As thousands of dragons clashed in battle, with spells colliding and dragons roaring, almost no one would notice the movements of a small child.

But even so, crossing a battlefield still required immense courage and sharp instincts that far surpassed the norm.

The lightning from *Chidori* illuminated the small, determined face of a mere two-year-old child, Noa K. Melkwy. Despite her age, her eyes carried a resolve and boldness that rivaled any adult.

Many had said that Noa was merely a child known for excelling in studies or bullying her classmates, a mere "queen of the classroom." 

But today, in the face of a formidable opponent like a Star-Wandering Dragon King, her attack was made without hesitation.

Just like her father, Noa had nothing to prove to others. She would do whatever she believed was right, even if it was dangerous, even if it meant risking her life, even if there was no return.

Ravi slowly turned his head, but before he could fully grasp who was attacking him, a sharp pain shot through his right shoulder.

He stumbled, but quickly regained his stance, sending a swift kick to the small figure that had attacked him.

Ravi’s eyes narrowed with fury. "A mere child...?"

Being caught off guard by a child was a humiliation too great for a Dragon King to bear. But then he realized—it must be the daughter of the Silver Dragon Queen and Cassmod.

Ravi’s gaze shifted to the small, crumpled form of Noa lying on the ground. She was indeed far stronger than a typical young dragon. 

Yet, despite her strength, she was still just a child. Even though she managed to distract him and create an opening, she could not inflict any significant damage on him.

"Don’t worry, little brat," Ravi growled, "Once I’m done with your parents, you’re next—"

"You dare... hurt my daughter?"

The moment those words left Leon’s mouth, it was as if time slowed to a crawl.

Ravi’s instincts screamed danger. He quickly shifted his gaze from Noa back to Leon, but it was too late. 

The barrier shattered like fragile glass, and a massive hand reached through the shards, wrapping around Ravi’s throat with crushing force.

In that moment, Ravi felt his windpipe and bones straining under the pressure. He tried to stay calm and muster his magic to form another barrier.

But it was too late.

Leon hoisted Ravi off the ground like a ragdoll, swinging him through the air before slamming him into the ground with such force that it cracked the earth, sending fissures radiating outward.

The impact sent shockwaves through Ravi’s body, his back nearly pulverized from the blow. His lungs burned, almost collapsing from the sheer force.

The Star-Wandering Dragon King was left speechless, utterly shocked by the raw power of the man before him.

He was a Dragon King! How could his body be so fragile in this man’s grip?

Ravi’s dragon eyes flared with a mix of rage and disbelief as he gripped Leon’s arm, desperately trying to free himself.

Sweat and steam poured from Leon’s black and silver armor, and he tightened his grip.

Ravi let out a strangled gasp as his vision blurred and blood vessels in his eyes began to burst. 

Then, in a low, emotionless voice, Leon said, "Don’t move."

The command was clear, not just to Ravi but also to the two other Dragon Kings.

As Leon subdued Ravi, Rosvisser rushed over to Noa’s side.

“Noa! Noa, are you okay?” The Silver Dragon Queen knelt beside her daughter, cradling her in her arms.

Blood trickled from Noa’s lips. Although her distraction had given Leon the opportunity to break through Ravi’s barrier, she was still a child, and a direct kick from a Dragon King had left her battered and bruised.

Rosvisser quickly used basic healing magic to stabilize Noa’s injuries. 

The little girl slowly regained consciousness, blinking up at her mother.

Her first words were, “Did I... help, Mama?”

Tears welled up in Rosvisser’s eyes as she gently wiped the dust and blood from Noa’s face. “Yes, Noa. You helped us a lot.”

The pained expression on Noa’s face softened into a weak but proud smile. "That’s good."

Rosvisser held her daughter tightly, rising to her feet, and looked toward Leon.

Leon, still holding Ravi, glanced back at her.

She nodded slightly, signaling that Noa was okay.

Just as Leon was about to respond, he noticed a slight movement in Ravi’s breathing, and then—

BAM!

Leon delivered a brutal punch to Ravi’s face at point-blank range, driving the Dragon King’s head into the ground with a sickening crunch.

Blood seeped into the cracks in the earth as Ravi’s limbs twitched weakly.

"I told you, don’t move."

The last dragon who had threatened Leon’s family had lost his head. And for this one, who had actually hurt Noa?

Well, even breathing was a mistake at this point.

Leon lifted Ravi’s limp form again, holding him in the air like a ragdoll.

