Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

In the bunker of a NQSC police station, there was a boy taller than average. With his blue eyes, he watched as officers restrained him and strapped him to a bulky chair that looked like a weird mix between a hospital bed and a torture device. As they moved around him, the air currents flowing through the bunker caused his reddish-brown hair to sway slightly. That boy had a name: Arthur Leywin.

Minutes later, the room was occupied by only two people: Arthur and an officer. The latter was explaining procedures and protocols, offering a few pieces of advice along the way, while the former did everything he could to stay awake just a little longer.

'As I wait for sleep to embrace me, I can't help but think about how I ended up here,'

***

It had been a normal day at school, until suddenly it wasn't. Alarms started going off everywhere: from his classmates, from the teachers, from the school itself, and finally from his own communicator.

EMERGENCY ALERT
EMERGENCY ALERT
GATE ACTIVITY DETECTED IN YOUR PROXIMITY
ESTIMATED TIME: 7 MINUTES
EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY

That was the first day Arthur felt fear and helplessness. He couldn't stop thinking that it could very well be his last day alive if something went wrong.

Fortunately, there were a couple of Masters nearby, and they cleared the gate before it could get out of control. One of those Masters was his father. After the protocols were completed, the first thing his father did was come to see him, and that was the day Arthur realized that, at any moment and without being able to stop it, he could lose him.

The exhaustion on his father's face when Arthur saw him walking down the hallway was unmistakable. His eyes reflected monsters, terrors no human should ever have to witness, and the moment he looked at Arthur, that exhaustion faded, those terrors stopped mattering, replaced by unconditional love for his son.

Coincidentally, that was also the day Arthur realized that being weak in this world was a sin, and that if you wanted to protect something, you had to be strong. From that day on, the way he perceived the world changed, and he began living with a purpose: to protect his family.

From that moment forward, Arthur's routine changed. He started training more than any legacy, more than anyone else. In the mornings, he went to school, and during classes he learned how to make connections, how to relate to people who might have potential.

One of them turned out to be a girl named Cassie. Their parents worked together, and through that connection, their families grew close.

She was a bit shorter than Arthur, with charming blue eyes and blonde hair that fell down her back like a waterfall, along with a smile that seemed to light up the world.

He got along well with her. They trained together, and at first their sparring matches were more even than he would have liked, but as months and years passed, his talent began to make a difference, and from that point on she no longer had much of a chance. His father, a Master of great renown within the government branches, said Arthur had even more potential than he did.

Over time, training became part of Arthur's daily life, nothing exceptional. He went to school every morning like any other kid his age, paid attention in class, performed well, and met expectations.

He didn't stand out much or draw attention to himself; he preferred to stay unnoticed. While many worried only about passing exams or what they would do on the weekend, he used every free moment to learn something that might be useful later.

You could say he was obsessed.

Arthur read everything he could get his hands on. Survival manuals, old records of secured zones, reports of failed and successful missions that his father left around the house without realizing it.

He listened to the stories his parents told at the table, tales that were just work anecdotes to them, but that he analyzed carefully, memorizing mistakes, decisions, and consequences. No one ever forced him to do it; he simply understood that knowing those things was better than ignoring them.

Some afternoons Arthur trained in a forest on the outskirts under the supervision of his father or a Master they hired. These weren't heroic or extreme training sessions; they were about learning how to orient himself, ration supplies, stay calm when things didn't go as planned, and recognize his own limits.

Other times, he trained in combat, first with his father and later with other Masters who were willing to correct him when they could. He wasn't looking for flashy techniques or recognition, only efficiency and consistency.

Even so, not everything revolved around training. Arthur had friends, went out with them, talked about normal things, and took breaks whenever he needed them.

Cassie was the one he spent the most time with. They trained together, but they also talked about school, their families, or anything trivial. She had a calm way of observing everything, and even when she noticed that he pushed himself harder than necessary, she never pressured him or asked unnecessary questions.

At home, life went on. Quiet dinners whenever his parents' work allowed it, simple conversations, and shared moments that didn't need to be special to have value.

His parents never asked him to be strong or to shoulder responsibilities that weren't his, and he never fully explained why he trained so much. There was no need. As long as they were together, that was enough, and for his parents and his sister to be safe, Arthur would do whatever was necessary.

Over the years, that routine became normal to him. Studying, training, resting, living together. He didn't see it as a sacrifice or anything extraordinary; it was simply the most logical way to live in a world where things could spiral out of control at any moment.

A world where, from one second to the next, a gate could open right in front of you, and if there wasn't someone strong nearby, you wouldn't see tomorrow. Protecting his family wasn't a promise or a vow; it was a natural consequence of everything he did.

And like that, almost without realizing it, that path brought him here.

When Arthur came back to himself, he was still strapped to the "bed". The officer had finished explaining the protocols and watched him in silence as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He felt the accumulated exhaustion of the past few days, heavy and constant, but there was no anxiety or panic, only a sense of calm.

He didn't know what awaited him on the other side, but he did know why he was here. And for now, that was enough.

With that final thought, the world went dark, and from that darkness, a voice echoed.

"[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]"

Chapter Text

Arthur dreamed of a structure suspended in the void.

From the outside, as if he didn't belong there, he watched what his mind tried to arrange as an endless corridor. It wasn't really a corridor, but a succession of spaces connected by floating portals, each separated from the next by impossible distances. From that forced perspective, everything looked aligned, but Arthur felt that each zone existed at a different point in space and time.

The first thing he saw was decay.

The closest section appeared as a cracked stone chamber. Four figures rose within, barely recognizable as statues. Their surfaces were eroded, fragmented, as if time had been chewing at them for centuries. Parts were missing, others were deformed, and distinguishing their original forms was difficult. They didn't transmit threat, only abandonment.

Beyond that, through the next portal, stretched a dead forest. Tall, bare trees, with blackened trunks and broken branches. The ground was covered in dry remains, with no trace of life. Everything there seemed frozen in a post-collapse state, as if something had happened a long time ago and had never been repaired.

The third zone barely held its form. Large stone fragments floated irregularly, remnants of what once was a floor. The surfaces were cracked, the edges worn, and any hint of color had been erased by time. The remains looked more like ruins than structures.

The last room remained intact.

It was a massive chamber, silent, covered by a thin layer of dust suspended in the air. In its center, an altar rose, and behind it, a throne. On the throne, a seated figure remained still. It showed no signs of deterioration, as if the passage of time hadn't touched it.

Then, time began to reverse.

It wasn't a sudden motion, but a constant and silent inversion. Cracks closed, statues recovered missing fragments, forms defined themselves. The gray forest changed: the ground regained color, sprouts emerged, the air grew dense, alive. Trees that once were dead rose covered in leaves. Scattered fragments returned to their places, platforms reassembled, and colors were reborn.

Millions of years seemed to compress into seconds.

Finally, the reversal stopped.

Arthur was no longer watching from the outside.

He was standing in a space that existed before everything he had seen. There were no walls or structures, only an open expanse that seemed to never end. In the center, a fountain reflected a soft light with no clear origin.

In front of him, suspended in the void, there was a single portal. It emitted no sound or visible energy.

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial…]

Standing in the last room the vision had shown him, Arthur checked his surroundings for any threat. Nothing. He started inspecting his body: it was in good condition, with proportions practically identical to his real ones.

He also felt something strange every time he moved, like when someone moves near you and you feel the air pushing against your skin, but it wasn't air. It was something more essential, instinctive, tied to the nature of the world. Hard to explain.

Taking advantage of that weird sense and the fact the room seemed relatively safe, Arthur decided to summon his runes. With just the thought of "status", text appeared in front of him.

Name: Arthur Leywin
True Name: —
Rank: Aspirant
Soul Core: Inactive
Memories: —
Echoes: —
Attributes: [Born of Aether], [Residual Echo], [Djinn Descent]
Aspect: [Aether Resonance]

Aspect Description: [Your soul does not generate power on its own. Instead, it reacts instinctively to irregularities in the world. You perceive subtle distortions in space, matter, and essence, as if something invisible were vibrating out of place. You cannot control these resonances, only feel them.]

'Well, that's not too bad. Explains this weird feeling... it's like having a sixth sense. I'll have to test it to see how far it goes,'

Attribute: [Born of Aether]
Description: [Your existence was not formed outside the Aether, but in coexistence with it. You don't understand or control it, but your soul recognizes it as an environment that existed before any learning, something that never needed explanation.]

'So it's not something I need to learn from scratch. It's not a hidden power waiting to awaken either. It's more like a baseline, like my starting point is different from everyone else,'

Attribute: [Residual Echo]
Description: [Remnants of a previous existence persist in your soul, not as memories, but as behaviors. Under pressure, decisions you don't remember learning emerge without you knowing where they came from.]

'A previous existence? That's confusing as shit,'

Attribute: [Djinn Descent]
Description: [You descend from those who sought to understand the world before dominating it. Their affinity with Aether was considered a threat, and for that, they were erased. From them, you did not inherit power, but the ability to feel what the world tries to hide.]

'Djinn? Maybe it's related to the [Residual Echo] thing. Maybe that previous existence was one of those Djinn,'.

In summary: his aspect and attributes gave him affinity with something called Aether, which must be what helped with this sixth sense. What he didn't get was how he could have affinity with something he couldn't control or understand. The [Residual Echo] attribute gave him a bit of vertigo: having remnants of another existence in his soul wasn't great. They acted like instincts under pressure.

In all the books he'd read, Arthur had never seen the word Djinn. "You descend from those who sought to understand the world before dominating it." That phrase bothered him. It implied they could dominate the world if they wanted, but they were erased. How do you erase someone capable of that? They were either taken by surprise or they were peaceful. Because otherwise Arthur didn't see how they disappeared without leaving a trace.

He hesitated between training a bit to adapt to this sense or reflecting on the nightmare, but for the second he lacked information, and for the first there was a better approach.

Arthur decided overthinking wasn't going to get him anywhere. The best way to learn the theory was by practicing it, he guessed. It felt more like an excuse than an actual strategy, but he had to do something. The problem was something else: how the hell was he supposed to kill four monsters without a weapon? Just him, his body, and this new Aether sense he still didn't understand.

'For fuck's sake, not even a rock to throw at them,'

He took a deep breath and walked toward the room. Crossing the portal, the hall was so silent it felt like it swallowed any sound. The four chimeras were still there: lined up like statues, waiting for someone to activate them. They didn't move. That calm didn't reassure him. Arthur advanced. The air felt heavy, like it compressed around him. The chimeras were in different degrees of deterioration, yet they seemed more alive than him.

When Arthur finally stood in front of one, the first one moved.

There was no roar or warning. It went from still to lunging at him. It was about three meters tall, two legs thick like pillars supporting it and four sinewy arms: the lower two hung lifeless, but moved when needed, like bony whips. The upper arms were more robust, ready to tear apart. Its fingers looked like semi-transparent claws, like sharpened bone breaking through old flesh. Its head was a mix of feline and reptile, but it had lateral gills that opened and closed as if breathing in two realities at once. Yellow eyes, no eyelids.

'It moves way too fast for something that big, holy shit,'

Dodging to the side, its claws passed inches from him. His skin crawled. Not from fear, but because something inside him reacted before his brain. Residual Echo and the Aether sense. It was like he knew where the attack was coming from before seeing it, a vibration in his muscles anticipating the movement.

Arthur started dodging. The chimera attacked without technique, but with enough force to pulverize him if it landed. Looking for openings, he realized it didn't matter since he had nothing to use to exploit them. Still, he refused to give up and kept dodging by a hair, some movements more fluid than others, like his body was adapting to its speed and fighting style. It was undoubtedly a dormant monster.

He didn't know how long he kept going, dodging and moving back, but it felt like a full minute. His legs started to burn, his breathing turned frantic. And just when Arthur thought he could keep up and adapt to the first chimera, the second one rose.

It was thinner, like its body had been stretched. It had two normal arms and two others made of tense tendons, almost like whips. Its steps were irregular, and every time its feet hit the ground, it trembled. Its skin was covered in dark marks that looked like veins, but moved like worms under the surface.

'What an ugly bastard,'

Now there were two attacking him.

The pressure was immediate. His body reacted, but his thoughts didn't arrive in time.

'If this isn't pressure, then I don't know what the fuck could be,'

The Residual Echo attribute was already active, but now its efficiency and reaction speed were way higher. He didn't feel it. He didn't feel anything except his heartbeat and the strange flow of Aether moving, following the chimera's attack patterns.

However, being between two creatures gave Arthur an unexpected advantage. They got in each other's way. Every time one attacked, the other had to adjust, making them less precise. Between a clash of claws and a clumsy move, he saw the first real opening: the big chimera exposed its side for a second.

Arthur threw himself into a punch, just using his weight. It sounded like hitting an immovable wall. Not even a crack, not a grunt. Nothing. The hit was useless. He tried to step back, but it was already too late. One of the chimera's arms hit his torso. The impact lifted him from the ground and threw him several meters back. The hit knocked the air out of him.

'Great… I can't even scratch them and I'm the one getting wrecked,'

Supporting himself on the wall to avoid falling, he managed to stand. The Aether sense flooded his brain, too much information at once, and his current state didn't help at all. Meanwhile, the chimeras kept advancing.

Arthur looked for something that could give him an advantage, but there was nothing. The only thing he noticed was that the blow had sent him flying close to the portal.

Without really knowing why, his first instinct was to run to the portal, hoping he could return to the previous room to recover and make some kind of plan.

Luckily, his instinct was right, because when he reached the portal the two chimeras were towering over him, about to attack, and before they could do more damage, he crossed the portal and returned to the previous room. It looked like a waiting room or something like that, since the chimeras didn't follow. If they had, he would've died for sure.

'Thank god, because another hit like that and I'm going straight to heaven with zero chance of doing anything,'

Chapter Text

A few minutes passed.

Arthur couldn't say how many exactly. Time didn't feel the same in this place, but his breathing returned to a steady rhythm, and the burning in his legs faded enough to stop being a constant distraction.

He approached the fountain.

The water was clear, motionless, as if it reacted to nothing. When he leaned over, his reflection showed him a calm image, too calm for what he was about to do. He drank a couple of times, unhurried. The water was cold, and as he swallowed it, he felt something inside him settle. Not energy. Not strength. Clarity.

He didn't think much more about it. Overthinking in situations like this wasn't ideal. Besides, what he had to do was simple.

He just had to kill them all.

Arthur crossed the portal without hesitation.

The corridor was the same. Silent. The four chimeras stood exactly where he had left them, motionless, aligned as if time itself had not passed for them. For a brief moment, he thought they might not activate again.

He stopped in front of the first one.

And then it moved.

There was no surprise this time. The leap was just as violent, just as fast, but Arthur's body didn't react too late anymore. He shifted to the side before its claws tore through the space where his head had been.

He pivoted on his heel, took two steps back, and avoided another downward swipe. The strike was powerful, but predictable. Not perfect, but no longer chaotic.

'Good… you're not so unpredictable anymore,'

The chimera fought with brute force. Wide sweeps. Direct blows. No feints. Every attack left a narrow but consistent margin. Arthur slipped into those margins again and again, letting the blows pass centimeters away, sensing the intent of each strike before it reached his body.

His breathing stayed even. His legs responded. The aether sense set the rhythm.

Still, it wasn't enough.

He could dodge. He could endure. But he couldn't hurt it.

That had been the problem from the beginning.

Arthur made a short jump backward, just enough to gain space, and let the chimera advance. He needed something else to happen. His plan didn't work with just one.

As if the world had heard that thought, seconds later the second chimera activated.

The thinner one.

Its movements were erratic, less direct. It advanced with uneven steps, its taut arms moving like living whips, striking the ground hard enough to make it tremble. The distance between the two creatures closed quickly.

Now this would work.

The plan was simple. Brutally simple.

Arthur couldn't damage them, but they could damage each other.

He started moving differently. Not just dodging, but positioning. Letting the first attack from awkward angles. Forcing the second to adjust its strikes. Every time one attacked, Arthur shifted just enough for the other to have to correct.

And they corrected poorly.

A whip-arm passed too close to the first's torso. Semi-transparent claws slammed into the second's forearm. The sound was a dry crunch, different from air being cut.

They didn't stop.

Arthur kept moving, guiding them without them realizing it. One step left. A minimal feint. A calculated retreat. Each collision made them clumsier, more aggressive. They weren't thinking; they were simply attacking.

Then it happened.

A poorly measured blow. The second lunged forward, and the first raised its arm to strike at the same time. The claws collided head-on with one of the other's tense arms, and the force of the impact caused something different this time.

One of the first chimera's fingers was torn away.

It hit the ground with a dull, almost metallic sound.

Arthur didn't think; he moved.

He picked it up as he retreated, feeling its uneven weight in his hand. It was hard, sharpened at one end, longer than he had expected. It wasn't a weapon… but it was damn close.

Almost a dagger.

Arthur tightened his grip around it.

'This will do,'

Something changed.

The chimeras didn't retreat, but they slowed down. Their movements became more contained, more deliberate, as if immediate violence had given way to controlled caution. They advanced with heavy, calculated steps, closing the distance without rushing, showing a faint trace of intelligence that separated them from mindless dormant beasts.

Arthur used that opening.

He filled his lungs slowly, forcing the air deep inside. He let his pulse stabilize, let the background noise fall into order. The aether still vibrated with the chimeras' movements, but it was no longer chaos; everything was measured.

He took his stance.

The sharpened finger aligned with his forearm, the tip pointed forward. He lowered his center of gravity, one leg ahead, the other firm behind, ready to move in any direction. He wasn't comfortable, but he was ready.

A few seconds passed.

No one moved.

Arthur could feel the weight of both chimeras bearing down on him, their presence pressing against the space around him. They watched from above, deformed bodies tense, ready to shatter the balance at any moment. He couldn't read expressions on those monstrous faces, but if he could, he knew what he'd see: rage… and disgust. As if his very existence offended them.

Then violence exploded again.

The second chimera attacked first, too fast, too direct. Its whip-arms lashed out in a wide arc, trying to ensnare him. Arthur shifted to the side, just outside the line of impact, and at the same time stepped forward, feigning an attack toward it.

A feint.

The first chimera reacted instantly, interposing itself with a brutal motion. Its claws came down, aiming to crush him before he could reach the other.

That was what Arthur was waiting for.

At the last second, he changed direction.

His body rotated along a line that, thanks to the aether sense, he knew was possible. At the end of that trajectory, an opening awaited him, clear and exposed, in the creature's chest. The wound was there. Not large, but deep, torn open earlier by a clumsy strike from the second chimera.

He slipped into that space.

Arthur drove the sharpened finger in with the full weight of his body behind the motion.

The impact wasn't clean. There was resistance, a wet sound, and then the sensation of something giving way. The chimera let out a muffled roar, its torso convulsing violently. He pulled the improvised blade free and retreated at once.

It wasn't lethal, but it was close.

The first chimera staggered. Its movements lost coordination; one arm dropped uselessly. Its chest contracted irregularly, as if something vital had been severed.

The second chimera saw it and lost control.

It attacked with a different kind of ferocity, no longer measuring angles or distance. Its blows no longer targeted just him; they tore through the space around them with blind violence. Arthur moved however he could, dodging through razor-thin margins, using the first chimera as an unwilling obstacle.

One strike passed too close.

The second chimera's whip-arm slammed directly into the weakened torso of the first. The impact was devastating. A deep crunch echoed, followed by a wet sound impossible to ignore.

The first chimera fell.

Its body hit the ground with dead weight and didn't move again.

'Damn it… I should've landed the final blow,'

The second chimera froze for a brief moment, as if only then realizing what it had done.

It didn't have time to react.

The ground vibrated faintly.

From the depths of the corridor, the third chimera finished rising.

It had two short, thick legs set too close together, and a long tail that struck the ground with sharp, rhythmic movements. For a moment it looked as if it had three legs until the tail's motion broke the illusion.

Its torso was grotesquely long, stretched in a way that felt fundamentally wrong. From it emerged three limbs. Two of them were not arms at all: from what should have been shoulders extended long blades, like living swords, with no hilt or visible joints. They didn't look like weapons. They looked like part of its body.

The third arm grew lower, from the right side of its torso. It was long and thin, ending in a hand with slender fingers that twitched in small spasms, as if probing the space around it.

The moment it fully awakened, it attacked without hesitation.

Using the few seconds before the third chimera was on top of him, Arthur decided to deal as much damage as possible to the second one. Taking the initiative, he exploited the difference in size, positioning himself to the left and dodging a whip strike aimed at his chest. He used the corpse of the first chimera to push off, launching himself toward the only wound the second one had.

The instant his body left the ground, he sensed something through the aether.

Something he wasn't going to like.

The chimera twisted its torso mid-motion, clenched its other arm into a fist, and drove it toward where his head was about to be.

'Shit,'

He didn't fully understand what happened next. His body moved on its own, pure instinct. His legs contracted, his torso twisted, changing his trajectory mid-air. He ended up planting his foot on what he could only describe as the elbow of its normal arm, using it as a springboard.

He jumped again.

Both hands shot forward, gripping the near-dagger.

It struck the chimera's forehead.

The sound that followed was the same as a bone snapping. The blade pierced through without resistance, and thanks to the speed of the motion, the chimera's body fell backward with a dull crash.

As it collapsed, Arthur heard the spell's voice confirm the kill.

[You have slain a dormant monster, Fleshwhip Abomination.]

[You have received a Memory: Infinite Whip.]

Arthur barely paid attention. As obvious as the name was, he summoned it before the third chimera could reach him.

When the whip materialized in his hand, he felt the Residual Echo attribute shut down. Only then did he realize that all the movements that had led to that kill hadn't truly been his.

The attribute had acted without his awareness.

With the whip in his left hand and the improvised dagger in his right, Arthur lowered his center of gravity once more and took position.

The third chimera was already in front of him.

The blades growing from its shoulders shifted slightly, angling in different directions. It didn't attack right away. It measured. Its tail struck the ground again, setting the distance.

Behind it, the last chimera began to move.

The fourth one.

Until then, it had remained motionless, almost forgotten. It was more compact than the others, with a low, wide body covered in irregular plates that overlapped without order. Its arms were short but thick, ending in hammer-like masses built for crushing.

'Great… one's going to cut me in half, and the other's going to turn me into paste,'

The third chimera attacked first.

The blades descended in a crossing strike, fast, precise. Arthur propelled himself sideways using the whip as an anchor, wrapping it around a rock jutting from the damaged floor and pulling hard to escape the attack line. The blades passed through the space his torso had occupied a fraction of a second earlier.

The aether sense warned him of the next attack: not from above, but from the side.

Arthur rotated around his axis, letting the blade skim the air centimeters away, and at the same time hurled the whip forward, not to strike, but to interfere.

The whip coiled around one of the living blades, diverting its trajectory just enough. It was sufficient for the chimera to correct poorly. That adjustment left it open for an instant.

Arthur couldn't exploit it.

Because the fourth chimera arrived.

It charged from the side with all its weight, wide, clumsy, devastating. Arthur threw himself forward, rolling between both creatures, feeling the space collapse behind him. The ground shook when the blow landed where he had been.

The third chimera didn't move in time.

The impact from the fourth slammed directly into its elongated torso. It wasn't clean, but it knocked it off balance, forcing it to stab one of its blades into the ground to keep from falling.

There it was.

The mistake.

Arthur sprinted straight at the third chimera, using the whip to launch himself again, flying over the fourth's shoulder. The embedded blade restricted its movement; it couldn't retract without exposing itself.

He drove the dagger in.

At the base of the neck, where the elongated body met the deformed skull. The strike was deep and decisive. Resistance was minimal. The chimera convulsed, its blades vibrating erratically, and then its body collapsed forward.

[You have slain a dormant monster, Bladebound Abomination.]

Before Arthur could retreat, the fourth chimera attacked with renewed fury. Its arms came down in a double blow, aiming to crush him into the ground.

The whip shot out on instinct, wrapping around one of its arms. Arthur pulled with his full body weight, spinning with the motion and using the monster's own strength to throw it off balance. The other arm slammed into the floor, missing him by a narrow margin.

Using the pull, he got too close.

Focused on driving the dagger into its chest, Arthur failed to notice a crucial movement.

With the whip binding one arm, the chimera clearly remembered what he had done to the others. Before he could close the distance enough to strike, it twisted its body nearly ninety degrees and lifted its head.

The shift altered his trajectory.

Straight toward its teeth.

Unable to crush him, it chose a more primitive solution.

To eat him.

And, in a sense, it succeeded.

Given the speed Arthur was moving at, the only thing he could do was avoid a fatal blow by sacrificing a part of himself.

More precisely, his left arm.

The bite was clean. His arm offered no resistance. The chimera bit down and tore it away, swallowing it whole.

Fortunately, Arthur managed to release the whip before losing it.

The pain was overwhelming, and in that moment, he could do nothing.

Once again, he lost control of his body.

It moved without his will, and with the dagger still clenched in his right hand, he drove it into what he assumed was the chimera's cheek.

Using it as an anchor, he pushed with what little balance he had left.

The blade was buried in the dense flesh of its face, not fully, but deep enough to hold. The chimera roared, a deep, resonant sound that shook his chest, and opened its jaws wider, trying to finish what it had started.

Arthur couldn't feel his left arm.

Just emptiness, paired with pain that hadn't yet organized itself in his mind. The world tilted for a moment, as if the corridor itself had been twisted slightly out of alignment.

Then the aether sense warned him.

His body reacted before thought could form.

Residual Echo took over again.

Arthur drove the dagger deeper and twisted his torso, using the chimera's own mass against it. His legs repositioned on their own, bracing against its shoulder, while his right arm traced a motion he didn't remember ever learning.

The improvised blade cut.

It wasn't a clean slash; it was a brutal opening, tearing from the side of its face down toward the base of the neck. The chimera let out a choked sound and staggered back, trying to shake him off.

Arthur didn't let it.

He launched himself upward, using the wound as a foothold, and dropped down onto its head. The world narrowed to fragmented sensations: the metallic stench of blood, the violent tremor of the body beneath his feet, the erratic vibrations of aether marking a single weak point.

There.

Arthur plunged the dagger down with everything he had left. The blade pierced bone.

The chimera collapsed forward, taking him with it. He rolled across the ground as its massive body struck the floor, lifeless, kicking up dust and shattered stone.

The impact knocked the air from Arthur's lungs. He lay on his back, staring at where the ceiling should have been.

The chimera didn't move.

Long seconds passed before the Spell spoke.

[You have slain a dormant monster, Devouring Abomination.]

Arthur exhaled a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

Residual Echo shut off abruptly, and pain crashed down with its full weight. A sharp scream tore from his throat when he finally looked to where his left arm should have been.

There was nothing.

Only blood, and a jagged edge where his body had been torn apart.

Arthur closed his eyes for a moment. All aether vibrations faded. His mind stopped screaming.

A state of exhaustion and dangerous calm washed over him, unstoppable.

And then darkness embraced him.

Chapter Text

Arthur woke up with a strange sensation in his body.

Pain wasn't the first thing to arrive.

It was emptiness.

A heavy, uncomfortable emptiness, something that had nothing to do with the arm he already knew was gone. It was something else. Something far more basic. A deep, almost primitive need.

He opened his eyes slowly. The corridor was still there, silent, littered with remains and motionless bodies. For a moment, he stayed still, breathing, confirming that he was still alive. His chest rose and fell with difficulty, but it did.

Then he looked to the left. The arm was gone. His shoulder ended in an uneven edge, covered in dried blood and dark tissue. He didn't feel pain anymore. He had no way of knowing how long he'd been unconscious, but it must have been a couple of hours.

'I'm surprised I didn't die from blood loss… strange,'

The sensation tightened again from within, different from any hunger he'd ever felt. It wasn't just his stomach. It was as if his entire body was demanding something all at once.

Arthur dragged himself into a sitting position and looked at one of the fallen chimeras. He thought about eating without stopping to consider how or what. Meat was meat. He wasn't in a position to be picky.

'Still, I'm not going near the second chimera. Disgusting bastard,'

Gripping the improvised dagger with his right hand, Arthur approached the closest one. He placed the blade against the body and pressed.

It didn't cut.

The dagger passed through the surface… and found no resistance until the tip struck the ground.

Where the blade had passed, the body began to break down. Not into chunks, but into something finer. Violet particles peeled away from the flesh like dust suspended in the air.

Arthur froze, not understanding what was happening or what he was supposed to do.

The particles hovered for an instant… then moved.

Toward him.

He recoiled on instinct, but it was useless. The violet dust accelerated and embedded itself into his chest, his forehead and his eyes, passing through his skin as if it didn't exist. A deep, uncomfortable tingling spread inside him.

He couldn't stop it. And he didn't even know if he should try.

When the process ended, the chimera's body had disappeared completely. And something inside him had changed. The sensation was still there, but it was no longer as urgent, as if it had weakened just enough to let him think.

Arthur looked at the next one.

Sensing no danger, he repeated the process. Every chimera reacted the same way: the body losing form, dissolving into violet particles that were drawn into him without his intervention.

With each absorption, the activity inside his body intensified. It wasn't pain. It wasn't pleasure either. It was… internal movement. As if something was working beneath his skin without asking permission.

After the fourth, Arthur bent forward, breathing heavily.

The need vanished completely. So did the thirst.

Only then did he look at his left shoulder again.

Where there had been nothing before, the skin was closing. Slowly. Not all at once. Not cleanly. New tissue advanced like a slow tide, rebuilding what had been torn away. The arm reformed until it stopped, incomplete, ending just before the wrist.

There was no hand. Just an uneven end, covered in new skin.

Arthur swallowed.

He didn't need to think too hard to understand it. The violet particles. The bodies. The internal sensation.

Aether.

His body hadn't consumed flesh. It had absorbed aether and now… he no longer needed normal food.

'Still, I'm going to keep eating. My mom's pancakes are too good,'

Exhaustion hit all at once, heavy, unavoidable. He lay back against the cold stone floor of the corridor, feeling his body continue its work, sealing other minor wounds.

The aether had prioritized the most severe injury, stabilizing it until it was no longer a threat. Then it had handled the rest. Maybe, if he gained greater control in the future, he'd be able to decide which wounds to prioritize.

This time, when darkness came, it wasn't a collapse.

Arthur simply fell asleep.

***

Unknown to Arthur, in the final chamber of the nightmare, a conversation took place.

"So falling asleep in the Relicombs really is in the DNA."

The figure on the throne let out a sigh. "Don't be so hard on him."

The other chuckled softly. "At this pace, I don't know if he'll make it."

***

Arthur woke up like last time, disoriented, with a persistent headache. Much of it came from the fact that time felt different in here.

'Is that the aether's fault?' he wondered.

Either way, he'd rested enough. If he wanted to fully recover his arm, he'd have to kill and absorb more monsters.

Another question surfaced.

What would happen if he absorbed excess aether while already in good condition, without injuries?

Would he be able to control it?

His aspect said no, but as his mother used to say:

"In a world ruled by impossibility, the possible is only a matter of perspective."

He'll try it at the end of the next zone. For that, he needs to be in good shape.

With that final thought, Arthur forced himself up from the floor. Even without broken bones, sleeping on stone wasn't exactly comfortable.

He stretched a bit and headed toward the portal at the end of the corridor leading to the second zone. The silence was absolute, broken only by the sound of his footsteps.

At the entrance, Arthur took a deep breath and stepped through.

The sight that greeted him was… beautiful.

On the other side was an open world that seemed endless. A vast forest stretched in every direction, giant trees rising like natural pillars, so tall their canopies vanished into layers of leaves and filtered light. Everything was green. Alive. Overwhelming.

The air was humid, heavy with natural scents: earth, sap, decaying leaves. The ground was covered in thick roots that twisted through the vegetation, forcing careful steps. There were no clear paths. Nothing was meant to be traversed.

Arthur moved forward and kept moving.

Minutes quickly lost meaning. The forest didn't change, yet it never truly repeated. Each stretch looked like the last, even though he knew it wasn't. The Aether Sense remained calm; he only felt the faint vibrations of leaves and branches.

He walked for hours.

He rested against a massive trunk, resumed his march, crossed denser areas and more open ones. Hunger didn't return. Neither did thirst. His body felt stable. Too stable.

With time, that absence of danger began to relax him then the terrain descended.

Not abruptly, but gradually, as if the forest itself had been carved around a natural depression. The sound arrived before the sight: moving water, constant and deep.

A river. Wide. Far wider than Arthur had imagined. The water stretched across dozens of meters, flowing slowly but with a silent strength that made it clear crossing by swimming wasn't realistic.

A wooden bridge spanned it.

It wasn't elegant or sturdy: thick logs, uneven planks, ropes barely tight enough. It swayed slightly even without wind, as if reminding anyone who crossed that it wasn't permanent, just something improvised within a wild environment.

Arthur crossed.

The forest on the other side was the same… and it wasn't. Same density. Same towering trees. Same omnipresent green but something in the atmosphere felt different. Not more dangerous.

Just… attentive.

Arthur kept walking. A long time passed without anything happening. Too long.

The Aether Sense continued to signal calm within its range. No attacks. No surprises. Nothing.

False security began to settle in.

That was when Arthur noticed the first odd detail.

Not a sound but an interruption. A minimal vibration, right at the edge of his perception. Barely a flicker. When he stopped and focused, there was nothing. The forest remained still… and alive.

He moved forward again. Another vibration. From a different angle. Again too far to confirm.

They weren't close. But they were there.

Arthur continued, now more cautiously. Every few steps, the Aether Sense reacted inconsistently, as if something was entering and leaving its range. Not a single presence, but several. Moving. Coordinating.

They still didn't attack.

They were watching him.

The shadows between the trees began to feel too dense. The canopies moved with the wind, but the aether marked displacements that didn't match leaves or branches. Something large moved from tree to tree… without occupying visible space.

And when several vibrations appeared at once, from different points around him, Arthur understood the trap.

It wasn't an immediate ambush.

It was a hunt.

The forest was still beautiful. The river still flowed. The world looked intact.

But Arthur wasn't alone and he suspected he never had been.

The first movement was just a brush at the edge of his perception.

Arthur stopped.

The Aether Sense reacted with a brief, weak vibration, as if something had entered and left its range. No sound. No broken branches. Nothing visible.

He took one more step.

Something crossed his perception to the right, fast, low. He twisted instinctively and snapped the whip in a short arc. He didn't aim at a body, but at the space the Aether Sense marked.

The whip tightened.

Something screeched.

An invisible body was ripped from the air and slammed into a tree trunk. The illusion shattered on impact: a deformed monkey-like creature, larger than normal, appeared for an instant before going still, its neck bent at an impossible angle.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]

Arthur didn't dwell on it.

Another movement. Behind him this time.

He lunged forward and turned, using the whip as an extension of his body. He shortened it to the minimum and swept low. The impact was solid. Resistance, then a crack. The second body fell without ever becoming visible.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]

The third attacked from above.

Arthur felt it before he saw anything. He dove aside, released the whip, and focused on the dagger, thrusting backward blindly, guided only by the correct vibration. The improvised blade pierced soft flesh. Weight crashed onto him, and he rolled to shove it off.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]

Three.

Arthur took a deep breath. It wasn't over.

The fourth and fifth came together. Coordinated. One from the front, one from behind. He lengthened the whip and hurled it upward, anchoring it to a high branch. He pulled with his entire body and lifted himself just as something swept through where his legs had been.

Refocusing on the dagger, Arthur dropped onto the first.

One died silently.

The other tried to retreat, but switching back to the whip, Arthur cinched it around its torso and crushed it against the ground until it stopped moving.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.]

Five.

The forest went quiet again. Too quiet then the Aether Sense exploded.

Not one. Not two. Many. Moving through the trees, entering and leaving his range, surrounding him. They were no longer testing with isolated attacks. They were closing in.

Arthur moved. There wasn't time to absorb the aether from the bodies he'd already killed.

He didn't run in a straight line. He changed direction, used trees as cover, the whip as an anchor to propel himself. Each attack was measured, precise. A dagger strike here. A violent pull there. But they started to overwhelm him.

Invisible blows grazed his back. Something cut his side, not deep, but enough. Pressure built rapidly. His body began lagging behind his mind.

Then it happened.

Residual Echo activated.

Arthur's body moved before he could think. The whip expanded violently, dozens of meters wrapping trunks, branches, invisible bodies.

He pulled.

The forest responded with violence.

Bodies were ripped from the air, smashed into one another, shattered by impact. Arthur didn't see most of them. He didn't need to. The aether traced paths, openings, mistakes.

He moved through the trees as if he already knew the terrain. The dagger rose and fell at angles he didn't remember learning. Every movement had purpose. Every turn ended with something collapsing.

The monkeys tried to attack in groups.

They failed.

The whip caught several at once and used them as projectiles against their own allies. Others were pinned to trunks with such force that the illusion broke before they died.

It wasn't a fight.

It was a purge.

They specialized in stealth, not durability—but the damage they dealt if they caught you was severe.

Blood stained leaves, roots, soil. The forest filled with chaotic vibrations until, one by one, they faded. When the last body fell, Arthur's legs gave out.

Residual Echo shut off as abruptly as it had appeared.

Silence returned.

Arthur breathed heavily, leaning his back against a tree. He looked at his incomplete left arm. Still the same. There hadn't been time. He hadn't been able to absorb anything.

Too many enemies. Too much pressure. And yet… He'd survived.

The forest still stood but Arthur knew the truth.

This zone wouldn't let him rest. It would be trial after trial.

It wasn't the last group. Nor the second. Nor the third.

The nightmare creatures stopped attacking in coordinated assaults and shifted to something worse: persistence.

Small, intermittent waves. Always from different angles. Sometimes two at a time. Sometimes five. Sometimes just one, waiting for the exact moment his guard dropped.

Arthur lost count quickly.

Hours later, the ground was covered in drag marks, dark blood, and shattered trunks. His breathing had become automatic. His movements mechanical.

Every kill released aether. Every absorption healed minor wounds, strengthened muscles... but never enough to complete the arm.

Over time, they learned but so did Arthur.

They began attacking from outside his maximum range, forcing him to move. To make mistakes. To waste energy.

When the last of that wave fell, Arthur didn't feel relief.

The Aether Sense—for the first time since entering this area—fell into absolute silence.

The calm before the storm. As if the entire forest had taken a step back.

Arthur advanced.

Each step was heavy—not from exhaustion, but pressure. The air felt different. Denser. The green of the forest looked dull, as if light avoided the place.

Then he felt it. Not intermittent vibrations, not multiple presences.

One. Large. Stable.

Perfectly still… even within his maximum range.

Invisible? Yes, but not hidden.

Arthur swallowed.

"So you're the one in charge," he murmured.

The air ahead distorted slightly, as if something massive breathed without wanting to be seen and this time, it wasn't a hunt.

It was a duel.

Surrounded by trees that reached the sky, some branches wide enough to hold houses, others barely large enough for a single person.

Wherever Arthur looked, there was an obstacle if he wanted to move fast.

That's when he realized it. He was no longer in the regular forest. He had entered the boss area. He'd walked straight into its trap.

His vision showed nothing unusual—but his Aether Sense did. Meters away stood another invisible monkey—but this one wasn't like the others. Its silhouette felt larger. Its aura different.

It stood on one of the thick branches. Arthur didn't fully understand its posture, but he was certain of one thing: It was measuring him.

Any careless movement, and it would strike.

Arthur briefly expanded his Aether Sense to confirm if they were alone.

They were.

This would be a duel with no interruptions. No escape. To the death.

Without his left arm fully restored. With his body exhausted and against a monster that surpassed him in strength, size, and experience.

Arthur didn't know if it was the pressure of the coming battle or adrenaline flooding his body, but he couldn't stop a smile from forming.

The monster moved.

Arthur did not see it. He only felt the vibrations.

He jumped backward on reflex, and a fraction of a second later, the branch he had been standing on split apart as if struck by an invisible battering ram. Splinters flew through the air. The hit had not been direct, but the shockwave still caught him and sent him rolling through the roots.

He did not see the attack. He only felt the result.

Arthur got up immediately, using the whip to propel himself toward a more open area.

Mistake.

His sense of aether tensed behind him, and something enormous rushed past, tearing the bark off three trees in a row. The monster was fast for its size. And precise.

The next hit did connect.

Something invisible slammed into Arthur's torso and lifted him off the ground like he weighed nothing. He crashed into a thick trunk, the air was knocked out of his lungs, and he dropped to his knees, dizzy. Pain. A lot of it.

The aether around him vibrated steadily, dominantly. It was not in a hurry. It did not need to be. It was stronger, faster, and larger than him.

Arthur forced himself to move before the next strike came.

He extended the whip in a wide arc, not trying to hit it, but to mark its exact position. The aether reacted when the whip passed close to the invisible body: a minimal distortion. Enough.

He adjusted the length instantly and waited for it to collide with it. Seconds later, he felt the tension in the whip. Something heavy was struck, and he saw a branch nearly snap from the weight that fell onto it.

The creature lunged.

The world turned chaotic. Invisible blows from above, from the sides, from angles that did not match its size. It used the terrain better than he did. It leaped between branches as if the forest were part of its body.

Arthur was barely surviving.

Every dodge was precise. Every movement cost him. His sense of aether warned him of attacks with barely a breath of anticipation. He could not afford mistakes.

An invisible claw sliced his side. He felt hot blood soak his clothes. Another charge forced him to throw himself to the ground to avoid being split in half.

It was stronger. More resilient and it could remain invisible even after taking damage.

'I cannot win like this,'

He thought fast. The forest was not an obstacle. It was a tool.

Arthur retreated on purpose, drawing it toward a tighter area where the branches intertwined and space was limited. The creature noticed… but followed anyway. Confident.

A grave mistake.

Arthur anchored the whip to two massive trees and pulled with all his weight right when the vibrations marked it. The invisible body slammed into the tension of the whip and lost its balance for an instant.

Residual Echo awakened. His body moved on its own.

Arthur rolled beneath its torso, his dagger rising at a perfect angle and barely sinking into the inner part of its thigh. The roar it released shook leaves and branches.

Taking advantage of how close it was, it struck back. Arthur managed to partially block it, but it still slammed him into the ground.

He felt something crack. He did not know what.

But he did not stop.

Using the whip again, Arthur wrapped it around its arm, pulled, moved closer, and tried to stab deeper. But it saw it coming. With a single maneuver, it redirected his movement and struck him square in the chest. Everything went blurry.

Arthur fell onto his back, struggling to breathe.

Forcing himself to get up before it hit him again, he threw the whip at a branch to use it as support. He stood just in time to try to dodge a trunk flying at extreme speed.

He barely avoided the trunk by turning right, and that was when he realized his mistake. The trunk was not the main threat.

Arthur did not even manage to lift his gaze before he felt the aether around him shift to make space for the monster's fist.

The blow sent him flying several meters back, and he ended up at the edge of the river.

Trying to breathe, Arthur realized he was choking on blood. The hit had broken his ribs, and they had punctured his lungs.

With few other options and using the distance, he moved toward the first body of one of the monkeys he had fought earlier.

When he tried to pierce it, the same thing that had happened with the chimeras occurred. The body turned into violet particles and flowed toward him.

He did the same with the other nearby bodies until, thankfully, his ribs healed and his lungs returned to normal.

That did not mean he was in good condition. The blood he had already lost was not coming back. And it had been a lot.

'If this keeps up, this will not end well. Is there no way to do something with aether?' Arthur wondered.

Trying the previous idea of controlling it inside his body, Arthur approached another monster and closed his eyes, focusing on his sense of aether.

The result?

Absolutely nothing. Aether ignored him completely and before he could try again, he felt the vibrations of the zone boss once more.

The good news was that he was just about to fully recover his left hand. Maybe absorbing aether from one more monster would be enough.

Unfortunately, he did not have the time. The next second, it was on top of him but this time, it was different.

Arthur felt the strike meters before it happened.

Dodging to the left, he drove his right fist toward where he assumed the monster's torso was. Even with his sense of aether, identifying its exact physiology was difficult.

Sensing his intent, it twisted its body so his punch passed by. What it failed to avoid was the kick Arthur delivered to its head.

The punch had never been meant to connect. It was a feint. The purpose was to make it dodge, and by jumping and spinning in midair, his foot struck what should have been its ear.

He did not send it flying like it had done to him, but Arthur was certain he stunned it.

Taking advantage of the moment, he switched to the whip and wrapped it around its entire body, but he did not pull. He needed a better perception of its form.

Feeling the whip around it, the creature tried to jump to a branch, failing to realize that this was exactly what Arthur wanted.

At that moment, he commanded the whip to extend as much as possible.

With both its movement and his, the whip tangled in such a way that any movement from the creature would only cause it more damage.

That was, of course, only if the Memory could withstand its strength.

Trying to take advantage of the moment, Arthur moved as close as possible and drove the dagger in his right hand into where he calculated its thigh to be.

The dagger met resistance at first, but eventually, it gave way.

Letting out a scream that nearly deafened him, the creature began to thrash desperately.

Arthur hoped the whip would hold.

As if the world itself had heard his thoughts, the whip endured, and with every movement the creature made, it only hurt itself more.

Raising the dagger again, this time Arthur aimed for its chest.

Just as he was about to strike, he felt a vibration of aether he did not like. The whip was giving in under the pressure. A few more seconds, and the Memory would shatter.

Luckily, the dagger pierced the creature's chest before that could happen.

Strangely, Arthur felt no resistance at all. It was as if the creature's chest was its weak point.

Seconds later, he heard the spell's voice confirming its death.

[You have slain a Dormant Demon, Phantom Grove Alpha.]

[You have received a Memory: Phantom Armor.]

A smile formed on Arthur's face as he dismissed the whip.

He let himself fall beside it, exhausted, staring at the sky barely visible through the canopy. His sense of aether slowly faded, returning to silence.

He had won.

But it was not a clean victory. Not elegant. Not free.

As Arthur stabbed the demon's body, it began to break apart, dissolving into denser violet particles than before.

The particles moved toward him.

When the process ended, Arthur felt a deep pull in his left shoulder. Not pain, but pressure. He looked down just in time to see the skin close completely, and finally, fingers began to form.

A hand. His hand. Not perfect. Still weak. But real.

A dry laugh escaped him, ending in a cough.

"In the end… it was worth it," he muttered.

The forest was in absolute silence. No vibrations. No presences. The zone had accepted the result.

Arthur stayed there a while longer without moving, letting his body finish its work as he rested.

Now, he was halfway through the nightmare.

Chapter Text

Arthur stayed lying there for a while longer, resting.

Once again, he lost track of time. Minutes could have passed, or maybe hours.

'Since I entered this nightmare, I've had this constant feeling that there's something wrong with how time flows in here.'

His theory was that, somehow, it was the Aether's fault. Maybe it affected time in some way.

'I just hope not too much time has passed outside. I really don't want to wake up with barely any time left before the Winter Solstice.'

Even after clearing two zones, Arthur still didn't understand what conflict he was supposed to resolve. Supposedly, every nightmare was based on overcoming something, but so far he was completely lost. He hadn't interacted with a single person. Everything he encountered tried to kill him. He was starting to lose his mind.

Sitting down with his back against the trunk of a tree, pulling his knees up to his chest, Arthur looked up at the sky. It was a deep, clear blue, accompanied by completely white clouds. Depending on where he looked, tree branches blocked parts of the view, while in other places those same branches added a contrast of beauty that inspired calm.

Watching this, Arthur couldn't help but think about what might be happening in the waking world while he was trapped in here. Holding back his intrusive thoughts, he let out a long breath. As he closed his eyes, he allowed his most persistent thought to escape.

"I miss my family."

***

Leaving the place where he had been lying, Arthur began absorbing all the bodies of the creatures to get himself back into good condition.

The process was always the same. The bodies turned into violet particles that were drawn toward him. Once inside his body, they began healing the most severe injuries first, then the minor ones. When all wounds were healed, the Aether continued to be absorbed, but when he tried to control it, absolutely nothing happened.

Frustrated, Arthur started walking toward where the portal to the next zone should be.

Had hours passed? He didn't know.

After a while, he found it. It was a portal just like all the previous ones, with a gray outline. It emitted nothing, no energy, no vibrations. If it weren't for the vision at the beginning of the nightmare, he wouldn't even know these portals led to the next zones.

"Here we go," Arthur muttered.

Before crossing, he put on the new armor he had obtained by killing the second boss. Its description hinted that it had an effect similar to the boss's ability. It didn't make him invisible, but it made it much harder for others to focus their attention on him.

As he stepped through the portal, the sight that greeted Arthur was confusing.

Everything around him was made up of floating platforms, each one about the size of a small house. What immediately caught his attention were the edges of these platforms. Some had red borders, others green, and finally there were a few with orange borders, though those were the least common from what he could see.

The platforms followed no clear pattern. Some were only meters or even centimeters apart, while others were spaced too far to jump between. One important detail was that each platform had a ladder hanging from one of its edges.

The ladders were made of rope and wood, nothing particularly complex.

And at the far edge of his vision, there was a portal that would take him to the final room of the nightmare.

Arthur couldn't help but think that the colors indicated the difficulty of the platforms. The question was, which color was the easiest?

From experience, green was usually associated with lower difficulty, but his instincts were screaming that red platforms might actually be the easiest.

With so little information, it was hard to draw conclusions, but this time Arthur decided to trust his experience. Green always represented calm, right?

'Either way, I won't be able to avoid any color, so it almost doesn't matter,'

From where he stood, Arthur could identify several paths that would lead him to the portal.

One path was made up of six platforms, three with red borders, two green, and one orange.

The second path was more monotonous. Five platforms, four of them green and one orange. If his theory was correct, this would be the safest route. If it wasn't, then this was where he would suffer the most.

Lastly, there was a longer path made up of nine platforms, with three of each color.

The good thing was that even if his theory was wrong and he chose the worst possible path, he could still switch routes along the way.

Still, Arthur had no idea what would happen when he stepped onto a platform. Maybe nothing would happen at all.

Hopefully nothing happened.

One could dream.

But inside a nightmare, every kind of hope was poison.

In the end, Arthur chose the second path, the most monotonous one.

Taking a deep breath, he headed toward the first platform. It was green. After taking a bit of distance, he ran and jumped toward it. Since it was close, he didn't need to use the ladder.

As soon as he landed, Arthur took a combat stance, ready for whatever might come.

At first, the platform didn't react to his presence. But as the seconds passed, he couldn't help but notice the green color along its edge slowly fading. Focusing on expecting the unexpected once the lights went out completely, Arthur held his dagger in his right hand, pointing forward, and lowered his center of gravity.

The lights went out entirely, and he began to feel vibrations in the Aether around him, as if it were making space for something to appear right behind him. When he turned around, a creature was forming.

The pressure it emitted made the hairs on the back of Arthur's neck stand up. He moved away from the center of the platform to create some distance while it finished forming. He considered attacking before it fully materialized, but it was far too risky. He didn't know its rank or its class.

The creature emerged as if it were peeling itself away from reality. Tall, hunched, with a humanoid but poorly proportioned body. Its arms were far too long, ending in thin, sharp extremities, not fingers, but something closer to blades. Its head was smooth, without any features.

Its movements were strange. It didn't walk. It slid.

Arthur's Aether sense reacted instantly, marking each of its movements before they happened.

The platform was small. Too small.

Arthur threw the whip on instinct, adjusting its length to just a few meters, aiming to bind one of its legs. The creature reacted by twisting its body in an impossible way, letting the whip pass harmlessly by, and counterattacked with a wide horizontal sweep.

Arthur felt the vibration before the impact and dropped to the ground, rolling across the stone surface. The strike passed just above him and left a deep mark carved into the platform.

If that had hit him directly, he would have been dead.

Arthur sprang back to his feet and attacked with the dagger. The strike connected, but the resistance was minimal, as if its body were made of condensed smoke. The creature barely retreated, more surprised than wounded.

Then it accelerated.

The attacks began coming from increasingly difficult angles. Above, below, from the sides. It wasn't hunting him. It was pressuring him, forcing him toward the edges.

The pressure increased, and with it, something else awakened inside Arthur. Residual Echo activated without warning. His movements became more aggressive, more decisive. The whip extended instantly, and he wrapped it around the creature's legs. Pulling hard, he forced them together, making it lose balance and fall forward.

That was his moment.

Before the creature could use its arms to stop itself from smashing face-first into the platform, Arthur jumped and landed directly on its neck. The dagger moved on its own, guided by an instinct that didn't feel like his, and plunged straight into its head.

The creature convulsed. It didn't scream. It simply collapsed into itself and disintegrated into particles that faded into the air.

[You have slain a dormant monster, Phantom Reaper.]

The edge of the platform showed no change. The green light did not return and remained dark.

Arthur took a deep breath. Residual Echo faded, and silence returned.

He looked around at the other floating platforms, red, green, orange, waiting.

'Okay. That wasn't so bad,'

After taking a few minutes to rest, Arthur jumped to the next platform. It was green as well.

The creature didn't emerge immediately.

First came the sound.

A deep, scraping noise, like claws dragging across stone, even though nothing was touching the platform. Arthur's Aether sense reacted with a short, confused tremor, as if something large were adjusting itself just outside his field of vision.

Then it appeared.

A wolf… or something that once had been one.

It was enormous. Its body was covered in uneven fur, long, matted clumps hanging unnaturally. Its front legs were far too long, almost disproportionate, forcing its torso to lean forward as if it were always about to pounce.

The head was the worst part.

Its snout twisted to one side, as if the skull had never fully formed correctly. Too many teeth were visible even with its mouth closed, overlapping, irregular. Its eyes didn't glow or reflect anything. They were dull, lifeless, as if they looked without truly seeing.

It didn't growl.

It just stared at him.

Arthur's Aether sense marked every tension in its muscles before it happened. Every subtle shift of weight. Every intent to leap. It was fast. Very fast.

The wolf lunged.

Arthur rolled to the side just as its claws struck where he had been. The stone cracked under the impact. He sprang up and lashed the whip toward one of its legs, trying to slow it down.

He missed.

The creature shifted direction midair, landing with brutal agility. Before Arthur could react, it lifted its head and opened its mouth, but it didn't bite.

The world exploded.

Arthur felt the Aether in front of him compress instantly, and an invisible force slammed into his chest. He was sent flying backward as if struck by something solid. He lost control of his body and crashed into the ground, bouncing until he ended up near the edge of the platform.

The air was ripped from his lungs. A deep, crushing pain, beyond anything purely physical.

Arthur coughed, struggling to breathe, while his Aether sense vibrated chaotically around him.

The wolf hadn't moved. It remained in the same spot, watching.

And in that moment, Arthur understood.

When the Aether compressed during the attack, he hadn't felt the creature controlling it.

It was as if the creature had oriented the Aether to do what it wanted.

As if it had pointed in a direction… and the Aether had chosen to respond.

Arthur stayed still, ignoring the pain.

He closed his eyes.

For the first time, he didn't try to impose anything. He focused on the vibration still hanging in the air.

If the Aether had reacted to its intent…

Then maybe…

He could try as well.

Arthur began to feel the Aether around him tremble, as if struggling against a different force. Noticing this, he concentrated even harder on his intention. He completely ignored the creature in front of him, a dangerous move, yet surprisingly, the creature seemed to feel the same thing and remained still.

Arthur regulated his breathing, almost like meditating. He started to feel his entire body. Each breath carried air everywhere. He tried to guide the Aether to do the same. At first, nothing changed, but after a few seconds, a strange sensation began to form inside him.

It felt as if something other than air was flowing through his pores.

With every passing moment, Arthur's body felt stronger, filled with a different kind of vitality. Each inhale pulled more Aether into him, while each exhale felt like his pores were widening. He began to sense something forming inside him, almost like veins spreading throughout his body.

But they weren't veins for blood.

