Nyx’s eyes trembled as she stared up at Arlen — knees forced to the ground by the Oath Binder’s collar, shame choking her breath.

  She searched his face… for respect, for camaraderie, for even a fragment of the bond she thought they were building.

  But she found nothing

  Arlen didn’t even glance at her.

  Cold. Detached. Focused only on his next target as he walked toward Grom and Aura to enslave them too.

  Just as he raised his hand—

  Dark fog exploded around his legs.

  Black chains coiled up his body like living shadows.

  Arlen snarled, “Cornea? What the hell are you doing? Let me go.”

  He tried to break free — but

  A crushing, suffocating force descended from behind him, bending the air, bending the world, bending .

  Cornea’s voice, low and razor-sharp, slid into the air:

  “Arlen.”

  Not playful.

  Not seductive.

  Not amused.

  A queen’s voice.

  “You’ve grown strong,” she continued, walking toward him with slow, controlled steps.

  “Strong enough to kill gods.

  Strong enough to challenge my royal guards.

  Strong enough to make even heaven tremble.”

  Her crimson eyes narrowed.

  “But you forgot something.”

  Her words slithered down his spine like ice.

  “Demons signify freedom.

  My father died for that.

  I rule for that.

  We exist for that.”

  She stepped close enough that he could feel her breath against his ear.

  “You won the fight. As promised, they will follow your plan.

  But you do not

  Remove the Oath Binder. Now.”

  Arlen clenched his jaw. For one reckless moment, he considered resisting — he felt the power of two gods in his veins, felt Soul Eater’s weight at his hip.

  But then he met her gaze.

  And instantly understood.

  No matter how far he’d climbed…

  No matter how much blood he’d swallowed…

  No matter how many gods he’d slain…

  Cornea was still a monster far beyond him.

  He could not win.

  Arlen clicked his tongue and dispelled the collar around Nyx’s neck.

  The chains shattered like broken glass.

  He muttered, “Fine. As long as they follow the plan, I don’t need enslavement.”

  Nyx remained silent.

  Not out of rebellion — but out of heartbreak.

  Something inside her had cracked.

  Aura and Grom avoided his eyes.

  Even they felt the shift — the darkness brewing inside him.

  Arlen ignored all of it and continued:

  “Grom — you’re too bulky. Dryas will rip you apart before you take a step.

  Aura, Nyx — you two will come with me. Speed and mobility. Nature magic won’t overwhelm us if we split the aggro between the three of us.”

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  Plans were laid.

  Roles decided.

  A battle against a goddess set in motion.

  Then Cornea placed her hand on Arlen’s shoulder — her voice back to its usual sultry pride:

  “Time to hunt, little slayer.”

  Black mist swallowed them — the queen’s teleportation.

  And in the next breath, Arlen stood beneath a sky he hadn’t seen before:

  The center of the earth.

  A primordial forest older than time.

  The towering World Tree piercing the heavens, glowing with emerald divinity.

  The home of the goddess of nature— Dryas.

  The moment they touched the forest floor, the earth reacted.

  Vines shot out from every direction

  Arlen drew Raikiri

  But before the severed vines even touched the soil, they regrew

  Then—

  A radiant figure stepped out

  Her presence alone calmed the air — a warm, soothing force that healed the land as she walked. Even the ground under her feet blossomed.

  Dryas.

  The Goddess of Nature.

  Her voice was gentle, but carried the weight of millennia:

  “So… you are the half-human, half-demon child calling yourself ‘God Slayer.’”

  Her eyes hardened — not with malice, but disappointment.

  “How dare you come here after committing such horrors? And you bring demons with you?”

  Her tone was not like Helios’ arrogance.

  Not like Lumen’s fury.

  It was the tone of a mother scolding a child who knew better.

  Arlen felt something twist inside him — an ache he didn’t understand.

  He forced it down.

  He unsheathed RaikiriSoul Eater

  “Don’t get sentimental with me,” he growled.

  “You’re just another parasite.”

  He dashed forward — Nyx and Aura flanking him.

  Dryas didn’t move.

  The forest moved for her

  Every tree, every vine, every stray blade of grass reacted — as if the entire ecosystem was one living organism acting to protect its mother.

  Animals darted from the shadows, pelting Arlen with stones and hardened soil.

  Medium-sized beasts lunged from tree hollows, striking then vanishing.

  Thorned vines lashed at him with unnatural speed.

  Every cut he made with Raikiri regenerated.

  Every path he tried to carve closed instantly.

  For the first time since becoming a god slayer…

  Arlen was being overwhelmed.

  And yet—

  There was no killing intent

  Her vines wrapped, restrained, pushed, redirected — but never struck vitals.

  Her eyes held sadness, not hatred.

  She wasn’t fighting to kill.

  She was fighting to stop him

  Arlen spat blood. “Damn you—fight seriously!”

  Dryas’ expression only softened.

  “Why would I kill a child so lost?”

  That stung more than the vines.

  But the battle didn’t pause.

  A vine suddenly pierced through Arlen’s right arm, ripping Raikiri from his grip.

  Nyx and Aura rushed to help, but Dryas sealed them off with thick barriers of living roots.

  Arlen winced, bleeding.

  “Nyx! Cut down the perimeter — NOW!”

  Nyx hesitated only a heartbeat, then she leapt, slicing through towering trees with clean, brutal movements.

  “Aura! Paralyze everything outside the immediate zone!”

  Aura spread her obsidian butterfly wings — dark, shimmering pollen flooded the battlefield.

  Small animals collapsed instantly, unable to move.

  The forest shuddered.

  Dryas flinched.

  The goddess visibly felt their pain.

  Good…

  This is my chance—

  But then something unexpected happened.

  One of the huge felled trees began to topple — directly onto a group of the paralyzed small animals.

  They couldn’t escape.

  They couldn’t even crawl.

  Arlen smirked.

  Dryas didn’t hesitate even a heartbeat.

  She dropped all her defenses

  her vines, her barriers, everything—

  and threw herself between the animals and the falling tree

  Arlen froze mid-strike.

  Soul Eater was aimed perfectly at her exposed core.

  One thrust would end her.

  But…

  Dryas had her arms wrapped around the small animals, protecting them with her own body.

  Her divine light shuddered under the weight, but she held firm.

  Arlen’s hand trembled.

  He couldn’t move.

  Because in that second—

  The forest transformed into the memory of another day.

  The day Chronos descended.

  The screams.

  The executions.

  The pleading.

  The betrayal.

  Darian’s body.

  His family’s empty, brainwashed eyes.

  Chronos’ voice echoed in his skull—

  “Kill them. It is mercy.”

  Arlen’s breath shattered.

  A blade raised over the innocent.

  A monster willing to slaughter anything in the path of revenge.

  A force of destruction that doesn’t hesitate before killing those weaker than himself.

  Just like Chronos.

  He staggered back.

  No.

  No. No. No.

  His heartbeat was a frantic drum, his vision shaking.

  A monster?

  A tyrant?

  Another parasite wearing power?

  The realization crashed into him like divine lightning—

  He was no longer fighting Dryas.

  He was fighting the reflection of what he was turning into.

  And for the first time since he became a slayer of gods…

  Arlen felt hesitation in himself.