Near the Imperial Capital stood a picturesque peak. Once, a white temple crowned its summit, but after countless years, only crumbling ruins remained. Ivy and morning glories claimed the broken walls and pillars, weaving a lush sky garden. Upon the shattered altar sat a stunning woman in a black evening gown, radiating both youthful charm and mature allure. Her pale legs swung gently in the air as she hummed a forgotten melody.

"Lord Yao Ye."

A swirl of dark miasma coalesced behind her, forming a knight clad in silver armor adorned with a double-headed eagle crest. His tattered white cloak looked scorched by fire. The knight respectfully removed his helmet, revealing a weathered face—a youth’s features etched with an old man’s weariness. A terrible scar split his nose bridge, dividing what might have been a handsome face.

"Kai. Long time no see," Yao Ye ceased her humming and turned. "I’m surprised you’d seek me out. What wind blows you here today?"

"Lord Yao Ye," the knight named Kai said, "please end this farce. It’s enough. Stop sowing more fear and hatred!"

"If I don’t, I’ll fade away," Yao Ye traced a finger over her ample chest. "Since I can no longer feed on human faith, I must take the direct route—make them fear and hate me. Negative emotions can sustain a god’s existence too. Fundamentally, it’s no different from pious devotion… just filthier. I once traveled to a world where gods did exactly this. To preserve themselves, they waged millennia-long wars on humanity, endlessly crafting slaughter and ruin. Honestly? I’m just as pitiful as they were…"

"Lord Yao Ye," Kai lowered his head. "Please stop. Perhaps one day… you might return to the Hall of Gods…"

"Kai. That day will never come," Yao Ye cut him off. "As the companion of the first ‘Godslayer’—and the Holy Knight who finally killed him—you understand my words, don’t you?"

"Yes. I understand."

"Then don’t stand in my way," Yao Ye said. "I’ll share good news: ‘He’ has returned."

"‘He’? Could it be—"

"Exactly. After tens of thousands of years searching, I’ve finally recovered the last fragment of ‘Him’." Yao Ye gazed at Kai, a bewitching smile playing on her lips. "The soul shattered into countless fragments by the gods has been reassembled. And I’ve entrusted ‘her’ with Father’s legacy. When the time ripens, the hypocritical gods dwelling in their celestial halls will face retribution!"

"You’re utterly… mad…"

"Kai," Yao Ye lifted the knight’s chin. "Don’t you feel even a flicker of anticipation? Not a trace of regret? Not the slightest guilt for killing your closest friend? Hahaha! You’re still such a pretentious fool, Kai. Why not accept reality honestly? Like ‘He’ did."

At that moment, the sky above the distant Imperial Capital twisted. A colossal black vortex tore open. Wing-shaped stealth bombers surged through, high-altitude winds stripping black sludge from their hulls to reveal the Night Watch insignia. Instantly, bomb bays yawned open, releasing a massive MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator) toward the city. Designed to pierce sixty meters of medium-hard rock, it was the perfect weapon against subterranean strongholds. Below, Ghostface Army fire-spotters crouched atop buildings, their optical camouflage cloaks blurring their forms. Laser targeting systems locked onto an empty plaza—beneath which lay Samilian’s Soul Crucible.

A thunderous impact. The bomb burrowed deep. Then the earth heaved upward. Shockwaves rippled out from the impact point across hundreds of meters, tearing up the ground and flattening every structure. As dust settled, a quarter of the Imperial Capital lay erased, as if struck by a minor earthquake.

"I won’t let you take Aimee," Mio clenched her fist. "Samilian."

Behind her stood the silent, black-armored Headless Knight. A Ghostface Army comm officer knelt beside her, one knee bent, allowing her to link tactically with her entire force via the wireless terminal on his back. Grey drones, painted in low-visibility schemes, circled overhead, scanning the blast zone to assess damage. Suddenly, the ground trembled. Earth bulged violently at the impact site before shattering apart. Fire-spotters caught in the collapse were swallowed by rock and soil. Drones veered sharply to avoid the colossal shape erupting from the earth.

Dust cleared. A gigantic humanoid figure stood silhouetted against the setting sun. A flesh-and-blood colossus, roughly a hundred meters tall, its massive form woven from countless human limbs. No skin covered its raw muscle; veins and nerves pulsed visibly within crimson tissue.

"It’s… a Flesh Goliath?" Fanna gasped, the Archmage’s usual composure shattered. "Marshal Moura, order an immediate retreat! Evacuate as many citizens as possible. The Mage Association’s reinforcements will arrive soon. We’ll annihilate this monster with grand-scale attack magic—but the Imperial Capital will likely be destroyed too!"