They were channels.

Channels through which Aether flowed.

Arthur also felt pressure beneath his eyes, as if something were being etched into his skin. The sensation then spread through his arms before stopping abruptly.

And with that final realization, he heard something that shattered his concentration.

[Your Aspect has changed.]
[One of your Attributes has evolved.]
[You have acquired a new Attribute.]

Arthur didn't have time to react to anything else before the world went black.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that. He couldn't open his runes. He couldn't do anything. But when he finally came back to himself, the scenery around him had changed.

He was no longer in the platform zone. The place felt familiar, as if he had seen it before.

That was when Arthur realized he was in the throne room.

Somehow, after gaining that knowledge, his Aspect had changed, one of his Attributes had evolved, and he had acquired a new one. He didn't have to be a genius to tell which Attribute had changed. His [Born of Aether] Attribute had clearly evolved due to his increased insight into Aether, and perhaps the nature of that knowledge was what granted him the new Attribute.

Completely absorbed in his thoughts, Arthur failed to realize that he was still, very much, inside the nightmare. A fatal mistake that, under different circumstances, could have gotten him killed.

What snapped him out of his spiral of thoughts was the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Hearing that, Arthur jumped to his feet and took a defensive stance, ready for any threat. As he scanned the room, he realized the sound came from the figure seated on the throne.

When Arthur finally focused his vision on him, he realized…

He was human.

He had short blonde hair and yellow eyes. He had a large build and wore a pale tunic with long white pants that ended just before his calves, paired with brown sandals. But what caught Arthur's attention the most was the crown. It floated a few centimeters above the figure's head, as if it dared not touch his skin.

He was truly a king.

The figure… the person… was looking at Arthur with disappointment, the kind someone gives a brother or friend after they've made a mistake.

Arthur took a deep breath to calm himself, clearing his throat as well and gathering his courage to speak.

But before he could, the figure spoke first.

"You're late."

The words fell flat, without emphasis, yet carried a weight that ran through Arthur's entire body.

He froze for a moment.

'Late?'

'What the hell does he mean?'

"Late?" Arthur asked, unable to hide his surprise. "Late for what? Who are you? And how can you talk to me when I'm still in the middle of a nightmare?"

The figure on the throne closed his eyes and let out a long, tired sigh.

"Alright… slowly, kid," he said in a serious, dry tone. "Breathe and calm down, because this is important and I'm not going to repeat it twice. Do you understand?"

Arthur swallowed.

The urge to argue was still there, but something in the figure's voice made him stop. He inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and nodded.

"…Yes."

Before Arthur could add anything else, the figure spoke again.

"I am Grey. King Grey."

Arthur felt a knot form in his stomach.

"I am you. But you are not me, because you do not have knowledge of me."

The world seemed to tilt slightly.

'What? That makes no sense.'

"That…" Arthur started, but stopped. He didn't even know where to begin questioning that.

"I understand," he said at last, even though he knew it wasn't true.

Grey watched him in silence for a few seconds.

"You didn't understand what I said, did you?"

"No," Arthur admitted. "I didn't understand anything."

"Good," Grey replied without the slightest annoyance. "Then let's set that aside. It's not what matters."

He shifted on the throne, resting an elbow on the armrest.

"Let's go straight to what matters. It's time for your trial."

"Trial?" Arthur frowned. "I thought the whole nightmare was the trial."

"No. And yes," Grey answered. "The nightmare was meant to give you the necessary tools to learn how to understand Aether. The faster you had done that, the sooner we would be having this conversation."

That only confused Arthur further.

"Okay… and what exactly is this trial you're talking about?"

Grey tilted his head slightly.

"Good. Straight to the point. I like that."

He scratched his chin for a few seconds before continuing.

"The trial is simple. You have to tell me everything you know about Aether, and then a simple sparring match."

He paused deliberately.

"If I decide it's sufficient, you pass the trial and, by extension, the nightmare. If I decide you don't know enough… you will die and fail the nightmare."

The air got stuck in Arthur's chest.

'I barely know anything about Aether.'

'Just sensations, intuitions, and this last thing about trying to guide it instead of controlling it… will that be enough?'

Even so, Arthur nodded slowly.

Grey raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't react the way I thought you would," he said. "Tell me— is this arrogance… or acceptance that you're going to fail?"

Arthur met his gaze.

"I guess there's only one way to find out, right?"

For the first time since he had appeared, Grey smiled.

"Fair enough."

He leaned forward.

"Let's begin."

Before Grey started questioning him, Arthur took the time to check the changes to his Aspect and Attributes.

Aspect: [Aether Resonance]

Aspect Description:

[Your soul has gained affinity with one of the branches of Aether, allowing you to interact with it and exert limited control over it. In addition, you react to the vibrations of Aether as a whole, perceiving subtle distortions, as if something invisible were vibrating out of place.]

'One of the branches of Aether? Which branch would that be? Maybe it's in the Attribute I gained?'

Attribute: [Entity of Aether]

Description:

[Your existence was not formed apart from Aether, but as a part of it. Aether is not an external medium or a foreign force: it responds to your will as if recognizing something of its own. You do not fully understand it, but you are no longer a mere observer.]

'This is the Attribute that evolved. It used to be called Born of Aether,'

'Let's see the new Attribute I gained.'

Attribute: [Realmheart]

Description:

[Your consciousness opens to the branch of the Aether of Existence (Vivum). The Aether that permeates the environment becomes visible to you, revealing its flow and structure. By perceiving it, your interaction with it becomes more precise and efficient, not through imposition, but because understanding its movement allows you to guide it.]

'This can help me a lot. "Understanding its movement allows you to guide it." So I was right— Aether must have some form of consciousness. That's why it always healed my most severe wounds first, prioritizing my survival over performance. That's why my hand was the last thing to regrow— it didn't pose a risk to my life.'

'It also explains why I couldn't control it. Because that was the point— it can't be controlled. It can only be guided, oriented toward the goal you have.'

Grey didn't speak right away. His eyes stayed fixed on Arthur, expectant.

"Well," he finally said. "Let's start simple. Tell me, Arthur… what is Aether?"

Arthur didn't answer immediately.

'First, how did he know my name? Second, what is Aether…'

He closed his eyes for a second and let the sensations speak for themselves. He felt it everywhere. Not as something that filled space, but as something that had been there even before space existed. It was in the living, flowing and reacting. In the dead, still but not absent. In the stone beneath his feet, in the air, even in the void between things. It didn't distinguish between organic and inorganic. Everything shared it.

Arthur opened his eyes.

"Aether is part of reality itself," he said. "It doesn't distinguish between life, death, or matter. It's in everything, because everything exists thanks to it."

Grey didn't respond immediately. He studied Arthur for a few seconds, as if evaluating something he couldn't see. Then he nodded slowly.

"Good."

He took a breath before continuing.

"Then tell me. Which branch of Aether did you gain knowledge of before coming here?"

"Vivium."

"And by what other name is Vivium known?"

"As the Aether of Existence."

"Good," Grey said without hesitation. "And which Attribute did you gain?"

"Realmheart," Arthur replied. "It allows me to see the particles of Aether in the environment and gives me an advantage when trying to control it."

Grey inclined his head slightly.

"Control it?" he asked. "Are you sure that's the word you want to use?"

Arthur shook his head softly.

"No. The correct word would be… guide it."

A faint curve appeared at the corner of Grey's lips.

"Correct," he affirmed. "Now tell me. Which branches does the Edict of Existence govern?"

This time, Arthur hesitated.

'I don't know.'

He took a few more seconds than he would have liked.

"Life and death," he finally answered.

Grey raised an eyebrow.

"Only that?" he said. "I'll give you one more chance, kid. Think carefully before you answer."

Arthur's pulse thudded in his ears.

'Life and death… what do they really imply?'

Life creates. Death destroys. They weren't simple opposites; they were processes.

"It includes life and death," Arthur said more confidently, "but also creation and destruction."

This time, Grey truly smiled. It was brief, but unmistakable. He nodded once.

"Good."

He settled back into the throne before continuing.

"And do you know anything about the other branches?"

"Unfortunately, no," Arthur admitted. "I could try to deduce something, but I don't think that would be the right decision."

Grey nodded again.

"Good. A wise choice."

He fell silent for a few seconds, as if closing that topic.

"That's all from my side," he finally said. "Do you have any questions?"

Arthur looked at him, hesitated for a moment… and nodded.

"Yes."

Bringing a hand to his chin, he paused to think.

'I didn't actually have anything planned to ask… I just said yes on instinct, but someone with this much knowledge doesn't show up twice.'

He lifted his gaze.

"You said there were more branches of Aether," Arthur asked. "What are they, and what do they do?"

Grey answered without hesitation, as if the question were far beneath the depth of his knowledge.

"There are three main branches. Spatium, which governs space. Aevium, which rules time. And Vivium, which you already know—existence. There are more Edicts beyond those, but they remain unknown."

A faint shiver ran down Arthur's spine.

"So…" he murmured. "Could I control all of that in the future?"

"Yes," Grey replied. "But only if you obtain the necessary knowledge to awaken the Attributes that allow it."

Arthur couldn't stop a small, almost dangerous smile from forming on his face.

'That opens up far too many possibilities.'

Grey noticed it immediately.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"No," Arthur answered quickly. "I also wanted to ask… how all of this is possible. How we're having this conversation. And why my first nightmare is so different from everyone else's."

Grey tilted his head slightly.

"I knew we'd get to this," he said. "Your two questions are related, even if you haven't realized it. I assume your first nightmare is different because I made a deal to modify it. And this conversation exists because of that."

Arthur's mind filled with noise.

"Wait," Arthur said, frowning. "A deal with who? And you said you assume my nightmare is different… don't you know that for sure?"

Grey sighed.

"It doesn't matter who I made the deal with. All I'll tell you is that they are the creator of the spell." He took a breath before continuing. "I don't know what normal nightmares are like. While I was alive, the spell wasn't so widespread… and I was never part of it."

Arthur felt as if the ground vanished beneath his feet.

"What do you mean, while you were alive?" he exclaimed.

Grey held his gaze. His expression grew heavy.

"Last question I'll answer," he said firmly. "Do you want it to be that one… or would you rather change it?"

Silence fell like a slab of stone.

'He could ask what Grey meant, but… that can wait.'

Arthur exhaled slowly.

What would be the most valuable thing he could get from this?

"Can you teach me more about the other branches of Aether?" Arthur asked.

"No."

He blinked.

"No?"

"You need to understand something," Grey explained. "Aether works on the basis of knowledge. If I explain a branch to you, I'll alter your prior understanding. That could lead you to gain incomplete knowledge… and that is dangerous."

Arthur nodded slowly.

"That makes sense," he admitted. "I understand."

"Good," Grey said. "Then it's time for our sparring."

"What—?"

Arthur didn't get to finish the sentence before the world went black.

When he regained consciousness, Arthur was in a completely white space. There were no walls. No ceiling. No visible floor beyond where his feet stood. Everything stretched endlessly into infinity.

Grey stood in front of him.

He was no longer wearing robes.

He wore black-and-gold scaled armor, with horns emerging from the helmet as if they were part of him.

"Summon a weapon," Grey ordered.

"I don't have one," Arthur replied. "I didn't obtain any in the zones."

Grey appeared in front of him in an instant and placed a hand on his shoulder.

An electric current surged through Arthur's entire body. He recognized it immediately. Grey had transferred a Memory to him.

"This will be enough," Grey said.

[You have received a new Memory: Dawn's Ballad.]

Instinctively, Arthur summoned it.

The sword had a translucent teal hue that contrasted almost violently with the matte-black scabbard and dark handle. The blade was straight and narrow, as thin as a rapier, yet double-edged, designed for both slashing and thrusting. The edge curved cleanly into a perfect, sharp tip. There were no markings, no signs of prior sharpening, as if the sword had been born complete.

Arthur made a few test swings.

The balance was perfect.

Neither heavy nor light. It responded exactly as his body expected it to, as if it had been made for him.

He took a deep breath and lowered his center of gravity.

"Whenever you want," Arthur said.

Grey responded by summoning his weapon. A deep-violet longsword appeared in his hand, simple in shape, yet radiating a pressure that made the aether around it vibrate.

He attacked first.

The clash of swords echoed through the white void. Arthur stepped back, surprised by the force contained in such a simple strike. Grey wasn't using his full power—not even close—and yet every impact forced Arthur to constantly readjust his stance.

Residual Echo activated instantly.

Arthur's movements became faster, more aggressive. He attacked without pause, mixing slashes and thrusts, searching for any opening. Grey blocked everything with insulting ease. Sometimes he deflected Arthur's blade with the slightest movement. Other times he simply stepped half a pace aside, and Arthur's attack found only air.

They exchanged dozens of blows.

Arthur was giving it everything.

Grey was holding back.

He realized it when, even with Residual Echo active, he couldn't pressure Grey at all. Angle, speed, intent—it didn't matter. Grey was always one step ahead.

In the blink of an eye, Arthur's sword was knocked aside. He felt a light tap against his chest and lost his balance. When he tried to react, he was on the ground, Grey's sword stopped mere centimeters from his throat.

There was no pain. No wound.

Only defeat.

Grey stepped back and dismissed his weapon.

"Not bad," he said.

The world darkened again.

When Arthur's vision returned, he was back in the throne room, as if none of it had ever happened.

Pulling himself together as best he could, he asked:

"Was that all?"

Seated once more on the throne, Grey replied with absolute calm:

"Yes. You passed."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. Before Arthur could react, Grey added:

"Now I'm going to explain what happens next."

Without giving Arthur time to say anything, Grey rose from the throne and began walking toward him. With each step, the pressure in the air increased slightly—just enough to put Arthur's instincts on edge.

"A map with the locations of the next relics you must obtain will be etched into your soul," Grey said as he advanced. "They will act unconsciously. You'll feel your instincts pushing you to make certain decisions, to be in specific places. My advice is to let yourself be guided."

Arthur frowned.

"A map… in my soul?"

"Exactly."

Grey continued without stopping. "In addition to that, I'll enhance your physique so you'll have better affinity with the Aether."

A knot formed in Arthur's chest.

'There's something I still don't understand. What's the real purpose of all this? Why so much responsibility? Why me?'

Before Grey came any closer, Arthur gathered enough courage.

"Wait."

He raised his hand instinctively.

Grey stopped.

"Why me?" Arthur asked, his voice more tense than he expected. "What's the purpose of all this? What's so important that you had to make a deal to modify my nightmare? And why leave this responsibility to me? You seem far more suited for it. You must be at least of the Sacred rank. I haven't even finished my first nightmare…"

Grey lifted his head toward the ceiling and let out a long sigh.

"Questions… so many questions."

Without lowering his gaze, he continued. "Why you? I already answered that. I am you—but you are not me, because you don't have my memories and the purpose—"

"No." Arthur interrupted him, losing his patience. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? It's the second time you've said that, and it still makes no sense."

Grey lowered his gaze and looked at Arthur with an oddly patient expression.

"Arthur, by now I thought you would have figured it out. Don't you have an Attribute that talks about me?"

Arthur's eyes widened. He opened his runes immediately.

Attribute: [Residual Echo]

Description:

[Remnants of a previous existence persist within your soul, not as memories, but as ways of acting. Under pressure, decisions you don't remember learning emerge without you knowing where they came from.]

'Of course… how didn't I realize it before. What an idiot,'

"So… are you a previous existence of mine?" Arthur asked with difficulty. "Am I reincarnated?"

"Yes to both," Grey replied bluntly. "And if you're wondering why you don't have memories of your past life, it's simple. If you did, you would have already succumbed to corruption."

Arthur swallowed.

"Corruption? Like… a nightmare creature?"

"Exactly. For reasons that aren't relevant here, I succumbed in the past. If remnants of my knowledge had remained, there was a high probability that information you shouldn't even know exists would end up corrupting you."

Arthur nodded slowly.

"I understand… and how was my reincarnation possible? I didn't know something like that could be done."

"The key is Fate itself," Grey explained. "That's why I had to make a deal. And for that same reason, I left you the map of the relics. Once you obtain them, you should gain the ability to understand Fate."

"Let me guess," Arthur said bitterly. "To understand Fate, I need knowledge of Aether?"

"Something like that," Grey replied.

Arthur clenched his teeth.

"I still don't fully understand why me."

Grey looked straight at him.

"It's your Fate, Arthur. Even after everything, I'm not entirely sure what role you'll play. When I searched for your thread among the threads of Fate, yours was always hidden, as if someone had concealed it on purpose."

He paused.

"And the reason for all of this? What else could it be? Saving the world, obviously."

Arthur's stomach sank.

"That's enough," Grey added. "Time is running out."

Before Arthur could react, Grey appeared in front of him in an instant. He placed his right hand on Arthur's shoulder and, for the first time, smiled with genuine warmth.

"This might hurt a little," he said. "And promise me you'll keep taking care of our family."

The word 'our' was the last thing Arthur heard clearly.

After that, his vision faded.

Darkness. Complete darkness.

He was floating, hovering in an utterly reflectionless black. Whether he was drifting or suspended in place, he couldn't tell.

All he knew was that there was nothing else—no sound, taste, smell, or touch in this sea of perpetual darkness.

At first, it was peaceful. He felt like he was both nothing and everything at the same time. Like a tiny speck in a vast universe, yet also as if nothing else existed besides him.

However, as time passed, he remembered more of what he was. He was human… with hands, feet, and a body.

Yet he couldn't feel anything. He tried curling his fingers and toes. He tried flaring his nostrils, opening his mouth. Nothing. He couldn't even feel himself breathing.

Fear took hold quickly. It didn't come with the physiological signs he was used to—no pounding heart, no quickened breath, no trembling body.

Time passed, but in a state of nothingness, it was impossible to tell whether it was moving fast or slow.

It was only when Arthur felt a slight prickle on his… arm—yes, his arm—that he jolted out of his stupor.

He had felt something for the first time. A few moments later, another prickle followed, this one spreading across his chest. Soon, those prickles escalated into sharp, piercing pains—but Arthur didn't care. Even pain was verifiable proof that he existed outside his consciousness.

He waited for the next wave of pain. The sensation of scalding needles digging into every single pore would have driven him insane under normal circumstances, but after the subjective eons of literal nothingness, he welcomed every increasingly agonizing surge of burning, piercing pain across every millimeter of his body.

More exciting still, his vision began to brighten until the void around him grew lighter and lighter.

Arthur didn't know how much time passed, but only when his entire vision turned white did he begin to feel his body as his own again. Though… different. As if he were a stranger inside himself.

When he finally managed to open his eyes and felt the cool, sticky moisture of saliva against his cheek, he knew he had passed out.

As Arthur fully regained consciousness, a sound caught his attention. Someone was clearing their throat, saying something he couldn't quite make out. He lowered his gaze and noticed a figure in front of him… walking toward him.

Panic surged through his body before he could stop it. He began struggling against the gurney he was strapped to, breathing erratically. After several seconds, his ears finally picked up the voice again.

"Art?"

Arthur froze.

That voice…

Forcing himself to breathe, he lifted his gaze. In front of him stood a man in his early forties, with ash-brown hair, deep blue eyes, and strong, defined eyebrows. Recognition hit instantly, and Arthur cursed himself for not realizing it sooner.

It was his father.

"Dad?"

A huge smile spread across his father's face as he hurried over to unstrap him.

"Arthur, son… you're back!"

Arthur still felt weak, but seeing him there pushed all the pain into the background.

"Of course I'm back," he replied with a tired smile. "I promised Ellie, didn't I?"

His father chuckled softly as he finished unfastening the restraints.

"I'm going to call a nurse," he said. "In the meantime, stay here… and start thinking up a good excuse for that change in looks."

Arthur thought, still dazed.

'A change in looks… what is he talking about?'

With a mix of unease and curiosity, he reached for the communicator his father had left on a nearby table. He activated the front camera almost on reflex.

And then he saw himself.

"—"

A small cry escaped him before he could stop it. It was short and sharp, more like a surprised exhale than a real scream, but enough to make his chest tighten.

That wasn't him.

Or… not entirely.

His hair, which had always been a reddish-brown inherited from his mother, was now pale blond, almost silvery under the room's light. His eyes… his eyes were the worst part. Where there had once been a deep blue like his father's, there was now an intense yellow—strange, with a feline gleam that didn't seem entirely human. Even the shape of his face had changed. His jaw was more defined, his cheekbones sharper, his features more pronounced, more mature… more alien.

Arthur lowered the communicator with trembling hands.

'What the hell? I look just like Gray!'

A few minutes later of silence and complete shock the door opened.

His father entered, accompanied by a nurse. Both paused briefly when they saw him, then moved closer to the gurney, forming an improvised triangle around him.

The nurse spoke first, her voice gentle and professional.

"Arthur, how are you feeling?"

"Still a bit sore," Arthur answered honestly, "but… overall, okay."

His father nodded, visibly relieved, though his gaze quickly returned to Arthur's face.

"And… well," he said hesitantly, "I guess I have to ask. What happened to your… change in looks?"

Arthur shook his head almost immediately.

"I don't know. I didn't do anything on purpose. When I woke up, I was already like this."

The nurse didn't seem surprised.

"It can happen," she explained. "There are a few recorded cases. Some patients experience physical changes after a nightmare—variations in hair color, eye color, minor changes in facial features…"

"Okay," Arthur and his father said at the same time.

She paused briefly before continuing.

"Although, in your case, it's… different."

She looked at both of them. "Not just because of the physical changes. You were inside the nightmare for two weeks."

The world seemed to stop.

"Two… weeks?"

The air left Arthur's lungs. He brought his hands to his face again, resting his elbows on his knees.

He felt a firm hand settle on his shoulder.

"Arthur," his father said steadily, "that doesn't matter anymore. You're here. You came back. And you're okay."

Arthur took several deep breaths until the tight knot in his chest loosened slightly.

"…You're right," he said at last. "I'm here."

The nurse smiled faintly.

"We're going to run a few quick tests. Your case was unusual, and we want to make sure everything is in order. After that, you'll be able to go home and prepare for the Winter Solstice."

That immediately caught Arthur's attention.

"How long until the Winter Solstice?" he asked, lifting his head.

His father answered without hesitation:

"Two weeks."

Arthur nodded slowly.

Two weeks…

Chapter Text

After finding out that he would only have two weeks to get used to his powers, it was time for them to run a couple of tests on him. But before that, his father insisted that he take a shower, because he smelled horrible.

"Fair enough. I spent two whole weeks lying down,"

During the shower, he remembered his runes, something he should have already checked. As far as he knew, after finishing the First Nightmare, the Spell always gave you an appraisal and showed you your Aspect and your Flaw.

Trying to summon his runes the same way he had during the nightmare, Arthur realized something.

He couldn't summon them.

No matter how many times he tried, no runes appeared.

Panic began to form inside him once again. But thanks to the cold water of the shower, he managed to calm down and focus his thoughts better.

'Alright… I feel my body differently, and it has definitely changed. Not just in terms of looks. I feel stronger, like I'm no longer mundane. I'm a Sleeper now.'

'Now the bad part. I can't open my runes, and I also can't feel my aether sense that I got used to during the nightmare. And I don't think this is because there's no aether in the environment. From what I understood, aether exists everywhere. Maybe the density is lower in the Walking World and that's why I can't feel it? It could be a theory, but I don't think that's the case.'

What was strange was that he still felt tired. Not physical exhaustion, that would make perfect sense after being immobile for two weeks, but a drowsy kind of fatigue. It reminded him a lot of the sensation he felt when he was infected by the Spell.

'Wait… is that it?'

Gray said that what he was about to do would hurt, and the bastard was right. But he didn't say anything about the nightmare ending afterward.

'Don't tell me I'm still inside the nightmare. Was none of this real?'

'Damn it… why can't I have a normal first nightmare?!'

'Let's say I haven't actually finished the nightmare, but I'm in the Walking World. What would I have to do to end it? Maybe go back to sleep?'

Even if that's what he needed to do, it would be dangerous to fall asleep here without someone supervising him. He would have to wait until he was somewhere safer, or with someone who could keep an eye on him. And as it happened, that person was in the waiting room.

After that, Arthur finished cleaning himself and headed to where they were going to run the tests. Most of them were physical tests, with a few related to the changes in his hair and eyes. The latter didn't show any issues, so they were approved quickly.

The physical tests, however, were peculiar. And not because he was in bad shape. Quite the opposite. His physical results were above average in every aspect. And not just compared to mundane people, but even compared to other Sleepers.

Once all the tests were done, Arthur met up with his father, who was still waiting in the waiting room. He was surprised his father even had time to supervise him. At the end of the day, he was a Master working for the government, and it was well known that the government tended to overwork its employees. His father and Master Jet were clear examples of that. Both of them were often called to clear Gates at almost any hour of the day.

There were even times when Master Jet came over to their house for dinner, when her schedule allowed it. Working closely with his father and then doing all the paperwork with his mother, Arthur eventually got to know her and exchange a few words. What surprised him the most at first was that she was from the Outskirts of NQSC.

He knew the difficulties people from those places faced when trying to survive their first nightmares, since they had no access to education or training. Taking that into account, the fact that Jet became a Master always filled him with admiration toward her.

Once inside the government PTV his father was using, it seemed like a good moment to try sleeping and see if his theory was correct.

Looking at his father while he was driving, Arthur warned him:

"Father, I'm going to close my eyes for a bit until we get home, okay?"

His father nodded, a slight mischievous smile on his face, and replied:

"That's fine, Art. Take advantage of the chance to rest now, because when we get home your mother and sister are going to bombard you with questions."

Smiling faintly, Arthur closed his eyes and let sleep embrace him. He didn't have to wait long. After just a few seconds, the world turned completely dark. But it wasn't the darkness of closing his eyes. It was far deeper.

And from within it, a voice was heard.

[Wake up, Arthur! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]

Arthur found himself in a space between dream and reality. It was an endless black void illuminated by a myriad of stars. Between those stars, countless strings of silver light were woven into a beautiful and inconceivably complex net, forming various nexuses and constellations. It was truly breathtaking.

Here in the void, the voice didn't sound subtle or familiar anymore. It felt as though the universe itself was speaking. Arthur held his breath and listened.

[Aspirant! Your trial is over.]

[A reincarnated soul was cast into a fractured domain of aether and nightmare.
He wandered through ruins shaped by forgotten laws, where beasts born of distortion hunted without mercy.
Through blood and will, he learned not to dominate the unseen force, but to move alongside it.
Monsters fell, the realm answered, and the aether acknowledged his existence.
At the heart of the nightmare, he stood before a remnant of Fate itself and endured its gaze.
Broken and remade, he returned, marked, changed, and no longer untouched by destiny.]

[You have slain a Dormant Monster, Fleshwhip Abomination.]
[You have slain a Dormant Monster, Bladebound Abomination.]
[You have slain a Dormant Monster, Devouring Abomination.]

[You have slain a Dormant Beast, Phantom Grove Stalker.] x27
[You have slain a Dormant Demon, Phantom Grove Alpha.]

[You have slain a Dormant Monster, Phantom Reaper.]

[A Sacred-ranked existence has acknowledged your soul.]
[Matching identity detected: King Grey.]

[A divinity has acknowledged your existence.]

[You have achieved the impossible!]

[Final appraisal: glorious. You carried ancient life, embraced forbidden truth, and remained untainted.]

'Wait… a divinity acknowledged my existence?'

After that, he felt that his chances of obtaining a high-rank Aspect were extremely high.

[Dreamer Arthur, receive your boon!]

[You have been bestowed a True Name: Paragon of Purity.]

Arthur's jaw dropped.

A True Name.

He had received a True Name.

Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined becoming one of the chosen few capable of accomplishing such a feat.

[Your Aspect is ready to evolve. Evolve Aspect?]

'What kind of question is that?!'

Crossing his fingers, Arthur said, "Yes."

[Dormant Aspect Resonance of Aether is evolving…]

[New Aspect acquired.]

[Aspect Rank: Divine.]

Arthur fell over.

'Divine… it's Divine.'

[Aspect Name: Singular Existence.]

He was kneeling, completely stunned. His face showed nothing but pure shock. He raised a trembling hand and rubbed his eyes, making sure he was awake. Or rather, conscious, since technically he was still sleeping.

After that, Arthur hurried to summon the runes. He needed to see his Aspect's description immediately.

Aspect: [Singular Existence]

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Description:

[You exist as a singularity within reality. Your presence cannot be replicated, substituted, or overwritten by the world. However, what is singular cannot fully belong. The more firmly you exist, the more distant everything else becomes.]

'That's bad!'

Innate Ability: [Aether Integration]

Ability Description: [You are integrated with reality through aether. The world yields to your passage, and aether moves to accommodate your existence. However, every exertion of authority consumes a portion of the aether within your core.
Power is not borrowed. It is spent.]

'What?! Every time I use aether I become weaker? How does that make any sense?!'

Even so, Arthur was jumping like a child. Not only had he obtained a Divine-rank Aspect, something that had never happened in history, but he had also obtained a True Name. And on top of that, it was insanely cool!

'Paragon of Purity!!'

While Arthur was celebrating in absolute glory over the rank and the True Name, completely ignoring the fact that every time he used his powers he would become weaker, the Spell continued.

[The First Seal is broken.]
[Awakening dormant powers…]

He felt something trying to awaken inside him. But after a second, it stopped. He could already feel the physical changes in his body, so the Spell skipped the physical enhancement altogether.

He could still see the void filled with an endless pattern of stars. But now, he could also see something else.

A silent, calm purple sea illuminated by a lonely purple sun.

From his prior knowledge, Arthur knew this was his so-called Soul Sea. But he also knew it was supposed to look quite different.

For one, it should have been far more lively. The star hanging above, the visual representation of his soul core, should have been burning with bright light, filling the Sea of Soul with a warm, blinding radiance.

Instead, his soul was entirely purple.

'That's strange… but not that strange. The aether particles I absorbed from creatures always turned exactly this color,'

The Spell's voice suddenly pulled Arthur out of the Sea of Soul.

[Awakening Aspect Ability…]

'This is it. The moment of truth,'

Aspect Ability: [Sovereign Assimilation]

Ability Description: [Upon killing a Nightmare Creature or a human, you may absorb the majority of their soul essence. Regardless of its original nature, all absorbed essence is refined and converted into pure aether essence, becoming part of your core.]

'Nice. In a way, my Aspect Ability counterbalances my Innate Ability. I'm in a constant equilibrium, unless I overuse my powers and fail to kill anything. That means I'm terrible in long battles… But if I can defeat them quickly, there's no problem,'

'Alright… now comes the hard part. My Flaw. This is going to decide a lot about my future.'

[All power has a price.]

[You have received a Flaw.]

[Your Flaw is: The King Does Not Kneel.]

Flaw Description: [A king that bows ceases to be a king. Your will cannot bend to authority that is not your own.]

'Wait… that's not that bad, is that? I just can't follow a will that isn't mine. If my goals align with someone else's, nothing should happen, right? It also doesn't say what happens if I force myself to follow someone else's will anyway,'

Before everything fully ended, Arthur decided to take a complete look at his runes.

Name: Arthur Leywin

True Name: Paragon of Purity

Rank: Dreamer

Aether Core: Dormant

Aether Fragments: [70/1000]

Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Phantom Armor], [Dawn's Ballad]

Echoes: -

Attributes: [Realmheart], [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life]

[Realmheart]

Description: [Your consciousness opens to the branch of the aether of existence (Vivum). The aether permeating the environment becomes visible to you, revealing its flow and structure. By perceiving it, your interaction with it becomes more precise and efficient, not through force, but because understanding its movement allows you to guide it.]

[Djinn]

Description: [You are a descendant of the Djinn race, known as the People of Life. Your blood preserves that heritage as a natural affinity with the deeper laws of the world.]

'People of Life huh?'

[Former King]

Description: [You were a king in another life. After encountering that existence, a fraction of its experience seeped into your soul. When this attribute activates, your way of thinking, moving, and fighting is influenced by habits forged through a life of war, rule, and survival at the top.]

'It was to be expected,'

[Being of Aether and Flesh]

Description: [The flesh does not limit you, and the aether does not reject you. Both exist within you as one.]

'Does that mean that I can control aether now?'

[Life]

Description: [You have claimed the legacy of the War God.]

"WHAT?!" Arthur exclaimed.

[Wake up, Paragon of Purity!]

And in that moment, Arthur opened his eyes.

He saw his father looking at him strangely. They were still traveling, but they were already close to home.

"What?" Arthur asked.

His father raised an eyebrow and replied,

"I don't know, you tell me. Why were you moving around like a ten-year-old kid?"

Arthur scratched the back of his neck.

"Ah… I was checking my runes."

"And?" his father said eagerly. "Come on, tell me. What rank is your Aspect?"

"Nope. You'll have to wait until we're all together."

His father slumped his shoulders sadly and sighed.

"Alright, alright. But it better be something good, kid!"

After that, they kept talking about everything Arthur had missed during those two weeks. His father told him that Master Jet had come over for dinner recently, and she seemed happier than usual. His parents thought she had gotten a boyfriend or something, but it turned out she had been supervising another Sleeper from the Outskirts and had grown a bit attached to him during that time.

She also said the guy's name. Sunless. A bit strange, but who was Arthur to judge? She also told them that if Arthur ever had the chance to approach him, he should try, though it would be difficult since the guy didn't trust anyone and was kind of… paranoid.

Still, it was understandable. Life in the Outskirts was harsh. Arthur would see what happened during those two weeks.

They also talked about how, a few days ago, his sister had brought a classmate home to "study." Arthur couldn't help but feel a vein pulse on his forehead. If anyone wanted to date his little sister, they'd have to be stronger than him. He definitely needed to talk to her about that. There was no way he was letting it slide!

Eventually, they arrived home. His father parked the PTV in the garage, and Arthur headed toward the door. He hadn't even managed to open it when he felt a pair of arms wrap tightly around his waist.

Of course, it was his little sister, Ellie.

After her warm welcome, they went inside. His mother already had dinner ready. As Arthur sat down at the table, he couldn't help but think that he was going to miss moments like this while he was at the Winter Solstice.

Dinner conversation shifted between stories from his parents' work, Ellie's school life, and of course, Arthur brought up the "classmate" who had come over to study. Ellie didn't like that very much, but if her older brother didn't protect her, who would?

Then they started reminiscing about their childhood. Like the time Arthur got lost in a forest when he was fourteen and had to figure out how to make it back to civilization. A story his mother never liked and still punished him for, even after all these years.

Finally, they told him something that hit him hard. It was about one of his childhood friends: Cassie.

They told him her Flaw was one of the harshest they had ever seen. Because of it, she had lost her sight. Since then, she hadn't returned home and had stayed at the academy ever since her nightmare ended. When she talked to her family over calls, she sounded completely different, as if she had already accepted her death at the Winter Solstice.

And honestly, no one could blame her. Her Flaw was among the cruelest and most unforgiving someone could receive in this world. And she had gotten it.

Hearing that, Arthur couldn't help but make up his mind to help her during these two weeks. If he had known earlier, he would have done everything he could to return from his nightmare sooner to be there for her. But he couldn't. He had been trapped inside it for two full weeks, and because of that, he missed his chance to support her when she needed it most.

He didn't know why, but thinking about that made a strange sensation form in his chest.

Lastly, and most importantly, they talked about his nightmare. Of course, Arthur didn't tell them everything that happened. As strange as it felt to hide things from his parents, he couldn't tell them that he had reincarnated. Even without memories of his past life, what if they thought he wasn't their son anymore? What if they blamed him for having "killed" their real son and taken his place?

He couldn't bear that. Some things were better left unsaid.

Arthur also told them about his Aspect. He summarized it by saying it altered his perception of the environment. As for the rank, he only said it was high. They pressed him for more, but in the end, he didn't tell them.

While all of that was happening, Arthur found himself worrying about his Flaw. He still didn't fully understand how it worked. When they insisted, he didn't feel anything, even though the pressure went against his will.

He figured it was because there was no real authority behind their questions. They weren't orders, just insistence. Since they were his family, there was no system he was subordinated to, and his Flaw didn't activate.

After dinner and the long conversation, Arthur went to his room to get some sleep. Tomorrow, his time at the Academy would begin, and he couldn't wait to see what the future had in store for him.

Chapter Text

Arthur woke up and, after getting changed, went downstairs for breakfast. His mother and Ellie were at the table; his father had already left early for work.

While they were eating, his mother glanced at him from the corner of her eye a couple of times until she finally spoke.

"How are you feeling?"

"Good," Arthur replied. "Adjusting."

She didn't seem entirely convinced. She held his gaze for a few more seconds and then asked, in a calm tone:

"You know you can tell me if there's something weighing on your mind, right? Even if you have different hair and eye colors now, you'll always be my son…"

Arthur looked at her and smiled.

"I really am fine. I'm just a little anxious about starting the academy."

She nodded, still a bit doubtful, but decided not to press the issue any further.

Ellie took advantage of the silence.

"I hope with that change in appearance you get a girlfriend at the academy," she said sarcastically. "That way you can move in with her, because I can't stand you."

"Not happening," Arthur replied. "We're going to live together forever, and I'm going to scare off every classmate you bring home."

"It was only once!" she protested. "Are you never going to let me forget it?"

"It's my mission as your older brother!"

From the kitchen, their mother watched the scene with a smile. A few seconds later, she asked:

"Do you want me to drive you to the academy?"

"No need. I'll take the train," Arthur said. "That way I can listen to music on the way."

After breakfast and saying goodbye, Arthur headed toward the station.

He went by skate. The asphalt slid beneath the board as he moved smoothly, black flat-soled sneakers planted firmly on the deck. Light blue pants, slightly loose, shifted with each push. An oversized black hoodie covered his torso, and he wore a wool beanie of the same color, from which strands of his blond hair escaped, parted in the middle and falling to the sides. White headphones isolated him from the noise, and a backpack swayed on his back as he kept moving.

When Arthur arrived at the station, he stared at his communicator while waiting for the train. As he waited, he couldn't help but notice that several people were watching him. Extending his perception slightly with his aether sense, he confirmed that many of those looks were coming from women.

It didn't take him long to understand why.

After what Gray had done, Arthur now had the appearance of someone high-ranked. His perfectly smooth, flawless skin had become his. That made his golden eyes stand out even more, and the contrast with his pale blond hair didn't exactly help him go unnoticed. Added to his height and a naturally straight posture, it wasn't strange that he drew more attention than usual.

Arthur looked back at his communicator while waiting for the train.

During the train ride, the stares didn't lessen; if anything, they increased, but he didn't pay them any attention. Moments like these weren't for romance. What mattered was making sure he came back from the Winter Solstice, and to do that he would need, first, luck, and second, allies. The only thing he hoped was not to end up in an unexplored area of the Dream Realm.

Fortunately, the trip continued quietly and Arthur arrived at the station where he had to get off. It wasn't very far from the academy, just a couple of minutes away. If he'd had to walk, maybe a bit longer, but since he came on his skate, he got there faster.

Once Arthur was standing in front of the academy gates, he realized just how massive it was. He had come here a few times before, accompanying his mother for work-related reasons, but now, standing in front of the gates, his perspective changed.

The academy was, in fact, a city within a city. It was built like a fortress, with a tall wall made of a resistant alloy, a deep moat, and numerous high-caliber turrets placed in specific positions to create a lethal aerial suppression dome.

Snow fell slowly to the ground. It was cold and silent in front of the academy gates, and Arthur was completely alone. Before arriving, he had notified his mother through his communicator that he was getting close, and she informed the academy. He didn't have to wait long before the gates finally began to open. The gigantic and absurdly thick reinforced metal plate descended slowly, forming a long bridge.

The end of the metal bridge locked into special grooves in the ground and stopped after a series of loud clicks. After that, Arthur crossed the bridge and began walking through the corridors until he found himself in a massive hall where around sixty or more sleepers were waiting for the introductory ceremony to begin. Some looked cheerful, even excited to be in this place, but others, and he'd say most of them, wore expressions of concern.

Arthur didn't know exactly why, but the moment he entered the hall, all eyes turned toward the door. Noticing this, he stopped abruptly, thinking there was someone important behind him. He turned his head and there was nothing. He looked forward again and now there were fewer stares, but all of the remaining ones were from women. There were even a couple of academy staff members staring at him.

Arthur felt a bit threatened, honestly. The looks they were giving him weren't exactly friendly; they were the looks of someone observing prey. After thinking about it for a bit, he came to the conclusion that it was probably his outfit. All the other sleepers were wearing the clothes provided by the academy, so him showing up in a more casual outfit likely drew attention.

Either way, Arthur switched to another one of his favorite songs and looked for a place to sit while waiting for the ceremony to start.

A few moments later, he found an empty bench and sat down. During the time he waited for the ceremony to begin, through his sense of aether, he could feel several times that someone tried to approach his bench, but they always stopped a few meters away and turned around. He didn't really understand it. He wasn't doing anything strange, just staring forward with his headphones still on.

Minutes later, the ceremony began. It was being presented by Awakened Rock, whom Arthur actually knew, though saying he knew him was a very loose way of putting it. He had only seen him two or three times, and those times had been during this same ceremony, so he didn't pay him much attention.

What Arthur did do was look over all the other sleepers at the ceremony to see if he recognized any faces, but his search came up empty. He didn't know anyone. There was only one sleeper he knew inside the academy, and that was Cassie, but he still couldn't go greet her: first because of the ceremony, and second because afterward he had to attend an interview.

The ceremony ended with Awakened Rock saying that those who hadn't yet been interviewed should head to the interview area, while the rest could go to the cafeteria to prepare for the day's classes. Arthur's case was the former, so he moved through the academy corridors until he reached a hallway with a line of about ten people. It was the interview line, so he got in and waited for his turn.

For the moment, Arthur kept listening to music and used that time to think about what he was going to answer. On one hand, he wanted to lie and say his aspect wasn't very strong so he'd be underestimated. Mainly because in the Dream World, it's not just nightmare creatures that can attack you; there's a good chance another human might as well. And if it happened to be someone from his same generation of sleepers and they saw him at the bottom of the rankings, they'd think they could kill him easily, which was the opposite of the truth.

On the other hand, Arthur also wanted to tell the truth, though not all of it, obviously, and try to rank high. That could help him gain more allies and generate some respect and, more importantly, fear. If there's a big difference in strength, someone might think twice before attacking you, or simply not do it at all. But he wasn't completely sure.

Before Arthur could reach a conclusion, it was already his turn. When he entered the room, there was a very friendly administrator, and the interview began quickly. First, they offered him psychological counseling, which he declined. Then came the questions about his aspect, such as:

"Would you mind telling me what type of Aspect ability you received? Combat, sorcery, utility?"

'In reality, it wasn't any of those, but oh well.'

"My aspect enhances my perception of the things around me."

Another important question was about rank.

"Would you mind telling me what rank your aspect is?"

'The truth was, yes, he would mind.'

"It's above Ascended rank."

As she wrote in her notebook, she added:

"Congratulations, that's a high rank."

Another thing Arthur wasn't sure whether to reveal was his True Name, but at the end of the day, doing so had more advantages than disadvantages. Besides, making sure he ranked first in the interviews didn't sound bad at all. Who else was going to have a True Name? There were very few cases of someone obtaining one in their first nightmare.

Finishing her notes, the interviewer said:

"Perfect, that's all for now, Arthur. Thank you very much for answering."

"Actually, there's something else I'd like to share," Arthur said.

She looked up.

"Yes, of course, go ahead."

"I also received a True Name in my first nightmare."

The poor woman's eyes widened so much that Arthur almost thought they were going to pop out.

"My True Name is Paragon of Purity," he continued.

Taking the glass of water on her desk, the woman glanced at a tablet functioning as a lie detector and, after confirming Arthur was telling the truth, wrote something down in her notebook and looked at him with a smile.

"Excellent. Congratulations, and thank you very much for sharing that information, Arthur. If there's nothing else, we can conclude the interview."

"No, that would be all," Arthur said as he stood up. "Thank you for your time."

And he left the room.

Arthur went straight to the cafeteria after the interview, intending to find Cassie there. Her parents had told him she wasn't attending any classes, so she should be spending most of her time between the cafeteria and her room. If it was the former, he'd find her quickly; if it was the latter, he'd have to wait until dinner.

Still, he kept walking through the corridors at an unhurried pace. In the end, during those two weeks, he was going to run into her anyway. When Arthur reached the cafeteria a few minutes later, he found a couple of sleepers who were… playing cards? Strange. Either way, his search came up empty because Cassie wasn't there. He grabbed some food that had been left over from lunch and ate that.

Once again, Arthur couldn't help but notice the stares coming from everywhere. It was completely unbearable, and that was with not that many people in the cafeteria. He didn't even want to imagine what it would be like when it was full.

Nothing happened while he ate, and even if something had, he wouldn't have heard it, because after failing to find his objective, he put his headphones back on and ignored the outside world. Once he finished eating, Arthur took his tray to the kitchen and went to his room to change.

Now the fun part began. In a few minutes, he was going to have his first class, and obviously, he chose Introduction to Combat.

His goal was to see more sleepers using their aspects to understand them and, hopefully, apply that knowledge to his own. He didn't know how lucky he'd be with that, but it was better than doing nothing.

From what he understood, the "easiest" way to obtain other attributes was through relics, which were found in certain places supposedly marked on his soul.

'For the moment, I didn't feel anything strange. Were they places in the Dream World only?'

When Arthur arrived at the class, it was already full and about to start. Awakened Rock was already giving instructions, but he stopped when Arthur entered. He was already aware of his situation, so everything was much simpler. Luckily, in this class everyone was busy with their own thing, and not many people noticed his arrival.

At the moment, the sleepers who had arrived today or who hadn't yet had class were taking turns delivering their strongest blows to a wide plate connected to a special measuring machine. After each strike, the machine displayed a number corresponding to the sleeper's physical strength.

Technique and prior training played a vital role in the number that appeared on the machine. Arthur knew the average was between ten and fourteen. Any value above that meant you were doing very well. Most of those who exceeded that range either had a lot of training and refined technique, or aspects that enhanced their physique.

When it was his turn, Arthur walked slowly toward the machine. On the way, he greeted the professor. He didn't know if Rock remembered him, but with his stoic face, devoid of expression, he gave Arthur a slight nod, and he chose to take that as a yes.

Arthur stood in front of the machine and, without much preparation, threw a sudden, decisive punch. To an untrained eye, it might have seemed like he didn't put much importance into it, but he was sure a trained eye noticed the efficiency and speed of the execution.

After a brief pause, the machine displayed the result: sixteen.

'Enough.'

As Arthur stepped away from the machine, he noticed the professor's gaze, obviously, and through his sense of aether he perceived a couple of other looks, but there were three that caught his attention the most.

The first was, surely, from a legacy. From his posture and all the people surrounding him, it was easy to assume. His green eyes practically burned into Arthur's back.

The second was a fairly tall girl, about his height. She stood with her arms crossed, leaning against a wall not far from the machine. Arthur felt how her gray eyes followed all his movements from before he struck the machine until that moment. Strangely enough, she also had gray hair, a rather unusual color, he'd say, but he didn't give it much thought.

The gaze that caught Arthur's attention the most, curiously, didn't belong to a person at all. It was a shadow hidden in a corner of the dojo. Honestly, he didn't know what was stranger: the fact that there was a shadow watching him, or that he had noticed it.

His theory was that shadows, since they also occupy space in reality, generate a slight pressure in the surrounding aether when they move, and that's why he could sense them. As for it watching him, he couldn't be sure, because a shadow doesn't have eyes… but if there's a loose shadow with no one casting it, that would be something worse, wouldn't it?

Driven by curiosity, Arthur shot the shadow a glance and a smile. Immediately, he noticed it move in panic and retreat to a place beyond the reach of his aether sense.

During his time in the first nightmare, and especially after it, Arthur learned that his sense of aether could be both a blessing and a curse. When he kept it expanded for too long and over a large distance, his head would start to hurt and it would force him to deactivate it. If he didn't expand it too much, nothing happened; he could maintain it at around five meters constantly without issues.

Thanks to that, Arthur understood that this ability wasn't as overpowered as it seemed and that it also came with disadvantages. If he kept it expanded and encountered a creature within that range, there was a high chance it would feel his gaze and attack him, even if it hadn't intended to.

For that reason, he had to be careful and only expand it in an area where, if something tried to attack him, he'd have enough time to react.

From the reaction of the group of legacies and the comments they made afterward, Arthur could deduce that the green-eyed legacy had obtained a higher score than his.

That legacy was named Caster, and from the way the others were sucking up to him with their comments, he also assumed Caster was the leader of that group, a group Arthur had no intention of joining.

Arthur stayed focused on his thoughts, trying to figure out how the hierarchy among sleepers worked, until the professor's voice pulled him out of them.

"Not bad. Now we'll move on to sparring and evaluate your overall level of training. I need two volunteers to begin."

The gray-haired, gray-eyed girl was the first to volunteer, but Professor Rock told her no, since she had already participated in these sparrings. Instead, he looked straight at Arthur. He let out a sigh and had to approach the circle, waiting for Rock to call another newcomer.

Arthur was lucky Rock didn't speak to him by giving him an order, because that would have been awkward with his Flaw. He didn't fully understand it yet, but he suspected that since Rock was a professor and his position within the academy was higher than his, if he ordered him to do something, his Flaw would activate, and he wasn't interested in finding out what would happen if that occurred.

After Arthur reached the circle, another new sleeper approached. He was about his height but much more muscular. If Arthur remembered correctly, he had scored 17 on the machine, but his technique was poor. With better technique, he would have achieved a much higher score. What Arthur could deduce was that his aspect enhanced his physical capabilities and that he hadn't had much prior training.

"The rules are simple. Make your opponent's back touch the ground or force them out of the ring. Use whatever abilities and techniques you consider appropriate," the professor added.

Before it began, Arthur thought about not using his aspect to put himself at a disadvantage and test how his new attribute [Former King] worked, but he quickly discarded the idea. The power it granted him wasn't exactly his, and he didn't want to rely on it. His intention was to become strong enough not to need to lean on an external power.

Taking his stance, the professor signaled the start of the fight.

The other sleeper attacked. Arthur saw his muscles tense beneath the dobok. His first attack was a straight punch to his face. Having anticipated it seconds earlier, his intention was to act out of time.

When the fist was about to hit him, Arthur shifted his center of gravity to his left leg, lowering himself slightly. The punch passed centimeters from his face, but he never closed his eyes. Taking advantage of having moved in a different timing, he drove his right fist into the lower part of the other sleeper's sternum. Combining his speed with Arthur's strength, the impact was far more powerful than normal.

Arthur didn't give him time to react. He was already pivoting to his left, and at the same time he raised that hand. After taking the blow to the sternum, the other sleeper's spine bent as he struggled to recover his breath. That left his neck at the perfect height to receive a strike that would undoubtedly have knocked him unconscious, but before Arthur could deliver it…

He felt a hand gripping his left wrist.

During the fight, Arthur had reduced his sense of aether to about two meters, and unconsciously, when the other sleeper got close to him, he suppressed it even further. That's why he didn't realize someone else had entered the ring. That person was, obviously, the professor.

Before Arthur could ask him why he had intervened, Rock released his wrist and said in a deep voice, putting weight into every word:

"Enough. If you don't know how to measure your strength, you're out of the class."

When Arthur looked at the other sleeper, he realized he was already unconscious, even without him having delivered the final blow. He was about to apologize, but those last words triggered his Flaw.

Arthur didn't quite understand what happened in his body, but it was as if he lost control for a few seconds, and that was enough for him to stare at Rock coldly and say:

"No, I don't think I will."

The moment those words left his mouth, Arthur realized he had screwed up. All the students in the dojo stared at him wide-eyed. Some wore expressions of fear, others of absolute shock at seeing a student speak to a professor like that.

Long seconds of uncomfortable silence passed, but finally Awakened Rock, keeping his gaze fixed on Arthur, let out an overly long sigh, turned around, and ordered a couple of students to take the unconscious sleeper to the infirmary.

After that, the class continued with other sparrings. Arthur went to a corner without anyone ordering him to do so and started practicing a fighting style he had learned recently. He obviously noticed the constant stares from the other sleepers, but he ignored them and focused on his own training.

Eventually, the class ended and the students began to leave. Intentionally, Arthur waited until everyone was gone and then walked toward the professor, who was also watching him.

When Arthur stopped in front of him, he straightened up and apologized.

"I wanted to apologize for my reaction during class, as well as my behavior during the sparring."

Rock studied him for a few seconds, as if verifying whether Arthur was telling the truth, and then replied:

"You have nothing to apologize for. All the academy's professors know that there are students with complicated Flaws, and we try to be as neutral as possible."

He took a few seconds and added:

"If that's all, you may leave or stay a bit longer in the dojo, but don't forget to turn everything off when you go."

Smiling, Arthur replied:

"Thank you very much. I'll be leaving. I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again in the future."

Rock nodded, turned around, and continued packing his things. Arthur took the opportunity to head back to his room. On the way, he couldn't help but hear people talking about what had happened in class. Some called him crazy, others disrespectful, but he didn't pay any attention to them.

When Arthur reached his room, he took a calm shower and lay down for a while to wait for dinner time. He watched videos on his communicator to kill time, and when the moment came, he headed to the cafeteria.

He had chosen white sneakers, loose black pants, and a white sweater with the design of one of his favorite bands. He put his headphones on to isolate himself from the rumors he knew would spread quickly, as well as from the unpleasant comments of certain groups of women.

When Arthur arrived at the cafeteria, he served himself a plate full of food and started looking for a table to sit at.

The place was clearly divided into groups. There was the legacy group, led by Caster; another group of sleepers who didn't seem related to each other at first glance; and finally, the area of those he assumed had the lowest chances of surviving in the Dream Realm, whom he mentally called the group of the living dead.

Looking at that last group, which wasn't really a group at all but rather isolated individuals, Arthur saw a boy devouring a plate even larger than his. He had black hair, deep dark circles as if he hadn't slept in weeks, and completely black eyes. His physique looked like that of a thirteen-year-old child.

At another table, farther away, was the gray-eyed girl from combat class. She had headphones on, just like him, and ignored everyone.

But going back to the first table, it wasn't just that boy. There was also someone Arthur knew very well. Blond hair falling down her back like a waterfall, a small physique not very different from the boy's, though surely for very different reasons. If she were facing him, he'd see a delicate face and a pair of blue eyes… blind.

It was Cassie.

After analyzing the situation, Arthur took off his headphones and let them hang around his neck. As soon as he did, he heard a commotion of voices coming from a screen showing something, but he ignored it completely.

As he approached the table, a pair of black eyes fixed on him. The boy's expression reflected something like fear and distrust. It struck Arthur as strange; he had never seen him before. Why would he be afraid of him?

Arthur set down his tray, sat in front of Cassie, and, gathering his courage, spoke:

"Hi, Cassie."

Chapter Text

Cassie was staring at her empty plate, her expression one of complete defeat. Somehow, Arthur knew it wasn't because her plate was empty.

Sitting down and placing his tray on the table, Arthur gathered his courage and spoke.

"Hi, Cassie."

At the sound of his voice, she lifted her head. It took her a few seconds to respond, but eventually she said:

"Arthur? Is that you?"

"Yep, it's me."

A smile formed on both their faces, followed by a silence, one of those silences they had shared countless times in the past. Eventually, though, Cassie asked the question that must have been eating at her ever since her Nightmare ended.

"Where were you? Why did you take so long?"

Arthur brought a hand to the back of his neck in embarrassment. It wasn't a gesture Cassie could perceive, but it still helped him ease the discomfort.

"Well… where else, in the Nightmare. And as for why, I can't say it here. Too many curious ears in the cafeteria."

