Khate's vision had already started blurring by the time she reached the collapsed barrier surrounding Three.
Every step felt heavier than the last.
The battlefield behind her had finally grown quiet after Rhea's death, but the silence brought no comfort. Smoke still drifted from the shattered remains of the manor while pieces of broken stone continued falling from unstable ruins nearby.
The emerald armor covering Khate's body flickered weakly.
It no longer carried the same brilliance as before.
The poison had spread too deeply.
Still, she forced herself forward.
"Three…"
Her voice came out weak and strained.
The emerald barrier finally dissolved as she approached it, revealing the unconscious boy beneath scattered debris and broken wood.
Khate immediately dropped to her knees beside him despite the pain surging through her body.
"Three."
Her trembling hand brushed gently against his face.
For several terrifying seconds, he did not respond.
Then his eyelids twitched slightly.
Relief appeared across Khate's pale face.
"You scared me…" she whispered softly.
Three slowly opened his eyes.
At first, confusion filled his expression.
Then he saw the blood.
Too much blood.
It stained Khate's armor, her hands, even the ground beneath her knees.
"Mom?"
His voice trembled instantly.
Khate tried to smile at him the same way she always did whenever he got frightened as a child.
But this time the smile looked weak.
Painful.
Three immediately sat up in panic.
"What happened?" His eyes widened further as he noticed her unstable breathing. "Mom… why are you bleeding so much?"
"I'm fine," Khate lied softly.
The moment she tried to stand again, her body nearly collapsed forward.
Three quickly held her arm.
And for the first time since waking up, he realized something truly terrible was happening.
The green light around Khate's body was fading.
Slowly and uncontrollably.
"Mom…"
Fear finally entered his voice completely.
Khate looked at him quietly.
For a brief moment, her expression softened despite everything happening around them.
Three had grown so much already.
She could still remember the small child who used to hide behind her robes whenever Sigil trained too aggressively nearby.
Now he was holding her up instead.
A faint laugh escaped her lips before another cough followed.
Blood spilled onto the ground again.
Three panicked immediately.
"No… no… no…"
His hands shook while trying to support her properly.
Khate gently grabbed his wrist.
"Listen to me carefully."
Three immediately froze.
The tone in her voice frightened him more than the blood did.
Khate slowly removed the black staff from her grasp before placing it into his trembling hands.
The moment he touched it, the engravings across the weapon glowed faintly with emerald light.
Three stared at it blankly.
"Mom… why are you giving me this?"
Khate looked at the staff quietly for a moment.
"This staff has protected me for many years," she said softly. "Now it will protect you."
Three shook his head repeatedly.
"No… you still need it."
Khate smiled weakly again.
"I don't think I can use it much longer."
"Stop saying that!"
Three's voice cracked loudly.
Tears had already started falling down his face.
"You're going to be fine! Dad will come back soon and..."
Another violent cough interrupted him.
This time, dark blood spilled from Khate's lips.
Three froze completely.
The poison had finally reached her core completely.
Khate could feel it clearly now.
Her healing abilities were failing.
Even breathing had become difficult.
Still, she raised one trembling hand slowly and wiped the tears from Three's face.
"You must survive," she whispered softly.
Three grabbed her hand tightly.
"No! You can't leave me!"
The desperation in his voice finally broke the last bit of composure Khate had been holding onto.
Her eyes trembled slightly.
More than anything, she wanted to stay.
To watch him grow older.
To stand beside Sigil again.
To survive this war with her family.
But some wishes did not belong to reality.
Khate slowly leaned forward and pressed her forehead gently against Three's.
"You are stronger than you think," she whispered.
Three cried harder while clutching her tightly.
"Mom… please…"
Khate's body suddenly trembled violently.
The emerald light surrounding her flickered several times before beginning to fade completely.
Her vision darkened further.
She could barely hear the battlefield anymore.
Still, through the fading silence, she forced herself to speak one last time.
"Tell your father…"
Her voice weakened briefly.
"…that I'm sorry."
Then the strength finally left her body.
The hand touching Three's face slowly fell lifelessly to the ground.
The emerald light vanished completely.
"Mom?"
Three stared at her blankly.
No response came.
"Mom?"
His voice grew louder.
Still nothing.
Fear rapidly turned into panic.
"No… no… Mom…"
He shook her shoulders desperately.
"Wake up!"
Tears streamed uncontrollably down his face as his voice cracked repeatedly across the ruined battlefield.
"You can't die! Please wake up!"
But Khate no longer responded.
The shattered battlefield had become completely silent around them except for the cries of a twelve-year-old boy holding his dead mother.
Far away from the ruined manor, Sigil suddenly froze mid battle.
Morgan immediately noticed it.
The black flames surrounding Sigil's armor flickered violently for a brief moment.
Then everything became still.
Sigil's expression slowly changed.
The connection he had always felt toward Khate…
Had disappeared.
Completely.
For several seconds, he simply stood there silently.
Almost as if his mind refused to process it.
Morgan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Then realization appeared across his face.
"…finally."
A terrifying pressure suddenly spread across the battlefield.
The temperature rose instantly.
Soldiers from both sides stopped fighting almost immediately as fear spread through the area uncontrollably.
The flames surrounding Sigil gradually changed color.
Red disappeared.
Blackness consumed everything.
Even the air around him started distorting from the heat.
Morgan's smile slowly vanished.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Sigil slowly raised his head.
His scarlet eyes had become completely black.
There was no rage visible on his face.
That frightened Morgan far more.
"Sigil..."
Boom.
The battlefield exploded instantly.
A massive wave of black flames erupted outward from Sigil's body and swallowed thousands of soldiers whole before anyone could react.
Screams echoed everywhere.
The flames did not merely burn flesh, they erased it.
Entire sections of the battlefield disappeared beneath the sea of black fire within seconds.
Morgan's expression finally changed completely.
"Retreat..."
Before he could finish speaking, Sigil vanished from his position.
The shattered air exploded behind him.
Morgan barely raised his defenses in time before Sigil appeared directly before him.
Bang.
The impact shattered every shield instantly and sent Morgan flying across the battlefield like a broken ragdoll.
Sigil did not stop.
The black flames around him surged even further as he rushed toward Morgan once again like a mad beast released from chains.
And for the first time since the war began ... Morgan felt fear.