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.