Using his aether sense, Arthur immediately noticed that almost everyone in the cafeteria was looking in his direction. At first, he didn't understand why, but then he noticed what was being shown on one of the screens. He assumed it was the interview results, but it wasn't a priority right now.

After saying that, Arthur glanced to the side and noticed that the other Sleeper sitting at the same table was also staring at him. Wanting to defuse the tension quickly, he added:

"Sorry, that last part wasn't directed at you."

Sunless stared at him for a moment longer without changing his expression, then finally said:

"No problem."

Arthur kept looking at him for a few seconds, studying him more closely, and noticed something that should have been obvious from the start. This Sleeper wasn't small because of genetics, his Flaw, or anything like that. His appearance was the result of long-term malnutrition.

With that in mind, Arthur connected him to something his father had told him on the way home, about Master Jet. This boy was the one she—

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there a problem?"

Sunless's voice snapped Arthur out of his thoughts. He was right. He had been staring at him for too long. Before sitting down, Sunless had already been giving him an unfriendly look, and now Arthur was giving him a reason.

"No, no, sorry. I was just thinking about something. One question, if you don't mind. You're from the Outskirts, right?"

Sunless fell silent for a long moment. Then his expression began to change, as if he were in pain.

"Yes," he said simply.

Arthur put on a smile to ease the awkwardness.

"Ah, then you must be the Sleeper Master Jet supervised, right?"

At the mention of Master Jet's name, Sunless's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes. How do you know that?"

His tone was neutral, but it didn't escape Arthur that it sounded more like a threat than a question.

"Relax. Master Jet is a friend of my parents. Recently, they were talking about how she seemed happier than usual. They thought it was because she'd gotten a boyfriend or something, but when they asked, she said it was because she had supervised another Sleeper from the Outskirts like her."

Arthur made a casual gesture with his hand to ease the tension.

After that, Sunless remained silent for a few seconds, clearly thinking. It looked like he was about to say something else, but at that moment they both turned their heads in the same direction.

Sunless wore an expression of pure distrust. Arthur's was more along the lines of 'what is going on?'

From that direction, voices began to rise, almost shouting. Even Cassie turned her head in surprise at the reactions.

The noise was clearly coming from the screens. Arthur managed to catch a few fragments.

"…Two with True Names?"

"…In the same generation…"

"…Isn't that the one who talked back to the professor?"

'Another Sleeper with a True Name? Who could it be…'

Turning back to the table, Arthur cleared his throat, trying to continue the previous conversation.

"Well, it was nice meeti—"

He didn't get to finish. He felt someone approaching. When he turned around, a pair of green eyes met his.

Caster. The Legacy.

Arthur stared at him as he came closer.

"Arthur Leywin, I suppose? I am Caster from the Han Li clan. I see your trial went well."

'This bastard is only talking to me because I have a True Name.'

"It would seem so, right? What do you think?"

Caster smiled politely.

"Yes, I'd say so. My group of Legacies noticed that it might be interesting to share stories about our Nightmares, and we decided—" He paused for a moment, glancing at Cassie and Sunless. "—to extend an invitation. What do you say?"

Arthur answered immediately, his tone neutral.

"Thanks for the invitation, but I'd rather stay with my friends. We were discussing something important, so if you don't mind…"

Caster immediately understood the conversation was over.

"I see. In any case, the invitation stands. Have a good rest of your day."

He turned and walked back to his group of Legacies.

Returning his attention to the table, Arthur saw Sunless staring at him with one eyebrow raised, while Cassie looked completely lost.

"Uh… just ignore that. I don't know what that Legacy was trying to do, but it's not important."

Cassie spoke first.

"I heard something about another Sleeper with a True Name. Who is it?"

At her question, Sunless stood up, picked up his empty tray, and left. Apparently, he had kept eating while all of this happened.

Watching him go, Arthur couldn't help but think:

'That guy is strange. And it's obvious he didn't believe most of what I said. Still… that's mostly my fault for acting like this.'

Turning back to Cassie, Arthur said:

"Yeah. The other one is me."

She gasped.

"You have a True Name, Arthur?"

"Yep. But that's not important right now."

"And what is important, then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You. I wanted to ask how you were doing."

She replied with a quiet, almost whispered, "Oh."

She lowered her head, and Arthur noticed her fists clench so tightly he thought she might hurt herself.

Seeing that, a pressure formed in his throat. He didn't like seeing her like this—so fragile. As if the slightest touch could break her.

Memories flooded back. Their first sparrings, when she always kept up with him. Her talent, which often surprised him. The countless times he thought her smile could light up the world.

And now… seeing her like this. Fragile. Weak.

And what hurt the most—knowing she had already accepted her death.

Arthur stood up from his side of the table and sat next to her. He wrapped his left arm around her left shoulder, pulling her gently toward him. Her head rested against his collarbone, and a few seconds later he felt small tremors run through her body.

You didn't need to be a genius to realize she was crying.

Seeing her like that destroyed him, but Arthur understood this wasn't the moment to interrupt her. She needed to let it out, whether through words or like this.

They stayed like that for a long time. The cafeteria slowly emptied, but neither of them wanted to move. Eventually, they were the only ones left.

Cassie's assigned assistant came to help take her back to her room, but Arthur gestured for her not to worry. He would take her himself.

They walked through the halls in silence. She held onto his arm, still having some trouble walking. When they reached her room, Arthur had to stop at the door. It was forbidden to enter rooms that weren't your own.

Before leaving, Arthur considered suggesting training, helping her learn to navigate better using her other senses. But seeing her state, he knew it wasn't the right time.

First, she needed to accept reality.

Then, she could train and overcome it.

After that, the walk back to his room was calm. Most Sleepers had already returned to their rooms, and the halls were nearly empty.

Before reaching his room, Arthur took a small detour to look at the interview result screens. He was curious about who the other Sleeper with a True Name was. His first theory was Caster, judging by how much the Legacies fawned over him.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

Caster was third.

In the first place, the portrait of a silver-haired girl could be clearly seen.

Name: Nephis

True Name: Changing Star

Name: Arthur Leywin

True Name: Paragon of Purity

Name: Caster Han Li clan

'Nephis… so that's her name. And she has a True Name too.'

Furrowing his brows, Arthur thought:

'I wonder how much she said during her interview. I claimed my Aspect was above Ascended rank and still placed second. What made the difference? The nature of our Aspects? Or did she claim a higher rank?'

Either way, Arthur knew he'd need to be careful around her from now on. Knowing a bit about rune linguistics, it was clear her name meant more than just the translation the Spell provided.

After that small detour, Arthur went back to his room to end the day and prepare for tomorrow. His first day at the academy had been interesting—but it lacked something.

He hadn't trained enough.

And he still hadn't uncovered his Aspect's full potential, something he needed to do before the Winter Solstice.

***

Arthur woke up quite early. He considered sleeping a bit more, but went against the impulse. He showered, and while getting ready for breakfast, he noticed something strange.

He wasn't hungry.

Thinking back, throughout the entire previous day he had only felt hunger in the morning. After that, nothing. He had eaten out of habit, not need.

In his first Nightmare, he hadn't eaten or drunk water at all. It had all been sustained by the aether he absorbed from the creatures he killed.

But here… he hadn't killed any.

'Wait—that's it!'

His innate ability literally says: "You are integrated with reality through aether."

How hadn't he realized sooner?

His attribute [Being of Aether and Flesh] made it even clearer.

'So if I'm integrated with the surrounding aether… does that mean as long as there's aether, I'm immortal? Not immortal exactly but when I consumed aether from creatures, my wounds healed. So if I cut myself now, would it heal instantly?'

Since he wasn't hungry, Arthur decided to stay in his room and meditate. There was still something that didn't fully make sense to him.

'If I'm integrated with reality through aether… could I strengthen my body with it?'

The idea was solid. Awakened circulated essence through their bodies—if he used the same method, he could circulate aether through the channels formed during his first Nightmare.

With the plan in mind, Arthur sat in the center of the bed, crossing his legs until he found a stable position. He straightened his back carefully, relaxed his shoulders, rested his hands on his knees, slightly lowered his chin, and closed his eyes.

He used a technique he had read about in a book, but instead of focusing on essence, he searched for the aether channels extending from his core like veins. He guided the aether entering through his pores toward the muscles and tendons he wanted to strengthen.

Progress was slow, until he activated [Realmheart].

Immediately, Arthur felt runes activating across his body. When he opened his eyes, he saw that they were purple. He also saw aether particles filling the environment.

The sight was breathtaking.

He could see the particles vibrating freely, some drawn toward his body. Then he felt another set of runes activate beneath his eyes.

With that, Arthur noticed something else: another type of particle. Not purple. Red, green, blue… and brown.

He didn't know what they were, but he noticed they interacted strangely with aether—not antagonistically, just independently.

Arthur continued meditating as his body grew stronger, fueled by ambient aether. At what felt like his current limit, he deactivated [Realmheart] and tried to maintain the state on his own.

At first, his body weakened quickly—but with repetition, he began to understand the process. Each cycle took less time to gather aether and more time to lose it.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that.

When Arthur finally opened his eyes and looked out the window, it was dark.

Checking his communicator, he realized he had been meditating for over sixteen hours.

'WHAT THE HELL?!'

He changed clothes to go to the cafeteria, at least to have dinner. Even though he wasn't hungry due to all the aether he had absorbed, he still needed to meet Cassie and talk to her about training.

He put on a light blue outfit paired with white shoes and headed out.

No matter how rushed he was, Arthur would never, ever run through the academy halls.

When he arrived at the cafeteria, he noticed there were fewer Sleepers than the previous day. That was normal—it was quite late. Fortunately, his objective was still there, sitting at the same table as yesterday.

The other boy, Sunless, wasn't present today, but the girl who had ranked first in the interviews—Nephis—was seated at one of the tables closest to Cassie's.

As Arthur walked toward Cassie's table, he wasn't sure if she felt his gaze or something else, but Nephis stopped looking at her food and her gray eyes met his. Neither of them looked away, but after a moment Arthur lost interest and shifted his attention back to Cassie.

She was sitting still, doing nothing. Her plate was already empty, and it looked like she was waiting for her assigned assistant to come pick her up.

Arthur made some noise by moving the chair before sitting down in front of her.

"Hi Cass, it's me again." he said.

"Art? You disappeared all day…"

Arthur let out a small snort, more surprised than anything.

"Huh? How did you know? You don't attend my classes."

She coughed lightly before speaking, lowering her voice a bit.

"Um… I asked the other boy who sits here if he had seen you."

Arthur let a second of silence pass.

"Mmm… are you sure? What, did you miss me already?" he said in a clearly sarcastic tone.

"NO!" she replied immediately, far too fast.

Arthur let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Ouch, you're breaking my heart, Cassie."

"Idiot," she muttered, turning her head slightly to the side.

Arthur let out a short laugh before continuing.

"Anyway, the reason I came here now, I wanted to propose something to you."

She looked at him again (or at least tried to) and with a mischievous smile said:

"No, Arthur, I'm not going out with you."

Arthur froze completely. He felt his mouth fall slightly open.

"WHAT?"

He quickly recovered, bringing a hand to his face as he let out a long sigh.

"What did they do to my innocent Cassie?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Arthur heard a muffled sound, like someone trying to hold back laughter. When he lowered his hand, he saw her covering her mouth, her shoulders shaking as small tears formed in her eyes.

He couldn't help but smile at the sight.

Yesterday, seeing her like this would have been unthinkable.

Her laughter, brief as it was, eased him more than he expected—but he knew what came next would break the moment.

Arthur adopted a more relaxed, almost playful tone.

"Alright, very funny, Cass. But seriously, I wanted to talk to you about something important."

She slowly composed herself, wiping the tears away with the back of her hand, then oriented her face toward him.

"You want to train me, don't you?"

"Yes," Arthur replied immediately. "Was it that obvious?"

"To someone who knows you? Yes. Very," she said without hesitation. Then, before he could add anything else, she continued, "I accept—but on one condition."

Arthur rested his elbows on the table.

"Let's hear it."

"That it's like the old days," she said firmly. "Don't treat me like I'm broken. Or like I'm something fragile that'll shatter if you touch it."

Arthur looked at her for a few seconds before nodding.

"Alright. Deal. How about after class?"

"Any time works for me."

A couple of seconds passed before Arthur realized something:

"Oh, right… you don't attend any classes."

"Why don't you attend Wilderness Survival?" he added.

She stayed silent for a moment.

"Um… I didn't know that class existed."

Arthur stared at her seriously, incredulous.

"Well, it does. And it could be really useful for you. I know the instructor, and he can teach you a lot about orienting yourself using your other senses. He can even teach you Braille."

"Well… if you say so, Art. I'll sign up tomorrow."

After a brief pause, she added:

"Can you walk me back to my room? I'm sleepy."

Arthur stood up and moved to her side.

"Yeah, of course. Let's go."

They walked to her room talking about more trivial things. Nothing important, but enough to make the atmosphere feel lighter.

At the door, they agreed that the next day Arthur would accompany her to her first Wilderness Survival class.

After that, Arthur returned to his room and went to bed.

Even though he hadn't done any physical activity, his head hurt from concentrating so much on circulating aether.

Tomorrow looked like it was going to be a good day.

***

Arthur woke up like on the previous days, but this time he learned from his mistakes and set an alarm so he wouldn't miss the time he had to help Cassie.

While waiting, he meditated, following the same procedure as yesterday, focusing on absorbing aether faster and retaining it for as long as possible.

Eventually, the alarm rang and Arthur went to Cassie's room. He still wasn't fully used to the looks people gave him, but they seemed to have calmed down a bit. Spending time with Cassie probably sparked a few rumors about some kind of relationship between them.

As long as they didn't think he was taking advantage of her, he couldn't care less.

When Arthur reached her room, he knocked on the door using a sequence only the two of them knew, so she'd know it was him. A few seconds later, the door opened.

Cassie was wearing the academy-issued outfit, but there was something new.

A blue blindfold.

"Hi, Cass," Arthur said.

With a smile, she replied, "Hi, Art."

Raising an eyebrow, Arthur said, "I see you added a new accessory. It suits you."

"Yes. I thought it was appropriate. Thanks," she replied.

"Why did you think that?"

With determination in her voice, she said:

"Because I didn't want to stay tied to who I was. The blindfold is my way of acknowledging the person I am now… and moving forward with her."

Arthur smiled.

"I think that's perfect. Come on, I'll take you to class."

The walk to her class was calm. They talked about rumors they had heard around the academy and other unimportant things. Eventually, they arrived at the Wilderness Survival classroom.

Arthur wasn't sure what to do, whether to walk her inside or leave her at the door—but the decision was made for him when he sensed a new presence behind them.

When he turned around, he saw Sunless.

It made sense that he would choose Wilderness Survival if he came from the Outskirts. Arthur let him pass first, then entered with Cassie.

Professor Julius, as always, was buried in his academic books, but when he heard the door open, he lit up like a lantern.

"Come in, Sunless!"

"Oh! It seems we have more students today!" he added.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Arthur said, "Good morning, Professor Julius. Actually, only my companion Cassie will be attending your class. I just walked her here."

Somehow, Julius's smile grew even wider.

"Oh, that's perfectly fine! Come along, young lady!"

Arthur gave a small bow and left the classroom after guiding Cassie to one of the seats. Just before he could fully leave, he heard:

"Ahh, young love."

Arthur's cheeks warmed immediately. Lowering his head to hide it, he hurried off to his own class.

This time, he arrived early. Seeing that there weren't many people yet, he sat in a corner and meditated for a while.

A few minutes later, Professor Awakened Rock entered the room. When he noticed Arthur sitting there, he approached.

Before Rock could speak, Arthur opened his eyes and waited.

"Sleeper Arthur, since you didn't attend yesterday's class, today you'll be the first in the sparrings, if you don't mind."

'If I don't mind? Academy professors really are quick at understanding their students.'

"That's fine," Arthur replied.

"Perfect," Rock said, returning to his desk as the rest of the students arrived.

It didn't take long for the classroom to fill up, as usual. After all, this was the course with the highest enrollment.

Standing up and walking toward the ring, Arthur exchanged a glance with the professor.

With a nod, Rock began to speak.

Chapter Text

Nephis arrived at the class quickly, found a spot with little crowd around it, and waited for it to begin. While she was doing so, she noticed the boy who had placed second in the interview rankings walking toward the ring and exchanging a look with Awakened Rock.

'This boy, Arthur… he didn't come to class yesterday.'

Nephis moved a little closer to the ring, hoping to overhear what he was discussing with the professor, but just as she reached a position where she could, the class began.

"Good morning, Sleepers. Today we will have sparrings again."

Then Rock gestured for the other bearer of a True Name to enter the ring.

'How did he obtain his True Name?' she wondered.

Arthur stopped at one end of the ring. His expression was stoic. His blond hair, tied back, left his face completely exposed. His golden eyes carried a strange look, almost bored. His posture was straight, too straight. From the very first day, she had assumed he was the heir of some great clan. The way he moved, the way he stood before others, as if the space itself belonged to him.

'As if he were a king.'

'He is probably the one they sent to the Academy to kill me… although Caster is also here.'

'Could it be both of them?'

They did not seem to get along when they spoke, and it did not look like they knew each other. Still, that could easily be an act.

Either way, this was a good opportunity to see how he fought.

The fight began shortly after Arthur stepped onto the ring. His opponent was a Sleeper of similar height and build, but just watching him move was enough to tell that he lacked technique. His steps were tense, his guard too high.

He attacked first.

A direct kick aimed at Arthur's right calf, executed with speed. It was not a bad opening. Arthur stepped back, only as much as necessary to evade without blocking.

There was no tension in his movement.

The Sleeper activated his Aspect immediately. His body blurred and vanished from Arthur's frontal view, reappearing behind him, trying to use his speed to end the fight quickly.

'Fast… but not that fast. He's not faster than Caster.'

Arthur did not react immediately. In fact, he allowed the other to position himself behind him.

The Sleeper extended his arm, attempting to wrap it around Arthur's neck to immobilize him.

Then Arthur dropped his body abruptly. His center of gravity lowered at the last instant and, at the same time, he rotated his torso and extended his right leg backward. The strike landed cleanly against the other Sleeper's right leg, exactly where his weight was supported.

The balance broke instantly. The Sleeper tried to activate his Aspect again. Nephis saw it clearly. But he was already off-balance.

Arthur had already turned to face him.

A direct kick to the chest.

It was not excessive. It was not overly violent. It was enough.

The Sleeper's body was sent flying out of the ring. And just like that, Arthur won the fight. The entire exchange had lasted only a few seconds.

Nephis lowered her brows slightly and replayed every movement in her mind.

It had not been a demonstration of strength or speed. It had been reading, control, and timing.

Arthur had not fought to overpower his opponent. He had fought like someone who already knew how it would end.

'He did exactly what I would have done in his position.'

The next fight began immediately. This time, the opponent was shorter than Arthur, but there was no need for an announcement to know that he was a Legacy. His stance was firm, his guard refined, and the way he breathed before stepping into the ring revealed years of real training, not just inherited talent.

Nephis remembered him. His Aspect was related to bodily reinforcement. It was not simple brute strength. It hardened muscles and joints, making them more resilient and explosive for short periods of time. A style designed for direct exchanges, meant to crush the opponent before they could adapt.

Arthur did not change his expression when he saw him.

The fight began.

The Legacy advanced without hesitation, launching a combination of compact, fast, heavy strikes. Punches to the torso, a hip rotation, an elbow aimed at the ribs. Arthur stepped back half a step, then another, evading by the smallest margins. He did not raise his guard. He did not block. He only moved.

'He adapted his fighting style into a more versatile one, relying on reflexes to evade instead of predicting where the attacks would come from.'

The Legacy increased the pressure. He fully activated his Aspect. His strikes gained weight, the air vibrating with every impact that failed to land. Arthur tilted his body, rotated his torso, slid a foot backward or to the side. Every attack passed within centimeters.

The other Sleepers began to notice. The tempo was set by the Legacy, but the control belonged to Arthur.

'He's letting him tire himself out.'

A straight punch to the face. Arthur tilted his head slightly. A low kick. Arthur lifted his foot just enough. A wide sweep meant to break his base. Arthur jumped just high enough to avoid it and landed in the same spot without losing balance.

His expression did not change. There was no tension.

The Legacy began breathing heavier. He activated his Aspect again, forcing it. His movements became wider, more desperate. He attempted a downward strike, loaded with all his weight, trying to finish the fight in a single blow.

That was when Arthur moved.

First movement: a short step inward, breaking the distance at the worst possible angle for the Legacy.

Second movement: a sharp strike with an open palm to the chest, not to push him back, but to cut his breathing at the exact instant.

Third movement: rotating behind the Legacy, a precise low kick to the supporting leg.

The Legacy's body lost stability before his mind could react. He dropped to his knees and, before he could recover, Arthur pushed him out of the ring with a foot to the back.

Arthur looked down at him.

His expression was flat. No explicit disdain, no triumph. Only boredom, as if he had expected more and found nothing.

'Complete humiliation.'

The Legacy did not get up immediately. Not because he was severely injured, but because he understood his place.

Arthur turned away without waiting for confirmation, as if the outcome had been obvious from the start.

Nephis lowered her brows further.

'Two fights, two different combat styles, yet in both cases he controlled the fight from beginning to end.'

He was not someone she could afford to ignore. Arthur had climbed several levels in her mental ranking.

And he had done so without even trying.

The fights continued like that for a while.

What followed could only be described as a massacre.

One after another, the Sleepers stepped into the ring convinced they would be different. Some relied on brute strength from their Aspects, others on techniques inherited through generations. The Legacies, in particular, moved with that learned confidence that came from knowing a clan stood behind them. The rest tried whatever they could: traps, feints, unexpected attacks, anything that might break Arthur's rhythm.

Nothing worked.

Arthur did not appear faster or stronger than them. He did not dominate the ring through obvious physical superiority. And yet, every fight ended the same way: the other Sleeper on the ground, outside the ring, or unable to continue.

'It's exactly the same thing I did in the first class.'

He moved with cold, almost mechanical precision. His technique was clean, efficient, and ruthless. He wasted no motion. Every step, every turn of the torso, every slight tilt served a clear purpose. He did not react too late. He did not react too early. He reacted at the only correct moment.

It did not matter whether the opponent was poor, rich, or a Legacy. All of them fell within seconds.

Throughout the entire process, Arthur's expression barely changed.

If his expression changed at all, it was in a way that was difficult to read. There was no visible emotion, no tension, no trace of satisfaction. His face remained calm and distant, as though the outcome of each fight had already been decided long before they began.

'He's looking for something he can't find.'

Even after so many consecutive fights, his breathing remained controlled. His movements did not lose precision, and there were no visible signs of fatigue.

'And the worst part… I'm certain he still hasn't used his Aspect.'

Finally, after yet another Sleeper was defeated without ceremony, the murmur in the dojo shifted. Arthur remained at the center of the ring, still, shoulders relaxed, his gaze unfocused on some distant point.

Then it happened.

After a while, an opponent appeared who might actually be able to stand against him.

Caster.

Unlike the others, Caster showed no irritation or insecurity over the collective failure. On the contrary, he stepped into the ring with a calm smile. His posture was confident and refined.

'I let myself lose against Caster… but what will he do?'

'If he truly is the assassin they sent, why would they send someone with a True Name into his first Nightmare?'

'I don't understand.'

Arthur lifted his gaze when he noticed Caster's arrival. For the first time since the fights had begun, something shifted slightly in his expression. It was not interest. It was not respect.

It was a small upward curve at the corner of his lips.

***

During Wilderness Survival class, Professor Julius was currently teaching Sunny ancient languages. Meanwhile, his shadow was attending the combat class.

More than once, Sunny lost focus on what the professor was explaining because of what he was seeing through his shadow. He had already seen something similar on his first day with Nephis, the way she completely wiped the floor with the other Sleepers.

And now, someone else had appeared who could do the same. Maybe even better.

Worst of all, he also had a True Name.

Three True Name bearers in the same generation.

And of course, they had to be in his.

'Is this [Fated]'s fault?'

'It has to be…'

Caster was walking toward the ring, a smile on his face. But Sunny was not fooled by it. He was scared.

Not just because of the dominance Arthur had shown earlier, but because Arthur himself was smiling while watching him approach.

'He's a monster! How can someone smile after humiliating dozens of Sleepers?'

Arthur stood tall and straight, his presence impossible to ignore. A faint smile rested on his face, an aura of destruction clinging to him.

'Damnation, he's handsome too.'

'Tall, blond, golden eyes, strong… what's left? Becoming a King?'

'This is so unfair…'

With both of them in the ring, the professor gave the signal, and the fight began without warnings or unnecessary speeches. As expected, Caster moved first. His body surged forward with unnatural acceleration, his Aspect activating instantly and making him faster than any average Sleeper.

Arthur reacted immediately, but he did not attack. He stepped back once, then again, twisting his torso to avoid a strike that would have been devastating if it connected. Caster pressed forward, throwing a rapid combination, changing angles, trying to force a mistake. Arthur blocked one strike with his forearm, redirected another with a body turn, and shifted sideways once more.

At first, Sunny thought he was just defending.

But something felt off.

Arthur was not retreating in a straight line. Every dodge placed him in a specific position, always diagonally, always adjusting his stance to stay grounded. Caster kept attacking, convinced he was in control, pushing Arthur closer and closer to the edge of the ring.

'…wait.'

Caster was faster, yes, but he was using that speed in a predictable way. Advance, attack, force retreat.

And Arthur… Arthur was allowing it.

No, more than that. He was guiding him.

Every time Caster tried to circle around, Arthur moved just enough to close off the dangerous angle, forcing him to attack from the front or from a harmless side. He gave him no space to fully exploit his speed, never allowing a clean setup or proper distance. Without realizing it, Caster was being herded into an increasingly confined area of the ring.

'He's shrinking the battlefield…'

Caster picked up the pace, clearly confident. His attacks became heavier, wider, trying to overwhelm Arthur through sheer pressure. Arthur blocked a direct strike with more force this time and, for the first time, countered with a short punch to the torso. It was not decisive, but it made Caster take half a step back.

Caster smiled.

He thought Arthur was getting tired.

Sunny saw it clearly when Caster surged forward again, accelerating even more, convinced he was dominating the exchange. He did not realize the edge of the ring was now behind him.

Arthur did.

His posture changed.

Until then, it had been defensive, restrained, almost passive. Suddenly, he lowered his center of gravity slightly, stepped forward, and his movements stopped being reactive. When Caster attacked again, Arthur did not retreat. He advanced.

He blocked a strike with his left forearm. No… Sunny thought he had blocked it, but that was not it. Caster's right arm was trapped at the forearm under Arthur's armpit, and with the distance gone, Arthur had the advantage.

In what looked like a single motion, Arthur aimed a strike beneath Caster's sternum. Seeing this, Caster raised his left arm to block, but it was a feint. At the last moment, Arthur canceled the strike and stepped even closer. Their faces were centimeters apart, and with his left leg, Arthur hooked Caster's left knee. Applying force, the knee buckled, and Caster lost his balance, falling backward.

At that moment, Arthur released Caster's arm. To prevent him from using the speed of his Aspect to recover, Arthur shifted his center of gravity again, placing his weight onto his left leg, which had already disengaged, and pressed his right foot against Caster's chest.

The scene was hard to believe. Arthur stood with his right foot planted on Caster's chest while Caster lay flat on his back, staring up at him in disbelief. Sunny could not blame him. Watching the other Sleepers through his shadow, everyone, even Nephis and the professor, was staring in shock.

Eventually, the silence broke when Arthur lifted his foot from Caster's chest and, letting out a sigh of disappointment, turned around and returned to his side of the ring. The smile he had worn before the duel had long since vanished, replaced by a bored expression.

Arthur remained standing in the ring, breathing calmly, as if the fight had gone exactly as expected. He glanced at the professor and then at the students, his expression neutral, almost indifferent.

Sunny could not help but feel stunned. Nephis had been absurd, a perfect machine, maximizing every movement, forcing mistakes, destroying her opponents without mercy. Arthur, on the other hand, simply made everyone else look irrelevant, as if his time was worth more than that of the other Sleepers.

'He really is going to become a King, isn't he…'

Three True Names in the same generation.

Two monsters walking around like it was nothing.

'This is definitely [Fated]'s fault.'

'Damnation!'

Eventually, breaking the silence, Arthur spoke.

"Alright. Anyone else?"

Silence returned for a few more seconds, until Sunny's shadow picked up movement. Nephis was walking toward the ring, and a smile returned to Arthur's face.

'A duel between two talented True Name bearers…'

With both of them standing in the ring, Sunny did not need to be present to feel how thick the tension was. Every Sleeper wanted to see this fight.

But Professor Rock seemed to have other ideas.

"Arthur, I'll leave it to you. If you're not tired, the duel happens. Otherwise, we postpone it."

"No need. It was a good warm-up," Arthur replied with a faint smile.

'A warm-up?! He's insane!'

Some Sleepers stared with their mouths open. Others bit their nails. Everyone was visibly anxious.

Awakened Rock nodded.

"Very well. You're free to fight."

Both of them adopted combat stances and began circling each other inside the ring, their gazes locked.

'Why does it feel like I'm inside a movie?'

It did not take long for Nephis to move first. It was not an explosive attack, but a clean, direct entry. A straight punch with her right hand aimed at Arthur's face. Arthur reacted by twisting his torso and raising his left forearm, deflecting the strike just enough for it to pass by. In the same motion, he stepped sideways, staying out of the line of attack.

Nephis did not pursue immediately. She adjusted the distance and launched a low kick with her rear leg, targeting Arthur's thigh. He lowered his center of gravity and rotated his hips, blocking with his shin while retreating half a step. Before he could respond, Nephis was already advancing again.

She threw a short combination, a strike to the torso followed by a feint toward the face. Arthur bit on the feint for a fraction of a second, raising his guard, but corrected himself in time and redirected the real strike with his elbow. Using the closeness, he extended his hand and grabbed Nephis by the wrist, twisting it outward in an attempt to unbalance her.

Nephis rotated her body with the force and slipped free before the grip could fully lock. In the same motion, she struck with the back of her hand. Arthur blocked by crossing both forearms, the impact sounding sharp and dry.

Arthur responded offensively for the first time. He stepped forward and threw a straight punch toward the sternum. Nephis lowered her elbow to block, but the punch never came. Arthur canceled it mid-motion, shifted the angle, pivoted on his front foot, and launched a low kick toward the side of her knee.

Nephis reacted on instinct, pulling her leg back and stepping away just enough to avoid the strike, but she lost ground.

She immediately re-entered. Feigning a high attack with her left hand, she changed rhythm and delivered a short punch to Arthur's ribs when he raised his guard. Arthur absorbed the blow by twisting his torso and answered with a low sweep. Nephis avoided it with a small jump, landing already prepared for the next exchange.

They moved fast, but not chaotically. Every strike carried intent. Every block sought to create an opening. Arthur began redirecting attacks diagonally, forcing Nephis to constantly readjust her position. Nephis, in turn, kept changing tempo, alternating direct attacks with quick feints, trying to break Arthur's rhythm.

'This isn't sparring anymore…'

Nephis unleashed a rapid combination, two high strikes and one to the torso. Arthur blocked the first two and redirected the third, but the recoil pushed him dangerously close to the edge. Sunny noticed it at the same time Arthur did.

Arthur changed pace.

Instead of retreating, he advanced. He feinted a strike to the face, and when Nephis raised her arm to block, he twisted his body and delivered a low circular kick. Nephis blocked with her leg, but the impact forced her backward.

They were both at the edge of the ring.

Nephis moved first, trying to end the exchange before Arthur could reposition. She threw a short, precise strike toward his torso. Arthur blocked with his right forearm, but instead of stepping back, he moved forward. His left hand closed around Nephis's arm just above the wrist, and with a twist of his torso, he pulled her toward him, attempting to break her balance.

He succeeded.

Nephis's weight shifted forward for a brief moment, enough for her center of gravity to misalign. Arthur stepped in again, his shoulder nearly colliding with hers, trying to turn her and leave her facing the drop.

But Nephis reacted.

Using the only leg that still had solid support, she delivered a short, sharp kick to Arthur's hip. It was not powerful, but it was precise. Arthur's balance broke. The edge was too close.

At that moment, Arthur could have released his grip. He could have stepped back and saved himself.

He did not.

Instead, he tightened his hold and rotated his body, using both their inertia to place himself on top, falling in a controlled manner, aiming to make Nephis hit the ground first.

Sunny saw it clearly.

So did Nephis.

For a split second, she had a choice. If she let go, she would fall on her back inside the ring and lose. If she resisted, there was only one outcome.

She used her supporting leg to push off slightly and wrapped her free arm around Arthur's shoulder, making sure he could not release her at the last moment.

They fell together.

Their bodies crossed the edge of the ring almost simultaneously and slammed into the ground outside the combat area, rolling apart after impact.

Silence.

No one spoke. No one moved.

Arthur was the first to stand, breathing calmly, without a trace of frustration on his face. Nephis rose a second later, her expression as composed as ever.

They looked at each other.

And Sunny could swear he saw the faintest upward curve at the corner of Nephis's lips.

A draw.

Sunny would swear neither of them used their Aspects, though he could not be sure. If that really was the case… who would win if they did? For some reason, he was certain that thought had crossed both of their minds.

Eventually, Arthur broke the silence.

"That was a good fight."

'You damn right it was.'

He raised his right hand for a handshake.

Nephis stared at him with her usual expression, her eyes moving from Arthur's face to his hand.

'???'

After a few seconds, she took his hand briefly, nodded once, and turned away.

Arthur's expression did not change, but Sunny was sure he saw his eye twitch.

"Did a rat eat your tongue or something?"

'A rat?'

Hearing that, Nephis turned back and tilted her head slightly to the left.

"What?"

"If a rat ate your tongue or something. I talked to you, and you didn't answer," he repeated.

Nephis tilted her head to the right this time, her eyebrows furrowing.

"What?"

Now both of Arthur's eyes were twitching.

"Never mind. Forget it," he muttered, turning away.

Sunny swore he heard him whisper, "Is she autistic?"

Nephis stood there for a few more seconds, shrugged, and walked off.

'What? I thought she was a Legacy. Why would she eat a rat?'

'That goes against everything I thought a Legacy clan was… interesting.'

***

After the sparring match with Nephis, the class continued as usual. Arthur could not help but notice a few glances now and then, but they were not uncomfortable, not at all. The other Sleepers looked at him as if he were someone who had avenged them or something like that. They looked at him with respect.

He did not understand it, and it was not something he particularly cared about. When the class ended, he headed to the cafeteria, where he ran into Cassie. She told him about her first day in Wilderness Survival. Apparently, Professor Julius had given her a plan to follow during the remaining days before the Winter Solstice, so in the end she would not need his help.

Even though seeing her doing better and making progress made him happy, the fact that she would not need his help anymore hurt a little. Still, it was understandable.

She also told him that the other Sleeper, Sunless, had been acting strange during today's class. It was as if he had not really been there at all, occasionally letting out a sigh or muttering something under his breath. With each passing day, Sunless became harder to understand…

But back to what mattered, his sparring matches today. There was only one where Arthur had to use his Aspect, and that was against Caster. His speed was too high for him to predict his movements using only his reflexes, so he was forced to use it. In the end, Caster was using his Aspect as well, so why should he hold back?

That said, the most difficult sparring match was against Nephis. Now Arthur fully understood why she had a True Name. She was a prodigy in combat. Many times during the fight he was tempted to use his Aspect, but he did not, and they ended in a draw. He was sure she had not used hers either, which led him to a question.

'Who would have won if we had used them? Or if we had been armed…?'

Midway through the fight, Arthur considered stopping to ask the professor if they could use swords, but it was so much fun that he did not want to break the moment. He would have more chances to ask later.

'It's been a long time since a fight made me think this much afterward.'

Even now, Arthur could not help but notice that Nephis looked at him a little differently. He could not tell what it was, but if he had to guess, he would say she was judging every move he made…

And so his days at the academy passed.

***

On the day of the Winter Solstice, Arthur woke up like always. He meditated for a while until noon. Then, putting on a white shirt under a jacket, black pants, and white shoes, he made his way to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was full of Sleepers, but no one was talking. Everyone seemed subdued, uncharacteristically introspective. There was no laughter, no lively conversations. Only the Legacies remained calm and composed, though even they kept to themselves.

Arthur walked toward the table where Cassie and the other boy, Sunless, were sitting, which still surprised him. Sunless continued to sit with them, and he always looked at Arthur with an expression that was, at least to some extent, threatening.

'As far as I know, I didn't do anything to him.'

His conversations with Cassie followed the routine they had maintained for years. The topics were almost always the same, but they never failed to make them smile or even laugh.

Before leaving the cafeteria, Cassie wished Sunless a happy birthday, and Arthur did the same afterward, of course. How did Cassie know it was his birthday? No idea. He did not care much either, but out of politeness he wished him a happy birthday as well. It must have been hard to celebrate a birthday on the Winter Solstice. Poor guy. He clearly had not lived an easy life…

Since there were no classes that day, Arthur took the opportunity to visit his family for a while. They talked about how things had been going at the academy, whether he had made any friends, which he had not, and a few other things. They also told him how the past two weeks had gone for them and that Ellie had stopped bringing her companion home, which made him glad.

Later, it was time for Awakened Rock to guide them to the rooms with the sleeping pods, but before that, he took a detour to show them the Hollow. He gave them a speech about who they were and what had happened to them, ending with a warning not to die in the Dream Realm.

Eventually, all the Sleepers were guided to their personal rooms, where they would enter their pods.

***

In one of the rooms, there was a blonde, blind girl, still trying to orient herself in an unfamiliar environment. She was no longer crying, nor had she surrendered to her death. Her expression showed more determination than sorrow. That was Cassie.

In another room, the proud Legacy Caster was staring listlessly at the floor. His lips were moving, repeating one strange phrase over and over again. He was trembling.

Somewhere else, Changing Star Nephis, the last daughter of the Immortal Flame clan, was looking down at her hands. Beneath her skin, a soft white radiance was slowly growing brighter and brighter. Her face was twisted into a grimace of unbearable agony.

In another room, there was a pale boy, no longer so malnourished, with an affinity for shadows, talking to one of them. That was Sunless.

And finally, there was the room where Paragon of Purity stood. As he walked toward his pod, one could feel reality itself adjusting around him, as if moving aside not to disturb him. His golden, almost feline eyes were reflected in the glass of the pod. His pale blond hair swayed gently, even without any current of air. With one last breath, the descendant of the Djinn, the figure who claimed a divine lineage through sheer will, and the former King, closed his eyes.

[Welcome to the Dream Realm, Arthur Leywin!]

Chapter Text

Volume 2 : Paths Not Taken

Immediately after Arthur heard the Spell speak to him, he felt himself somewhere else. His first sensation was that he wasn't standing on anything; he was floating… but no. A second later he realized it. He was falling from the sky!

'Shit shit shit'

Expanding his sense of aether as fast as possible, Arthur identified two things. First, there was water everywhere around him, except for a faint platform made of some strange material. His first instinct was to reinforce his body with aether, bracing for impact, and he tried to move as close as possible to the platform, making sure to fall into the water to avoid injuring himself. He didn't know if the platform would withstand an impact from this height, and neither would his bones; even reinforced, he still hadn't tested how far he could fall without breaking something.

Moments later, Arthur hugged his body and fell straight into the water to reduce the impact. It came a few seconds later. He pierced through the water without trouble and, due to the height he'd fallen from, sank several meters down. As soon as he did, he retracted his sense of aether; a strange feeling told him it wouldn't be a good idea to keep it expanded over a large distance.

The water was cold and completely dark, devoid of any kind of light. As Arthur swam toward the surface, he opened his eyes slightly and saw that the platform he had aimed to fall beside was actually a coral hill that rose at an angle close to ninety degrees toward the surface.

Once he reached the top of the coral, Arthur expanded his sense of aether again to check for threats and, fortunately, detected nothing. He summoned his armor [Phantom Armor]. It began forming from his feet: rings of metal appeared one after another, locking together with precision and covering his ankles before climbing up his legs.

The chainmail adjusted to his body with just the right weight, flexible and firm at the same time. When it reached his torso, the links closed over his chest and back, revealing its appearance: a dark, dense mesh with no adornments, designed to protect without hindering movement. Then it spread over his shoulders and down his arms, completing itself in silence, ready for combat. Honestly, it was extremely comfortable.

After that, Arthur summoned [Dawn's Ballad], just in case. Everything around him was completely dark; no matter where he looked, there was nothing to see.

At that moment, while scanning his surroundings, his instincts began screaming at him in one particular direction. He thought it was a threat he hadn't detected and expanded his sense of aether a few meters farther. Just like before, he found nothing, but he confirmed something very curious: this place had a higher density of aether.

On one hand, that was good news. In the Walking World he barely needed to eat, and if the aether density was higher here, he'd need even less. Still, Arthur had to test a few things before jumping to conclusions. For example, during his first nightmare, when he cut into the bodies of creatures, they disintegrated into particles that his body then absorbed. He didn't know whether that was an effect of the nightmare itself or of his former aspect.

'My old aspect was called [Aether Resonance], but now it changed to [Singular Existence]. It no longer has the word aether in its name… does that mean I can consume the flesh of creatures now?'

Another thing Arthur hadn't paid attention to at the time was soul shards. He didn't consume a single one during the nightmare, yet afterward his counter showed as if he had… or at least, that's what he wanted to believe.

Letting out a sigh, Arthur thought, 'Who told me to have such a strange aspect? If Gray had bothered to explain things better, I wouldn't be worrying about this now.'

He also started noticing that with the higher aether density in the environment, his head began to hurt much faster if he expanded it too much, so he reduced it to about five meters around him. That would give him time to react, though something told him that five meters wouldn't be enough if there were higher-ranked creatures around.

Looking for somewhere to sit and wait for daylight—or at least for something to happen—Arthur began thinking about where he might be. His first theory was that he was in the Storm Sea, but he didn't remember reading anything about corals there. Maybe there were; perhaps it was an unexplored area of the Storm Sea… He doubted it, but it was possible. Either way, without more information, it was impossible to draw accurate conclusions.

The only thing Arthur could do was wait for more data. In the meantime, he decided to analyze his runes and memories again.

Name: Arthur Leywin

True Name: Paragon of Purity

Rank: Dreamer

Aether Core: Dormant

Aether Fragments: [18/1000]

'I went from seventy fragments down to eighteen over these last two weeks from using Realmheart. My theory is that each hour of use equals one fragment. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up over time. Also, if my instincts are right, the cost depends on how powerful the attribute is.'

'That's something I really need to keep in mind. I might obtain a relic that, once deciphered, I can't even use due to its consumption. That would be a problem.'

Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Phantom Armor], [Dawn's Ballad]

Name: [Infinite Lash]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Tool

Description: [He stretched his arms until the world lost all distance. He never reached what he sought; he only learned that there is no end. This lash knows no limits. It extends like a promise that refuses to be fulfilled, like a desire that refuses to die. As long as there is something to reach, it will keep growing. And when there isn't… it will still try.]

'Okay… why does this description sound kind of romantic?'

Name: [Phantom Armor]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Armor

Description: [Something existed so close that the world chose to look away. Not out of fear, but denial. This armor inherits that absence. It neither protects nor threatens: it remains. And what remains too long eventually stops being seen.]

'And now this one is just sad.'

Name: [Dawn's Ballad]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Weapon

Description: [Dawn's Ballad accompanied King Gray from the first dawn to the last. It was not a weapon, but a steady step at his side. When his path ended, he understood it should not be given to another. He entrusted it to himself, in another time. Because ballads do not die. They only find a new voice.]

'This was Gray's first sword…'

[0/100]

'What is that counter?'

'I knew of memories with counters, but I never thought I'd obtain one. What does it mean?'

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Realmheart], [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life]

Arthur decided to take advantage of the high aether density in the environment and meditate until something happened. Taking his position, he began cycling aether throughout his body. He also started adding variation: when expelling it, sometimes he did so in a controlled manner, while other times he aimed for greater explosiveness. Something told him this might be useful in the future. On other occasions, he also tried to control the aether outside his body.

He didn't have much luck with that. Even using Realmheart, controlling ambient aether was extremely difficult. The farther it was from his body, the harder it became. For now, he could only maintain a thin barrier around himself—and even that took effort.

While Arthur meditated, the hours passed and the sun began to rise. At first, he only paid attention to the light, but then, through his sense of aether, he noticed something else: the sea was retreating.

He stood up and approached the edge of the platform to make sure his perception wasn't failing him. He watched as the water level descended slowly at first, then faster and faster with time.

As the sun climbed higher, the sea retreated even more, until other structures began to emerge above the surface. Half an hour later, there was no evidence left that a sea had ever been there.

'So I'm definitely not in the Storm Sea.'

'And that's bad, because it means I'm in a completely unexplored region of the Dream Realm.'

From the coral platform, more than two hundred meters above the ground, the labyrinth stretched beneath Arthur's feet like an open wound.

Crimson columns rose in every direction, irregular and sharp, growing over one another without any apparent order. Between them opened paths of varying widths: some wide enough to walk through without care, others so narrow they forced you to turn sideways.

From above, the paths followed no recognizable logic. They twisted, crossed, vanished from sight only to reappear farther on, sometimes returning to the same point they seemed to have left. Some sections ended abruptly against coral walls; others sank into the structure itself, turning into dark tunnels that swallowed the light.

The labyrinth wasn't flat. It rose and fell in overlapping layers, with passages hidden beneath others, as if the place had been built over itself again and again. Trying to memorize it from that height was useless; the more Arthur observed it, the more it unraveled in his mind, as though its very design rejected understanding.

While analyzing the labyrinth, Arthur understood why his instincts had screamed at him the moment he arrived in this area. Every time he looked in a specific direction, a strange sensation ran through his body. At the time, in the darkness, he hadn't noticed it—but whenever he looked west, his attention drifted without realizing it, and he ended up staring that way.

It was the map Gray had engraved into his soul. It was guiding him west. There had to be a relic in that direction.

'My first relic!'

'What will it be? Will it let me control the aether outside my body?'

Arthur couldn't help feeling excited at the promise of gaining more power, especially as a Sleeper. But that same thought pulled him back to reality and made him realize just how dangerous this mission would be.

As a Sleeper, he was completely alone in an unexplored region. He didn't know what kinds of creatures inhabited this area, nor even if the relic was really there. Maybe it was beyond the labyrinth.

'This doesn't look good.'

The creatures could be dealt with. In fact, Arthur was already seeing movement beneath him. One of the things he'd learned was how to enhance a specific sense; for example, by focusing aether into his eyes, his vision improved significantly, allowing him to identify what kinds of creatures moved within the labyrinth.

When he did so, the details became clear even at that distance. He distinguished several creatures moving through the coral corridors. Each stood about two and a half meters tall. Their bodies were supported by multiple long, segmented legs ending in curved, sharpened extensions. They moved steadily, without haste or erratic motions.

At the front, a humanoid torso protruded, covered in thick chitinous armor. There was no visible neck; the head sat directly on the shoulders. It had two narrow eye slits and a wet-looking mouth with several mandibles constantly shifting.

Instead of hands, they had two large pincers, held partially open as they advanced. They moved through the labyrinth paths with apparent familiarity, entering and exiting passages without hesitation.

At least now Arthur knew what kind of creatures inhabited this area.

He spent some time observing their movement patterns, trying to determine whether there was any kind of hierarchy. That would've indicated the presence of a Tyrant. Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. All the creatures appeared to be between beasts and monsters; with bad luck, maybe a demon or a devil.

When Arthur finished analyzing everything, night fell again. He decided it was a good moment to return to meditation. Tomorrow would be the time to move forward. Still, the sensation persisted: every time he looked west, his body seemed to demand that he go in that direction, as if telling him, 'Abandon everything and seek what belongs to you.'

While Arthur meditated, his thoughts began to unravel.

In a region like this, it would be logical to consider the possibility of running into another Sleeper. It wouldn't be strange; the Dream Realm doesn't discriminate when throwing people into impossible places.

But… what would be the point?

Allies are important, he knew that. In a world like this, moving alone isn't the smartest choice. Any normal Sleeper would be searching for a citadel, a civilization, any form of safety. He should be doing the same.

And yet, he wasn't.

He was in an unexplored zone, standing on a platform at the edge of a labyrinth that at night was swallowed by a dark sea, chasing a relic he didn't even know would grant him real power. He wasn't seeking refuge or stability. He was seeking power. Not because he wanted to, but because he needed to. It was the mission Gray had left him.

If he were to meet another Sleeper, would it be right to drag them down this path?

To guide them toward something they likely wouldn't even be able to use?

As far as Arthur understood, relics don't work for others. Some might not even work for him. He didn't know yet. And if this relic only responded to him, bringing someone else along would be exposing them to danger without offering anything in return. He'd be using their life as backup for his own benefit.

That went against his values.

He didn't want to advance by stepping on others or turning their survival into a tool. If someone chose this path of their own will, that would be different. But forcing it on them wouldn't be.

First, the relic.

Then, allies.

Then, a citadel.

Maybe the place he was heading toward was a citadel itself. Though that thought wasn't comforting either. An unknown citadel, with no records, could only mean two things: either there was no gateway… or there was one, but its guardian was strong enough that no one had ever returned to speak of it.

Not a reassuring thought.

But it didn't change anything.

This was the path meant for him, and him alone.

'In the end, the name of my aspect is going to be even deeper than I thought.'

That was a problem for future Arthur. For now, what mattered was how to get down without killing himself, since day had returned and that meant the sea had retreated once more.

Taking advantage of his aether-reinforced body, Arthur focused it into his arms and, with the help of Dawn's Ballad—embedding it into strategic points to pull himself along—he descended at a steady pace. It took him a few minutes to get down from the platform.

Once inside the labyrinth, Arthur turned his head west and began to walk.

One thing he had noticed before descending was that toward the west, the labyrinth only extended a few more kilometers before giving way to an empty hill, as if this section were sunken compared to the rest. In any other direction, the labyrinth continued endlessly. That reinforced his decision to head west. He also noticed a couple of platforms that remained above sea level during the night.

'If I move quickly and my calculations are right, I could be out of the labyrinth in a week.'

The first thing Arthur did when he started moving was expand his sense of aether from wall to wall. It was only a few meters, something that, even with the high aether density in the environment, didn't cause him discomfort. It didn't take long before he encountered one of the creatures he'd seen from the platform.

He detected it a few meters ahead of him. It hadn't detected him yet, so he took the opportunity to hide in a naturally formed hollow in one of the labyrinth's walls. It wasn't very large, but it was perfect for a crouched person to fit without trouble. As the creature drew closer, Arthur reduced his sense of aether to avoid detection. He still didn't know whether that depended on the creature's class or rank.

When it was close enough, Arthur confirmed everything he'd observed from above. It was much taller than him, much broader, and its presence made it clear it wasn't Dormant. It was Awakened.

'First time fighting an Awakened nightmare creature.'

Summoning Dawn's Ballad in his right hand and reinforcing his body with aether—especially his legs—Arthur waited until it turned its back to him. With a burst of speed, he swung the sword toward its joints to limit its mobility. His intention was to sever two before it reacted, but it moved the instant it felt the blade.

The first joint gave way after some resistance, and the creature lost a leg. Almost immediately, it turned around with impressive speed and swung both pincers at him. Through his sense of aether, Arthur dodged both attacks by leaping to the left and, reinforcing his legs, launched himself toward the joint of its front right leg, on the opposite side of its pincers.

Again, he felt resistance, but after reinforcing his arms, the joint gave way. Now the creature had lost two of its original eight legs. However, that only made it more dangerous. It entered a frenzy and began attacking with greater ferocity, even using the weight of its body to try to crush him.

That was when Arthur summoned [Infinite Lash] in his left hand. Just as he had done with the chimeras, he wrapped the whip around the junction where one of its pincers connected to its body, a point it couldn't cut even if it tried. He commanded the lash to shorten and, reinforcing his legs, launched himself forward, passing beneath one of the pincers. Seconds later, that would've been where his head was.

Using the creature's inertia and movement, Arthur managed to position himself on its back. As he analyzed it, he detected a weak point: a slightly sunken, discolored cavity in its armor, roughly where the eyes would be. Several plates converged there, and the chitin was noticeably thinner.

Shortening the whip once more, Arthur drove Dawn's Ballad straight into that spot. With a dry crack, the chitin shattered and the sword's tip sank deep into the scavenger's body.

The monster shuddered, then collapsed heavily to the ground.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

Arthur landed a few meters away from the corpse and immediately went on guard, expanding his sense of aether to check if any other creatures had heard the fight. Fortunately, there were none nearby. Only then did he approach the fallen scavenger. It was time to see how things worked now.

First, he checked the fragments gained.

[Aether Fragments: 22/1000]

'Huh, I went from 18 to 22? I thought it would be 20…'

Arthur approached the corpse and began cutting into the flesh, not out of necessity, but to search for the soul shard. When he opened the place where it should've been, he found nothing.

'Is that even possible?'

He kept searching, thinking it might be elsewhere, but after several minutes it became clear there wasn't one. Then he understood.

When he killed it, he absorbed the soul shard instantly. That was why he'd gained more fragments. The problem was obvious.

'If I absorb every soul shard from the creatures I kill, it'll be impossible to store them and sell them later.'

'That's bad.'

'What happens when my core gets saturated? Will I keep absorbing them, or will it stop?'

Another problem for future Arthur. Great.

After standing literally on top of the scavenger's corpse thinking about all that, Arthur resumed his march. He couldn't afford to waste time if he wanted to reach the next platform before nightfall and the sea returned.

The next platform was several kilometers away, and he didn't know how many more scavengers he'd encounter along the way. It also wasn't sensible to assume they were the only creatures in the labyrinth.

Over the days, Arthur finally reached the edge of the labyrinth. Behind him, it stretched almost endlessly. The journey to the hill marking its boundary wasn't easy, but it wasn't especially difficult either. He ran into a few more scavengers, though they were less frequent near the edge. On average, he fought about five per day during that week, always at different times. He never had to face two at once, and some were already injured.

[Aether Fragments: 162/1000]

Looking at the counter, it was still hard to believe how quickly he could obtain fragments. On one hand, it was encouraging; on the other, he remembered that every time he used Realmheart, he ended up spending them. Also, he was almost certain that attribute consumed the fewest fragments. He needed to saturate his core as soon as possible.

[Dawn's Ballad]

[35/100]

That wasn't the only thing Arthur noticed. When he checked his status more carefully, he realized that Dawn's Ballad's counter had grown as well. It wasn't slow, either—far from it. He was already at 35 out of 100. Considering the number of creatures he had killed over the week, the connection was obvious.

So that's what it tracks… kills.

He didn't know what would happen when it reached one hundred, but he was sure that's when he'd find out what that counter truly meant.

Arthur considered staying longer in the labyrinth to keep accumulating fragments, but he dismissed the idea. He wanted to reach the relic as soon as possible. He'd already spent a week there and, aside from the fragments and Dawn's Ballad's counter, he felt like he hadn't progressed much.

His aether control had improved, but that wouldn't matter if he didn't grow stronger overall. And he could only achieve that in two ways: with the relic, or by finding a gateway and awakening. His plan was to obtain both.

Arthur looked at the labyrinth one last time, bid it farewell, and began walking toward whatever awaited him on the other side.

Chapter Text

After looking back at the labyrinth one last time, Arthur started walking up the hill to see what awaited him on the other side. The hill was incredibly tall; it was what prevented the Dark Sea from spreading any further. Easily two hundred meters high.

As he climbed, the same thought that had crossed his mind every time he killed a creature inside the labyrinth returned.

He didn't get a single Memory…

'What the hell?!'

