The EMV-Valk is a Valkyrie-class warship designed for high-threat engagement and rapid response operations. Specifically, the H-Valk designation refers to the Hover Valk variant, equipped with full flight capability and vertical takeoff and landing functionality.

  Standard armaments include high-damage precision weaponry with an energy-release magnitude of 9.5 or higher, allowing the Valk to reduce targets to ruins and rubble rather than relying on narrow, penetrative strikes. Each side of the warship houses a single high-energy release cannon supported by auxiliary partial guns. These partial systems require minimal mana input, enabling even standard soldiers of the King’s Army to neutralize threats previously considered beyond conventional capability.

  Field testing has repeatedly demonstrated that the EMV-Valk can engage King-class threats directly and survive. Defensive systems include multi-layered energy-release shielding rated with an effective-against magnitude of 10, rendering the craft virtually impervious to most assault weaponry and even select anti-armor assets.

  When deployed in sufficient numbers—whether airborne, terrestrial, or naval—the presence of EMV-Valk units alone has been shown to stabilize entire regions. Civilian populations are able to rest under the assurance that Ace-class threats can be contained, delayed, or eliminated outright.

  The EMV-Valk is rated to carry a total of fifteen personnel: two pilots at the helm, four primary weapons operators, four backup gunners, and five ground-operations soldiers.

  Due to the technological feats and magical breakthroughs required for their construction, EMV-Valks are considered both costly and invaluable assets of the King’s Army and the New Grand Army. Their deployment is rare, and they are typically reserved for large-scale combat operations rather than routine missions such as convoy escort or localized guardianship.

  However…

  #

  “Air Command Athens, this is Sky-General Carter, callsign Bravo-Seven of Bravo-Charlie-Six—uh—supersede. Inbound to destination marked Alexandria, quadrant one-four niner-one-two. ETA ten minutes sharp.”

  A moment of silence followed.

  “Bravo-Seven of Bravo-Charlie-Six, this is Air Command Athens. You are read loud and clear. Report matched. Landing ETA confirmed. Convoy mission phase one nearing conclusion.”

  “Air Command Athens, Bravo-Seven. Copy. Convoy mission phase one nearing conclusion.”

  Another minute of silence passed.

  “Bravo-Seven… do take care. LZ is marked hot.”

  “Air Command Athens,” Carter replied, tension creeping into his voice, “what do you mean the LZ is marked hot?”

  A long pause.

  “Bravo-Seven, belay my last. False alarm.”

  Carter shot a flat look at his co-pilot.

  “Air Command Athens, this is Sky-Corporal Sterns, callsign Bravo-Six of Bravo-Charlie-Six. Your last transmission is belayed.”

  Another delay—longer this time—before the final reply came through.

  “Bravo-Six, that’s a copy.”

  The channel went dead.

  #

  Bravo-Six, co-pilot aboard the EMV-Valk-class warship , was Eren Sterns—a young man who had reached the rank of Sky-Corporal far earlier than most. Today, he was partnered with Sky-General Salmon Carter himself.

  Eren slowly turned in his seat.

  Behind them, framed by the open rear doors of the aircraft, stood Yaxon Staffire, one hand lazily gripping the ceiling handle as he stared out at the distant horizon like this was nothing more than a scenic flight.

  “What a guy…” Eren murmured.

  He glanced back at Carter.

  “You ever work with him before, General?”

  “Corporal… I’ve served forty years in the King’s Army. Twenty years mandatory. The other twenty for funsies.”

  Carter exhaled through his nose. “I’ve only seen that man once before today. Believe me—it’s best we avoid even breathing the same air as him.”

  Eren turned around again.

  Yaxon was picking his ear.

  Then he sneezed.

  “…Why?” Eren asked.

  “It’s not that he’s stronger than us. Or that he could fold our minds into paste just because he feels like it,” Carter said flatly. “No. That man is more than a monster. He gets under your skin. Slowly. Crawling. Patient. Effortless.”

  Eren swallowed.

  “You wouldn’t even feel it happening,” Carter continued. “Then you make one wrong comment. Look at him a certain way he doesn’t like—and it’s over for you.”

  “Over… for you?” Eren asked, his voice tightening.

  “Exactly. Over.” Carter nodded. “He once forced a highly decorated admiral to attend his own daughter’s wedding naked. The man was already on thin ice with his kid, and after that day?”

