If only Ascan and Bill could escape this cave alone, it might have been manageable. But taking the second-generation children lying unconscious on the ground out of here was an extremely difficult task.

Moreover, the second-generation children had just begun to awaken from hypnosis—they could barely control their own bodies, or had already lost consciousness entirely.

Ascan and Bill’s gazes met in midair.

Though neither spoke aloud, they understood each other’s intentions: no matter what, they had to stop Helsion and rescue the second-generation children from this place.

Whoosh!

Ascan moved first.

The nine flames he summoned scattered in all directions, flying toward the soldiers attempting to approach the second-generation children.

“Aaaargh!”

The agonized screams of soldiers whose bodies caught fire filled the entire cave.

Helsion currently commanded over a hundred soldiers, while Ascan and Bill were only two. Yet, due to Ascan’s fierce intervention, even approaching them was no easy feat.

The lieutenant leading Kalua Empire’s soldiers reported to Helsion with a conflicted expression.

“Your Majesty, it’s difficult to engage them because of the flames.”

Helsion gritted his teeth furiously.

He had observed Ascan for a long time—he knew exactly how powerful Ascan was.

“…I know.”

Helsion was witnessing the situation with his own eyes; he couldn’t possibly misunderstand it. But seeing Ascan again ignited an uncontrollable rage within him, threatening to shatter his reason.

The arm Helsion had lost to Ascan throbbed painfully. No matter what it took, he could not allow Ascan and Bill to escape unharmed.

‘I will kill them.’

At that moment, Helsion’s eyes fell upon Bill, who was supporting and tending to the second-generation children.

Come to think of it, both Ascan and Bill had positioned themselves protectively around the second-generation children.

‘That’s their weakness.’

A cruel smile curled at the corners of Helsion’s lips. He turned to his lieutenant and commanded,

“Collapse the cave.”

“What?”

The lieutenant, momentarily confused, repeated the order questioningly. Helsion snapped impatiently,

“Are you deaf? Cease attacking those two. Collapse the cave.”

Continuing the assault would not easily kill Ascan. If, by any chance, he survived here, Helsion intended to take the lives of everyone Ascan sought to protect.

If fortune smiled and Ascan perished alongside the children while trying to save them, all the better.

Either way, Helsion stood to lose nothing.

“Ah, understood, Your Majesty.”

Only then did the lieutenant grasp Helsion’s intent and swiftly moved into action.

Immediately afterward, Kalua Empire’s soldiers changed targets—not attacking Ascan and Bill anymore, but beginning to bring down the cave.

Boom!

As soldiers fired their weapons toward the cave ceiling, massive boulders began crashing down one after another.

Ascan and Bill noticed Helsion’s altered strategy, their expressions darkening. A single misstep, and the second-generation children could be buried alive inside the cave.

Ascan murmured softly,

“Bill, hurry.”

“Brother. Don’t we have reinforcements? You must’ve had a plan after subduing me.”

Scarcely had Bill finished speaking when figures were seen sprinting from the direction of Arwen Empire’s formation. It was Carlton, leading a dozen or so subordinates.

“Ha.”

Bill let out an unintentional, weary chuckle.

Better than having no reinforcements at all—but compared to Helsion’s hundred-odd soldiers, this number was laughably insufficient.

“Brother, this isn’t just inadequate—it’s ridiculously inadequate.”

“We didn’t anticipate this situation. Stop complaining and move the children quickly.”

Bill nodded helplessly. They were holding on for now, but at this rate, the cave would collapse soon.

Carlton, though previously informed by Ascan about Bill, hadn’t expected combat with Helsion to erupt—so he spoke in a flustered tone.

“Uh, what on earth is going on…?”

Instead of explaining, Bill quickly handed the child he was carrying over to Carlton.

“Move them outside, quickly.”

“Ah, yes!”

Carlton instinctively replied with formal obedience. Though unaware of Ascan and Bill’s full circumstances, he felt as if he’d been transported back to his days as deputy captain of the Royal Guard.

Thus, Carlton and his dozen subordinates tucked unconscious second-generation children under their arms and fled the collapsing cave.

But since the number of second-generation children was substantial, one round trip couldn’t possibly rescue them all.

Sweat beaded on Ascan’s forehead—he had single-handedly held off all the soldiers until now.

‘…Not enough time.’

If Ascan unleashed his undying flames recklessly, he might accelerate the cave’s collapse further.

Though he targeted Kalua Empire’s soldiers, igniting fires inside the cave ultimately added firepower to its destruction.

Thus, he couldn’t freely unleash his abilities—he was suppressing soldiers as cautiously as possible.

At that moment—

Rumble!

