The battlefield, once a chaotic clash of elemental forces, now fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the sickening sound of Yuki's sand-powered punches landing on Wine's battered body.
Wine, once confident and cunning, was now a broken figure. His purple blood smeared the ground beneath him as each of Yuki's relentless blows struck not just his body, but deep within - her elemental sand powers piercing through him like a thousand needles. This wasn't raw strength. It was something deeper.
Kairo watched in disbelief, his sharp mind already piecing together what was happening. This wasn't just Yuki fighting to protect him or her tribe anymore - this was something else. It was like her will to protect had cracked open a door to something far more dangerous: a wild, unrestrained force tied to her very soul.
And it was consuming her.
Wine, his vision blurring, struggled to lift a hand, his poison power swirling weakly around his fingertips - but he was too slow, too disoriented.
Yuki dodged with ease.
He missed.
And that miss was all it took for her to strike back - hard.
She leaped forward and delivered a sand-powered punch straight to Wine's jaw. A sickening crack echoed across the battlefield as his head snapped to the side, purple blood flying from his mouth. His body crumpled slightly, but Yuki didn't stop.
Another punch. Then another.
Each one powered by her dormant elemental strength - not pure physical force, but something far more painful. Her attacks were breaking Wine from the inside out, the sand coursing through his veins like burning embers.
Wine's body swayed, his legs threatening to give out - his vision slipping between consciousness and darkness.
Kairo stepped forward, alarm growing in his chest. "Yuki... stop."
But she didn't hear him. Or maybe she did - but the Yuki he knew wasn't there anymore.
Her face, once gentle, was twisted into something wild - not with rage, but with something almost... feral.
Wine, for the first time, looked afraid.
Some of the Poison tribe soldiers - the few still standing - exchanged nervous glances. Their leader was on the brink of collapse, but they still had their loyalty. Gritting their teeth, a handful of them charged at Yuki, pooling what remained of their poison power into violent blasts aimed directly at her back.
Kairo tensed. "Yuki, behind you!"
But she didn't need the warning.
Before the blasts could hit, Yuki's sand erupted into a protective barrier, forming an unyielding dome around herself. The poison blasts struck the wall and fizzled out, leaving the attackers stunned.
The shield crumbled instantly after blocking the attacks - but Yuki was already moving.
She slowly turned to face the Poison tribe soldiers, her blind eyes eerily steady as she seemed to sense their every movement.
A smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth.
"Are you going to be fun?" she whispered - her voice low, almost unrecognizable.
The soldiers stepped back - trembling.
Then, Yuki unleashed a sandstorm attack - a fierce whirlwind of sand so strong that it ripped through the battlefield, sending the soldiers flying. The sheer force left them broken and bleeding, their bodies scattered across the sand.
The Sand tribe people gasped, some instinctively moving further away from Yuki.
The woman they had once considered "undesirable" was now a figure of pure destruction.
And then, as if the soldiers were just a small distraction, Yuki turned back to Wine, who was now slumped on the ground, his body twitching from pain and his blood staining the sand beneath him.
She knelt beside him, tilting her head.
"Let's continue," she whispered.
Wine, barely able to speak, let out a weak, bloody cough. "S-stop..."
But she didn't.
Her fists, empowered by sand, rained down on him again. Each blow seemed more forceful than the last - not just physical pain, but attacks that rattled him from within, shaking his very core.
Kairo's voice grew louder. "Yuki, stop!"
She didn't listen.
Realizing words wouldn't work, Kairo moved in - only to be met with a sudden, Land's Wrath attack.
The sand beneath him cracked and exploded, sending Kairo stumbling back. He caught himself just in time, staring at his wife in shock.
Her voice, a distorted echo of her usual self, hissed: "You're ruining my fun, Kairo."
His heart pounded - not from fear of Yuki's power, but because he knew this wasn't her.
This was something deeper - something far more dangerous than the poison tribe.
All around them, the battlefield watched in stunned silence.
The Sand tribe people, who had once ridiculed Yuki, now stood frozen with fear.
Whispers filled the air:
"She's a monster..."
"Is that... really Dune's daughter?"
"...We never knew she was this powerful."
Even the fallen heroes - Arson, Sylvia, Glacius, and Peggy - watched in horror, their weak bodies barely able to move.
Arson's voice cracked. "She's going to kill him..."
Sylvia's hand shook. "She's protecting her people - but this... this isn't protection anymore."
Kairo clenched his jaw.
And then, a faint, hoarse voice broke through the noise.
"Yuki...?"
Dune - weak and barely conscious - watched his daughter from afar. His mind reeled. How had she become this strong? When had this power emerged? The blind girl he had cast aside was now an unstoppable force, one he wasn't sure even he could have stopped in his prime.
But Yuki didn't hear him.
She lifted her hand, sand swirling violently around her as she prepared the final blow - the one that could end Wine for good.
"Kairo," a voice weakly spoke behind him.
It was Queen Veyra.
Her face, pale from the lingering effects of Wine's poison, twisted in shock as she took in the sight of Kairo - and then Yuki.
Her voice quivered. "That... that's Yuki?"
Kairo didn't have time to answer.
Wine, broken and near death, weakly muttered, "S-she's a demon..."
And Yuki, her blind gaze burning like an unstoppable storm, readied her final attack.
Kairo gritted his teeth.
He had to stop her - no matter what it took.
Because this wasn't his wife anymore.
This was something else.