The impact echoed through the cave.
Frederin's body rolled across the stone floor, leaving behind a trail of dark blood mixed with melted snow. He tried to brace himself with his right arm — failed. His shoulder gave in, and a dry crack ran through his entire body.
He gasped.
The air came in… but it didn't seem to reach his lungs.
The black aura still burned around him, weak and unstable, like flames about to go out. Every time he tried to force it, a sharp pain tore through his muscles from the inside.
Ahead of him, the creature remained motionless.
The lead pterodactyl slowly spread its wings, filling almost the entire cave. The red side of its body radiated suffocating heat; the blue side displayed intact ice spikes, gleaming under the scarce light. No wounds. No cracks. No sign of damage.
Intact.
From its mouth, a mist began to pour out, freezing the cave.
Frederin laughed — a short, broken laugh that turned into coughing.
Blood ran down the corner of his mouth.
"…Your strong point is the cold…" he murmured, trying to stand again.
His legs trembled. His body screamed for him to stop.
The monster tilted its head, watching.
There was no hurry.
No rage.
It was as if it were analyzing every flaw, every irregular breath, every second Frederin remained standing out of sheer stubbornness.
The aura around him flickered… and nearly went out.
Frederin: "Then your weak point must be heat, right?"
Frederin clenched his teeth.
The ground around him was covered in black ashes that still burned silently. The fire he had created hadn't gone out — but he was.
The pterodactyl took a step forward.
The cave shook.
Frederin raised his fists, even without strength, even without certainty.
"Even so, it must be resistant to fire too…" he whispered. "I'll use everything I have."
The creature opened its mouth.
An orange-red light began to condense at the same time.
It spat magma, and parts of the cave's stone began to melt.
Frederin barely dodged.
Frederin: "Luis, tell me something."
Luis: "What would that be?"
Frederin: "Leonardo keeps passing several abilities through my head, but something tells me to use some specific ones."
Luis: "So what? Figure it out. I'm pretty comfortable here watching your fight."
Fred: "Yeah, I know, but when you guys fight… how do you know which ability to use?"
Luis: "Don't worry about that. Everything is automatic."
The pterodactyl hurled several ice stakes. Frederin jumped from side to side, avoiding being hit.
Luis was sitting below the cave entrance, just watching. The ice stakes heading toward him were destroyed midair before reaching him.
Luis (thinking): "That thing is a dimensional fragment. It shouldn't exist, but apparently… it worked on a pterodactyl."
His thoughts were interrupted.
He watched as Frederin landed several punches on the giant pterodactyl.
Luis (thinking): "After each punch, a much stronger impact follows immediately. A blow. The double impact repeated itself."
Frederin charged forward with a hoarse shout, ignoring the blood running down his arms.
The first punch hit the red flank of the creature.
The second came right after — the delayed aura exploding at the exact same point, distorting the air around it.
Nothing.
The pterodactyl didn't even step back.
Frederin clenched his teeth and attacked again.
A punch to the chest.
Another to the neck.
Then to the jaw.
Each strike came with the invisible impact — waves of aura bursting inside the creature's body. Black ashes spread across the cave floor, silent fire burning the stones beneath his feet.
The monster simply… watched.
No roar.
No reaction.
Then the tail moved.
It wasn't a violent attack.
It was simple.
The blue tail swung in a short arc, too fast to follow. The air cracked.
Frederin felt the impact pass through his body before he even understood what had happened.
The world spun.
He was hurled against the cave wall, the dull sound of the collision echoing like muffled thunder. The rock cracked around his back. The air was ripped from his lungs.
He fell.
Rolled across the ground, leaving a trail of blood and ash. Tried to support himself — his arm gave out.
"Gh…!"
The black aura went out for a second.
The pterodactyl finally took a step forward.
Just one.
The ground trembled under the creature's weight.
Frederin lifted his face with difficulty. His eyes shook, vision blurred.
"…Not even that…" he murmured.
The creature's shadow completely covered him.
From a distance, Luis slightly tilted his head.
"See?" he said, far too calmly. "You're not fighting something that reacts. You're fighting something that allows."
The pterodactyl raised its tail again.
This time, higher.
Frederin clenched his fists, even without feeling his fingers.
"So…" he thought, breathing with difficulty. "I don't have to break it…"
The aura trembled around his body.
"I have to force it to take me seriously."
