The trembling portal, torn open by Fredrinn's final effort, yanked them from Nerath's dark dimension and spat them out into a scorching reality.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves in the middle of a seemingly endless desert. This was the arid desert, the location of Sethrak's ruin.

Fredrinn gently set Cordelia down from his arms and collapsed onto the sand himself. His strength was utterly depleted.

His Dark Knight armor, under the strain of that final battle and Nerath's influence, shattered into metal fragments and dissipated into a dark mist.

Beneath it, Fredrinn's body, covered in wounds, was revealed.

His mana was completely finished, and mentally, he was a wreck.

With trembling hands, he pulled a healing potion from his dimensional bag and drank most of it in a single gulp.

Events had unfolded too quickly. The sudden, deadly assault by the seven Ruin Bosses, Cassian's terrifying transformation, and the suicidal raid they had subsequently launched into Nerath's dimension...

Fredrinn gritted his teeth as he remembered Julian's final moments, his empty gaze. His shoulders began to shake.

He wanted to cry but could not. His tears seemed to have evaporated in this desert heat.

He had dedicated his entire life to saving his lost friend.

He had tracked him for years. And when he finally reached him... he had been able to do nothing.

He had watched, helplessly, as his friend was consumed alive by Nerath, turning to ash.

That moment would not leave his mind. Julian's body turning to dust...

Fredrinn shuddered as he remembered the ominous black sun in the sky, Nerath's massive eye.

And Cassian...

Cassian was not here yet. He had abandoned him there, to fight a god all alone. A mere child...

He had failed as a friend. And now, he had failed as an adult, as an ally. He did not even know Cassian's current state, whether he was alive or dead.

Had he already died? Or was he still fighting in that dark dimension, in that primal form?

As Fredrinn continued to lie helplessly on the sand with these damned thoughts, a new portal appeared in the air, right in front of him. It was not purple like the last one, but more like a tear in reality.

The moment Fredrinn saw the portal, he forgot his pain and straightened up. From inside the portal, along with the stench of burned flesh, Cassian's small, white haired body crashed onto the sand like a lifeless heap of meat.

Fredrinn barely got to his feet and stumbled, rushing to Cassian's side where he had fallen.

"Cassian!" he shouted, his voice echoing in the desert silence.

When he reached Cassian's side, his blood ran cold at the sight. He saw Cassian's condition.

Cassian's pulse, though weak, was miraculously still beating. But his body was unrecognizable.

His eyes were bloody and tightly shut. His face was unrecognizable from the blast; his lips and cheek were torn, some teeth were missing, his tongue was scorched.

Both his hands were completely gone from the wrists. His legs were in pieces; his skin was flayed, revealing the broken bones beneath.

Fredrinn was afraid to touch Cassian in this state.

He did not move him.

He quickly pulled his most valuable, most potent healing potion from his dimensional bag and, trembling, poured it over Cassian's terrible wounds.

As Cassian's condition improved slightly under the potion's effect, a difficult to understand, guttural sound murmured from between his shredded lips:

"I... I won."

At that moment, three smooth, dark stones appeared in the air and fell onto the sand in front of Fredrinn.

Fredrinn looked in astonishment at Cassian, wounded and just steps from death, and at the three new ruin stones.

There was only one explanation for the stones being here: Nerath had truly lost. Cassian, all by himself, had managed to defeat a god.

A strange smile appeared on Fredrinn's face, a mix of pain, pride, and astonishment. He slowly lay down on the sand next to Cassian.

His voice whispered with both sorrow and a deep joy:

"Yes... You did, partner."

After a long, deep sleep that lasted hours, perhaps more than a day, Cassian began to wake.

His consciousness slowly returned. All the horrific wounds on his body, thanks to the combination of Unique Regeneration and Holy Mana, had almost completely healed.

His severed hands and shattered legs had reformed perfectly. His mana reserves were also full.

But still, after that exhausting, deadly day, he did not want to leave this sweet sleep.

After a huge yawn, he slowly opened his eyes.

At that moment, he met a pair of bright, blue eyes staring right into his, watching him with curiosity.

Cassian, thinking he was still asleep, perhaps seeing one last hallucination from Nerath, blinked. But the eyes were still looking at him.

When he shot up in panic, his forehead collided hard with the forehead of the blue eyed owner who had been watching him so closely.

"Ahh!" yelped the owner of the eyes in pain.

Cassian, standing up and rubbing his aching forehead, looked at the owner of the blue eyes, and his own eyes widened in recognition.

