THE GENERAL'S DISGRACED HEIR

Number 1 pushed herself up from the ground, her movements slow and deliberate, as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. Chaos's blessing coursed through her, a power she rarely tapped into fully due to the chains of balance holding her back, and yet, something had struck her—a force that defied logic. Her raiven eyes narrowed as her senses honed in on a blazing aura illuminating the battlefield.

Her gaze snapped toward the source, locking onto the fiery figure near David. The flames around the woman flickered and roared like a living entity, casting radiant light across the scorched earth.

David and Elara stood together, locked in a kiss that seemed to bridge the gap between mortality and divinity. As their lips parted, David's system window blinked into view:

[Notification: Target's Health – 100%. Stabilized.]

Elara broke the kiss, her blazing fingers brushing tenderly against David's cheek. Despite the searing heat emanating from her aura, her touch was impossibly gentle, as if the flames were alive and understood David was not to be harmed.

"We need to talk," she said softly, her voice carrying a weight of authority tempered by tenderness. "But not now. Right now, your companion needs you."

David nodded, his throat dry. Her presence was overwhelming, a conflux of power and emotion that both inspired and terrified him.

From across the battlefield, Number 1's enraged voice cut through the tension. "How are you able to wield mana at that scale without suffering any backlash?"

Elara turned her emerald gaze toward the intruder, her expression hardening. Slowly, she began to float into the air, her fiery aura lifting her effortlessly as if she were a phoenix reborn. Her eyes locked on Number 1, unflinching and cold.

"So, you're the one behind my sickness," Elara said, her tone calm but laced with fury.

Number 1 smirked, stretching her arms wide as the ground beneath her began to rumble. Twin swords, black as night and pulsating with chaos, emerged from the earth. With a single beat of her massive wings, she ascended into the air, her swords gleaming menacingly in the dim light.

As Elara rose higher, her gaze shifted toward the sky, where the dark veil of chaos blanketed her land. She extended her hand, her index finger glowing with a searing intensity. With a single, commanding motion, a beam of pure sunlight erupted from her finger, piercing through the oppressive darkness.

The veil tore apart as though it were nothing more than fragile fabric. Morning light flooded the battlefield, bathing the scorched and ruined land in golden warmth. Elara's eyes widened in horror as she took in the devastation her county had endured.

Her gaze fell to where Mariana lay unconscious, battered and bruised, and her anger swelled like an inferno. Her aura flared brighter, and the air around her shimmered as if the sun itself had descended.

Number 1 wasted no time. In an instant, she appeared before Elara, her twin blades slicing through the air, aiming to cleave through the blazing Archon. Despite the unbearable heat radiating from Elara, Number 1's movements were relentless and precise.

But Elara had anticipated the attack. Without hesitation, she raised her other hand, unleashing another searing beam of light that struck Number 1 dead center. The chaos-blessed swords intercepted the blast, forcing Number 1 back several meters, her wings straining against the force.

Elara hovered in place, her aura blazing brighter than ever, her crimson eyes now twin suns of fury. "You've gone too far," she declared, her voice echoing with unyielding resolve.

Number 1 steadied herself mid-air, her wings flaring wide to regain balance. Her fiery gaze locked onto Elara once more, now calm and calculating. She scrutinized the Archon, the chaotic thoughts in her mind churning as she wondered how this woman had managed to escape the demon's curse so thoroughly. Her expression darkened further when her eyes drifted past Elara to David, who knelt on the ground with Luna cradled in his arms.

David's blood dripped freely from a deep cut he'd made on his arm, the crimson liquid pooling onto Luna's chest wound. The pale colour of her skin, moments ago deathly and lifeless, began to return to a healthy hue, her breathing shallow but steadying.

Number 1's sharp mind immediately pieced together the implications. Her brows furrowed as a single thought roared to life in her mind. This man... he's the cause of all this unpredictability... AGAIN!

Her lips twisted into a snarl, her golden aura flaring as her rage mounted. Raising one of her twin swords, she aimed it directly at David. "No more interference," she hissed, her grip tightening as she prepared to hurl the blade with lethal precision. The air around her crackled with chaotic energy, ready to obliterate this unforeseen threat to their plans.

But then, something changed. The temperature spiked, the atmosphere thick with unbearable heat. For the first time in ages, Number 1 felt the weight of danger pressing down upon her. She froze, her gaze shifting upward.

Hovering above Elara's outstretched hand was a massive sun, its fiery surface writhing and pulsing with barely contained energy. The sheer intensity of its radiance forced the battlefield into stark contrast, shadows cast razor-sharp against the ground.

"Impossible…" Number 1 whispered, her confidence shaken.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Below, Elara's crimson eyes narrowed with unrelenting fury, her blazing aura amplifying as she muttered under her breath, her voice calm yet laced with deadly intent.

"[Sun's Doom: TENTH SPELL!]"

The words sent shivers down Number 1's spine. The Tenth Spell—wildly known in the field of magic—was the domain of celestial sorcerers, mages so powerful they could raze entire countries to ash with a single incantation. The fact that Elara had invoked it was proof enough of her mastery over her reborn power.

The sun above trembled as it began to descend, its gravitational pull bending the air and ground below.

Number 1 cursed under her breath, her expression hardening. She raised her free hand to her lips and muttered softly, almost imperceptibly, as though speaking to someone unseen.

"Retreat."

The massive sun crashed down, consuming the battlefield in an explosion of light and fire that swallowed everything in its wake. The roar of destruction was deafening, and the land itself trembled as if in agony.

When the light finally faded, the devastation was revealed: Blistering heat waves stretched across the sky as far as the eye could see, the air dense with ash and shimmering with intense heat.

Elara clicked her tongue in frustration as her sharp eyes scanned the aftermath. Amid the ruin, a swirling vortex of chaotic energy dissipated, vanishing into the void. Number 1 was gone, having escaped just as the spell had detonated.

"Slippery bitch," Elara muttered, her fiery aura dimming slightly as she descended back to the ground.