"Neo Jutsu: Gainen Danetsu."
Frederin's voice echoed through every corner of the cave.
Invisible cuts began to appear across the pterodactyl's body. Ice stakes shattered and fell to the ground. Frederin instinctively stepped back.
When the cuts stopped—
The pterodactyl folded its wings.
And spoke.
"Put more aura into that attack, kid," it said mockingly. "You're still weak."
Luis' eyes widened.
"It talks?!" he shouted. "This has officially gone insane."
Frederin: "This thing talks… why?"
The pterodactyl opened its mouth.
Several ice stakes shot out from within.
"This time they're much faster…" Frederin murmured.
He dodged some. Others tore through his clothes. Blood began dripping onto the ground again.
"Again."
His aura concentrated around his body.
Frederin raised his left hand.
"My aura flows like fire through my body…" he said, panting. "And through it, I can see weak points in you, giant pterodactyl."
"How are you so sure those are weak points?" the creature taunted.
Frederin moved his hand.
A shallow cut opened on the pterodactyl's right knee.
Feeling the pain, the creature leapt abruptly.
"Conclusion," Frederin said. "They are your weak points. My intuition doesn't lie."
He brought his hand to his left eye.
Black fire began to manifest around it.
A cut sliced across his own eye.
"Done," he said firmly. "I won't open this eye anymore."
The pterodactyl froze.
Didn't move.
Didn't speak.
Its body began to be consumed by lava.
Luis (thinking): "I doubt Frederin will kill this thing… but it's interesting to see how far he'll go."
"Concentrating aura in the eye… could that change anything?"
A blue circle appeared beneath Luis.
"A circle…?" he murmured, confused.
He tried to stand — and fell.
The circle closed.
"I'm falling into a dark tunnel!" he shouted. "What's happening?!"
Inside the cave, rocks began to fall. Everything shook.
The pterodactyl spoke, its voice heavy with tension:
"I… Half-Cold to Half-Hot. I have over three hundred years of life… and I have never felt such pressure."
"A desire to flee… just like now."
It stared at Frederin.
"Boy… who was that man with you?"
Frederin turned his head, looking around.
Frederin (thinking): "Damn… Luis abandoned me. I'm alone."
"His name is Luis Dinark," he replied. "Luis Clent Dinark."
"The first Sentinel of Light of the Kingdom of Hestia."
The pterodactyl stiffened.
"Dinark…" it murmured. "It's been decades since I last heard that surname."
"The last time… I almost died to one of those bastards."
Its eyes narrowed.
"I never forgot the cold, selfish gaze of that human… with more than two eyes."
In a sudden movement, the pterodactyl burst out of the cave, gripping Frederin with its tail. Rock shattered as it forced a path open.
Frederin cut the tail.
Landed on his feet in the forest.
Frederin (thinking): "I'll try with a punch…"
"I only have enough aura for a single cut."
The aura concentrated in his left eye faded.
The wound closed, becoming a scar.
Frederin's iris changed to a silver-gray tone, with a vertical luminous line crossing the pupil — black as the void.
"That look of yours…" the pterodactyl said, contained hatred in its voice. "It's the same as that Dinark's."
It spat the name.
"Hagan."
Hatred overtook its voice.
"I WILL KILL YOU."
(Pterodactyl's point of view)
I was paralyzed.
In my vision, everything turned gray. Red smoke cut through the air.
Ahead, the boy remained standing.
Behind him… another appeared.
Leonardo Dinark.
Laughing.
"Six eyes… imposing gaze… four arms…" I murmured, feeling my body freeze.
"Without a doubt—"
I screamed with all the strength I had left:
"LEONARDO DINARK!"
I opened my mouth once more.
A blue and red sphere began to form.
I fired.
It burned and froze the air at the same time.
Behind it, I launched ice stakes and small fireballs.
"I hope it works…" I heard Frederin say.
"Neo Jutsu: Gainen Danetsu."
A single horizontal cut appeared.
The ice stakes were split apart. The fireballs were deflected.
But the main sphere… didn't move.
Frederin dodged it with ease.
Behind him, the explosion destroyed entire trees in the forest.
"Half… whatever your name is…" he said. "I surrender."
"Surrender…?" I asked, surprised.
"There's no way I can win," he replied. "You got used to my cuts."
"My body's at its limit. Almost no aura left."
"It's over for me."
