soldiers preparing for war.
Laras’s face hardened.
"Who are you?" she hissed, darting away from the ship and ascending higher. From the spatial ring on her finger, she summoned a crystal orb the size of a clenched fist—a Heaven-tier Artifact.
The orb pulsed with soft light, revealing spiritual forms, intentions, or hidden souls nearby.
And yet—
Nothing.
No shadows. No trace of spirit. No killing intent. As if the entire world around her was just a veil of dreamlike mist—sothing that never truly existed.
Laras’s unease deepened. Her eyes narrowed. Without hesitation, she summoned the golden sword Lein had given her.
As its radiant light erupted, a figure erged from within—a living clone of Lein, complete with celestial aura and strength.
"Scan the area. Sothing’s wrong," Laras ordered.
The clone nodded and closed its eyes. A wave of soul energy rippled out, spreading in all directions, piercing through dinsions and illusions alike.
Seconds passed.
Then—the clone’s eyes opened, twitching faintly.
A smile began to bloom across his face.
"I can feel him," he said. "My true body... it’s nearby, Milady. Right in that direction."
He pointed to the left—a seemingly empty stretch of void, utterly unremarkable.
Laras turned and followed the gesture.
At first, she saw nothing—just more emptiness.
Then—crack.
The sound again, louder this ti. Glass shattering.
Slowly, the world around her began to fracture—like a giant mirror smashed by an invisible hamr. Cracks spread in all directions, and piece by piece, the illusion crumbled.
The n who had been begging suddenly looked around in panic. Their eyes widened. They touched their own faces, as if realizing for the first ti—they were not real.
Teng.
A final chi.
And the false world collapsed entirely.
What remained was a different void.
Darker.
More solid.
More... honest.
And at the center of that void, stood a single figure—Lein.
His body turned slowly—eyes imdiately locking onto Laras’s gaze.
"Brother Lein!" Laras cried out, her voice breaking the silence as she shot toward him without hesitation, throwing her arms around him in a tight embrace.
Her emotions erupted. The worry she had buried, the fear she had quietly swallowed—everything spilled out at once.
Tears stread down her face uncontrollably.
Lein stiffened in surprise. His hands instinctively lifted, awkwardly patting Laras’s back.
"Hey... what’s gotten into you?" he asked softly, clearly puzzled.
To him, Laras had always been thorned, composed, and proud. But now—she was crying in his arms like a child who had just found shelter after surviving a storm.
Still, as he recalled what they had all been through—the betrayal, the ambush, the brutal separation—he began to understand.
A little.
"Thank you... thank you..." Laras sobbed, slowly pulling away from Lein. Her hands trembled as she wiped her tears, struggling to restore the cold image she had always maintained.
But as her awareness returned, sothing struck her hard.
They were... not alone.
Laras’s gaze swept across her surroundings—and only now did she truly see them. Rows of uniford soldiers, standing in silence with high-grade energy weapons at the ready. Not a small squad. Hundreds. Maybe more.
Massive warships hovered in formation around them, circling the void like the jaws of a predator.
A white flag bearing the insignia of a flaming sword fluttered atop the lead vessel—a clear sign.
Official military force.
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