Chapter Seventy-Four

Before dawn, Royo narrates from the command tent as war drums pound. Mikail calls the group to move, and Aeri chooses to take Royo’s hand. On the way to the overlook, Royo extracts a promise from Aeri to avoid using her relics unless necessary, fearing unknown risks since she bears the crown.

The five—Mikail, Aeri, Royo, Teo, and Duval—take position amid archers above Charm Beach. They wait while a vast Weian fleet closes. Mikail scans for threats with a spyglass, perhaps for Sora, but finds nothing. Tension mounts as the ships creep into range.

Without warning, Mikail steps forward and sweeps his right arm. Ten Weian warships erupt into unnatural fire, mirroring earlier godly conflagrations. He follows with his left arm—the arm fused with the Water Scepter—expecting water, but another line of ships ignites instead. Cheers explode along the beach as twenty ships are destroyed, thousands effectively doomed.

Hope surges through the defenders, but Mikail collapses to his knees, gasping, then vomits water despite not drinking. Aeri examines him and concludes the multiplication of relic powers has inverted costs: water now turns against Mikail as time turned against Aeri. Using the relics is slowly drowning him.

Mikail wipes his face and insists that fire will suffice. Royo looks over the remaining armada and silently prays; despite the blazing victory and lifted morale, many enemy ships and an entire Yusanian fleet still advance, and Mikail’s worsening toll threatens their ability to hold.