The battlefield remained silent.
Not because the war had ended, but because thousands of people suddenly felt something they could not understand.
The frozen golden wave hung motionless above the island, suspended unnaturally across the darkened skies like flowing liquid trapped in place. Even the black flames surrounding Sigil flickered strangely for a brief moment, as though something invisible had disturbed the battlefield itself.
Morgan slowly lowered his bleeding hand while staring at the shattered remains of the golden ring.
Nothing happened.
His expression stiffened slightly as uncertainty crossed his face for the first time since the battle began.
Did it fail?
The thought had barely appeared before Sigil moved.
Boom.
The air exploded violently as Sigil crossed the distance between them in an instant. Morgan's instincts screamed immediately, forcing him to throw himself sideways, but he was still too slow.
A black blade tore through his defenses and slashed across his chest, sending blood spraying through the air.
"You should have died thirty years ago."
Sigil's voice carried neither rage nor madness anymore. It was simply cold.
Morgan crashed across the ruined battlefield before finally forcing himself to stop, his boots carving deep trenches through the broken ground. The wound across his chest burned violently as black flames spread around it stubbornly without fading.
His breathing became uneven.
Sigil appeared before him again almost immediately, the black flames behind him surging wildly like an ocean threatening to swallow everything in its path.
Morgan immediately raised dozens of frozen barriers.
Bang.
The first barrier shattered instantly.
The second followed right after, and moments later all the remaining defenses exploded apart beneath Sigil's overwhelming strength. The shockwave alone erased nearby soldiers completely, whether ally or enemy.
Sigil no longer seemed capable of distinguishing between them.
Morgan retreated rapidly while blood continued dripping from his wounds.
"What happened to your precious control?" he mocked while coughing lightly. "Or did Khate's death finally break you completely?"
Sigil did not answer.
That silence unsettled Morgan far more than any insult could have.
Another slash descended moments later, splitting apart the battlefield as black flames erupted upward violently like a volcanic eruption. Morgan barely escaped in time, though the edge of the attack still scorched one of his arms badly enough to force a sharp contraction across his face.
His expression darkened.
The suppression from the golden wave should still have been active. Sigil should have weakened further after fighting for this long, yet instead he was becoming even more terrifying.
Far away, the surviving soldiers watched the battle with pale expressions. Nobody dared approach anymore. The pressure released by both men alone had already transformed the battlefield into a place where death could arrive at any moment.
Then something changed.
At first, it was subtle.
A low humming sound spread faintly across the island, causing countless people to pause instinctively.
Even Sigil slowed slightly.
The frozen golden wave suspended above the island suddenly released strands of faint golden light. One appeared first, then another, before hundreds more slowly drifted upward like threads being pulled toward the heavens themselves.
Morgan's expression changed immediately.
Relief flashed briefly across his face before his eyes darkened again with something far more complicated.
"It worked," he whispered softly.
Sigil immediately noticed the change in his expression.
His eyes narrowed coldly.
"What did you do?"
Morgan laughed weakly despite the blood staining his robes.
"You'll find out soon enough."
The golden threads continued rising endlessly while the battlefield gradually dimmed beneath the growing light gathering overhead. The air itself started feeling heavier with every passing second, enough to make several soldiers subconsciously step backward while staring upward nervously.
Then the sky began changing.
The threads slowly curved around the island from every direction. At first, the pattern looked incomplete, but as more golden light gathered together, people gradually realized what they were seeing.
A dome.
An enormous golden dome slowly forming around the entire island.
Panic spread almost immediately afterward.
"Retreat!"
One of the enemy elders reacted first. Without hesitation, he abandoned the battlefield completely and rushed toward the outer edge of the island at full speed. Several others immediately followed after sensing that something was deeply wrong.
Even some Starborn soldiers lost composure and fled alongside them.
Nobody fully understood what was happening, but instinct alone warned them that remaining on the island would end badly.
Sigil glanced briefly toward the forming dome before attacking Morgan once more.
Boom.
The coastline exploded apart as black flames and frozen storms collided violently again. Yet unlike earlier, Morgan no longer focused entirely on the battle. His gaze occasionally drifted upward toward the dome, as though waiting for something.
The fleeing elder reached the island's boundary first.
The golden wall had almost completed itself now.
The elder's face immediately paled.
"No…"
Without hesitation, he unleashed a full-powered attack toward the incomplete section before him.
The attack struck the barrier directly before disappearing into the golden surface without resistance, as though the dome had swallowed it whole.
The elder froze.
Before he could react further, the dome suddenly brightened.
Golden light engulfed his body instantly.
A scream echoed across the battlefield as his body rapidly dried before everyone's eyes. Blood, energy, and vitality were forcefully extracted from him all at once. His skin shriveled, his aura collapsed, and moments later his body disintegrated completely into countless particles of golden light.
The dome absorbed everything.
Silence spread across the battlefield afterward.
The fleeing figures stopped immediately while horrified expressions appeared everywhere. Even the battle between Sigil and Morgan paused briefly as everyone stared upward at the glowing dome in shock.
The section that consumed the elder now shone slightly brighter than before.
As though it had grown stronger.
Morgan slowly exhaled.
His voice came out quietly.
"The second protocol has begun."