The woman stared at Julius. Her red eyes radiated pure pain. "How... did you... survive?" she asked. She ignored his question completely.

Julius didn’t mind. He had already guessed her answer was some kind of backup plan, so he let it slide.

"Hmm?" he said, a playful spark in his voice.

"Now that you’re about to die, I suppose there’s no harm in telling you." He took one small step back and grinned. "You see... that was just an avatar."

"Avatar...?" The woman’s face stretched wide in shock.

Right away she burst into coughing. Her face turned pale from all the blood she had lost. Thick red spurted from her mouth with every hack.

"Yes," Julius nodded, calm and easy like he was chatting over tea.

"You see, when you ducked down to grab that treasure-refining fire, I swapped myself out. I made an avatar to stand in my place. Then Rosalina hid my real body with her illusions." He gave a small shrug.

"It only took a breath of time. We both keep avatars ready for emergencies like this."

He kept going, voice light and almost amused. "The second I suspected the Lone King was up to something, I pulled the avatar out. Rosalina covered me with those rose-petal eyes of hers."

"I stayed hidden and watched everything. Especially your face." He chuckled softly.

"You looked so calm the whole time... but every tiny time my avatar made progress, your expression twitched. Just a flicker. That told me everything. You needed that treasure for something big. So I played along, nice and sweet."

Julius’s grin widened, full of humor. "And then... you brought in the dean." He laughed under his breath.

"Though of course it wasn’t the real dean. You just wanted to create a rush, make us panic." He shook his head, still smiling like he couldn’t believe how clever she thought she was.

"It’s honestly amazing how far you went. But when you think about what you really wanted... yeah, it all makes perfect sense."

Julius let out a long sigh as he finished talking. He stepped forward, bent down slightly, and picked up the Soul Severing Sword.

His eyes shone brightly as he stared at the blade. Rosalina stared at it too, a small smile spreading across her face.

"You’re thinking what I’m thinking, right?" she asked.

"Yeah..." Julius nodded. "From what the Lone King said earlier, once this sword is fully complete, it can sever any soul in the world. This is the perfect chance for us!"

He looked at the sword carefully. ’If we destroy Cryptian’s soul with this... there won’t be any soul left to regress back in time. Without a soul, regression would be useless.’

But right now the sword was only half-refined. The Lone King had already used it once, so it couldn’t do the job yet. Still, it was something they could work with later.

Julius passed it over to Rosalina.

Rosalina tapped the blue ring on her finger. The gem glowed softly and sucked the sword inside.

"There... it’s over now," Julius said with a smile. "Rose, finish her. We’ll..."

His words stopped short. His gaze locked onto the woman.

Her face was still twisted in pain, but a stubborn will to live burned in her eyes.

"Rose, finish her!" Julius repeated, his tone sharpening. He didn’t dare underestimate that look. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Rosalina nodded. She twisted the sword in the woman’s throat and started to slice, ready to sever the connection between neck and body.

But at that exact moment, the Lone King’s instincts, honed over countless years, kicked in.

She pushed her body forward in a desperate lunge. It happened in a blink. Rosalina’s sword was about to cut clean through when the woman jerked ahead and yanked her throat free from the blade.

The second she broke loose, Julius was ready. He pulled out his war hammer and brought it crashing down toward her head.

The woman didn’t panic. She pressed one hand hard against her bleeding throat and quickly stepped back.

"It’s no use!" Julius shouted as he chased after her. "Your throat is barely hanging on by a thread of meat. One good chop and it’s over!"

Rosalina followed right behind him. She was stunned for a split second at how the woman had escaped her sword, but there was no time to dwell on it.

Almost no one could survive a wound like that. She wasn’t worried, she just needed to make sure the kill was finished.

The woman kept running ahead, one hand pressed tight against her bleeding throat. Her face looked blank, stripped of all feeling, but inside she was on fire.

’Fuck!’ she cursed silently. Her expression twisted with raw anger.

’The Soul Severing Sword has already been used...’ It had taken her at least a hundred years to gather those rare materials, and she still didn’t have the full formula.

’Damn it!’ Her head spun with frustration. She had poured everything into this one perfect moment. Now she would have to start all over again.

’But this time,’ she thought coldly, ’I won’t wait for a perfect body.’

She turned sharply toward Julius and Rosalina as they closed in. She opened her mouth and spoke in a hoarse, broken voice.

"Infinite Cast."

A bright purple light exploded around her body, swirling like living mist.

She reached out her hand. A sword shimmered into existence in her grip. "You two are smart," she rasped, a bitter smile pulling at her lips. "I’ll give you that much."

Julius and Rosalina stopped for half a second. Their faces changed at once, eyes narrowing, bodies tensing. But they didn’t waste any more time. They rushed forward again, ready to end it.

The woman was faster.

"Time Rewinding Purple Soul!!" she shouted, completing the spell.

Behind her, a giant purple wolf appeared, the size of a thousand-year-old tree.

Its shadowy form loomed, eyes glowing with eerie power. It stared at the woman for one brief moment, then dove straight into her body.

The moment the wolf entered her, something unbelievable happened. Everywhere her blood had spilled on the floor, the dark red liquid started pulling back, flowing upward like streams of liquid time.

The thick pool around her feet shrank rapidly, rushing into the wound on her throat.

Julius and Rosalina froze mid-step, their faces blank with pure shock.

"This...?" Julius muttered. His eyes widened in disbelief. Rosalina’s eyes did the same.

The horrible wound they had given her was closing right before their eyes, flesh knitting together as if time itself had been reversed.

The woman rubbed her hand gently across her now-smooth throat. A cold, satisfied smile spread across her face.

"It seems you forgot who I am," she said softly.

She raised her sword high. Her expression darkened, full of ancient pride and killing intent.

"I am the 200th daughter of the Progenitor of the Zlycon race," she declared. "I am the Lone King... Miasma!"