A massive boulder falling from the ceiling crushed an unconscious child.

In the blink of an eye, Ascan hardened his body like steel and intercepted the boulder. But bearing the crushing weight of heavy falling rock from above was no easy task.

“Brother!”

Bill cried out anxiously.

Ascan nodded reassuringly toward Bill. Bill immediately rushed forward and moved the child nearly crushed beneath the boulder.

“Bill, get outside quickly. I can’t hold this long.”

“But you…”

Bill hadn’t even finished speaking.

Bang! Boom! Crash!

Helsion and his soldiers, having bombarded the cave interior to their satisfaction, were now retreating outside. Staying inside meant being buried alive themselves.

Even while retreating, soldiers continued bombarding the cave. Watching this, Bill gritted his teeth in frustration.

“…Damn it.”

Sensing Bill’s anger, Ascan spoke calmly,

“Stay calm. Let’s get out of here first.”

Ascan desperately wanted to snap Helsion’s neck right then and there, but Bill and the children’s safety came first—he had no choice but to endure.

“This is all my fault. If I hadn’t revealed this cave’s location… No, if I hadn’t restarted the human weapon experiments, the children wouldn’t have been hurt…”

Ascan shouted loudly, seeing Bill consumed by self-reproach.

“Bill, snap out of it!”

Bill, regaining his senses, nodded painfully. He had believed he’d made the best choice—but now, regret surged over him.

He should have listened to Ascan from the start. Blinded by vengeance, he’d dragged too many children into this.

At that moment—

Boom! Boom!

The ceiling’s collapse accelerated rapidly.

Ascan once again hardened his body like steel to intercept falling boulders. But one child lay in a spot he hadn’t managed to shield in time.

Bill’s body moved before his thoughts caught up.

“Guh!”

Bill shielded the child with his own body, bracing against the falling boulder. Beneath him lay a deeply unconscious second-generation child.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Blood began dripping onto the child’s face—from Bill’s own wounds.

Unlike Ascan, Bill couldn’t harden his body like steel—so the moment he took the boulder’s impact, he suffered tremendous trauma.

The pain felt as if his entire body was shattering—he couldn’t even tell where the blood was flowing from.

“Bill!”

Ascan cried out in alarm, rushing over. He hastily cleared the boulder off Bill and gently laid him down beside him.

“Are you okay?”

“Cough!”

Bill couldn’t answer—he coughed up blood. Just seeing that told Ascan his insides were ruined.

Ascan gazed at Bill bleeding profusely, his dark eyes seeing clearly that Bill’s life force was fading. His chest tightened—he couldn’t speak.

Staring at Ascan, frozen stiff, Bill spoke first.

“Brother…”

As Bill opened his mouth, blood continued to flow out.

Ascan frantically wiped the blood from Bill’s lips—not that it would stop the bleeding, but he couldn’t bear to watch.

“Don’t say anything. Just hold on a little longer. Once we get out, we’ll take our revenge.”

“Heh…”

“It’s okay. You’ll be okay.”

Those words were meant for Bill—and also a mantra Ascan repeated to himself.

“I’m… sorry. I didn’t trust you. I thought… cough… you’d abandon me…”

That was the world Bill had known.

When he became aware, he was in a human weapon laboratory—a hellish place. When he thought he’d escaped, Helsion betrayed him.

That was all he’d ever seen and grown up with. So he’d assumed Ascan, too, would abandon him.

Only now did he realize—he hadn’t trusted enough.

A single tear fell from Ascan’s abyss-like eyes. He didn’t need anyone to tell him—Bill’s remaining life was vanishing before his eyes.

Ascan answered in a choked, suppressed sob,

“I already forgave you. I said we’d call it even after that one punch.”

“Hah… hah. Others don’t know, but you’ve always had such a soft heart.”

Bill’s vision blurred. Instinctively, he knew—if he closed his eyes now, he’d never open them again.

This was Bill’s final moment.

Though he’d restarted human weapon experiments to exact revenge on Helsion, the hypnosis he placed on the second-generation children wasn’t to exploit them.

He thought if they couldn’t remember living as human weapons, they might begin new lives without pain once everything ended.

Of course, he now realized—all of it had been wrong…

“Brother… promise me… let the other children live… not like us… let them live ordinary lives…”

Ascan clenched his teeth to suppress his sobs, but couldn’t stop the tears falling. He nodded, voice thick with grief,

“Don’t worry. I’ll save every single one—none will be hurt.”

“And one more thing… cough… I want to say… now that this has happened to me… I think I understand a little… how the children who went before me must have felt…”

“What is it? Just say it.”

Ascan felt he’d listen to anything Bill said now.

