CHAPTER 48: Into the Abysmal Bead

The battlefield was chaos.

The once-overgrown fields had become a war zone, littered with torn roots, shattered petals, and scorch marks from desperate attacks.

But the Lunaflora wasn’t slowing down.

It was learning.

Its attacks became sharper, faster—more precise. Each lashing root now moved with unpredictable speed, striking from angles they couldn’t anticipate.

Kaziel barely dodged in time when he moved, he flipped to the side as a massive vine slammed into the ground where he once stood, splitting the earth apart with sheer force.

Baihou parried a strike with his scythe, twisting his body to absorb the impact, but even he was starting to feel the strain.

Anna stumbled back, her breath ragged.

They were getting slower.

Another devastating strike came from above—Anna barely managed to block it, as the force knocked her down.

She crashed onto the battlefield, her thigh scraping against jagged earth. Her grip instinctively tightened around the Sapphire Heart, pressing it against her.

Her heartbeat thundered.

This isn’t enough..

She curled up into a smirk, ignoring the pain, ignoring the exhaustion.

Then—her decision was made.

Her hoodie slipped off her shoulders as she pushed herself up, her tattoos flaring with renewed energy.

“This is going to be my last trumpcard…” she muttered, voice sharp with determination.

Then—her vampiric fangs bit down on her wrist.

The sharp sting barely registered as warm crimson dripped onto the battlefield.

The moment her blood touched the ground, a pulse rippled through the air.

The runes etched across her body—from her cheeks to her feet— burned brighter.

The air grew heavy.

The sky darkened.

The earth trembled.

A force unlike any before surged through the battlefield as the contract took full effect.

Then—the rift split open.

Reality tore itself apart.

A void of pure abyssal energy cracked through the sky, tendrils of swirling darkness stretching outward as something massive began to emerge.

A deep, guttural growl rumbled through the battlefield.

Then—it stepped through.

The Leviathan Tyrant, Anna's Fatebreaker.

A behemoth of destruction.

Its towering, monstrous form loomed over the battlefield, draped in ancient markings that pulsed with the same power that now coursed through Anna.

Helion, Kaziel, and Baihou finally smirked.

For the first time, Sakura saw it—a rare moment Anna had summoned the largest Leviathan Tyrant.

And it was huge.

A sense of anticipation crackled in the air.

Sakura’s mind flashed back to what Grandpa Whisker had said—

“This High Greed, Lunaflora… there’s something you need to know. It has a repeating phase. If you manage to destroy the core in time, you’ll avoid its second phase entirely.
But… if you don’t break the core fast enough, the flower will regrow its shield within seconds.”

“…Then it’s on to our backup plan. Second phase,” Kaziel said, turning to Anna.

She gave a firm nod.
“We use our trumpcard, the Fatebreaker.”

At the time, Sakura hadn’t thought much of it.

But now—

She realized that Fatebreaker move was something she never expected to witness.

The force of its presence alone sent violent winds tearing through the battlefield.

Then—

Without hesitation—

The Leviathan Tyrant lowered its massive head, energy crackling within its maw.

A pulse of raw power gathered at its core—then—

BOOM.

A lance of searing energy erupted from its mouth, blasting directly toward the Lunaflora.

The beam ripped through the battlefield, scorching the air as it collided with the monstrous flower.

A massive explosion of light and darkness followed, sending shockwaves through the land.

But—

The Lunaflora endured.

Despite the force of their attacks, it remained standing—its core heavily damaged, but not broken.

Then—it retaliated.

A pulse of energy surged from its center, the ground quivering beneath them.

Without hesitation, its roots twisted violently, extending like razor-sharp spears, piercing into the Leviathan Tyrant’s massive frame.

A sickening crack echoed as the beast staggered back, its monstrous form trembling from the impact, giving the others a crucial opening.

Sakura moved first.

She barely managed to evade an incoming strike, jumping off a crumbling root as another one lunged toward her at terrifying speed.

A thin mist of Elyssence surrounded her, healing her wounds as she landed on her feet, breath steady, body prepared.

Then—a sudden shift.

An attack lunged toward her.

Before she could react—

A blur.

Baihou.

He moved like a phantom, his speed untraceable, a blur of motion that barely left a trace in the air, swinging and twirling his scythe, the blade slicing effortlessly through the chaos around him.

Then—a single decisive blow.

The threat shattered instantly.

In the next heartbeat—he vanished.

Only to reappear midair, his scythe spinning in his grasp, moving between angles in a perfect triangular formation—

His footwork razor-sharp, his blade even sharper.