  Carter shook his head. “Never forgiven. Not even close.”

  Eren blinked.

  “Get sharp,” Carter snapped, gripping the controls. “We’re here.”

  He tilted the joystick and initiated the landing sequence. The EMV-Valk touched down hard on empty sand roughly seventy miles west of Alexandria, turbines still roaring at full blast—ready for immediate liftoff.

  Yaxon hopped down and slapped the hull twice.

  “All good here,” he said casually, already facing the endless desert horizon. “You guys can leave.”

  “Copy that, Captain,” Carter replied. “We’ll be roughly twenty klicks out. Summon us if you need us.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Yaxon slid his white-gloved hands into his robe pockets and started walking.

  The warship was gone from sight in under three minutes.

  Eren noticed Carter had pushed the Valk into flank speed.

  “…Uh, General?” Eren asked. “Why are we moving so fast?”

  “Trust me, Sterns,” Carter said quietly. “What that man’s capable of—what he’s about to do out there?”

  He paused.

  “I almost pity the target. You should pray we get enough distance.”

  Eren’s eyes widened behind his helmet as he swallowed hard.

  #

  Yaxon groaned.

  He had been walking for nearly thirty minutes straight. Sweat rolled down his forehead, dripping from his hair and hissing as it hit the sand. He tugged at the collar of his inner shirt, trying to pull in some air—but the heat was dry and suffocating.

  He let it snap back into place, the black spandex-like material clinging wetly to his neck.

  “…Screw this, it's so damn hot!” he muttered.

  “Why’d I ever come here? So stupid…”

  He wiped his forehead with the sleeve of his robes. It didn’t help. It only smeared the sweat around, his sleeves already completely drenched.

  “Damn… why am I wearing black?” he muttered. “If that woman doesn’t show up soon, I’m just gonna have to barbecue the next lizard I see.”

  In that same moment he saw a lizard scurry quickly towards a rock and digging under it.

  "Nope."

  He drew his wand and fired a short pulse of light about ten feet in front of him. A green, oval-shaped portal snapped open. Without breaking stride, he reached inside and pulled out a cold can of soda and a sizzling kebab, eating and drinking as he continued walking.

  Nearly three minutes passed like that—chewing, sipping, strolling—before his eyes suddenly pulsed and glowed. He squinted and looked up at the sky.

  “Huh… that’s weird,” he said slowly. “I don’t remember putting down a magical domain with precise conditions…”

  “Ahh, so it’s true,” a voice cooed from somewhere in the distance, smooth and seductive.

  Yaxon closed his eyes. He finished the last few bites of his kebab, drained the remainder of his drink, and casually tossed both away. Then he turned his head to the left—exactly toward the source of the voice.

  He opened his eyes to reveal their galactic glow.

  "You know... if you're gonna sweat that much, at least use a cooling enchantment. I get that it's hot here. I could leave if you want." A woman's voice purred.

  "Why would I? I had to stink myself up to draw out the dog! They have incredible senses you know? And check it out, it worked!" Yaxon said before narrowing his eyes.

  "Ha!" The woman scoffed. “look at how cold your stare is… it’s ironic how hot you look right now, you know?”

  “You know what else is hot?” Yaxon replied flatly.

  “Let me guess,” she said, amused. “Unfortunately, you’re not going to say . You’re going to dramatically point at the sky and say… I don’t know. ?”

  Yaxon’s lips curled into a bright grin.

  He stuck his hips out, snapped into an exaggerated pose, and dramatically pointed a finger toward the sky like a budget Elvis.

  “The desert!”

  The woman snickered—then broke into full laughter.

  Yaxon held the pose.

  Eventually, she stopped laughing and straightened. Her wand was already drawn in her right hand. She reached up and removed her purple veil, letting her full outfit come into view.

  Yaxon saw everything clearly.

  Though they were nearly two miles apart, he watched her with open appreciation as she shed her layers. "Whoa damn! You're smoking!"

  “Enjoying the show, handsome?” she said, catching his gaze.

  She slipped out of the long robe around her shoulders, leaving herself in what looked like a purple sports bra and a skirt that flowed all the way down to her ankles. Her toned abdomen was exposed—not a single drop of sweat on her skin. A silver crown adorned with green jewels rested atop her head, shimmering under the clear sky and blazing sunlight.