"Follow her orders, Marshal Moura," Mio’s gaze turned icy. "By classification standards, I declare this a Level III Godscourge. I now authorize Engagement Protocol ‘Alpha-Plus’ across the entire Imperial Capital. There’s no time for civilians. You have one hour to evacuate. Move swiftly."

Godscourges ranked from I to V. Level III triggered Night Watch deployment. Level IV permitted tactical nukes. At the highest Level V, on-site Night Watch commanders gained automatic authority to deploy the ultimate weapon: the Dimensional Vibration Bomb.

"Understood," Moura nodded. "Orders: Prepare for withdrawal."

His command rang out. The Imperial Army began its retreat.

"Mio," he said, "come with me."

"I can’t," Mio shook her head. "I must buy you time."

Half her long hair had turned black; her right eye was now pitch-dark. Even in this inhuman state, she remained breathtakingly beautiful to Moura.

"May fortune favor you in battle."

With those words, Moura organized the retreat. His ironclad troops never broke into rout, even in defeat—and this was a planned withdrawal. Soon, the entire Imperial Army mobilized, evacuating citizens. Most residents had already fled days prior; those remaining were packed and ready. Evacuation proceeded smoother than expected.

"Talasha," Mio turned to the cat-eared girl cradling Amber. "You need not stay. Our…" she glanced at Aimee, now the Headless Knight, "…oath is hereby void. Take Amber back to your homeland. But—" her tone sharpened, "—if you ever mistreat her, or allow others to harm her, I will blow you and every abuser to atoms."

"Understood, Lady Mio. I will protect her with my life." Talasha bowed slightly, then vanished into the retreating crowd, Amber squirming in her arms.

Mio drew a deep breath. She was alone again.

"Just… buy a little time." She focused, reaching into the darkness within her soul. This time, the treacherous black swamp had transformed into a warm current. Under her will, something alien to this world materialized in the air.

A "Sky Reaper" gunship burst from a black vortex. This six-engine heavy transport, converted into a ground-attack beast, bristled with weaponry on its port side: a 120mm howitzer and a 30mm Gatling cannon array. Its advanced fire-control system locked onto the Flesh Goliath. The gunship entered its attack orbit. Instantly, all weapons roared. A dense curtain of fire rained down, blossoming across the giant’s body.

Dense flesh that once deflected arrows and ballistae now shredded under modern high-explosive and depleted-uranium rounds. The colossal puppet—Samilian’s masterpiece, a destroyer of cities and small nations—crumbled under the barrage. Its defenses were obsolete against weapons honed to extremes in Mio’s world, where humanity had forged arms of unimaginable power to wage war against gods.

A 120mm HE shell struck the giant’s back. The explosion carved a ten-meter-wide crater of raw meat. A hail of 30mm depleted-uranium rounds shredded its left wrist, leaving only splintered bone. The Flesh Goliath seized a boulder and hurled it skyward. A short burst from the Gatling cannon pulverized the rock mid-flight. Firing at 6,000 rounds per minute, those depleted-uranium slugs could sieve a tank—this stone was mere gravel.

Beneath the giant’s feet, Ghostface combat teams sprang into action. They shouldered portable rocket launchers, firing HE rounds at its ankles—the creature’s weak point. Exposed tendons made perfect targets. Six missiles, precisely coordinated, struck simultaneously. Severed tendons gave way. The Flesh Goliath collapsed, crushing buildings beneath its weight.

"Just a bigger human, at heart," Mio sneered. "Humans die when shot. A giant target like this? Naturally, you kill it with a bigger gun."

The gunship poured relentless fire onto the fallen colossus, tearing its flesh to shreds. It writhed in the rubble, unable to rise with its tendons severed, crawling slowly, its mangled face etched with agony and despair. A Ghostface squad silently set up rocket launchers in the ruins. Rockets slammed into its face, blasting away its nose and right eye.

"Samilian," Mio’s cold laugh cut through the din. "Show yourself, or I’ll destroy your toy."

"Foul creature! Unforgivable! UNFORGIVABLE!"

The Death Servant materialized in the air, still cloaked in black robes, skeletal staff in hand, pale blue flames burning in his hollow eye sockets. At that instant, sixty mages appeared, encircling him.

"Samilian," Fanna leveled her staff. "Your end is today."

"Heh heh heh… Foolish mages," the necromancer cackled. "You’ll make excellent specimens! Today, you all become my experimental materials! HAHAHAHAHA!"

And so, the battle between mages and Death Servant began.