Another.
He kept fighting.
Kept advancing.
Kept bleeding.
There were too many.
A spear pierced his stomach.
A sword entered his shoulder.
A claw ripped through his side.
Still—
He remained standing.
One last cultist approached.
"...Why won't you fall?"
Kai smiled weakly.
"...Because..."
Blood filled his mouth.
"...I'm stubborn."
The cultist drove his blade through Kai's heart.
Kai never hit the ground.
He died...
Standing.
CRACK.
---
His heartbeat vanished again.
Third time.
The mana within him erupted.
Every implanted circuit rejected his body.
Kai couldn't feel anything anymore.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Nothing.
Only silence.
Then—
---
Snow drifted quietly across a ruined battlefield.
Near the walls of Asphyxia.
Kai stumbled forward.
"...Alice!"
She struggled desperately.
King Akshay held her by the neck.
His sword rested against her throat.
His eyes...
Were empty.
Emotionless.
Like a puppet.
Beside him—
Taai.
His expression equally hollow.
"...No..."
Kai ran.
"Alice!"