  Her purple eyes shifted to blue.

  Now she could see Yaxon just as clearly as he saw her.

  “Come on!” Yaxon called out, crossing his arms and nodding appreciatively as he rubbed his chin. “That was so good, I gotta ask—put it all back on and do it again."

  Suddenly, his right ear buzzed.

  “Yaxon! What the hell are you saying?!” a voice snapped through the earpiece.

  “Huh? Kai???”

  “That witch is your target! And—and think about your wife!”

  “Aww, come on!” Yaxon groaned. “What a buzzkill!”

  He heard an audible facepalm crackle through the comm—and he couldn’t help but giggle.

  “Aww! You missed my show—I just repeated it ” the woman practically purred.

  “WHAT?!” Yaxon yelped, nearly tripping over his own feet. “N-NO! PLEASE! I GOT DISTRACTED! DO IT AGAIN! DO IT AGAIN!!!”

  “Ohh~” she cooed. “No second chances. I already fulfilled your request. It’s only fair you return the favor.”

  “Done,” Yaxon said, snapping his fingers to seal the deal.

  “YAXON!” Kai screamed through the earpiece. “AIMEE WILL BE UPSET!”

  “Relax, relax,” Yaxon whispered back. “She doesn’t have to know!”

  “Dude. Are you serious?!”

  “As for my request…” the woman continued sweetly, her voice dipping into something dangerous. “I simply ask that you lie down on the ground… and let mama Minerva kill you.”

  Yaxon let out a low whistle. “Damn. That’s one tough and needy request!”

  Minerva laughed with all her heart, warm and unrestrained, before pointing her wand back at him.

  Then it flew out of her hands.

  “Huh?!”

  She whipped her head around just in time to see her wand land in the sand like a half-sheathed sword. Her gaze snapped back to Yaxon, frustration flashing across her face.

  He was standing in a textbook dueling stance, his wand outstretched in his left hand.

  He had fired a small, precise, basic mana bolt from two miles away—and cleanly struck her wand square on.

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  “Huh? Oh—sorry. My bad!” Yaxon said casually. “You were just incredibly open, and my ADHD kinda got the best of me.”

  “A-Are you kidding me?!” Minerva growled. “Ugh!”

  She stormed back and snatched her wand from the sand.

  Yaxon shrugged, chuckling to himself, then whistled once more as he watched her bend over.

  “Holy shit, baby. What an ass!”

  “Thanks!” Minerva shouted back, deliberately arching her back a little further before straightening and reclaiming her wand.

  “Yaxon, I swear, if you break Aimee’s heart over that vixen—!”

  Minerva giggled as Yaxon rolled his eyes, shaking his head. He leaned closer to his earpiece and whispered,

  “Hey… relax. I got this. You know I love Aimee too much to ever do that.”

  “Really? You had me fooled!” Kai deadpanned. “But please—just capture her alive. Don’t kill Dyaless.”

  “Eh,” Yaxon replied. “I’ll try. No guarantees.”

  Minerva tilted her head. “So… what’s it gonna be, babe? I’m waiting.”

  “Oh, honey,” Yaxon said with a grin, “if you ask me one more time that sweetly, I’d do anything for you.”

  “Oh really?” she purred. “Then stand perfectly still for me. I’ll take care of the rest…”

  She flicked her wand upward.

  Yaxon blinked once.

  Then realized he was falling. Into an endless pit.

  A single, booming crash echoed across the desert as he was swallowed whole by a creature nearly half a mile in diameter—its massive jaws snapping shut with such force that a physical shockwave rippled outward in all directions.

  The wave reached Minerva, blowing her hair back as she laughed, arms crossed. She nodded in approval, then reached out with her mind.

  “See?” she said calmly through telepathy. “That wasn’t too hard. A little charm, a little show… and everyone folds. Even legends.”

  “Why do you sound like you’ve successfully eliminated Staffire?” a voice echoed back to her.

  Minerva bit her lower lip as she responded silently, watching her gargantuan summon gulp once.

  “As far as you’re concerned,” she replied calmly, “consider him eliminated.”

  “…You used Suna-tae, didn’t you?”

  “Uhm… yeah?”

  “…That wasn't enough. Good luck with the next part.”

  “Good luck?” Minerva frowned, confused, and turned her attention back to the creature.

