Far from the battlefield…
Within the Temple of Horus…
Isamu stopped walking.
The torch beside him flickered.
No wind.
No footsteps.
Only…
A feeling.
He pressed a hand against his chest.
"…What…"
The hatred.
It was still there.
Yet…
It no longer consumed him.
It no longer whispered.
It no longer demanded.
Something else had taken its place.
Confusion.
Sorrow.
Questions.
Above him, the falcon carved into the temple walls shimmered.
A familiar voice echoed through the chamber.
"You feel it."
Isamu slowly looked upward.
"Horus."
The god's voice carried uncertainty Magnolia had never heard from a deity before.
"The hatred that led you to me…"
A pause.
"…is disappearing."
Isamu frowned.
"I still hate."
"No."
Another pause.
"You remember."
The distinction struck Isamu harder than any weapon.
Horus continued.
"I chose you because your hatred rivaled my own."
"Now…"
"…I no longer know why I remain."
Silence filled the temple.
For the first time…
God and contractor questioned the same thing.
Who was Isamu becoming?
⸻
Back upon the battlefield…
Baron remained where Saijew had fallen.
His sword rested point-first against the earth.
He couldn't move.
Alexander approached quietly.
Cyclone followed several steps behind.
Neither reached for a weapon.
Alexander stopped beside Saijew's body.
His eyes remained upon the fallen General.
"You admired him."
Baron didn't answer.
"You learned from him."
Silence.
Alexander sighed.
"I warned you."
Baron's voice was hollow.
"…I wanted Magnolia."
Alexander nodded.
"And you found something far worse."
Baron's grip tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"He…"
His words refused to leave.
"…He thanked me."
Alexander looked toward him.
"He believed you could become something greater."
Another long silence.
"You repaid him with his death."
Baron shut his eyes.
The battlefield suddenly felt impossibly quiet.
Alexander turned away.
"I hope…"
He glanced back only once.
"…you remember his final lesson."
Then he walked toward the palace side.
Cyclone followed.
Baron never moved.
⸻
A feather drifted across the battlefield.
Then another.
Magnolia still knelt beside Kibo.
Emma rested a trembling hand upon his shoulder.
"We have to go."
Magnolia didn't answer.
Valentina looked toward the horizon.
"…Something's wrong."
The Pharaoh remained standing.
Motionless.
One of the serpents upon his shoulder slowly lifted its head.
It looked toward Magnolia.
The Pharaoh spoke only one word.
"Go."
The serpent obeyed.
It fell from his shoulder.
The instant it touched the earth…
The battlefield shook.
The snake continued growing.
Longer.
Larger.
Its scales darkened until they reflected no light at all.
Soldiers stumbled backward.
The serpent rose higher.
Higher.
Until its head towered above the ruined palace itself.
Emma whispered,
"…Impossible…"
The creature opened its mouth.
Not to bite.
To call.
The earth answered.
Cracks spread beneath Magnolia's feet.
From those fractures…
They emerged.
Not soldiers.
Not spirits.
Something between.
Humanoid figures wrapped in black linen.
Their bodies bent unnaturally.
Their movements resembled snakes more than people.
They crawled from beneath the battlefield as though the earth itself had given birth to them.
One.
Ten.
Fifty.
Hundreds.
They slithered toward Magnolia.
His breathing stopped.
"No…"
A memory.
Rain.
A much younger Magnolia.
His father's hand gripping his own.
Running.
Always running.
The same creatures.
The same empty faces.
The same whispering voices.
His father stepped between them.
"Don't look back."
A flash of sunlight.
A scream.
Then…
Nothing.
The memory shattered.
Magnolia stumbled.
"…It's them…"
Emma grabbed his arm.
"You know these things?"
"I…"
He couldn't breathe.
"I've seen them before…"
The creatures continued approaching.
Not quickly.
Patiently.
As though they already knew their prey could not escape.
The giant serpent lowered its head.
Its golden eyes met Magnolia's.
Then…
A voice echoed from somewhere beneath the battlefield.
Ancient.
Endless.
Patient.
"Little Sun…"
Emma stiffened.
"Who said that?"
Magnolia already knew.
Even though he had never truly heard the voice before.
His soul recognized it.
Apophis.
The shadows beneath the serpent thickened.
Black sand began swirling around Magnolia's feet.
Around Emma's.
They tried to move.
The sand refused to let them.
Valentina sprinted toward them.
"Magnolia!"
Ren reached for his sword.
The blade wouldn't leave its sheath.
Even Ra fell silent.
Only one whisper remained.
"Come home."
The black sand rose around Magnolia and Emma like the walls of a tomb.
And somewhere, buried beneath deserts older than history itself…
The Sand Temple opened its gates.
The earth continued breaking apart.
Black sand poured upward through the widening cracks.
It didn't scatter in the wind.
It climbed.
Like smoke moving in reverse.
Magnolia staggered backward.
The creatures continued emerging.
Their movements were wrong.
Limbs bent in impossible directions.
Bodies slithered without bones.
Their empty wrappings dragged silently across the fractured stone.
Emma tightened her fists.
"…What are they?"
Magnolia's breathing became uneven.