Sensing this, Bill smiled faintly and spoke,

“Live… for your own happiness… not for revenge…”

Ascan could no longer contain his grief—he pulled Bill tightly into his arms. Cradled against him, Bill soon lost strength, his hand slipping limply to the ground.

Bill’s body was still warm…

But no breath stirred from him anymore.

“Noooooo!”

Ascan screamed—a cry like a wild animal’s shriek.

He wanted to wail aloud under unbearable sorrow, but he couldn’t leave behind the children Bill had entrusted to him in his final moments.

The cave was collapsing rapidly. A few remaining children caught Ascan’s eye.

He wiped his blurred vision with the back of his hand and stood up. Hoisting Bill’s body onto his back, he tucked children under both arms.

As he dashed frantically toward the cave’s exit, he encountered Carlton and his subordinates returning.

“Commander, are these the last children? We’ve safely evacuated all the others.”

Ascan gave a slight nod. Handing Bill’s lifeless body and the limp children to Carlton, he spoke in a gravely subdued voice,

“…I’m counting on you.”

Having spoken, Ascan turned away.

As he re-entered the collapsing cave, Carlton cried out in shock, staring at his retreating back,

“Commander! Where are you going?”

“To eliminate the man who must die.”

Until now, Ascan had moved to protect Bill and the second-generation children. But with that burden gone, nothing could stand in his way.

Alone, he sprinted through the collapsing cave, chasing the direction Helsion had vanished.

For an ordinary person, this would be impossible—but Ascan could harden his entire body to steel, making it feasible.

This power had been given to him by the Kalua Empire. He’d never desired it, but as a human weapon test subject, he’d gained undying flames and a body capable of steel-hardening.

Ascan was the monster they had created.

And now, that monster was running—to repay them in kind for everything they’d done.

Helsion was displeased to learn Ascan hadn’t died.

In his rage, he’d collapsed the cave—but the likelihood of Ascan quietly accepting being buried alive was slim.

“Return immediately to our formation and reorganize the ranks…”

Helsion was about to issue follow-up orders—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Suddenly, nine flames appeared in midair.

Ascan had escaped the cave and caught up to Helsion, who was surrounded by numerous soldiers and moving away.

Kalua Empire’s soldiers, startled by Ascan’s sudden appearance, quickly drew weapons and shouted,

“Block him!”

“The former Royal Guard Commander has appeared!”

Helsion, too, looked startled upon seeing Ascan. He’d never imagined Ascan would pursue him alone to this point.

Logically, with superior forces, Helsion should have been the one pursuing Ascan—not the other way around. No one would have predicted Ascan charging alone into enemy lines.

But Helsion’s surprise was premature.

The nine undying flames summoned by Ascan split in half the troops guarding Helsion. No one could break through the inferno to approach.

Inside the cave, Ascan had restrained his power—but now, he had no need for restraint. Even if he turned this entire mountain into a sea of fire, he didn’t care.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

Desperate cries echoed from all sides, but Helsion was instantly isolated, beyond anyone’s aid.

Thud. Thud.

Through crimson flames, Ascan advanced toward Helsion, gripping a sword that had fallen to the ground.

Helsion felt as if he were facing a reaper risen from hell. He swallowed hard and tried to reason with Ascan,

“L, listen. Think carefully. I am the Emperor of Kalua Empire…”

“I told you last time.”

“What did you…”

“The next time we meet, you’ll die by my hand.”

A memory Helsion had long forgotten resurfaced—the words Ascan left him the day he severed his right arm.

─Let me say it again: the next time we meet, you will die by my hand.

Instinctively, Helsion felt fear. His trembling body proved it.

He had always believed himself superior to others. The thought that Ascan might kill him? He’d never even imagined it.

“W, wait a moment…!”

Snick!

Ascan wasted no words. His blade instantly severed Helsion’s neck.

Thud-thud-thud—

Helsion’s head rolled across the ground.

Ascan stared at the corpse with emotionless eyes.

Helsion’s atrocities were countless. He had exploited children subjected to human weapon experiments, driven Bill to his death.

And that wasn’t all. For his ambition to become emperor, for Kalua Empire’s revival, he had sacrificed countless lives.

Killing Helsion wouldn’t bring them back—but Ascan hoped, at least, it might soothe their restless spirits.

“You will be recorded in Kalua Empire’s history as its worst emperor. This war will cost Kalua Empire dearly.”

Ascan would ensure it. His revenge against Kalua Empire didn’t end merely by killing Helsion.

Unconsciously, Ascan looked toward the sky. Perhaps, by now, Bill and the long-dead laboratory children had met.

Wherever they were, he sincerely wished—for their happiness.