Then—a storm of steel and magic erupted around him.

A whirlwind of lethal arcs and shimmering energy carved through the incoming roots, his every movement precise, unstoppable, and merciless.

Then—

Magic lances materialized.

A sequence of glowing silver projectiles, forming a radiant trail in his wake.

As he spun his scythe with unmatched speed, the lances aligned in a perfect arc behind him, shimmering with uncontainable power.

With a final shift—he unleashed them all at once.

BOOM!

The lances shot toward the flower’s shielded core, piercing through its form with pinpoint accuracy.

A thunderous wail erupted as the corrupted Lunaflora flinched violently, its monstrous body convulsing under the impact.

That was their chance.

The others moved in.

Kaziel flashed forward.

The roots lunged toward him, violent and unpredictable, but he didn’t hesitate.

With a sharp inhale, he tightened his grip on his dual swords—

His Fatebreaker finally unleashed.

Then—he vanished.

A single slash.

A moment of absolute silence.

Then—

A storm of precise, blinding-fast strikes erupted all at once.

The battlefield split apart in an instant, vines and roots severed in mid-air before they could even reach him.

A delayed tremor rippled through the land as the cutlines glowed faintly—then shattered all at once.

The battle had shifted.

They weren’t just surviving anymore.

They were pushing back.

And for the first time—

The Lunaflora felt cornered.

The battlefield pulsed with raw, unchecked energy.

The Lunaflora shuddered, its massive form twisting in desperation. It was cornered.

Helion finally unleashed his Fatebreaker.

With a sharp flick of his wrist, he summoned countless glowing threads, spreading like an intricate web across the battlefield.

For a brief moment—reality itself wavered.

"Thread Severance."

Then—the strings snapped.

A violent pulse of golden light erupted from his fingertips, rippling through the air like a shockwave.

The sheer force of it sent a deep resonance through the battlefield—

And then—

The flower froze.

Its movements halted mid-motion, its very existence momentarily stripped away.

But that was all they needed.

Baihou appeared in a blur of motion.

Full speed.

The instant Helion locked the Greed in place, Baihou was already there.

A shadow at its core.

His scythe gleamed, the blade humming with raw energy as magic runes ignited, circling behind him like a celestial sigil.

Then—he struck.

A single, razor-sharp arc, slicing clean through the shielded core once more.

The impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, the very air splitting apart as the scythe’s Sapphire Heart glowed with unyielding force.

A deafening crack split the air as the core’s defenses shattered.

It was wide open.

Kaziel’s eyes flashed.

“Now!” He shouted.

Sakura, her breath ragged, looked up.

For just a moment—everything slowed.

Baihou had opened the core.

This was it.

She moved.

With a sudden burst of adrenaline, Sakura sprinted forward, her feet barely touching the ground as she charged straight toward Anna’s Leviathan Tyrant.

Without hesitation, she took to the height of its tail, using the momentum to propel herself even higher.

Then—she pushed off at full speed.

Her sword twirled mid-spin, catching the dim light as she soared. Its edge gleaming with raw anticipation.

On her weapon, the Jagged Rapture Blade glinted, reflecting the storm gathering overhead.

Lightning crackled.

A pulse of Sapphire Heart energy surged through her weapon—Kaziel’s power infusing into the steel, its energy dancing wildly, unchained.

“Go!”

She felt it.

The weight of everyone’s efforts.

The battle—the fight—it all led to this moment.

The very air trembled as her blade descended.

A strike aimed directly at the core.

Then—

A flash.

The world around her felt surreal—an eerie, dreamlike expanse of glowing-veined trees, thick mist curling through the air, and a silence so deep it pressed against her ears.

Sakura stood in the midst of it, something about this place feeling off. She turned, searching for her friends—but they weren’t there.

For the first time, she looked down at her hand, then at the relic fastened to her belt: her golden clock. A faint blue glow pulsed from its surface.

Her breath hitched.

“Y-You… you finally worked again…?”

Her voice trailed off as realization settled in.

Was it meant to activate when it sent me into its core…?

She shook her head. No time for this.

Taking a steady breath, she stepped forward, the mist swallowing her whole.

It felt different this time—different from when she had met Etsuko under the same situations, before taking her core.

Sakura’s gaze swept across the eerie landscape as she pressed forward, her steps steady yet cautious. The faint blue glow pulsed from deep within the trees, growing dimmer as it receded further and further into the distance.

She knew what lay ahead.