"…I remember them."
His voice barely escaped.
"They came…"
"…when I was little."
Another memory.
Darkness.
His father standing before the doorway.
Sunlight burning through the night.
The same creatures.
Hundreds of them.
His father never looked back.
He only said one thing.
"Run."
Magnolia grabbed his head.
"No…"
The memory disappeared before he could see what happened next.
⸻
The towering serpent lowered itself toward the battlefield.
Its golden eyes never blinked.
It watched Magnolia.
Only Magnolia.
The writhing figures stopped.
As one…
They knelt.
Then slowly raised their arms toward him.
Not in worship.
In invitation.
The whisper returned.
"Little Sun…"
"You've wandered long enough."
Emma stepped in front of Magnolia.
"Stay away from him!"
The wind erupted around her.
Invisible blades tore through the nearest figures.
The attacks passed through them.
The wrappings split.
The bodies continued crawling.
Untouched.
Emma's eyes widened.
"…They're not alive."
"They're not dead either."
Valentina answered quietly.
She had already begun pulling wounded Egyptian soldiers away from the spreading darkness.
"Everyone!"
Her voice rang across the battlefield.
"Retreat!"
Nobody argued.
Captain after captain immediately began gathering survivors.
The battle had ended.
Now…
Only survival remained.
⸻
Ren reached Magnolia first.
He grabbed his shoulder.
"We're leaving."
Magnolia didn't move.
"They're…"
His eyes remained fixed upon the figures.
"…calling me."
Ren shook him.
"MAGNOLIA!"
For a brief moment…
Magnolia looked at him.
His eyes had begun reflecting the black sand surrounding them.
Emma stepped closer.
"We'll force our way through."
She raised both hands.
The wind screamed.
A wall of compressed air erupted outward.
Dozens of the creatures were thrown backward.
Yet as they struck the ground…
They simply rose again.
One.
Then another.
Then all of them.
Still approaching.
Always approaching.
Never running.
Never stopping.
⸻
The Pharaoh watched silently.
He made no attempt to interfere.
No attempt to command them.
The serpent no longer belonged to him.
It had answered someone else.
Far below the battlefield.
Someone older.
Someone waiting.
⸻
Valentina reached Abraham.
"We have to leave!"
Abraham looked toward Magnolia.
"We can't."
"We have no choice!"
Sofia dragged another wounded soldier onto her shoulder.
"They're everywhere!"
Even the bravest Egyptian soldiers began retreating.
No formation.
No strategy.
Only instinct.
The battlefield belonged to something they had never trained to fight.
⸻
High above…
Kibo's white feathers still drifted through the air.
One landed at Magnolia's feet.
He slowly picked it up.
"…Kibo…"
The whisper returned.
Closer now.
"You cannot save the dead."
"Come."
Black sand wrapped around Magnolia's ankles.
He pulled.
Nothing.
Emma slashed downward.
The wind severed the sand.
It immediately reformed.
Around her ankles this time.
"What?!"
She stumbled.
The creatures finally reached them.
One extended a hand wrapped in ancient linen.
It rested gently against Magnolia's shoulder.
Another reached toward Emma.
Neither struck.
Neither attacked.
They simply…
Held them.
As though guiding honored guests.
Ren roared.
Golden light burst from his sword.
He cut through three of the creatures.
Their bodies collapsed.
Then quietly stitched themselves back together.
Ren's expression faltered.
"…They won't die."
"No."
The Pharaoh answered from across the battlefield.
"They fulfilled that purpose long ago."
⸻
Sous arrived beside Ren.
Luna beside Emma.
Asam landed between them and the advancing tide.
Her wings spread to their full span.
Golden and obsidian feathers filled the sky.
"Back."
She pointed her blade toward the approaching figures.
"I said…"
"…BACK!"
Thousands of feathers descended like rain.
The battlefield erupted.
Dust swallowed everything.
When it cleared…
The creatures were still walking.
Unaffected.
Amelia stared in disbelief.
"…How do we fight this?"
Nobody answered.
⸻
The sand climbed higher.
Magnolia struggled harder.
Emma reached for him.
Their hands found one another.
She refused to let go.
"I'm not leaving you."
Magnolia looked at her.
"…Emma…"
The black sand reached their waists.
Around them…
The serpentine figures formed a circle.
Patient.
Silent.
Waiting.
The giant serpent slowly lowered its head.
Its eyes reflected not the battlefield…
But an endless sea of dunes.
Deep beneath that sea…
Ancient doors began opening.
The Sand Temple had awakened.
And it had come to claim what had escaped it years before.
The battlefield no longer belonged to men.
It belonged to the sand.
Arya arrived first.
Her sword carved through another of the linen-wrapped figures.
The body split cleanly in half.
It slithered back together before it struck the ground.
She stared.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
Asam landed beside her.
Golden and obsidian wings burst open behind her.
Her white ring glowed brilliantly.
"Nekhbet!"
Thousands of razor-like feathers filled the air.
The barrage swallowed the advancing horde.
Stone exploded.
Dust consumed the battlefield.
When the dust settled…
They were still walking.
Not one had stopped.
