CHAPTER 263: CHAPTER 259 – THE RETURN OF THE QUEEN BENEATH THE TORN SKY

The wind across the battlefield no longer felt like wind.

It moved like the breath of a living creature hot, humid, and heavy with the scent of blood. Above the plains, the sky was no longer blue but a swirl of dark red and gray like a wound that refused to close.

Beneath it, Celes knelt among the thinning ranks of the undead. Her spatial blade was buried in the cracked ground, its tip trembling faintly.

White smoke rose from the wound on her shoulder not blood, but glowing particles slowly dissolving into the air.

In the distance, Aurellia panted heavily, her red hair clinging to her sweat- and blood-streaked face. The fireballs she hurled were weaker now their flames sputtered out before even touching their targets.

"Celes..." she rasped, voice hoarse, "we can’t hold them much longer."

Celes turned, her silver eyes unsteady.

Behind Aurellia, the battlefield resembled an open hellscape. Hundreds of creatures from the underworld continued to pour from a hovering black gate, its shape unstable, shifting between a crack in the air and a massive bleeding.

From within, countless arms and grotesque bodies crawled out, their guttural cries impossible to comprehend.

"The fourth defensive line... has fallen," Alicia’s voice came from the left flank.

She was down on one knee, her blue lantern-staff trembling. The flame at its tip flickered weakly, threatening to die out.

Behind her, Stacia gripped a thick grimoire, its pages lined with deep fractures. Every time she turned a page, fresh blood trickled between her fingers, a sign she had long surpassed her magical limits.

"The last buff will last... maybe two more minutes," she muttered wearily. "After that... I can’t promise the undead will still move."

Alicia looked up at the sky and gave a short, breathless laugh.

"Two minutes... In this kind of hell, that feels like forever."

Behind them, the undead ranks began to waver. Bones cracked. Regeneration slowed. Several zombies fell one after another this time, not rising again. The underworld creatures kept advancing, their bodies like living acid, melting anything they touched.

No human voices remained, only howls, the hiss of magic, and the sound of flesh dissolving.

Celes gritted her teeth.

Her hand trembled on her sword’s hilt. She knew if they gave up now, everything would be lost.

Not just we, but the entire world would drown in an endless abyss of death. And yet... even she was reaching her limit.

"If only Sylvia were here..."

The thought flickered across her mind.

"If she were here, this would’ve ended already."

The sky rumbled. Aurellia’s head snapped up. "Did you hear that?"

Stacia lifted her gaze slowly, her exhausted eyes fixed on the swirling heavens.

"No... that’s not thunder. It resonates with a massive surge of magical pressure."

Alicia bit her lip, forcing herself to stand. "That kind of pressure... I know it." Her blue pupils widened.

"That’s not ordinary magic."

Then, the air stopped moving. Everything undead, and demon alike froze for a moment. The roars of the underworld creatures fell silent, as though a colossal hand had smothered the entire world.

From the northern horizon, a wave of violet-black fire spread slowly as if an unseen hand were scattering the mist of death across the land, air, and sky.

That flame burned through the underworld creatures effortlessly; being the fire of judgment, anything it touched was reduced to ash instantly.

"...That," whispered Celes.

The small voice cut through the suffocating stillness.

"...is Sylvia’s flame."

.....

The clouds above the battlefield trembled, forming a dense black vortex. From its heart, a violet light pierced through the mist and from within it, she appeared.

Her black gown was torn in several places, stained with dried blood. Chains of shadow coiled around her body like living serpents. Her long black hair drifted softly, clinging to pale, scorched skin.

But her eyes glowed a deep, gentle crimson, heavy with exhaustion and fury in equal measure.

Sylvia set foot on the battlefield.

The ground beneath her feet darkened and cracked, as if the earth itself rejected the presence of such a being.

Her Death Aura spread slowly, crawling like waves of night devouring the shore.

Every underworld creature that had been roaring moments ago now bowed not out of fear, but because their bodies were disintegrating where they stood.

Alicia nearly collapsed under the crushing pressure. She steadied herself with her staff, staring at the figure now standing amid the storm of dark magic.

"She... she’s really back..."

Stacia closed her grimoire, a faint smile breaking through her pale face.

"At last..."

Celes pushed herself to her feet. Her body shook, but her grip on her sword was firm.

"Our Queen... has returned."

Above, Sylvia’s black flame spread into massive wings of shadow not physical, but vast enough to cast the entire battlefield into darkness.

Her gaze fell on the great gate still vomiting abominations into the world. Each second, hundreds more poured forth but there was no panic in her eyes.

Only calm.

A deadly, absolute calm.

