The earth cracked beneath the weight of the explosion.
A chain of detonations rippled across the field, rupturing the Devils' grotesque bodies in violent flashes of crimson light.
The Iron Fortress groaned, then shattered — its proud pillars torn apart, its mighty structure collapsing into rubble.
Smoke billowed into the sky.
"What in the world is going on tonight!?" Benny's voice cut through the chaos, ragged with disbelief. "Can't we catch a damn break!?"
The ground trembled beneath their feet.
On the ridge, Bryce pointed a shaky hand toward the blaze. "Yo... Did the whole damn fortress just nuke itself?"
Arthur stood frozen beside him, lips parted, mouth dry, words failing. "Either that or the world just ended. Again."
Isabella and Tana sprinted to the cliff's edge, their eyes drinking in the sight below — the Iron Fortress, now a broken skeleton swallowed by flames.
Even from this distance, the heat prickled against their skin.
"Tana," Isabella said, her voice tight, "we can't let it spread any further."
Tana gave a single nod. "Let's go."
Isabella turned to the group. "Recruits!" Her voice rang out, cutting through the stunned silence.
They snapped to attention.
"You're to remain here under Benny's command until we return. Do not follow us. Understood?"
A round of shaken nods answered.
Then, without waiting, Isabella and Tana surged forward—Dyna flaring from their feet.
"Hey! Wait—" Benny started, reaching after them, but they were already gone—vanished into the smoke like streaks of flame swallowed by the wind.
He dropped his hand with a groan, shaking his head. "Damnit, those two!" he muttered, more found than furious.
"Always running headfirst into the fire... Been that way since I met' em."
His eyes lingered on the trail of Dyna they left behind, nothing but a sprinkle now.
"Stubborn as hell. But if anyone can wrestle a wildfire into submission... it's them."
The wind stirred the ash in the air, and for a moment, no one spoke.
Clarissa's gaze remained locked on the smoke where Isabella and Tana had vanished. Her fingers tightened into a fist, knuckles white.
"…They didn't even hesitate," she whispered.
Beside her, Aeda exhaled a shaky breath. "They just… went. Into that."
"I don't think they're even scared," Aida murmured, her eyes wide and reflecting the flickering firelight. "Are they ever scared?"
"They are," Clarissa said softly, almost to herself. "They just never let it stop them."
A silence stretched. Then Dawn took a step forward, arms crossed over her chest.
"I want to be like that," she said.
The others turned to her.
"Not today. Not tomorrow. But someday…" Her voice was quiet and filled with intent. "I want to be the one who runs toward the fire, not away from it."
Aeda's eyes lingered on the burning fortress. "...Yeah. Me too."
"It would be cool to be brave like them," Aida expressed softly, the fear of following in Isabella and Tana's footsteps smeared over her face.
Clarissa let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.
"They're crazy," she muttered, but a small, admiring smile jerked at her lips. "But damn… they're our kind of crazy."
Before them, the flames roared louder, the wind carrying smoke and embers into the sky.
The girls stood silent, letting the heat press against their skin… just long enough to allow the moment to burn into memory.
And then—
Elsewhere on the battlefield, high above where the smoke kissed the sky, Nozomu hovered alone.
The world below him was a grave of flame and ash. Burning dry like a scorched wound. The smoke swirled in the air like ink in water.
Near the heart of the devastation, a dome of deformed earth cracked open — its curved shell splitting apart like the husk of a broken seed.
Inside, two figures emerged.
Evaughn and Pop.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, protected by Evaughn's emergency barrier. Both were alive, barely damaged by the blast.
Their eyes found Nozomu's above, and a silent nod passed between them.
Nozomu returned it.
They understood. The fires had to be stopped.
Hours Later...
The sun broke across the horizon.
Its light spilled over the ruined forest, catching on the remnants of trees and the wasted structure of the Iron Fortress.
Where once stood a symbol of survival, now there was only pain and destruction.
Before the wreckage, Benny's people gathered in silence.
A funeral pyre crackled — a solemn flame consuming what remained of the fallen. The heat from the blaze warmed no one. It only lit the sorrow etched across every face.
Some wept. Others stood silent, eyes dry and vacant.
The ritual was old. It mirrored what had once been done in Artimia.
The recruits worked nearby, assisting with the cleanup. Theo and David sifted through debris, dragging away shattered beams and stones.
Sweat streaked their soot-covered faces.
Theo stopped short, his boot grinding against the rubble. His arm shot out across David's chest like a gate slamming shut.
"Hold up," he said sharply.
David flinched. "What? What is it?"
"Shh. Just… look."
Something in Theo's voice pulled David's curiosity to a stop. Theo pointed past a fractured support beam and a collapsed archway.
Nestled in the shadow of the rubble, barely visible beneath a slab of jagged rock, something pulsed.
It wasn't light.
It wasn't movement.
It was a presence.
Faint. Wrong. And heavy — like the air itself didn't want to get close.
David adjusted his glasses, squinting past the dust and dim light. "Is that…?"
"I think so," Theo muttered. "Don't go near it."
But David stepped forward anyway, curiosity beaming through his glasses. "…No way."
They weren't alone anymore. The others had arrived. Isabella. Tana. Benny. Marco. Their footsteps echoed hollow across the gravel as they joined the boys at the site.
The tension in the air had already shifted.
Buried halfway under twisted rebar and a chunk of stone was a Devil. Motionless… but still whole.
It was different up close — no longer a blur or a distant, monstrous silhouette in battle. Its body was much larger than it had seemed from afar, coiled with thick muscle and limbs that ended in jagged, clawed fingers.