'I killed a ton of scavengers and didn't receive a single one! That's not fair.'

While complaining internally, Arthur reached the top of the hill. It was made of dirt and stone, and when he looked beyond it, he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

There was nothing.

Beyond the hill stretched an open plain for kilometers, completely empty. No trees, no structures, no rivers. Absolutely nothing. The only things present were marks on the ground, as if something—or someone—had fought there. There were craters too, but they didn't look natural, as if they had been formed by the impact of something massive.

Arthur had a strong urge to turn around and go back to the labyrinth. Not only because of the emptiness, but because of the danger it represented.

He didn't even want to imagine a situation where a creature spotted him from afar, with no way to hide or analyze it beforehand. Aerial threats were even worse; without a bow, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

In the end, after questioning several decisions he had made earlier, Arthur forced himself to move forward and hope nothing bad happened. A good plan? Absolutely not. But what other choice did he have? Turn back and give up on the relic?

He focused aether into his ears, trying to catch any possible sound, and expanded his aether sense as much as he could without giving himself a headache. The density of aether was still the same.

The first day of travel was extremely boring. The only thing Arthur had to watch out for was not falling into one of the craters, though they weren't very deep. At some point during the day, he reinforced his legs with aether and started running. Since there was nothing to hear or see, he focused on training his aether cycling, and by the end of the day he was doing it almost unconsciously.

He didn't know how much distance he covered, but he kept the same pace all day long, and even made a risky decision: he kept running at night.

Something Arthur had noticed during the last week inside the labyrinth was that, thanks to the high density of aether, not only had his need for food decreased, but his need for sleep as well.

He kept moving through the night, focusing on his senses to detect any possible threat. Nothing happened, but he had a constant sense of danger running through his body. Even so, if he had stopped, he was sure he wouldn't have been able to rest.

Stopping wouldn't have been safe either. If there was a creature out there, he would only be changing his state from moving to standing still. At least while moving, he would have a chance to react.

And so Arthur continued until the second day arrived.

The first rays of morning light helped him see again, and to his surprise, nothing had changed. It felt as if he hadn't moved at all during the entire day. Obviously, when he looked back in the direction he had come from, he could tell he had progressed.

But to the west, everything was the same. The same plain. The same craters. The same stones. And the same sense of danger.

The second day was no different from the first.

Or at least, that's how it felt.

Arthur kept moving as soon as the sun fully rose, maintaining the same steady pace. He jogged when the terrain allowed it and switched to a fast walk when his legs started to wear down. The plain remained just as open, just as empty, just as hostile. No matter how far he went, there wasn't a single real point of reference. Nothing to measure progress with, other than looking back and realizing the hill was no longer visible.

The craters kept appearing at irregular intervals. Some were so close to each other that it was hard to believe it was a coincidence, but Arthur couldn't find any clear pattern. No signs of creatures either. No remains. No sounds. Nothing. Just the wind brushing against the ground and the constant sound of his own footsteps, which he started to hate.

He expanded his senses again and again, carefully adjusting his aether usage to avoid overexertion. He listened… but there was nothing to hear. He observed… but there was nothing to see. That absence began to weigh on him more than any fight ever had.

'If this doesn't change soon, I'm going to go insane.'

As the hours passed, Arthur reinforced his legs and started running again. Not out of urgency, but because slowing down made him think too much. His aether cycling kept flowing almost automatically, which helped keep his mind occupied. Even so, the exhaustion wasn't physical; it was a constant pressure in his chest, an alert without a clear reason that refused to fade.

When night fell again, he didn't stop. The dark sky didn't change the landscape; it only made the plain feel even more vast. Arthur kept moving, alert to the smallest change in the environment, even though he knew that if something appeared, he would probably notice it too late.

The third day started differently.

It wasn't immediate, nor obvious at first, but as soon as the sun rose, Arthur noticed it. The terrain was no longer completely flat. The incline was slight, almost imperceptible, so much so that for the first few minutes he thought it was just an illusion caused by fatigue. But the farther west he went, the clearer it became: the plain was rising.

At first, it was a gentle slope, barely enough to change the way he walked. Then, every certain distance, the incline became a little steeper. It wasn't a hill, but a series of uneven elevations that forced his body to constantly adapt. His legs started to feel it almost immediately.

The craters changed too. They stopped being shallow depressions and became larger and more irregular. Some were wide enough that Arthur had to go around them, and others were so deep he couldn't see the bottom without getting too close. Between them, stones began to jut out of the ground. Taller, sharper rocks that finally broke the monotony of the terrain.

For the first time since leaving the labyrinth, Arthur had something he could use as cover.

That didn't calm him down. Quite the opposite.

The sense of danger intensified. With the terrain sloping upward, his field of vision was even more limited. He couldn't see what lay ahead without exposing himself, and every step required more effort. Fatigue began to build up quickly, forcing him to slow down more than once.

He kept moving, alert, using the rocks as temporary observation points. He moved from one to another, never staying too long in the same place. The silence was still there, but it no longer felt empty. It was heavy, as if the terrain itself was hiding something.

When the sun reached its highest point, it happened.

A sound.

It was faint, so brief that Arthur doubted he had really heard it. Even so, he froze. He didn't breathe. He didn't move. He focused aether into his ears, amplifying every vibration in the environment, but nothing else came. The silence closed in around him again, intact.

He then expanded his aether sense, carefully, without pushing it to the limit. The familiar pressure appeared, but he couldn't detect any clear presence. Nothing he could identify as a creature.

Arthur frowned and looked west again.

This time, he focused aether into his eyes.

That was when he saw it.

It had a humanoid shape, but its proportions were wrong. Its arms were too long, its torso too narrow, and its movements were clumsy, almost uncoordinated, as if it wasn't used to its own body. It advanced with uneven steps, slightly dragging one foot, unaware of his presence… for now.

Arthur immediately crouched and retreated until he was hidden behind one of the rocks jutting out of the ground. From there, he began moving with extreme caution, advancing from cover to cover, carefully controlling every step, every breath, every brush against the terrain.

'Finally, something interesting. I was starting to lose my mind.'

He observed it for several more seconds, measuring the distance, analyzing its movements. Then the real question arose.

Fight it and kill it… or hide and move on?

If he killed it, he could get fragments, but it would be impossible to do so without making noise, which could attract other creatures. Ignoring it also carried a risk: if something stronger awaited ahead, he wouldn't have a clear path to retreat.

Arthur stayed still, hidden among the rocks, weighing his options.

Both choices had advantages and disadvantages. The first offered greater rewards, but the consequences could be severe if something went wrong. The second offered almost no benefit and carried risks dependent on future encounters. Both had their merits, but what made him choose the first option had nothing to do with any of that.

After observing the creature more closely, Arthur realized something.

It was weak…

At most, it was a Dormant Beast, and he had been overthinking it.

He moved closer, using the rocks as cover. Even knowing it was weak, he didn't take risks. As he approached, he gradually reduced the range of his aether sense. The creature never noticed his presence.

Arthur positioned himself behind one of the rocks closest to its back. He summoned Dawn's Ballad in his right hand and Infinite Lash in his left. He reinforced his body with aether, focusing mainly on his arms. Taking position, he threw the sword toward the creature's skull, and seconds later launched the whip to wrap around its body and hold it in place.

Dawn's Ballad struck its blade into what would have been the back of the creature's neck, and moments later the whip tightened around its body.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Thren of Unnamed Blood]

Arthur couldn't help but lose control of the whip for a moment when he heard the Spell announce the creature's name. He didn't know why, but it sounded very… human.

Regaining his composure, he ordered the whip to extend gradually, letting gravity guide the body down to the ground without making noise.

'Thren of Unnamed Blood?'

'Was that creature once human? This keeps getting stranger…'

Leaving the corpse on the ground, Arthur approached it. Physically, there was nothing unusual about it—at least not for a Nightmare Creature—but its name left an uncomfortable sensation in his body.

There was nothing he could do about the smell the corpse would produce, so the only idea he had was to try and hide it in one of the nearby craters. He reinforced his body with aether again, expecting it to be heavy, and grabbed it by one of the arms.

He didn't know why he thought reinforcing himself was necessary. The moment he pulled, the arm tore away from the main body, and he ended up falling flat on his ass.

'…'

Maybe he was overreacting, but Arthur took it as a sign to rest for a bit. He hadn't taken a single break since entering this area, and his legs ached from all the running. Even with aether reinforcement, the strain was accumulating.

His head felt like it was about to split open from using his aether sense for so long. There was a constant ringing in his ears from focusing aether into them, and the exhaustion started bringing something even more dangerous: sleep.

Which he obviously didn't allow. No matter how tired he was, Arthur wasn't going to sleep in a place like this, especially not next to a corpse that could attract other creatures.

With one last effort, he stood up using Dawn's Ballad as support, then dismissed it and studied his surroundings again. Once more, he saw nothing. Still, having encountered a creature helped him feel less lost.

If there was one, there were more.

It didn't take long after Arthur resumed his advance to notice movement again. This time it wasn't a single isolated silhouette, but several, separated from one another yet close enough to form small groups. Creatures with the same deformed humanoid shape, the same clumsy movements, and that strange sensation of being badly put together.

There were three. Then four.

Arthur stopped to observe them from a distance, using the tall stones as cover. They didn't move in a coordinated way, but they weren't wandering aimlessly either. They advanced slowly, stopping from time to time, as if following a pattern he didn't yet understand. They didn't seem to be watching each other, and that gave him room to act.

If he could isolate them, he could eliminate them.

He waited. He let the group separate just enough for one to fall outside the immediate reach of the others. Arthur moved without haste, circling one of the terrain's elevations, and when he had the right angle, he attacked.

Using the same strategy as before.

The fight was quick. Precise. Without unnecessary noise.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Ixel of Unnamed Blood]

Arthur didn't stop. Before the others could react, he was already moving again, using the terrain to break their line of sight.

Calling Dawn's Ballad back from the skull of the previous creature and summoning it again into his hand. A second creature fell shortly after, and the third followed not long after.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Varkesh of Unnamed Blood]

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Vaelor of Unnamed Blood]

When silence returned, nothing remained but inert bodies and the familiar stench of corrupted flesh.

He could face small groups, as long as he controlled the pace and the environment. Anything beyond that would be an unnecessary risk.

That first group confirmed something Arthur had feared. All of these creatures had once been human, or at least something close to human. What caught his attention was the term "of Unnamed Blood." He knew that in other cultures, ones that existed long before the Spell descended, the word Blood meant: Family.

So the term "Unnamed" likely referred to some kind of hierarchy within that society. From that, several things could be deduced, but the most important was this: if these "Unnamed" were Dormant Beasts, then they were likely at the very bottom of that hierarchy.

If the hierarchical position of families corresponded to the ranks of the creatures, that would mean that the farther he advanced, the stronger the creatures would become.

After reaching that conclusion, Arthur continued on his way.

As the hours passed, the presence of creatures became constant. They appeared alone or in small groups, always the same, always with that Unnamed Blood. Each encounter ended the same way. Different name, same result, and an uncomfortable sensation lingering in his body.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Gorath of Unnamed Blood]

The pattern was clear.

Even knowing that these were likely to be his weakest opponents, Arthur began avoiding them whenever he could. Not out of inability, but out of accumulation. Every fight left traces, and he had no way of knowing how many more might be drawn to them.

The terrain continued to rise unevenly. Tall stones were no longer an exception but part of the landscape, and Arthur moved among them more naturally, using them to observe before advancing. The exhaustion was still there, but now he understood something more clearly than in the previous days.

He was not alone.

Hours later, as the sun began to descend, something changed on the horizon.

At first Arthur thought it was another rock formation, a rise in the terrain different from the rest. But the more he advanced, the clearer the silhouette became. Straight lines where there shouldn't be any. Angles that didn't belong to the land.

A structure.

He couldn't distinguish details from that distance, but the shape was unmistakable. It wasn't a single construction, but several, layered and spreading outward. Something large.

The sky began to darken slowly, and with it his margin for error shrank. Arthur reduced his pace and stayed close to the ground, moving carefully. The creatures kept appearing, always the same, always with that Unnamed Blood. He saw them moving among the irregularities of the terrain, appearing and disappearing as the light faded. They weren't concentrated, but they were dispersed in an unsettling way, as if the path toward that structure had been deliberately filled with living obstacles.

He didn't know what that place was.

As Arthur drew closer, night became more present. The shadows stretched longer, and the inclined terrain worsened his field of vision even more. The sense of danger grew, not because there was something new, but because now there could be… and he wouldn't see it.

But then it became evident: it wasn't a single structure. There were many, connected to one another, forming something similar to a settlement. There were no clear walls defining a perimeter, no defined entrance. The city simply… began.

The architecture was crude and functional. Low buildings, blocks of stone without adornments, without color, without visible symbols. Everything seemed built with a single purpose: to endure. Arthur saw no decorations or unnecessary details. Every wall, every corner, was there because it served a function.

'What a sad city.'

There were no total collapses, no structures consumed by time. The streets were still defined, the houses still standing. But everything was still. As if the city had been emptied in a single moment.

Arthur stopped before entering completely.

From that position, he could distinguish movement among the buildings. The same creatures. The same deformed humanoid shapes. They walked through the city as if the streets belonged to them, appearing and disappearing between corners and narrow passages. With the light almost gone, many of them were revealed only by movement, not by shape. They weren't gathered in a single point, but spread across the entire visible area.

He counted around twenty near his position. And even so, he had the feeling there were more, hidden beyond his field of view, moving through streets he couldn't see from there.

Arthur had no intention of clearing everything.

He chose a path. Just one. A direct line toward the interior, wide enough to move without getting trapped, but controlled enough not to draw the attention of everything moving around. Anything outside that route… didn't exist to him.

He advanced slowly, using the corners of buildings as cover, peeking out just enough to observe before moving. With night fully upon him, every step was slower. The creatures reacted erratically. Some remained still for long periods, others wandered without clear direction, crossing from one street to another. There was no visible hierarchy or real coordination, but their numbers made any mistake feel final.

When one came too close to the path he had chosen, Arthur eliminated it.

Always quickly. Always isolating it first.

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Kelreth of Unnamed Blood]

[You have received a Memory: Last Oath]

[You have slain a Dormant Beast: Morven of Unnamed Blood]

[You have received a Memory: Last Answer]

'Yes, finally!'

'I'll check them when I rest.'

Arthur ended up leaving the bodies where they fell. He didn't try to hide them. The smell mixed with the stagnant air of the city, but it caused no visible reaction. Even so, continuing to move at night became less and less viable.

He found a house with no movement around it and went inside. Not to sleep, but to relax for a while. While there, Arthur entered his Soul Sea to look at the two new Memories. He could've done it normally, but it had been a long time since he last entered.

As soon as he did, he was greeted by a calm purple sea, accompanied by a solitary purple sun as well.

'At first it felt strange, but now I'm starting to get used to my Soul Sea.'

Without much delay, Arthur made the two orbs orbiting the purple sun materialize in his hand.

They were two completely identical rings. Both seemed to be made of something similar to metal, yet completely dark. But not just dark. It was as if they absorbed all the light around them. He placed one on his index finger and felt nothing. Testing it, he placed the other on his other hand, and nothing happened either.

'Weird, let's see what the description says.'

Name: [Last Oath]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Tool

Description: [This ring was forged on a starless night, when war had already erased the names of the living and only promises whispered in low voices remained. Two brothers shared it as one would share a final refuge. It was not jewelry nor a symbol of power, but a simple certainty: as long as the ring existed on the other's finger, neither would be alone.

In the heat of battle, when noise devoured thought and death became routine, this ring was the silent proof that, somewhere in the world, the other was still breathing. Distance and chaos did not matter. As long as the circle remained intact, absence was not final.]

'Brothers?'

'Don't tell me… the two creatures I killed were brothers…'

Name: [Last Answer]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Tool

Description: [This ring holds the remaining half of a vow made before marching to the front, when it was still possible to believe that tomorrow would come for both. It was sealed with the idea that if one fell, the other would know without words, without messengers, without bodies to recognize.

It promised neither salvation nor victory. Only truth.

As long as the black metal remained cold and whole, it meant the bond had not been broken by war. That the sacrifice had not yet been demanded. That fraternal love still existed, even when everything else had been claimed by blood.]

'…'

Arthur remained still, holding both rings in his hands, letting their meaning fully settle in.

In the end… they had succeeded.

They survived the war. They fulfilled their promise. They kept each other alive, together, until the very end. They didn't die separated on a battlefield or forgotten by time. They made it this far with the only thing they had left.

And he was the one who took it from them.

The thought tightened Arthur's chest in an uncomfortable way. He didn't want to imagine how it would feel to be in their place. To know that the only thing keeping you standing is the certainty that your brother is still breathing somewhere in the world… and to lose that in an instant. No matter that they were Nightmare Creatures. No matter that they attacked him without hesitation. That didn't erase what they had been before.

He closed his hand around the rings.

Arthur thought of Ellie.

Of what he would do if the world were reduced to a single promise. If the only way to keep moving forward was knowing she was still alive. He didn't hesitate for even a second about the answer. He would do exactly the same as they did. He would do anything. Cross any place. Kill whoever he had to kill if it meant making sure she would still be breathing the next day.

He exhaled slowly and returned the rings to their orbs.

Arthur didn't feel guilt. He knew he couldn't afford it. But he also couldn't ignore the strange weight that lingered deep in his chest. A mix of respect, sadness, and a silent warning.

This place wasn't just full of monsters.

It was full of stories that ended badly.

Leaving his Soul Sea, Arthur leaned against a wall, his gaze unfocused. No matter how much he wanted to do something to shake this feeling from his chest, going out at night was too risky.

Time passed slowly, until the darkness began to retreat.

When the light returned, Arthur stepped outside.

He kept moving, ignoring side streets, open doors, and passages that vanished between the buildings. He didn't explore, he didn't look inside the houses. All his focus was on keeping the path clear and moving forward.

The journey was long. Arthur lost track of the exact time, but a couple of hours must have passed since he resumed his advance before the environment began to change. It wasn't abrupt. There was no clear line marking the transition. At some point, the constructions simply stopped looking the same.

The houses were in better condition.

The walls were still bare stone, without colors or symbols, but they no longer showed deep cracks or eroded edges. The structures were sturdier, more even. The streets widened enough to walk without brushing both sides, and the ground was more level, less irregular.

There were no decorations.

No statues, no markings, no signs that anyone had wanted to beautify the place.

Even so, everything seemed built with more care. As if this part of the city had been meant to last, not just to survive.

Arthur stopped for a moment, not because of danger, but because of the contrast.

He looked back, toward the area he had come from. The change was evident even from there. He didn't understand why, and he didn't try to. He simply registered it and kept moving forward, maintaining the same pace, the same path, with the feeling that he was entering a different part of the city.

Chapter Text

Not only the buildings changed in this new area. The deeper Arthur moved into it, the larger the streets became. Houses that once stood side by side now had courtyards, more space between them, more privacy.

Even so, he kept advancing the same way as before, moving through blind spots, trying to make his presence as unnoticeable as possible.

Moving like that was extremely slow, but he had no other choice. If he drew too much attention, he had no idea how many creatures might start chasing him. On top of that, with wider streets, there were fewer places to hide.

Moments later, Arthur encountered the first creature. Its silhouette was similar to the previous ones, but its body was different. It was taller, probably around three meters in height, with much more mass, much more weight. Its movements were controlled, refined. Where the others wandered without direction, this one showed intent behind every motion.

As he advanced further, Arthur noticed the change. It wasn't that there were more creatures than before, but their density was higher. In the previous area, the creatures were more spread out. Here, they weren't.

They moved in pairs. Sometimes in groups of three. They crossed paths at wide intersections, paused briefly, changed direction.

Arthur stopped within the frame of a doorless house, using the interior shadow as cover. From there, he observed.

The streets were enormous. They had been designed for constant traffic. That worked against him: fewer tight corners, fewer blind spots. Alleyways existed, but they were scarce and didn't always connect where he needed them to.

He wanted to expand his aether sense to check how many there were, but the fear of being discovered stopped him.

Just by observing, Arthur could tell there were too many presences.

He couldn't count them all, but they were far more than he had faced so far. Every wide street seemed to have at least one group moving slowly from one end to the other.

He hid better.

Arthur chose a house with two exits: one leading to the main street and another to a narrow side passage. He leaned against the inner wall and waited. At first, it was minutes. Then more.

Time began to stretch in an uncomfortable way. He could hear heavy footsteps, slow dragging sounds, the scrape of something hard against stone. Sometimes they passed so close that he could make out the shape of their silhouettes projected on the ground.

He could kill them.

That was the most frustrating part.

Arthur knew he could. His body was fine. Aether flowed without issue. Dawn's Ballad and Infinite Lash responded as always. But he couldn't do it there. Not when there were three more just a street away. Not when the echo of a strike could attract something he hadn't seen yet.

So he waited for hours.

When one of them finally separated from the group, it was almost imperceptible. It didn't move far—just enough to fall outside the immediate range of the other two.

That was his chance, and he didn't hesitate.

Arthur exited through the back of the house, crossed the side passage in silence, and climbed a low wall. From above, he could see it clearly.

It was huge compared to the previous ones. Thick arms, tense muscles. There were markings carved into its back, symbols he didn't recognize, but which were clearly not random.

He attacked.

Infinite Lash struck first, wrapping around its neck. He pulled hard and launched himself forward. Before it could react, Dawn's Ballad pierced the back of its neck.

The impact wasn't silent.

The body fell with a dull thud against the stone.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Rhael of Named Blood Kareth]

Before the sound could travel, Arthur was already moving again, entering the nearest house and pressing himself against the inner wall. He held his breath, focusing aether into his ears. He heard footsteps. A lot of them.

They gathered where the body had fallen. They stayed there for long seconds. Then, slowly, they dispersed.

Arthur moved farther away from the corpse.

'Awakened Beast. Named Blood.'

'So I was right. The hierarchical order of the families represents the strength of the creatures.'

The following days turned into a constant game of hide and seek for Arthur.

He advanced little. Sometimes barely a single street over several hours. He moved from house to house, marking escape routes, observing from broken windows, from low rooftops, from deep shadows that he barely broke when changing position.

He started noticing patterns.

Certain groups repeated routes. Some streets were always patrolled in the same order. There were specific times of day when the density slightly decreased in certain areas.

That was his moment to attack. Still, never more than two.

One day, Arthur isolated a creature by making noise with stones, guiding it into an alley and attacking it.

The alley he chose had no exit and was wedged between two tall buildings that blocked out the light. It was the perfect place for an ambush. And it worked—until something happened that he hadn't planned for.

The first creature followed the sound of the stones and entered the alley. Arthur was hidden in a recess in one of the walls. He followed the plan as usual, reinforced his body with aether, and when the creature turned its back, he launched himself with Dawn's Ballad aimed at its neck.

The blade pierced its skull with some resistance, but eventually gave way.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Serik of Named Blood Volen]

When Arthur moved to retreat back into the recess, he felt another presence through his aether sense. While dealing with the first creature, he had suppressed his sense to avoid drawing attention—but he failed to consider that another might enter the alley on its own.

And that's exactly what happened.

By the time he realized, the other creature was almost on top of him. He wasn't fast enough to reinforce his body or fully dodge the blow. The only thing he managed was avoiding a critical hit. The strike landed squarely in his stomach and sent him flying several meters. He slammed into the back wall of the alley, even breaking part of it.

Arthur fell onto his back amid the collapsed stone, coughing as he struggled to catch his breath. He looked up again at the new creature; it was charging at him. He didn't have much time, and the noise was surely attracting more nearby creatures.

He had no choice but to get up however he could and run. The dense aether in the environment helped his wounds heal as he moved, but the creature kept chasing him. He jumped through windows, climbed onto rooftops, kept moving—and it still followed.

And that wasn't the worst part.

A few minutes later, more creatures started joining the chase. At first, one. Then three. Before Arthur realized it, there were close to ten creatures pursuing him.

As he kept running, his pulse pounding in his temples and the irregular sound of footsteps behind him, he activated [Former King].

The change was immediate.

It wasn't as if something external took control, nor did he lose consciousness. It was stranger than that.

It felt like his mind split into two overlapping layers.

The first was still him. The exhaustion. The pain in his stomach from the blow. The ragged breathing. The very real fear of making a mistake and dying right there. That line of thought didn't disappear.

But above it, another appeared.

At first, it was empty.

No thoughts. No words. Just… presence.

It shared all the context with his normal mind, every image, every sound, every sensation. And then it started moving.

It was as if his thoughts accelerated without becoming chaotic. On the contrary, everything aligned. What had been impulses turned into data. Distances, timing, angles, speed. The city stopped being a maze and became a map.

The creatures were no longer a dozen chasing him.

They were moving positions with repeating patterns.

Thinking about consequences became automatic. He didn't have to stop and imagine what would happen if he turned left or jumped to a lower roof. He already knew. Options discarded themselves not because of danger, but inefficiency.

It was… addictive.

Not because it made him feel powerful, but because everything was clear. Too clear.

Arthur understood then that this way of thinking wasn't heroic or just. It was practical. Cold. Optimized for survival when there's no margin for error.

And within seconds, the plan appeared fully formed. Not just one. Several.

He chose the quietest.

Arthur kept running a bit longer, on purpose. Letting the group compress. Letting the creatures believe they were cornering him. He slightly reduced his speed, just enough for the fastest ones to pull ahead of the rest.

He had seen the place before without paying attention. A wide intersection meant for large traffic, with two narrow side streets and tall buildings blocking the view from above.

He slipped into one of those side streets at the last second.

The first two creatures turned with him. The others kept going straight for a moment before reacting.

That was the breaking point.

Arthur jumped against a wall, propelled himself onto a low balcony, and from there into a house. He didn't stop. He crossed the interior, exited through a back window, and returned to the main street from another angle.

The two creatures that had followed him burst through the house walls, believing he was still inside.

To their surprise, he wasn't.

Using the noise and chaos they caused, Arthur summoned Dawn's Ballad and Infinite Lash. He wrapped the latter around the neck of one of the creatures still in the street and pulled hard, making it stumble and fall over the legs of another.

Taking advantage of the distraction, he rushed toward the creature that had taken the impact and drove Dawn's Ballad straight into its forehead.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Rethan of Named Blood Kael]

Without wasting a movement, Arthur pulled the blade free. When he turned, the other creature was already standing. What it failed to realize was that its neck was right at the height of his sword.

And that's exactly what happened.

With a clean motion, Dawn's Ballad cut through its neck.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Dervik of Named Blood Kael]

The head hadn't even hit the ground before Arthur was moving again. The group was regrouping now, so he continued the plan and kept running.

He moved again, in and out of houses, using windows, low rooftops, narrow passages. He never ran in a straight line. He never repeated the same route.

Every time one or two creatures separated from the main group, he eliminated them.

Always fast.

The numbers started dropping without them realizing it. When only three remained, the attribute was no longer necessary. Arthur deactivated [Former King] before the clarity became something he could grow used to.

The last fight was brief. Some of them were already in bad shape from crashing into each other or slamming into walls.

Using his agility advantage, Arthur made one strike another, then moved toward the one not involved. He wrapped the whip around one of its arms and guided it into the path of another creature. In the end, all three collided with each other.

The one in the middle was the most affected and ended up farther from the group. It was the first to die. Taking advantage of a wound on its right knee, Arthur cut there and it fell to the side. Supporting itself only with its arms, it had no way to attack him. Bringing Dawn's Ballad down in a vertical strike, its face was split in two.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Korl of Named Blood Veren]

The others didn't have much of a chance either. Using Infinite Lash, Arthur wrapped it around both of their waists, extending it just enough for it to lock them together, back to back.

They tried to break free, but he never gave them the chance. Throwing Dawn's Ballad with all his strength toward where their cores should be, the blade pierced the first creature's body and the tip emerged a few centimeters from the second.

Both dead.

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Saith of Named Blood Veren]

[You have slain an Awakened Beast: Molrek of Named Blood Veren]

Silence returned all at once.

Arthur leaned against a wall, breathing deeply, letting the aether finish closing his superficial wounds. Only then did he fully notice the abysmal difference between his normal state and when he activated [Former King]. The ease of thinking up plans, developing them, and executing them wasn't the only thing that surprised him.

It was the absolute clarity with which he acted every movement. He didn't feel like himself at all. It was as if his body had stopped being his, and a cold, calculating presence had taken his place.

'Is this how Grey felt?'

'How can someone maintain their humanity thinking like that?'

In a way, the sensation was euphoric: the efficiency of everything, the real feeling of power. It was magnificent. And that unsettled him.

Because Arthur knew that, when the time came, he would use it again.

And that a part of him… was already waiting for it.

'Wow, I should only use that attribute as a last resort. I could easily lose myself if I keep it active too long.'

Moments later, Arthur recovered a bit and continued on his way. If he stayed too long in the same place, there was a chance more creatures would approach, and he had no desire to fight more battles after what had just happened.

The change came without warning.

The structures began to rise disproportionately. It wasn't just that they were taller; the scale of the place itself felt wrong. Towers rose far above anything Arthur had seen before. Walls were polished smooth. Columns were so massive that his presence felt insignificant.

The stone was black, or dark enough to seem so. The metal showed no signs of wear, no rust, no visible imperfections. Everything was too clean. Too intact. There were few decorations, but the symbols carved into the surfaces were precise and ancient, as if they didn't need repetition to make their meaning clear.

Arthur looked for a tall building and waited. Before making any decisions, he needed to see what creatures inhabited this new zone. Hours later, he had studied them enough—and he didn't like what he saw.

Until now, he had only fought Dormant Beasts or Awakened Beasts.

But ahead of him were Awakened Demons and Fallen Monsters…

And there weren't few of them. Nearby, he could count around ten scattered across the area, and he had no doubt there were more the deeper he went.

'This doesn't look good.'

There was no way he could fight them. It was already incredible that he could handle multiple Awakened Beasts at once in the previous area and in the labyrinth. But an Awakened Demon? A Fallen Monster?

No. Absolutely not.

He was just a Sleeper whose core wasn't even saturated…

'Actually… how am I doing on that?'

[Aether Fragments: 232/1000]

He hadn't progressed as much as he would have liked. Thinking back, Arthur realized he should have stayed longer in the labyrinth. In one week there, he advanced more than he did here in almost two.

'And Dawn's Ballad?'

[70/100]

Fortunately, the sword only cares about how many kills he makes. It doesn't care about the rank or class of the creatures.

'What will happen when it reaches 100? I can't wait to find out!'

Unfortunately, he wouldn't find out in this zone. He had no intention of fighting these creatures. It would take him longer to cross the area, but he wasn't a masochist.

Once he recovered, Arthur advanced with far more caution than before.

This wasn't about isolating or improvising. Every movement had to be justified. The wide streets left very little room to hide in plain sight. Shadows existed, but they were deep and sharply defined, created by massive structures that allowed no margin for miscalculation.

He moved only when he was sure.

Sometimes hours passed without him advancing more than a single block. He stayed still on upper floors, behind columns, or inside secondary buildings, observing. The Awakened Demons moved with a dangerous calm, as if they were in no hurry at all. The Fallen Monsters, on the other hand, remained motionless most of the time.

That was what unsettled him the most. They didn't seem like improvised guards or randomly placed beasts. Each one covered a specific area. Every major intersection had at least one dominant presence.

Arthur realized then: every creature he encountered moved as if it were protecting something.

His first thought was the relic, but he didn't think it would be something sitting on a pedestal waiting to be taken. The process was probably similar to what happened in his first nightmare.

'They're protecting the portal…'

Analyzing their movements, Arthur came to the conclusion that forcing a fight wouldn't just be suicidal—it would be useless.

So he didn't.

He learned the intervals. How long a creature stayed in one spot before moving. Which routes overlapped and which didn't. Which zones were temporarily empty and which never were. It was slow, frustrating, but it worked.

Days passed.

Not one or two. Several.

Arthur didn't eat, and hunger was starting to set in. He slept poorly and always in different places. Never twice in the same building. Never long enough to truly relax. The exhaustion piled up, but there was no alternative.

Even so, he advanced.

Little by little, the structures began to change again.

The towers and fortresses didn't disappear, but they started organizing around a central axis. The streets, though still massive, now had a clearer purpose. There was symmetry. Order. A growing sense of separation.

Until Arthur saw them.

Inner walls.

They weren't improvised or defensive in the classic sense. They were too clean, too straight. They weren't meant to withstand a siege, but to mark a boundary. Dark stone reinforced with polished metal stretched from side to side, blocking access to the city's center.

In front of one of the entrances, a sign carved directly into the stone caught his attention. The language was ancient, and at first glance he didn't understand it—but thankfully, the spell did.

The runes read:

Central Domain Academy

'An academy…?'

Arthur stopped.

The contrast with everything before was brutal. There were no ruins, no wear, no improvisation. Everything was in perfect condition, as if time itself wasn't allowed to act within. Beyond the walls, the buildings were different—not taller by brute force, but by design. Elegant, solid, with a silent presence.

He crossed.

The sensation changed immediately.

The noise of the outer city almost completely vanished. The space felt isolated, separated from the rest of the world. There were no giant streets, but wide yet contained avenues, inner courtyards, structures that invited one to stop and rest for a while.

Obviously, Arthur didn't.

At first, he walked around the wall to carefully observe for possible threats. He didn't see any, but there was a strange feeling in the air.

When he found a building connected to the wall, Arthur decided to jump over and enter it. Its interior was strangely comfortable…

There was a desk with an extremely comfortable chair—he knew because he sat in it while looking around the room. To the left, there was a stack of books, but when he tried to read them, they were all blank, as if they had never contained anything, or perhaps everything had been erased. To the right, there was a sofa with a small table in front of it, and not much else.

The feeling it gave him was very similar to the professors' rooms at the academy in NQSC.

Arthur didn't have to be a genius to realize he was in a room that once belonged to a professor before the entire city became corrupted. Leaving the room, he headed to the rooftop of the building. A few minutes later, he was overlooking the academy from above.

Surprisingly, it was quite similar to the academy in NQSC. Both felt like cities within a city.

'I would've liked to see this academy full of life, with students moving around…'

Still, admiring the view wasn't the reason he climbed to the roof. From here, he could see a large part of the academy, and by focusing aether into his eyes, he could tell he wasn't alone. From this vantage point, he could see a few creatures, maybe four or five.

Their shape was similar to the previous ones, but they emitted a different aura. Arthur didn't look at them directly; he didn't want them to notice his gaze. Even so, seeing them from the corner of his eye was enough to reach a conclusion he didn't like at all.

They were Fallen Devils…

'Oh hell nah.'

'I'm not getting anywhere near that place.'

Arthur spent a few hours studying their behavior, and he didn't like it at all. They moved in patterns; whenever he stopped watching one, another immediately replaced it. The patterns continued, over and over. The organized way they moved confirmed something else, and thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.

What kind of creature could make Fallen Devils act in such an organized manner? And not just them—he had felt this throughout the entire zone.

There could only be one explanation. There was a creature even more powerful controlling all of them.

At minimum… a Corrupted Tyrant.

Arthur's eyes widened, and he felt the air start to leave his lungs.

Eventually, he started breathing again, but the feeling of insignificance didn't fade.

'Gray is insane!'

'How does he expect to send me, a damn Sleeper, into a place with a Corrupted Tyrant?!'

He stayed on the roof a while longer, partly cursing Gray in his head and partly memorizing the visible movement patterns. There was no way to advance through the academy without risking running into those creatures, so he discarded that route entirely.

Arthur climbed down the building on the opposite side and resumed moving while circling the wall.

The journey was long.

He advanced little, rested just enough, and moved again.

Eventually, Arthur found a more viable area to walk through and enter the academy. He avoided open spaces, circled large structures, and crossed only when he was sure no creatures were nearby. Several times, he had to retreat and change routes, losing entire hours over a single miscalculated move.

It wasn't fast.

But it worked.

Over time, the buildings began clustering together, resembling the dormitories at NQSC. The streets also narrowed a bit.

And then Arthur saw it.

The portal stood at the end of a straight avenue, between two low structures. There were no creatures nearby, no signs of recent activity.

It was exactly like the portals he had seen in his first nightmare.

Gigantic. Dark. Completely devoid of light or visible energy.

It made no sound. It reacted to nothing.

It was simply there.

Arthur stopped to observe it for a long while, making sure there was nothing out of place. When he was convinced it wasn't an obvious trap, he advanced without rushing.

He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

'This is just the next step.'

Arthur crossed the portal.

The city vanished from his sight in an instant, along with the academy, the inner walls, and everything he had left behind.

The relic awaited him.

Chapter Text

As he crossed the portal, everything around him disappeared in an instant. There was nothing to see. Nothing to smell. Nothing to touch.

He was floating in a sea of darkness.

He didn't know how long he stayed in that state. But suddenly, walls began to form around him. Then he felt his feet touch something. Trying to orient himself and see what it was, he realized it. He was in a corridor.

The corridor stretched for kilometers with ease, with the portal to the next zone at the far end. The walls around him were made of gray stone with purple details. Looking closely, he realized those purple details weren't decorative. They were runes, written in some ancient language.

'Could this be the language used by those who created this place?' he wondered.

The wall wasn't very far, so he tried to get closer to read them better. To his surprise, every time he took a step toward the wall, it felt like he took two steps back. He tried for what he considered a few minutes, but he couldn't advance at all. After every attempt, the wall was still there, and he hadn't moved any closer.

'What the hell?'

'Maybe those runes have something to do with this effect?'

Abandoning the plan of reading the runes, Arthur focused back on observing the corridor. There were no threats at first glance, and he didn't detect any interference with his aether sense either. All that was left was to start walking forward with his guard up.

Looking back at the portal, at first he thought it might be a few kilometers away and that he would eventually reach it. But now, knowing that the wall seemed much closer and yet he still couldn't approach it, he didn't want to think about how far away the portal truly was. This was going to be a long journey…

He summoned Dawn's Ballad in his right hand and started walking down the corridor. He must have walked for almost half an hour without seeing any progress. The floor was the same, the walls were the same, and the portal remained at the same distance.

'I have an idea!'

To check whether he was actually making progress, Arthur decided to use Dawn's Ballad to leave a mark on the floor and use it as a reference. He stopped and tried to draw a straight line on the ground with the sword. When the blade passed over the surface, no mark was left.

He tried again.

This time he gripped the sword more firmly and even reinforced his arms. Nothing happened.

When he was lowering the sword for a third and final attempt, he felt a change in the environment. It was as if a sudden wind had risen. His pale blond hair fell into his eyes, and through his aether sense he began to feel distortions in the surroundings.

It felt as though all the aether around him had entered a state of madness. On impulse, he activated [Realmheart], and what he saw made him deeply uneasy.

All the aether particles were spinning around him without any clear direction, obeying a will he couldn't perceive.

It was as if he were standing at the center of a phenomenon that had nothing to do with him, while everything around was being dragged along.

As time passed, the speed kept increasing, and Arthur began to feel himself lifting off the ground. Panic started forming in his chest. He didn't understand what was happening.

He tried to think of what to do, to manipulate the aether and calm it down, but he couldn't. He never could. He tried absorbing it, but there was too much. His entire body began bleeding aether, and at some point he had to stop trying. He didn't keep it inside his body. When he expelled it, he tried to give it intent, to influence it in some way…

He expelled everything at once, with the intention of making it stop and support the rest. The expelled aether had once been his and responded to his will. So he tried to guide the aether being expelled, forcing it to follow his will even though it no longer belonged to him.

The first thing Arthur felt was his body weakening all at once. The change was so abrupt that his brain struggled to process it. First came discomfort in his muscles, followed by small spasms. Then came the sensation of his tissues being torn apart and reconstructed at the same time.

The mental impact was no less severe. He felt his entire mind trying to understand what was happening, searching for answers in the movements of the surrounding aether, desperately trying to find solutions. He even tried to activate [Former King] again, but the pain made it impossible. First came a ringing in his ears, a sharp sound that vibrated throughout his body. Then came discomfort in his eyes that forced him to close them and deactivate [Realmheart].

Throughout all this pain and suffering, Arthur never stopped absorbing aether. He could feel it dripping from his pores, feel his aether channels throughout his body becoming saturated and beginning to expand. And whenever he expelled it, he did so all at once, still trying to influence the storm around him to make it stop.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that. Minutes, hours, days. His mind was on the verge of breaking, his body was already broken, but his will never yielded. It felt as if the world itself wanted to erase his existence. He felt suspended between something corporeal and incorporeal.

After countless attempts, Arthur perceived the aether around him suddenly come to a halt. His body began to feel real again. His mind started to reconstruct itself, slowly at first, gradually regaining clarity. Eventually, he could form coherent thoughts again, and that's when he realized it.

The storm was still there, but it was completely frozen.

He tried to activate [Realmheart], but it was a bad decision.

His mind had reorganized itself, but the exhaustion was still there, and attempting to activate the attribute was the last thing he perceived before losing consciousness…

***

Arthur opened his eyes.

Or at least, that's what he tried to do.

There was no light. No darkness. Nothing that could be called vision. By reflex, he tried to blink, but he didn't feel any eyelids. The motion vanished into nothing before it could even complete.

Something was wrong.

He tried to move. He felt the intention clearly, automatic, like always… but there was no response. Not because he was paralyzed, but because there was nothing that could move.

He tried to touch his face. He felt no hands. No skin. No resistance.

The silence was absolute, but not like a place without sound. It was silence as a concept. There was no air to vibrate, no space to carry an echo. No cold, no heat. No discomfort, no relief.

Only absence.

By instinct, Arthur expanded his aether sense.

There was an immense amount of it around him. So dense that, at any other time, it would have been impossible to ignore. And yet, it didn't respond. It didn't stir. It didn't acknowledge him.

That was when fear appeared.

It wasn't sudden. It wasn't explosive. It formed gradually, like pressure with nowhere to settle. He had no chest for it to tighten, no breathing to accelerate… and yet it was there.

A pure, shapeless fear.

He tried to reason. To force calm. To organize his thoughts the way he always did in combat. But logic collided with a reality too simple to deny.

He had no body.

He wasn't injured. He wasn't unconscious on the ground. He wasn't trapped.

He simply… didn't exist the way he always had.

In this space, he was neither flesh nor aether.

Only consciousness.

That realization should have calmed him. Instead, it made the fear denser. More real.

That was when something changed.

Not in front of him—because there was no "front"—but within his perception. As if the void itself began to organize.

One form appeared, and then another.

They weren't objects. They didn't occupy space. They didn't emit light. And yet, he knew exactly where they were.

If he had to describe them, he'd say they resembled screens.

Two defined structures, suspended in nothingness.

Waiting for him.

At that moment, Arthur heard a voice that seemed to come from inside him.

No. It was exactly his voice.

The spell wasn't speaking to him, nor any other entity. It was him.

"Power always demands a choice."

The two screens reacted to those words.

They didn't light up like an artifact would. There was no light or clear images. It was more as if the emptiness before him became… meaningful.

The first screen conveyed a heavy sensation. Finality. Absolute silence.

No fear. No pain. Just the complete cessation of all intent.

There were no images, but Arthur understood the message instantly.

To give up.

To stop moving forward.

To accept that everything ended there.

The second screen was different.

It didn't promise peace.

It didn't offer relief.

It conveyed weight. Continuity. Responsibility.

Future pain. Difficult decisions. Bonds that could break.

And yet… movement.

To keep existing.

To keep choosing.

To keep carrying consequences.

He didn't need anyone to explain what each one represented.

Arthur understood them because both possibilities had crossed his mind before.

He stared at them for what could have been seconds or an eternity. In that place, time had no shape, but pressure did, and he felt it clearly.

The two screens remained suspended before him, unmoving, not explicitly demanding anything, and yet impossible to ignore. He tried to understand what he was supposed to do. There were no instructions, no obvious gesture, no clear action that marked a choice. He thought it might be enough to lean toward one of them, to want it strongly enough, but nothing happened. It was as if this place didn't respond to simple impulses.

For a moment, Arthur considered that the answer was obvious. To live. To keep going. To not disappear. But as soon as he formed that thought, he realized how empty it was. Wanting to live simply to continue existing meant nothing. It was a basic reflex, something even intelligent Nightmare Creatures possessed. That couldn't be what this place was looking for. If it were, the choice would have no meaning.

That was when he began to truly question what it meant to choose to live.

Not from fear. Not from habit. But from consequences. From what it meant for him to continue existing in that world.

His mind, free from physical distractions, began to walk paths he normally avoided. He thought of his father and his mother, of everything they had sacrificed, of how they always believed in him even when he doubted himself. He thought of his sister, her smile, her blind trust, and how cruel this world was to someone like her. He thought of Cassie, of the strange friendship they had built, of the times her presence had anchored him when everything else seemed to fall apart.

And then he understood.

Choosing to live wasn't about him.

It was about accepting that his existence carried weight in the lives of others. That as long as he kept moving forward, as long as he didn't give up, there were still things that could be protected, futures that could be changed, people who wouldn't have to face the world alone. Living meant carrying that responsibility, accepting that his decisions would bring pain and consequences, but also the possibility that something good might exist because of them.

He didn't need to touch the screen.

He didn't need to say anything.

When that thought settled into his consciousness, the second screen reacted. Not with light or movement, but with absolute certainty. Its presence stopped feeling distant and became part of him, as if it had always been there, waiting for him to understand what choosing it truly meant.

The first screen, meanwhile, vanished without resistance, as if it had never been a real option.

In that moment, Arthur knew he had chosen to live. Not for himself, but for all those he wasn't ready to abandon yet.

His consciousness felt drawn toward the second screen, as if he passed through it and continued along the path his choice had created.

The scenario advanced.

The absence twisted in on itself once more, and without a clear transition, the nothingness began to take shape. It wasn't immediate or clean. First came the sensation of weight, then the notion of space, and finally the certainty that he was no longer alone. He still didn't have a body, but he could perceive presences around him. Many of them. Too many. All moving in the same direction, all carrying the same exhaustion.

The world forming before him wasn't dying in a spectacular way. There were no cataclysms or burning skies. It was worse. It was wearing down. The structures were still standing, but cracked. People kept walking, but with contained urgency, as if they knew time wasn't on their side. This wasn't a world that could be saved by the will of one person alone.

And Arthur understood it without anyone having to tell him.

This world needed people. It needed cooperation.

And it needed sacrifices.

The voice manifested again, in the same neutral manner, without judgment or emotion, as if it were simply stating an unavoidable fact.

"Power defines the method."

The scene shifted subtly. The presences around him stopped being indistinct and began separating into possibilities. He could feel two paths forming at the same time, overlapping, both valid, both functional.

In one, survival was direct. Efficient. Brutal. Every resource taken from others was another step away from death. Every obstacle removed ensured that he would keep moving forward. There was no deception in that path. It worked. It always did. Crushing others was a simple way to reduce risks.

The other path was slower. Unstable. Shared. It didn't guarantee immediate results and multiplied variables. Surviving alongside others meant taking responsibility for their mistakes, carrying weaknesses that weren't his, and accepting that at some point, someone would fail. It wasn't a clean path.

Arthur didn't hesitate for long.

Not because it was nobler, nor because he thought himself better than anyone else.

He chose the second path because he knew the cost of the first.

Loneliness always charges interest.

He had seen what it does to the mind, how it erodes judgment and turns every decision into an act of desperation. Surviving by crushing others works… until there's no one left. And when that happens, the world doesn't become safer, only emptier.

Sharing risks wasn't altruism.

It was investment.

As Arthur advanced along that path, he felt the scenario stabilize, as if the world accepted the choice and adjusted its weight accordingly. It wasn't easier, but it was real. There was conflict, there was tension, but there was also something the other path didn't offer.

Continuity.

The voice didn't congratulate him.

It spoke only once more, confirming that the method had been chosen.

"The path defines what you are willing to lose."

And the scenario shifted again.

The change was immediate, but not violent. The world around him didn't collapse like in previous scenarios; it simply lost stability. The presences disappeared, the environment lost any clear direction, and the sensation of progress became diffuse. He wasn't in danger, but he wasn't moving forward either. It was as if the scenario itself were waiting for something more specific from him.

The voice manifested again.

With uncomfortable simplicity.

"What kind of person are you?"

The question came without images at first. It simply hung there, suspended in his consciousness, forcing him to face it without distractions. Then, slowly, the possibilities began to take shape. They weren't physical paths or complete scenes, but defined concepts, solid and impossible to ignore.

The first was clear.

To be a hero.

To save others even when the personal cost was absolute. To become a symbol, someone others could look up to and place their expectations upon. It was a familiar path. Inspiring. And deeply limiting. A hero couldn't fail. Couldn't doubt. Couldn't afford to be human.

The second wasn't better.

To do what is right regardless of morality.

Cold, surgical logic. Decisions made by outcomes, not values. Sacrificing what's necessary today to secure a more stable tomorrow. It was efficient. It worked. But it demanded something Arthur wasn't willing to give: the ability to justify anything if the result warranted it.

The third was the most honest.

To protect only his own, at any cost.

To close off the world and reduce it to a small circle. To prioritize without shame, even if that meant condemning others. There was no hypocrisy in that path. Only the brutal acceptance that not everyone mattered equally.

And yet…

None of them were him.

Arthur didn't hesitate because he didn't understand the options. He hesitated because they all tried to turn him into an idea. Into a fixed concept. Into something predictable. Each one demanded that he abandon an essential part of himself to fit into a clear definition.

The silence stretched.

The scenario began to degrade. Forms blurred, coherence fractured, as if the world itself were losing patience. He felt pressure. Not pain, but urgency. The trial was waiting for an answer.

And that was when he understood.

He didn't have to choose between those options because none of them were meant to be chosen.

He didn't want to be a hero.

He didn't want to be a judge without morality.

He didn't want to be someone willing to sacrifice others without looking back.

He didn't want to be an idea.

He wanted to be himself.

The realization wasn't explosive. It was calm. Clear. Inevitable.

"I don't want to be an idea."

The words didn't echo through the space, but something responded.

"I want to be myself."

In that instant, something changed.

A new presence appeared where there had been nothing before. It wasn't announced. It wasn't presented as another option. It simply… was there. As if it had always existed, waiting for him to reject the others.

A fourth possibility.

Not visible before.

"To remain myself, even when that doesn't fit."

It wasn't a clean path.

It didn't promise coherence.

It didn't guarantee that he would always make the right decision.

But it was real.

The moment Arthur accepted it, the scenario didn't dissolve.

It shattered.

Conceptual structures collapsed in on themselves, definitions fragmented, and space itself failed to hold. There was no resistance. No correction. As if the trial had reached exactly the point it had been waiting to reach.

And then, everything changed again.

There was no transition or warning. One moment he was in nothingness, and the next, air forced itself violently into his lungs, burning as it went down. The impact was so abrupt that his mind took a moment to catch up with his body. Pain. Fatigue. Weight. He had a body again, and it was in a deplorable state. Every breath was a conscious effort, every step a negotiation with muscles that no longer wanted to respond.

Arthur was running.

He didn't know since when, only that he couldn't stop.

His feet struck uneven ground as he ran through what looked like a ruined village. Wooden and stone houses lined both sides, many partially collapsed, others abandoned for so long that nature had begun reclaiming them. There were no signs of life. None. And yet, he wasn't alone.

Behind him, something moved with terrifying consistency. He didn't need to turn around to know it was chasing him. Its presence was heavy, oppressive, as if the air itself grew denser with every passing second. He had no memories of this place, no understanding of how he'd arrived there, but he knew one thing with absolute certainty.

If it caught him, he would die.

He had no powers.

He couldn't feel aether.

He had nothing to rely on except his exhausted body and the will to keep moving.

Arthur turned into a narrow alley, nearly stumbling as he did, and that's when he saw it.

A corridor.

Not one meant for people. It was narrow, enclosed, almost claustrophobic, but at the far end there was something different. A door. He didn't need to touch it or get closer to understand what it meant. That door was the exit. It was survival. It was the end of the chase.

If he reached it, he would live.

His legs reacted before his mind, accelerating despite the burning in his chest and the feeling that his lungs were about to collapse. But then he saw it.

On the ground, to the side of the corridor, there was an egg.

Arthur stopped.

Not out of curiosity.

Not out of surprise.

He stopped because something inside him refused to keep moving.

It wasn't an ordinary egg. He couldn't explain it with words, but the moment he saw it, he understood something that didn't require reasoning. That egg wasn't an object. It was someone. Life. Fragile. Defenseless. Completely dependent on a decision that didn't belong to it.

As he looked at it, Arthur felt the presence behind him drawing closer. It wasn't far anymore. He could hear the scrape of something heavy against the ground, the sound of a breath that wasn't human. Time compressed. There was no room to hesitate.

No voice appeared.

No options floated before him.

But he understood everything.

If he kept running and left the egg behind, he would survive. Alone.

If he took it with him, he had no guarantee of reaching the door. But at least that being wouldn't die abandoned in that corridor.

He didn't hesitate.

Arthur crouched down, ignoring the pain shooting through his legs, and took the egg into his arms. It was heavier than it looked, and at the same time incredibly fragile. He felt something inside him lock into place around that decision, as if there was no turning back.

He ran.

Each step was slower than the last. The corridor seemed to stretch, as if resisting his progress. The sound behind him was deafening now, far too close, and he knew he wouldn't make it in time.

Still, he kept going.

When Arthur reached the door, he felt the creature's breath almost at the back of his neck. He didn't have time to turn. He pressed one hand against the cold surface and pushed with everything he had left, clutching the egg to his chest as if it were the only real thing in that world.

The instant his fingers touched the door, everything stopped.

The scene collapsed.

Sound vanished, the weight of his body dissolved, and the sensation of falling wrapped around him once more. Before darkness claimed him completely, the voice spoke again…

With a tone utterly devoid of judgment or emotion.

Simply… with certainty.

"You have chosen to live."

"You have chosen to coexist."

"You have chosen to be."

There was a brief pause.

"And yet, you accepted the burden of another."

"The trial has been passed."

***

Arthur's balance was completely lost, and his entire world shattered once more, disintegrating until nothing remained but absolute darkness.

Consciousness returned to him all at once, and air rushed violently into his lungs. His eyes snapped open, and he was left dazed by the light. His body was so stiff that he had no choice but to remain in the position he was in.

He blinked several times to orient himself and realized he was staring up at the sky.

He slowly expanded his aether sense to avoid overwhelming his mind and realized he was lying on a stone platform. There was nothing else. Just the platform, him… and an egg?

'The egg of the choice!'

'Wait… the egg of the choice?'

Arthur tried to sit up to get a better look, but all his muscles screamed in protest. He considered reinforcing them with aether, but something told him he would regret it if he did.

He had no choice but to remain lying there, staring at the sky, while he reflected on everything that had happened.

'First, the entire zone… that city had once been inhabited by humans, and its hierarchical system was based on blood. Or rather, on the purity of it, maybe? My theory is that the deeper I went into the city, the stronger the creatures became, which would mean their blood was purer. Though in the end, they all became victims of corruption…'

'Then the Relicombs. I have a feeling that the first corridor zone was an area where space itself was being altered. I don't know how long I walked there without making any progress, and when I tested my idea, the zone reacted negatively and generated something like an aether storm. At one point, I felt like the storm was trying to erase me. I suppose my Aspect saved me, since it specifically states that my presence cannot be overwritten by the world.'

'And the rest… I don't know. It was extremely confusing. In the first choice, I literally felt that if I chose the first screen, I would die. Then the way communication worked was very strange, as if choosing required me to gradually become part of the choice itself. Very confusing. And the last scene… I lived it. Flesh and blood. And the worst part is that if that creature had caught me, I'm sure it would have killed me.'

Now the question was… how was he supposed to move around with the egg? Was it a Memory? An Echo?

