A grim acceptance settled over Ragley and Brena as they surveyed the scene. They had fought to exhaustion, but the enemy remained too numerous, too strong. Holding on was no longer an option.

"Brena! Gather the rest of the men! I will open a path!" Ragley ordered. This was a suicide mission. He was under no illusions; facing a Rank 6 Beleth avatar meant his chance of survival was almost zero. But he couldn't let everyone die here. He had to create an opportunity, no matter how small, for the others.

He gathered the last of his Rank 5 power, and his body radiated a brilliant blue light. He charged straight at Beleth, a suicidal shooting star aimed at the darkness.

Amidst the chaos, a towering figure surged forward like a living torch, igniting the last hope in the hearts of the Zephyros soldiers. It was Ragley. He no longer roared tactical commands. In his cold eyes now were only high determination, acceptance of fate, and a burning hatred aimed directly at his one and only enemy: Beleth. His Rank 5 aura erupted violently, pushing back the dark mist. He swept through the low-level Undead, carving a path straight to the Necrofear's position.

"A brave moth to the flame, but also a foolish one," Beleth sneered, his voice mocking. He didn't move, just waited for his prey to charge into the deadly trap.

The power difference between himself and the Rank 6 avatar was a chasm Ragley could not cross alone. Victory was impossible, but buying time was not. He had no other choice. He had to buy time for the others, for the mages who were trying to prepare a large-scale spell formation in the back.

"Judgment Blast" Ragley's hands gathered a terrifying ball of fire, which he launched straight at Beleth.

Beleth just waved his hand, and a dark shield easily blocked Ragley's attack. He was toying with him, enjoying the helplessness of the Chief Investigator. He unleashed his own counterattacks, streams of energy as sharp as scythes flying down, forcing Ragley to constantly dodge and defend himself. With every collision, Ragley's energy shield would dim a little, and new wounds would appear on his body.

In the distance, Brena saw Ragley struggling, growing exhausted. A dreadful certainty gripped her, if this continued, he wouldn't last more than five more minutes. It was in that moment of dread that she saw Beleth prepare his final blow. A bone spear, compressed with an enormous amount of aether, formed in his hand. It was aimed directly at Ragley's heart.

In that moment, time seemed to stand still for Brena. All the sounds of the battlefield and all the images of death seemed to vanish. All sound faded, all sight narrowed to a single point of terror. In her mind, there was only one thought.

"No... I won't let you die!"

She poured every last bit of aether left in her body, all her will, all her love and boundless gratitude for that man. "Angel Shield!" A brilliant, silver-white aura erupted from Brena. Sensing its master's selfless resolve, her loyal Griffin spread its golden wings and joined her to form a living shield of light. It charged forward, blocking Ragley.

Beleth's dark spear flew towards them, colliding directly with the light shield.

The sound of shattering glass and metal piercing flesh rang out. The Griffin, with a final, tragic cry, vanished into countless specks of light, completing its last mission to protect its master. Brena's light shield also shattered. Her fragile body was flung away, landing in the rubble.

"BRENA!!!"

Ragley's scream was heartbreaking. Witnessing that, the pain of losing the woman he had just realized he loved turned into a furious rage. A final surge of power erupted from the depths of his soul. The attack he had been preparing, his final, suicidal attack, now carried all his fury. A ball of brilliant, blinding blue energy flew towards Beleth, who was still a little surprised by Brena's reckless act.

Beleth didn't have time for a perfect defense. Ragley's attack hit him, and a deafening explosion was heard. Black blood splattered everywhere. He let out a cry of extreme pain. Beleth's right arm and shoulder were crushed, but even with a serious injury, he was still a Rank 6. The anger of being wounded by a weaker opponent made him even more crazed. He charged, his remaining skeletal hand, with claws as sharp as razors, plunging straight into Ragley's heart.

"Ugh..." Ragley froze, his eyes wide open, looking down at the hand piercing his chest. He had failed.

He pulled his hand out and tossed Ragley's lifeless body towards Brena, discarding it as if it were junk. Brena's breath was weak, but her eyes still tried to look at the man lying there, just a few feet away. A peaceful but regretful smile appeared on her pale lips. She wanted to say something, to say she was sorry, to say her final words of love, but she couldn't. Ragley, in the last moments of his life, also tried to reach out to her.

The physical pain no longer mattered. In his mind, there was only her: the woman who had silently stood by him, cared for his daughter, and brought warmth to his lonely years. He had been too careless, too foolish not to have realized her feelings sooner.

Their hands, trembling, tried to reach for each other. Closer... just a little closer...

Just a little more...

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The light in both their eyes simply went out at the same time. Ragley's hand only managed to lightly touch Brena's finger, a gentle touch before they both sank into eternal darkness together. They couldn't hold hands, not even in their last moments.

Beleth stood there, looking down at the two bodies with a look of amusement. "What a pity," he said, clicking his tongue. "Just a little more and it would have been a beautiful ending. What a touching, sappy play."

Beleth laughed, his voice echoing throughout the mournful space. "But also interesting. It will be an excellent appetizer for the feast of blood that is about to begin."

He smirked, then coldly lifted his foot. "Alright then. The corny play is over. Now for the main event." He looked down at the others, his bloodshot eyes gleaming with a morbid craving. The tragic play had ended, and now it was time for the final slaughter.

The sacrifice of Ragley and Brena was a torch, but it did not ignite hope. Instead, it burned away the last threads of reason of the survivors. Their fury and pain turned into a collective rage.