The fur that covered its shoulders was matted and charred, slick with dried ichor. Its chest was torn open from the collapse, but its face — its face was intact.
Sharp features. Eyes still open. Mouth slightly ajar, exposing rows of uneven, yellowed teeth stained dark with blood.
Even dead, it looked like it might stand up at any moment.
"So this is what they really look like…" Marco murmured, unable to look away.
"Everyone, step back. Give me some space," Tana said, dissecting the Devil's frame. "Looks like one didn't detonate."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried weight. No one argued.
The group eased away, forming a half-circle as Tana approached the body cautiously. The heat from her Dyna made the air shimmer slightly around her.
Benny frowned, arms crossed. "What if it explodes now?"
"If it does," Isabella said coolly, "Tana's the only one here who could survive it."
Tana didn't turn around, but a grin tugged at her lips as she crouched beside the Devil.
"I'm flattered," she said.
She studied the corpse carefully — eyes moving over its chest cavity and the strange ridges where the flesh had split from heat or strain.
"Yeah, something's wrong with this one. It's still intact," Tana confirmed.
"That's… impossible," Benny muttered.
Tana shook her head slowly. "Dead, yes. But whatever chain reaction caused the others to explode… didn't reach this one. Or maybe… this one resisted it."
Her gloved fingers hovered just above the Devil's chest. Then she looked back at Benny and Isabella.
"The anatomy... It's actually quite... fascinating," Tana uttered. "...This changes things."
Benny crossed his arms, eyeing the Devil as if it might still bite. "Fascinating or not, that thing blew up half my fortress. What do we do with it, you ask? I say we burn it."
"What we do with it is up to the Commander," Tana replied.
Far beyond the stacks of rubble, three outlines of figures emerged from the charred forest. Tana was the first to spot them as the figures became clearer.
"Commander Nozomu..." she murmured.
Without waiting, she and Isabella stepped forward, closing the distance. For a moment, no one spoke. Just the soft rustle of wind swirling.
"You're all alive," Isabella said softly. "That's good."
"I guess," Pop replied. "We made it out, barely."
"Isabella," Nozomu said, and with a firm nod, she straightened her posture and began her report without pause.
"We successfully evacuated the civilians through the north ridge. Casualties total twenty-three—confirmed deceased. Most were lost during the evacuation. As for the Iron Fortress… it's gone. The detonations gutted the structure. What wasn't leveled collapsed into the fire."
She motioned to Benny, who stood in silence before the ruins.
Nozomu's expression didn't shift much. He didn't respond immediately. He turned his head, eyes drifting toward the burning mound of bodies in the distance.
He didn't ask how she felt about it. He didn't need to.
"And the recruits?"
Isabella glanced back toward the slope where the recruits were still aiding with the aftermath.
"Exceeded expectations. They followed orders, held formation, saved lives... Some even fought on the front lines when we needed it most. I'm proud of them."
"I see," Nozomu said. "Good. Well done. They'll be tested again soon."
He turned to Tana. "Report?"
Tana stepped forward, her eyes still bright with scientific hunger.
"We found something. A Devil. Completely intact. It's dead, but it didn't detonate like the rest."
Pop interrupted. "Wait—seriously? I thought they all went kaboom."
"So did we," Tana replied. "But this one… the detonation must have failed."
Pop opened his mouth to react—then yelped as Evaughn smacked the back of his head.
"Let them finish."
"Okay, okay!"
Tana crossed her arms. "So. What do we do with the body?"
"We take it with us," Nozomu said without hesitation. "I want every detail extracted. Dissect it. Test it. We need to know exactly what we're dealing with."
"Yes, sir."
Nozomu stepped past them without another word, the wind shifting around him as he moved. The moment he left, the group seemed to exhale simultaneously.
Tana looked at Pop and Evaughn. "So... tell me we caught the bastard behind all this."
Evaughn and Pop exchanged a glance.
"No," Evaughn said. "It was Section Commander Five. He used the Devils' detonations as cover. Slipped away in the confusion, according to Nozomu."
Tana's fists clenched. "You let him get away again? Unbelievable!"
Pop crossed his arms. "Hey, hothead, maybe if you were the one throwing hands with seventy Devil freaks, you'd get why he—."
Before he could finish, Tana stepped forward, her body glowing red-hot.
"Who. Are you calling a hothead?"
She hurled a burst of fire at him. Pop screamed, launching into the air.
"Okay! I'm sorry!" he shouted, dodging a fiery whip.
Evaughn stepped between them, raising a hand. "Easy. We all made it back. Let's not ruin that by roasting each other."
Tana let out a slow breath through her nose. The flames vanished. "Fine... But he's on very thin ice."
Evaughn chuckled. "Wouldn't expect anything else, but you say that like he's not always on thin ice with you."
Pop floated back down with a grumble, brushing singe marks off his cloak. "Can we talk about literally anything else?"
"So…" he said, glancing around, "where are the recruits?"
"Helping with cleanup," Isabella answered.
Pop blinked. "Seriously? None of them died? I'm surprised..."
Isabella's eyes glinted with delight. "What? Didn't think they had it in them?"
"It's not that. I'm just saying... it's a little early for them to be acting like soldiers."
"Aww, look at you." She nudged him. "You act all tough, but deep down, I know you care."
"Shut up, Bella. I don't care."
"You know, Pop. That's pretty adorable," Tana snickered, and Evaughn laughed outright.
Pop rolled his eyes. "I hate all of you."
The sound of their laughter lingered, rising over the ruins, blending with the morning wind, and for the first time in a long while, it felt as though peace might actually be possible.