Leon’s sword erupted with violent crimson and white energy as hundreds of eclipse-shaped slashes exploded around the king from every direction at once, each one powerful enough to erase high-level monsters instantly.

And yet—

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The [Forsaken King] blocked nearly all of them.

Even while dividing his focus between Leon and the meteor above, his movements remained terrifyingly precise.

His sword moved faster than Leon could properly follow, darkness trailing behind every swing as the king deflected slash after slash after slash with monstrous skill.

The few attacks that managed to slip through his defense crashed into a layer of darkness surrounding his body.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The barrier trembled slightly, but never broke. Leon narrowed his eyes.

’So this is the difference between us under normal circumstances...’

The king was overwhelming. Absolutely overwhelming.

Leon immediately switched attacks, firing spell after spell toward him.

Dark Crescent Slash! Vines of Torment! Ice Spikes! Cataclysmic Fireball!

But the result stayed exactly the same.

The king either cut through them effortlessly or crushed them apart with pure darkness before they could even reach him.

It felt hopeless.

For the first time since entering the city, Leon genuinely felt that if this battle had happened under normal circumstances, he would have lost without even forcing the king to try.

BAM! 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Suddenly, the king moved.

Without even fully turning toward Leon, he swung his leg violently and kicked him straight in the chest.

The impact felt like getting hit by a collapsing mountain.

Leon’s body flew backward at terrifying speed before smashing into the wall of the chamber hard enough to shatter it.

CRASH!

Stone exploded everywhere.

Leon coughed violently as blood escaped his mouth, pain surging through his body while he dropped onto one knee among the rubble.

His vision blurred for a split second.

"...Damn..."

He slowly lifted his head again.

The [Forsaken King] now had both hands raised toward the sky, darkness spiraling endlessly around him as his power poured into the tendrils above.

And slowly... Very slowly... The meteor was stopping.

Leon’s eyes narrowed at that sight. Everything depended on the next few seconds.

If the king completely halted the meteor, then Leon would lose.

The moment the meteor stopped, the king would kill him instantly.

Which meant there was only one thing Leon could still try.

Fwoosh!

Leon tightened his grip around the [Destiny Staff], then began pouring every last drop of mana he could into the forbidden spell still descending from the sky.

It was something he had never attempted before. Usually, once a spell was cast, that was it.

But strangely enough... The moment Leon forced more mana into the connection between himself and the meteor, the air around him suddenly became freezing cold.

Countless particles of mana began gathering wildly around the tip of his staff.

The entire chamber trembled.

And above the castle—

BOOOOOOM!

The [Oblivion Meteor] suddenly surged with even greater power.

Its purple flames intensified violently as the meteor pushed downward once more, overpowering several of the tendrils instantly.

One after another, they exploded apart. The king’s eyes widened.

"What?!" he roared as the meteor resumed descending, "This is the power of a god... and yet you defy it?!"

Leon slowly rose back to his feet, blood still dripping from the corner of his mouth as a grin spread across his face.

"Well," he laughed lightly, "I never really thought the gods were all that impressive anyway."

"YOU INSOLENT FILTH!"

The [Forsaken King] roared so loudly the entire chamber shook again.

"Master Umbrael... the other gods... they will ERASE YOU FROM EXISTENCE!"

Leon didn’t care. He simply kept pouring mana into the meteor while staring directly at the king.

The [Forsaken King] also attempted to control the tendrils in a way to fight back against Leon.

But then, the king froze.

Because for the first time since the battle started... He realized he was losing.

The tendrils were breaking apart now. The meteor was descending again. And there was nothing left to stop it.

"...No..." The king’s composure finally shattered completely, "...No! NO!"

The giant meteor pierced through the remaining tendrils one after another, the explosions illuminating the entire dark sky above the city as though a second sun had appeared.

And then, the [Oblivion Meteor] collided with the castle.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The world itself seemed to explode.

The impact was so overwhelming that the entire [Forsaken Castle] vanished beneath endless purple flames almost instantly.

Shockwaves erupted across the city with enough force to flatten entire streets.

Buildings shattered apart. Darkness twisted violently.

The sky split open further as enormous cracks spread through the atmosphere itself.

Even the dark fog surrounding the city trembled from the collision.

...

Meanwhile, far away from the castle, before the meteor had even fully descended...

"It’s been over an hour now," Godrick muttered while staring toward the distant castle, his muscular arms crossed tightly, "That human is definitely dead."

"...Maybe he’s preparing something?" Alicar offered weakly, though even he sounded unconvinced.

"Leon wouldn’t prepare," Violet replied calmly, though her eyes remained fixed on the castle, "He’d rush directly inside."

"And then immediately die," Godrick snorted. "The king would crush him instantly."

Nobody argued with that. Because deep down, all of them knew it was probably true.

The [Forsaken King] was simply too strong.

Defeating the [Forsaken General] or the [Forsaken Minotaur] was already unbelievable enough, but this was completely different.

The king was on another level entirely. Even Violet, despite wanting to believe in Leon, found it difficult now.

What kind of ability could possibly bridge that gap?

"...So what now?" Oasis asked quietly while hugging her knees, "Leon was the only one crazy enough to actually go."

Silence answered her. The dark fog continued closing in around the city.

"I guess we should try too," Godrick finally muttered as he stood up with a sigh, "If the human had the guts to face the king, we can’t just sit here waiting to die."

Alicar nodded weakly while gripping his bow tighter.

"The fog’s gonna reach us eventually anyway..."

"H-Haha..." Oasis laughed nervously, though her body shook visibly from fear, "I just hope I can still invent stuff after all this... even with the punishment..."

"With your luck, its going to cut both your arms permanently," Godrick’s expression grew cold.

"Don’t say that!" Alicar protested.

Only Violet remained quiet. Yet even she had mostly accepted reality by now.

"Yeah," she sighed softly, "Leon is probably dead, so we should ju—"

BOOOOOOM!

The explosion interrupted her sentence completely. The entire city trembled violently.

"What the hell was that?!"

Godrick immediately turned toward the castle. And then his jaw dropped.

"HOLY SHIT!"

The others instantly looked as well. Above the [Forsaken Castle], the sky itself had split apart.

A gigantic purple vortex covered almost the entire center of the city, swirling endlessly while terrifying energy poured from within.

And from the vortex... A meteor far larger than the castle itself was descending from the heavens.

The sheer aura coming from it made every single one of them freeze in terror.

Even from this far away, they could feel its power pressing against them.

Godrick nearly stumbled backward off the rooftop.

"HOLY SHIT!" he shouted again, eyes almost popping out of his skull. "WHEN THE HUMAN SAID HE’D DROP A METEOR, HE MEANT IT LITERALLY!"