Falcon coughed, blood splattering onto the snow. His voice trembled—not with pain, but with fury. "Damn it... what happened to you? I've never seen anything like this... not even in the infected."
With a low growl, Falcon reached down. He didn't push Reiz away. He seized the blade of Reiz’s sword—which was still impaled through his own back and chest. Reiz’s eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you—?"
SHH-CHUNK. Falcon grit his teeth and pulled. He didn't pull the sword out; he pulled the sword forward, dragging Reiz with it. Falcon lifted the blade high, his muscles screaming, lifting Reiz off the ground by the hilt of his own weapon. The invader dangled helplessly, his boots kicking the air.
Azalor watched from a few paces away. He didn't intervene. He chuckled softly, his smile cold and cruel. "You are impressed? You've seen nothing yet. These boys... they are merely puppets. Failed experiments. Wait until you see what we've done in Leona..."
Falcon’s eyes widened with genuine horror. Leona. He had planned to send Majd there for safety. And Sidney... the girl was already on her way there. She was walking into a slaughterhouse.
He looked down at Majd and Wasim—remembering Yamen, the promise he made to his old friend, the hope he carried for the future. They're alive... I kept my word, old friend... barely.
Falcon smiled faintly. His hand, slick with his own blood, tightened around the blade of Reiz's burning grey-fire sword. "You think..." Falcon wheezed, staring up at the dangling Reiz. "You think someone like me dies from a pathetic strike like that?"
Reiz’s arrogance finally broke. Fear surfaced in his eyes.
Azalor stepped forward, raising a finger toward Falcon to end it. Falcon snarled, his blue aura flaring one last time. "I didn't survive the Black Calamity of these seas just to fall to a fool like you!"
Nearby, Lainas fought through his tears. "Suhail! Wake up!" The Broken Knight—Suhail—lunged with his shattered, corrupted blade. The movements were jerky, unnatural. Lainas dodged, countering with a slash across Suhail's neck, hoping to wake him. It did nothing. Suhail didn't even flinch.
A soldier of the Luminous Tree shouted, "Commander! Watch out!" Lainas stumbled back, clutching his own bleeding neck where Suhail had grazed him. He stared into his friend's lifeless eyes. "This... this is monstrous... They've made us fight our own people... the infected... and now the dead?"
A healer cried out from the backline, "Commander! That's not the real Suhail! His soul is gone! It's only a puppet of flesh!"
Lainas’s expression hardened. The grief vanished, replaced by a cold, sharp resolve. "So they'll force us to fight the corpses of our fallen too..." He tightened his grip on his enchanted wooden blade until the bark cracked. "I won't let them desecrate you any longer, old friend." He charged.
Thera had descended into absolute chaos. Gunfire echoed between the shattered huts. Black Order soldiers clashed with the towering armored knights they had summoned from the portals. The warriors of the Luminous Tree fought desperately beside the pirates, their green magic mixing with the flash of steel. Leonithran sailors stood divided—some fighting alongside the pirates, others frozen in confusion, their chain of command shattered.
And above it all, the snow fell. Thick, heavy, unnatural sheets of white. This was a tropical island. The heat here usually blistered the skin. Snow had not touched this ground for thousands of years. Its presence alone was impossible. It wasn't just weather; it was a violation of reality. Something unnatural, something foreign, was bleeding into the world and rewriting the laws of nature.
The Last Breath of Magic
Ethra watched her ship drift farther and farther away, carried by the violent currents Falcon was shaping even as he bled. The sea itself bent to his will, pushing his allies to safety so he could fight alone.
Valon attempted to materialize behind Falcon to finish the harvest, but the moment he stepped into the dense blue aura surrounding the Captain, he recoiled. His shadow form sizzled like water on a hot pan. "There's a strange aura..." Valon hissed, retreating into the mist. "It burns... It won't let me get close."
Falcon ignored the Reaper. He tightened his grip around Reiz's throat. The "Storm" struggled desperately, his boots scrabbling against the rock, unable to free himself. "Damn it! I can't pull away! Azalor! Help me!"
Reiz looked into Azalor's eyes—and froze. Azalor wasn't moving to help. He was raising his staff, aiming directly at both of them. Is he... Reiz thought, panic seizing his heart. Is he planning to kill the old man even if it means killing me too?!