The Abysmal Core.

And she had to destroy it. Then, she saw him.

A man sat hunched over on a fallen log, his posture heavy with despair. Something about him sent a chill down her spine, a deep unease stirring in her chest.

His voice was low, laced with sorrow.

“All I ever wanted… was for her to see me.”

His fingers clenched into fists.

“She—who was once lovely, sweet, and kind—she adored me. She always saw me as someone dear.”

A breath shuddered through him.

“But now.. she didnt,” His gaze fell, hollow and distant.

“She looks at me like I’m someone else.”

Sakura hesitated, fear creeping into her limbs. She knew this man.

The one obsessed with Isla.

But—why was he here?

Her heart pounded as she glanced around. The High Greed they had fought just moments ago… Wasn’t Isla?

It was him.

Suddenly, the man turned.

Sakura’s breath hitched.

He didn’t speak—just stared, his gaze hollow, empty.

A look that held no light, no hope—just raw despair, tangled with something unreadable.

Then, in a voice so quiet it barely reached her, he muttered—

“Your eyes… they’re the same.”

A slow breath, unsteady.

“The same way Isla looked at me.”

Sakura’s chest tightened.

She could see it now—this man before her wasn’t consumed by obsession.

He was devastated.

Broken in ways he refused to acknowledge.

Maybe, in his own twisted way, he had truly loved.

Maybe… it wasn’t too late to change him.

Steeling herself, Sakura took a step forward.

“She would’ve looked at you the same way...” she hesitated, but held her ground.

“…If you hadn’t scared her.”

There was no accusation in her tone—only truth.

A truth she hoped he would finally see.

His body tensed. And then, the memories surfaced.

The destruction of Velmore.

He had been unconscious then—but the flower… the flower had shown him everything. A reflection of his own raging emotions.

“Or.. You know this, do you?”

Her next words landed like a heavy weight in his chest.

The man stiffened.

Because he did know.

He had seen it firsthand. Felt it. After all, these two Isla and him, the High Greeds—they were the same, their hatred and grief intertwined.

His breath trembled.

His head lowered. His body sagged.

A single tear slipped down his cheek.

Then another.

“…Isla…” His voice cracked. “I… I was so scared of losing her..”

He remembered.

Their first meeting.

Isla had smiled as she placed a Lunaflora in his hands.

“This flower will guide you when you’re lost,” she had said, her voice gentle. “It’ll be your light in times of trouble. I’m sure, as an Elyssian, you’ve had one before… right?”

She smiled so easily. So warmly.

He had frozen in place, eyes widening in disbelief.

Why?

Of all people, why was she being so kind to him?

His breath hitched. His hands trembled. And then—he pushed her away gently.

“Please… I don’t need it.” His voice came out hoarse, almost desperate.

Isla’s smile faltered. “Why…?”

She looked troubled.

He clenched his fists, his gaze falling to the ground.

“Because I hate myself.” His voice cracked. “Because if I take it… it’ll make me hope again. And I—I can’t… I can't see you suffer because of me.”

Silence.

Then, warmth.

Isla had gently taken his hand, guiding it back to the Lunaflora.

“But I care about you, Ethan.”

Her voice was steady, unwavering.

When he finally dared to look up, he saw it—the way she truly looked at him.

Not with pity.

But with something else.

Something real.

Her eyes held reassurance, soft and unwavering, as if telling him—You are worth something. You are not alone.

For the first time, it scared him.

Because Isla never stopped trying to reach him.

And now, Sakura finally understood.

Isla never hated him.

She genuinely cared.

She genuinely… liked him.

The time he spent with her… it changed something within him.

He had always hated the way the villagers looked at him—their judgment, their whispers. But when Isla looked at him, it was different.

Until the day he forced her to leave Velmore.

But she refused.

And in that moment, the look in her eyes—it had changed.

It stirred something deep inside him. A hollow, gnawing dissatisfaction.

And from that, resentment took root.

Frustration.

Anger.

The weight of those emotions festered, twisted into something far darker. A curse.

Without realizing it, Ethan's overwhelming emotions had summoned something unnatural—Abysmal Beads.

“I just wanted… like back then…”

Fueled by his Elyssence, he had planted them in his own space, their corruption feeding off his grief.

Yet, even then, he had kept giving Isla Lunaflora—his last, desperate attempt to hold onto something pure.

But the curse had already taken hold.

And in the end… it didn’t just affect him.

It reached her too.

His voice trembled, barely more than a whisper.

"I always hate myself."