  Its massive eyes continued to swivel in opposite directions like a chameleon’s. It remained half-buried in the sand—exactly as it should be. Nothing was wrong.

  Minerva held her breath.

  One minute passed.

  Then two.

  Then nearly five painfully long minutes.

  Nothing.

  She finally exhaled and twirled her wand with a dismissive flick. “Yeah… I don’t know what that crazy man was so afraid of.”

  Her gaze drifted away, a hint of disappointment crossing her face.

  “Though…” she muttered softly, “I kind of wanted this to last a bit longer…”

  She stared at the creature.

  It opened its mouth slightly and exhaled. The sound that came out was a long, deep hiss. The air above its lips wavered violently, heat haze rippling outward. The creature was healthy. Whole. Undisturbed.

  Minerva’s shoulders relaxed just a fraction.

  “Damn…” she muttered. “Is he really dead? The so-called strongest sorcerer alive, taken out in one move?” She let out a disappointed breath, sheathing her wand at her hip. “Did I really overprepare for nothing…?”

  She turned away.

  “Such a bummer.”

  Pop.

  The sound echoed unnaturally across the desert.

  Minerva froze.

  She whipped around and–

  Her summon was gone.

  No—.

  The massive creature lay scattered across the sand like a ruptured latex balloon, its remains splattered in streaks of deep purple across the dunes. Guts and ichor steamed as they hit the ground.

  And at the center of it all—

  A man stood.

  Iridescent, galactic eyes of violet and blue burned beneath white hair. His wand rested loosely in his left hand as he touched down lightly on the sand. His robes were shredded and charred, peeling away in smoking tatters. Even the black shirt beneath was torn and ruined.

  But his skin—

  Not a scratch.

  He casually pulled off the last remnants of the robes, letting them fall away.

  “Oh yeah…” he murmured, almost amused. “You seem like fun.”

  Minerva didn’t speak.

  She .

  The desert detonated.

  Not once.

  Not twice.

  But again—and again—and again.

  

  A shockwave ripped across the sand as Yaxon vanished from where he stood. Minerva felt it before she saw it—the pressure, the displacement, the wrongness of space folding in on itself. She warped sideways just as a white flash carved through the air where her head had been.

  

  Sand exploded skyward in a towering plume. Yaxon reappeared mid-strike, his heel inches from her ribs before she vanished again in a crack of violet light.

  

  Another flash. Another crater. The desert floor split and shattered like glass beneath divine weight. Minerva backtracked instinctively, teleporting deeper and deeper into the wasteland, miles deeper. Her breath hitching as she barely kept pace with death.

  

  Boom.

  Boom.

  Each impact came faster than the last.

  A chain of thunderclaps echoed across the dunes as if the sky itself were collapsing—bursts of light streaking from one horizon to the next. Every single one was Yaxon. Every single one was lethal.

  Three minutes.

  Fifty times?

  Sixty?

  She lost count.

  Every escape was narrower than the last. A shoulder grazed. An inch of her dress tore. Heat licked her skin as a kick passed close enough to cauterize the air. She could feel him now—always behind her, always closer than physics should allow.

  

  She threw up a barrier without thinking. It shattered instantly.

  

  She countered with a curse ray mid-warp. It dispersed like mist.

  

  Her mana screamed. Her heart pounded. The desert behind her was no longer sand—it was a graveyard of glassed craters and fractured earth, each one marking a moment she should have died.

  Then—

  Silence.

  Minerva skidded to a halt, chest heaving, wand trembling in her grip. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

  She looked up.

  A mile away.

  Yaxon stood perfectly still, wand lowered, The hem of his battered black t-shirt fluttering gently as if none of it had cost him anything at all.

  Her blood ran cold.

  “That’s enough warm-up,” he said calmly.

  And then—

  A multilayered purple barrier erupted in front of her as she braced—but it didn’t matter.

  Yaxon crossed the mile distance in an instant.

  Before her defenses fully solidified, he was already there—his leg arcing in a brutal swing aimed straight for her head.

  She barely caught it, arms crossed, the impact sending shockwaves through her body and the sand beneath them.

  “You’re good!” he shouted, grinning.

  “Eat shit!” Minerva snarled back, firing a barrage of Starbeams.

  Yaxon answered with a single spell.

  His divine laser tore through the starbeams effortlessly, crushing them into nothing as it surged forward—straight toward Minerva.