'I guess there's only one way to find out. I'll have to open my runes.'

The moment Arthur thought of his runes, they appeared before him. And when he finally got a clear look at them, he couldn't understand what he was seeing.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Chapter Text

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

Aether Fragments: [0/1000]

'I went from 232 fragments to 0!!'

He would have brought his hands to his face, but the pain coursing through his entire body left him no choice but to stare at the sky with a completely empty expression.

'How long was I actually using Realmheart? I thought I'd only used it for a few minutes…'

He had never been this weak.

Not even after finishing his nightmare had he ever had so few fragments.

All the effort he had put into killing creatures to saturate his core had been thrown away because of a single mistake…

He couldn't stop the tears from forming in his eyes, born from the sheer helplessness he felt at that moment. And with his body aching so badly, he didn't even try to wipe them away. The tears traced a path down his face before falling onto the platform below. All he did was close his eyes and remain like that for several minutes.

Eventually, Arthur pulled himself out of that emotional low and looked at his runes again. As he did, he could feel how the tears had dried along the trail from his eyes to his jaw. It wasn't a pleasant sensation, but he didn't give it much thought.

Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Phantom Armor], [Dawn's Ballad], [Last Oath], [Last Answer]

'At least I still have the same memories…'

Echoes: [Sylvie]

'Sylvie?'

'That's the name of the being inside the egg?'

Driven by curiosity, Arthur entered his Soul Sea to take a closer look. He didn't pay attention to its design this time; he simply willed the egg to manifest in his arms. Once it did, he noticed two very strange things.

First, the egg wasn't heavy at all. In fact, he could hold it with one hand and barely felt its weight. Second, it was quite large, about the size of his torso. Even though he could hold it with one hand, its size made it completely awkward.

Looking at the egg's runes, Arthur was surprised once more…

Echo: Sylvie

Echo Rank: ???

Echo Class: ???

Echo Attributes: ???

'Oh, wonderful. Thanks for the information, Spell.'

[0/500]

'Another counter?'

'I'm guessing that's what it needs to hatch, right?'

[Do you wish to give 500 fragments to this Echo?]

'…'

The Spell was messing with him.

Leaving Sylvie aside for the moment, Arthur turned his attention to his Soul Sea. The purple sea was as calm as ever, illuminated by its equally purple sun. As he shifted his gaze toward the clouds, he saw the familiar pattern of Realmheart's runes but there was something else now.

'That wasn't there before.'

There was a new set of runes etched into the clouds. He immediately checked his attributes; this only ever happened when he gained an aether-related attribute.

Attributes: [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life], [Realmheart], [Static Void]

'Static Void?'

[Static Void]

Description: [Your consciousness opens to the branch of the aether of time (Aevum). By imposing your will upon it, the surrounding temporal flow is halted, freezing matter and motion within your influence.]

'That… that's completely broken…'

'Wait, does that mean what saved me from the aether storm wasn't my Aspect, but the fact that I gained enough understanding of the time branch and froze the storm?'

That would explain why he ended up with zero fragments. Freezing time probably wasn't cheap. This was exactly what he had feared: gaining something far too powerful to actually use.

From now on, Arthur was going to stop thinking about things he didn't want to happen. Before the academy, he wished not to end up in an unexplored zone and look where he is. Then he said he didn't want to find something absurdly powerful because he wouldn't be able to use it. And what just happened?

Exactly that.

And let's not even talk about his bad luck since entering the Dream Realm.

First, not meeting anyone even though he said he didn't want to. Now he regretted that too.

Second, all the progress he had made vanished in an instant.

Third, and most importantly, he had no idea how long he'd been stuck in here.

If his calculations were right, he'd been here for about two months… though it could easily be double that.

'Damn it. I said I wouldn't think about things I don't want to happen!'

Arthur was exhausted. He needed sleep.

First, he recalled Sylvie's egg from the platform back into his Soul Sea, then he exited it. The day was ending, and only then did he realize he was back in the labyrinth; the Dark Sea was beginning to rise.

How did he get here? No idea. And at this point, he didn't care.

Arthur closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He woke up to the sun's rays hitting his face. At first, opening his eyes was difficult, not from exhaustion, but because they were stuck together from crying the night before without wiping his tears away. His body wasn't fully recovered, but it no longer hurt everywhere when he moved like it had yesterday.

Standing up, Arthur walked to the edge of the platform and looked into the distance. He was still in the labyrinth, but in a part of it he hadn't seen before.

It was otherwise identical: same structures, same corridors, and the same creatures roaming within.

Focusing a bit of aether into his eyes, Arthur spotted them. Carapace Scavengers. At a glance, he counted six or seven.

That's when he noticed something else. The platform he was on was actually a colossal statue, at least two hundred meters tall. From this position, it was hard to tell what the statue depicted, but that didn't seem important.

Arthur spent a while watching the Scavengers and planning a route toward the next elevated position he could find. It lay to the south, a couple of kilometers away. He could reach it today if he left right now, but he was still sore, so he decided to wait and recover. Scavengers weren't particularly difficult to kill, but he wasn't about to do something stupid.

For the rest of the day, Arthur observed the labyrinth, mentally mapping routes and analyzing the creatures' behavior.

Eventually, it grew darker. He turned around, ready to lie down and sleep, when he noticed something he hadn't seen before. There was writing carved into the stone of the platform.

Up close, it read:

"West. People."

'What?'

'West. People? Couldn't you be a bit more specific?'

Arthur had already planned a route heading south, but this changed everything. He wasn't sure he could trust it; it could easily be someone's trap. After all, in the Dream Realm, the only enemies weren't just creatures. Humans could be just as dangerous if not more.

Still, who would set a trap like this? It almost seemed counterproductive. Everyone knew better than to trust things like this.

Then again, what other choice did he have?

Head south and hope to get lucky? Even if this was a trap, it meant there were people. If he was strong enough by the time he reached them, maybe he could handle it.

Arthur didn't like the idea of walking straight into the wolf's mouth, but he didn't have another option.

Tomorrow, he'd map a route to the west.

Another day passed, and Arthur was ready to return to the labyrinth. The path was clear in his head. All that was left was to descend the statue and begin the journey. As he climbed down, he thought about his plan. Should he focus on strengthening himself alone? Or gather the 500 fragments and give them to Sylvie?

He didn't know what Sylvie was, but if she required 500 fragments, she had to be powerful. Maybe it was better to awaken her and at the very least, he wouldn't be alone anymore.

When Arthur reached the ground, a Scavenger stood a few meters in front of him. Hearing the noise he made while descending, it turned and attacked.

'I'll vent all my rage on you, you disgusting creature.'

Seconds before it reached him, Arthur summoned Dawn's Ballad in his right hand and Infinite Lash in his left. He'd kept his armor summoned the entire time since entering the labyrinth.

When the Scavenger was only meters away, Arthur reinforced his body with aether and sprinted forward. Using the uneven terrain to his advantage, he slid beneath its body and lashed the whip around its two left legs.

With the speed and force he applied, the Scavenger staggered left, losing its balance. To avoid falling, it braced itself with the pincer on that side. Arthur seized the opening and cast the whip again, this time at its right legs.

Once it was bound, he commanded the whip to retract, launching himself toward the joint of its rear leg. Dawn's Ballad met some resistance, but eventually severed the limb. The momentum carried him several meters away, where he planted the sword into the ground to stop himself from sliding further.

The Scavenger turned to face him and charged again. This time, instead of sliding beneath it, Arthur deliberately lashed the whip at its right pincer. The creature thought he'd made a mistake and went to cut it. At the last second, he shortened the whip to its limit and kicked off the coral wall, launching himself toward its left leg through the opening.

The Scavenger managed to correct itself—well, its first mistake. Seeing this, Arthur switched the whip to his other hand and cast it at its right leg. He passed within centimeters of being crushed by its left front leg, but when the whip fully tightened, the balance of its only remaining leg broke. Once again, it had to use its pincers to keep from falling.

Arthur grew bored of this fight. Reaching its back, instead of aiming for another leg, he propelled himself upward, straight toward the weak point at the back of its skull. Dawn's Ballad pierced through seconds later, and the Scavenger collapsed.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

Arthur couldn't stop a smile from forming as he looked at its lifeless body—and he didn't want to.

Aether Fragments: [4/1000]

'This is going to be a long road.'

The rest of the day went smoothly. Arthur kept running into lone Scavengers, and he dealt with them the same way, killing them one by one. Things only got complicated when he encountered two or more together.

He was running through the labyrinth, following the mental map he had drawn before descending, when his aether sense picked up three Scavengers approaching from his right. He stopped abruptly and slipped into a hollow in one of the labyrinth's walls.

Judging by the distance between them, fighting was his only option. And if he was going to fight, it would be on his terms.

Hidden in the wall, Arthur waited until all three passed by. He could have let them go, but he needed to grow stronger. If he kept avoiding obstacles, he'd never get anywhere. He had to become strong enough that when he finally reached those people, he'd be able to protect himself.

Arthur reinforced his body with aether and leapt toward the one lagging behind, throwing a stone forward at the same time to distract the other two. Dawn's Ballad struck the weak point of the last Scavenger.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

At the same moment the Scavenger's lifeless body hit the ground, the stone he had thrown struck the wall in front of the other two.

Both were distracted for a few seconds by the noise, and Arthur used that window to jump from the corpse toward the weak point of the next one.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

Only one remained. When it turned around, all it felt was Dawn's Ballad severing its two right legs. Trying to balance with its pincer, the only thing it could do was attempt to turn—but it was too slow.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

'That was way too easy.'

The fight hadn't been far from the next platform, so Arthur kept running to reach it before nightfall. When he reached the top of the coral, the sky was already quite dark, and with it came the Dark Sea.

He reviewed his progress for the day.

Aether Fragments: [36/1000]

'That's really good!'

The one positive thing was that just as he could lose fragments quickly, he could also gain them much faster compared to other people.

And that wasn't the only thing progressing quickly…

[Dawn's Ballad]

[79/100]

At this pace, in two or three days he'd find out what the counter did, and in about two weeks he'd reach the 500 fragments Sylvie needed. He was excited about that.

Exactly two days later, Arthur was one kill away from reaching 100, so he went out looking for it. Minutes later, he found a lone Scavenger that was already injured. It was missing one pincer and its rear right leg. The fight was very short. He used the same strategy, distracting it with a noise in front of it and hiding in a wall hollow before leaping out.

It didn't even have time to react before its body fell lifeless to the ground.

[You have slain an awakened beast, Carapace Scavenger.]

[Your Aether grows stronger.]

Arthur searched for a safe place, hid, and entered his Soul Sea. He didn't stop to admire the view. He went straight to the orb that contained Dawn's Ballad. It floated toward him, hovering in the air in front of him as he opened his runes.

Name: [Dawn's Ballad]

Memory Rank: Dormant

[100/100]

[Do you wish to evolve this memory?]

"Yes."

At that moment, the orb began to shine with a warm light that forced him to close his eyes. When he opened them again, the process had already finished, but nothing seemed different at first glance. He checked the runes again.

Name: [Dawn's Ballad]

Memory Rank: Awakened

'So that's how it works!'

'With each counter it gets stronger, that's amazing!'

The new counter read:

[0/300]

It wouldn't be easy, but it was motivation—and that was enough for him. A smile settled on his face as he exited his Soul Sea.

For the next two weeks, Arthur's routine stayed the same: advance to the next platform or remain on one for several days, killing as many Scavengers as possible. With Dawn's Ballad at the Awakened rank, killing them became much easier.

He obtained three Memories as well, but only one was worth keeping: a dagger of the Awakened rank.

Memory Name: Chitin Edge

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Type: Weapon

Description: [A dagger crafted from the hardened pincers of a scavenger, retaining the creature's durability and cutting power.]

It wasn't very useful right now, but it might come in handy in the future. But back to what mattered most…

[Dawn's Ballad]

[121/300]

He was already close to halfway through the counter. Having a sword of the Ascended rank would be incredibly useful once he encountered people.

Standing atop one of the corals, Arthur let out a small laugh, knowing what was coming next. He was genuinely happy, not just because he had gathered the 500 fragments, but because of the chance to no longer be alone.

He entered his Soul Sea and brought forth the egg—Sylvie. With it so close, all doubts about whether it was worth investing 500 fragments into her vanished.

Echo: Sylvie

Echo Rank: ???

Echo Class: ???

Echo Attributes: ???

[0/500]

Arthur didn't understand what that counter meant—maybe they were fragments she had to obtain herself… but how could she do that as an egg?

[Do you wish to give 500 fragments to this Echo?]

Grinning from ear to ear, Arthur said:

"Yes."

[So be it.]

An imperceptible change occurred in the Soul Sea, as if a sudden gust of wind had appeared from nowhere. The tranquil purple waters seemed to remain still and restless at the same time. Then, a sudden pressure surged from above.

Lifting his head, Arthur saw a purple cloud peel away from his aether core and rush toward the egg, enveloping it completely. At the same time, he felt himself weakening from the loss of fragments, but he didn't pay it much attention.

Then he heard it.

[Your Echo has been destroyed.]

'What? And Sylvie?!'

Arthur thought the Spell would continue, maybe telling him he had gained something, but it didn't. Still, the process in front of him continued. After a few minutes, the purple cloud began to glow and spin, with the egg at its center.

Visually, it was similar to when he had been inside the aether storm in the previous zone.

When the cloud finally dispersed, the first thing Arthur saw was a human silhouette kneeling on the surface of his Soul Sea. It took him a second to process it. Where the egg had been, there was now a girl, motionless, head lowered, arms braced against the ground, as if she had just finished waking up.

Her build was slender but not fragile, and her posture conveyed a strange sense of stability, as if that place had always belonged to her. Her skin was pale, her features soft yet defined, with something familiar about her that made him frown before he understood why. Her eyes were a deep yellow, shining like polished gemstones, far too intense to be human.

Her hair was long and messy, the same pale color as his, but it didn't fall like normal hair. It had a strange texture, almost like soft feathers instead of strands, and it moved slightly even though there was no wind. It flowed down her back and partially covered her forehead, leaving her face fully visible.

She wore a simple black tunic, without ornaments or symbols, contrasting with her pale skin and hair. From the sides of her head protruded two black horns, curved forward, smooth and well-defined—completely real. They weren't decorative or illusory. They were part of her.

For a moment, she didn't move. His Soul Sea seemed to have calmed entirely, as if it were watching as well. Then, slowly, she lifted her head.

When she looked at Arthur, he felt a sharp impact in his chest.

Not because her presence was overwhelming, nor because she radiated power, but because there was recognition in her gaze. Not curiosity. Not confusion. She was looking at him as if she had always known who he was.

She stood up effortlessly, took a couple of unsteady steps at first, then walked straight toward him. Before Arthur could say anything, before he could even organize his thoughts—she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest.

All the weight he had been carrying since waking up in this place crashed down on him at once.

"Everything's going to be okay, Art."

Her voice was soft, calm, completely certain.

Arthur returned the embrace without thinking, closing his eyes and staying there, holding her, grateful that for the first time since entering the Dream Realm, he wouldn't be completely alone.

They stayed like that for about ten minutes, neither of them intending to break the moment. Eventually, Arthur pulled back slightly, though he was still holding her hands.

"It's good to see you, Sylvie," he said.

She answered with a smile.

"It's good to see you too, Art." A few seconds later, she added, "But I'd like to leave your Soul Sea, if that's possible."

That was when Arthur realized they were, in fact, still inside his Soul Sea.

"Oh yeah, sorry."

And they returned to the platform. It was already completely dark, so neither of them could really see anything.

"Why don't you take the chance to sleep? Now that I'm here, I can keep watch during the night," she said.

"Are you sure?"

Letting out a small laugh, Sylvie replied, "Yes, Art. I know that ever since you came back to the labyrinth, you haven't been able to rest properly. Focus on sleeping well tonight."

Caught off guard, Arthur asked, "How do you know that?"

"I'll explain everything tomorrow. For now, just worry about resting, okay?"

He had no choice but to accept. "Alright." A few seconds later, he added, "Good night… and thank you for being with me."

"You don't have anything to thank me for, Art," she said.

With that, Arthur lay down and tried to truly rest for the first time since returning to the labyrinth.

He woke up with a strange sensation, but not an unpleasant one. For the first time since he had returned to the labyrinth, his body didn't feel tense, nor was his mind racing. He opened his eyes slowly and took a few seconds to remember where he was. The stone platform was the same, the sky above him unchanged—but something had.

He wasn't alone.

Sylvie was sitting a few meters away, legs crossed, observing the edge of the platform. She didn't look tired at all. When she noticed him move, she turned her head and looked at him.

"Good morning, Art."

Her voice was just as calm as it had been the night before.

"Morning…" Arthur replied, slowly sitting up. "I slept like a rock."

She smiled faintly, as if that was exactly what she had expected.

"You needed it."

He stared at her for a few seconds longer than normal. There were too many things he didn't understand, and all of them were related to her. Eventually, he sighed and rubbed his face.

"Okay. I think we need to talk."

"I thought so," she said, adjusting her posture slightly. "Ask whatever you want."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

Arthur sat down in front of her, resting his arms on his knees. He hesitated for a few seconds, organizing his thoughts.

"Last night, you knew things I never told you. You knew how I was feeling, you knew I hadn't been able to rest since coming back to the labyrinth." He looked straight at her. "How?"

Sylvie didn't avoid his gaze.

"Because we're connected."

"Connected how?" Arthur asked immediately.

"Through a bond," she replied.

He frowned.

"Like companions?"

"Yes." She nodded. "We can share thoughts if we want to, sensations, emotions. We can speak without words."

"Since when?" he asked.

"Since you took me out of the egg."

That led straight to what bothered him the most.

"Then explain this to me." He took a breath. "You know everything about me. But I know nothing about you."

Sylvie lowered her gaze slightly, without looking uncomfortable.

"That's true."

"Why?"

"Because when you used the aether fragments to awaken me, you didn't just use them as energy." She lifted her eyes again. "Those fragments contained your memories. Your experiences. Your decisions. Everything that shaped you."

"Are you saying that…?"

"That I grew up with you," she said naturally. "I know who you are. I know what you lost. I know what weighs on you. Not because you told me, but because I was there."

Arthur stayed silent for a long time.

"And you?" he finally asked. "What about your memories?"

She slowly shook her head.

"I don't have a past like yours. I don't have a story from before I awakened. I only have what I am now."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

She thought for a moment before answering.

"No," she said. "Because I know who I am with you. And that's enough for me."

That… made Arthur feel a little lighter.

They spent the rest of the day talking. Not about everything, but about what mattered. At one point, as evening approached, he stopped.

"When you said we can share thoughts… can you hear me all the time?"

She smiled, amused.

"Only if you open the door. Right now, no."

"Thank goodness," he muttered.

She chuckled softly.

Before the sun fully disappeared, Arthur felt he could no longer avoid one thing.

"I want to see your runes."

Sylvie nodded without hesitation.

"You can see all of them."

He opened his runes, and at the very bottom, a new section appeared.

Companion: Sylvie

The interface unfolded in front of him, clear and unhidden. He leaned forward slightly and began to read.

Name: Sylvie

True Name: —

Rank: Dreamer

Mana Core: Dormant

'Mana Core? What is mana?'

Mana Fragments: [0/1000]

Memories: [Black Sanctuary], [Hollow Keep]

'How does she already have Memories?'

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Dreamspawn], [Draconic Form], [Mana Affinity], [Vivum]

[Dreamspawn]

Description: [You are born of two worlds, belonging to both, but welcomed in neither. Your soul exists on the edge between nightmare and reality.]

'I've never heard of this…'

[Draconic Form]

Description: [You possess a draconic form. By will alone, you may transform your body into that of a dragon.]

'She can turn into a dragon?! That's so cool!'

[Mana Affinity]

Description: [Mana responds naturally to you. Your connection to it allows for greater control and efficiency when shaping or wielding mana.]

[Vivum]

Description: [You are attuned to Vivum, the branch of aether that governs existence. Through it, you can influence life and continuity, performing powerful restorative and healing aether arts.]

'So she also has some affinity with aether?'

Aspect: [Bound Genesis]

Aspect Rank: Sacred

'Her Aspect is Sacred rank!'

Aspect Description: [You are a being born not from the world, but into it. The world recognizes you as a beginning after an end. However, that which is born without a past cannot fully understand itself. Your origin is obscured, and the world will never reflect what you once were.]

'A beginning after an end?'

Innate Ability: [Becoming]

Ability Description: [You are not defined by what you are, but by what you are turning into. Your strength grows alongside your sense of self.]

Aspect Ability: [Mana Manipulation]

Ability Description: [You can manipulate mana in its purest form.]

Flaw: [Solitary Weakness]

Flaw Description: [You draw resolve from protecting others, but when alone, your strength falters.]

'So because of her Flaw, she needs to protect others to be stronger… and because of my Aspect, the more I affirm my existence, the more alone I'll become…'

Arthur looked back at her. "It's like we were made for each other, right?"

Smiling, Sylvie replied, "And I'm glad that's the case." A moment later, she added, "So… you have a True Name and a Divine Aspect."

Rubbing the back of his neck, Arthur said, "Uh, yeah… though I still don't really know what having a Divine Aspect means." After a pause, he added, "You wouldn't happen to know, would you?"

"Nope," she said. "But we'll figure it out together."

After a moment Arthur remembered something.

"Oh… right." He searched through his Memories and materialized one in his hand: a simple ring, without excessive ornamentation. "I wanted to give you this."

Sylvie looked at the ring, then at him.

And shook her head.

"No."

He froze.

"No?"

"No," she repeated calmly. "It's not for me."

"But—"

"Art," she interrupted gently. "You already know who it's for."

She smiled.

Not a normal smile.

A dangerous one.

'No…'

"Don't even think about it!" Arthur said immediately.

She tilted her head, feigning innocence.

"I didn't say any names."

"But you thought about it!"

"Maybe."

He stared at her.

"That's going to be a problem in the future."

"Probably," Sylvie replied without any guilt.

Arthur sighed and stored the Memory away.

A comfortable silence settled between them until Sylvie spoke once more.

"So," she said. "What do we do now?"

Arthur looked around—the labyrinth, the sky. He thought about the Dark Sea, about the possibility of encountering people heading west.

Then he looked at his runes again.

Aether Fragments: [20/1000]

'With this… I won't get very far.'

"Stay," he finally said.

"Here?"

"Yes. For a few weeks. Train. Hunt. Get stronger."

Sylvie didn't hesitate.

"Sounds good to me."

And so, a few weeks turned into a month and a bit more.

All that time spent hunting Scavengers without rest. Learning how to fight together. Understanding how her mana worked. A month in which Arthur finally felt progress again.

As they approached the end of that month, he reached one of his goals: the counter on Dawn's Ballad.

[Dawn's Ballad]

[300/300]

The evolution process was the same as before, but now his sword was no longer Awakened. He had an Ascended-rank sword, and killing Scavengers became absurdly easy. So easy that just one week later, his core was already close to saturation.

Aether Fragments: [996/1000]

It was getting dark, so they returned to a platform using Sylvie's dragon transformation.

Sylvie expanded naturally into her draconic form, reaching several meters in length. Her obsidian-black scales reflected the light with a dull sheen, and the curved horns on her head looked sharper than ever. Her wide, dark wings spread open, their feathers resembling blades, as her body became powerful and fully armored.

The trip to the platform took only seconds. The efficiency they had achieved during this time was incredible. Arthur had never felt so comfortable, or even happy.

They arrived, Sylvie returned to her human form, and Arthur immediately lit a fire to cook the meat from the day's hunt. He didn't really need it, but Sylvie did, and to avoid leaving her eating alone, he sometimes joined her. Today was one of those days.

While they waited for the meat to cook, Sylvie pulled out two Shards from [Hollow Keep], a storage-type Memory.

"Go on, saturate your core," she said, bringing the Shards closer to him.

"But they're yours. It wouldn't be fair for me to use them," Arthur replied.

Letting out a sigh, Sylvie pushed the Shards even closer and looked straight at him. "I'm giving them to you, you know. It's rude to refuse a gift."

Smiling, Arthur answered, "Alright."

He took the Shards and crushed the first one.

Aether Fragments: [998/1000]

A little nervous, he grabbed the last Shard. As he did, he glanced at Sylvie, who—almost reading his thoughts, or maybe actually reading them—nodded and smiled at him.

When Arthur crushed the last Shard, the Spell spoke.

[Your Aether is overflowing with power]

[Your Aether is taking shape]

Suddenly, he felt his soul begin to radiate a strange heat.

'Shit, shit, shit.'

[Your Aether is complete.]

Something inside him suddenly exploded, flooding his entire being with indescribable suffering. A strangled groan escaped him as he lost his balance and dropped to his knees. He clenched his teeth tightly to keep from screaming, trying to endure that brutal agony. He was no stranger to physical pain, but this was different, much worse. It didn't come from the body, but from the soul itself, and that made it devastating.

It felt as if something was breaking him apart from the inside, forcibly rearranging him. His breathing became erratic, his vision blurred, and for a moment, he thought he was going to lose consciousness.

"Art!" He heard Sylvie's trembling voice nearby. "What's happening? Are you hurt?"

He tried to answer, but all that came out was a gasp. He felt her hands on him and immediately sensed that she was trying to heal him.

"Let me help you, I can heal you—"

"No," Arthur finally managed to say, his voice strained. "Stop… I'm fine. Really."

She hesitated, clearly terrified, but stopped without moving away.

The pain began to fade little by little. First, it stopped being unbearable. Then it became tolerable… and finally, it vanished completely, as if it had never been there. In its place remained a strange, deep sensation. He felt… renewed. Whole.

Stronger. Much, much stronger.

Not just that: faster, tougher, as if his body and soul had taken a leap he hadn't known was possible.

Arthur lifted his head carefully to make sure everything was really okay, and that's when he saw her. Sylvie was kneeling in front of him, staring with wide eyes and a pale face, clearly frightened.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked quietly.

He nodded slowly.

"Yes… now I am."

"What happened? One moment you were fine, and then you started crying in pain," she asked, clearly shaken.

"I have a theory, but I don't know…" Arthur replied.

At that moment, he entered his Soul Sea. What greeted him were the usual waves—but now there were two purple suns. The suns were obviously his cores.

'I have two cores… why do I have two cores?'

Humans could only have a single core. In fact, only Nightmare Creatures had multiple cores.

He didn't know what it meant to have two cores, but just thinking about the possibilities made a smile spread across his face. With two cores, the distance between him and the rest of the Sleepers—or even Awakened in the future—would only keep growing. And if he wasn't mistaken, there would probably be a third, a fourth… up to a seventh core. Just like Nightmare Creatures.

To confirm it, Arthur checked his runes.

Aether Core: Monster

Aether Cores: [2/7]

'Yes!!'

Aether Fragments: [0/2000]

Seeing it, he jumped in excitement. Thankfully, he was in his Soul Sea, so no one saw it. He exited immediately and went to tell Sylvie.

She was still standing in front of him, and it looked like she had been checking her runes—or his.

"Sylvie! I formed a new core!"

She stepped closer and hugged him with a smile. "I know. Congratulations, Art."

He returned the hug, and they stayed like that for a while.

Eventually, they broke apart and started dinner. Meanwhile, Arthur's thoughts were racing, bouncing between all the possibilities this brought. Sylvie must have noticed, because from time to time she glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. During this last month, they had agreed not to hide their thoughts from each other, so she was probably hearing everything going through his head.

When they finished eating, Sylvie spoke first.

"I think it's time," she said.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same," Arthur replied.

Looking straight at him, Sylvie answered, "I know." A few seconds later, she added, "Tomorrow, we head west. Flying."

Smiling, Arthur said, "We're ready for whatever we find."

Chapter Text

1 Month Earlier

It was the same day they had agreed to remain in the labyrinth for a while, and there was a question Arthur still hadn't asked…

Sitting on the platform, facing each other as they ate, he finally spoke.

"Sylvie, I forgot to ask earlier, but… do you know how to fight?"

"I have your memories of learning combat styles, but not the actual practice. And I don't know how to handle my Aspect either," she replied.

'That's bad. Theory is very different from practice.'

Arthur brought a hand to his chin and began thinking of ways for her to learn quickly.

"Well, I can teach you the practical side of combat styles, but you'll have to learn your Aspect by using it."

"That works for me. When do we start?" Sylvie answered immediately.

That was another thing that had caught Arthur's attention from the very beginning.

He frowned slightly. "Why do you always accept what I say right away?"

She shrugged lightly. "Why would I doubt your intentions?"

Arthur hadn't expected a question in response.

Before he could answer, Sylvie continued:

"I don't accept everything you say because I lack will," she said, lowering her gaze for a moment before lifting it again. "I do it because I know you're not speaking from control, but from care. And even though I know every decision you made in the past, this one — the decision to stay with me, to teach me — is new. It's yours… and it's also mine. If one day I doubt, it will be because I feel it, not because I learned it from your memories."

Arthur remained silent for a moment, staring at the platform before looking back at her.

"There's something I need you to understand," he said. "In this place, Nightmare Creatures aren't the worst thing. They're predictable. They attack, kill, or die. Humans… aren't."

He paused. "Humans can lie. They can use fear. They can smile while waiting for the right moment."

Arthur looked at Sylvie seriously, though not harshly.

"You have my memories. You know how distrust is learned. But remembering distrust isn't the same as feeling it in your body when something doesn't add up. That isn't inherited. It's formed." He exhaled slowly. "And right now, the only proof I have of your character is how you are with me. That's not an accusation… it's a responsibility."

Arthur rested his forearms on his knees.

"When we reach places where there are other people, I don't want you to accept anything just because someone sounds confident. Not even if that someone is me."

"If you ever feel that I'm wrong, that one of my decisions puts you in danger, I want you to refute it. Tell me. Don't stay silent."

Arthur lowered his voice.

"You being here wasn't a coincidence. It was a decision I made, and it has consequences." He held her eyes. "Taking responsibility for your well-being isn't optional for me. It's the right thing to do."

Sylvie remained quiet for a few seconds, as if organizing her thoughts.

"I understand why you think that," she said. "And I'm not saying this to contradict you, but because I want you to hear it." She straightened slightly. "Yes, me being here is a consequence of a decision you made. That's true."

Sylvie lifted her gaze calmly.

"But now that I'm here, it's also my responsibility to sustain myself. To take care of my own well-being." She paused briefly. "There's something you still don't fully understand. I'm not just the result of your memories. My past may come from you, but what I do with it… that's mine."

She tilted her head.

"At the end of the day, I'm myself. And from now on, I always will be, no matter where my origins come from."

Her voice didn't harden, but it grew more certain.

"I don't want you to carry everything just because you can. I'm going to take responsibility too. Not just for myself… but for protecting you when it's needed."

Sylvie looked directly at Arthur.

"So don't put more weight on your shoulders alone, okay?" Then she added, almost softly: "If at some point I need something, or I disagree with a decision, I'll say it. But for now… it's not necessary."

She was right… and that bothered Arthur more than he expected.

Not because she contradicted him, but because Sylvie had pointed out something he didn't want to face. At some point, knowing that she understood every corner of his past had led him to assume she would also need him to support every one of her steps.

As if sharing memories meant sharing fragility.

It was absurd.

Knowing the weight of his mistakes didn't make Sylvie weak. If anything, it made her more aware. But Arthur had confused closeness with dependence, and responsibility with control.

Maybe it was fear.

The idea of not being alone after so long, of someone seeing everything without filters, had pushed Arthur to look for a clear role to stand in. Protector. Guide. Something he could define without doubt.

But Sylvie didn't need that from him.

She wasn't asking him to carry her. She was asking for space to walk on her own.

Arthur exhaled slowly and nodded.

"All right," he said. "I understand what you mean."

A comfortable silence settled between them. Soon after, they began training.

Arthur summoned Dawn's Ballad and handed it to Sylvie so they could start with the basics.

'We're going to have to get her a sword soon.'

For the time being, he transferred the dagger Chitin Edge to her so she would at least have something to defend herself with. 

Sylvie also trained her abilities, and Arthur had to admit they were extremely interesting. She could draw mana from the environment and release it in bursts or shape it into shields. She could even create something similar to spells and deal damage with them.

They tested her attacks against several Scavengers, but since she was still a Sleeper and the Scavengers were Awakened, the damage was minimal.

One of her most important abilities was that she could create ranged attacks formed entirely from mana and they were invisible. Arthur could perceive them through the disturbance they caused in the surrounding aether, but anyone else wouldn't be able to sense them, let alone see them. Of course, he could also detect them if he activated Realmheart.

Seeing that gave Arthur hope that once he became Awakened — or reached an even higher rank — he might be able to manipulate aether in a similar way.

Sylvie could also absorb mana from the environment, but for some reason she couldn't strengthen her body with it the way Arthur did with aether. It was probably due to the nature of the element itself.

And finally, her dragon form.

It was an incredibly overpowered ability, but it came with conditions.

The first limitation was the amount of mana it consumed. At first, Sylvie could only maintain it for about two minutes. As the days passed, she gradually extended that time.

The second limitation was the mental and physical strain the form placed on her. That was the one she struggled with the most, and so far she hadn't fully overcome it.

At that point, Sylvie could maintain her dragon form for around twenty minutes before needing to rest and meditate to recover.

To help her, Arthur taught her the technique he had learned to circulate aether through his body, adapting it so she could better sense and guide her mana channels.

Following a routine of sword training, meditation, and hunting Scavengers, a month passed.

***

Present

They stopped when they reached an elevated area of the labyrinth. Sylvie was tired and needed to meditate to absorb mana, so they decided to rest there before continuing.

From that point, they could already see a structure they called Bone Ridge.

The name was quite literal. From a distance, it stood out clearly against the crimson coral and the gray sky, a white structure impossible to confuse with the surroundings.

As they got closer, it became clear that it wasn't a natural formation.

Bone Ridge was composed of the skeletal remains of a colossal sea creature. Its bones rested atop a massive mound of chaotically grown coral, and its spine arched upward, rising above the rest of the terrain.

He had no way of knowing what that creature had looked like in life, but even reduced to bones, it was enormous. Something like that must have been gigantic even by the standards of the Dark Sea.

They settled at the top and spent the rest of the day meditating. Well, Sylvie spent the rest of the day meditating. He had already reached a point where his body cycled aether unconsciously. Progress wasn't very fast, but he could feel his channels expanding even further.

While Sylvie meditated, he looked toward the west.

At a certain distance, the labyrinth changed in appearance. The crimson coral turned gray and warped, as if it had lost all vitality. Beyond that, the terrain became an expanse of ashen sand, and the walls seemed to have collapsed completely.

There was no movement.

In the middle of that dead zone rose a massive hill, covered in gray sand. At its peak stood a tree.

Its trunk was black, and its crimson canopy contrasted sharply with the dull sky. Its sheer size, stretching unnaturally upward, made it even more unsettling.

He didn't like it.

The way all life seemed to have vanished around it was reason enough to stay away.

After a full day of rest and meditation, they resumed their journey toward where there were supposedly people, detouring to avoid the tree.

Further ahead, they found a gigantic crater, stretching beyond the limits of his vision. At first, they doubted whether Sylvie could make it across. They had started the journey as soon as the sun rose, though, so even if she got tired, there was time to rest or keep going before the Dark Sea returned.

They flew over it and continued on for quite a while until they came across a solitary statue. They only had to stop once during the trip, resting for a few hours before continuing toward the statue. They arrived well before nightfall.

They stopped there to rest a bit more and spend the night, even though from that point they could already distinguish, in the distance, a wall… and behind it, most likely, a city.

Despite their eagerness to see other people, they stayed an entire day at the statue meditating before entering the wall. They wanted to be in the best possible condition, just in case.

When daylight came, they resumed their march, and minutes later they reached the wall. It was made of gray stone and looked impenetrable, as if it could withstand the weight of the Dark Sea for thousands upon thousands of years.

During the journey, they had been surprised by how devoid of life it was. There were no guards, no signs of surveillance, no recent traces of activity. However, once they were on top of it, the reason became evident.

"Sylvie, do you see what I'm seeing?" he asked in a voice lower than usual.

A few seconds later, Sylvie replied.

"Yes… what… what is this place?!" Her voice trembled slightly.

Below them stretched a massive city, completely in ruins.

The stone buildings, which must once have been imposing, were broken and collapsed. Many were nothing more than piles of rubble scattered along wide, empty streets. There were no people walking, no voices, no sounds to break the silence. Under the cold, gray sky, the city looked dead.

It wasn't hard to tell that this hadn't been caused by time alone. Several of the collapsed structures were blackened by fire, and deep marks could be seen in the fragments of walls that still stood, as if something with claws had torn through the stone. In various places, enormous bones of ancient creatures jutted from the ground, far too large to have belonged to humans.

Figures moved among the rubble. Some crossed the ruined streets slowly; others remained hidden in the shadows of fallen buildings. The city wasn't empty. It was infested.

At the center of the ruins, atop a hill, stood an intact castle. Its walls were made of bright white stone, with tall towers and spires rising into the sky. Unlike the rest of the city, it showed no visible signs of damage. It loomed over the ruins as a fixed point, completely detached from its surroundings.

Behind it, much farther away, rose an even larger structure.

A cyclopean, dark tower that pierced the skyline like a gigantic spear of solidified blood. Its presence dominated the horizon, visible even from the wall.

The horror it emanated was enough to make him never want to look at it again, sending chills down his spine.

They stood there on the wall for several more minutes, completely absorbed by what they were seeing.

'There are supposed to be people here?!'

Suddenly, Sylvie broke the silence.

"What do we do now?"

Arthur pulled his gaze away from the tower and looked at her. Shrugging, he said:

"We don't have much choice but to head for the castle…" He turned to look back at the city and added, "You know… I don't think there's a gateway here."

This time, Sylvie looked at him as she replied:

"That wouldn't make sense anyway. If there were, we would've heard or read about this place."

Nodding, he answered, "The best plan right now is to gather information about the situation."

Looking north, he noticed a small tower. He focused aether into his eyes to see if he could detect any movement, but there was none.

"There's nothing in the northern tower. Should we check the southern one?"

"If we don't find anything there, we'll have to go down from the wall and head toward the castle on foot. Flying is too dangerous, we don't know the rank of these creatures," Sylvie replied.

Arthur nodded again. "That's the plan, then."

They started walking south, and minutes later they found the tower, but there was nothing there. So they decided to go down the wall.

It was very dangerous, but they had no other choice. Flying straight to the castle was just as risky, and circling the wall to find a closer point didn't make sense.

Minutes later, they were already in the city streets. Arthur kept his aether sense compressed to about two meters around his body, and together with Sylvie, they began moving through the shadows of the city, fully alert.

He walked ahead with Dawn's Ballad already summoned in his right hand, while Sylvie positioned herself to his left, sword in hand. Her sword was an Awakened-rank weapon they had obtained over the past month by killing Scavengers. She was also very close to saturating her core.

Meanwhile, Arthur was just beginning his second.

Aether Fragments: [64/2000]

Since he had obtained his second core, they hadn't killed many more Scavengers and had focused instead on finding the city. Because of that, his progress with Dawn's Ballad had also slowed.

Name: [Dawn's Ballad]
Memory Rank: Ascended
[65/800]

'Eight hundred kills to reach Transcendent rank… and something tells me they won't be easy to get,'

Still, their journey toward the castle began.

Moving through the ruins turned out to be slow, much slower than it had seemed from the wall. The city had no clear layout. Wide streets ended abruptly in collapses, and narrow alleys twisted between fallen buildings, forming an irregular and unintuitive path.

They advanced along a roundabout route, avoiding open areas whenever possible. Every so often, they had to stop and remain still in the shadows, waiting for some presence to move away. They didn't always see them, but the movement and distortions in the environment were enough to make them cautious.

The worst part was that whenever they spotted a creature in the distance, they only looked at it from the corner of their eye to avoid drawing its attention. Doing that, they noticed something that made their hearts race.

Many of those creatures were Fallen, with a few Awakened wandering among them.

In some stretches, they walked under the open sky, crossing ruined plazas and avenues covered in debris. In others, they entered deteriorated buildings and moved through their interiors, climbing over piles of broken stone and wood. Several times, they passed through half-collapsed houses, emerging on the other side into narrow, hidden alleyways that weren't visible from outside.

On a couple of occasions, they had to go up. They reached the rooftops of buildings that were still standing and continued from above, walking across unstable tiles, exposed beams, and planks placed there long ago by someone to bridge especially wide gaps. Some sections required jumping between buildings separated by several meters.

The journey, with its constant pauses and changes in elevation, felt strangely familiar.

It was like returning to the first zone of the Dream Realm. The same feeling of moving carefully, of advancing only when it was safe, of treating every corner as a potential ambush.

They continued like that for quite a while, gradually approaching the castle.

That was when he detected movement that was different from the usual.

It wasn't erratic like Nightmare Creatures, nor heavy like the larger ones. It was controlled. Intentional.

'Sylvie, there's something different ahead,' Arthur told her, and they immediately stopped in the shadow of a destroyed house.

A few seconds later, a figure appeared at the end of one of the partially collapsed streets in front of them.

It walked slowly, down the center of the street, without trying to hide its presence. At first glance, it looked human, but something about the way it moved didn't quite fit. Its posture was strange, slightly crooked, as if its body didn't respond entirely naturally.

It wore a dark, unadorned cloak that concealed its limbs and most of its features. Even so, as it came a bit closer, he could make out its face—pale, expressionless. Its eyes had a glassy, empty sheen, as if they were looking without truly seeing.

'Is it human?' Sylvie asked.

Arthur didn't answer right away.

'It has a human shape… but I don't like it. It could be a creature imitating one,'.

'Do we talk to him?' she asked.

'Not yet.'

They didn't have time to decide anything else.

The figure stopped abruptly and made a small gesture with its nose.

"Come out," it said softly. "I can smell you."

Hearing its voice sent a chill down his spine, and he noticed Sylvie's body tremble slightly as well.

Their options narrowed immediately. Either they came out and faced it, or they stayed hidden and pretended it hadn't really smelled them.

Arthur exchanged one last glance with Sylvie and gave a small nod.

They stepped out of the shadows slowly and revealed themselves in the street. As he moved toward the center, his eyes never left the face of that person, or creature pretending to be one. Dawn's Ballad was in his right hand, and every muscle in his body was reinforced with aether, ready to explode into action.

The figure watched them with its glassy, lifeless eyes until they stood facing each other a few meters apart.

A long silence followed. His gaze tracked every possible movement and detail. Sylvie remained to his left, but now they were side by side, both with their swords and armor summoned.

The figure lowered its head slightly, and after staring at them for a few seconds, he noticed its body straighten a bit.

"You are not part of Changing Star's cohort," it said, in a tone that sounded more like a statement than a question.

'Changing Star? Why does that name sound familiar?' Arthur wondered.

As soon as it said the name, Sylvie's posture shifted slightly, and she replied through their mental link 'That's Nephis's True Name from the academy, remember?'

'Now that you mention it, yeah… hey, Sylv, don't get mad about this,' he thought back.

'Arthur, don't do anything stupid!' she practically shouted in his head.

Staring straight at the figure, he said, "And what if we are?"

Sylvie shot him a glance from the corner of her eye and thought, 'What are you doing?!'

Still looking forward, he replied mentally, 'Trust me.'

The figure lowered its head a bit more. After staring at them for a few seconds, its body straightened slightly more than before. Then it shrugged and extended one hand.

Woven from sparks of light, a heavy chain appeared in the air and wrapped around its arm from wrist to elbow. The figure grimaced and straightened its back as much as its deformity allowed, its twisted silhouette radiating a sense of savage, almost bestial power.

Two menacing lights ignited in its pale eyes.

"Then you will die." It took a few seconds and added, "Because that is the will of the Lord."

The chain vibrated slightly, emitting a dry metallic sound that echoed through the empty street and in the next instant, his world turned completely dark.

'What the hell—' he thought, but didn't finish the thought before a chain shot straight toward Sylvie. Acting more on reflex than understanding what was happening, he shoved Sylvie out of its range. The chain struck him in the chest at a bad angle, sending him several meters back, but he stayed on his feet.

He tasted metal in his mouth.

He couldn't see anything, and yet he didn't panic.

Blindness. That was all.

It wasn't the first time he'd fought without sight, and it wasn't a condition that truly limited him. The aether around his body was still there, intact, perceiving every nearby distortion. Taking advantage of the moment, he expanded it even further.

'Sylvie, stay out of it. Don't come closer,' he sent firmly.

Arthur felt her hesitation for a moment… then she accepted.

If anyone else had been in his place, they would already be dead. Deprived of sight, very few could have resisted the furious assault of such a brutally strong figure. But he wasn't just anyone.

Even while blind, his perception didn't rely on his eyes.

He felt movement in front of him.

The figure lunged forward.

He shifted left and stepped back several meters at the same time. Something whistled past his head at an absurd speed. A fraction of a second later, and the links of the chain would have crushed his skull.

'Fast…'

Without breaking his rhythm, he summoned [Infinite Lash] in his left hand and hurled it downward, aiming for where its leg should be based on the displacement of aether and the tension in the ground beneath its steps.

He missed.

Its chain intercepted the attack cleanly, the impact ringing out with a heavy metallic clash. He dismissed [Infinite Lash] instantly, using the distraction to advance.

Arthur closed the distance.

An attack came from his right. He repelled it with [Dawn's Ballad] without stopping. The chains hooked around the sword, and he felt the immediate tension, brutal force trying to tear it from his grip.

For a moment, he considered forcing it.

He could have.

But it wasn't worth it.

He let the sword go… not before giving it a sharp pull to test their strength and throw him off balance.

In that pull, he felt it clearly.

'We're almost equally strong,' he realized.

Arthur moved before the figure could react. They were too close now. He drew back his fist and delivered a dry, direct punch to his sternum.

The impact sent him flying several meters back.

He heard his breathing break, turn ragged.

"Damn bastard…" the figure gasped. "How are you doing that?"

"I'd tell you," he replied flatly, "but then I'd have to kill you."

He didn't give him time.

Arthur attacked again, [Dawn's Ballad] now gripped with both hands. He felt one of his chains approach and deliberately guided the blade toward it.

The instant he felt it latch on—

He dismissed the sword.

And gambled.

He activated [Static Void].

The world stopped.

The figure's body froze completely. He could feel his muscles straining to move, feel the chains wanting to fall under gravity… but he didn't allow it.

He ran.

In motion, he summoned [Dawn's Ballad] again and drove it straight toward where his heart should be.

The impact was clean.

Arthur retreated as far as he could, and his vision returned instantly.

Seconds later, the figure's body collapsed heavily onto the pavement, lifeless.

Then the spell spoke.

[You have slain Dreamer Harus]
[Your aether grows stronger]

Suddenly, he felt the entire flow of fragments surge into his core. The sensation was incredible, feeling his core go from empty to so full in an instant…

Then he felt a sharp hit on his head and spun around immediately, only to find Sylvie's face mere centimeters from his, her eyebrows drawn down and her hand raised to strike again.

"Hey!! What was that for?!" he blurted out.

Somehow, that only made her angrier. She stared at him coldly.

"Are you seriously asking that?! Why did you do that?!" She took a breath and continued, "You just killed a human, Arthur! And the only thing you care about is the fragments that went into your core!"

That was when it all hit him.

He had acted on impulse and ended up killing a human. And as if that wasn't enough, he hadn't felt any remorse afterward.

'What… what did I do?'

His gaze drifted involuntarily to the corpse on the ground. He knew they had to leave the area—the noise and the smell of blood would draw countless creatures here—but his body wouldn't move.

Once the adrenaline faded, helped along by Sylvie's outburst, his body felt heavy, as if a backpack full of bricks had suddenly settled onto his shoulders.

He knew that in the Dream Realm he would eventually end up killing humans, but he hadn't thought it would happen so soon, or like this. He had no real reason to fight him, and yet, driven by an impulse to gather information, he had done so and killed him.

Then he felt Sylvie grab his hand and start running toward one of the nearest buildings. He followed until they reached the second-to-last floor, where he leaned against a wall and slid down until he was sitting.

Sylvie sat beside him without letting go of his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.

Without thinking, he apologized.

"I'm sorry, Sylvie. I… I didn't realize my decision could lead to that."

She squeezed his hand tighter and replied, "I understand why you wanted to take the risk. It's just that… it wasn't the right moment. If you look at the context, that person was sent to kill Nephis. Why else would he be walking so far from the castle and asking whether we were part of her cohort?"

That made several thoughts in his head click into place, but he needed more to fully understand everything from that single interaction.

In a timid voice, Arthur said, "Sylvie, I think I might be able to deduce something about the situation if I activate [Former King]. What do you think?"

She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him, shaking it slightly.

"It's not worth doing it with so little information. You might deduce things, but they could be incomplete or based on only one side of the conflict."

Arthur added, "If that 'Lord' and Nephis are fighting over control of the castle, we're going to have to choose a side no matter what."

Sylvie nodded. "Yes. That's what it looks like for now."

A comfortable silence settled over them. He checked his runes to see how many fragments he had gained.

Aether Fragments: [1024/2000]

'So I gained around a thousand fragments from that kill…' he mused. 'No doubt his core was saturated. That's why we were evenly matched.'

They stayed there for a while longer, waiting for the creatures that had already arrived to feed on the corpse to leave. After nearly half an hour, they set off toward the castle again.

The atmosphere between them was still a bit tense, and that was completely understandable. But for now, they had to set those feelings aside until they reached a safer area.

The journey lasted hours, but eventually they arrived at what they believed was a settlement on the outskirts of the castle.

Exchanging a glance with Sylvie, Arthur said, "It's time to find out what the hell is going on in this city."

She gave him a single nod, and together they headed toward one of the outposts where they saw a group of people talking among themselves, each of them wearing a strip of white cloth on their sleeves.

Chapter Text

Three months later, a group of six people could be seen walking through the streets of the Dark City. Their armor was dirty, their faces showed clear signs of exhaustion, and as they moved stealthily, they avoided the Nightmare Creatures roaming the wide avenues of the city.

This cohort had been forged through countless battles they had survived throughout their journey in the labyrinth and even beyond it. However, nothing they had faced so far would help them understand the situation they were about to encounter.

The group continued walking toward a cathedral, completely unaware of this fact.

Their formation consisted of Nephis, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame, accompanied by her two companions throughout their entire journey on the Forgotten Shore: Cassie and Sunless. There were other members as well—Kai, Effie, and Caster. The six of them were most likely the strongest Sleepers in the Dark City. Or at least, that was what they believed.

Soon, the ruins of the magnificent cathedral stood before them. The members of the cohort stopped at a certain distance, observing the ancient temple with somber expressions. Their journey through the Dark City had been uneventful thanks to Effie’s masterful guidance and the shadow that preceded her, helping her detect any danger in advance.

But the real danger lay at the end of the path, and now they had reached it.

Before the group could move any closer to the cathedral, another group entered their field of vision. This one consisted of hunters who had dared to walk through that infested area.

When their gazes met, the hunters’ eyes widened. After a brief exchange of words among themselves—words Nephis couldn’t hear—they began walking toward the cohort, which had stopped upon noticing them. Both groups had their weapons and armor summoned.

Nephis didn’t understand what a group of hunters was doing in this area, but she didn’t dwell on it. She had expected Gunglag to wait until they revealed themselves before acting, but it seemed she had been wrong.

The closer the hunters got, the more tension filled the air, until they finally stopped a few meters away.

Raising his voice slightly, one of them said,
"We have orders to take you to the castle on sight. Do not resist and come with us."

Nephis looked at them coldly and asked,
"Why?"

The same man repeated,
"We have orders to take you to the castle on sight. Do not resist and come with us."
After a brief pause, he added,
"We have orders not to answer any of your questions."

Staring at them, Nephis realized that these men were not affiliated with Gunglag. They were Sleepers who lived in the outer settlement.

What does this mean? she wondered.

Still looking ahead, Nephis noticed Sunny stepping to her side, ready for anything.

Seeing him there and then glancing at the cathedral ahead, she said,
"It looks like we’ll have to wait to finish our deal."

Without taking his eyes off the hunters, Sunny replied,
"Looks like it."

She didn’t have any concrete plan beyond waiting for them to take Effie and then challenging Gunglag herself. This changed a few things, but waiting two more days wouldn’t really make a difference. With no better option—aside from fighting these Sleepers and continuing on their own—she simply accepted it.

The hunters didn’t seem intent on fighting them, most likely because they knew they stood no chance. The difference in strength was obvious, and they were aware of it. If they crossed the line, Nephis could kill them whenever she wished.

Shrugging lightly, she said,
"Fine. We’ll follow you."

And just like that, the deal between the cohort and Sunny would have to wait until Nephis confronted Gunglag.

The walk to the castle took only as long as necessary. With the hunters’ experience, Effie’s guidance, and Sunny’s shadow, the journey was fairly easy.

When they arrived at the outer settlement, Nephis was surprised by how much it had changed. It was nothing like she remembered.

As they approached the point where the white path widened into a vast stone platform, the first thing she noticed was how controlled everything felt. A tall stone barricade had been erected at the edge of the settlement, its rough surface deliberately reinforced. Alert sentinels stood atop it, watching the hillcrest with unwavering focus.

There were fewer people than there should have been.

Most of those present were not settlers going about their lives, but guards. They occupied clearly defined positions, forming an invisible perimeter rather than a scattered defense. Each one wielded an invoked Memory weapon and wore sturdy armor. Their postures were rigid, their expressions devoid of hesitation.

Above them, the watchtower built atop their former refuge loomed over the settlement. Several archers were stationed there, bows lowered but ready, prepared to fire at the slightest provocation. Their presence turned the entire area into a fortified zone, not a place meant for living.

At first glance, the lower districts looked almost the same. But she quickly realized the similarity was only superficial.

There were no signs of recent battles, no bloodstains, no wounded bodies being dragged through the streets. The people she saw didn’t seem like residents at all. They moved with purpose, not familiarity. Some carried crates of food, others hauled water, and a few inspected structures, doors, and defensive measures, as if performing assigned tasks.

Their faces were neutral.

Not fearful.
Not exhausted.
Not defiant.

Efficient.

From time to time, someone glanced toward the castle. Their expressions didn’t change, and their steps didn’t slow—but Nephis noticed it anyway. In their eyes, subtle but unmistakable, there was a silent glimmer of hope.

Another detail caught her attention.

Tied to the sleeves of many—both guards and workers—was a strip of purple cloth. Clean. Deliberate. Worn openly, without shame or reverence.

Before, that cloth had been white.

White had been a symbol tied to her, to the Changing Star of the Immortal Flame, to the belief that she represented something greater.

This color did not belong to her.

When they fully entered the outer settlement, the faces of the Sleepers lit up upon seeing the cohort, smiles spreading across their expressions. The members of the cohort all noticed it. Their eyes didn’t shine with admiration, but there were no signs of hostility either.

As they moved deeper into the settlement, the Sleepers began applauding as they welcomed them. Moments later, however, they turned away and resumed their tasks.

Seeing such a drastic change, Kai asked,
"What happened while we were gone?"

The hunters guiding them repeated,
"We have orders not to answer any questions."

Hearing that, Sunny and Nephis exchanged a glance. They both understood the message perfectly.

Something is wrong.

Caster decided to intervene.
"What happened to Gunglag for things to change this drastically?"

The hunters glanced at him but didn’t respond, continuing to walk without a word.

That was when Effie snapped, her tone sharp and threatening.
"We spent three months in the labyrinth without knowing anything. The least you can do is answer us!"

One of the hunters, who hadn’t spoken until then, stopped for a moment and said calmly,
"Everything you want to know will be answered in the castle. Don’t make this harder than it already is."

Then he continued walking.

