# Chapter 32: The Price of Survival and the System's Fury

  The rooftop, once a silent stage for confrontation beneath the moon, had become a battlefield soaked in blood and steam. Orpheus, his breath ragged and his body screaming in protest, knew that time had run out. The searing pain in his flank was a constant reminder of Nana's ferocity, but the sight of Luna, exhausted and on the verge of collapse, was the only fuel left in his veins.

  With a hoarse roar, he executed his final move. The spider silk lines, almost invisible in the darkness, were not launched at Nana, but at the clay tiles. They dug in with the precision of a harpoon, giving him the necessary foothold for a desperate acrobatic maneuver. He spun, his body becoming a blur of pain and speed, and hurled a handful of loose tiles in Nana's direction.

  It was not an attack, but a distraction.

  Nana, despite her fury and her severed arm, was a warrior of sharp reflexes. She dodged the projectile with a fluid movement, but the instant of hesitation was enough. Orpheus's sword, camouflaged among the tiles he had released, emerged from her blind spot. It was not a clean strike, but a brutal tear. The cold metal sliced through the thin armor on Nana's back, exposing flesh and muscle in a deep, horizontal wound.

  A scream of pure pain and hatred erupted from Nana's throat. It was not the sound of defeat, but of uncontrolled rage. Her beauty, her greatest pride, had been defiled.

  "You wretched trash! You will pay for every injury!" Her voice was a venomous hiss.

  The ground beneath Orpheus's feet began to tremble. Nana plunged the tip of her katana into the roof, and the **liquid blade magic** that enveloped her transformed the clay and mud into a viscous, steaming liquid. The roof liquefied, flowing like a river of boiling sludge.

  Orpheus tried to move away, but the scalding liquid was already reaching him. Nana took a deep breath, her chest swelling, and released a concentrated blast of fire. The fire hit the slippery liquid, instantly transforming it into a torrent of **incandescent lava** that headed towards where Orpheus and the fallen Luna lay.

  "Luna!"

  There was no time to think. Orpheus used the last remnant of his strength to throw himself over Luna, shielding her from the flow of molten fire. The act left him completely exposed. Nana, with the speed of a viper, seized the opening. Her katana descended in a merciless arc, not to kill, but to incapacitate. The blow struck Orpheus's back, shattering bones and forcing a silent cry of agony.

  The impact hurled them off the roof. Orpheus and Luna fell in a free-fall, their bodies crashing against the asphalt with a dry, sickening thud. The darkness swallowed them, and the momentary silence was more terrifying than any scream.

  ---

  Hundreds of meters away, in the cold luxury of a hotel, Hiroshi woke with a start. It was not a noise that woke him, but a sensation of **quicksand beneath the soul**. He was lying down, but felt himself sinking.

  His eyes opened to the cold glow of a System notification hanging in the air.

  > **MISSION: THE COST HAS APPEARED.**

  > **Objective:** Kill Nana to disable the mission "The Cost".

  > **Location:** [Battle Coordinates]

  > **Time Limit:** 20:00 minutes.

  "Nana? What the hell is going on?" Hiroshi stood up, confusion turning into icy dread. He searched his memory, the names of Zan's Generals, until recognition hit him like lightning. The mission location was the same sector where Orpheus and Luna were.

  The System was toying with him, manipulating him with the threat of imminent loss. The time limit was a cruel joke. Twenty minutes to find and kill a General of Zan, severely wounded or not, was an impossible deadline.

  Hiroshi did not hesitate. He did not call Zark. The fear of losing a friend was a poison that propelled him. He invoked the **Kerchack Energy**, and his body began to emanate a dark, scaly glow. The draconian scales, his natural armor, covered his skin, and his speed and strength multiplied exponentially.

  He grabbed **Karius**, the sword that was an extension of his fury, and leaped out of the tenth-floor window. The wind howled in his ears as he became a human projectile, driven by the desperate need to arrive in time.

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  ---

  On the ground, Orpheus coughed up blood, his body broken, but his mind still conscious. Luna, her eyes tearful with pain and exhaustion, placed her trembling hand on the exposed wound on his back. The last gasp of her mana channeled into healing, a thread of emerald-green light trying to stitch together what was broken.

  Nana descended from the roof, not jumping, but gliding with a macabre grace. She was a spectacle of horror and wounded vanity. Blood was dripping from her back and the shoulder where her arm had been severed.

  "I will torture you," she hissed, her voice hoarse with hatred. "You will pay for every injury done to me, you wretched trash."

  Orpheus tried to get up, but his body betrayed him. His muscles did not respond. He looked at Nana, and for an instant, she disappeared.

  The reappearance was instantaneous. Nana was now beside Luna, her remaining hand gripping the girl's neck.

  "No!" Orpheus cried out, his voice failing.

  Luna let out a muffled scream, her eyes wide with terror. Nana let out a shrill laugh, a sound that echoed in the deserted street, celebrating her victory.

  It was at that moment that the air split.

  A black and red blur struck Nana with the force of thunder. There was no time for reaction. The Karius sword, enveloped in draconian energy, sliced through the air and the arm of Nana that was holding Luna. The limb fell to the ground, and Luna collapsed, free, but in shock.

  Nana staggered back, her face contorted in a mask of disbelief and pain. She was bleeding from three mortal wounds and had now lost her last arm. She looked at the figure that had appeared out of nowhere.

  Hiroshi stood still, the Karius sword dripping blood. He was not panting. He was not tired. He was the personification of draconian fury.

  Nana tried to run, a desperate and pathetic movement. She was too wounded, and the arrival of a new opponent, one with such power, broke her will to fight.

  Hiroshi began to walk. Slowly. Deliberately. He was the hunter, and she, the prey. He looked at the System counter that still hovered in his vision: **10:00 minutes remaining**.

  "Tell me where he is," Hiroshi's voice was low, a guttural growl. "And I'll let you go. You're practically dead."

  Nana stopped, her body trembling. She turned, blood streaming.

  "I... I'll tell you," she gasped, the hope of survival shining in her eyes.

  Hiroshi approached, his sword lowered, but his guard up. It was the moment of her weakness, and Nana took advantage. With one last act of defiance, she opened her mouth and released a blast of fire. It was not the lava from before, but a concentrated jet of flames.

  The fire hit Hiroshi head-on.

  Nana smiled, but the smile froze on her lips. The flames dissipated against Hiroshi's draconian scales, which glowed with intense heat, but were unaffected.

  Hiroshi laughed, a dry, ironic sound.

  "I'll show you, Nana, what real fire is."

  He took a deep breath. The air around him became heavy, dense. The Kerchack energy concentrated in his chest, and when he released the **Draconian Breath**, it was no ordinary fire. It was a torrent of black, putrid flames, a fire that burned the soul.

  The black fire enveloped Nana. She screamed, a sharp, terrible sound that lasted only an instant before being muffled by the combustion. In her last act, as she was consumed, she made a sign with her head to the sky, praying to Zan.

  She fell to her knees, carbonized, her empty eyes fixed on the moon, before disintegrating into ashes.

  The System counter blinked.

  > **MISSION: THE COST - COMPLETED.**

  > **Reward:** None.

  > **Penalty:** The time limit was NOT exceeded. The System will not charge the price.

  > **You will NOT lose a friend.**

  Hiroshi looked at the notification, his face impassive. He had arrived in time to save Luna and Orpheus, but the System, in its cold cruelty, had manipulated him into killing Nana. The tension was palpable, the air charged with the promise of future pain.

  He turned to Orpheus and Luna, the Karius sword still in his hand. The fight was over, but the war, and its cost, had only just begun.