  She warped out of the blast zone just in time, reappearing as high as she could above the battlefield. Without hesitation, she pointed her wand forward.

  A purple-pink magic circle snapped open above Yaxon as he landed.

  He didn’t look up.

  He didn’t even flinch.

  He simply kept his gaze forward, smiling—his eyes still glowing with that eerie, galactic light.

  The spell fired.

  It annihilated the area.

  Dust, ash, and molten sand erupted outward in a violent wave. When the smoke finally cleared, nearly everything within the radius had been burned down to glass.

  Everything—

  Except Yaxon.

  He stood at the center, completely untouched. Even the sand beneath his feet remained pristine.

  Minerva’s breath caught.

  “How did he—gkk!”

  Yaxon appeared above her.

  An axe kick slammed down onto her shoulder with crushing force, sending her rocketing toward the ground.

  She hit hard, rolling several times before skidding to a stop. Gasping, she pushed herself onto her hands and knees, coughing sand from her lungs. Her silver crown had shifted crookedly on her head.

  She grimaced and quickly adjusted it.

  The crown flared faintly as it settled back into its rightful position.

  When she looked up—

  Yaxon was hovering calmly in the air, exactly where she had been moments before.

  “What are you doing down there, hon?” Yaxon called out calmly. “Don’t disappoint me now… you know what happens to bad girls… right?”

  His voice darkened as he his grin widened eerily.

  “They get punished.”

  Minerva forced herself back onto her feet and raised her wand at him, grinning through the pain.

  “Oh yeah?” she taunted. “You better punish me real hard for all the bad things I’ve done, daddy!”

  She fired a fully charged curse ray straight at Yaxon.

  He flicked it aside with his wand like it was nothing.

  She fired again.

  Then again.

  Then a thousand times in the span of a heartbeat.

  The sky filled with violet streaks—cursed rays overlapping, screaming toward him in a violent storm.

  Yaxon smiled.

  He kicked off nothing in midair and barreled straight toward her, plunging directly into the barrage. His speed didn’t falter. His body didn’t slow. His left arm moved faster than his descent, flicking each incoming ray away with blistering precision.

  One after another. Thousands of them.

  His grin widened—maniacal, thrilled.

  Minerva snarled and opened ten massive magic circles in the air at once, their edges crackling with purple-pink energy. She swung her wand downward.

  On command, every circle fired.

  The blasts collided with something invisible.

  Each spell detonated on impact—slamming into an unseen barrier that rippled faintly in the air.

  “Is that—” she gasped.

  She never finished the thought.

  Yaxon landed right behind her.

  Minerva spun and threw a kick. He slipped past it like he was dancing. She followed with punches, chops, sweeping strikes—each one dodged or smoothly redirected.

  He didn’t counter.

  Grinding her teeth, Minerva activated Stellar Implosion.

  The space around her body detonated outward in a violent shockwave, forcing Yaxon to back off as the ground fractured beneath them. She used the opening instantly, firing Stellar Ray straight at him.

  “Got you—!”

  But instead of dodging, Yaxon grabbed the beam.

  Using its own momentum, he swung himself up the stream of light—his wand the only point of contact—riding the Stellar Ray straight toward its source.

  Straight toward .

  Minerva panicked and warped upward once more, reappearing high in the sky. She thrust her wand upward, pointing it toward the heavens.

  Multiple points of light bloomed in the clear blue sky like artificial stars—small, white, and distant at first. Then they grew brighter. Brighter. Until they screamed.

  Lanced strikes of light came crashing down.

  This time, they weren’t random.

  Each one struck precisely where Yaxon stood.

  Correction—where he stood.

  He dodged every single one.

  A smooth sidestep.

  A half step forward.

  A lean back.

  All while his eyes remained closed.

  His wand swayed lazily in his hand, as if he were conducting a symphony rather than avoiding death.

  Minerva’s eye twitched.

  Disbelief twisted into something uglier. Something personal.

  Then—a magic circle snapped open directly beneath Yaxon’s feet.

  He stopped moving.

  The lances from the sky struck again.

  They crashed into something unseen.

  The invisible barrier rippled faintly—but there was no incantation. No casting motion. No ward formation.

  Her breath hitched.

  The magic circle beneath him fired— this time.

  Minerva’s lips twitched into a fragile smile.

  Too late.