Nephis and Sunny exchanged another look, but this time their attention wasn’t on the guards or the argument. It was on the person walking a few steps behind them.

Cassie.

She had been strangely quiet ever since they arrived in the Dark City. Noticing this, Nephis slowed her pace and moved to her side.

"Cassie, are you okay?" she asked softly.

Cassie startled slightly, as if caught off guard.
"Yes. I’m just a little tired, that’s all."

Nephis didn’t believe her, but this wasn’t the moment to push. When Cassie was ready, she would tell her what was wrong or so Nephis hoped.

As they climbed the stairs toward the castle, she noticed an important detail.

The collection of skulls that had once hung above the castle gates was gone.

Upon entering the castle, they realized another drastic change. The castle was full of people. The hallways were crowded with individuals going about their daily lives, their faces completely calm. That did not go unnoticed by the cohort.

When they reached the throne room, the hunters nodded to the guards and turned away. The guards knocked on the door three times, and one of them announced,
"The guests have arrived."

At the word guests, Effie let out a small laugh.

Seconds later, a voice she recognized spoke from inside the room.
"Enter."

The doors began to open, and the guards gestured for them to go in. They entered one by one—Nephis first, then Sunny, Effie, Kai, Caster, and finally Cassie.

Inside, the room was the same as before, with only one difference: now only two people stood at either side of the throne.

To the right of the throne stood a woman with her hands clasped behind her back. She wore a simple, tailored red dress that highlighted her elegant, well-proportioned figure. Her features were delicate and precise, her beauty evident even without expression. Her smooth, uniform gray skin made her stand out even more, giving her an otherworldly presence.

Nephis recognized her. It was Seishan, her confidant within the castle.

Her gaze then shifted to the other figure, and the moment she did, she felt an immediate, strange connection. From the slight tension that rippled through the girl’s body, Nephis knew she wasn’t the only one who felt it.

That’s strange, she thought.

The young woman had balanced, defined features and a calm but firm presence. Her long, pale blond hair fell loosely over her shoulders, strangely soft in texture. Her intense yellow eyes watched them with measured attention. Two black horns protruded from the sides of her head, impossible to ignore.

She wore a white dress and, like Seishan, stood with her hands behind her back, completely still.

After a few seconds of exchanged glances, Nephis reached a conclusion.

She’s a Dreamspawn.

Once all members of the cohort had entered the room, complete silence followed.

They positioned themselves before the throne in a simple formation. Nephis stood at the center, Sunny to her right and Cassie to her left. Effie stood beside Cassie, Kai beside Sunny, and Caster next to Effie.

A few seconds of uncomfortable silence passed.

Nephis looked at Seishan again. She had too many questions: what she was doing there, whether she had betrayed them, what role she now played in the castle. Her expression gave nothing away.

Then Nephis looked at the girl in white. She was certain she didn’t know her. Her eyes lingered on the black horns and her rigid posture identical to Seishan’s, yet different in a way Nephis couldn’t quite identify.

After several seconds of silence, Sunny grew bored and asked,
"So… what’s going on here?"

The Dreamspawn looked him up and down, then stared at Sunny’s shadow for a few seconds. Finally, she raised her gaze and said calmly,
"Don’t worry. He’ll arrive soon."

Just as she said that, the doors opened again, and a new set of footsteps echoed through the hall. They were calm, steady, striking the stone floor with quiet confidence.

Five members of the cohort turned instinctively to look, but Seishan’s voice cut through the motion.

"Eyes forward," she said in a dry tone that allowed no questions.

Sunny and Effie hesitated, but eventually complied, staring straight ahead.

Hearing this, the newcomer spoke with a playful tone.
"There’s no need to be so dramatic, Seishan."

At the sound of his voice, Nephis noticed Cassie’s body tremble slightly. That was when the new figure entered her field of vision.

He was tall, with a slender build. His pale blond hair was tied neatly back despite everything. His skin was pale and utterly flawless, not a single mark visible, as if the battle he had just endured had never touched him.

His golden eyes calmly scanned the room.

The black armor covering him was stained with blue blood, still fresh in some places. It wasn’t damaged or broken, but it was slowly beginning to dematerialize, fragment by fragment. With each step he took, it faded further, until it vanished completely.

In its place remained a much more casual outfit. Simple. Functional. Chosen for comfort rather than appearance.

The figure advanced toward the throne without haste.

His footsteps echoed clearly in the silent hall, and no one dared to speak as he approached. There was no tension in his posture, no open hostility, only absolute, tranquil confidence.

When he reached the throne, he sat down.

He shifted slightly to the right, resting his elbow on the armrest and bringing his hand to his jaw, adopting a relaxed pose, as if observing a familiar scene. A genuine smile appeared on his face, free of mockery or arrogance.

Nephis took a second longer than usual to process it.

At first, she struggled to recognize him. Something about his bearing, his calm, didn’t quite match the image in her memory. But the longer she watched him, the clearer the pieces became.

Then she understood.

Arthur Leywin.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Sunny had recognized him as well.

Still smiling, Arthur spoke calmly.

"Sorry for the delay. A Fallen Beast was roaming near an important area, and I had to deal with it."

He paused for a few seconds, his golden eyes moving across the room, briefly resting on each person.

"Nephis, Changing Star of the Immortal Flame Clan. Sunless. Effie, Pathfinder, three years in the Forgotten Shore. Kai, Night&Gale, two and a half years in the Forgotten Shore. Caster of the Han Li Clan. And finally, Cassie."

His smile softened slightly.

"It’s good to see you all safe and sound."

Nephis stepped forward without hesitation.
"What is the meaning of all this?"

Arthur tilted his head, amused.
"A hello, long time no see, would be nice, wouldn’t it?"

Before the tension could rise further, Effie jumped in without any filter.
"Hey… do you guys know this guy? Oh my god, I’m drooling just looking at him."

Silence fell instantly.

Everyone—absolutely everyone—turned to look at her.

Sunny was the first to speak, frowning.
"Yes. He was at the academy with us."

Kai blinked, surprised.
"Then he came with you during the same Winter Solstice?"

Caster stepped forward, studying Arthur.
"You weren’t in the castle. Not in the outer settlement either. Were you what… five or six months inside the labyrinth?"

Arthur smiled a little wider.
"That’s a very good question. Unfortunately, I’m not going to answer it."

He settled more comfortably, his elbow still resting on the armrest.

"Now, I’d like to know what your plan is. I’ve deduced some things on my own, but I’d like to hear it properly."

Nephis stepped forward again.
"And why should we answer you if you won’t answer us?"

Before Arthur could respond, Cassie grabbed Nephis by the arm and pulled her back while stepping forward herself.

"Can I assume you found my signal?"

Arthur looked at her and took a few seconds before answering.
"Yes. I didn’t know who it might be or what to expect, but now that I know it was you… thank you."

Sunny raised an eyebrow.
"What you made me write on the platform was that a message for him?"

Cassie nodded.
"Yes. I had a vision. In it, a figure ended up on that platform. I didn’t know who it would be, but I had my suspicions."

Sunny stared at her.
"So you knew all this was going to happen and didn’t tell us?"

Cassie shook her head calmly.
"In my vision, the figure wasn’t clear. I didn’t know it would be Art. But I knew it was someone important. That’s why I asked you to write the message."

When she said Art, several eyebrows lifted at once.

Arthur, meanwhile, was smiling.

Effie broke the moment.
"Art? You know this beauty? I mean—handsome—uh—person?"

Arthur let out a soft laugh.
"Yes. We’ve known each other for many years."

Then his expression refocused.
"But let’s get back to what matters."

At that moment, the doors opened again.

Eleven handmaidens entered silently, carrying nine chairs and a massive table. They moved with speed and precision, arranging everything before the throne. When they finished, Arthur gestured for them to sit and get comfortable.

Effie glanced around.
"And the food?"

A voice answered naturally.
"It’ll be here shortly."

Sylvie.

Arthur nodded, satisfied.
"For now… let’s hear your plan."

Nephis spoke without sitting, her tone threatening.
"Before that, it’s time you answered our questions."

Arthur looked at her and calmly sat down, never breaking eye contact. Sylvie answered in his place.

"I’ll handle your questions. My name is Sylvie."

All eyes turned to her, and after a few seconds, Nephis sat down. She was about to speak when Effie interrupted.

"Hey, not to be rude, but… why do you have horns?"

Sylvie raised a hand to them.
"What? Don’t you like them?"

Effie scratched the back of her neck. "They actually suit you! But… what are you exactly? Humans don’t have horns."
She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"Well… some do, but not literally." And she laughed.

Sylvie hesitated for a few seconds before answering.
"To be honest… I don’t know exactly what I am."

Nephis looked at her and said,
"You are a Dreamspawn."

Sylvie looked at her, surprised for a brief moment, then nodded.

Sunny frowned.
"A what?"

He turned to Nephis.
"And how do you know that?"

Nephis replied without hesitation.
"A Dreamspawn is a being that exists on the boundary between nightmare and reality, belonging to both worlds at the same time."

No one spoke for a moment, but everyone noticed she hadn’t answered Sunny’s second question.

Then Nephis asked again.
"Where were you born?"

"In the Dream World."

Nephis said nothing more, but the thought formed clearly in her mind.

Like Asterion.

Kai broke the silence.
"Then… how are you planning to go to the Waking World? You don’t have a physical body there."

Arthur spoke before Sylvie could. "We already know the method, thanks to Seishan."
He waved his hand casually.
"It’s not a problem."

Sunny felt a clear sense of unease. A method to create a physical body in the Waking World?

Nephis took control of the conversation again.
"Gunglag."

Seishan answered without hesitation.
"Dead."

Nephis slowly turned to Kai.

He watched her for a moment, then nodded.

Nephis looked forward again.
"And the lieutenants?"

Sylvie answered calmly.
"Harus, dead. Tessai, dead. Kido and Gemma, alive."

Once again, Nephis looked at Kai.

Another nod.

"Who killed them?"

Sylvie and Seishan exchanged a brief glance.

"Arthur."

They said it at the same time.

Kai visibly paled.
"It’s… it’s true."

The expressions in the room shifted instantly. Shock, disbelief, tension. Everyone reacted, except Nephis. Her face didn’t change.

She looked at Seishan.
"Did you help him?"

"Yes, but he had already killed Harus before even reaching the Castle."

Arthur spoke up.
"It’s true."

He adjusted himself slightly.
"When we arrived at the Dark City about three months ago, we ran into Harus in a remote area away of the castle. He asked if we were part of your cohort." His smile tightened slightly.
"We fought. You already know the outcome."

Caster frowned.
"Three months ago?" He looked at the others. "You arrived just when we left for the Hollow Mountains."
He looked back at Arthur and Sylvie.
"Does that mean it took you nearly six months to reach the Dark City?"

Sylvie nodded.
"Yes."

Before anyone could say anything else, the doors opened once more.

The handmaidens returned, this time bringing the food, which was served in silence.

The table quickly filled with plates, trays, and overflowing dishes. There were meats and vegetables in abundance. Different cuts of meat, each from a different Nightmare Creature, recognizable by their texture, color, and thickness. All the meat was roasted, as were the vegetables, releasing a rich aroma that filled the throne room.

To drink, there was water… and a thick juice with the flavor of a vegetable Sunny couldn’t recognize.

But more than the variety, what truly stood out were the quantities.

It was overwhelming.

Sunny froze for a few seconds, staring at the table with wide eyes. He had never seen so much food in one place. Not in the Waking World, and certainly not in the Dream World.

Then he stopped thinking and started devouring everything within reach.

No one spoke during the meal. Everyone was too busy eating. Still, from time to time, one of the cohort members cast a discreet glance toward the other trio.

Nephis watched all three of them equally, silent and unreadable.

Caster, on the other hand, never took his eyes off Arthur. His expression was a mix of concern and judgment, as if he were trying to measure something he couldn’t quite understand.

Sunny and Effie were completely absorbed in the food, attacking the dishes without any restraint. They didn’t say a single word.

Kai and Seishan ate quietly, with elegance. In Kai’s case, it was clearly the result of his training as an idol. For Seishan, it was the upbringing of a Legacy from a great clan like the Song Clan.

Cassie remained silent. Anyone watching closely could notice that her blindfold was slightly darker around her eyes, just two barely perceptible shades. She didn’t speak, didn’t react, and barely touched her food.

Arthur and Sylvie, meanwhile, were conversing mentally, exchanging quick, silent impressions about everything that had happened.

That was when Sylvie alerted Arthur that something was wrong with Cassie.

She had been quiet from the beginning—with the exception of that initial moment. Something wasn’t right. He didn’t know what was happening to her, but the unease settled heavily in his chest.

I’ll have to talk to her later, he thought.

When the meal came to an end, Nephis finally spoke.

She agreed to share her plan.

In four days, they would face the Lord of the Dead, a Fallen Tyrant. The goal was to obtain the final Shard Memory needed to begin the Siege of the Crimson Spire. The idea of waiting nearly three more months for the Winter Solstice was rejected, as waiting that long would reduce the number of Sleepers in the Dark City more than desired.

Through the methods Arthur had implemented, casualties had decreased, but they still occurred. At present, there were around seven hundred Sleepers in the castle.

After that, each member of the cohort was assigned a private room. A handmaiden guided them to their respective quarters.

As the sky darkened and night fell over the Dark City, the throne room was left almost empty.

Only three people remained.

Arthur.
Sylvie.
Cassie.

Noticing this, Sylvie quickly made an excuse to leave and quietly exited the room, leaving the two of them alone.

Silence filled the space, but Arthur was the first to speak.

"I noticed you were acting strange all day."

Cassie nodded slowly. "Yes." After a brief pause, she added, "There’s something important I need to tell you."

As she was about to continue, Arthur interrupted her.
"Wait."

Cassie lowered her brows slightly but didn’t question it. Arthur had expanded his aether sense to encompass the entire room, but that didn’t mean someone couldn’t be listening from outside.

"Let’s go to my room instead. Somewhere more private, where no one will be able to hear us."

Cassie nodded, and Arthur guided her there, just as he had many times during their two weeks at the academy. When they arrived, he opened the door and led her inside, motioning for her to sit on the bed. He closed the door behind them and sat on the desk chair, giving her space.

Then Arthur remembered something. It embarrassed him a little, but it was necessary.

Taking a deep breath, he said,
"Before you tell me, there’s something I want to give you. Give me your hand."

Cassie didn’t quite understand, but she raised her hand anyway. Arthur summoned a Memory, and a second later, a completely colorless ring lay in his palm. Using his other hand to hold hers, he guided the ring onto the ring finger of her left hand.

Cassie flinched slightly and brought her other hand to her mouth. A blush spread across her cheeks, tinting them pink.

The silence that followed was intense. Cassie didn’t know how to react, and Arthur was consumed by embarrassment. Eventually, she broke the silence.

"Arthur… what… what does this mean?"
Her voice was so soft it was almost impossible to hear.

He scratched the back of his neck, looking away.
"It’s a Memory that I… I got some time ago. It just lets two people know that the other is still alive while both are wearing it. They only break when one of them dies."
He took a breath before adding,
"I just thought… maybe you’d like to have it?"

Cassie let out a small sigh and composed herself, then asked with a mischievous tone,
"Oh… and here I thought you were proposing to me again." She emphasized the word proposing.

Arthur looked back at her and saw that she was smiling. "As if!"
Then he added,
"It’s just a promise that we’ll both stay alive, okay?"

Smiling even more brightly, Cassie said simply,
"That sounds good. I accept."

Wanting to change the subject quickly, Arthur returned to what she had wanted to tell him earlier.
"Now that that’s settled… what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Cassie’s expression changed instantly. Her smile vanished, and her hands clenched the bedsheets tightly.

Arthur couldn’t help but think:

That’s not good.

Chapter Text

Cassie’s expression and posture changed completely after she said those words. She went from laughing to wearing a look of sadness, her straight posture curling inward as if she were trying to disappear. Her hands began to grip the bed sheets tightly, as though she were reliving a memory filled with helplessness.

Seeing this, Arthur stood up from the chair and sat beside her. He placed his right arm over her right shoulder and gently pulled her closer, letting her rest her head against his shoulder. At the contact, he felt Cassie’s body tremble and knew she was about to cry, so without thinking too much, he helped her remove the blindfold. When he did, he saw that her eyes were already red from crying, and on the verge of doing so again.

They stayed like that for a long time, until Arthur realized that night had fully fallen and that Cassie had fallen asleep crying on his shoulder. A faint smile formed on his face as he gently laid her down on the bed, covered her with the sheets, and quietly left the room.

At night, the castle was completely empty. Everyone was asleep, so there was little to do. Walking calmly through the corridors, Arthur reached the front of the castle and sat down on the steps, looking out toward the outer settlement. Even though the people inside the castle were asleep, the guards still had to protect the perimeter.

The guard system Arthur had implemented was based on rotating personnel throughout the day. Each guard was assigned a specific zone that they had to learn down to the smallest detail, but they only worked four hours a day. After that, they had to report to the hunters’ building.

In that building, records were kept of who belonged to each hunter group, and if someone didn’t have a group, they were assigned to one that needed members. The structure of these groups was another thing Arthur had changed during this time.

Each group consisted of a dozen hunters, with roles ranging from tanks, pathfinders, scouts, and fighters. Some groups also had a healer, but not many. At first glance, it might not seem like a big change, but the most important thing wasn’t the roles themselves, it was the personalities. A good cohort had to be balanced, and with Sylvie managing the hunters, deaths had decreased and successful hunts had increased.

Thanks to this, maintaining nearly seven hundred Sleepers inside the castle wasn’t a problem.

Inside the castle, the situation was similar. Many of the Sleepers who had been living in the outer settlement under Nephis’s protection had moved inside. This naturally increased the demand for food, as well as other basic services necessary for survival. Fortunately, the castle was massive, and every Sleeper had either their own room or shared accommodations.

Seishan, along with her handmaidens, was in charge of managing this process. With the influx of Sleepers from outside, the number of jobs and workers increased proportionally across all areas.

Managing nearly seven hundred people wasn’t easy, but with the right company, it wasn’t that difficult either. And speaking of company…

"You don’t have to spy on me from that far away, you know?"

Anyone else might have thought Arthur had gone crazy, talking to thin air, but seconds later a figure sat down beside him.

"How can you tell?" Sunless asked.

Arthur let out a small laugh. "There are few things I can’t notice, and your shadow isn’t one of them."

Sunless made a sound of approval and fell silent.

The situation wasn’t awkward. It was just two men staring into nothing, thinking about everything.

Eventually, Arthur was the one who broke the silence.

"Tell me, Sunless, what made you sit with me tonight?"

Taking his time to answer, Sunless said, "Don’t call me Sunless. Sunny is fine. I just couldn’t sleep."

"Alright, Sunny. A lot on your mind?"

"Yeah. A few things."

"Do you want to share what’s bothering you, or would you rather keep it to yourself?" Arthur asked in a calm tone.

Sunny hesitated for a few seconds before replying. "It’s nothing important. Thanks anyway." He stood up and left.

'This guy is still weird, even after all these months,' Arthur thought.

And so the night passed. From time to time, some guards would leave the castle and stop to greet Arthur before heading to their posts to continue their watch.

In the morning, Arthur returned to his room, but Cassie was still asleep. He needed to take care of some paperwork, so he sat at the desk and got to work. He was so focused that he didn’t notice Cassie waking up until she had to call him several times.

"Arthur, are you there?" she asked timidly.

Turning around and looking at the bed, he remembered that she was still in his room. Letting out a small laugh, he said, "Oh, right. Sorry, I was busy. What do you need?"

"If you could come have breakfast with me," she repeated for the tenth time.

"Ah, we can ask them to bring breakfast to the room if you want," he said.

He saw Cassie’s face light up at those words.

"Really?" she asked with a smile.

Arthur stood up from the desk and went to the door. A guard was standing there, and Arthur asked him to notify a handmaiden to bring two breakfasts to the room. Then he returned, and they talked about random things until there was a knock on the door. Arthur walked over, took the two trays of food, thanked the handmaiden, and placed them on the desk.

When they finished breakfast, both of them sat back down on the bed. It was time to talk about the important matter.

Cassie kept her hands clasped over her lap for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and finally began to speak.

"When the spell sent me to the Dream Realm… I appeared alone, on a platform above the Dark Sea."

Her voice was soft but firm. "I could only hear the waves crashing below. The wind… the cold. I was terrified."

She paused briefly, swallowing.

"I thought I was already dead. There was nothing I could do. I truly felt that only a miracle could save me."

Her fingers curled slightly. "And it did."

Cassie lowered her gaze.

"I started crying. I couldn’t help it. And I guess that’s what caught her attention."

With a faint smile, she added, "Nephis had fallen onto the same platform."

"At first, I thought she was a Nightmare creature. She spoke strangely… she was awkward. But it didn’t take long to realize she wasn’t. When she saw me like that, without saying much, she transferred a Memory to me. It was armor. After that… she just stayed with me until the sun rose."

Cassie breathed a little easier as she recalled it.

"A few days later, inside the labyrinth, we met Sunny. I was happy. Truly. We weren´t alone anymore. We were a group. I felt like our chances of survival were much higher." She nodded slightly. "Nephis was incredible in combat… and Sunny was a very good scout."

Her tone shifted, growing lower and more restrained.

"One night… before sleeping… they started talking." Cassie pressed her lips together. "I was ‘asleep’. Or so they thought."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"I heard Sunny ask Nephis why she kept carrying me along, and she asked him if he wouldn’t do the same."

Her hands tightened on the sheets. "Sunny said no."

Silence stretched for a few seconds.

"I felt… like something was being driven into my chest."

Cassie took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "Then Nephis said she did it because she wanted to."

She lifted her gaze briefly, her eyes slightly watery.

"The next day, I had a vision of the castle. That’s why we started traveling west."

She paused. "And a few days later… I had another vision."

Cassie hesitated, then looked at Arthur.

"Could I… ask for a glass of water? It’s long."

After drinking some, she closed her eyes for a second and continued.

"At first, I saw… boundless darkness, sealed behind seven locks."

Her brow furrowed. "Something enormous was moving inside. I felt that if I looked at it directly, I would lose my sanity."

"The seals broke, one by one… until only one remained. And then… it broke too."

Her hands began to tremble.

"After that… I don’t know. It was like my mind shattered. Thousands of fragments. Most of them… dark. Terrifying."

"I saw the human castle again. But it was night. It was surrounded by something… like a purple cloud. I felt like the castle was frozen in time." She opened her eyes. "I saw the throne room… and a blurry figure sitting on it."

She continued, almost in a whisper.

"I saw a woman with a bronze spear drowning in a tide of monsters. An archer trying to pierce the sky with his arrows."

Cassie clenched her teeth.

"And at the end… I saw a crimson tower. At its base were seven severed heads, guarding seven locks." Her voice finally broke. "At the top… a dying angel was being consumed by hungry shadows."

Tears began to fall.

"When I saw the angel bleed… I felt like something incredibly important… something that can’t be explained with words… was being torn away from me."

"Then I felt so much sadness… so much pain… so much rage… that what little sanity I had left disappeared."

She opened her eyes, exhausted. "That’s when I woke up."

Arthur didn’t speak immediately. He remained still, his gaze lowered, processing every image Cassie had described.

He formed each image in his mind, considering every detail, but instead of dwelling on them, he set them aside for later, when his head was cooler.

"I understand what you’re saying," he said calmly. "And I understand why it weighs on you so much."

Cassie clenched her hands on her legs.

"No… that’s not all," she replied softly. "There’s something else I need to tell you."

Arthur didn’t rush her. He simply nodded.

"Alright," he said. "I’m listening."

Cassie took several seconds before speaking again. When she did, her voice was no longer steady.

"A few months ago… I had another vision," she said quietly.

She covered her face, as if she couldn’t hold Arthur’s gaze. "And this one was worse. Much worse."

She took a deep breath, but the air seemed insufficient.

"Sunny was talking to a spy. Someone sent from the castle to gather information about Nephis. He knew it… and still kept talking to him."

Arthur noticed her hands starting to tremble.

"Sunny was misleading him. He talked about Nephis as if her Aspect was only useful for healing, as if she wasn’t dangerous. All so the spy would leave with false information."

She paused briefly. "They were drinking alcohol… Sunny had never drunk before."

"At one point, the spy asked how Nephis had obtained her True Name."

Her voice dropped even lower. "And Sunny answered without thinking, or because of the alcohol. He said… ‘probably the same way I did’."

"He realized it immediately, but the spy took it as a joke and asked what Sunny’s True Name was."

She gripped the sheets tightly.

"Sunny didn’t answer." She slowly shook her head. "He stayed silent for almost a full minute. I could see it… it was like every second physically hurt him. Like saying it or not saying it was equally unbearable. And then… he killed him." Her voice trembled. "Without hesitation. Without saying a word. In cold blood."

Arthur remained motionless, but his eyes widening a bit.

"When it was over," she continued, tears pooling in her eyes, "Sunny said his True Name in a low voice. Barely a whisper."

A tear slid down her cheek.

"And I heard it."

"By then… I already knew the prophecy," she said, trying to hold back her tears. "I knew he would eventually fight Nephis. And that she… she would probably die in that confrontation. So I made a decision."

She looked at him, her eyes red. "I told Nephis Sunny’s True Name."

The words seemed to hurt as she said them, her voice breaking. "I did it hoping she would survive. I chose who had the better chance to live."

Tears began to fall freely.

"I feel horrible, Arthur. Because I know there’s something between them. They’re both too stupid to realize it, but during the months Sunny wasn’t with us… Nephis wasn’t the same. She kept looking toward the Dark City. Every day. Like she was waiting for him to appear. And every time his name was mentioned, she always joined the conversation with a different intensity."

Cassie clenched her fists.

"And that makes it even worse. I felt like I was betraying them both." She lifted her head, completely broken. "I had to choose between my two friends, and I don’t even know… if I chose right."

By the time she finished, she was crying uncontrollably, and Arthur moved closer to embrace her. When Cassie felt the contact and realized what he was doing, she pulled away abruptly and said,

"Don’t comfort me, I’m a horrible person!" Through her sobs, she added, "I don’t deserve to be comforted!"

Ignoring her completely, Arthur stepped forward and wrapped her in an embrace that left her no choice. She struggled at first, but when she realized she couldn’t escape, she simply stayed there, crying.

Meanwhile, Arthur’s mind was spinning, unable to fully comprehend everything she had told him.

'Sunny has a True Name too!?'

'Oh gods, this is worse than I thought!'

At that moment, he heard Sylvie speak to him. 'Breathe, Arthur. Give me a few minutes and I’ll be there with you.'

Arthur replied, 'No! Even if you know Cassie through my memories, she doesn’t know anything about you. It’ll be awkward.'

A moment later, Sylvie thought, 'Oh, you’re right. I didn’t think about that.'

'Sunny has a True Name too!?' Arthur wondered for the tenth time since hearing it.

At that moment, Arthur did something he had sworn never to use again since the fight against Gunglag. He activated [Former King].

Instantly, his mind split into two layers, and all the information he had received began forming within the new one.

He had only activated this attribute twice before, and each time the sensation was more addictive than the last. A cold feeling ran through his body, and his face turned neutral.

Every thought aligned, every sensation complemented another. He began searching for details, even in the way Cassie had told the prophecy and Sunny’s story. His other mind couldn’t keep up, and how could it?

Former King carried the thinking habits of a Sacred-rank being, and the loss of humanity Arthur experienced every time he activated it was unmistakable. A simple Sleeper like him could never imagine the difference.

Immediately, his mind filled with possible theories.

The castle frozen in time, surrounded by a purple cloud, wasn’t hard to interpret. It pointed to him without ambiguity.

The blurry figure sitting on the throne confirmed it. Cassie had seen something similar before, on an isolated platform, unable to distinguish features, only a vague presence. That figure had turned out to be Arthur.

After that, he disappeared from the prophecy.

The immediate explanation was simple. Either he died, or he didn’t participate in what happened at the top of the Crimson Spire. Both possibilities were reasonable. Too reasonable.

Arthur discarded that line of thought.

He traced back further, to his first nightmare. To Grey’s words. Grey had said he searched for Arthur’s future in the threads of Fate… and couldn’t see it. They weren’t broken. They weren’t absent. They were hidden, gray, out of reach.

The prophecy spoke of the future. Cassie saw representations, not people.

Effie wasn’t Effie. She was a woman with a spear.

Kai wasn’t Kai. He was an archer aiming at the sky.

Nephis wasn’t Nephis.

She wasn’t shown as a victor or a glorified martyr. She was a dying angel, being consumed. The vision didn’t imply justice or punishment. It implied sacrifice. Not one chosen, but one accepted.

Sunny, as a shadow, wasn’t the villain of the prophecy. He was the executor of a consequence. If he consumed the angel, it wasn’t out of hatred. It was because he couldn’t afford to lose what defined him.

Arthur understood then why he didn’t appear at the top of the Crimson Spire.

It wasn’t because he wasn’t there.

It was because he couldn’t be represented.

When he intervened, the future wasn’t shown as a clear image, but as something blurred.

That was why, when the prophecy reached its end, Arthur disappeared. Not because he ceased to exist, but because the very method of the vision couldn’t capture him.

Caster still didn’t appear.

Arthur didn’t force that absence. He accepted it. Caster wasn’t irrelevant, but he wasn’t essential to the climax either. If he died earlier, if he betrayed them, if he simply didn’t make it… the prophecy didn’t need him.

With that part sorted out, his mind moved to the other problem.

Sunny’s True Name.

Sunny had killed someone for knowing it. Not for threatening him. Not for attacking him. Just for knowing it.

That narrowed the possibilities.

The knowledge of a True Name wasn’t symbolic. It had a real effect. It could cause direct harm, or make him vulnerable to some form of control or weakness. Maybe it allowed influence over him. Maybe it opened a path of attack. Or something worse.

Arthur considered another possibility.

Why hadn’t Sunny simply lied?

He had already been misleading the spy. Guiding him in the wrong direction. Downplaying Nephis’ Aspect. Manipulating the conversation. That wasn’t honesty — it was deception. And yet, when the question about the True Name came, he hadn’t given a false one. He hadn’t invented anything. He hadn’t even deflected properly.

He had gone silent.

As if lying was not an option.

Arthur dissected the difference. Deception was not the same as lying. You could hide the truth, bend context, lead someone to a false conclusion… without ever stating something untrue.

That suggested a restriction.

A Flaw.

What if Sunny simply couldn’t lie?

That alone would explain the pause. The internal strain. The visible discomfort. Faced with a direct question, he was cornered. Unable to answer falsely. Unable to answer truthfully without catastrophic consequences.

So he removed the question.

By killing the one who asked it.

Arthur followed the thought further.

But even that might not be the full picture. Sunny hadn’t just avoided lying — he hadn’t avoided answering either. He could have stayed silent. Refused. Walked away.

Unless he couldn’t.

Unless his Flaw forced him to respond to questions. And to do so truthfully.

Not two separate Flaws. One condition. One rule.

If asked, he must answer. And he must answer honestly.

Arthur understood then, coldly, why the spy had died. In that situation, there had been no other outcome.

What if saying a True Name granted authority?

Not power, but a hierarchy. A one-sided relationship.

There was no way to confirm it. Too many variables. Too many gaps.

But one conclusion was undeniable.

If Sunny had killed for it, then Nephis and Cassie were in danger the moment he found out.

And Sunny was also in danger, because they knew it.

It was an unstable situation. Explosive.

Arthur acknowledged, distantly, that he himself was probably also at risk. But he didn’t give it importance. Not because he underestimated Sunny, but because he had no interest whatsoever in knowing his True Name.

He didn’t need it.

At that moment the door burst open. A figure ran into the room, the floor creaked beneath their steps, and in the next instant, a fist was flying straight toward Arthur’s face.

His body reacted before his mind.

Arthur raised his arm and caught the wrist at the last second, stopping the blow inches from his face. The impact hung suspended in the air. The force behind it was not small.

He lifted his gaze.

It was Sylvie.

Arthur released her wrist immediately.

The cold in his mind cracked slightly, but didn’t disappear completely.

"Deactivate it!" Sylvie shouted through clenched teeth. "Arthur, now!"

Cassie jolted, retreating slightly on the bed, clearly startled by the sudden intrusion.

Arthur didn’t respond.

His expression remained neutral, distant, as if the scene didn’t involve him.

"Arthur!" Sylvie stepped closer. "You’re getting lost in there, I told you! Turn it off!"

He stared at her without blinking.

"Deactivate [Former King]!" she shouted again, this time with desperation. "Listen to me!"

The silence tightened for another second.

Then Arthur’s eyes widened, and the second layer of his mind dissolved. The flow of deductions was cut off abruptly, as if someone had ripped out a current at its root. The cold withdrew from his body, and the rigidity in his posture eased.

Arthur let out a breath and brought a hand to his temple.

"Damn it…" he muttered softly.

He blinked several times, as if just now refocusing on the room.

Only then did he notice Cassie, sitting on the bed, staring at him with a mix of confusion and fear.

And he understood.

Arthur slowly lowered his hand.

"I…" he began, but stopped.

Sylvie was still standing in front of him, breathing heavily, her fists clenched.

"I told you not to use it like that," she said, lower now, but with a clear edge.

Arthur closed his eyes for a second.

"I know," he finally replied. "You were right."

The room fell completely silent.

After almost a full minute, Arthur leaned back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I don’t understand why I was given that attribute if I can’t use it…"

Sylvie’s expression shifted from anger to understanding.

"I get why you think that, but we agreed you wouldn’t use it lightly. Just like it helps you in key moments, it brings far more dangers than we can understand. What would have happened if you had gotten lost in it?"

He propped himself up slightly, resting on his shoulders.

"I know… it’s just that every time I use it, my body demands that I keep going. It’s addictive, and to some extent frustrating, because it gives me so much power, but the risk is losing myself… what if I really am Grey, Sylv?"

The moment those words left his mouth, Sylvie stepped closer, her expression snapping back to anger.

"Don’t even think that!" she snapped. Then, more calmly, she added, "You are you, Arthur. An attribute or a past you don’t even remember won’t define you."

That drew a small smile to his face.

"Thanks, Sylv."

A small cough pulled them out of their moment, and both turned to look at the source. It was Cassie, her eyes wide open and her eyebrows drawn down.

"Um… I don’t know if I was supposed to hear that?" she asked timidly.

'Oh shit, I completely forgot Cassie was still here.'

'Well… it’s not that bad, right?'

Looking at her with a smile, Arthur said, "It’s fine if you know. I trust you." Then, remembering everything he had deduced from what Cassie had told him, he added, "For now, we’re going to act like nothing happened. Don’t tell Nephis that you told me this… but there’s something I need to say to you."

The smile vanished completely from his face.

"I can understand your motives and your fears, but I won’t support your actions. What you did was wrong, and I won’t dwell on it because you already know that. I’ll help you clean up this mess because you’re my friend, but you should know I didn’t like your decision at all. You have no right to take away other people’s ability to choose. Not even when you think you’re doing it to save them."

After taking a breath, he added, "The consequences of that action haven’t arrived yet, but they will, and it won’t be pretty for the three of you."

With that, he stood up from the bed and left the room without looking at her. He couldn’t do it right now. Sylvie hesitated between following him or comforting Cassie, but ended up following him a few steps behind.

Arthur’s mind was no longer the peaceful place it had been over the last two months. Now it was a tangle of emotions and contradictions that wouldn’t let him think clearly. When Sylvie caught up to him at the castle gate, she grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. As she thought about what to say, Arthur noticed Sunless, Nephis, Caster, Effie, and Kai watching them from the corner of his eye. Seconds later, they turned away and went to train together in a nearby corner.

Arthur thought about joining them and ignoring the storm of emotions he was dealing with, but Sylvie kept him in place and spoke in a tone that was almost maternal, and slightly threatening.

"When you sort out your emotions, then you can go have a sparring match. For now, you’re going to my room and taking a cold shower. Do you hear me?"

Even though she phrased it as a question, it wasn’t one at all. It was an order that left no room for refusal. And since it was framed as a question, it didn’t trigger his Flaw.

Another thing that had been weighing on Arthur during his time gathering information and dealing with the people of the castle was that very Flaw. At first, he thought it was based on hierarchy, depending on how he himself determined people’s ranks.

But no. It took him a while to understand how it truly worked. It depended on how the person giving the order perceived him at the moment they did so.

It should have been something he understood just by reading the description the spell had given him.

[Flaw: The King Does Not Kneel.]
Flaw Description: [A king that bows ceases to be a king. Your will cannot bend to authority that is not your own.]

It never mentioned roles or hierarchical structures. In simple terms, if Arthur didn’t want to do something and someone who believed themselves superior ordered him to do it, he simply wouldn’t. This can manifest in many different ways, either like what happened at the academy or by ignoring it completely.

Obviously, if for some reason he ends up carrying out the order, his entire body would begin to ache, as if his soul were splitting apart.

Definitely another gift Grey had left him. How did that bastard even become a king?

'It’s kind of weird to insult him knowing he was me in the past… or that I was him. No idea…'

While Arthur was lost in his thoughts, his body moved on its own. By the time he finished that last thought, he had already taken a cold shower and was walking toward the area where the cohort was sparring.

When his gaze fell on Caster fighting Sunny, a smile formed on his face.

'I really hope they’re strong enough to make sparring fun. These days, I can only do it with Gemma or Seishan, and even they don’t give me much of a challenge.'

Walking over calmly, with confident steps, the three who weren’t fighting turned to look at him. But his gaze focused entirely on Changing Star.

Chapter Text

The place where the cohort was holding sparring sessions was a plaza roughly a hundred meters long and wide, surrounded by abandoned houses. At the center of the plaza, Sunny and Caster were currently fighting each other without using their Aspects.

The rest of the cohort was watching the fight from the corner farthest from the center. Nephis was leaning against a wall with her arms crossed, her gray eyes observing every detail of the sparring match. Effie and Kai were talking to each other, occasionally glancing at the fight.

The moment they felt Arthur’s presence, the three of them turned to look at him. Changing Star’s expression remained neutral, but anyone paying close attention would notice her eyebrows lowering by a few millimeters. The duo’s reactions were far friendlier. Effie started waving at him, and Kai flashed a bright smile.

Stopping a few meters away and staring intently at the fight, Arthur said,
“Caster’s stance during that last strike was wrong. Did you notice? His center of gravity was too high to attempt that blow, and yet he still went for it. In that situation, a feint would’ve been far better.”

Effie and Kai’s expressions shifted to less cheerful ones, and they exchanged glances. When Effie opened her mouth to say something, Nephis spoke first.

“Yes, but if it had been a feint, Sunny could have read his intent and not fallen for it. Caster sacrificed attack power with the intention of landing a hit rather than breaking Sunny’s rhythm.”

Arthur looked at her and smiled at her argument.
“You’re right about that. But at the same time, breaking your opponent’s rhythm can be more advantageous in the long run than simply landing a hit that doesn’t deal much damage.”

Changing Star met his gaze.
“That kind of low-damage hit might be exactly what breaks the balance Sunny had been building and shortens the fight.”

“Trying to shorten a fight through brute force never ends well,” Arthur commented, still looking straight at her. “You always end up sacrificing defense for an offense that even a ten-year-old could exploit, and eventually you give up control of the fight.”

When Nephis was about to respond, the sound of a sword striking the ground echoed through the plaza, and all four of them turned back to the fight. Sunny had defeated Caster.

Effie looked Arthur up and down, then turned to Nephis.
“Looks like you lost that one, Princess.”

Changing Star didn’t bother responding or even turning around, and instead began walking toward the center of the plaza.

‘Looks like she doesn't like losing,’ Arthur thought.

Taking advantage of the moment, he moved closer to Kai and Effie. They watched as Nephis gave Sunny advice about what he had done during the fight, while Caster walked toward the other group, drinking water.

At that moment, Arthur felt another presence approaching. When he turned, he saw a beautiful woman walking with confident steps. Her long black hair was tied back, with a few loose strands falling along the sides of her forehead. Her red lips contrasted sharply with her gray skin, making it impossible to look away. What stood out the most, however, were the droplets of fresh blood scattered across her armor and the thin line trailing down from her lips.

By now, Arthur had grown accustomed to encountering Seishan like this. During his first weeks in the castle, he had run into her the same way, and he wouldn’t lie—at first, it had scared him a little. As their friendship grew, he got used to it, and now it barely caught his attention. Still, it was undeniably strange.

“Hey, Shan. What brings you here?” Arthur asked, pulling a small white cloth from one of the pockets of his armor and stepping closer to offer it.

She took it calmly, wiped her lips with it, then summoned a Memory that produced fire and burned the cloth.

“Thanks for the cloth, Arthur. And hello. I saw you here and thought I’d come over. If you’re doing sparring matches, I’d like to join.”

He smiled, then looked at Effie and Kai.
“Why don’t we do some two-on-two sparring? Seishan and I as a team against you two?”

Effie shrugged.
“Why not? Let’s call the others and form the teams.”

She immediately shouted for the rest of the cohort, using a volume so loud that Arthur was certain it echoed through almost the entire castle.

A few minutes later, the teams were formed as follows: Arthur and Seishan together; Effie and Kai as another team; Sunny and Nephis as a third. That left Caster alone, but fortunately Gemma heard Effie’s shouting and came over, initially thinking it was a Nightmare Creature. Seeing that it wasn’t, he stayed for the sparring and teamed up with Caster.

Arthur considered calling Sylvie, but she was busy at the moment and couldn’t participate.

The first match was between Sunny and Nephis’s team versus Caster and Gemma.

The rules were:

1. Free use of Aspects and Memories
2. Avoid lethal blows
3. The team that forced the other to surrender first would win

Arthur had never seen Sunny fight before—aside from the sparring match he’d just had with Caster—so he didn’t really know what to expect. He was familiar with Caster and Nephis from the academy, and with Gemma from a few hunts they’d done together. Sunny, however, was a complete mystery to him, especially after everything Cassie had told him earlier.

‘Should I check if his Flaw is that he can’t lie?’ he wondered.

He decided to do it, but as subtly as possible. Sunny was clearly intelligent. Suddenly bombarding him with questions would only raise suspicion.

Moments later, Sunny and Nephis stood in one corner with their armor and swords summoned, while Caster and Gemma took position in the opposite corner, preparing to start the sparring match.

At that moment, Kai looked at Arthur and Seishan.
“Sir Arthur, Lady Seishan, if I may, I’d like to ask something.”

They both stopped looking forward and turned to the archer. Simultaneously, they smiled and replied:

“Sure, of course.”
“Go ahead.”

Kai blinked several times, clearly surprised by their synchronized response.

‘Was that natural, or did they practice it?’ the charming archer wondered.

“Kai?” Arthur asked, raising an eyebrow.

Snapping back to reality, Kai lightly shook his head.
“Ah, sorry, I spaced out.” He hesitated for a second before continuing. “I wanted to ask how you ended up becoming King and Queen of the Castle while we were away.”

Arthur and Seishan looked at each other almost at the same time.

It wasn’t a long look, nor one heavy with obvious meaning, but it was enough for Kai to frown.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked, slightly confused.

Arthur let out a small exhale, more amused than annoyed, and looked at the archer.
“To start with,” he said calmly, “we’d have to be a couple to be King and Queen. And we’re not.”

Kai’s eyes widened slightly.
“Oh.”

Seishan turned her face toward Arthur. Her expression was hard to read—there was no anger or surprise, but it wasn’t neutral either. It was something… different. Kai couldn’t quite place it, and she said nothing.

Arthur looked forward again.
“That said, the story is a bit longer than it seems.”

Three months earlier, Arthur and Sylvie had barely arrived at the outer settlement when night was already falling. The first thing they saw were several stalls where people were talking among themselves, passing the time. Their expressions did not reflect the conditions Arthur had imagined the people living here would be enduring.

Approaching one of the stalls slowly, Arthur drew a calm smile on his face.

“Excuse me, could any of you give us a hand with something?”

There were five Sleepers around the stall. They wore simple, worn robes, and they were talking about completely normal things. When they turned to see who had spoken, all five of their eyes widened, especially those of the three women in the group.

A few seconds passed in complete silence.

Eventually, one of the women cleared her throat.

“Ah… yes. What do you need?”

“Hello, my name is Arthur, and this is Sylvie,” he said, gesturing toward her. Sylvie inclined her head slightly in greeting.
“We just arrived in the city. Would you be kind enough to give us some information about the situation?”

The faces of the woman who had spoken and the other four became completely rigid.

One of them was the first to react.

“You just arrived at the Dark City?”

“Yes. We were lost in the labyrinth for a while, and it took us some time to get here.”

Sylvie spoke up immediately.

“By the way, how long has it been since the last Winter Solstice?”

The woman glanced at the others before answering.

“About six months.”

Silence settled in once more.

‘That’s a lot more time than I thought.’

The woman blinked, as if she had just remembered something.

“Ah… where are my manners?” She straightened up slightly.
“My name is Sid. I’m a hunter from the outer settlement. Come on, I’ll explain how everything works.”

She gestured for them to follow her.

“Thank you,” Arthur replied.

He gave a slight nod of farewell to the other four Sleepers and began walking behind Sid alongside Sylvie.

As they moved away, Arthur caught two whispered voices behind them.

“Ahh! Such a cutie.”
“I’m so jealous of Sid right now!”

Arthur didn’t react.

Along the way, Sid explained how the Dark City functioned for the rest of the afternoon. There was no Gateway inside the city—the only one was located in the Crimson Spire, which made any permanent escape distant and dangerous. She also told them about Nephis and her cohort, how they had arrived from the castle, and everything they had done for the people of the outer settlement. Before their arrival, the place had been little more than a precarious refuge—disorganized and constantly on the verge of collapse. With them, there was at least order, clear hunting routes, and a certain degree of implicit protection.

The comparison was obvious. Before, they survived however they could; now, they survived because someone had decided to shoulder the burden.

When she finished explaining the basics, Sid led them to a small cabin where Arthur and Sylvie would stay for the remainder of their time there. It wasn’t large or comfortable, but it was safe. By the time the sun fully set, Sid had to leave to attend to other matters, and night closed in over the settlement.

The next morning, Arthur and Sylvie decided to explore the settlement on their own. They spoke with other Sleepers, heard similar versions of the story, and confirmed what Sid had told them. Everyone seemed tired, but not desperate. That difference mattered.

In the afternoon, they met Sid again, and she filled in the remaining gaps. She explained how the hunts worked, how resources were distributed, and how the settlement stayed afloat through a combination of their own efforts and Nephis’s cohort.

That was when several hunters from the castle appeared.

They entered noisily, shoving people aside and claiming resources with little subtlety. Arthur took a step forward, ready to intervene, but Sid stopped him immediately. She told him it was too dangerous, that Nephis had been clear with her orders: endure it and don’t escalate the situation.

Arthur asked what kind of problems something like that could cause.

Sid then explained the matter of Effie. According to the official rumors, she had killed a couple of castle hunters. But no one there believed it. Everyone knew Gunlaug was just looking for an excuse to take her and carry out his own version of “justice,” weakening both the outer settlement and Nephis in the process.

That left a clear mark on Arthur.

The next day, he and Sylvie joined the hunts with Sid’s group, which consisted of the other four Sleepers they had met on the first day.

The first hunt was an absolute success. There was little reason to doubt it. Arthur had two cores and was halfway to forming a third. Sylvie kept her core saturated thanks to the shards they had saved during their journey. Sid and her group were experienced hunters who knew the terrain well.

On that first outing, they managed to bring down one Awakened beast and one Fallen. It was a clean, fast fight, exactly how things had to be in the Dark City, where any prolonged battle could attract more creatures.

The next day, they repeated the feat. And the next day as well.

They continued like that until the end of the week. By then, thanks largely to Arthur, that small cohort had hunted around twelve Awakened creatures and close to five Fallen Beasts. It was an impressive number even for well-organized groups, especially considering that each fight had to be resolved quickly and precisely.

For Arthur, however, there was a complication.

The only way he could obtain fragments was by using shards after the hunts. If he delivered the killing blow, he would absorb the shard automatically and he didn’t want that to become known. Not for any specific or strategic reason. He simply wanted to keep it secret.

And so, the week ended.

With enough information about the outer settlement and a fairly clear picture of how that side of the Dark City functioned, Arthur and Sylvie made a decision. It was time to enter the castle and learn the other side of the story.

Back in the present, Arthur noticed how Sunny narrowly dodged a downward strike from Gemma, twisting his body with unsettling precision. At the same time, Nephis took a step forward and, with a subtle shift of her footing, redirected Caster’s attack, forcing him to retreat.

The fight remained evenly matched.

“I see…” Kai said after a few seconds. “Twelve Awakened and five Fallen in a single week is quite a lot, actually.”

Effie let out a low laugh and added without thinking much about it, “The real injustice is that Sid had you all to herself for an entire week.”

Arthur, Kai, and Seishan all turned their heads at the same time and looked at her with raised eyebrows.

Effie opened her mouth to add something else, but Kai cut in first.

“And how was it in the castle, then?”

Arthur glanced at the fight for a moment, watching Sunny and Nephis force Caster and Gemma apart.

“Well,” he said at last, “it was the same… and completely different at the same time.”

The following week, when they entered the castle, the first thing that caught their attention was how empty it felt. Considering the number of Sleepers living in the outer settlement, it made no sense. The second thing was far worse: the constant fear etched into the faces of those who lived there. It wasn’t simple caution, it was terror. As if making the slightest mistake meant death… or something worse.

The first few days were quiet. There weren’t many opportunities to gather information like there were outside. People were closed off and distant, which was entirely logical given the fear they lived under.

Midway through the week, Arthur witnessed something he disliked intensely.

While they were eating lunch, a group of hunters burst into the dining hall and shoved aside the central tables, forcibly clearing the area. Shortly after, the lieutenants began to enter: Tessai, Gemma, Kido, and finally Seishan. Behind them, several hunters dragged a Sleeper by the arms and carelessly threw him into the middle of the hall.

Seconds later, Gunlaug appeared.

His golden armor reflected the light, and the oppressive pressure surrounding him made the air feel suffocating. Officially, this was a trial. In practice, both Arthur and Sylvie immediately understood that it was a spectacle, a demonstration of power.

With no intention of getting involved yet, they had no choice but to watch as Tessai executed the innocent Sleeper without hesitation.

After that, Arthur lifted his gaze and surveyed the lieutenants. His eyes met Seishan’s. She inclined her head slightly and offered him a calm, almost polite smile. Arthur didn’t react. He lowered his gaze and continued eating, as if nothing had happened.

The following days passed without major changes. Arthur heard rumors about a supposed creature that had killed Harus. Upon hearing them, a faint smile formed on his lips. He had been the one to kill Harus… and now, knowing who Harus really was, if given the chance, he would do it again without hesitation.

And so the rest of the week passed.

Until, on the final day, Arthur came face to face with Seishan.

It was already quite late, and he was walking alone through the castle corridors. The place was nearly silent when, a few meters ahead, he saw Seishan exiting a room.

Arthur stopped short, observing her with a calculating expression.

Seishan, on the other hand, looked him up and down and formed a faint smile. She stepped a little closer and said,

“You’re the one who was in the dining hall the other day.”

Arthur didn’t respond. His focus sharpened as he prepared to summon a Memory if necessary.

Seishan let out a soft laugh.

“No need to be so defensive. I just want to talk to you privately.”

“And why should I listen to you?” Arthur replied.

“Because I’m asking politely, obviously.”

A few seconds passed in silence.

“All right,” Arthur said at last. “Lead the way.”

Seishan nodded and turned around. They walked through the corridors until they stopped in front of a door with a name engraved on it.

Seishan.

Arthur’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“You brought me to your room?”

She didn’t respond. She simply opened the door, stepped inside, and left it open for him to follow.

Arthur hesitated for a moment, but eventually entered and closed the door behind him.

When he looked forward again, he saw that Seishan had already summoned a Memory.

“What’s that?” he asked.

A few seconds later, once the Memory was fully active, she replied,

“It cancels sound. No one outside this room will hear us.”

“And why did you want that?” Arthur asked. Then, raising an eyebrow, he added, “Just so you know, I don’t provide any strange services.”

Seishan studied him in silence for several seconds. Her expression turned serious, evaluative. Then her tone shifted, becoming almost Machiavellian… and Arthur had to admit there was something dangerously sensual about it as well.

“Oh?” she said. “And what kind of services were you imagining, if I may ask?”

When she finished speaking, Seishan was less than a meter away from Arthur, looking straight at him with a crooked, calculated smile.

Arthur took a step back. He composed himself quickly and replied,

“Well… it’s night. You brought me to your private room. You summoned a Memory to cancel sound. The room is lit by candles, and if my sense of smell isn’t failing me, there’s also a particular scent here… lavender?”

Seishan turned away without responding immediately and walked to a chair in front of a table. She sat down calmly.

“Relax,” she said. “If I wanted you for that kind of service, I wouldn’t be dressed like this.”

Arthur then noticed her clothes: simple black pants and a slightly loose white shirt. Nothing like the red dress he had seen her wearing before.

As she settled into the chair, Seishan added,

“Have a seat. I want to talk to you about something important.”

Arthur complied and sat across from her.

“What did you want to talk to me about, Lady Seishan?”

She made a dismissive gesture with her hand.

“No need for formalities. Seishan is fine. You can even call me Shan.”

Pouring a red liquid into a goblet, she took a small sip before continuing.

“When I saw you, I couldn’t help but feel that my instincts were telling me you’re someone special. And my instincts are rarely wrong.”

She looked at him intently.

“And besides… don’t you find it a little too coincidental that this happens right when rumors start spreading that Harus was killed?”

Arthur held her gaze.

“The rumors say it was a Nightmare Creature.”

She took another sip.

“And what do you think?”

“I don’t see how my opinion matters.”

Seishan smiled.

“Oh, but I wasn’t finished.”

She set the goblet down on the table.

“Doesn’t it strike you as strange that Harus dies on the same day two new Sleepers arrive together at the outer settlement? That it was known Harus had been sent to kill Changing Star’s cohort… and yet he ends up dead? That those same Sleepers become hunters and, in just one week, get used to hunting Fallen Beasts as if it were normal?”

Arthur remained silent.

“And that those same Sleepers,” she continued, “enter the castle a week later, asking questions of the residents.”

That caught him completely off guard.

Arthur stayed quiet longer than he would have liked. Just as he was about to respond, Seishan spoke again.

“And let’s not even mention your scent.”

She studied him closely.

“You smell the same as those from Valor. If I were less intelligent, I’d think you were Anvil’s son… but you look nothing like him. And I doubt he had a secret child.”

Now Arthur truly didn’t know how to react.

‘How does she know I have the War God’s lineage?’ he thought.

Arthur exhaled slowly.

“May I ask for a glass of water?”

Seishan observed him for a moment, weighing him, then nodded. She rose from her chair, walked to a small cabinet, and returned with a glass, placing it in front of him.

Arthur took it, drank a little, and set it down on the table.

‘There’s no point in hiding it anymore.’

In a calm, almost indifferent tone, he spoke.

“You’re right. It would be too much of a coincidence for all of that to happen.”

He raised his gaze to meet hers.

“Yes. I’m the one who killed Harus. And I also have the War God’s lineage. I can assume you have a god’s lineage as well?”

Seishan showed no surprise. She simply inclined her head in a slow nod.

“I thought so.”

Then she added,

“Yes. I have one as well. The Beast God’s lineage. I’m from the Song clan.”

That was a true revelation for Arthur.

Not because he hadn’t suspected it but because now he had confirmation.

Arthur had known for a long time that the great clans had a direct connection to the gods. Growing up with parents who worked for the government and spending countless hours reading ancient books had only reinforced that idea. What he had never known for certain was which great clan possessed which lineage.