Not one had screamed.
Not one had fallen.
Only continued.
Forward.
Poison arrived beside them, blood dripping from countless wounds.
"They don't die."
Matthew gripped his weapon tighter.
"Then what are they?"
"No idea."
Poison's eyes narrowed.
"But they aren't what we're supposed to fight."
Another crack tore through the battlefield.
The black sand surged higher.
Emma struggled against it.
Magnolia did the same.
Neither could move.
Asam looked toward them.
"REN!"
Ren had already started running.
His sword ignited with golden light.
He tore through dozens of the creatures.
They rebuilt themselves behind him.
Again.
Again.
Again.
They would not stay down.
Valentina intercepted another wave.
Her fists shattered bodies.
Abraham's hammer crushed everything before him.
Neither accomplished anything.
The horde simply replaced itself.
More emerged from beneath the earth.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
An endless procession.
Arya looked around.
For the first time…
She understood.
"This isn't a battle."
Poison nodded.
"…It's an evacuation."
His voice rose above the chaos.
"EVERYONE!"
"RETREAT!"
No one argued.
Not anymore.
The surviving soldiers began falling back.
Supporting one another.
Dragging the wounded.
Leaving behind the dead.
The war was over.
Only survival remained.
Ren ignored every order.
He reached Magnolia.
Grabbing both of his shoulders.
"I'm getting you out."
Magnolia shook his head.
"…Run."
"I'm not leaving you!"
"You have to."
Emma looked at Ren.
Her expression had become strangely calm.
"…Listen to him."
Ren stared at her.
"No."
She smiled sadly.
"You've still got someone to kill."
Ren's eyes widened.
She already knew.
She had seen everything.
His father.
Saijew.
Kibo.
Everything.
The sand climbed to Magnolia's chest.
Emma's wind suddenly exploded.
Not outward.
Upward.
The sky itself trembled.
The air became unbearably hot.
Soldiers instinctively shielded their faces.
The breeze transformed into a burning current.
Then…
Fire.
Not ordinary flames.
The wind itself ignited.
Emma floated above the ground.
Her hair drifted weightlessly around her.
Her eyes glowed like twin suns.
The creatures finally stopped walking.
For the first time.
They looked at her.
Emma raised one hand.
The burning wind descended.
Entire ranks of the linen figures vanished.
Reduced to ash before they could move.
Another wave followed.
Then another.
The battlefield became a sea of golden fire.
Even the giant serpent recoiled.
Valentina shielded her eyes.
"My God…"
Abraham whispered.
The fire continued spreading.
Hundreds disappeared.
Then thousands.
The flames burned hotter.
Brighter.
The battlefield itself glowed.
Yet beneath the burning wind…
The sand continued rising.
The whispers continued.
The earth continued opening.
The creatures returned.
More than before.
As though the desert itself refused to run out of servants.
Emma's breathing became ragged.
"…Why…"
She unleashed another storm.
Another legion disappeared.
Another arrived.
The cycle never ended.
Then…
The black sand reached her hands.
The flames flickered.
The wind faltered.
Ancient linen wrapped gently around her wrists.
Around her ankles.
She struggled.
The bindings tightened.
The burning wind vanished.
Silence returned.
Emma looked toward Magnolia.
"…I'm sorry."
Magnolia shook his head.
"No…"
The sand reached his shoulders.
He could barely move.
Ren lunged forward.
"MAGNOLIA!"
A wall of black sand erupted between them.
Poison caught Ren before he crossed it.
"LET ME GO!"
Poison held him tighter.
"You'll die!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
"I DO!"
Ren stopped struggling.
Only for a moment.
Poison looked him directly in the eyes.
"If you die here…"
"…who kills him?"
Ren looked toward the Pharaoh.
Toward the man calmly watching everything unfold.
His father.
His breathing slowed.
Hatred replaced panic.
Poison nodded.
"Good."
"We leave."
Ren's fists trembled.
Every instinct demanded he stay.
Every lesson Saijew had taught demanded he live.
He stepped backward.
Once.
Then again.
Finally…
He disappeared into the smoke.
Not fleeing forever.
Retreating.
To return.
To save Magnolia.
To kill his father.
Valentina stumbled beside Abraham.
Blood soaked both of their clothes.
"We're finished."
Abraham looked back one last time.
"…Not forever."
They turned.
Following the surviving Egyptians into the mountains.
Sous found Luna waiting beside the broken outer wall.
She reached for his hand.
"We have to go."
He looked toward Egypt's distant horizon.
"…Moxie."
Luna nodded.
"And Kahn."
Together…
They disappeared into the desert.
Arya covered Asam's retreat.
Poison guarded Matthew.
Sofia carried Amelia after her leg had given out.
One by one…
They vanished into the smoke.
The battlefield emptied.
Only two remained.
Magnolia.
Emma.
Neither had surrendered.
Neither had accepted defeat.
They simply had nowhere left to run.
The black sand rose over their shoulders.
The towering serpent lowered its head.
The linen figures bowed.
Far beneath the earth…
Ancient stone groaned.
The gates of the Sand Temple opened.
And the Sun disappeared beneath the desert.