Under the influence of Pandora's magic, Darius was plunged into a nightmare, reliving the moment he killed his mother, father, and brother with his own hands ten thousand times over. Just as he was about to lose his mind, he suddenly woke up. The first face to greet him as he opened his eyes was Pandora's; she was watching him with a mocking smile. He stood up and looked around, freezing instantly. The dead bodies of his second family—his comrades and friends—lay on the ground. All of them were gone. Darius's life had been shattered once more. It was as if this world did not want Darius to feel even a shred of happiness.
He rushed to Lyven, placed her head on his lap, and, with tears streaming down his face, pleaded:
"Hey, Lyven, come on, wake up, please."
After Lyven, he saw Ralen; her head was severed from her body. Alrik had died with his arm torn off and his eyes wide open. Darius was there, but he was already dead inside.
A burst of laughter echoed. Pandora laughed as if a play had been performed before her. She was exhausted from casting such a powerful spell on Darius and could not use magic again. In a mocking tone, Pandora said:
"Child, your friends were a tough nut to crack; they all died. But they killed my men. Now it is just you and me. Your friends' screams and death wishes were hilarious; I was entertained. Now, what do you have left?"
Darius screamed as loud as he could, consumed by a surge of anger, pain, and vengeance:
"Aaahhhhhh!"
It was at that moment that Darius lost control; the darkness emanating from the ring enveloped his body. Darius became unrecognizable; his body was jet black. He was no longer Darius, but a monstrous being who had lost control. A scythe emerged from within the ring.
Pandora froze after witnessing this transformation before her eyes, struggling to comprehend what was happening.
"No, no, no! How can the Holy Legacy be with this brat? How can the legacy of the Shadow God be in him, how?"
Pandora knew she had to fight that entity, but she was still reeling from the effects of the powerful spell she had cast on Darius. Her plan was to use time manipulation to slow down time and escape. Darius was motionless; the black aura covering his body was close to overwhelming him. Pandora prepared her spell.
Darius suddenly moved; he was incredibly fast, and the ring had transformed into a jet-black scythe. This scythe emanated a black aura. Just as Pandora was about to cast her spell, Darius attacked; with a swing of the scythe, he severed Pandora's arm from her body. She was cornered now, aware that she was going to die. Darius kicked her against the wall and began to flay her skin. Pandora screamed at the top of her lungs; she had inflicted this pain, but had never experienced it before. Darius's rage had blinded him. With a single strike of the scythe, Darius ended Pandora's suffering. But the rage did not cease; he immediately dashed to the other front.
The war was still raging there. The Morneth warriors had held their ground well. He reached the central corridor led by Grim and began to slaughter the Solaris soldiers that stood in his way. Darius had turned into a death machine. All the Solaris soldiers in the central corridor were annihilated. Only their leader, Grim, remained. They faced each other. Grim, with a voice full of shock, asked:
"Who are you? What happened to Pandora?"
Grim could not hide his fear. His legs were shaking; the black entity before him and the aura it exuded were terrifying.
Darius, with a massive smile hidden behind the darkness, attacked Grim. Grim successfully dodged the first attack, but he had underestimated Darius's superhuman speed. He could not block the scythe attack that suddenly came from behind; the scythe plunged into his chest.
Darius was leaping from building to building toward the front where Saber was, but no one was there; neither Solaris soldiers nor the Morneth soldiers led by Saber. Nerona and Katen had managed to defeat them. The two mages had vanished after killing the Solaris soldiers. The Morneth soldiers had crushed the Solaris support forces. The path was clear; healers were tending to the wounded, and the operation continued.
An order came from Garen:
"We have taken the Solaris territories; we are retreating; we do not have the strength to hold on any longer."
Morneth had withdrawn from the battle; they had gained a great amount of territory, but their troop losses were also heavy. Darius was still unable to regain control; he was fighting back. The darkness was doing everything it could to prevent him from attacking the Morneth soldiers, and his subconscious led him toward the Solaris and Aurelia War. Darius set off, possessed, leaping from place to place. Things were not going well for either side on Elias's front. Both sides had suffered severe casualties. The Solaris army was quite weakened because their soldiers had gone to the other front, but they still had no intention of giving up.
A hooded figure approached Karios:
"Commander, we lost the battle on the Morneth front. Saber, Grim, and Pandora are gone, but Morneth has withdrawn. The King is very angry."
Karios, restricted, responded:
"How can this be? Pandora, Grim, and Saber… Who could kill them? There is no one in Morneth who could kill them."
The hooded man said:
"We do not know, sir."
Karios fell deep in thought and began to prepare a plan. On the battlefield, deaths were flying; mages were trying to harm enemy units, and archers were picking off soldiers in the enemy ranks one by one.
The situation was good for Elias and his friends; they had almost no casualties. Elias and Riven were easily killing enemy soldiers with coordinated attacks. But Solaris was coming, and the Aurelia defense was about to collapse.
Izuna was managing his army well. Astra's magical arrows and Vortex's healing magic were helping their friends, providing Solaris with its greatest advantage.
Karios put his plan into action: Jura, with his large shield, would take Izuna's place at the front, stalling the units; Astra would fire massive, flame-filled arrows into the air; Vortex would create a tornado. In this way, they would throw the enemy into the fire. At that moment, Izuna would attack with a group of soldiers, breaching the defense.
A soldier shouted loudly:
"Yes, Commander!"
The soldier relayed the plan, and they immediately changed their formation. Jura moved to the front, while Izuna waited in the back for his moment. When the order came, Astra fired massive fireballs at the enemy; Vortex created a gigantic flame tornado in the center with a wind spell. The Aurelia soldiers scattered, and they broke through the defense and advanced.
Elias and his friends focused on the force coming toward them. Riven immediately used wind magic to repel the tornado and redirect it toward the Solaris side; but the defense had already been breached. Both sides had suffered huge losses; but Solaris had started to break the defense.
Karios yelled:
"Forward, my soldiers, forward!"
With the defense breached, Elias and his friends were scattered. Elias lost sight of Hanami and, along with Riven, focused on Izuna and the soldiers coming for them.
Riven and Elias focused on the soldiers coming toward them; everyone on the battlefield felt a pressure, as if hell itself had moved there. Their souls trembled; everyone stopped fighting and looked at the approaching entity.
A Solaris soldier shouted:
"Look over there!"
Everyone turned their eyes to that direction. A pitch-black entity was looking at them; the scythe in its hand smelled of death... It was Darius.
Darius raised the scythe into the air and launched a four-sided attack. The war was now a three-way battle between Darius, Solaris, and Aurelia. Elias was looking for Hanami. Hanami was far away, helping out on the front lines. Elias noticed something approaching Hanami; Darius was going to attack Hanami, but Elias was too far away to intervene.
Darius cut down everyone in his path without distinction; no one had the power to resist. He advanced with superhuman strength, the smell of death filling the air. The war was now only between Darius, Solaris, and Aurelia.
Finally, Darius attacked Hanami. Elias was running with all his might, but Darius struck Hanami with the scythe. Hanami's body was split in two. Hanami had died right before Elias's eyes. Elias was in shock, tears streaming down his face. He remembered the first moment he met Hanami. Elias fell to his knees, utterly defeated.
Darius, meanwhile, continued his massacre; no one could stop him.