The One King

The battle had not stopped.

The battlefield was still engulfed in chaos.

The banners of the Races Protection Association fluttered amid the smoke, while the golden-armored army continued to pressure them without pause.

The ground was filled with craters and rubble, and the air was saturated with the smell of blood and ash.

But amid all of this...

Something else was approaching.

Something neither side knew about.

Along one of the roads leading toward the battlefield, a group of armored carriages was moving rapidly.

Soldiers from the Kingdom of Light surrounded them from every direction.

Inside one of the carriages, Lilian stared silently through the window.

Her eyes were fixed on the horizon.

Valer said:

"We're close."

Lilian raised her head.

"How much farther?"

One of the soldiers outside the carriage answered:

"Only a short distance remains."

Lonaria said:

"Then hurry."

Valer said:

"We don't want to arrive too late."

Lilian clenched her fist.

"We won't be late."

Then she looked at Selena, Miranda, and Alex.

"We must find Leon first."

Everyone nodded.

None of them were thinking about the war.

Nor about the Races Protection Association.

Nor even about the Council.

Their only goal was Leon.

To save him before Azrael arrived.

And shortly afterward...

The battlefield appeared before them.

The carriages stopped.

The sight before them was immense.

Fire.

Smoke.

Soldiers.

Beasts.

Magic.

And the golden army that was still fighting without pause.

One of the soldiers said:

"There!"

He pointed toward one of the positions.

Leon was standing among the fighters of the Association.

His sword was in his hand.

His armor was stained with dust and blood.

Lilian gasped.

"Leon..."

She opened the carriage door and quickly stepped out.

Valer tried to stop her.

"Lilian, wait!"

But she did not listen.

She ran toward him.

The rest of the family followed.

Moments later...

Leon noticed them.

He froze in place.

"You?"

Lilian approached him.

Her eyes were filled with concern.

"Leon."

He looked at her.

Then at Valer, Lonaria, Selena, Miranda, and Alex.

"Why did you come?"

Valer said:

"To take you with us."

Leon frowned.

"Take me?"

Lilian said:

"Yes."

She moved closer to him.

"Azrael is coming."

Leon said nothing.

She continued:

"You heard his threat."

Leon said:

"I heard it."

"Then come with us."

Leon shook his head.

"No."

Silence fell.

Valer said:

"Leon, this is not the time for stubbornness."

Leon replied:

"I'm not being stubborn."

Then he looked toward the battlefield.

"There are thousands of people fighting here."

He said:

"I can't leave them."

Alex said:

"This isn't your battle alone."

Leon answered:

"I know."

Then he looked at him.

"But I chose to be here."

Selena said:

"But Azrael won't show you mercy."

Leon replied:

"I know."

Miranda said:

"Then why stay?"

Leon was silent for a moment.

Then he said:

"Because I challenged him."

"And because I told him to come down himself."

He raised his eyes toward the sky.

"I won't run now."

Lilian approached him.

"Leon..."

She spoke softly:

"We aren't asking you to run."

Then she held his arm.

"We only want to protect you."

He looked at her.

But Leon gently pulled his arm away.

"I can't."

Valer said:

"Why?"

He answered:

"Because if I leave with you now, I will have retreated from my own words."

Lonaria said:

"Words don't matter when your life is at stake."

Leon looked at her.

"To me, they do."

Then he said:

"I said I would face him."

"And I will."

Silence fell.

Lilian said:

"You don't know what you're about to face."

Leon answered:

"Neither do you."

She said:

"But we know one thing."

Then she raised her eyes toward him.

"Azrael is not someone you can underestimate."

He did not answer.

Valer said:

"Come with us now."

"No."

"Leon."

"I said no."

The tension in his voice began to rise.

Alex said:

"You don't understand how serious the situation is."

Leon answered:

"I understand it better than you."

He said:

"I am the one who challenged him."

Then he looked toward the sky.

"And I am the one who will wait for him to arrive."

At that moment...

Leon stopped.

There was no obvious reason.

But he felt something.

Something that made his body tense.

He raised his head.

The sky above the battlefield had been clear only moments ago.

But...

The clouds began to gather.

Slowly.

At first, they were merely distant black clouds.