Nearby, Lainas leapt forward with a roar. "For the planet of Silva!!"
He clashed with Suhail, their blades ringing in rapid succession. The undead knight pressed forward with unnatural strength, forcing Lainas back step by step. "You were always the strongest of the generals, Suhail..." Lainas growled, ducking a lethal swing. "But that doesn't mean you can defeat me—even in death."
He twisted, knocking Suhail’s blade aside with his wooden sword. He slammed his hand onto the earth. "Roots of the Ancients!" Weak, thin green sprouts burst upward, wrapping around Suhail's armored legs. They weren't the massive vines of legend; they were fragile, struggling things.
Lainas looked at the tiny plants with a bitter smile. "Look, Suhail... this is all that remains of our magic. Once, we could raise forests with a single strike... and now? Only these tiny green buds."
He charged again. A soldier shouted, "Commander! Do you need help?!" "No!" Lainas roared, blocking a heavy overhead smash. "I'll handle him myself. He deserves... one last honorable fight."
From the distance, Valon smiled and raised his scythe, pointing it at the duel. "Honorable? How boring." A violent violet aura erupted around Suhail, supercharging the corpse. "Commander! Watch out!"
Suhail struck—an explosive violet blow that sent Lainas staggering back, blood spilling down his side. But Lainas didn't fall. He screamed, pushing forward through the pain. A tree burst from the ground beside him—small, gnarled, but solid. Its branch twisted into a second wooden blade. Lainas seized it. Dual-Wielding.
He unleashed a flurry of strikes—wood against steel—driving Suhail back until the roots finally took hold, pinning the knight’s greaves to the earth. Suhail struggled to rise, but the wood held.
Lainas stepped forward. The rage vanished, leaving only sadness. He raised both blades. "No... not anymore. You've fought enough." He crossed his swords and delivered a final, decisive strike, severing the puppet strings holding the body together. "Rest in peace... Suhail."
The corrupted body fell still. The violet light faded from its eyes. Lainas withdrew his blades, breathing hard—just as a massive explosion erupted behind him. He turned sharply toward the coast. "The old man... Falcon?!"
Falcon slammed Reiz into the ground with overwhelming force, cracking the bedrock. Above them, the Dark Blue Star pulsed violently through the storm clouds, answering the Sea King's rage.
Azalor raised the Heart of Bastet high. "Valina is a nuisance," Azalor whispered. "Let us close the door."
CRACK-SNAP. The cold intensified instantly. The seawater around the island didn't just freeze; it flash-froze into solid, jagged glaciers. Valina, attempting to surface to help Falcon, smashed her head against a ten-foot layer of magical ice. Her roar was muffled, trapped beneath the surface.
Falcon stood alone on the frozen shore. He smiled down at Reiz, who lay crushed beneath him. Reiz stared up, terrified, seeing his own reflection in Falcon's dying eyes.
Falcon's voice was low, steady, and filled with ancient fury. "You thought you could kill me with tricks like these?"
The Sea King's Last Roar
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Reiz spat black blood, his voice strangled and trembling as Falcon crushed his windpipe. "Damn it... you insane old man... what is this strength...? We destroyed the Luminous Tree! You should be weak!"
Falcon glared down at him, eyes blazing with the light of the Blue Star. "You fools... Did you really think the Golden Generation would let you succeed so easily?!"
Azalor's brows rose—astonished, shaken, almost disbelieving.
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Falcon roared, the sound vibrating in the bones of every sailor on the sea. "Of course you thought that! Why?! Because you're a pack of arrogant idiots!"
He smiled through the blood pouring from his mouth and wounds. His body trembled, not from fear, but from the effort of holding back his own death. Then he shouted, his voice echoing across the ocean, reaching the retreating ships. "ALL OF YOU!! LISTEN TO ME!!"
The battlefield fell silent. "Take care of yourselves! continue our journey!! Promise me you'll live good lives! Finish what Captain Yamen began!" He laughed, a wet, rasping sound. "Don't weep for me! For me... I am just a ghost! A retired Admiral from a Kingdom that sank beneath these waves ages ago! My time passed long before you were born!"
Pirates screamed back from the decks of the retreating ships, voices cracking with grief. "Falcon! NO!! We can still go back together! This isn't the end!"
