Neva dropped down like an angel of ice, his lance humming with Pure Cryo Law. "You brought this on yourself."
Gale activated the second trump card
"White Spark: Last Stand!"—an Enhance-type spell created by himself, tailor-made for his Genesis Spark Resonance.
The ground cracked under his feet. Sigils of his bloodline glowed along his spine, chest, and wrists. His aura deepened—denser now, crushing everything around him. His white hair elongated, flickering with fire at the tips.
He rushed forward—wind, fire, lightning, and force condensed around his limbs. His punch cracked Neva's guard open.
Neva countered—slicing Gale's flank. Blood splattered, but Gale didn't stop. Another punch—this time in Neva's throat. The Archon faltered, coughing.
Rune joined the melee, covering Gale's blind spot with a thrust that deflected a surprise anti-Spark spear from an OCS's Captain
Neva blurred, Cryo-warp movement breaking space as he reappeared above Gale, slamming down a jagged lance of ice as large as a cathedral. It roared with layered spells—sixfold Cryo infusion, triple resonance fold, one compression enchantment. It would obliterate a fortress.
Gale pointed.
The spear froze mid-air.
Layer by layer, stripped down to its Spark thread like yarn from an ancient tapestry.
Neva reformed the shards into a massive, inverted dome of stillness—Cryo Absolute, a top-tier EX spell.
Rune's legs gave out as his Anemo resonance screamed.
Even Gale's skin tingled.
"Ice coffin"
The dome collapsed toward them.
"Rune, Flicker—move."
Gale's foot slammed into the ground—Anemo + Geo infusion: "Sonic Vault"—and they vanished from the epicenter as the dome slammed shut.
The entire sector of HighSpire vanished beneath a white explosion.
A nearby OCS member—Rank A, dual wielder of Gravity-infused axes—was clipped by the edge of the blast and folded in half. Blood painted the walls. His partner, a woman with a halberd and shock element infusion, lunged for Gale.
Flicker was faster.
A blur of tails and illusion, and the halberd woman found herself face-to-face with a thousand Flicker illusions, each grinning and holding a frying pan.
The last thing she heard before her helmet cracked was: BONK!.
Rune dropped from above, now wielding the cursed spear.
"I hate this damn thing," he muttered—and then jabbed it through a spell-resistant shield.
The resulting detonation painted a good chunk of the street in green flames and vapor.
"Oops," Rune said, eyes wide. "That... was not supposed to explode."
Neva growled. "Artifact Squad. Release Full Authority."
Suddenly, twenty-five Artifact Squad elites around the city lit up—each one armed with Spark-etched relics connected to the city's underground lattice.
The sky turned black.
Runes crawled over buildings.
Gale's eyes narrowed. "Oh? So they were syncing with the city's core."
"Does that matter?" Rune asked, panting now. "Because I'm down to, like, two spells. And this damn thing's pulsing like it wants to eat me."
"Yea. That means they're about to dump an EX-tier grid lock on us. Probably same as dimension slash. Flicker."
the sky fractured again.
This time, the city itself twisted.
The illusion was more than visual—dozens of subtle changes layered over each other. Weight shift. Air pressure. Even Spark resonance pattern.
The Artifact Squad faltered.
Their spatial lock misfired.
Half the city thought they were three meters to the left.
Gale raised his hand.
"Anemo Spark + Void Flow: Wind Severance."
He cut the air.
The line of pressure alone folded an OCS captain into two neat halves—then sliced apart the ground beneath him.
"...Now that," Rune said, "was sexy."
"Thank you. I call it: minor inconvenience level 3."
Neva dropped again—this time faster than before. Cryo condensed around him. A lance of jagged ice erupted from his palm.
He blurred past Flicker—countered one of her illusions—and went straight for Gale.
They clashed.
And the world screamed.
A thousand sparks exploded as energy clash each other . Gale blocked the lance with a floating steel wall—infused with Geo, Reflect, and Blood Spark.
"Flicker!" Gale barked.
The fox vanished—and suddenly, everyone in the area saw something different. Some saw Gale fighting Neva hand to hand. Others saw clones. Others saw nothing but a crater.
Real Gale? He dropped behind Neva and whispered, "Surprise."
Then slammed a multi-element spear—crafted mid-cast—into Neva's back.