"In that case—"
Pain interrupted me.
I lowered my head.
My left leg had been severed.
Burning with black fire.
I raised my gaze to Frederin.
"Idiot…" I snarled. "You're going to die."
He turned his back.
And ran into the forest.
Frederin (thinking): "I'm not going to kill myself for no reason."
"I'm not strong enough to defeat him."
Luis fell into a place filled with silence.
It wasn't empty.
It was deep.
Everything was bathed in a soft bluish tone, as if the light came from nowhere — it simply existed. The smooth, almost crystalline ground reflected the cold color like a dull mirror.
At the center stood a barrier.
It didn't seem solid. It was formed by layers of compressed energy, slowly rippling like the surface of a frozen lake moments before breaking. Inside it, a colossal hole opened — circular, too deep for any bottom to be seen.
The wind came from there.
It wasn't chaotic.
It was constant. Heavy.
An eternal breath crossing an endless abyss. The air was gently pulled toward the center, making bluish particles float and dance through space.
Outside the barrier…
There was no ground.
There was no sky.
There was no direction.
Only absolute darkness.
As if the world ended there.
Along the inner edges of the barrier, bodies were scattered.
Monsters of varied forms — some colossal, others twisted, others nearly unrecognizable. All motionless. All destroyed.
Marks of impossible cuts crossed carapaces and scales; others bore burns that produced no ash, only shadows embedded in the flesh.
The wind passed through them, tearing away fragments of residual aura, as if the place itself were consuming what remained.
There was no smell of blood.
No echoes of battle.
Only the blue.
The constant wind.
And the silent feeling that this space was not a prison…
Luis frowned.
"…A limit?"
He walked over the void as if the concept of "falling" didn't apply there, approaching the barrier. He raised his hand and touched the rippling surface.
Nothing.
"I can't get in…"
The dust inside the barrier stirred.
From its center, a man emerged.
Dark, torn clothes. Short, robust body. Heavy steps that betrayed countless battles. White hair contrasting with dark skin. Dust covered part of his face, but his aggressive gaze pierced the space effortlessly.
"Luis…" the man said.
Luis stiffened.
"That voice isn't from anyone I know," he narrowed his eyes. "How do you know my name?"
The man took another step forward.
"Because I'm your family."
As he approached the barrier, the dust finally fell from his face.
Luis' eyes widened.
"Kevin…?"
"It's you?"
The man nodded.
"Yes. It's me."
Luis took a deep breath, trying to process it.
"You've changed a lot, man…" he murmured. "Your physique especially… you look way stronger now."
Kevin looked away.
"Here inside, I'm trapped," he said. "Fighting these dimensional fragments."
He pointed to the scattered bodies.
Luis swallowed hard.
"So you awakened the Prime, huh…" he said. "This is our sentence."
"Fighting these creatures so they don't invade our world."
Kevin fell silent for a few seconds.
Then his voice faltered.
"The problem…" he said with difficulty, "is that loneliness is taking over."
His shoulders trembled.
"There's no one to talk to," he continued. "No one to laugh with. Nothing."
"Just me… and the void."
His voice finally broke.
Tears ran down Kevin's face.
"I want to leave…" he confessed. "Every fight, I keep wondering if I'll come out alive."
"I miss all of you…"
He fell to his knees.
And cried.
Luis remained silent for a moment.
Then he spoke, his voice firm.
"You're not the only one who's been through this," he said. "I've been there too."
"So I know what it's like."
Kevin lifted his face, surprised.
"You also… have the Prime?"
Luis gave a half-smile.
"Obviously," he replied. "Now finish the mission the universe gave you…"
"And come back to us."
Kevin took a deep breath.
"I'll try," he said. "But how did you end up here with me?"
Luis opened his mouth to answer…
And stopped.
His hand began to turn translucent.
"…I have no idea," he said. "But it looks like my time to leave is coming."
Kevin smiled, even with tear-filled eyes.
"Well…" he said. "I think I understand now why you used to disappear sometimes."
"You were in places like this… fighting alone."
Luis nodded.
"This fight is individual," he said. "But the result is collective."
"Everything depends on us," Kevin added.
Luis vanished before his eyes.
Kevin remained there for a few seconds.
Then turned around.
He walked toward the center of the barrier.
The wind intensified as he approached the colossal hole. He looked inside — without fear.
"My final mission."
And jumped into the void.