His shoulders tensed, a weight pressing so heavily upon him that it felt as if the air itself had turned suffocating.

"Yet.. I didn’t want to see her suffer... So I—"

His voice broke.

The next words fell from his lips like shattered glass—fragile, painful.

"...So I thought killing myself would end everything."

But even in death, it had only gotten worse.

Instead of saving her—

He had only watched her suffer.

And now—lying on the ground, broken, full of regret—

He knew.

This was never what he wanted.

Sakura crouched down, her eyes gentle, her voice carrying a warmth that cut through the coldness of his sorrow.

She met his gaze, offering him a soft, knowing smile.

"But she went through so much pain when you were gone..." Her voice was quiet, careful. "That wasn’t what you wanted, was it?"

The man’s breath hitched.

His eyes widened—a flicker of something breaking through the fog of his despair.

Then—

A faint glow flickered.

The Abysmal Beads pulsed, their energy trembling, as if reacting to something deep within the tree branch.

“…It’s true…” his voice came out in a whisper. “She wouldn’t have suffered if I hadn’t done this…” His eyes darkened with guilt. “I… I just wanted to see her smile again… even if it meant without me.”

Sakura’s smile didn’t waver.

“That was what she also wanted from you when you both first met. She wanted to see you smile, love yourself like she did to you.”

Something shifted in his gaze.

He realized—Sakura’s words weren’t just kind.

They reflected to what Isla said in the past

" I don't want you to hate yourself anymore, Ethan."

Sakura’s smile didn’t waver.

“That was what she always wanted from you… from the moment you first met.”

Her voice was steady, warm—like a light piercing through the shadows that clung to him.

“She wanted to see you smile, to love yourself the way she did.”

Something shifted in his gaze.

A crack in the walls he had built around himself.

Then, it hit him.

Sakura’s words weren’t just kind.

They echoed something familiar—

Something Isla once said.

"I don't want you to hate yourself anymore, Ethan."

The words, long buried in the past, rose to the surface like a long-forgotten melody.

His breath trembled.

Slowly, the man rose to his feet.

For the first time, he turned to Sakura.

His expression had softened.

The weight, the pain—it was still there. But something else had broken through.

Then—

A genuine smile.

Faint. Real.

“Then… can I ask a favor?” His voice, though quiet, carried a sense of clarity. A plea from someone ready to let go.

His gaze locked onto hers.

“Please… stop her grief. End her suffering.

Free her.”

Sakura’s gaze flickered with hope.

And for the first time—she felt relief.

Before she could respond, the ground trembled beneath her.

The earth quaked, cracks splitting through the terrain as the man’s form began to dissolve into shadow. Sakura staggered but held her ground, watching as he faded—his presence slipping away like a whisper in the wind.

Then—the Core.

It pulsed with blinding light, trembling as if on the verge of shattering.

Sakura’s grip tightened around her sword.

No hesitation.

She ran forward.

With a sharp inhale, she raised her blade—

And slashed.

A blinding flash erupted.

And then—they were back.

Kaziel and the others struggled to regain their footing as the ground beneath them trembled, the force of the sudden shift nearly knocking them over. The air pulsed, vibrating with the remnants of something immense—something ending.

At the center of it all, Sakura stood, sword still gripped tightly in her hand.

Right where she had destroyed the Core of Lunaflora.

The moment her blade struck, a violent burst of dark energy had erupted outward, howling like a storm—only to be sucked back in within seconds. The pressure collapsed upon itself, folding into absolute silence.

The world held its breath.

Sakura stood, panting, her body trembling from exhaustion.

Then—a voice.

Soft. Lingering. Ancient.

"Thank you… Divine Oneness Candidate…"

Her breath caught.

Her eyes widened in terror.

As the last echoes of the Core’s voice dissolved into the air—

It was gone.

As the others rushed toward her, Kaziel offered a relieved smile.

“Sakura, you did well—”

But Sakura didn’t move.

She stood frozen.

Kaziel’s expression shifted, surprise flashing across his face.

“No..”

Her voice trembled. Her face pale, eyes wide with terror.

“The one we fought… it wasn’t Isla.”

A heavy silence fell over them.

“It was her loved one… Ethan.”

She swallowed hard, the weight of realization pressing down on her.

“The real Isla…”

“She’s already awakened—in the town.”

The air turned frigid.

The others stood in stunned disbelief.

Except for Helion.

His gaze had already darkened.

He now understood why he felt unsettling about it.

And that was the worst part.

Something was already happening.