Kasha slammed the throbbing heart onto the ground and stomped on it without hesitation, causing it to burst into pieces.
Kwadeuk!
With a flick of her wrist, Inora summoned fire magic, completely incinerating the remnants of Kasha's heart. Nosferatu's body crumbled to dust, disintegrating into ashes and sand.
Inora's face brightened with satisfaction.
"If my guess is right, this was Nosferatu—the progenitor of all vampires! We've made history by capturing him! But... who are you?"
Kasha, however, was in no mood to entertain Inora's excitement. Her gaze sharpened as she noticed writhing tentacles encircling her, closing in from all directions.
"Darling!"
Without hesitation, Kasha leaped forward, calling out for Zeon.
---
Lena continued shaking Zeon's lifeless body, but it only grew colder with each passing second.
Every astral fragment of Zeon had perished in the battle with the vampires.
Bianca, her sharp claws extended, approached Lena slowly.
"Come, daughter... Mommy's going to end this now~"
Lena's heart sank as she saw Bianca's expression, one twisted with malevolence unlike anything Lena had ever seen before.
Puck. Crack. Crackle.
The sounds of wizards and vampires clashing echoed from the hallway beyond the door. Yet, to Lena, none of it mattered anymore.
Her world was unraveling.
'Ah... I don't want to live anymore... If only everything could just disappear...'
Despair washed over Lena, hollowing her from the inside. As hopelessness consumed her, she surrendered completely—her mind locking away her ego deep within her subconscious.
In that moment of utter hopelessness, Lena unleashed her most dreaded spell.
「Imagination Materialization – The End」
A crimson portal formed above Lena's head, its energy crackling with unnatural intensity. The vampires, sensing danger, recoiled in shock.
"What the hell?!"
"It's like a summoning ritual... but to where?"
From the portal, massive, writhing tentacles began to slither through.
Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.
These were chaos tentacles, creatures from the realm of chaos—a nightmarish world that existed between dimensions. Lena's powerful magic, Apocalypse, had bridged the gap between worlds, allowing these monsters to invade. The denizens of the chaos realm knew only one thing: destruction. They lived to annihilate the inhabitants of other realms.
Bianca lunged at Lena in desperation.
"You! If I kill you now, this will all stop!"
Puck!
But before Bianca could reach her, one of the chaos tentacles shot forward, impaling Bianca through the heart.
Cough... Ugh...
Bianca's body crumbled into ash and scattered into the air.
The chaos tentacles began to spread, their countless limbs lashing out wildly. They targeted the remaining vampires with relentless ferocity, sparing only Lena and Zeon.
Piyuuuuung! Pyuuuung! Quack!
"Ugh! What are these things?!"
"Die! Just die already!"
The vampires fought back fiercely, clawing and tearing at the tentacles. But no matter how many were destroyed, more emerged from the portal to replace them.
Suddenly, the door burst open.
"Lena!"
The Lord of the Magic Tower charged into the room, leading a group of wizards. However, the moment they saw the chaos tentacles, panic spread through them like wildfire.
"Aaaaah! Chaos tentacles! We need to run!"
"This is madness! We can't fight these things—retreat!"
The wizards were overwhelmed, their courage evaporating in the face of the otherworldly threat.
Lena stood motionless, as lifeless as a doll, while the chaos tentacles coiled protectively around her, forming an impenetrable shield. Zeon's headless body lay on the ground nearby, a grim reminder of their loss. Scattered around the room were the ashes of the slain vampires.
The Magic Tower Lord knelt, despair etched on his face.
Kuung.
"Lena... I'm sorry... I failed you..."
The other wizards rushed to drag him out of the room, their voices frantic.
"Lord Magic Tower! It's not safe here!"
"No! It's Lena—she needs me!"
"Pull him out! Quickly!"
The wizards wrestled the sobbing tower lord away, retreating in desperation.
At that moment, the floor shattered beneath them, and Kasha emerged, leaping into the room with a roar.
"Kaaa! What the hell are these disgusting things?!"
Piyuuuuung!
A chaos tentacle lashed out at her, but Kasha caught it mid-air and swung it like a whip.
Buuuuung! Kwasik!
The tentacle slammed into another, crushing it like a ripe tomato. Yet more limbs, as thick as tree trunks, continued to pour from the portal, writhing wildly. Even Kasha, powerful as she was, felt a shiver run down her spine.