The other two Dragon Kings, Bly and Jagus, stood frozen in disbelief.

This wasn’t the man they’d been briefed about. According to their intelligence, Leon Cassmod’s strength was supposed to be only slightly above Constantine’s.

Was this what humans called "slightly"?

One punch had reduced Ravi to this?

Bly and Jagus began to back away slowly, their space magic arrays fading.

But the spatial rift in the ground remained, still glowing ominously.

“What do we do now?” Bly swallowed hard. “Stah is dead, and Ravi is about to die. Do we really want to keep fighting that monster?”

No answer came.

“Jagus? Jagus?” Bly turned to see that his companion had already vanished.

Bly: ?

Space magic was truly convenient—Jagus had escaped without even his own ally noticing.

Seeing the situation, Bly wasted no time in following suit, activating his space magic to flee at lightning speed.

Whoever wanted to deal with Leon could go ahead. He wasn’t going to be part of that mess.

With both of his allies gone, Ravi was left alone, held helplessly in Leon’s iron grip.

He was on the brink of suffocation, dangling in the air.

Was there any way out of this now?

The idea of a mutual destruction like Stah’s crossed Ravi’s mind. But that was impossible. Leon was far too unpredictable and powerful—such a tactic would be futile.

In the face of this man, even Ravi’s deep-seated desire for revenge paled in comparison to his fear.

Desperate, Ravi’s eyes caught sight of the spatial rift nearby.

“Ah... that might work...” he muttered.

“What was that?” Leon asked, his voice cold.

Ravi’s eyes gleamed as he spoke through the blood trickling from his mouth. “Let’s make a wager, Leon Cassmod. Let’s see if you truly would give up everything for your family.”

“What are you—”

Before Leon could finish, Ravi kicked at Leon’s chest with all his strength, causing a grotesque tearing sound as blood sprayed from his throat.

With a self-inflicted wound, Ravi managed to break free from Leon’s grip, stumbling toward the spatial rift.

Clutching his bleeding throat with one hand, he placed his other hand over his heart.

“I admit it, Leon Cassmod. No matter how many Dragon Kings are sent, none would return alive from fighting you.” Ravi’s voice was raspy and broken.

“Your admission means nothing to me, Ravi,” Leon growled.

“Heh... True, someone as powerful as you doesn’t need recognition. But as I said before, can you really sacrifice everything for those you care about?”

“What are you planning?”

Ravi didn’t respond. In the next moment, his heart began to glow.

Slowly, he tore a scale from his chest, a scale that shone like a crystal.

Rosvisser’s eyes narrowed. "That’s a heart-protecting scale..."

Ravi wasn’t preparing to self-destruct like Stah. Without the heart-protecting scale, a Dragon King couldn’t gather the necessary energy for such a move.

So what was he planning?

“Say goodbye to this world, Leon Cassmod!”

Ravi raised the scale high, then slammed it into the spatial rift.

The moment the scale entered the rift, a terrifying surge of energy erupted from it, instantly disintegrating Ravi’s body.

Leon reacted quickly, activating the *Fifth Gate of the Nine Infernal Gates* to shield Rosvisser and Noa, whisking them to safety.

Fortunately, the explosion was contained to a small area and didn’t last long.

When the energy dissipated, Ravi’s charred corpse lay beside a rift that had expanded to nearly two meters in diameter.

The rift continued to grow, drawing in surrounding debris with a powerful suction force. Even Ravi’s remains were pulled in.

Within the rift, swirling black clouds and crackling lightning were visible, creating a stark contrast with the world around it. It was as if a tear had been ripped in the fabric of reality itself.

“He used the heart-protecting scale to forcefully activate the teleportation magic,” Rosvisser explained. “But it’s clearly out of control now. The rift keeps expanding, and if it isn’t stopped, it will swallow everything in its path. We don’t know when it will stop.”

A new crisis had begun just as the previous one had ended.

With Ravi’s death, the remaining Star-W

andering Dragons had fled. The Silver Dragon soldiers regrouped, noticing the expanding rift.

Anna stood beside Rosvisser, checking on Noa’s condition before discussing the next steps to close the rift.

“What if we counter it with equal force?” Anna suggested. “Maybe that could shut it down.”

Rosvisser bit her lip. She wasn’t an expert in space magic, but it was worth a try.

They gathered their magical energies and launched a concentrated attack at the rift.

But their efforts were in vain. Every spell they cast was sucked into the rift with no effect.

Sweat trickled down Anna’s forehead. "Why isn’t it working...?"