It pierced his defense. Normally you can't pierce the defense easily unless you charge your attack so that it became powerful enough but Gale use advance spark control call "Resonance"
"Checkmate," Gale said.
But Neva just grinned.
"You're ten years too early, brat."
Then exploded in Cryo mist.
A clone.
Gale's eyes widened. He truly hadn't expected this—he never thought Neva could even bend time. He'd already blocked Spark flow before his attack, so he thought he had him, but...
The real Neva reformed behind him, cryo threads lashing everywhere. He was now using Spark Mystery to its fullest, weaving time-bending tricks and conjuring ice that simply didn't melt, illusions that refused to fade. The real Archon, known as the "War Gods," was finally showing his true fangs.
Gale was fast.
But Neva was a master.
Neva's lance plunged deep.
Blood sprayed—a fountain of crimson across shattered stone. Gale staggered, breath caught, the icy lance buried through his side and out his back. The Cryo spread instantly—spark-chilling frost devouring nerves, muscle, and marrow.
His white hair dimmed.
Super Spark Mode flickered.
Neva's face was blank, detached—a killer who had done this a thousand times. "You're powerful," he said, twisting the lance. "But you're not invincible."
Gale coughed blood, smiling through gritted teeth. "You're... not wrong."
He tried to lift a hand—spark tried to pulse—but Neva struck again.
A fist to the gut crushed ribs. A reverse palm shattered Gale's knee. And finally, a Cryo explosion burst at point blank, sending Gale flying like a broken doll through a marble column.
Rune screamed. "Goku! Damn, first day in the cult and the leader's dead already? This cult has no future!"
The battlefield went still.
OCS circled in, closing formation, ready to finish it. The remaining Artifact Squad reestablished partial lock—binding runes climbed into the air again. Cryo pulses spread.
Then...
The sky burned purple.
A cry split the air—high-pitched, otherworldly.
And from the haze walked a creature that should not exist.
Flicker was no longer cute.
She stood tall, regal, terrifying—her fur now radiant white, drifting like starlight. Nine tails fanned out behind her, shimmering with Dreamflame. Above her head floated a single purple halo, spinning with impossible complexity.
Eyes of endless illusion stared down the world.
Flicker had use her Genesis form.
"Genesis Spark Resonance: Nine Tail!"
Neva stopped moving.
Even his Cryo faltered.
"…Nine-Tail…?" he murmured.
Flicker opened her mouth.
And roar.
Spark-infused truth—reality-bending harmony spread out. Illusion that wasn't illusion. Dream that overwrote fact. Sound turned into soul.
The Artifact Squad froze.
Then one by one… began to scream.
Their relics cracked. Glowed. Shattered. Runes bled off their armor, their weapons dissolved midair. One officer stabbed himself to stop the hallucinations. Another tried to claw the stars out of his eyes. One curled up and began apologizing to a long-dead mother.
Guardian Artifact pulses died. Space seals flickered and broke.
Her nine tails moved once.
And the entire defensive grid fell apart.
Gale coughed blood—then laughed weakly. "...Told you she was dangerous."
Neva moved, trying to develop a seal to prevent the escape route again.
Rune grit his teeth, stepping forward beside her.
Then roared.
"Prime Spark Resonance: One Drop of Heaven!"
Golden light exploded from Rune's vein—his Spark igniting in full bloom. Ethereal alcohol surged from his pores, spiraling into shape—a massive wine gourd behind him, cracked with prime etchings.
The air reeked of divinity.
He clenched the cursed spear.
"Neva" Rune spat slowly word by word. "Block.... it.... if.... you.... can"
The spear's runes lit up.
The gourd tilted.
The battlefield twisted. Sound warped.
Rune's veins glowed gold.
And then he vanished—and appeared mid-air, above Neva, smashing the spear down like the fist of a god.
"Prime Spark Ability : Drunken Meteor Smash!"
Neva crossed both arms to defend—but the hit was devastating. A huge shockwave blasted out, smashing the gallows and turning the marble columns nearby into fine dust. The ground cracked open with a terrifying sound, creating a crater fifty meters wide and unbelievably deep where Rune's attack landed. Big cracks spread across the plaza, swallowing parts of the screaming crowd. The very air shrieked, raw power tearing at everything, leaving a strong, electric-smelling silence where the city's center had been.
Flicker lunged in to grab Gale.