Now, the pieces were beginning to fall into place.

If Seishan had the Beast God’s lineage, then Song was its bearer.

If she had recognized the scent of Valor on him, then Valor must carry the War God’s lineage.

Arthur had already deduced some time ago that the House of Night likely bore the Storm God’s lineage, and that Immortal Flame carried the Sun God’s. That was, after all, one of the reasons he had always been extremely careful around Nephis. As the last daughter of her clan… it was almost certain she possessed that lineage.

Only two unknowns remained.

The Heart God.
The Shadow God.

For a moment, Arthur thought of Sunny.

At first, it had been a shallow, almost absurd suspicion, born solely from his shadow-related Aspect. But now… with everything he knew about him, with what Cassie had told him, with how Sunny always seemed to be a mystery… in the end, the Shadow God was the god of mysteries as well.

‘The chances aren’t as low as I thought.’

The conversation continued for nearly an hour.

They spoke of power.
Of Gunlaug.
Of Tessai.
Of the balance within the castle.

And finally, they reached an agreement.

Seishan would help him kill Tessai and Gunlaug, and rule the castle.

In return, Arthur would owe her a favor… once they escaped the Forgotten Shore.

Arthur agreed.

The world snapped back into place.

The plaza.
The clash of steel.
Harsh breathing.

Kai was the first to break the silence.

“Wow… that’s intense.”

Arthur didn’t answer. He hadn’t told them everything. Only what was necessary. Nothing about lineages. Nothing truly dangerous about Seishan. Just enough for them to understand the weight—without knowing the edge.

Effie, on the other hand, didn’t waste a second.

With a huge, almost mischievous smile, she turned toward Seishan.

“Oh, dear Seishan… you had this handsome guy all to yourself in your room and didn’t do anything?”

She stepped a little closer, tilting her head.

“Or do you maybe like girls instead?”

Seishan’s eyes widened.

For a brief second, the temperature seemed to drop.

“Don’t you dare repeat that,” she said in a sharp, serious tone. “And no. I’m heterosexual.”

Effie let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Oh… what a shame.”

Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned her attention back to the fight still unfolding in the center of the plaza.

Sunny and Nephis had already defeated Caster.

Only Gemma remained.

Two against one, and even so, Gemma wasn’t making it easy for them.

Taking advantage of the brief silence, Kai spoke again, this time with genuine caution.

“And… what was the plan? If you don’t mind telling us.”

Arthur looked at Seishan.

She shrugged, her expression clear: I don’t mind.

Arthur nodded.

And the past revealed itself once more.

The plan hadn’t been complete from the start. It had been built piece by piece.

First, Seishan focused solely on Kido. She was tired. Tired of being trapped, of following orders blindly, of serving Gunlaug without questioning anything. It wasn’t a direct conversation or an explicit proposal. It was days of subtle suggestions, offhand comments, carefully placed questions. Seishan didn’t push her, she simply gave her space to reach the conclusion on her own.

In the end, Kido agreed.

The next step was Gemma.

And that part wasn’t done by Seishan.

It was done by Kido.

Gemma had never truly wanted to be one of Gunlaug’s lieutenants. He had accepted the position solely because Kido had asked him to. His loyalty had never been to the king of the castle, but to her. When Kido spoke, Gemma didn’t hesitate to align herself.

With the three lieutenants on the same side, only one thing was left.

Delivering the first blow.

And that blow depended entirely on Arthur.

While Seishan worked on Kido—and Kido on Gemma—Arthur stayed out of the castle. He spent that time in the Dark City, hunting with Sylvie, growing stronger, accumulating fragments. By the end of the week, he was roughly six hundred fragments away from forming his third core. He knew that facing Tessai would be enough to complete it.

And that was exactly what happened.

The day another public display of “justice” was announced, Arthur didn’t stay and watch.

This time, he intervened.

The dining hall was silent.

Gunlaug had just finished his speech about justice, about the order that held the castle together. His words still hung in the air when two hunters dragged a Sleeper to the center of the hall and forced him to his knees. The crime had been reported within the castle itself.

A theft.

That alone was enough for the “trial” to fall under Tessai’s authority.

When Tessai took his first step toward the center of the dining hall, something changed.

Arthur moved as well.

He didn’t rush. He walked calmly, but the moment he took his second step, all the rage he had accumulated over the week was released without restraint. His killing intent erupted like an invisible tide.

Some Sleepers in the hall began to tremble. It wasn’t the crushing, oppressive fear that Gunlaug radiated.

This was different.

Raw.
Primal.

As if reality itself were choking them.

Instinctively, people stepped aside. A path opened toward the center of the hall.

Arthur stopped beside the kneeling Sleeper and spoke in a completely flat voice, devoid of emotion.

“I will take the place of my fellow Sleeper in the pursuit of justice.”

For a moment, no one reacted.

Then Tessai let out a short, derisive laugh.

“I don’t know where you crawled out from, boy, but that’s not how this works. He’s the one who requested the right to challenge.”

Arthur turned his head slightly and looked at the Sleeper beside him.

“Do you mind if I take your place?”

The Sleeper stared at him with wide eyes, swallowed, and shook his head without saying a word. He stood up awkwardly and stumbled backward several steps, as if staying close was dangerous.

Arthur turned back to Tessai.

“Then it’s settled,” he said in the same neutral tone.
“Unless you’re afraid.”

Tessai’s lips twisted into a crooked smile.

“Arrogant bastard.”

In the same instant, Tessai lunged forward.

Two axes appeared in his hands, carving brutal arcs through the air as he charged. Each step made the floor of the dining hall tremble.

Arthur didn’t move.

Dawn’s Ballad was already in his hand, ready. His new armor—earned from slaying a Fallen Beast—covered his entire body: overlapping black plates like scales, fitted with precision, thin golden details running along his arms and legs. The material was strange, almost organic, absorbing light instead of reflecting it.

Arthur waited.

Calm.

The air in the hall grew heavier as Tessai activated his Aspect. A wave of cold burst outward from his body, the temperature dropping sharply. Tiny snowflakes began to dance in the beams of light from above, and his skin took on a bluish hue as an invisible icy barrier formed around it, hardening it like stone.

The Sleepers retreated instinctively.

Arthur did not.

Tessai charged with both axes raised high. The first strike descended with crushing force, enough to shatter bone and steel alike. Arthur dodged by the smallest margin, moving just before the impact.

Not by reflex. By anticipation. His aether sense had warned him before the attack even happened.

Arthur countered with a horizontal slash, testing. Dawn’s Ballad struck Tessai’s hardened skin and was deflected with a metallic sound. No wound was left behind.

Arthur frowned slightly.

Full hardening. High resistance. Not just surface ice.

Tessai grinned arrogantly and pressed the attack. The air grew colder still. Each time an axe passed near Arthur, he felt his muscles stiffen slightly, as if the cold were trying to seep into his body and slow him from within.

Progressive debilitation.

Arthur stepped back once. Then again. Not out of necessity, but analysis.

Wide, brutal attacks. Designed to force mistakes. Tessai relied on endurance and gradual attrition.

Direct style. Area control. Dependence on cold.

Arthur shifted his stance.

Lower.

He abandoned frontal offense and began circling, closing the distance only when needed. Tessai struck again and Arthur activated Static Void for a fraction of a second.

It wasn’t visible.

The world simply… froze.

Tessai’s axe stopped just short of where it should have been, a microsecond out of sync. That was enough. Arthur slipped past easily and struck the elbow joint. The barrier held, but the force transferred into the arm.

Tessai growled.

Static Void vanished instantly. Arthur couldn’t maintain it without paying a heavy price, but he didn’t need to. He only needed interruptions.

The next exchanges became a one-sided dance.

Tessai attacked with increasing fury, freezing the floor, trying to limit Arthur’s movement. But every time a blow was about to land, time stalled just enough. Perfectly measured micro-activations of Static Void turned lethal strikes into clumsy swings.

Arthur considered freezing Tessai completely—but the brute force of his opponent and the advantage of his Aspect would require far more will imposed on time, draining fragments at an unsustainable rate. Even knowing he would gain more after killing him, Arthur refused to waste them.

He advanced.

Switching styles again, he became aggressive. Short cuts. Fast thrusts. Targeting areas where the icy barrier formed more slowly: the neck, the armpits, the inner thighs.

Tessai began to make mistakes.

His breathing grew uneven. The cold no longer slowed Arthur; his rhythm hadn’t broken. Tessai’s had.

Another use of Static Void.

This time, Arthur held it a fraction longer, aided by Tessai’s fatigue. Tessai felt his body grow heavy, as if invisible hands seized his limbs. Arthur appeared in front of him and drove Dawn’s Ballad into his abdomen. The blade pierced through hardened flesh.

Tessai screamed and stumbled back, blood staining the frozen floor.

He tried to raise his axes again, but Arthur was already behind him. Strengthening both his body and Dawn’s Ballad with aether—something he could now maintain simultaneously thanks to his two cores—Arthur sliced through the backs of Tessai’s thighs, severing the tendons.

Tessai collapsed to his knees and the cold began to fade.

Arthur approached calmly.

With a sharp motion, he plunged Dawn’s Ballad straight into Tessai’s heart. The blade went through without resistance. Arthur twisted it once, deliberately, knowing the Aspect would keep Tessai alive for a few seconds longer.

As Tessai’s body began to slump forward, Arthur activated Static Void one last time.

Time froze.

Stepping beside him, Arthur brought Dawn’s Ballad down in a clean arc and severed Tessai’s head with surgical precision. The head separated from the body before time resumed.

Static Void deactivated.

The lifeless body hit the floor with a dull thud.

[You have slain Dreamer Tessai]
[Your aether grows stronger]

Arthur stood still for a second, then the Spell spoke again.

[Your aether is overflowing with power]
[Your aether is taking shape]
[Your aether is complete]

Pain surged as a new core formed.

Arthur dropped to his knees beside Tessai’s corpse, forcing himself to look as though he were paying respects. Outwardly, that’s what it seemed. Inwardly, he was enduring unbearable agony.

Seconds passed like that, until Seishan, Gemma, and Kido began to clap. One by one, the rest of the Sleepers in the dining hall followed.

When the pain finally subsided, Arthur stood and saw that Gunlaug wasn’t clapping.

Gunlaug released his presence, and the hall went silent. Even the lieutenants stopped. Then, smiling, Gunlaug began to applaud.

“Bravo, bravo! What a spectacle of justice we’ve witnessed today!”

He stopped clapping and leaned forward on his golden throne.

“Tell me your name, boy.”

“Arthur,” he replied calmly.

Gunlaug leaned in.

“Tell me, Arthur… would you be interested in becoming one of my lieutenants? It seems I have a vacancy.”

At that moment, a noise from the plaza drew everyone’s attention.

Turning, they saw Gemma kneeling on the ground, Nephis standing before him with her sword at Gemma’s throat, and Sunny behind him, the tip of his tachi resting where his heart would be.

The fight was over. Sunny and Nephis had won.

And now, they would face the winners between Effie and Kai versus Arthur and Seishan.

Seishan stepped forward, rolling her shoulders.

“Well,” she said, glancing sideways at Arthur,
“Looks like it’s our turn.”

Arthur smiled faintly.

Across from them, Kai and Effie prepared themselves and stepped toward the center of the plaza.

The next sparring match was about to begin.

Chapter Text

Sylvie was walking back to the castle after a complicated hour at the hunters’ building. Over the past few weeks, problems had begun to pile up at an alarming rate, and all of them seemed to revolve around the same thing: hunts were no longer what they used to be.
More specifically, the quality of Nightmare Creatures had changed.

In the area surrounding Bright Castle, the density of Awakened-rank creatures had dropped drastically. In their place, Fallen-rank creatures were beginning to appear almost exclusively. A large part of the blame lay with them: the cohorts went out hunting far too frequently, and the “weaker” prey had been almost completely wiped out. To make matters worse, there was another equally troubling factor: higher-rank creatures hunted on their own as well, accelerating the disappearance of Awakened creatures even further.

The solution was obvious, at least in theory. Either they began hunting Fallen creatures, or they ventured deeper into the Dark City in search of Awakened ones. Both options carried enormous risks.

Hunting Fallen meant facing enemies that far exceeded the capabilities of the average Sleeper. Even with saturated cores, powerful Memories, and extensive joint training, they were still, at the end of the day, just Sleepers. On the other hand, going deeper into the Dark City exposed cohorts to unknown dangers, unexplored zones, and multiple encounters that could erase an entire group without leaving a trace.

The result was inevitable.
Every day, fewer hunters returned.

Deaths among the cohorts had become far too common, and if the situation continued like this for a couple more weeks, Sylvie estimated that close to a hundred Sleepers would end up dying. That would not only jeopardize the survival of the castle, but would also have disastrous consequences when the time came to attack the Crimson Spire. Fewer Sleepers meant fewer chances for anyone to survive.

And, to make things worse, someone had to find a solution.
That someone was her.

In theory, Gemma should have been helping her deal with the problem. In practice, more than an hour had passed since he had run off in the direction of a scream, and he still hadn’t returned.
The responsibility had fallen entirely on her shoulders.

When Sylvie reached the castle, she ran into Gemma. He looked exhausted and there were marks on his armor. Seeing that, she worried for a moment, but after exchanging a few words, she felt more like hitting him over the head than worrying about him.

“Obviously he was sparring with the others! How didn’t I think of that earlier?”

She also crossed paths with Caster. He looked her up and down, analyzing her, and after a brief conversation told her that she had to prepare a mission to kill the Lord of the Dead in two days.

As she got closer to where the cohort was sparring, Sylvie saw Arthur fighting against Effie, while Seishan faced Kai.

As she walked toward where Sunny and Nephis were watching the fight from the outside, an idea occurred to her.
It wasn’t anything complex, nor particularly elegant. She simply muted her presence using mana, just enough to go unnoticed if no one was paying real attention.

And, clearly, they weren’t.

Sunny watched the fight without blinking. The clash of Arthur’s sword against Effie’s spear echoed through the air, each impact sending small vibrations through the ground. Arthur moved with precision, closing distances, forcing her to retreat, controlling the rhythm of the fight without pushing it.

Further away, Kai and Seishan moved in a fast exchange. Kai had set his bow aside and was using a sword, facing her on equal footing… or at least, trying to.

“What do you think about the style Arthur is using?” Sunny asked without taking his eyes off the fight.

Nephis narrowed her eyes slightly, following every subtle adjustment in Arthur’s posture, every calculated step, every restrained movement.

“It’s the correct style,” she replied after a few seconds. “To counter someone who fights with a spear, like Effie, it’s ideal. It reduces reach and controls the tempo.”

Sunny tilted his head.
“But with that style he won’t be able to defeat her.”

Nephis nodded, the corner of her lips curving faintly.
“No.”

Sunny frowned.
“Then… why does he do it?” he asked. “Doesn’t he want to win?”

“It’s a bad habit of his.”

The voice came from behind them.

Sunny and Nephis turned at the same time.
In a fraction of a second, two swords were summoned. The air tightened, and for a brief instant, killing intent was present… controlled, but real.

Sylvie looked at them with one eyebrow raised, completely calm.
The swords were dismissed almost immediately.

“…”

Before Sylvie could say anything else, Sunny spoke, still frowning.
“How did you do that?”

“Do… what?” she replied, tilting her head slightly.

Nephis watched her closely.
“How did you get here without us detecting you?”

Sylvie shrugged.
“You just weren’t paying attention.”

The comment carried more weight than it seemed.

For a few seconds, no one said anything. They turned their attention back to the fight. Arthur was still fighting the same way: efficient and precise, but also controlled.

After a moment, Sylvie spoke again.
“If Arthur realizes he’s stronger than his opponent, he has a bad habit of trying to match their level.”

Sunny blinked.
“Why?”

Nephis answered without looking at him, her eyes fixed on the fight.
“Because he can’t find anyone who’s at his level.”

Sylvie smiled faintly.
“Exactly.”

The three of them watched in silence.

Effie advanced with a powerful thrust. Arthur deflected it, spun, counterattacked… and held back once more. Kai took a step back in front of Seishan, adjusting his grip on the sword.

Effie didn’t waste time. She took advantage of Arthur’s slight retreat to press again, spinning the spear in a wide arc that forced him to retreat or take the blow head-on. It was an attack designed to crush defenses, simple and brutal—exactly the kind of move that had worked against countless opponents.

But this time, it didn’t.

Instead of retreating, Arthur stepped sideways, just enough to move his body out of the line of attack. The spear brushed against his armor, and before Effie could pull it back, the distance between them closed. His sword cut was short and precise, aimed not at her body, but at the shaft of the weapon.

The impact wasn’t meant to break it. Just to deflect it.

Effie clicked her tongue and changed the angle with brute force, forcing him to step away. She smiled, enjoying the exchange.

Unlike her, Arthur didn’t attack directly. Each of his movements seemed incomplete, as if he were testing reactions, measuring timing. Every attempt by Effie to impose her rhythm was dismantled by a minimal adjustment: one extra step, a twist of the wrist, a subtle change in distance.

Effie frowned.

The spear was her advantage, but she never managed to use it fully. Nor could she get close enough to overwhelm him with raw strength. Arthur kept her in an uncomfortable middle ground, forcing her to constantly recalculate.

By the third exchange, the approach changed.
Arthur let her advance.

The spear came straight in, clean, aimed at his torso. He didn’t dodge it completely. At the last instant, the tip was deflected with the flat of his sword, and the space between them vanished as Arthur spun on his own axis. The movement was so fluid that Effie took a fraction of a second to realize she had lost her balance.

That instant was enough.

The pommel struck her forearm, right where her grip weakened. The spear fell to the ground with a dull sound.

When Effie tried to react, it was already too late. The edge of Dawn’s Ballad rested at the level of her heart.

Effie stood still.
Then she burst into laughter.

“All right, all right,” she said, raising her hands. “You win, pretty boy.”

Arthur lowered the sword and stepped back, giving her space to turn. To anyone else, his expression might have looked satisfied, but Sylvie knew that it wasn’t.

Not far from there, the fight between Seishan and Kai had taken a very different course.

Kai attacked with precision and speed, moving well, changing angles, using the sword with more-than-decent skill for someone whose strength lay with the bow. But Seishan never lost her calm and seemed to be playing with him.

She blocked effortlessly, deflecting attacks with minimal movements. Every time he tried to press the attack, she responded with a short counter that forced him back.

She didn’t dominate him through strength.
She dominated him through reading.

When the moment came, she slid to the side, caught Kai’s sword with her own, and with a quick twist of her wrist, disarmed him. Before he could react, Seishan was already in front of him, the edge of her sword resting lightly against his throat.

Kai raised both hands.
“I yield,” he said without argument.

Seishan withdrew her sword and stepped back, relaxed.

For a few seconds, silence settled over the plaza. Then Effie picked up her spear from the ground and rested it on her shoulder.

“Well,” Effie commented, “that was annoying, not gonna lie.”

Arthur dismissed Dawn’s Ballad.
“It was closer than you think.”

Effie shot him an incredulous look, then glanced at Kai.
“You don’t even believe that yourself.”

Kai sighed.
“Fighting with a sword isn’t my thing… though we could have an archery competition later.”

Sunny chimed in from a few meters away.
“So you can always win? No thanks.”
They both laughed.

At that moment, a handmaiden—Felise—called the group’s attention. She was a beautiful woman, with ebony hair flowing behind her back, skin pale as snow, and cold, emotionless eyes.

“Lord Arthur and Lady Seishan.” She paused for a few seconds. “Your presence is required at the castle immediately.”

They looked at her, then at each other, and smiling, with a simple nod, they began walking together toward the castle. As they did, Felise continued.

“Lady Sylvie, you are needed at the hunter’s building.”
She gave a small bow.

Seeing this, Nephis asked, “What about our duel?”

“We’ll have to continue it another time,” Seishan replied, and Arthur immediately added, “Duty calls, it seems.”

Moments later, only Nephis, Sunny, Effie, and Kai remained in the plaza.

With a wide smile, Effie said, “You won’t fool me… there’s something going on between those two,” and nodded to herself.

Kai glanced sideways.
“You mean Lord Arthur and Lady Seishan?”

“Don’t call them that.” She smacked him lightly on the back of the head. “And yes, I’m not talking about these other two. They’re denser than a rock.” She elbowed Kai.

Nephis and Sunny raised an eyebrow at Effie’s comment but ignored her. In the end, Kai recovered from the slap and the elbow.

“I don’t like being used as an outlet, but yeah, I agree there’s something between Arthur and Seishan.”

Looking at Kai, Effie gestured with her eyes toward Sunny and Nephis and added, “What do you say we leave these two dense idiots alone and go grab something to eat, handsome?”

Understanding immediately what Effie meant, Kai nodded.
“Sounds like a good idea.”

And the two of them headed toward the castle without another word, aside from Kai throwing a wink at Sunny and Effie doing the same to Nephis.

The two left behind clearly had no idea what was going on.

After a few seconds of silence, Nephis broke it.
“Actually, Sunny, there’s something important I wanted to talk to you about, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, of course, Neph,” he replied without thinking much about it.

The walk toward the dormitories was quiet for a while. Daylight filtered in through the castle’s large windows, casting soft shadows over the stone, while the distant murmur of other Sleepers faded as they moved deeper into the halls.

Suddenly, Sunny spoke.
“By the way… I also have something to tell you.”

Nephis glanced at him from the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow slightly.
“Oh? What is it?”

Sunny was silent for a few seconds. Then he smiled—that smile that rarely matched what he was really thinking.
“Do you remember a guy named Harper?”

She frowned and shook her head.
“Should I? Who is he?”

Sunny shrugged, his expression completely neutral.
“Just a guy I killed. He was one of Gunlaug’s spies.”

Nephis watched him for a moment, then asked with indifferent confusion,
“And?”

A shadow crossed Sunny’s face, though his smile didn’t change at all.
“…Nothing. I was just wondering if you knew him.”

They didn’t say anything else until they reached Nephis’s room. Once inside, she sat on the bed, leaning her back against the wall. Sunny took the chair at the desk and dropped into it, crossing his arms.

Looking at him, Nephis spoke.
“It’s good that we can talk in private. Actually, I wanted to ask you a favor.”

Sunny blinked.
“What is it?”

She hesitated for a few seconds before answering.
“When we attack the Fallen Devil, the Lord of the Dead… and during the siege of the Crimson Spire… I want you to make sure that Caster isn’t near me.”

Sunny stared at her. His expression turned cold, dark.
“Why? What’s going on between you and Caster?”

Nephis met his gaze calmly, her gray eyes deep and unmoving.
“It’s very simple. Caster was sent here to kill me.”

Sunny’s eyes widened slightly, incredulous.
“Why would Caster want to kill you?”

She thought for a moment, then shrugged.
“People have been trying to kill me for as long as I can remember. Did you forget already?”

Sunny slowly shook his head.
“No… no, I didn’t forget. But what does that have to do with Caster?”

Nephis smiled faintly.
“They weren’t going to stop just because I grew up, survived my First Nightmare, and was sent to the Dream Realm. If anything, this was the perfect opportunity. Sleepers enter this cursed world alone, far from society’s protection and any allies they might have in the real world. Do you understand?”

Sunny nodded, his expression hardening.

“When I entered the Academy, I knew that someone among our peers must have received orders to make sure I never returned from the Dream Realm,” she continued. “I just didn’t know who.”

Suddenly, she looked straight at him, the corner of her lips barely curving.
“…In fact, for a long time, I thought it was you.”

Sunny blinked and stared at her as if she had just insulted him.
“What? Me? What exactly made you think I’m some secret assassin from a Legacy clan? Do I look like a Legacy to you?”

Nephis studied him.
“Honestly, not like any I know. But there were too many things about you that didn’t make sense.”

“Enlighten me.”

She raised a hand and began counting on her fingers.
“You claimed to be an orphan from the outskirts, yet you survived the First Nightmare and arrival at the Forgotten Shore. You didn’t consume soul shards, yet you kept getting stronger. You said you’d never held a sword, yet you absorbed my teachings at an absurd speed. And lastly, nearly every word you said was a lie—especially when you talked about your past, your origin, your strength, and your Aspect.”

She closed her hand into a fist.
“Do I need to continue?”

Sunny cleared his throat.
“Uh… no. Well, when you put it like that…”

She smiled softly and lowered her hand.
“But over time, I realized I was wrong. If you’d really been sent to kill me, you could have let me die in the Ashen Barrow. But you didn’t. You risked a lot for Cassie and for me.”

Her expression turned serious.
“So when we reached Bright Castle and Caster appeared immediately, inserting himself into my closest circle, I knew almost instantly that it was him.”

Sunny tilted his head slightly.
“And Arthur?”

Nephis looked at him thoughtfully.
“He crossed my mind too,” she admitted. “He doesn’t quite fit… but I didn’t completely rule him out.”

Sunny shook his head slowly.
“I talked to Cassie about him. She told me they’ve known each other for many years. According to her, Arthur has no ties to the major clans that sent assassins after you.”

He shrugged.
“I wouldn’t vouch for anyone completely, but honestly, I don’t think it’s him. Besides, if that were the case, he would’ve had the chance to do it on the very first day we arrived. Instead, he welcomed us with a banquet.”

Nephis was silent for a few seconds, absorbing his words.
“I’ll have to talk to him,” she said finally. “And when did you talk to Cassie?”

Sunny sighed.
“Last night. She was in his room while he was sitting on the hallway steps, so I took the chance to sneak in. She was asleep, so I had to wake her.”

After receiving a nod from Nephis, he continued.
“Going back to what we were saying—there were hundreds of Sleepers in our generation. Only seven were sent to the Forgotten Shore. And five made it to the Castle. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence?”

Nephis slowly shook her head.
“Who said it was a coincidence? The Spell loves playing with fate. If someone among those hundreds had the task of killing me, the chances of us meeting here were practically inevitable. That’s how the Spell works.”

She went on to explain calmly how Caster had tried to get close, isolate her, and watch her from the shadows.

When she finished, Sunny fell silent, thoughtful.
“If Caster wants to kill you… why is he still alive?”

Nephis hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Because we need him for what’s coming. Traitor or not, he’s useful.”

Sunny ran a hand through his hair and sighed.
“All right, Neph. I’ll keep a close eye on Caster. And you… talk to Arthur. Come to your own conclusions.”

Nephis looked at him and then smiled.
It wasn’t a cold or distant smile. It was genuine. Soft. One Sunny had never seen on her face before.

“Thank you, Sunny,” she said quietly. “I knew I could count on you.”

‘Did Neph just smile? And genuinely?!’

Clearing his throat and looking away, he said,
“Don’t mention it.”

Absorbed in the moment, neither of them noticed how their cheeks tinted a soft shade of pink.

***

Elsewhere in the castle, a couple of hours later, another important conversation took place.

In a spacious, elegantly decorated room, a breathtakingly beautiful woman sat with her back straight, legs crossed naturally. Her long black hair fell freely down her back, framing a face of fine features and gray skin that contrasted almost hypnotically with the red dress she wore. Her lips, the same carmine shade, reinforced that dangerous yet fascinating image.

Across from her, leaning against the back of a chair, stood a tall, slender man. He wore a simple white shirt and black pants, devoid of ornaments or symbols of status. His pale blond hair was tied back, though a few rebellious strands fell along his forehead. His golden eyes remained fixed on Seishan with calm attention.

Arthur broke the silence.
“Well, I think it’s about time you tell me what favor you wanted to ask when we left earlier.”

Seishan smiled calmly.
“There’s still time for that.”

He let out a soft laugh.
“Come on, Shan. We both know you’re going to ask me to join your clan.”

She widened her eyes theatrically and brought a hand to her mouth.
“My, oh my… am I really that predictable?”

“Nice try.” Arthur laughed, shaking his head.

Then he tilted his head slightly, thoughtful.
“All right. I’ll join your clan. But… won’t my lineage cause problems? After all, it’s the same one Valor has.”

Seishan studied him before answering.
“Don’t worry. My mother will understand the advantage of having you the moment she sees you.”

Arthur nodded slowly.
“All right. And what about Sylvie?”

“I assumed that if you joined, she would too. Isn’t she like your daughter?” Seishan raised an eyebrow.

Arthur hesitated for a second.
“Well… calling her my daughter sounds weird,” he admitted. “But yeah, you have a point.”

“Don’t worry,” she said softly. “You do what you need to do. I’ll take care of her as if she were my sister.”

Arthur frowned slightly.
“Why do you say that?”

She sighed, amused.
“Oh, Art… it’s not very hard to tell you’re about to do something stupid. I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t notice.”

Arthur paused on that word.
‘Friend.’

He smiled.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Seishan tilted her head, amused.
“Oh? Now you’re the one pretending innocence? I see, I see…”

Silence settled between them for a few seconds before they both ended up laughing almost at the same time.

Arthur couldn’t help letting his gaze drift to Seishan’s smile. At the same time, her eyes focused on his—golden and attentive. The air seemed to still for a moment.

Finally, Arthur stood up from the chair.
“Well… it’s getting pretty late. I should be heading back. We wouldn’t want a repeat of what happened the first time, right?”

Seishan shrugged.
“And why should I care?”

Arthur looked at her, furrowing both brows.
“I thought it bothered you… or caused problems, when your handmaidens saw me leaving your room at night the first time we talked.”

“Bothered? Not at all. Caused problems? Well… there were a few rumors. But like I said, they didn’t bother me.” Seishan shook her head.

Arthur smiled in relief.
“Good. I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Without thinking too much, he took a step toward her.

Seishan stood up as well.

They faced each other. Arthur was a bit taller. For a moment, neither spoke. Then Arthur raised his hands and gently held Seishan’s face.

Her eyes widened.

In a single motion, Arthur leaned down and kissed her forehead.
It was brief. Soft.

Then he let go and stepped back.

Seishan’s face was completely red.
“A-and that…” she murmured. “Why?”

Arthur, suddenly realizing what he’d done, turned just as red. He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Uh… I don’t know. It just felt like the right moment?”

He turned halfway around and headed for the door.
Before leaving, he paused for a second.

“See you tomorrow. Good night, Shan.”

He closed the door behind him and hurried down the hallway, trying to ignore the rapid beating of his own heart.

Sadly, he didn’t notice the three pairs of eyes that saw him leave in a hurry. Seconds later, those three handmaidens made their way toward the direction of the door.

Inside the room, Seishan remained still for a few more seconds, lifting a hand to her forehead… right where he had kissed her.
And she smiled softly, which was caught by the three handmaidens who had just entered her room in silence.

One of them—Felise—said, “Oh my, it seems we arrived at just the right moment.”

Seishan’s eyes widened completely and her face turned red again. Noticing this, the other two followed up.

Another—Mia—added, “No need to be embarrassed. With a boyfriend like that, I’d be thrilled!”

Before she could reply that Arthur was not her boyfriend, the last handmaiden spoke.

“You’re wearing way too much clothing, dear Shan,” Kiara added.

With that last comment, Seishan’s patience was overwhelmed by embarrassment, and it was the last thing said in that room before shouts and the sounds of things breaking began to echo.

Arthur, completely unaware of this, made his way to his room. But before he could enter and rest, he found a figure leaning against his door, arms crossed, staring at him with gray eyes.

Stopping short, Changing Star said, “I need to talk to you about something important.” She lowered her gaze to the floor, then raised it with determination. “Please.”

Arthur simply nodded, and Nephis moved away from the door. Seconds later, the two of them stood facing each other a few meters apart.

Chapter Text

It was already night in the Dark City. At this hour, the windows were covered with cloth to prevent the reflection of the Crimson Spire. The only sources of light were candles and torches. The materials used to create the furniture were made of wood that had to be obtained by venturing deeper into the Dark City and hauling it back with the help of Echoes or Memories. Fabrics were crafted from the remains of Nightmare Creatures that had been hunted. With all of these materials, every comfort within the Castle had been built, with special focus placed on the rooms.

And in one of those rooms, at this late hour of the night, stood possibly the two most talented Sleepers in history.

Changing Star and Paragon of Purity.

The first stood leaning lightly against the desk, her arms resting on the wooden surface. Her gray hair currently fell loose to her shoulders, and her gray, expressionless eyes were fixed on the figure standing a few meters away from her. She wore casual clothing: a white shirt and black pants. An outfit designed entirely for comfort and flexibility.

The latter stood a few steps in front of the door, leaning against it with his back, arms crossed over his chest. His face carried an expression of caution that did not match his golden eyes, and his hair, of the same color though paler, framed his features. He wore the same as before—a white shirt paired with black pants.

Several silent seconds passed after Arthur entered the room. The only sounds were the faint crackling of burning candles and the soft current of air slipping through the window.

Neither of them broke eye contact, and the situation began to feel uncomfortable, at least for Arthur.

Growing bored of the silent contest of who could outstare the other, he finally moved toward the bed and sat down with his back straight. Seeing this, Nephis took a seat in the desk chair.

“You said you wanted to talk, and you’ve been quiet since I walked in,” Arthur remarked.

Without moving an inch, she replied, “It’s time we have an honest conversation. Just the two of us.”

Narrowing his eyes slightly, he asked, “Honest?”

“Yes. Honest,” she confirmed. “I asked Kai whether you’ve told a single lie since we arrived. He said no.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“That’s strange for two reasons,” Nephis continued. “The first is that maybe you can’t lie. The second is that you calculated everything you said so it would still be the truth.”

Arthur let out a soft laugh.

“And where does the option that I simply don’t care to lie fit in?”

“Everyone lies,” Nephis replied without hesitation.

‘I know someone who doesn’t,’ Arthur thought.

“I don’t understand this hostility you have toward me,” he finally said. “But if this so-called honest talk is going to help you stop seeing me as the enemy, go ahead. Ask.”

He adjusted himself more comfortably on the bed.

Nephis watched him for a long second. Her expression did not change when she asked, “How did you obtain your True Name?”

Arthur lifted his gaze.

“My first Nightmare was strange. It lasted two weeks. And during that time, I came into contact with a being of Sacred rank.”

Nephis’s eyes widened slightly.

“Two weeks?” she asked. “And someone of Sacred rank?”

“Yes. Two weeks,” Arthur replied calmly. “I can’t say who it was, but it was of that rank.”

Nephis straightened slightly in her chair.

“Did you kill someone of Sacred rank?”

Arthur tilted his head.

“Kill? Well… not exactly. But I’m fairly certain it stopped existing!”

“You’re lying,” Nephis said flatly.

Arthur remained unfazed.

“Then why don’t we ask Kai?” he suggested. “Since he’s flying outside the window.”

A choking sound echoed from outside, and seconds later a figure awkwardly appeared at the window.

“M-my apologies, Lord Arthur!” Kai said. “They asked me to do this, and I couldn’t refuse. It’s nothing against you.”

Arthur smiled at him.

“Don’t worry.”

Then he glanced toward the door.

“While we’re at it, Effie can come in too. She’s two rooms away.”

Nephis turned toward him. “How did you know?”

“I can feel the vibrations in reality,” he replied with a shrug.

Kai’s face turned pale. He looked at Nephis and nodded.

The door opened, and Sunny and Effie entered.

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Sunny said, raising his hands.

“And what are you doing here, doofus?” Effie shot back, grabbing him by the shoulder. “You weren’t invited.”

“Since when do I need an invitation?” Sunny replied, shrugging her off and leaning against the wall beside Nephis.

Arthur looked at Effie.

“If you’re hungry, you can ask a guard to bring something to eat.”

He didn’t even finish the word hungry before Effie was already shouting, “GUARD!”

At that moment, another figure appeared at the doorway, short in stature, blond hair cascading down her back, a blue blindfold covering her eyes, and a face of delicate beauty. Cassie arrived accompanied by a handmaiden.

The handmaiden left her at the entrance and departed to fulfill the food order.

Effie helped Cassie into the circle, and just like that, the room went from two people to six.

Looking at them all, a thought crossed Arthur’s mind, but instead of analyzing it, he simply asked, “I see you’re all here. Well, except Caster. What happened to him?”

At that moment, he noticed Effie and Kai’s faces shift to confusion, while Nephis, Cassie, and Sunny did not react.

“It simply wasn’t necessary,” Nephis replied.

‘Necessary, huh?’

Still seated on the bed, Arthur adjusted himself until his back rested against the wall and both legs were stretched across the mattress.

“Well, I can see you came prepared, and I can tell something’s bothering you. Go ahead. Ask.”

The others glanced at each other—except for Cassie—and Nephis began.

“The day we arrived, the guards acted strangely. Today we asked them why. They said they were following your specific orders.” She continued, “It makes one wonder, why would you want to receive us that way?”

Arthur had known this question would come the moment they had the chance. It was a tactic he had once read about in a book. In ancient times, visitors were always treated that way to establish the presence of a dominant figure. Moreover, after a shift in power, they would assume it was Gunlaug’s doing, questioning whether he had changed during their absence. All of it served one purpose: to show the before and after.

“Because I needed to show you the changes I made since your first impression,” Arthur replied. “If everything had remained the same and you arrived, you would have assumed Gunlaug was still alive. So I altered your first impression to open your minds to the possibility that someone had defeated him.”

Sunny, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, asked, “Wouldn’t it have been easier for the guards to just tell us about the changes?”

“If they had, we wouldn’t have seen Arthur the same way when we found him sitting on the throne,” Cassie answered.

“Bingo,” Arthur said with a smile.

Nephis looked at him steadily. “So it was all planned from the beginning?”

Arthur nodded.

“And what about the Fallen Beast you said you killed when we arrived?”

He rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah, that. No, that wasn’t planned,” he admitted. “There really was a Fallen Beast near an important building, and there were no available cohorts. So I had to handle it.”

Changing Star gave a small nod and was about to ask something else when Effie interrupted.

“And what about Seishan?”

Arthur raised an eyebrow and noticed Cassie shift uncomfortably, changing the foot she leaned on.

“What about her?”

With a wide grin, Effie said, “She’s obviously your girlfriend, duh.”

Cassie shifted again, and everyone’s eyebrows rose. Arthur tried to maintain his composure but failed to stop a faint blush.

“Seishan and I are not dating,” he replied, feigning calm.

They all turned to Kai. After swallowing, he said, “He’s telling the truth.”

“You still have a chance, Cass!!” Effie exclaimed, elbowing her.

The poor Blind Seer didn’t see the hit coming—literally—and staggered slightly. Instinctively, her hand began playing with the ring Arthur had given her. Fortunately, the food arrived at that moment, and Effie immediately rushed toward the door. Cassie released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

Kai, Sunny, and Arthur couldn’t help but laugh. Even Nephis’s lips lifted slightly in what almost resembled a smile.

The food was nothing like the first day. Most of them had already eaten dinner, so it consisted of about a dozen portions. Eight of those were obviously for Effie. The rest received one each, except for Arthur, who didn’t need to eat.

By now, Nephis was tired of going in circles. Her intention had been to question Arthur to confirm whether he was trustworthy and not one of the assassins sent after her. Kai was nearby to verify the truth of his words, and Effie was there in case he turned out to be hostile.

But they hadn’t anticipated Arthur detecting them both. So plans had changed.

‘Sunny warned us this might happen,’ Nephis thought. ‘And he’s been laughing since he walked in. I’ll have to get revenge later.’

Indeed, from the moment he saw Effie leave the room where she had been “hiding,” Sunny had worn a grin. He had told them Arthur would detect them, and they hadn’t listened. Though “told” might not be the right word. During planning, he had approached them, said it wouldn’t work, and immediately left.

With her patience exhausted, Nephis asked the question that had been gnawing at her since she saw Arthur in the throne room.

“How did you kill Gunlaug?”

Everyone stopped eating. Even Effie. All eyes turned to Arthur—except Cassie, who still wore her blindfold.

“Would you believe me if I said it wasn’t difficult?”

“No,” they all answered.

“Good. Because it wasn’t. Not at all.”

***

Almost two months earlier…

The dining hall looked as it had before. The only difference was Tessai’s lifeless body lying several meters from the center, his head severed, and the expressions of disbelief on every Sleeper present. What they had witnessed made no sense. Tessai had been one of the longest-standing figures on the Forgotten Shore, the leader of the castle guards.

Everyone knew how strong he was and how ruthless.

Yet a complete unknown had faced him head-on and not only won, but controlled the entire fight and proved even more ruthless than Tessai himself. The unnecessary way he had severed his head sent chills down the spines of the guards and the Sleepers watching.

The only ones who showed no reaction were Gemma, Seishan, and Gunlaug. Even Kido looked uncomfortable at what she had just seen.

And when Gunlaug offered Tessai’s position to the one who had killed him, many guards didn’t understand why. Though to anyone intelligent, the reason was obvious.

Control.

Allowing a Sleeper strong enough to kill Tessai so decisively to roam freely was a mistake the Bright Lord could not afford, even if keeping him close brought its own risks.

Arthur accepted Gunlaug’s offer to become a lieutenant and fill the vacant position. In doing so, he became the leader of the castle guards. At that very moment, Seishan seized the opportunity to offer her assistance, explaining how everything functioned.

And in doing so—whether he realized it or not—the Bright Lord sealed his own death sentence.

The rest of the day passed without much drama. Arthur attended meetings, walked through the castle, learned protocols and response structures. The curious thing was that there were none. Protocols were whatever he decided at the moment. The only limitation was that his actions could not weaken the castle’s power relative to the settlement outside.

During his tour with Seishan, she explained everything: shifts, patrol routes, storage locations for resources and Memories, but most importantly, which guards were loyal to Gunlaug and which merely feared him.

By the end of the day, Arthur reached a conclusion.

The problem wasn’t just Gunlaug.

It was the culture he had built through fear.

The following day, Arthur called a meeting with all the guards.

The purpose was to establish new rules and abolish old ones. Though he was now their leader, some regulations had been set by the Bright Lord himself and could not be changed.

Still, it was the perfect opportunity to demonstrate who he was and what he expected. So at the first sign of dissent, Arthur intended to act.

He didn’t have to wait long.

A guard who had spent years on the Forgotten Shore and behaved however he pleased since arriving at the castle was the first to challenge him.

“Just because Gunlaug made you our leader doesn’t mean we’ll follow you. Earn our respect first, boy.”

Smiling faintly, Arthur replied, “If anyone believes I’m unworthy of this position, you may challenge me. Let’s do this, whoever defeats me is free to do as they please. Deal?”

Another Sleeper asked, “And what do you gain from this?”

“If I win, you follow my orders without question,” Arthur answered. Then added, “I’ll even let several of you attack me at once.”

The first Sleeper had already summoned a massive hammer and advanced toward Arthur, who stood calmly without moving. When he was less than two meters away, he began to charge.

Only then did Arthur summon his new armor—[Umbral Husk]—and Dawn’s Ballad.

Name: [Umbral Husk]
Memory Rank: Ascended
Description: [Something refused to fall. Its body endured collapse, impact, erosion—until resistance itself became instinct. This armor is shaped from that persistence. It does not harden or adapt. It simply remembers how to endure, and forces the world to exhaust itself first.]

Name: [Dawn’s Ballad]
Memory Rank: Ascended
[98/800]

The Sleeper brought the hammer down with full force. Arthur pivoted right and avoided it. Wanting to end it quickly, he closed the distance but at that moment, the Sleeper activated his Aspect, allowing him to anticipate others’ movements, almost like mind-reading.

Unfortunately for him, Arthur had learned long ago to move first and think later.

With a simple shift in stance, he dodged another strike, moved laterally, and positioned himself to the left. With a downward slash, he severed both of the Sleeper’s hands. A scream of agony followed. The hammer hit the floor and was dismissed instantly. That was enough for Arthur to kick him squarely in the back, sending him flying into the nearest wall.

Walking calmly toward him, Arthur placed Dawn’s Ballad at his throat.

“Surrender and live. Or die.”

The Sleeper—Anton—looked at him with fear and pain.

“I surrender.”

At that moment, Sylvie entered the hall and healed his wounds.

Even after witnessing that display of power, several guards still decided to test their luck.

Unfortunately for them, they all ended the day severely injured or unconscious.

None died.

And that was something every guard noticed.

One of them—Nico—finally asked, “Why are you showing mercy? We’ve been challenging your authority all day, and instead of killing us, you’re exposing a weakness. Tessai would have killed several by now.”

“That’s exactly the point,” Arthur replied. “I want you to understand that things have changed from now on. And don’t mistake this. Mercy is no weakness and I will not show mercy to those who mistake it for one.”

After that, Arthur left the hall and headed to a private room.

Inside were Kido, Gemma, Seishan, Arthur, and Sylvie.

It was time to formulate the rest of the plan.

Chapter Text

In the following days, a subtle change could be noticed in the castle. It was not immediate, nor was it something very obvious, you could simply feel it.

The guards no longer looked at Arthur with expressions of challenge or resentment. Their eyes reflected respect, and something close to fear.

Patrols became more orderly. Internal disputes decreased. Decisions were no longer made on impulse but began to follow structure. It was not an open revolution, but it was a change in culture.

And Gunlaug noticed.

A few days later, the small movements began.

First, spies.

Guards who had once been loud started observing in silence. Some asked unnecessary questions. Others always seemed to appear at just the right moment when Arthur gave an order.

Then came the provocations.

One guard brutally beat a Sleeper over a minor theft. Another confiscated resources that did not belong to him. A third started an unnecessary fight in the dining hall.

It was obvious. They were crossing the line on purpose and wanted to see how he would react.

Before, those cases ended in trial if one of the affected Sleepers reported it. That did not happen often, because everyone knew Gunlaug’s trials were nothing more than public executions disguised as order. A display of power. A reminder of who ruled.

This time, Arthur did something different.

He spoke with the thief and made him return what he had stolen. The punishment was extra work for weeks and the loss of privileges. There was no blood. No report. No public humiliation. No death.

And that was what triggered the first confrontation.

Gunlaug summoned him that very night.

The throne hall was occupied by the lieutenants and Gunlaug when Arthur entered.

“I was told you avoided a trial,” the Bright Lord said.

“I did.”

Gunlaug observed him for a long moment.

“It was a perfect opportunity to reaffirm authority.”

Arthur immediately defended himself. “My authority does not need corpses.”

The silence that followed was heavy.

“People need fear,” Gunlaug finally said. “Fear maintains order.”

“Fear maintains obedience,” Arthur corrected. “Not order.”

Gunlaug released the presence of his Transcendent Echo.

A sharp pain pierced Arthur’s mind, as if something were trying to bend his will.

“Hold the trial tomorrow. That’s an order.”

His will rejected the command before his mind could even analyze it.

“No.”

The word came out simple. Clear.

Gunlaug leaned forward on his throne.

“Excuse me?”

Enduring the pressure in his mind, Arthur replied, “I will not kill a Sleeper for stealing food.”

For a few seconds, the atmosphere turned uncomfortable.

Gunlaug remained silent, as if measuring the situation and to the surprise of them, he let it pass.

“Very well,” he finally said. “For now.”

But the message was clear.

The rope was beginning to tighten.

Minutes later, Seishan closed her chamber door with more force than necessary.

“Are you insane?” she asked, turning toward him. “Why are you going against Gunlaug right now? This was not part of the plan!”

Arthur remained silent for a moment before answering.

“I’m not going to let Gunlaug order me to kill a Sleeper over a simple theft.”

“It’s just a Sleeper!” she shot back. “The plan is more important! What if Gunlaug had confronted you right there? Even if you killed him, we still don’t have the guards completely on our side. It would have been a massacre inside the castle!”

Arthur dropped into a chair.

“I know. But you don’t understand.”

Seishan looked at him in frustration.

“Then explain it.”

Arthur lifted his gaze.

“It’s my Flaw.”

She blinked.

“Your Flaw?”

“Yes. I cannot follow a will that isn’t my own. When Gunlaug ordered me to carry out the execution… my Flaw wouldn’t allow it. Because I didn’t want to do it.”

Silence filled the room.

Seishan looked at him with new attention.

“Why are you telling me your Flaw?”

Arthur held her gaze.

“Because I feel like I can trust you.”

She went still.

“Besides,” he continued, “I already deduced yours. So it’s fair.”

Seishan frowned slightly.

“What do you mean you deduced mine?”

Arthur tilted his head.

“It’s not that difficult. Every time we meet, you’re drinking a red liquid. Everyone thinks it’s wine. But I have a good sense of smell.”

His golden eyes locked onto hers.

“It’s not wine. It’s blood. So your Flaw must be related to an urge toward blood.”

Seishan coughed lightly, looking away for a second.

“Well… when you put it like that, it sounds obvious.”

Then she looked back at him.

“This changes things. If you can’t follow Gunlaug’s orders, we can’t keep this farce going much longer.”

Arthur nodded.

“I know.”

“Then we’re going to have to speed up the plan,” Seishan added, bringing a hand to her chin. At that moment, she remembered a rumor a handmaiden had told her. “We have another problem too.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“Today I heard that Gunlaug is looking for another lieutenant to take Harus’s place.”

Now it was Arthur’s turn to bring a hand to his chin.

“Mmm, that’s definitely not good,” he said. “If the new lieutenant is loyal to him, we won’t be able to bring him to our side. And I’d rather not have to eliminate him.”

At that moment, Seishan stood and poured herself a drink. She offered one to Arthur, but he refused, knowing what she was drinking.

Bringing the glass to her lips and taking a sip, she said, “Don’t you think your ego has grown a little?”

Arthur tilted his head slightly. “Hm?”

“Why did you assume you’d be the one who would have to kill him? Do you think I couldn’t?”

Raising his hands in surrender, he replied, “I never said that. I just assumed it would be right for me to handle it, so you wouldn’t have to put yourself in danger.”

In a more teasing tone, she responded, “Oh? So now you think some nobody could defeat me?”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he said seriously, lowering his arms.

She took another sip and, with a smile, simply replied, “I know, I know. And I appreciate that you worry about those things.”

After that conversation, a couple of days passed in which the tension in the castle kept growing.

At first glance, it was not noticeable. There were no shouts. No open confrontations. But it was there. In the way the guards looked at one another. In how the hunters began consulting Arthur instead of Gunlaug before making decisions. In how the handmaidens changed their routes to cross certain corridors.

Arthur remained leader of the guards, and with each passing day, loyalty toward him increased. Not out of fear.

Out of consistency.

Patrols responded faster. Orders were clear. Punishments were fair. No one disappeared in the night without explanation.

The group of hunters led by Gemma began to align as well. The same happened with Kido’s artisans. Even among the handmaidens loyal to Seishan, some had already been captivated by Arthur’s presence.

It was not a coup. It was a silent migration.

And Gunlaug knew it.

The new crime happened three days later.

Two guards had scammed Aiko, owner of a small betting establishment inside the castle. They manipulated odds, diverted resources, and threatened a couple of regular clients.

Aiko did not report it, but one of her most loyal customers did.

That very night, the dining hall once again became the stage.

The guards moved the tables away from the center. Torches illuminated the hall with an orange light that made the shadows appear longer.

Around fifty common inhabitants of the castle watched in silence. A couple dozen guards surrounded the perimeter. Hunters leaned against columns. Handmaidens stood quietly observing.

At the center, the guards released the Sleeper who had made the report and stepped back.

Gunlaug spoke.

His speech was the same as always. Justice. Order. Consequences. Empty words wrapped in power.

Finally, he turned toward Arthur, who stood at his side with the rest of the lieutenants—except Kido.

“Since the crime occurred within the castle’s limits and was committed by a guard, it falls under your jurisdiction.”

Many looked at Arthur expecting to hear a “no” or something similar, but this time was different. Arthur began descending the steps with steady, calm strides.

The Sleeper at the center looked at him with fear, but Arthur did not return the look.

He stopped a few meters from the center and turned, fixing his golden eyes where Gunlaug’s would be hidden behind that Echo.

“I will not follow your orders.”

A murmur ran through the dining hall.

And before anyone could react, he added:

“I invoke the right of challenge.”

Silence.

Then a laugh.

Gunlaug leaned slightly on his throne, amused.

“Right of challenge?” he repeated. “It seems killing Tessai went to your head. Besides, this Sleeper has nothing to do with you. Who do you think you’re going to challenge, fool?”

Arthur did not hesitate.

“Obviously you.”

The hall exploded in murmurs.

At that same instant, he summoned [Umbral Husk].

The armor began covering his body with its dark, resilient design that seemed to absorb the torchlight. Dawn’s Ballad appeared in his hand with a faint glow.

Gunlaug rose to his feet, and his presence filled the hall.

“Ah… what a waste,” he said with feigned disappointment. “And I thought you had potential. It seems I was mistaken about you, Arthur.”

Arthur lifted his chin slightly.

His voice rang firm and clear, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Arthur?” A pause. “I’d prefer you call me Paragon of Purity.”

The effect was immediate. The eyes of the Sleepers in the hall widened, and whispers began to spread.

The weight of a True Name was not trivial, especially when it was spoken voluntarily by a Sleeper. It meant he had obtained it in his First Nightmare. There had only been three similar cases in history and only 4 people knew about the 4th cas.

Gunlaug let out a laugh.

“Paragon of Purity?” he mocked. “Another True Name… like that other insolent one.”

His smile sharpened.

“What a pity you’ll die so early.”

He descended the steps slowly and once again released the pressure of his Echo.

Arthur felt it, but did not step back.

On the side stands, Seishan did not move, but on her beautiful face was an expression of confusion and something like betrayal. Understandable, Arthur had never told her he had a True Name. In fact, the only person present who knew was Sylvie.

Beside Seishan stood Gemma, arms crossed, wearing a similar expression. And on the other side was Sylvie. Even though she knew Arthur possessed a Divine Aspect, three cores, Dawn’s Ballad—an Ascended-rank memory—and countless hours of training, she could not help but worry.

He was about to face someone who had likely spent even more time training and fighting other Sleepers or Nightmare Creatures—and not to mention his Transcendent Echo.

Gunlaug stopped a few meters away.

“Right of challenge,” he said with a crooked smile. “Very well. Let all bear witness.”

The pressure increased.

“The Bright Lord accepts.”

The Sleepers pressed themselves against the walls, giving Paragon of Purity and the Bright Lord the space their battle demanded.

The Sleeper who had made the report was dragged out of the center by two guards, and now nothing but empty space separated the two combatants.

Two men stood face to face.

One was tall, covered in a strange golden armor that followed the lines of his powerful body. The other was wrapped in black armor that seemed to swallow the torchlight.

There was a subtle similarity between them.

Both emanated a marked presence, a confidence very few possessed.

Both were dangerous.

Both stood at the peak of their class.

The Bright Lord was taller than Arthur. Heavier. His reach was longer. His experience killing people is greater. And that was without counting the Transcendent Echo he wore as armor—a power few could even confront.

Yet on the other side stood the last descendant of the Djinn.

Someone with a Divine Aspect and three cores.

Someone who had obtained a True Name in his First Nightmare.

Someone who held a degree of control over reality itself.

But more important than all of that… someone who had much to protect.

And that was worth more than any physical advantage or experience his opponent might have.

The moment Gunlaug stood before Arthur, his sentence was already signed.

Suddenly, Gunlaug’s armor began to distort. The liquid gold forming it moved forward and, in an instant, took the shape of a battle axe.

Arthur lowered his stance slightly.

He maintained two enhancements on his body and redirected one toward Dawn’s Ballad, holding it in guard before him.

There was no countdown.

No signal.

The fight for leadership of the castle had begun.

Gunlaug exploded forward in a terrifying charge, fast as lightning. The shift from stillness to violence was so instant that most present did not understand what was happening until moments later.

With each stride of the Bright Lord, the throne hall floor trembled slightly. He launched himself at Arthur like a furious giant made of gold, swinging his battle axe with an absurd mix of agility and brutal strength.

Arthur reacted in time, shifting his body and raising Dawn’s Ballad to deflect the lethal blow aside. Then the unexpected happened.