Then they began multiplying.

They gathered upon one another.

And began covering the sky.

The battles gradually came to a halt.

The soldiers raised their heads.

One of them said:

"What is that?"

Another said:

"The weather changed suddenly."

But Leon did not answer.

He stared at the sky with widened eyes.

Even Caesar...

Who was watching everything from within his soul...

fell silent.

Leon said:

"Master..."

Caesar did not answer immediately.

Then his voice came, low and serious:

"Leon."

"What is happening?"

Caesar said:

"I don't know."

Those words alone were enough to make Leon feel danger.

For Caesar, who knew countless secrets, had just admitted that he did not know.

The sky began to darken.

The sunlight disappeared.

Then...

Lightning appeared.

But it was not ordinary lightning.

It was red.

Dark red, resembling blood.

It tore across the sky with a tremendous sound.

CRAAACK!

The earth trembled.

Everyone stopped.

The soldiers of the Races Protection Association looked toward the sky.

One of them said:

"What is this lightning?"

An old mage answered:

"I have never seen anything like it in my life."

Another said:

"Is this a natural phenomenon?"

The mage shook his head.

"No."

Then another bolt appeared.

Then a third.

Then dozens of bolts.

They began striking the battlefield.

CRAAACK!

CRAAACK!

CRAAACK!

But the lightning did not strike the golden army.

Instead, it fell upon the fighters of the Races Protection Association.

One bolt struck a warrior.

The moment it touched him...

He did not scream.

He did not fall.

His body simply turned to dust.

Everyone stood in shock.

The dust fell to the ground.

Then another bolt struck a fighter.

He turned to dust.

Then a third.

Then dozens.

One of the Association's commanders shouted:

"Retreat!"

But there was no time.

The red lightning began striking everywhere.

One fighter.

Then another.

Then an entire group.

And every time...

The body turned to dust in an instant.

One of the Association's soldiers screamed:

"Run!"

But wherever they went...

The lightning followed them.

It struck without discrimination.

Leon stood motionless.

His eyes were fixed on the scene.

Behind him...

The Foyd family was speechless.

Selena said in a trembling voice:

"What are these bolts?"

No one answered.

Even Lonaria had lost her composure.

Alex said:

"I have never seen anything like this before."

As for Lilian...

She stared at the sky.

Then she said:

"This isn't a storm."

Valer looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

She answered:

"It's power."

Then she felt something that made her face turn pale.

"The power of someone."

At that moment...

Everyone heard a strange sound.

Boom...

Movement froze.

Boom...

The sound resembled the beating of a heart.

But it was not a human heartbeat.

It was deep.

Enormous.

The earth itself trembled with every beat.

Boom...

Boom...

Boom...

The pulses spread throughout the battlefield.

The soldiers raised their heads.

Even the golden army stopped fighting.

Everyone stared at the sky.

One of the Association's commanders said:

"What is that sound?"

No one answered.

Boom...

Boom...

Boom...

The clouds began to swirl.

They were no longer spreading across the sky.

They began gathering.

Every cloud.

Every dark mass.

Every bolt of red lightning...

Everything began moving toward a single point.

Above the center of the battlefield.

One soldier said:

"They're gathering!"

Another said:

"What will happen?"

No one answered.

Leon stared at the center of the clouds.

He could feel an immense power approaching.

Caesar spoke within his soul:

"Leon..."

He answered:

"I know."

Caesar said:

"He's coming."

Leon clenched his fist.

"Azrael."

Caesar said:

"Yes."

The clouds gathered even more.

Until they became an enormous black mass that completely blocked the sky.

Red lightning circled around it.

Then...

Everything stopped.

The sounds disappeared.

The lightning ceased.

The heartbeat stopped.

Absolute silence descended.

Then...

Something happened.

A passage opened in the center of the gathered clouds.

A dark red light appeared.

Then a humanoid figure emerged.

Slowly...

Someone stepped out from the heart of the clouds.

One step.

Then another.

Until he was standing in the sky above the battlefield.

It was Azrael.

He was not wearing his usual clothes.

He was clad entirely in black armor.

Terrifying armor with sharp, pointed edges covered his body, surrounded by a dark aura.