  Something tapped her lower back.

  “Here I am!” His voice was right behind her as he chirped.

  A Phoenix Bolt detonated point-blank.

  Minerva was hurled through the air at mach speed—only for Yaxon to reappear in front of her mid-flight. He slammed both fists down in a brutal arc, driving her straight into the ground.

  The earth screamed as she hit.

  This time, when she forced herself back to her feet, Minerva coughed violently. She wiped a thin trail of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand.

  Then she laughed.

  The sound echoed across the desert—light at first, then unhinged, bouncing endlessly through the open sands.

  Yaxon smiled at the sight as he gently lowered himself to the ground, one hand resting on his hip. He didn’t rush her. Didn’t interrupt. He tilted his head slightly, allowing her the courtesy of speaking.

  “I get it…” she said between giggles. “I… hehe… I forced you to use your dispell technique, didn’t I?”

  Yaxon said nothing. He simply watched her, that same relaxed smile never leaving his face.

  “Oh yeah… come on, tough guy.” She raised her wand and began waving it erratically—up, down, over and over again. “Without it? You’re nothing!”

  The ground trembled.

  Then it .

  Pillars and jagged spikes of earth erupted upward in a violent flash. The desert itself roared as the terrain warped. The ground beneath Yaxon split apart, forcing him to leap backward—casual, unbothered, reacting more out of courtesy than necessity.

  When he landed, the landscape was unrecognizable.

  Nearly five miles of desert had been reshaped into a nightmare of broken terrain. Massive spikes of stone jutted at impossible angles. Enormous pillars floated vertically in the air, suspended as if gravity itself had been rewritten.

  Yaxon slowly scanned the devastation.

  Then he sighed.

  “…They really never learn, huh?”

  “Bring it on, asshole!” Minerva’s voice echoed from somewhere within the warped field surrounding Yaxon.

  “Fine. Guess I will,” Yaxon replied casually. “If you don’t want me to use everything I have, I won’t. Real bummer. I thought you’d be a lot more fun than that.”

  A moment of silence followed.

  Then his eyes glowed.

  “Oh,” he added, his grin widening. “You took that to heart, didn’t you? Pulling out all the stops, are we?”

  His smile grew broader—not from concern, but from excitement.

  What he was seeing was undeniable.

  Minerva had successfully executed and simultaneously—and cleanly. Her mana output efficiency skyrocketed nearly twentyfold, while the surge granted her access to the mana pools of every living, organic thing in the vicinity.

  “I like this,” he shouted, laughter bleeding into his voice. “Come on! Let’s have some real fun!”

  He shot upward just as a floating pillar crashed down where he had stood moments earlier. He zipped from pillar to pillar, closing the distance toward Minerva in a blur of motion.

  But she had anticipated this.

  Each time he reappeared, a new threat awaited him—random celestial bolts, beams of eviscerating light, and magic circles tuned to annihilate him mid-movement.

  Then the battlefield shifted again.

  Yellow- and purple-shaded portals tore open in the air. From them emerged snarling creatures, their hollowed moans echoing across the field. Their chorus rose as they materialized fully—each wielding weapons formed from light. Swords, halberds sculpted from swirling golden gradients, bows already drawn, spears and axes.

  Starbeams rained down as they fired in unison, each one fueled by Minerva’s casting.

  Yaxon chuckled.

  He raised his wand and spoke, his voice echoing unnaturally as he chanted a single word.

  

  A pulse of rainbow light erupted from his wand, moving at the speed of light. It auto-targeted the celestial creatures, piercing through them before they could even react.

  One by one, then hundreds more.

  As the final strikes landed, the creatures detonated into shimmering, glittering dust—scattered across the sky like dying stars.

  Ixa began slaying the creatures faster than they could emerge, rapidly reducing the entire battlefield to zero summons.

  Minerva panted as she raised her wand, firing concentrated beams of pure starlight at the slightest blur—any hint of Yaxon’s presence. But he was moving faster than she could track.

  She grit her teeth and began prefiring zones, floating above her pillar and anticipating where he would appear next. A swirl of purple-pink wind wrapped around her as she charged a brand-new spell.

  Multiple magic circles and points of light materialized around her, arranged into a perfect sphere.

  She fired everything simultaneously.

  The spells didn’t even have time to fade before she felt a footstep behind her.