Meanwhile, the rift continued to grow, now over five meters wide, and the suction force grew stronger.

Rosvisser studied the rift. If it had gone out of control due to Ravi’s heart-protecting scale, then perhaps another heart-protecting scale could stabilize it.

And as the only Dragon King present, the burden fell on her.

If she could, she would give up her own scale without hesitation to save everyone.

But her heart-protecting scale was already—

“I know what I have to do,” Leon said, his voice grave.

“What?” Rosvisser turned to him.

Leon kept his gaze on the rift. "Ravi said, ‘Would you give everything for your family?’ I think that was his final challenge."

He turned to his wife, his eyes heavy with meaning. "I’m the only one who can close the rift."

Rosvisser froze, her silver eyes trembling. She realized what Leon intended.

“Leon... No. You can’t. Absolutely not.”

Her voice shook with fear and desperation.

She couldn’t bear the thought of that outcome. No matter what, she couldn’t accept it.

Leon said nothing. He reached up, slowly removing his black and silver helmet.

This time, the helmet came off easily.

Beneath it was the same familiar face she had seen countless times, the face with scars she knew so well.

Leon’s expression was calm, even though his next action would tear her heart apart. He gently placed the helmet in Rosvisser’s trembling hands.

The helmet slipped from her fingers and fell to the ground with a hollow clang.

She couldn’t bring herself to hold it.

“Leon, no... You can’t do this...” Rosvisser’s hand reached out to grip his wrist, her voice cracking as she sobbed. “We’ll find another way. There has to be another way.”

Leon hesitated for a moment, then gently pried her fingers from his wrist.

He glanced at their unconscious daughter in her arms.

The pain had knocked Noa out, and she remained still.

Perhaps it was better that way—better she wasn’t awake to see this.

Leon placed a hand on Noa’s small cheek, smiling sadly.

“You’re going to protect your mom and your sisters, Noa. I know you will.”

He believed in his daughter, just as she had believed in him moments ago when she bravely distracted Ravi, trusting her father to save the day.

"Your Highness, I’ll take your place!" one of the Silver Dragon soldiers called out. "The Silver Dragons need you to survive!"

Leon’s heart twisted at the offer. He looked at the soldier, shaking his head.

"Stopping the rift isn’t about courage or sacrifice. It’s about power, and I regret to say, I’m the only one here who has the power to do it."

Ravi’s final words were both a challenge and a curse—he had set this up to force Leon to make the ultimate decision.

And unfortunately, as Leon had said, only he had the strength to close the rift.

Rosvisser’s power might not be enough.

Even if it was, Leon would never let her do it.

Her words about him being a confident, reckless hero weren’t wrong.

After all, what boy hasn’t fantasized about being the one to save the world at the last moment, facing down the apocalypse alone?

Leon was just turning that fantasy into reality.

He took a deep breath, steadying himself, and then slowly stepped toward the rift.

"Leon! Leon, you can’t do this! You absolutely can’t go!" Rosvisser cried out, clutching at him as if her life depended on it. "If you go, I’ll hate you forever! I swear I’ll hate you forever, so don’t go!"

Leon’s throat tightened. He didn’t look at her, keeping his voice low. "You’re a queen, Rosvisser. Don’t lose your composure in front of your people."

“I—I’ll go with you then—”

“What about our daughters?”

“...”

Leon gently pushed her hand away.

For a moment, she didn’t try to stop him.

He walked to the edge of the rift, standing tall before the churning abyss.

The suction was pulling harder now, whipping wind through the air.

Her long silver hair swirled around her face, but she couldn’t look away from Leon.

“Rosvisser Melkwy,” he called out, using her full name as he always did when he had something important to say.

She hesitated, finally lifting her gaze to meet his.

The towering figure of her husband stood at the precipice of the rift, half-turned toward her, a serene smile on his face.

Then he spoke three final words.

But the howling of the rift drowned them out.

In the next instant, Leon vanished into the void.

Thunderous lightning crackled in the sky above as the rift trembled violently.

Everyone stepped back as bolts of energy shot from the rift, filling the sky with blinding light.

Slowly, the rift began to shrink.

Bit by bit, it grew smaller, until finally, it disappeared entirely.

“Your Highness...” a soldier whispered.

“Your Majesty? Your Majesty...”

Rosvisser, clutching Noa in one arm, staggered forward, wordlessly walking to the spot where Leon had stood.

She knelt, picking up his discarded helmet and holding it to her chest.

It was still warm, as if he had just been there.