"Damn... I've got to get to my darling!"
Dodging the chaos tentacles, Kasha dashed toward Zeon's body. With great effort, she scooped him up into her arms.
"Darling... I'm sorry I took so long..."
Holding Zeon tightly, Kasha burst through the mansion's walls, carrying his lifeless form. Something deep inside told her that this was the only way forward.
Just as she escaped, the portal expanded, and an enormous chaos tentacle, larger than a house, began to slither through.
---
The wizards gathered in the street, staring in disbelief at the ruined mansion.
Until moments ago, they had been relishing their victory over the vampires. Now, chaos tentacles filled the battlefield, turning triumph into catastrophe.
"It's worse than we expected... There were far more vampires here than we thought."
"It feels like multiple clans gathered in one place. Something's off..."
Even though their preparations had ensured an easy battle, the unexpected chaos left them uneasy.
Suddenly, colossal tentacles burst from the mansion, and the entire structure collapsed in on itself. A giant chaos creature roared as it emerged, shaking the ground beneath them.
Grrrr!!!
Smaller tentacles slithered out from beneath the giant one, wriggling like worms.
"Shit! At this rate, civilians will be caught in the crossfire!"
"The portal is growing too strong—we can't close it with just our magic! We need the imperial army!"
In the midst of the chaos, the Magic Tower Lord lay on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Lena... I'm sorry..."
Inora knelt beside him, shaking him urgently.
"Father! This isn't the time for despair! If we don't act, the whole city will fall!"
At that moment, a massive wolf landed on the ground, carrying a headless corpse.
Wooooow!
Inora's eyes widened in recognition.
"You!"
Kasha stared at the man in her arms—Zeon—and felt an inexplicable certainty that saving him was the key to ending this nightmare. She placed his body on the ground and shouted, "Someone save him! Now!"
The wizards exchanged uncertain glances, but a strange thought crossed their minds in unison: If they could bring Zeon back, everything might return to normal.
"Let's save him!"
"Yes! It has to work!"
But none of them knew how to resurrect a man who had lost his head.
Dr. Wily stepped forward, holding a strange cube in his hands.
"This... might just work."
"Hurry, Wily! We're running out of time!"
With a solemn expression, Wily placed the cube on Zeon's chest.
"Zeon... I'll save you."
Shaaaa!
Light erupted from the cube, and above Zeon's body, a translucent blue clock appeared, its hands ticking backward. Slowly, Zeon's head began to reassemble—bone, tissue, and skin knitting back together as if time itself were rewinding.
The wizards stared in awe, speechless.
"This... This is a miracle..."
---
I drift through darkness, weightless and lost.
'Where am I? Who am I?'
Memories blur—my missions, my purpose—all fading away.
"Zeon! Stay with us! You are the world's chosen champion!"
Ah... That's right. I'm Zeon... And I died.
In the void, I see my body lying headless on the ground.
'Am I... a ghost now?'
My purpose slips through my grasp like sand.
"Your fate isn't sealed yet! If you lose yourself now, you'll enter the cycle of reincarnation, and everything will end. Hold on!"
A voice echoes—familiar yet distant.
'Who... are you?'
「Status Window.」
Ah... That's right. My status window. But... why is it talking so much?
"This is an emergency. Nosferatu's death disrupted the world's balance. You still have a chance, but only if you act now!"
'Right... Who did I come here for?'
"You came with Lena."
'Lena... She's my wife, right?'
"You have Jenny, Aris, and Kasha as your wives. Your mission is to stay with them—to be with them."
'Yes... That's right. I need to stay... with my wives.'
.
.
.
.
"Nosferatu just died, so Death's interference has stopped! The world will save you, so please maintain your self just a little longer."
'Ugh… Me? Zeon? Hehe… I don't know…'
"Jenny's anus!"
'It was chewy. I am Zeon.'
As I spent time like that, a translucent thread suddenly appeared, stuck to my body, and pulled me.
'Aaaaah! 'I'm being dragged away!'
[Accept it. You are returning to your body.]
'Good.'
I didn't resist and just flowed along the thread.
My body is trapped by something. If I was a freely floating soul before, now I am a body trapped in a shell and unable to feel the five senses.
I opened my eyes.