  Her wand conjured a light shield just in time. It rang out with a sharp

  as Yaxon’s wand—now wreathed in a blade of light—slammed into it.

  “Ha! This is awesome!” he shouted, kicking the shield dead center.

  Even though it held, Minerva was sent flying—launched through the battlefield she had created. She crashed into a floating pillar of dirt with a pained gasp before hurling back down to the ground.

  When she landed, her legs shook violently.

  Her eyes widened when she saw her wand lying in the sand in front of her.

  She couldn’t push herself up this time and instead sank to her knees, looking up.

  Yaxon stood right above her.

  He lifted his wand and pointed it at her head.

  “Damn… it’s been a while since I’ve gone this hard,” he said with a smile. “You were fun. And my orders are to bring you in alive, but let’s face it…”

  He closed his eyes.

  And he felt everything.

  He saw it all—the dead. Souls forever trapped in mourning and regret. The people Minerva slaughtered. Every EHD soldier. Every innocent man, woman, and child who tried to flee but were too late.

  There were hundreds of thousands.

  No.

  He felt every single one of them watching. Waiting. Being avenged. Watching .

  His grip tightened slightly around his wand.

  “I kinda want your corpse instead,” he said coldly.

  Minerva shuddered and squeezed her eyes shut.

  Before Yaxon could react, she chanted.

  He leapt backward in pure urgency.

  “” her voice echoed.

  And just like that, she shifted—from drawing on mana to burning her own life force.

  She raised her wand and fired a Star Strike straight at his head.

  Yaxon crossed his arms and blocked—but then it came.

  Millions upon millions of star fragments rained down on him.

  This time, they didn’t strike an invisible barrier.

  Every single one landed.

  Every.

  Single.

  One.

  Sand and debris kicked up into the air until a sandstorm formed, sparkles of white and yellow shimmering within it.

  Minerva kept her wand pointed forward until the final strike landed with a dull thud.

  But she felt it.

  Dread flared in her chest.

  “Come forth, ” she gasped.

  A ray of light-blue energy struck her square in the chest from beyond the wall of sand.

  For a moment, she felt light. Weightless.

  She tried to chant her multi-step spell again—but nothing happened.

  She flicked her wand.

  Nothing.

  Then a hand clamped around her throat.

  She exhaled sharply, startled.

  “Gotcha,” Yaxon said coolly, smiling as he forced her to her feet, his grip tightening around her neck.

  She struggled, gasping for air as she grabbed and clawed at his arm. Yaxon calmly sheathed his wand, then tore Minerva’s wand from her grip with a sharp yank.

  He released her, letting her collapse at his feet.

  Her wand pulsed once in his hand.

  Yaxon nodded, then tucked it into his back pocket.

  Minerva coughed violently, dragging air back into her lungs before glancing up at him.

  “Heh… looks like I needed that luck after all…”

  “Come on,” he replied, crossing his arms, still smiling. “You seriously don’t think you would’ve won—even if you had all the luck in the world, did you?”

  “…No,” she chuckled.

  Then she broke into another fit of laughter.

  Yaxon simply watched her, his expression easy.

  “Well, mister hero. Looks like you need to get busy making a corpse, right?”

  “Yup. But seriously, don’t offend me by calling me a hero.”

  “What? Ha! You kinda are, aren’t you? The legendary Staffire. The strongest sorcerer in the world, reducing Minerva Dyaless—the Ace-class sorcerer threat—to dirt and blood.”

  Yaxon looked around at the destruction and mess of the desert.

  “Nah. Sure, part of that is me. But I’d never be the hero. I’m just a weapon.”

  He drew his wand and pointed it straight at the center of Minerva’s chest. Red energy pooled at the tip. Her breathing visibly grew more panicked despite the smile still brightly worn on her face, her chest frantically rising and falling as she looked up at him from the ground.

  “O-Oh yeah? The weapon of the people, are you?” she stammered, her lips parting as she softly hyperventilated.

  “Not exactly.”

  “Well…” Minerva let out a weak chuckle. “The world will never stop seeing you as anything but a hero. The one who can always win it all.”

  “I know. But a different man is the true hero of Egypt.”

  Minerva couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. They shimmered and swirled as they glowed hauntingly.

  Yaxon’s smile dropped. His eyes narrowed, his expression darkening.

  “His name was Rico Quasar.”