As the Devstorm slowly dissipates, Riona begins to recover. She notices her father standing in front of her and rushes towards him, but a golden light emanating from his body pushes her away.
Then, in a cold and stern voice, the king says, "High Rank Warrior Number 1, go and complete the task that your queen has assigned to you."
At that moment, the lion, which had been continuously pushing Devstorm back, is attacked by Devstorm, who extends a hand from his chest. The lion of light disintegrates like dust, and Devstorm addresses the king, saying, "King, you have finally appeared before me. Our unfinished business will now be settled." With these words, Devstorm instantly moves behind the king.
Just as Devstorm is about to attack, the king also transforms into a golden mist and moves slightly away from him. Devstorm advances to attack again, but the king once more transforms into a golden mist, filling the entire area with multiple forms of himself.
Everywhere, both above and below, there were only the king's forms. Then, all the forms of the king simultaneously release golden lions towards Devstorm. Seeing this, Devstorm laughs and unleashes an explosion of dark light from his body. The dark light expands in a spherical shape, disintegrating all the golden lions and forms of the king into dust.
Everything was happening so quickly that it seemed as if time had stopped for Riona, who was standing nearby. She was about to be caught in the explosion of dark light when a golden light took her out of the attack's range. When Riona regains consciousness, she finds herself in a different place. For her, it was as if she had been with her father one moment and arrived here the next.
As Riona looks around, she realizes that the entire palace has been destroyed, and the only things visible where she previously stood are a golden light and a dark light colliding with each other. Understanding that her father is still fighting Devstorm, Riona immediately starts running towards them.
Riona was running so fast that she seemed like a rocket, but then something even faster comes and takes her far away from that place. When she looks at what it is, she sees that it's not a thing but a man. Recognizing him, Riona says, "General."
The general responds, "Princess, you must leave here immediately. This place is not safe for you."
Riona replies, "But father..."
The general reassures her, "Don't worry about him. He is the mightiest warrior of this kingdom. If there is anyone in the entire Water Kingdom who can stop Devstorm right now, it is him."
Riona says, "But mother, she was in the palace."
The general responds, "The queen is no weak woman either. She is the 'Thunder Goddess' of the Water Kingdom. She won't be harmed so easily."
Riona then asks, "But how did all this happen? Everything was fine just a while ago."
The general explains, "The elite rank suddenly attacked the palace, breaking all its security systems, and then vanished. After that, some black-cloaked people did something to our warriors, turning them into monsters. By now, more than half of our warriors have turned into monsters, and the transformation is ongoing. If we don't act soon, all our warriors will become monsters."
Riona asks, "Is there no way to turn them back to normal?"
The general says, "You shouldn't be thinking about that right now. You need to go and seek help from other kingdoms."
Riona protests, "But how can I leave you all in such difficult times?"
The general insists, "You must go, princess. This is the only way to save the Water Kingdom right now, and you won't be alone in this task. Your four companions will be with you. So, don't waste any more time..."
At that moment, the general senses something and immediately pulls Riona behind him, extending his hand forward and saying, "Windburst." Instantly, water emerges from his hand, transforming into a glowing spear.
Both Riona and the general then notice a black-cloaked man approaching from the rubble of the broken palace.
The general quickly jumps 100 meters high into the air, spinning his spear around him. As he does this, water waves emanate from the spear, forming a ring around him. It looked as if a river was flowing in the air.
The general then directs his spear towards the black-cloaked man, and all the water moves towards him. However, as the water reaches the man, it scatters as if an unknown force is preventing it from reaching him.
The general lands back on the ground near Riona and sees the black-cloaked man raising his hands, causing all the rubble around to levitate. With a swift motion, he directs the rubble towards the general, sending it flying at high speed.
To protect himself, the general draws a straight line on the ground with his spear, causing a massive amount of water to emerge, forming a tall wall. The rubble hits the water wall and stops.
The general then tells Riona, "Princess, I'll hold him off here. You must leave now."
Hearing this, Riona nods in agreement and leaves. As she runs, she encounters another black-cloaked person. Seeing him, Riona immediately runs away. The black-cloaked man shouts, "Catch that girl, she shouldn't escape alive."
Upon his command, thousands of monsters appear and start chasing Riona. But none of the monsters manage to get close to her, and she easily leaves them behind without any trouble.
Eventually, she reaches a barren place filled with destroyed houses. The ground was stained with blood. This was the place where Riona used to train. Seeing the state of this place, Riona felt very bad, but she noticed many monsters coming towards her.
Riona tried to change direction, but she saw that she was surrounded by thousands of monsters coming from all sides. With no other choice, she stood still and, after a moment of thought, drew her sword, which started glowing red. She began cutting through the monsters and moving forward, saying to herself, "Devstorm, we will never forgive you for this."
Continuing to cut through the monsters, Riona advanced, but soon more monsters arrived. These monsters were different from the previous ones, resembling humans in shape but with demonic skin and weapons attached to their bodies. They were much fewer in number, only in the thousands, but far stronger than the previous ones.
However, these monsters couldn't touch Riona either. She could cut them down, but not as easily as before. These new monsters slowed her progress, causing her to worry that it would take too long to escape. Suddenly, arrows rained down from the sky, killing many monsters.
A twelve or thirteen-year-old boy with silver armor like the princess's appeared beside Riona. He had a bow, which automatically loaded an arrow when he drew the string. Each shot released thousands of arrows, pushing back a large group of monsters. The boy continued firing arrows, keeping the monsters at bay.
Riona thanked him, "Thank you, Raze."
Raze responded, "No need for thanks, princess." The two of them continued to eliminate the monsters and move forward. Due to Raze's continuous attacks, no monster could follow them, and Riona cut down any monsters that came from the front.
Suddenly, humanoid monsters with black armor, red eyes, and black stripes on their bodies appeared. Their numbers were minimal, only a few thousand, but they were extremely dangerous.
Raze's arrows had little effect on them, and they immediately attacked. Just then, a grappling hook flew in and pierced one of the monster's hands. The hook, connected to a chain, was held by a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy who pulled the monster and swung it into others, sending many monsters flying. Riona and Raze simultaneously shouted, "Gravil!"
Gravil, also in silver armor, wielded two hooks connected by a chain that could extend and retract. Gravil started swinging and throwing monsters.
Next, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy with a spear arrived. He held the spear and shouted, "Power of Lightning," causing the spear to emit electricity. He then shouted, "Attack!" and threw the spear into the middle of the monsters, releasing a powerful lightning wave that turned many monsters to ash.
Riona and Raze exclaimed, "Owen!" Owen's spear returned to his hand, and he started attacking the surrounding monsters with it. Together, the four of them began eliminating the monsters. However, despite their efforts, the humanoid monsters would heal instantly, increasing the difficulty.
Despite their combined strength, they couldn't advance further until another boy arrived, leaping into the air and spinning, slicing through many monsters. He wielded two chakrams, which, at his command, cut through numerous monsters.
With this new addition, the five of them quickly destroyed the entire horde of monsters and escaped from the Water Kingdom. But the black-cloaked man sent a group of humanoid monsters after them.