The edges of the armor were razor-sharp, as though the armor itself had been designed as a weapon.

And upon his shoulder...

Rested his enormous axe with its long handle.

The sheer size of the axe was enough to make many warriors feel terror.

But what frightened them most...

Was his face.

It was grim.

Terrifyingly calm.

There was no smile.

No visible anger.

Only a cold gaze that made anyone who saw it feel as though death itself stood before them.

Around his body...

Red lightning continuously circled.

Behind him, black-purple flames danced through the air.

They were black-purple dragon flames, pulsing with terrifying energy and coiling around his body as though they were living creatures guarding him.

Azrael raised his head.

He looked down at the battlefield.

He did not speak.

But his mere appearance...

Was enough to bring the war to a halt.

The golden army stopped.

The Races Protection Association stopped.

Even the enormous beasts retreated.

Everyone was looking at him.

One Association soldier said in a trembling voice:

"It's..."

He could not finish the sentence.

Another said:

"Azrael Netherval."

Fear began spreading among the soldiers.

As for the Foyd family...

Its members stood frozen in place.

Valer stared at Azrael, unable to speak.

Alex clenched his fist.

Selena covered her mouth.

Miranda took a step backward.

As for Lonaria...

She stared at Azrael with widened eyes.

But Lilian...

She looked at him as though she were staring at something from a nightmare.

She whispered:

"He came..."

No one answered her.

She already knew.

Everyone knew.

Azrael had fulfilled his promise.

He had descended personally.

As for Leon...

He stood before him.

He did not move.

He did not retreat.

And he did not run.

His eyes met Azrael's.

For several moments...

Neither of them said a word.

The distance between them was vast.

But the tension between them was heavier than mountains.

Then Azrael slowly raised his hand.

He grasped the handle of his axe.

He lowered it from his shoulder.

Boom...

The sky trembled.

The red lightning gathered around him.

The black-purple dragon flames burned even more intensely.

Azrael spoke in a calm voice...

A calmness that made everyone even more afraid:

"You asked me to descend."

He raised his eyes toward Leon.

"And I have descended."

Leon did not answer.

Azrael continued:

"Now..."

He raised the enormous axe.

"Let us see whether you still possess the same courage you had when your voice reached the entire continent."

Silence fell.

Leon tightened his grip around his sword.

But before he could advance...

Lilian shouted:

"Leon!"

He turned toward her for a moment.

She said:

"Come with us!"

He looked at her.

Then at Azrael.

And answered:

"No."

Lilian said:

"He's here now!"

He answered:

"That's why I won't run."

Valer said:

"Leon, think!"

But Leon did not retreat.

He said:

"He has arrived."

Then he raised his sword.

"And I have been waiting for him."

Lilian took a step forward.

But Valer grabbed her arm.

He said:

"No."

She looked at him.

"Let me go."

"No."

"He's my son!"

Valer said:

"And you will put yourself in danger."

She looked at Azrael.

Then at Leon.

She was unable to choose.

And in the sky...

Azrael was still standing there.

His expression had not changed.

But his eyes carried a clear promise.

He had come for one person.

Leon Foyd.

As for Caesar...

He remained silent within Leon's soul.

Then he finally said:

"Leon."

Leon answered without taking his eyes off Azrael:

"Yes."

Caesar said:

"Do not use your true power yet."

Leon stopped breathing for a moment.

Then answered:

"I know."

"Wait for the right moment."

Leon said:

"I will."

On the other side...

The Foyd family realized something terrifying.

They had reached Leon before Azrael.

But they had failed to take him away.

And now...

Azrael was already standing before him.

The two armies around them had stopped fighting.

Everyone was waiting.

No one knew what would happen.

Would a confrontation that shook the Central Continent begin?

Would Leon's true power be revealed?

Or would Azrael end everything before Leon could do anything?

Azrael raised his axe.

And took one step through the air.

Boom...

The sky trembled.

At the same moment...

Leon raised his sword.

His eyes remained fixed on Azrael.

There was no room for retreat anymore.

The entity he had challenged had finally appeared before him.

And between them...

An entire battlefield bore witness to the beginning of a confrontation that would change the course of the war between the Council and the Races Protection Association forever.

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