"AVENGE CHIEF INVESTIGATOR RAGLEY AND BRENA!"

Quinz, Kaelen, and Gorok, the three remaining elite Rank 4 investigators of the Bureau, let out a cry that tore at their souls. They no longer thought about tactics, no longer cared about living or dying. In their minds, there was only one thought: to drag the devil Beleth down to hell, no matter the cost.

Quinz shot forward, a silver arrow aimed at her target. Her speed was pushed to the limit, and the twin daggers in her hands were no longer graceful dances of death but strikes full of hatred, ignoring all defenses and aiming only at Beleth's vital weak points. "Shadow Dance of Vengeance" her body became a silver vortex, hundreds of illusory slashes enveloping Beleth.

"What a beautiful moth to the flame," Beleth sneered. Even with a crushed arm and shoulder, he easily raised his remaining skeletal hand. A dark chain, a venomous snake, shot out from the shadows to wrap tightly around Quinz's throat and squeeze hard. The sound of a bone breaking rang out. The light in the eyes of the talented assassin went out, and her body fell to the ground, dead. "I'm sorry... Chief Investigator... I failed..." was her last thought.

"QUIIIINZ!!!" Kaelen and Gorok charged from two sides. "Twin Dragon Strike!" Kaelen yelled, his two swords joining together to form a brilliant light dragon. "Mountain's Fury" Gorok also poured all his strength into his battle hammer, which swelled up and struck down with a force that could flatten a small hill.

"Foolish mortals," Beleth hissed. He didn't dodge, only raising his skeletal hand. "Corrosive Slime" A magic circle expanded under Beleth's feet, and a mass of black, viscous slime with a powerful corrosive force blocked him from the two Rank 4s. Kaelen and Gorok's attacks vanished as they hit the slime wall. The slime continued to spread, consuming both of them. In their last moments, they could only look at each other with profound helplessness before their bodies dissolved in the two masses of foul-smelling black slime.

In just a few short seconds, the most core Rankers of the East Aerion Investigation Bureau had been annihilated. Their heroic last stand, though brave, was futile against such an immense power gap. Henry stood there, witnessing everything. Henry stood there, a witness to it all, a terrifying emptiness where his heart used to be. For him, this was the end.

But the Zephyros soldiers didn't think so. The deaths of their commanders and heroes had turned their fear into a fierce rage and a suicidal determination. Their deaths were certain, but they refused to die without honor.

"ALL FIREPOWER! CONCENTRATE ON BELETH! FOR ZEPHYROS! FOR THE FALLEN! CHARGE!!!"

A high-ranking army officer, the commander of the Outer Perimeter, gave the final order. The entire Zephyros army, from the normal soldiers to the exhausted mages, poured all their strength, all their hope, and all their hatred into one last attack.

The last holy water vials, the last light arrows, the last purifying spells... everything was launched. The magic cannons fired their most powerful energy rounds, their operators accepting the inevitable overload and subsequent explosion as the price of their final volley. The mages also used the last of their aether to create a combined spell formation - a brilliant river of light that shot straight at Beleth.

It was a scene of desperation and magnificence. It was their last effort, pouring all their strength into one final attack. Seeing the river of light rushing towards him, for the first time, Beleth felt a genuine "interest". He was seriously injured, and the power of his Rank 6 avatar had been greatly diminished.

He calculated that if he took the full force of this attack, his avatar would surely be destroyed. But he wasn't afraid. He laughed a crazed laugh. He also wanted to end this play with a spectacular firework show. He raised his remaining skeletal hand to the sky, concentrating all the remaining darkness from the battlefield and from the corpses.

"Anathema of the Void" An eye of darkness opened in the sky. From it poured a stream of dark energy, carrying the stillness of death and the power of the void. Moments later, the two opposing energies collided - one of hope and courage against the darkness and death of the void.

BOOM!

The explosion tore through the space, shaking the entire Manrok Mountain range. In the moment of extreme chaos from the explosion, as everyone was trying to withstand the aftershocks, Henry acted. This was his only chance, his last chance. Without a moment's hesitation, he activated the silver ring. A weak flash of spatial light appeared, and his "false body," which he had been secretly nurturing with his blood and aether, appeared in the rubble. He used the last of his strength to throw it into a suitable position, where the explosion would make it look like a real victim.

Then, the real Henry quietly retreated into the darkness of a rock crevice that his Mystic Sense had found beforehand. He looked back at the battlefield one last time, where his comrades and friends were lying, then turned his back on the past and disappeared without a trace.

When the energy storm gradually subsided and the smoke and dust slowly cleared, a terrifying stillness fell over the battlefield. The ancient ruins were gone, leaving only a deep crater. The Zephyros army was almost completely annihilated. And in the center of the crater was the charred, shapeless corpse of Beleth's avatar.

A few hours later, the first Zephyros rescue teams, led by a commander from the outer perimeter, arrived at the scene. They were shocked by the desolate and tragic sight. They found the bodies of Ragley and Brena lying near each other, their hands still trying to reach for one another. They found the bodies of Quinz, Halb, Danz, and countless other brave investigators and soldiers.

Searching through the rubble, they found a body under a large rock. It was Henry, lying there, barely alive. His body was covered in serious wounds, and his armor was torn. He seemed to have lost all his strength and could no longer resist.

"There's a survivor!" a rescue soldier signaled, a small glimmer of hope. They carefully put "Henry" on a stretcher, unaware that it was only a fake body that had been placed there beforehand. The battle at the Manrok Mountains had ended, but another, much larger war had just truly begun.

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