"Sethrak?" he called out instinctively.

It was Sethrak. She had awakened from her sleep and, for some reason, had been watching him.

The blanket covering her had slipped, revealing her bare shoulders and legs.

Sethrak held her aching forehead, her eyes watery, and continued to stare at Cassian.

There was no trace of the savage monster; only a frightened, confused young girl stood before him.

Cassian pulled a few pieces of worn but clean clothes from his dimensional bag and approached Sethrak. Sethrak instinctively recoiled at the sudden movement, like an animal.

Cassian did not stop and approached gently. "Can you dress yourself?" He held out the clothes to Cordelia, whose body was still half wrapped in the blanket.

Cordelia hesitated for a moment, then shyly reached out and took the clothes. "I... can," she murmured shyly. Her voice was low and hoarse, as if she had not spoken in a long time.

Cassian turned his back, giving Cordelia privacy to dress.

His eyes drifted to Fredrinn, who was still in a deep sleep a short distance away. Even in sleep, that pained, tense expression was on his face. The loss of his friend did not leave him, even in his dreams.

Cassian smiled. He formed a large water ball in his hand and, without hesitation, threw it at Fredrinn's face.

"SPLASH!"

Fredrinn woke up, choking and startled. His eyes widened in panic; his hair and clothes were soaking wet.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he roared at Cassian.

"Isn't it obvious? I was waking you up," Cassian said, shrugging innocently.

Fredrinn stood up angrily, shook his wet hair, and asked. "How long have we been asleep?"

"I don't know. Less than a day, I guess."

Fredrinn looked around and, at that moment, saw Cordelia, who was looking at them timidly, swimming in the oversized clothes.

"She... woke up."

"Yeah. She was awake even before me. I think she was watching me."

Fredrinn fixed his eyes on Cordelia, who looked lost in the loose clothing, and asked Cassian. "What are you going to do with her? Have you decided?"

"I don't know," Cassian said. "I guess... just as you were going to do with Julian, I'll take her under my protection for a while. I can't leave her alone in this state."

"Are you mocking me?" Fredrinn growled, his voice suddenly filled with pain.

"What do you mean?" Cassian asked, this time adopting a playful tone.

"Julian... Julian is already dead!"

Cassian smiled. "Who told you that?"

"Stop playing games with me, Cassian! You saw it too! Julian turned to dust right before our eyes!"

"Yes, his body was consumed and turned to dust," Cassian said calmly. "But we managed to save his soul. Right, Nivelle?"

At that moment, Nivelle emerged from Cassian's chest as a bright, green beam of light and spoke, flying in the air.

"Yes! Just before Nerath abandoned that body and reached the soul, I managed to capture Julian's soul! But... I'd be lying if I said the soul wasn't damaged. It's very weak."

"See, partner? I told you," Cassian said. "Now all I have to do is create a new body for Julian."

Fredrinn's eyes widened in shock and filled with tears.

"Are you... are you telling the truth?" His voice was trembling. Contrary to his large, armored body and the serious demeanor he always wore, he was now like a small child filled with hope.

"Yes, you big baby. Now stop crying and let's go back to Veythral. I'll need a lot of practice to create a body from scratch."

Fredrinn quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and stood up.

"Good, since you're ready." Cassian turned his gaze back to Sethrak, who was sitting on the ground, quietly watching everything. When Sethrak noticed their gaze, she quickly looked down at the sand.

Cassian didn't quite know what to do. Sethrak was not a normal person. She carried thousands of years of trauma and hatred. He knew she was not emotionally stable.

At that moment, he remembered the time he escaped that damned laboratory, when he had just gained his freedom in that cold forest. He remembered Iris finding him, extending her hand to him in that cold, dark forest with a warm, sincere smile...

Cassian stepped forward resolutely and stopped right in front of Sethrak.

He put the most sincere, most heartfelt smile he could manage on his face and extended his hand to her.

"Come on, let's go home... Sethrak."

But the girl did not take Cassian's hand. She just stood there, clutching the edges of her oversized clothes.

Cassian panicked. Had he done something wrong? He had acted just as Iris had acted toward him, he was sure of it. So why was the girl acting so frightened?

At that moment, the girl slowly raised her hand and reached for Cassian's hand, which was still in the air. She took his hand. She fixed her gaze on Cassian's red eyes and whispered in that cracked, hoarse voice:

"Cordelia."

Cassian didn't fully understand what the name meant at that moment, but he sensed what the girl wanted. He smiled.

"Yes. Let's go home, Cordelia."

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