Falcon shook his head, blood dripping from his beard onto Reiz’s face. "No, you fools! This isn't the end—of course not! But I..." His voice softened, just for a moment. "I'm tired. And I'm asking you... to let me rest 225 years is enough for me."
Shock rippled through the pirates. Some cried. Some trembled. Some fell to their knees on the decks. The Sea King was asking for permission to sleep in the deep ocean.
Velins plunged into the sea and found Qaws sinking, unconscious, a trail of blood floating behind him. He dragged the assassin upward, Nawal wading in to help them reach the shore.
Nawal whispered, horrified, feeling the water push against her legs. "The old man... he's..." She looked toward the ocean. The waves weren't crashing in; they were flowing out. "He's changing the currents... reversing them... He’s pushing the ships away so they can't turn back."
Above them, the sky tore open. A blazing meteor, wrapped in Violet Fire, appeared above the clouds—falling straight toward the battlefield. Azalor’s final contingency.
Everyone froze. Falcon's voice thundered one last time, overpowering the roar of the meteor. "ALL OF YOU! SAIL SAFELY!!! I ENTRUST THIS WORLD TO YOU!"
Aseel wiped tears silently on the deck of the pirate ship. Ethra stared at the floorboards, furious and heartbroken, her fists clenching until her knuckles turned white. A pirate screamed, "RETREAT! FULL SAIL!"
Falcon smiled as he looked down at Reiz—pinning the "Storm" to the ground by the throat. Meanwhile, Wasim, his eyes still void-black, stabbed his daggers into Falcon's stomach and side, over and over. Falcon didn't even flinch. He didn't push them away.
Azalor murmured, watching the scene. "So... he knew my plan. He saw the meteor coming... Truly an irritating old man." He narrowed his eyes, sensing something wrong. "That explains their strange strength. We destroyed the Luminous Tree—they should be powerless. But something is interfering... What did you do, Shandriz...?"
Reiz, gasping for air, shouted. "AZALOR! HELP ME!"
Azalor raised his staff, his face devoid of mercy. "Very well..." KRA-KOOM. A surge of Black Lightning erupted from the staff, slamming into Falcon’s chest. The smell of burning flesh filled the air.
At the same moment, Valon appeared behind Falcon. The Reaper swung his scythe with both hands, driving the blade deep into Falcon’s spine to sever the soul from the body. "Harvest."
Falcon didn't fall. He chuckled. Low and dark. "Hm? Is that all you've got...?"
Falcon's eyes snapped open. BOOOM. A violent Blue Aura exploded from his body, shaking the earth and cracking the frozen sea. The force of it knocked Wasim away gently, freeing him from the blast zone.
"I'll show you," Falcon roared, his voice merging with the sound of the ocean. "I'll show you the true power of the Admirals of Ancient Leonithra, you worthless scum!"
Valon's eyes widened in terror beneath his hood. He gripped his scythe, pulling with all his spectral might. "He... He won't move!" He tried to pull Falcon's soul—but it felt like trying to pull a mountain with a piece of thread.
"Azalor!" Valon shouted, panic entering his voice for the first time in centuries. "I can't extract him! He's resisting!"
Azalor’s voice cracked. "He's resisting my lightning too! Valon?! What are you doing?!"
Valon trembled, his shadow form flickering. "I can't pull him! He's... He's overpowering Death itself!"
Reiz stared up at the monster holding him, horrific realization dawning on him. "Damn it! HE'S NOT DYING!"
The Sea King's Sacrifice
The pirates began to retreat, Leonithran sailors rushing behind them to board the ships under relentless fire from the Black Order. Chaos swallowed the shoreline, but the line held.
Falcon roared, his voice shaking the sea itself, vibrating through the bedrock of Thera. "VALINA!!!"
A monstrous, ancient whale-cry answered him from the deep—echoing, terrifying, and mournful. Valina surged forward, and the ocean obeyed her. Waves rose like obsidian walls, smashing Black Order soldiers away from the docks and pushing the allied vessels farther from Thera's doomed shores.
Nawal stood alone on the edge of the battlefield, facing Loran. She watched Falcon endure Azalor's darkness and Reiz's fire without moving an inch. He wasn't fighting to win anymore. He was waiting. Waiting for his family to get far enough away.
