Kyran’s intuition caught the danger faster than anyone else.

He saw how the Blood Moon shattered—from being struck by the light beam, and the crimson wolves that it had coughed out were now being pulled back into its realm. But the anger looming in the air has not subsided.

It wasn’t over yet.

And he was completely in the right.

Instead of accepting defeat with grace and disappearing amicably, the crimson wolves became even more feral and merged into one to make one last-ditch attempt to decimate Dargena City. One powerful strike that surpassed anything they had thrown since the start of this invasion, brushing the tenth-rank realm.

Such destructive power is beyond what the empire was prepared to endure.

Kyran leapt and tried to reach the giant crimson wolf, attempting to distract its channeling.

But he was already too late.

His claws raked through the empty air—a heartbeat too late.

The enormous sphere of blood was already streaked through the sky, heading straight to Dargena City.

Swoosh—!

It carried such dense energy that its passage alone left a crimson trail through the sky, thick, and seemed almost solid as though the air itself had been charred. Not a single defensive layer of Dargena City can stop it or even diminish its strength.

Even the barrier, the city’s final bulwark, cracked on impact.

It couldn’t buy a minute.

It couldn’t even buy ten seconds.

Bam—!

One spiteful swipe from the giant crimson wolf swatted Kyran to the ground.

"No!!"

Many of his bones were broken from the spiteful swipe, but Kyran forced himself to stand and continued on running straight toward the city. He dropped to all fours like a wounded beast—cruising through the forest at extreme speed.

But even as the trees blurred past, he knew. He would not arrive in time.

Not when the barrier was on the verge of crumbling.

Crack—!

A thunderous crack resounded as the barrier collapsed.

Kyran’s heart plummeted to his stomach, but at the same exact moment, a streak of flame collided with the sphere of blood. A splash of fire swallowed the entire sky above Dargena City, causing panic—and unrest to spread across the people.

All of them knew whose energy this belonged to, including Kyran.

It was Ryze’s.

"Ryze?!" Kyran’s eyes flew wide.

He had not expected Ryze to make the sacrificial play, to throw himself directly into the sphere of blood.

But what surprised Kyran the most was what came next. As the flames—and the Blood Moon’s energy collided, spreading destructive waves everywhere—the sphere stopped. It encountered a force equal to its own and simply halted, suspended against Ryze’s defiance.

"How is that kid so strong?!" He sucked in a cold breath. "That was a tenth-rank realm attack from a Godling! And he stopped it alone?"

Last time Kyran checked, Ryze doesn’t even have a ninth-rank realm power.

Even though he had fully absorbed Zaddrass, one of the Heavenly Dragons, he was still young and had nobody around to help him control and make use of his bloodline. Or at least to Kyran’s knowledge, he was all alone.

So, seeing Ryze achieve this was quite a shocker.

’Is a Dragonman considered a Dragon? If so, then it made sense.’

As the Second Breath dawned upon the world, the elevated energy benefited the mutated animals first.

Kyran suspected that Ryze, due to the bloodline inside him, was mistaken by the world as a Dragonman or even a Dragon. And that was how he could exert this much raw strength. Regardless, this was a good thing.

More time for Kyran to reach the city.

Swoosh—!

Nearing the end of the forest, Kai heard a voice calling out to him.

A wicked voice.

It was easy to tell whose voice this was—the Witch of Chaos.

’Charge straight to the big tree to your right.’

Kyran didn’t believe the Witch of Chaos at all, not after everything she had done. But time is the enemy right now, and hesitation was a luxury he couldn’t afford. Like a wolf breaking into a speed chase, he pivoted and bolted straight for an oddly enormous tree with branches stretching wider than it stood tall.

Upon impact, the tree didn’t break.

Heck, Kyran didn’t even feel that he crashed into something solid.

Instead, he felt like slamming into a wall of ink—the world around him twisted, and before his senses could catch up, he was standing right outside the walls of Dargena City. It was a warping Hex, or close to that, but it didn’t matter right now.

He leaped to the ramparts in a single bound and levelled his gaze at the stationed soldiers.

"What are you all doing?! Activate the Kingdom of War formation—now!"

Every single soldier was drilled on the steps to secure the city.

Each step was already branded into their skulls, so Kyran was surprised when he saw the Kingdom of War formation hadn’t been activated yet. It was easy to tell that it was not active from the fact that the turrets on the walls hadn’t emerged.

"Nothing we can do, Lord Kyran," One of them said helplessly. "We can’t activate it..."

"What do you mean you can’t activate it?!"

"Look!"

The soldier peered over the rampart and gestured downward.

Inside the gate, blood had already pooled deep, and it wasn’t only the gate, but the entire capital city lay submerged in a rising crimson flood. Another impact thundered between Ryze and the sphere of blood, and the blood surged higher, as though the city itself were a sinking basin.

It was now already reaching the shin.

Just the energy splashes from the devastating sphere of blood alone turned stone and ground to blood.

"Gather every soldier to push away the blood and activate the formation!"

Kyran wasted no time and leapt away after giving the command.

He launched himself from the ramparts, leaping from rooftop to rooftop in a swift, unbroken rhythm toward the castle. He also roared at the people to get back indoors, as their houses were equipped to keep them safe in this kind of situation.