"You’ve done well," she said softly, her voice echoing across the field.

Celes bowed deeply, her breath trembling. "We... could barely hold the line, Sylvia." Aurellia stepped forward, eyes shimmering with exhausted relief. "I thought we’d die before you came back."

Sylvia smiled faintly.

"I’m sorry... I was late."

A pulse of violet light shimmered around her form.

"Now let me take it from here."

The chains around her began to tremble one after another. The metallic echoes rang like the rhythm of a world about to awaken. From the ground, the chains erupted, spreading like the roots of a colossal tree.

They wrapped around the surviving undead, channeling new energy into every fallen warrior that still held a fragment of will.

Purple light flared in the hollow eyes of zombies, ghouls, and skeletons. They rose again stronger, faster, deadlier. The rhythm of war began anew.

BOOOOMMMM!!!

The first explosion of black energy obliterated the underworld ranks on the battlefield’s left flank. Violet-black fire surged like an ocean wave.

The creatures burned without smoke, without sound vanishing into dust.

Celes stared, eyes wide. "She’s not holding back anymore..." Alicia lifted her blue lantern, its flame reignited by resonance. "Of course not. She’s gone beyond her limits."

Sylvia raised her right hand, chains spiraling in the air to form a massive vortex.

"Chain Technique – Form 3: Death Spiral!"

The air twisted. Chains spun into a vast tornado of violet darkness, sucking in hundreds of underworld beasts at once.

Their screams were swallowed before they faded entirely.

But Sylvia wasn’t done. She turned, whispering a new spell.

"Decay Rain."

The sky dimmed. Black rain began to fall, each drop devouring flesh, bone, and soul alike.

Within less than a minute, the enemy’s frontline was gone.

Yet Sylvia stood silent. Her gaze fixed on the enormous gate still pulsing with crimson light.

Each tremor from it cracked the world around it further.

Celes approached, panting. "Sylvia, you can’t close it from the outside... too much energy’s spilling out."

Sylvia nodded without turning. "I know."

Aurellia looked at her, worried, clouding her face. "If you force it, your body...."

"My body passed its limit long ago," Sylvia interrupted softly.

She looked up at the fractured sky, where red and violet twisted together in a violent spiral.

"This isn’t about me anymore... It’s about this world."

Her crimson eyes met theirs Celes, Aurellia, Alicia, Stacia.

"Hold the line. I’ll close it."

Before anyone could protest, the ground beneath her began to quake. Black chains erupted upward, coiling around her like wings.

Her Death Aura surged outward, shaking the entire battlefield. A deep, resonant sound echoed like the heartbeat of the world itself.

Alicia swallowed hard. "She’s going to do it... alone?"

Stacia shook her head slowly. "She’s never alone, Alicia. The realm of the dead stands with her."

The sky split once more. Black fire swirled around Sylvia, forming a massive sigil inscribed with ancient symbols the mark of the Underworld. Her chains shot upward, piercing the colossal gate.

The sound that followed was like a thousand iron bells ringing in unison.

"Unification!"

Violet light exploded in every direction. The underworld creatures froze then shattered, one by one.

The great gate trembled violently, and for the first time...

It began to shrink.

Sylvia stood tall, her black hair whipping in the storm of energy, her face calm, her eyes resolute.

Celes stared without blinking, her whisper carried by the trembling wind:

"Welcome back... our Queen."

.....

Sylvia slowly lowered her hand.

The black chains surrounding her fell one by one, crumbling into fine ash that drifted away with the wind.

The black rain ceased, and for the first time in hours, sunlight pierced through the crimson haze.

Celes stepped forward, resting her sword against her shoulder.

"The gate... it’s closed," she said, her voice trembling.

She looked at Sylvia the queen who now stood serenely amid the ruins of the world.

Aurellia approached, her face still smeared with blood and ash.

"If you’d been even a little later... we’d all have turned to ash by now."

She tried to laugh, but her voice was hoarse cracking at the edge of her breath.

Sylvia looked at the three of them with a faint smile, though her eyes seemed weary.

Her body swayed slightly before thin chains materialized from the air, supporting her shoulders so she wouldn’t fall.

"Sorry for making you wait," she said softly.

"Now... it’s all over."

Stacia glanced around at the ground that had finally fallen silent, at the sky slowly closing its crimson wounds.

"No, Sylvia," she whispered. "It’s not over... it’s beginning again."

Sylvia lifted her gaze to the dusky sky, filled with drifting motes of violet light. Her eyes were dim, yet sharp. Far beyond the clouds, something trembled faintly like another world’s eye slowly opening.

She knew...

This victory was only a pause before a greater storm.