Chapter 80 — Isla

Cronan, having overheard Isla and Grim, portals them into the galaxy room, where a dozen armored knights await. He offers Isla a chance at freedom if she kills them all, withholding her powers but handing her a sword. Isla refuses to abandon Grim but is forced into combat when a knight attacks.

Using speed and ruthlessness, Isla decapitates one knight and then turns their own shadows against them by shielding herself with a fallen body. Exploiting the armor’s neck gap, she methodically kills ten more in a blood-soaked struggle. When the last knight overpowers her, she rips off his helmet and recognizes Cronan’s face, realizing the knights are weaker duplicates of him. Cronan executes the remaining knight himself, proving he tolerates no weakness, even in his own copies.

Cronan announces Isla’s death will be public and moves to shatter the mental barrier she has hidden. As his shadows tear through her mind, Isla perceives his thoughts left open. She counter-invades, navigating labyrinthine defenses and glimpsing vast memories, ultimately identifying his weakness while letting him take decoy thoughts from her.

Withdrawing, Cronan dismisses Isla’s secret plans with the lost king and confronts Grim for attempting to free her. Instead of killing them, he proclaims his “second chance”: he will invade their world the day after next and spare only one realm, determined by a public duel. The final reveal lands—Isla will not duel Cronan, but Grim, with the victor’s realm granted survival.