Midway through, he glanced skyward, and what he saw tightened his chest.

Ryze was being driven back.

His flames bleeding into crimson as the blood sphere slowly, hungrily devoured them.

"Hold on!" He roared from below. "Hold on a bit longer!!"

Seeing Kyran arriving, hope returned to Ryze’s eyes.

But his wings were already dissolving into blood, and the bones in his arms were breaking, forcing him to let out a painful scream. Unlike Rex or Kyran, he wasn’t used to pain. And he’s also not a werewolf. He wasn’t prepared to endure this level of pain.

Even if his body was strong enough, his mind isn’t.

Kyran landed in the courtyard and immediately saw Ugrok and also Delta guarding the main gate.

"You two, go inside and bring Rex’s body to safety. Go south. Buried him outside of the city!"

He moved again, scaling the tower.

Above all else, he needed to bring Calidora to safety. Even though the castle is the most fortified across the entire city, thus the safest, Kyran doesn’t want to take any chances. Not when there was Rex’s child on the line that needed to be prioritized.

Instead of relying on the castle’s strength, better for them to avoid being nearby at all.

Avoid the sphere of blood entirely.

Kyran’s claws sank into the stone as he climbed faster and faster.

Everything slowed down in his vision. His peripheries bled into a meaningless blur, narrowing his focus to a single, razor-sharp point—the glassless window where Calidora should be. His own breaths were all he could hear, rough and laboured, while the surroundings were drowned in a deafening silence.

Silence that had swallowed every other sound.

He heard a sharp sound piercing through the air.

As he looked over his shoulder, he saw the last remnant of the Blood Moon, right before it disappeared, fire a stream of blood that descended like a sky spear. The world’s energy blocked most, but a strand managed to slip through and slammed onto the sphere of blood.

That sudden force reverberated through the entire body and slammed into Ryze in a physical blow.

Ryze squealed in pain as his fire evaporated and he fell downward like a fallen angel.

In a split second, the sphere of blood slammed against the barrier protecting the castle.

Every ounce of energy the castle had been storing was used all at once, strengthening the protective barrier to the absolute limit. It gave enough time for Kyran to reach the bed chamber, and his eyes were fixed on the pale Calidora.

"Come on!" He roared, reaching out his hand toward her. "We need to go right now!"

"I... I don’t want to go," She whispered, eyes fixated on the sphere of blood. "Rex will protect me."

"Are you serious?!" Kyran stepped down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her forcefully. "He’s not in this realm right now. He can’t protect you!"

"No! I don’t want to!"

"Don’t be stupid! If you stay here, you and your child will die!"

"We won’t die! As long as Rex is still alive—"

"But he’s not here right now!" Kyran’s grip tightened around her wrist, resolve hardening. If she wouldn’t come willingly, he’d drag her. Whatever had gotten into Calidora’s head, this was no moment for debate. "Forgive me for this, but I’m taking you away. Now."

"No!" Calidora struggled. "I don’t want to leave!"

She tried reaching for everything with her hands, even using her Eyes of Terror to stop Kyran.

But she was too weak to do anything right now.

Her abilities did little to no damage.

Kyran’s danger sense flared.

He looked up. A crack had formed in the barrier, no larger than a basketball—and from it, a lance of pure blood shot forth. It streaked downward with murderous intent, aimed not at Calidora—but at her belly. At the child within. A message carved in crimson for Rex.

In time, Kyran stepped in the way, using his body as a shield.

Splash—!

Not stopping there, he activated the Ice and Snow King Mark and infused it into the big lance.

Calidora’s eyes widened as she watched the lance slow down to a stop an inch away from her belly.

She was breathless, arms wrapped around her belly like it were the most precious thing in the world.

Right now, it was.

"Harghh..."

Kyran vomited a mouthful of blood as he held the lance in place, keeping one leg stretched behind him and the other anchored heavily against the ground. He could feel the lance was pushing back his kingly energy; he couldn’t hold on for long.

"R-Run..." He looked at Calidora over his shoulder. "Run, now!"

Snapping out of her daze, she scooted aside.

But she stopped abruptly and turned her face sideways in time.

She narrowly avoided another lance of blood that almost stabbed her head.

Crash!

Calidora looked aside and saw the big lance of blood stabbing into the wall. She pulled her head back, and blood drizzled down from her cheek as she was cut. She stayed completely still, not daring to move even a little bit.

"Witch!" Kyran called out the name. "Take her away!"

Cursed energy swirled beside Calidora, but another lance of blood pierced through it.

A yelp echoed as the Witch of Chaos’ presence was blown away.

She couldn’t rescue Calidora.

Kyran looked up, heart pounding inside his chest as the sphere of blood was breaking through.

He needed to move, but couldn’t move.

Before he could process it, his pupils dilated. The castle barrier cracked, and the sphere plummeted like a meteor of judgment. But at the very last breath—a blur intercepted its path. A shadow that plunged its hand clean into the blood sphere and twisted.

The sphere unraveled, dispersing into a violent shockwave of energy.

Swoosh—!

A torrent of energy expanded like a ring as the sphere of blood was shattered.

It brought along a force that decimated the city and uprooted the surrounding area.

Kyran blinked, his gaze lifting to the figure above him. "How in the world is this possible...?"