Above them, the Violet Meteor descended slowly, silently, like a star of death promising erasure.
Valon sensed the shift in the air pressure. He looked at Falcon’s burning soul—a fire that refused to be extinguished. "This is my limit..." Valon whispered, his form turning to mist. "The risk outweighs the reward. Azalor, I've done enough."
He vanished completely, slipping into the spirit realm.
Reiz screamed, his voice cracking with betrayal. "VALON! YOU COWARD! GET BACK HERE!"
On a drifting ship, Lainas climbed aboard, collapsing against the railing. He looked back toward the island. He saw Qaws lying unconscious on the deck, Velins passed out beside him, healers rushing to stabilize them. Lainas whispered, his voice heavy with the cost of victory. "So... we gained the pirates' support... but we lost their Captain...?"
Valina circled Thera at terrifying speed. The centrifugal force was immense. The waters around the island twisted, spiraling into a massive, unnatural whirlpool. The sea floor began to crack.
Azalor's eyes widened. "Damn it! He intends to sink the island?! He intends to drown us all!"
Falcon tightened his grip around Reiz's throat, ignoring the grey flames burning his hand to the bone. Falcon hurled Wasim upward throwing him high into the air, away from the crumbling ground.
Thera began to groan. Cliffs shattered. The island started to sink. Azalor struck with a violent blast from his staff—a sphere of choking darkness engulfed Falcon. "He's trying to save the vessel! I won't allow it!" Azalor vanished and reappeared in the air, directly beneath the falling boy. He raised his hand to catch him to crush him.
But then, his eyes widened. The sea exploded. Valina erupted from the whirlpool, leaping skyward like a breaching god. Her jaws were open wide, aimed directly at, Wasim... and Azalor.
Azalor teleported away instantly. "She'll eat him?!" Valina snapped her jaws shut around the boy. She didn't chew. She swallowed him whole into the safety of her gullet, then arched her back and dove straight down into the abyss of the whirlpool, vanishing into the deep.
Azalor smiled, hovering in the air. "So the beast finished him for me... How tragic."
Falcon stood alone on the sinking rock. His mind drifted as the darkness closed in.
He remembered his youth—a humble naval soldier saluting Admiral jeina, the woman who taught him honor. He remembered the Third Magical War... the disappearance of the Five Stars... the Black Calamity that erased the civilizations of old. He remembered retiring as an Admiral after the collision between Leonithra and Aurik... the death of Luthor's wife, Pearl... the secrets they buried. He remembered becoming a pirate... finding Yamen... drinking cheap rum and laughing under the stars. He remembered raising young Jaber ... teaching him to tie knots, hiding him from the world.
I retired to rest... only to serve again as pirate? and now they're saying I'm the pirate king? cruse you Yamen, you stupid man...yet finally I can retire for real now...
Sedney...be careful I entrusted the those fools under your care... Ethea need help... I'm pretty sure that you gonna cry when you know that the old is no longer here to bully him...
Falcon whispered through blood and fire, tears mixing with the sea spray. "It was a beautiful adventure... Silva... thank you... for this kind life... I'll return it to you gladly..."
He smiled beneath Azalor's darkness and Reiz's grey flames. Then he roared. "HAAAAAAA!!!"
The Crown of Water
Water exploded outward. Waves rose like mountains, dwarfing the meteor.
Loran, trying to find footing on the crumbling earth, aimed an arrow at Falcon. SPLASH. A surge of pressurized water slammed him from behind. He turned—Nawal stood on a sinking rock, water swirling around her, tears in her eyes. She shoved him with the tide. "Damn you, cursed sea-girl!" Loran spat as he lost his balance.
He stumbled directly into Falcon's range. Falcon didn't hesitate. He seized Loran by the armor with his free hand. He already held Reiz by the throat. He slammed them together. "GO TO HELL TOGETHER!"
Falcon drove his broadsword—wrapped in a violent, blinding Blue Aura—through both of them, pinning the Archer and the Storm to the dying heart of the island.
Above them, the Dark Blue Star Eklat blazed through the storm clouds, acknowledging its champion one last time. The ocean erupted. The waves didn't just rise; they curved inward. They spiraled around Thera in a monstrous, liquid ring that reached the clouds.
A final, terrifying Crown of Water.
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