She bit into his coat, flipped him onto her back.
Rune landed beside them, panting, legs barely working.
"NOW!" he yelled.
Gale, barely conscious, raised a hand.
"Space jump… locked in…"
Bloody Neva got out of the wreckage and unleashed a final attack—Cryo Lance of Judgment, a spell meant to interrupt spellcasting.
But Flicker blocked it—with a single tail.
The tail burned off.
But they were already gone.
FLASH.
The world blinked.
And they vanished.
Somewhere in wood...
Gale awoke coughing blood, surrounded by silence, lying on warm stone.
Flicker sat beside him, tails curled protectively, panting.
Rune leaned on the broken spear like a crutch, grinning down at him.
"Nice trip," Rune said. "Ten out of ten. Would piss off a city again."
Gale groaned seemingly want to say something but passed out.
Flicker licked his cheek once.
Then curled around him like a guardian deity—white fur stained with blood, purple halo dimming.
They'd escaped.
But HighSpire was at war now.
And Neva?
He wouldn't let this go.
Not after that.
HighSpire – The Cold Summit Hall
Smoke curled from the ruined plaza below.
Cracks ran through the marble floor. The battle had left half the central courtyard in ruin, shattered relics scattered across the ground, embedded in frozen pools of blood and broken stone. The city's defensive node pulsed weakly in recovery mode.
Archon Neva stood at the peak of his fortress, alone.
His eyes were half-closed.
The wind howled around him, thin Cryo mist forming fractal patterns in the air. Below, soldiers cleared the remains of the OCS and Artifact Squad—those who lived, at least. Some were still screaming in their minds, trapped by remnants of that illusion.
A Nine-Tailed Genesis beast...
A drunken with Prime Spark mastery...
And that white-haired devil who smiled even while bleeding to death.
Neva's grip on the frost-forged balcony edge cracked the ice.
"Unacceptable."
The word was cold and quiet.
Then he turned.
"Bring me the Overseers."
Within minutes, his war council assembled: HighSpire's elite, wrapped in formal robes, enchanted armor, and expressions of unease. None dared meet Neva's eyes.
Neva raised a hand.
A glowing Cryo sigil appeared midair, forming slowly—letters of judgment. The words reacted to his will, echoing across the city.
High Alert – Continental Writ of Pursuit
Target 1: Author Von Gale / Alias "Sun Goku" / "White Hair"
Charges: Citywide destruction, assault on officers, possession of forbidden techniques
Classification: EX rank threat
Status: Termination Authorized
Bounty: 32,000,000 Crown
Target 2: Rune Val Kane, Prime Spark Wielder , Former Ex rank adventure
Charges: Public Indecency with Spark Enhancement, Citywide destruction, assault on officers, Creation and Distribution of Illegal Intoxicants (Tier 3)
Classification: EX rank threat
Status: Termination Authorized
Bounty: 24,000,000 Crown
Target 3: Unknown Nine-Tailed Beast, Companion to above
Charges: Artifact destruction, mass mental warfare, illusion-based trauma , Citywide destruction, assault on officers
Classification: EX rank threat
Status: Extermination on Sight
Bounty: 64,000,000 Crown
The bounty flared with heat—distributed instantly via enchanted channels to bounty boards, Mercenary Guilds, the Hunters of the Black Sky, and the Council's private executioners.
Neva turned to his council.
"Send word to the Central Archon Council. I want kill rights formalized and interference nullified. They are no longer just criminals. They are classified threats."
A general swallowed hard. "But... won't this draw in Freelancers? Scavengers? Even... Lunatics?"
Neva's stare was arctic.
"That's the point."
He walked toward the icy window, gazing down at the city.
"I want them hunted."
[Hours Later – Mercenary Guild, Far West Territory]
A drunkard holding a rusted halberd stared at the new bounty, slack-jawed.
"A... A white-haired kid?"
The man beside him, missing half his face and wearing a stolen Archon badge, laughed hoarsely.
"That's a descendant from the former Northern Guardian family. Fate's funny, ain't it?"
[Elsewhere – A Shadowed Den]
Black-robed figures whispered over the sigils, smiles forming.
"The Nine-Tail is back," one purred. "How interesting."
"And that name... White-Hair..." said another.
"...Isn't that the name of the family we buried a century ago?"
Silence.
Then laughter.