The axe’s shaft suddenly lengthened. The liquid gold composing it flowed forward, adopting a new shape. As a result, the deflection was almost useless.

Almost.

At the last instant, Arthur lowered his center of gravity. The blade passed centimeters above his head, slicing through the air where his neck had been a heartbeat before.

Gunlaug did not waste the opening.

He took advantage of the proximity and launched a direct kick to Arthur’s chest.

The impact sent him several meters back. Arthur dragged his sword along the ground to slow his momentum, sparks flying until he stopped. He rose calmly.

“Oh… this will be fun.” He smiled.

That confused many of the Sleepers pressed against the walls, even the lieutenants.

This time, he attacked.

Arthur advanced with explosive speed, concentrating enhancements in his legs. Dawn’s Ballad traced a series of rapid cuts aimed at different angles of the golden torso.

The liquid gold reacted each time.

There were no joints. No seams. No weak points. The armor had no cracks or stitches. It was a perfectly smooth surface that moved like a living organism.

In one exchange, Arthur saw his own reflection in the golden surface and felt pressure in his mind.

It was not a direct attack. It was subtler. The armor was demanding that he submit before it.

Arthur frowned and stepped back.

He activated a micro use of Static Void.

A fraction of a second in which the space around Gunlaug should become uncomfortable, slightly distorted—enough to ruin his rhythm.

Nothing.

He tried again, this time at the moment of impact, seeking to alter the Bright Lord’s footing.

Again nothing.

The Transcendent Echo absorbed the irregularity as if reality itself refused to counter it.

Gunlaug counterattacked with a savage sequence of blows. The axe shortened and lengthened, changing form mid-swing.

Over several seconds, they exchanged numerous strikes, each deflected, dodged, or blocked. There was nothing elegant or refined about it—only barbaric violence and cruel brutality, each doing everything possible to break, mutilate, and kill the other.

Their voices sounded like those of wild beasts, partly from the extreme effort of the duel, but also to release the murderous pressure and bloodlust threatening to drown their minds.

That did not mean they had lost control.

Both were cold-blooded fighters and knew how to remain lucid in the midst of the most intense fury.

The Bright Lord’s golden armor remained flawless, without a single mark.

Arthur’s, on the other hand, already bore a couple of shallow cuts and light dents. Nothing serious yet.

A second of separation.

And they launched at each other again.

This time, without restraint.

The first clash had been a test to measure capabilities. Now they were no longer holding back. They were throwing everything they had.

The impact of their weapons echoed through the hall. Those pressed against the throne room walls trembled.

Gunlaug chained an unexpected spin. The axe split into two temporary edges before recomposing, and one of the cuts slipped past Arthur’s guard.

The armor failed to withstand the impact, and a clean cut appeared along his forearm. Not deep—but enough for blood to spill.

Arthur stepped back.

If his face had been visible, they would have seen Gunlaug smile at the sight of blood.

Arthur raised his arm slightly, showing the wound for all to see.

The blood fell for a second—then the skin began to close.

The flesh regenerated before everyone’s eyes. Within seconds, the cut disappeared completely.

Now it was Arthur’s turn to smile.

The murmurs grew louder.

Gunlaug adjusted his stance and attacked with greater ferocity.

The axe descended with renewed violence. Every blow carried true killing intent. The floor cracked beneath his steps. The gold flowed more aggressively.

But there lay his mistake.

In his anger, his rhythm became slightly more predictable. Slightly—but enough. Arthur did not hesitate.

He activated [Former King].

In that instant, Arthur’s expression became completely neutral, incapable of showing emotion. His mind split into two perfectly differentiated layers. All his humanity was set aside. Only calculations remained. Angles. Distances. Ways to kill.

And in that—Gray was exceptional.

In mere seconds, multiple plans formed in his head to end Gunlaug.

He chose the most brutal one.

His presence changed. Not in volume—but in density. It became absolute. Unquestionable. His gaze lost every trace of amusement. When he moved again, he no longer seemed like someone trying to defeat his opponent.

He seemed like someone reclaiming what belonged to him.

To be King.

Arthur withdrew all augmentation from Dawn’s Ballad and concentrated it into his own body. His muscles. His perception. His speed. In that state, he felt at the peak of everything.

Then he moved.

To most present, it was as if he had teleported behind Gunlaug. No one could follow the transition. At the last instant, Arthur closed his eyes and redirected all enhancements back into Dawn’s Ballad.

The sword took on a deep purple hue and descended.

The blade struck the Bright Lord’s arm—the one holding the golden axe—and for the first time, the armor gave way.

The sword pierced the liquid gold, and Gunlaug’s arm was cleanly severed, falling to the floor a second later.

For an instant, there was silence. Then came the screams. Exclamations of disbelief. Of excitement. Of terror.

Arthur paid them no attention.

The golden armor reacted immediately, sealing over the shoulder to contain the bleeding. The liquid gold solidified into a smooth surface where an arm had once been.

Gunlaug turned violently—but it was too late.

Arthur was no longer there.

He had shifted again, appearing on the opposite flank, ready to repeat the motion. This time, Gunlaug managed to react, twisting his torso at the last moment, forcing the blade to graze instead of sever.

Even so, the impact forced him back several steps.

A question hung in the air, though no one voiced it.

How much longer could this continue?

The answer came seconds later.

Instead of insisting on the remaining arm, Arthur changed targets mid-motion. Dawn’s Ballad descended along a different trajectory, aimed at the abdomen.

The armor held for the first instant—but the Ascended-rank sword, enhanced three times, kept advancing.

The gold yielded.

The blade sank just below the ribs. Not a full impalement—but enough.

Arthur withdrew the sword immediately and stepped back.

For the first time since the duel had begun, the golden armor did not regenerate with the same fluidity.

The liquid gold forming it looked irregular. Gunlaug stepped back half a step.

His breathing was no longer steady. The pressure he emitted began to fluctuate.

The Bright Lord was losing strength with each passing second.

And Arthur knew it.

Taking advantage of the opening, he enhanced himself three times with aether again. His figure disappeared and reappeared beside Gunlaug.

But this time, he did not attack immediately.

He raised Dawn’s Ballad with clear intent, openly showing he was about to sever the other arm.

Gunlaug noticed.

He forced his body backward, trying to move out of range of the blade, and at the same time lengthened the golden axe. The shaft stretched like liquid gold solidifying mid-motion, seeking to crush Arthur’s head from the front.

At the last instant, Arthur abandoned the attack and crouched.

The axe passed above him. Without stopping, he stepped forward and swept Gunlaug’s left leg with a low, precise movement.

The Bright Lord lost his balance.

It was minimal—but enough.

At that same instant, Arthur activated Static Void—but not as before. This time, he put all his will behind it.

Reality stopped. It was not a sensation. It was a fact.

Gunlaug’s weakened body and his Transcendent Echo tried to resist—but they could not.

The previous exhaustion, the blood loss, and the accumulated damage did not allow them to oppose that absolute imposition.

Arthur wasted no time.

He enhanced Dawn’s Ballad again, and the sword once more took on that deep purple hue. He drove it straight into the Bright Lord’s chest.

The golden armor tried to react. The liquid gold concentrated over the heart, hardening. It held for an instant.

But under the pressure of Static Void—with reality itself immobilized—the accumulated damage finally took its toll.

The blade penetrated and sank directly into Gunlaug’s heart.

Immediately, Arthur released Static Void.

Time flowed again.

The sword was still embedded in the Bright Lord’s chest. A second later, Arthur pulled it free. Gunlaug’s body remained upright for a brief instant, as if it still did not understand what had happened. Then he fell, slowly and lifeless.

[You have slain Dreamer Gunlaug]
[Your aether grows stronger]

The Bright Lord lay at the feet of Paragon of Purity.

And the castle had a new King.

Chapter Text

The dining hall fell into complete silence. It was not the silence of immediate fear, but something deeper. No one breathed too loudly, no one dared to move.

From where she stood, Sylvie saw him.

Arthur was standing in front of the Bright Lord’s corpse. His posture was straight, his sword still firmly in his grasp. His expression… serene. There was no satisfaction, no rage, no relief. It was an empty calm, detached from any human emotion.

Through the bond, she could feel him and what she felt was not Arthur.

In a low, steady voice, completely devoid of feeling, he said, “Find peace in your own death.” Then he turned toward the rest of the Sleepers. His golden eyes swept across the hall.

In a dry tone, he added, “The next one who moves will accompany him in death.” He pointed at the corpse at his feet with his sword.

No one moved.

Arthur walked calmly toward the throne. Not hurried, not arrogant. Simply certain. He sat down as if it had always belonged to him.

Sylvie clenched her teeth.

Through the bond, she was shouting at him to deactivate the attribute. It was over, but on the other side, there was only cold silence and constant analysis.

So she spoke out loud. “Everyone out of the dining hall. Now!”

Her tone was louder than usual. Authoritative.

Seishan understood immediately. “You heard her. Everyone out.”

Gemma reacted as well. “Move, move. There’s a lot to do. Two of you take the body and let’s go.”

The hall began to move quickly. No one argued, no one questioned. The Bright Lord’s body was carefully lifted and carried away.

Within minutes, the dining hall was empty.

Only Sylvie, Seishan… and Arthur remained.

He sat on the throne with a serious expression, elbows lightly resting on the armrests. His eyes weren’t focused on anything in particular.

Sylvie could feel what he was doing, he was reviewing the fight.

Movement by movement. Decision by decision. Calculating what he could have done better. What risks he had taken unnecessarily. How to optimize the next execution.

One would think that after such a battle, the victor would be celebrating. But no, he was refining.

Seishan and Sylvie walked until they stood in front of him.

Arthur lifted his gaze. His golden eyes focused on them and something changed.

His gaze shifted, and [Former King] was deactivated.

Unfortunately for him, he did it a second too early. Sylvie had already raised her hand, and the slap echoed through the empty hall.

Arthur blinked.

The cold expression vanished, replaced by confusion and genuine pain as he brought a hand to his cheek.

“What—?”

Sylvie looked at him with bright, furious eyes. “Idiot!”

Her voice trembled but not from fear.

“I’ve been talking to you since the fight ended!”

Arthur opened his mouth to respond, but no words came at first.

Seishan watched them in silence, confused, a clear thought written across her face: 'Talking? She’s been silent this whole time.'

He lowered his gaze for a second. The hall was empty, the corpse was gone, and the throne beneath him was cold.

Finally, he looked up again and, with a genuine, sincere smile, said, “Thank you, both of you. This wouldn’t have been possible without you.” Then he continued, “But this isn’t over yet. There are nearly eight hundred Sleepers outside and inside the castle who need our help.”

He rose from the throne and began walking toward the door. Sylvie followed immediately, still angry but understanding that it wasn’t the time to explode. And if Arthur had stayed a few seconds longer, he would have seen Seishan’s ears turn slightly pink when he smiled at her.

'I’m a damn princess of the Song clan, damn it! I can’t blush just because he smiles at me, get a hold of yourself!' Seishan thought. But her treacherous mind formed another thought right after.

'Though I wouldn’t mind seeing him smile more often.'

With that, she turned and silently thanked the fact that she was walking behind the other two.

The rest of the day did not descend into chaos, largely because of the groundwork they had already laid, gradually preparing everyone for the possibility of a change in leadership. Most of the guards were already loyal to Arthur by that point, and those who weren’t had to choose between adapting or being exiled from the castle.

Arthur refused the idea of simply killing them for not wanting to follow him, so he gave them a choice. They could remain in the castle and adapt to the changes, or they would be exiled to the Dark City with at least a chance of survival. The same offer was extended to the hunters under Gemma, the artisans under Kido, and Seishan’s handmaidens.

Naturally, none of the latter three groups opposed him. The handmaidens were strangely pleased that Arthur was the new King, the artisans were more indifferent but relieved at the prospect of no longer enduring injustice, and all accepted. The hunters were different they had always been loyal to Gemma, so as long as he stood with Arthur, none of them would step out of line.

In the end, no guard was exiled. Some had been loyal to Gunlaug, but after witnessing Arthur’s display of power and remembering the fairness he had shown before, they accepted the new rules.

And so, the castle changed kings without a massacre. Only three people died to make it happen: Harus, Tessai, and Gunlaug.

The following day, Arthur gave a speech before all the Sleepers of the castle about the changes to come and what he expected from them.

The speech was held outside the castle. All the Sleepers stood on a wide esplanade that offered a clear view, allowing even those from the settlement outside to see and hear him.

Five figures stood before nearly eight hundred Sleepers: Gemma, Kido, Seishan, Sylvie, and Arthur. He stood at the center, with Seishan and Sylvie to his right and left respectively, while Gemma and Kido stood at the outer ends.

Arthur stepped forward, and his voice rose firm, clear, and commanding over the esplanade.

“Gunlaug is dead. Yesterday, in legitimate combat under the right of challenge, the former leader of this castle fell. With his death, leadership has changed. From this moment on, I, Arthur Leywin, or as my true name, Paragon of Purity, assume responsibility for this place and for all of you.”

His gaze swept over the nearly eight hundred Sleepers gathered before him.

“Many of you lived under his rule. Many survived because of his strength. I do not deny that. But you also lived under constant fear, under the idea that only the strongest deserved protection, under the belief that humanity was a luxury we could not afford. That ends today. From this moment forward, you will no longer live as slaves to your fears. From this moment forward, you will be treated as people.”

He paused briefly, ensuring every word settled.

“I have great expectations of all of you. Not because you are the most talented or the most powerful, but because you are still here. Because you endured. Because you did not break when the world tried to crush you. Survival will not be easy. It may even be harder than before. I will demand more discipline. More work. More commitment. But I promise you this: if we stand together, if we stop acting as isolated individuals and begin acting as a community, no one will have to sacrifice their humanity to stay alive. With each passing day, more happy endings will become possible. More comrades will return alive. More names will cease to be remembered as losses and begin to be remembered as victories.”

His tone did not soften, but it deepened with conviction.

“Use me as an example. I arrived in the Dark City less than a month ago, and today I stand before you after changing the fate of this castle. Use Changing Star as an example as well. You do not need to be considered valuable to be treated as human. You do not need a title or extraordinary power to deserve dignity. From now on, every Sleeper in the Dark City will live within these walls.”

A murmur spread through the crowd, inevitable this time, but Arthur continued without hesitation.

“This does not come free. Before, you were charged Shards. I will not ask that of you. The only thing I demand is cooperation. We are nearly eight hundred. And I need the help of every single one of those eight hundred. Every guard, every hunter, every artisan, every hand willing to work. This place will not stand on fear, but on shared effort. Rest assured: in the coming days, work will begin to reorganize the spaces and accommodate everyone within the walls. No one will be left outside. No one will be discarded for failing to meet some absurd expectation. But I will not tolerate selfishness or sabotage. If you wish to live under this new order, you will contribute to it.”

Finally, his voice lowered slightly, but did not lose strength.

“A king never abandons his people. And as long as I breathe, this castle will not fall for lack of unity.”

When Arthur finished speaking, the silence lasted only a few seconds before it transformed into something else. Not wild euphoria but a growing murmur, a new energy spreading among the nearly eight hundred Sleepers. It was not fear. Not imposition. It was an expectation.

Seishan stepped forward with her usual elegance and confidence. Her voice was firm and clear.

“I will personally oversee the accommodation of all of you within the castle. No one will be left without space. No one will be ignored. Reorganization begins today, and in the coming days rooms and sectors will be assigned according to needs and functions.”

She paused briefly and gestured toward Sylvie.

“My companion will assign work to all new residents. Every person will have a function. Every person will have a place.”

Sylvie stepped forward, arms naturally behind her back before speaking. Her tone was less ceremonial than Seishan’s, but just as authoritative.

“No one is going to sit around doing nothing. If you don’t know how to fight, you’ll learn something useful. If you can’t build, you’ll assist those who can. If you think you’re useless, I’ll personally prove you wrong.” Her gaze swept over the crowd intensely. “There will be discipline. There will be organization. And there will be opportunities. But there will also be consequences if anyone tries to take advantage of the system.”

Finally, Gemma stepped forward, his solid and direct presence contrasting with the others’ formality.

“I’m still in charge of the hunters,” he announced bluntly. “Anyone who wants to join exploration and hunting groups, come speak to me. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never stepped beyond the walls. If you have the will and the stomach for it, we’ll train you.” His expression was serious but not hostile. “We need more hands outside if this new order is going to work.”

Kido nodded from his place, adding in a practical tone that artisans and manual workers should approach her to begin planning the castle’s expansion and internal reorganization.

For a few seconds, no one moved, as if the eight hundred were processing the magnitude of the change. Then, almost naturally, they began to organize themselves. Three lines started forming before them: one toward Seishan for accommodation, one toward Sylvie for job assignments, and one toward Gemma for those wishing to join the hunters. Farther back, others approached Kido to offer their skills as artisans.

Arthur observed everything in silence. He did not intervene. It wasn’t necessary. The structure was already in motion.

The castle had not only changed leaders.

It had changed direction.

And for the first time since each Sleeper had arrived in the Dark City, the future did not feel like a mere extension of fear but the beginning of something different.

***

Arthur finished speaking, and the silence in the room was absolute.

Kai was completely pale. His fork had been frozen halfway to his mouth at some point during the story and never moved again. His plate was empty, and he hadn’t even noticed. His eyes were fixed on Arthur, as if he were still seeing the moment Gunlaug’s arm hit the floor.

Sunny was no longer in his chair. At some point during the story, he had slid to the floor without realizing it. He was sitting cross-legged, staring at Arthur with his mouth slightly open, as if his mind was still trying to process the speed of the movements being described.

Effie, meanwhile, had finished her food long ago and Kai’s as well, without him noticing. Her plate was empty, and she held a piece of bread she wasn’t even eating anymore. Her eyes were wide, shining with a mix of excitement and something close to savage respect.

Cassie had completely lost her restraint. The nerves from the fight against Gunlaug had led her to eat more than usual. At one point, she had even tried to take something from Effie’s plate, earning an immediate protest from the huntress. Now she sat still, breathing slightly faster than normal, as if she had been holding tension throughout the entire narration.

Nephis was the hardest to read. Her expression barely changed during the entire story.

Only twice.

The first time was during the fight against Gunlaug, a subtle tightening of her jaw when Arthur described the moment he pierced the golden armor.

The second was during the speech. After that, nothing.

Now she looked at him with her usual calm, though her eyes analyzed every detail.

The story had ended, and for a few seconds, no one spoke.

It was Sunny who broke the silence.

“So… you basically took the castle, killed the strongest leader in the Dark City, and reorganized eight hundred people in less than a month.”

Arthur shrugged casually. “Something like that.”

Kai finally lowered his fork. “That’s not ‘something like that’…”

Effie let out a low laugh. “I’m starting to feel jealous of Seishan and Cassie right now.”

Cassie tilted her head slightly. “It wasn’t just strength,” she said quietly. “You planned everything from the beginning, getting Kido and Gemma’s support, killing Tessai and taking his place, securing the guards’ loyalty, planting the idea that Gunlaug could eventually die, and then using the speech to unify all the Sleepers.”

Nephis nodded and spoke last.

“You did well. I trust you now.”

Arthur met her gaze.

“I’m glad. Though I don’t know where your distrust came from in the first place. Still… that’s in the past now.”

Sunny stood up from the floor and said,

“Arthur, can I ask for your help killing a Fallen Devil?”

Chapter Text

“Arthur, can I ask for your help to kill a Fallen Devil?”

‘A Fallen Devil? The strongest creatures I’ve killed were Fallen Beasts… but that was when I was alone…’

Before answering, he analyzed the expressions of the other five. Kai and Effie didn’t seem to like the idea, while Cassie trembled slightly when Sunny mentioned a Fallen Devil. Sunny and Nephis didn’t change their expressions.

“What information do you have about the creature?”

Before Sunny could respond, Cassie spoke.

“Art, don’t tell me you’re seriously considering it?”

“Well, obviously my participation will depend on several things,” he replied.

Sunny was the one who spoke next.

“What do you want in return?”

“First tell me everything you know. What abilities it has, where it is, and if you know its weaknesses, even better,” Arthur said.

Sunny raised his gaze as if organizing his thoughts, and when he lowered it, his eyes were different. They were filled with hatred.

He took a deep breath before speaking.

“The Black Knight is truly a living nightmare. He’s as strong, fast, and indestructible as you’d imagine a Fallen Devil to be. But what really makes him complicated isn’t his absurd strength, it’s the darkness that dwells in the grand hall of the cathedral he inhabits… and that darkness seems to obey him.”

His voice was steady, controlled.

“When he’s wrapped in that darkness, he can move quickly, unseen, without making the slightest sound. I’m not sure if your senses would be able to detect him, Arthur. His physical abilities are massively enhanced, turning him into an unstoppable killing machine. And there’s more… any damage he takes regenerates instantly as long as he’s surrounded by that darkness. Inside it… he’s basically immortal.”

Then he pointed at Nephis.

“And that’s where Neph comes in. With her radiant light, that darkness will disappear. Her flames can strip that bastard of his greatest weapon. Without his dark power, the Black Knight is just a powerful abomination. Only slightly more dangerous than a demon of the same rank.”

Nephis nodded, and Sunny paused before continuing.

“The truth is, our weapons won’t be able to injure him. Not because his flesh is too resilient… but because he’s covered in heavy armor from head to toe. I’m not even sure there’s flesh underneath, to be honest. There’s only one apparent weak point in his armor, the visor of his helmet.”

Arthur interrupted calmly.

“Will that thing’s armor be tougher than Gunlaug’s?”

Sunny held his gaze.

“I don’t know. It’s a lower rank… but probably yes.”

The silence grew heavier.

“The visor is a trap,” Sunny continued. “It looks like a weak point, but it isn’t. The Black Knight’s true weakness isn’t even protected by the armor.”

His expression darkened further.

“It’s his sword.”

He let the words settle.

“If we want to kill the Black Knight, we’ll have to destroy his sword. It’s the only way.”

Then he looked at Nephis and then at Arthur.

“Your task would be to keep that monstrosity busy. Stop him. Survive. Leave the sword to me.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

“And how exactly do you plan to break the weapon of a Fallen Devil?”

Sunny answered without hesitation.

“I have something similar to an Echo. Not exactly one… but close enough. And I’m sure it can break it.”

Arthur brought a hand to his chin and thought for a while.

‘I’ve never faced a creature of True Darkness. Will I be able to sense it if it’s in its element? My instincts say yes.’

‘A Fallen Devil against three Sleepers and an Echo… would it really be possible? Though honestly, none of the three of us are simple Sleepers. We all have True Names.’

Focusing on Sunny, who was waiting for an answer, he said,

“Alright, I accept. But with three conditions.” He raised three fingers.

Sunny blinked.

“Which ones?”

Arthur let out a breath. “First, you’ll have to answer four questions of mine. Second, after that, we’ll have a sparring match between us. And lastly, Sylvie joins our group.”

Sunny frowned.

“The second I can understand, and the third I suppose as well. But the first? Why four questions?”

Arthur shrugged.

“I’m risking my life trying to kill a creature that brings me no benefit at all. Do you think what I asked is too much?”

“No. But what four questions could possibly be valuable enough for you to risk your life for them?” Sunny replied.

Arthur shrugged again. “I guess you’ll have to accept the offer to find out.”

Seconds passed in silence while Sunny thought about what to do.

On one hand, the offer wasn’t bad. He would help if Sunny answered four questions and had a simple sparring match. Sylvie joining wasn’t even a real condition. But what unsettled him the most was the four questions. If Arthur asked the right ones, he would be in serious trouble.

What if he asked whether he had a True Name? Sunny didn’t like the idea of repeating what happened with Harper, mainly because he couldn’t. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew that against Arthur, he had no chance.

How is he so strong? Does he also have a Divine Aspect? At this point Sunny suspected Nephis had one too and she had a True Name. How strange would it be if Arthur also had a Divine Aspect? He didn’t know if there was a connection between Divine Aspects and True Names, but in this room there could very well be three.

Sunny really didn’t want to accept the four questions, but he also didn’t want to waste the opportunity of having Arthur help them kill the Black Knight. Would the six of them be able to kill him without his help? Maybe. But it would be foolish not to increase their chances if Arthur and Sylvie joined.

There was only one option left, try to lower the price.

He looked at him again and said, “Two questions, and I accept.”

Arthur studied him carefully and replied,

“Three. Final offer.”

‘Well, at least it’s one less question.’

Sunny stood up from where he was sitting and extended his hand toward Arthur. Arthur looked at it for a second, stood up from the bed, and took it.

“Deal,” they both said at the same time.

Leaning back against the wall, Sunny asked,

“What did you want to ask?”

Arthur made a dismissive gesture. “I’ll ask tomorrow. For now, it’s pretty late. Why don’t you go to your rooms?”

That question snapped the others out of their daze, they were still seriously doubting whether killing a Fallen Devil was even possible. Slowly, Effie, Kai, Cassie, and Sunny went to their rooms. As Nephis was about to leave, Arthur called out to her.

“Where do you think you’re going, Nephis?”

She turned around and raised an eyebrow. “To my room?”

Arthur shook his head and pointed at the chair again. “No, no. Now it’s my turn to have an honest conversation with you. Don’t you think that’s fair?”

She simply nodded and sat back down.

“What did you want to talk about?”

“Well, this isn’t a question. Just a warning,” he continued. “Even though I don’t mind answering your questions because I have no intention of antagonizing you, I didn’t like the method you used at all and I won’t allow you to do it again. Did you really think that was better than simply coming to ask me directly?”

Her expression didn’t change when she replied, “It’s not that I thought it was better. It’s that people lie, deceive, or let others draw conclusions with incomplete information. And I didn’t know what kind of person you are.”

“You say people lie and deceive… but isn’t that exactly what you tried to do to me?” he asked.

She shrugged slightly. “What can I say? Humans are contradictory by nature.”

With a faint smile, Arthur replied, “Humans? Shouldn’t you say Dreamspawn?”

Her eyes widened slightly before returning to normal. “How did you know?”

“It doesn’t matter who told me. I knew even before I entered the throne room on the first day.”

“I see… and what did you hope to gain by telling me that you knew?” she asked.

Arthur’s smile didn’t fade, but his expression grew more serious.

“Gain? Absolutely nothing. I just found it strange that you didn’t want to admit it in front of the others.” He continued, “Or should I say in front of Seishan and Caster?”

Nephis’ expression cracked slightly, her brows lowering. “Explain,” she demanded.

“And what if I don’t want to?” he replied. But before she could answer, he continued, “Since I’m generous, I’ll explain my reasoning.”

He took a few seconds before going on.

“Since the Academy, I felt something was strange between you and Caster. He always showed up wherever you were sparring even when it was inconvenient for him. Then the way he spoke and demanded respect in your name, especially for your clan. Later, when I learned everything that happened while I wasn’t in the Dark City, how he tried to join your cohort despite having offers from Gunlaug himself and Tessai.”

At that point, Nephis raised her hand.

“Wait. Summon a Memory to cancel the noise before you continue.”

Arthur immediately understood why and summoned [Silent Whisper], a Memory he had obtained from Stev, the owner of the castle’s memory market.

Then he took a controlled breath and continued.

“Later, when I ran into him in the castle, I noticed something strange again. The way he looked at me, always from the corner of his eye, thinking I wouldn’t notice. But of course I did. The way he interacts with me, trying to extract information about you. It’s all very strange. And not to mention how he looks at me like he’s analyzing a potential threat. The poor guy thinks he hides it well, but he doesn’t.”

Adjusting slightly on the bed, he added,

“He acts like a man on a mission. And I suspect that mission is you… or maybe even me.” He looked at her directly. “Am I wrong?”

Nephis blinked and let out a small sigh.

“No, you’re not wrong. And yes… the mission is me.”

Arthur said, “Explain.”

She raised her gaze slightly to gather her thoughts, and when she lowered it, her eyes were filled with determination.

“That’s exactly it. Caster’s mission is to ensure I don’t return to the Waking World, by killing me.”

Arthur blinked.

Even though he had calculated that as a possibility, hearing her say it so openly made it far more serious than a mere hypothesis.

“Why would Caster have a mission to kill you?”

Before she could answer, Arthur remembered something he had never fully understood.

“Wait. Before you answer, is this related to the fall of your clan?”

Nephis nodded.

“Yes. My clan was once the most powerful of all. And with power come enemies. When my father died, the clan died with him but our enemies remained.”

Arthur frowned, staring at an empty spot for a moment before saying, “Your enemies? If your father died more than a decade ago… what enemies could a four-year-old girl possibly have?”

“Correct. As a child that age, I wasn’t a threat. But my potential was,” she replied.

At the word potential, Arthur understood everything. His eyes widened slightly.

“So I was right… you have the lineage of the Sun God. That’s why they were afraid of what you might become…”

Now it was Nephis’ turn to look surprised.

“How do you know about lineages?” she asked, her tone colder.

Arthur brushed off the question and answered automatically.

“How else? Because I have one too.”

“Which one?” she asked quickly.

“War God.”

Nephis stood up abruptly, as if about to summon a Memory. Arthur saw it and immediately activated Static Void.

In an instant, she froze. Clear panic appeared on her face.

“Relax. I have nothing to do with Valor,” Arthur said, deactivating the attribute. That little stunt had cost him nearly forty fragments. Her will was incredibly strong to demand that many fragments in just two miserable seconds.

Changing Star could move again, but she didn’t sit down.

“Prove it.”

He simply said, “No. The fact that you’re still breathing is more than enough proof that I have no intention of harming you. Now sit down.”

Several seconds of silence passed before she eventually sat.

“What a powerful Aspect. What rank is it?” she asked.

He looked at her for a few seconds. “Why would I tell you?”

Nephis met his gaze with determination.

“Because maybe it’s the same as mine.”

He thought about it. What were the chances she also had a Divine Aspect? Well… thinking about it more carefully, it made sense. Both had godly lineages. Both had gained True Names in their First Nightmares. Both were highly talented in combat.

Arthur’s brows furrowed as the implication sank in.

“Wait. What’s yours?” he asked.

With a faint smile, she replied, “And why would I tell you?”

Arthur played along, amused. “Because maybe it’s the same as mine.”

Nephis hadn’t expected him to answer that way. It seemed they had reached the same conclusion, both had Divine Aspects.

“So you also have a Divine Aspect,” Nephis said.

Arthur swallowed. “Yes.”

Several seconds passed in silence before she spoke again.

“How many cores do you have now?”

Arthur opened his runes:

Class: Devil.
Aether Core: [4/7]
Aether Fragments: [226/4000]

“I’m a Devil. I have four cores,” he replied. Then he added, “You?”

“I have two cores. I’m a Monster.”

At that moment, an idea occurred to Arthur. He was still far from forming his fifth core and hadn’t even bothered calculating how long it would take. But maybe Nephis was close…

With a smile, he asked, “How far are you from completing your Monster Core?”

Nephis raised an eyebrow. “I’m missing around two hundred fragments.”

“Then we’ll have to go hunting before the Siege of the Crimson Spire so you can complete it,” he said cheerfully.

“That was my plan,” she replied. Then added, “By the way, do you think there are more people with Divine Aspects? Or will it just be the two of us?”

Arthur thought for a moment before answering.

“I don’t think we’re the only ones. If we consider that the Spell loves the number seven, it would make sense that there might be seven people with Divine Aspects.”

“You’re right,” she replied simply. Then added, “It’s quite late. If there’s nothing else you want to talk about, I’ll leave.”

Arthur watched her stand.

“Yes, actually there are two more things.”

She stopped and looked at him with her usual calm expression.

“The first is, if you know Caster is here to kill you, why is he still alive?”

Nephis shrugged. “Because he’s useful.”

“I see. And the second is…” With a mischievous smile, he added, “Do you like Sunny?”

She froze completely. Her gray eyes widened slowly, and her cheeks gradually turned pink. Instead of answering, she turned sharply and left the room.

Arthur chuckled softly, then sighed and let himself fall onto the bed.

Staring at the ceiling, he thought:

‘It’s obvious Nephis feels something for Sunny… and that makes everything more complicated.’

‘Why did they end up fighting at the top of the Crimson Spire?’

‘Every day that moment gets closer… and I don’t know how to prevent it.’

With that thought, Arthur dismissed [Silent Whisper] and closed his eyes, intending to sleep for the first time in five days.

***

Daylight was already coming through the window when Arthur finally woke up. In recent days, he hadn’t been able to sleep much, between being needed more and more to face higher-ranked creatures, the arrival of the others, and the pressure of carrying an entire castle of seven hundred people on his back.

Honestly, he no longer wanted to keep being the King of the castle. Of course, he had help from Sylvie, Seishan, and even Kido and Gemma. But in the end, the responsibility always fell on his shoulders. Now, with the cohort’s arrival, he would have a few more hands to help but it definitely wasn’t an experience he wanted to repeat.

Not because he didn’t want to protect them. It was the opposite. Wanting to protect each and every one of them had led him into this situation. When he walked around and crossed paths with people, he couldn’t help but notice how differently they looked at him. They didn’t look at him as a person they looked at him as a title. A concept.

Their eyes were filled with admiration and hope to such an extent that it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t want to be revered. He didn’t want to be a concept to them. He just wanted to be Arthur.

But Arthur wasn’t what was needed right now.

In the end, he had become the very Hero’s choice he had hated so much in the Relictombs.

He couldn’t fail. He couldn’t slip. He had to be perfect. He had to be someone to look up to.

And sadly… he had to be a Paragon of Purity.

He was already starting to regret obtaining that True Name.

Another thing to blame on Gray, even if it didn’t make sense.

A knock on the door pulled him from his thoughts.

He got up and opened it. A handmaiden greeted him.

“Lord Arthur, Lady Seishan and the others have been waiting for you in the throne room for ten minutes.”

His voice still slightly dry, he replied, “Alright. I’ll be there shortly.”

The handmaiden bowed lightly and left.

Arthur sighed and went to the bathroom to prepare for the long day ahead.

***

The meeting was long, about four hours of discussions on how to maintain the current system, what changes could be implemented in the future to avoid losing so many Sleepers during hunts, and most importantly, the plan regarding the Crimson Spire.

Everyone was present: Sylvie, Seishan, Kido, Gemma, Nephis, Sunny, Effie, Kai, Caster, Cassie and finally Arthur.

A lot was discussed, and reaching agreements wasn’t easy, but eventually a consensus was achieved.

The Siege of the Crimson Spire would begin in a week. During that time, the remaining Sleepers would have to prepare even more, obtain whatever Memories they were lacking and train until their bodies could no longer endure it. Meanwhile, the cohort, along with Sylvie and Arthur, would take care of obtaining the last remaining Shard by killing the Lord of the Dead and strengthening themselves further.

Everyone already had their cores saturated. Nephis was close to obtaining her third, while Arthur wouldn’t manage to reach his fifth by then. He considered suggesting they wait longer, but the hunters’ situation would only worsen with each passing day.

Another matter he was uncertain about was Sunny. Arthur was fairly sure he also had a Divine Aspect, but when he offered him Shards to form a new core, Sunny had refused. That made him think maybe Sunny was far from forming one… or maybe he was wrong, and Sunny didn’t have a Divine Aspect after all.

But all that was in the past, and there was no point thinking about it now.

Because in a matter of miserable moments, they were about to face a Fallen Devil.

Chapter Text

Standing in front of the cathedral were eight people -and an Echo- and each of them had their role. Effie with her shield was going to tank the first impact. Kai with his bow was going to try to harass and land arrows wherever he could, honestly he was not going to have much participation in the plan. Then Cassie was only going to participate if things went very wrong and there was no other option.

Sylvie was going to create mana shields and bother the Black Knight in whatever way possible. Her shields were going to be very weak anyway but that was better than nothing. Then Caster and Arthur were going to be in charge of distracting him and creating openings with their speed. Nephis was going to lend a hand whenever she could but her first objective was to drive away the True Darkness from the cathedral and deprive him of his powers.

And lastly, Sunny and his Echo, Stone Saint as he called her, were going to focus only on breaking his sword.

Eight Sleepers against a Fallen Devil.

Before starting the fight, however, Arthur looked at his runes, which had not changed much since he arrived at the Dark City, only his cores and a couple of memories.

Name: Arthur Leywin

True Name: Paragon of Purity

Rank: Dreamer

Class: Devil

Aether Core: [4/7]
Aether fragments: [226/4000]

Memories: [Infinite Lash], [Dawn’s Ballad], [Umbral Husk], [Last Oath], [Silent Whisper], [Drowned Oath], [Veiled Edge], [Hidden Spring], [Tempest Shafts], [Bound Vault]

***

Name: [Drowned Oath]

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Type: Weapon

Description: [A king swore to protect his kingdom even when the sea began to claim it. He fired his last arrow as the waves covered the walls, promising that his will would not drown with him. This bow was born from that oath. Each shot silently builds pressure, like the depths that crush without haste until something gives.]

***

Name: [Veiled Edge]

Memory Rank: Awakened

Memory Type: Weapon

Description: [There was once a weapon that never had an identity of its own. It was wielded by too many hands, forced to become whatever its bearers needed to survive. Over time, it forgot its original form.]

***

Name: [Hidden Spring]

Memory Rank: Dormant

Memory Type: Utility

Description: [In a nameless desert, a traveler found a spring that no one else could ever find again. He drank, survived, and never spoke of it. This vial holds a fragment of that impossible source. It is not abundant. It is not grand. But it never denies water to one who still breathes.]

***

Name: [Tempest Shafts]

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Type: Weapon

Description: [The arrows of a hunter who learned that the wind is not an enemy but an ally.]

***

Name: [Bound Vault]

Memory Rank: Ascended

Memory Type: Tool

Description: [A collector lost everything in a single night, relics, weapons, memories. Not to theft, but to the simple wear of time. Unable to accept that even the valuable had to fade, he sealed a fragment of space where nothing could be claimed by the world. What is stored within does not belong anywhere until it is called back.]

***

Echoes:

Attributes: [Djinn], [Former King], [Being of Aether and Flesh], [Life], [Realmheart], [Static Void]

Companion: Sylvie

Returning to reality, inside the cathedral darkness drowned the hall, clinging to the walls and its tall columns. The occasional rays of light that managed to enter through the windows only made it seem darker, more sinister.

Six humans entered, Kai and Cassie stayed at the door, into that oppressive darkness that even managed to dim the lights generated by their memories.

At that moment silence reigned until suddenly a shout broke it.

“Now!”

At that moment Nephis raised her sword and from it burst a radiant white light that pushed the darkness toward the corners. And in front of the group of humans, a giant clad in black metal armor was revealed, his sword already raised to take the lives of the fools who dared enter his cathedral.

Effie ran forward and raised her shield to block the attack, and she did, but from the impact a cry of pain was heard as she was thrown several meters back.

The Black Knight looked surprised to notice the absence of his dark element but that surprise only lasted a moment.

Without paying attention to Effie whom he had sent flying, he focused on the cause of his darkness being pushed away and with an efficient movement his sword was already heading toward Nephis.

Before it reached its destination, a rock the size of a human flew toward the armored giant at full speed. The Black Knight could only twist his body to receive it on his shoulder.

The rock shattered into millions of pieces. The Devil remained without a mark, but his attention was already elsewhere.

At that moment Stone Saint entered his field of vision, struck her shield twice and propelled herself forward at full speed.

Simultaneously two figures passed by her side as blurs due to their speed. They were Caster and Arthur. The first thanks to his Aspect that granted him impressive speed and the latter thanks to the four augmentations on his body.

Meanwhile Sylvie at the very back created three shields in front of each of them.

Faced with such an assault the Black Knight would have to sacrifice something. He could not defend three different fronts. Or so they thought.

At a speed even greater than the other three, the giant moved and attacked the one he identified as weaker. Caster was in his sights.

Fortunately he had already thought of this and at the last moment Caster moved as far as possible from the range of the sword. The Black Knight also canceled at the last moment and refocused on the other two.

By then they had already reached him. Arthur changed his augmentations at the last moment to Dawn’s Ballad.

The sword took on a purple tone instead of the original blue due to the four augmentations and besides the empowerment it received thanks to Dawn Shard, Dawn’s Ballad was like a Transcendent rank sword.

Arthur attacked at knee height while Stone Saint struck the pommel of the sword with her shield and sent it upward. Then closing the distance she rammed her shoulder into the Black Knight’s abdomen and Arthur’s sword pierced the armor as if it were nothing.

His eyes opened wide knowing what was coming. In a single movement the giant completely ignored the sword stuck in his knee and with the same leg kicked Arthur who thanks to Sylvie’s shield was not seriously hurt. Even so he was sent flying toward the nearest wall and upon impact let out a cry of pain.

At the same time falling onto his back he released his sword which fell to the ground throwing Nephis and Sunny off balance. With the free hand from releasing the sword he backhanded Stone Saint. The impact was so great that it sent her flying several meters and part of her armor cracked.

The Black Knight regained his balance and his sword moments later and turned toward Nephis, focusing on her as the number one enemy of his darkness.

That made her the perfect bait.

The black sword descended again, missing her head by centimeters. She regained her balance and moved backward dodging another attack. She was fast but not faster than the Fallen Devil.

He followed her and unleashed a flurry of attacks in such little time that for the rest of the cohort it was very difficult to follow. Only Stone Saint and Arthur could, who had already recovered thanks to the density of Aether generated by Nephis’s bright light.

He thought he would be able to follow the Black Knight’s movements even when hidden in his True Darkness, but no. He realized it as soon as he entered the cathedral. He could not perceive anything with his Aether sense and his augmentations were weaker because there was not as much density in the environment.

That was because True Darkness is an element in itself, so its existence pushes Aether outward. The same must be happening to Sylvie with her Mana and to Sunny with his affinity to shadows.

Getting back to his feet he noticed again how Nephis was dodging attacks by the hair’s breadth. Kai stood at the door aiming with his bow waiting for the ideal moment to shoot but he suspected he would not be able to do much. Cassie was at the door with a terrified expression. Effie had recovered from the initial blow and was charging toward the center but was still meters away.

Only Sunny and Caster could help Neph at that moment and they did. 

Sunny ran and pushed her out of the range of an attack she would not have been able to dodge and Caster with his speed distracted the Fallen Devil enough so he would not pursue her.

Caster carried his green jian and struck the right calf. The sword left no mark but the force made him adjust his balance slightly. Stone Saint took advantage of this and rammed again with her shield toward the pommel of the sword, but before the impact arrived the Black Knight switched hands and with the free hand struck the shield.

The blow came from above and changing stance at the last moment Stone Saint endured it, but the shield already began to show large cracks and the floor beneath her feet did not withstand the impact, forming two holes where her legs were.

Before the giant could strike again and either bury her alive or completely break the ground, Effie arrived and with her shield struck his fist at the last moment, deflecting the attack by centimeters. 

Taking advantage of the opening, Nephis and Sunny who had already recovered attacked again, but this time they went directly for the sword.

The Black Knight was left in an awkward position after missing that last strike and that gave Kai the perfect opportunity to fire his first arrow and he did. The black arrow entered through the helmet visor and his head tilted slightly back.

Nevertheless it was Kai who let out a cry of pain next. There was no flesh behind the visor and therefore no blood and the blood arrow had nothing to drink, so Kai suffered the backflash of his own Fallen rank memory. It did not take him out of the fight but he was very close to being out.

The Black Knight recovered again as if nothing had happened. He had slight marks on his armor but nothing serious. On the other side the cohort was not in very good shape. Nephis had been constantly escaping attacks. Sunny could not get close due to the Fallen Devil’s speed and something similar happened to Caster.

Stone Saint had part of her armor and shield cracked. Effie had taken a direct hit and Arthur had been kicked in the chest at the beginning and slammed against a wall. Sylvie had not received any damage but had constantly been creating shields and helping attacks go faster by pushing them with Mana.

At that moment Arthur came up with an idea and tried to approach Sunny.

The Black Knight had returned to his frenzy of attacks and was currently holding off Stone Saint, Effie and Caster simultaneously while trying to pursue Nephis who kept dodging him.

Reaching Sunny he grabbed him by the shoulders and said,

“I will keep him still for two seconds do not waste it”

Then he ran toward the Black Knight

Sunny stood there not understanding anything for a moment but when he focused his sight again Arthur had literally disappeared.

The only way to know where he was came from the shout moments later

“Get away!”

Focusing on the Black Knight, Sunny saw Effie and Caster immediately retreat upon hearing the shout while Nephis braced herself against a surface and moved out of the range of the last attack. Stone Saint looked coldly at Arthur and stepped aside just enough for him to run past and white sparks began forming in his left hand.

What formed in his hand was his oldest memory of all [Infinite Lash]. 

Using Nephis as bait he sent the lash to the left leg of the Fallen Devil so it would wrap around it and commanded it to lengthen. Dodging an attack from above he slid and used the wall to his right to propel himself again, sending the four augmentations to Infinite Lash which thanks to that and Dawn Shard had power like an Ascended rank memory.

This caused both of the Black Knight’s legs to be bound, then he commanded the lash to shorten so it would wrap the right leg as well. Obviously the giant did not stay idle. 

Understanding what Arthur wanted he tried to lower his sword to cut the lash but at the last moment Stone Saint deflected it by striking the blade with her shield and out of the lash’s range.

Arthur took advantage of this to propel himself again toward the left leg and summoned [Veiled Edge]. This memory was of the Weapon type but had no defined form. It could change into whatever he wanted, whether a sword, an axe or in this case a spear.

With the momentum he reached the back of the knee and inserted the spear where the two armor plates met. This removed mobility from the Dark Knight and moments later he did the same to the right knee but this time he stabbed [Dawn’s Ballad].

With everything ready he grabbed [Infinite Lash] with both hands and pulled with all his strength. Obviously it was not enough but Caster and Nephis immediately approached him understanding his intention and the three of them managed to bring the Fallen Devil’s legs together. 

Next Effie rammed both legs with her shield and the giant lost his balance.

To avoid falling he stabbed his sword into the floor for support and at that moment Arthur finished his plan.

He activated [Static Void] and put all his intent behind it.

The two seconds began to run and Sunny did not waste them.

He sent his shadow to enhance Saint and she delivered a heavy blow to the weak point of the sword.

And the sword shattered into pieces…

Arthur deactivated [Static Void] at that moment falling to one knee from the ridiculous fragment expenditure. Luckily Nephis grabbed him by the waist with Caster’s help and the three moved as far away as possible. Effie and Sunny did the same.

Everyone knew that an enemy at death’s door is far more dangerous so they put distance between themselves except for Stone Saint.

The fragments of the black sword fell to the ground and at the same time a tremor ran through the Fallen Devil’s body. The darkness hiding in the corners of the cathedral began to move and advanced toward the center of the hall.

However it did not manage to reach him. The light coming from Changing Star’s armor disintegrated it before it could touch him.

The Black Knight stood motionless with hands hanging and back hunched. The black steel of his armor began to rust before their eyes. The shine disappeared and the metal turned dull as if time had suddenly caught up with it.

He slowly raised his head and turned it slightly as if looking at the cathedral statue.

The crimson light of his eyes began to weaken.

To fade.

And then it exploded into red flames.

The rusted armor opened revealing the mass of darkness inside. That darkness rose above Stone Saint who had remained kneeling while the steel remains floated within it forming a silhouette resembling a human.

His true form.

A colossus made of darkness and rusted steel rose above Stone Saint. Two red fires burned where his face would be. A third flame appeared below like a mouth made of fire.

A roar shook the cathedral.

The creature descended upon her. Its hands closed around Stone Saint’s neck and lifted her as if she weighed nothing, holding her in the air and squeezing. Cracks began spreading across her armor and fragments of stone fell to the floor.

But Stone Saint’s expression did not change.

However something appeared in her eyes, a different emotion.

Disdain

She released the shield, raised both hands and grabbed the Devil’s arm guards. She broke them with force.

The monster roared again as she fell to the ground. She landed steadily and dodged the claws descending to destroy her. She stepped forward and ended up directly beneath the Black Knight’s leaning torso.

She lunged forward and struck his chest.

Her hand pierced the rusted armor and sank into the mass of darkness where a heart would have been.

Or a Soul Core.

A second later the red flames exploded into intense light.

And disappeared.

The darkness dissipated and the armor remains fell to the ground.

The Black Knight had died.

At that moment Nephis, Caster and Arthur who were together let themselves fall to the floor and began breathing rapidly. Moments later Effie approached and did the same. Finally Sylvie approached and seeing none of them had serious wounds she remained standing behind them while Kai and Cassie came closer to the group.

Only Sunny remained standing smiling from ear to ear looking at Stone Saint.

At that moment she did something completely strange. 

She brought the gem in her hand closer and after looking at it for a few moments as if analyzing it, she swallowed it.

Everyone absolutely everyone stood with their mouths open not understanding anything.

One moment Stone Saint had been analyzing the gem that Arthur assumed was the Soul Core of the Black Knight, then she swallowed it and immediately disappeared without a trace.

Several sounds of disbelief could be heard from everyone.

Sunny turned to look at them with a strange expression. While smiling with happiness his brows were lowered showing a lot of confusion.

Everyone remained silent until with a smile Sylvie spoke.

“Wow, that was very cool!!!”

They all turned robotically to look at her.

Under the pressure of so many gazes she swallowed and asked

“What?”

Arthur let out a sigh and simply smiled. “You are right, that was pretty cool.” Then he added “Your Echo is quite peculiar Sunny.”

Chapter Text

After the fight against the Fallen Devil, not much else happened. Those who were injured were healed by Nephis and Sylvie. 

The return to the castle did not take long and went without complications. Arthur arrived at his room intending to bathe, meditate for a few hours, and attend a meeting with Nephis about the preparations necessary for the siege of the Crimson Spire.

His room was as it always was, and as soon as he entered, he headed straight to the bathroom.

Moments later he had finished bathing, put on his outfit for moving around inside the castle, and went to the bed. He sat down, adjusted his posture, and closed his eyes with the intention of meditating for a while.

He did not know how much time had passed when a knock on his door pulled him out of his concentration.

Walking toward it, he opened the door calmly after detecting that there was only one person outside, and he was greeted by the figure of Cassie.

She was wearing a white shirt along with light blue pants. Her blue eyes were hidden behind a blindfold of the same color, resting on her delicate face, and her blonde hair fell freely down her back.

Surprised, he said, “Ah Cass, it’s you.”

“Were you expecting someone else?” she asked with a silly smile.

“No? Actually, I wasn’t expecting anyone.” He replied. “What brings you here?”

She simply said, “Can I come in?”

“Yes, of course.” He responded and tried to take her hand to guide her, but she ignored the gesture and walked in calmly.

'Oh, something is wrong.'

Cassie walked with confident and calm steps, reached the bed, and sat on it elegantly.

Arthur was still by the door watching everything with a raised eyebrow. Eventually he closed the door and headed to the desk chair as he always did, but before sitting down, he heard Cassie patting the bed beside her, as if telling him to sit there.

Without giving it much importance, he went and sat next to her.

When he did, Cassie adjusted herself and her left leg ended up touching Arthur’s right one, and at the same time she rested her head on his shoulder.

Arthur froze at the unexpected action.

“Um… Cass… what are you doing?”

She simply replied, “Me? Nothing.”

'What do you mean nothing!?'

“You’re starting to scare me,” he said.

She let out a laugh and replied, “Why? It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve been like this. Or does it bother you now?”

Arthur let out a soft sigh.

“It doesn’t bother me, it was just unexpected,” he continued. “Did something bad happen?”

Cassie laughed again. “Bad? Hmm… I wouldn’t say that… but definitely strange.”

“What?” he replied immediately.

“In fact, last night something very strange happened. Not just strange,” she said.

'Why is she acting like this!? This isn’t the Cassie I know.'

When he was about to ask again what she meant, she continued speaking.

“Last night, I was sleeping peacefully,” she continued. “When suddenly I felt a knock on the door and then I felt it burst open.” She let out a laugh. “The intruder turned out to be Nephis, who had come from talking to you.”

'Oh no.'

“Do you know what she told me?” she asked.

Arthur forced a smile and looked at the ceiling. “No, no idea.”

With a playful tone she said, “Oh? That’s strange… because she directly asked me if I had spoken to you about her and Sunny.” She continued, “Maybe I misheard.”

He replied with a serious tone, “Well, you said you were sleeping before, maybe you dreamed it.”

Cassie lifted her head from Arthur’s shoulder, turned to face him, and asked, “Did you ask Nephis if she likes Sunny?”

He answered quickly, “Yes.”

She made a small sound as if saying I knew this would happen and rested her head back on his shoulder, “looking” forward.

Arthur felt like he had to defend himself and was about to speak when she did it first.

“I can understand why you did it. In fact, I probably would have done the same,” she continued. “You wanted to see if they would end up fighting because they hated each other, right?”

He let out a soft sigh. “Yes, one possibility was that they would end up fighting because they didn’t get along or something, but after seeing Nephis’ reaction and the way Sunny protected her in today’s fight, that possibility closed.”

She nodded. “That possibility was the first thing I thought when I had the vision, but then I discarded it for the same reason.” With a lower and sadder tone she continued, “If I hadn’t already told her Sunny’s True Name by that moment, I probably wouldn’t have.”

Arthur gently wrapped his right arm around her.

“What’s done is done.”

“I know, and that’s why I came here,” she said in the same tone.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

Pulling away from him and turning to face him directly, Cassie said, “Yes, I came because I wanted to apologize to you.”

“Apologize? For what?”

“For putting another responsibility on your shoulders. I put myself in this situation alone and it wasn’t fair of me to come ask for your help knowing you have nothing to do with this,” she continued. “Besides, do you think I don’t notice all the responsibilities you have in the castle? And the first thing I did when I came was add another one.”

She let out a soft breath and continued, “I let my weakness take over me and I ended up making the person I care about the most carry a weight that doesn’t belong to him, and the worst part is… I was too foolish to realize it sooner.”

“You don’t have to apologize for that,” Arthur tilted his head slightly and smiled. “Do you remember the promise we made a few years ago?”

She nodded. “That we would be there for each other if one of us needed it.”

He raised his arms and gently held Cassie’s face with both hands. When she felt the contact she startled a little but then stayed still. Arthur took the chance to remove her blindfold, which was slightly darker in front of her eyes, and when he saw them he noticed she was holding back tears.

He wiped the tears that had already fallen with his thumbs and held her in that position. Then he said in a soft tone, “Exactly, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. Helping you save your friends isn’t any heavier for me than it already is for you. I couldn’t imagine being in your situation. So you don’t have to apologize, okay?”

She lifted her hands and held his. Then she smiled, genuinely.

It was the same delicate smile he had seen so many times in the past. The one he had silently vowed to protect.

Something shifted in Arthur’s heart.

Something he was afraid to acknowledge.

Something he had buried beneath discipline, training, and his relentless pursuit of strength.

And finally, something he did not know how to handle.

Maybe… he did not have to learn how to handle it. Maybe he just had to let himself be carried by the feeling.

But… he did not.

Not because he did not want to, but because of what it meant and the consequences it could bring.

Finally, after a few moments in that position, Arthur slowly let go of her face. When Cassie felt it, she wanted to hold his hands a little longer, but in the end she simply let them go.

Trying to compose himself, Arthur asked while looking to the side, “And… what are your plans when we return to the Walking World?”

She took a handkerchief from her pants and finished wiping her tears, then grabbed another blindfold and placed it over her blue eyes. Then she replied, “You know, the usual. Visit my mother and father, anchor myself in some Citadel, and not much else.”

“Are you planning to join a clan or the government? Or will you stay independent?”

She made a thoughtful expression and said, “I haven’t decided yet. My plan was to create a group of Nephis’ followers and help her.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Why do you say it was?”

“Because now the followers she was going to have will be yours.”

Arthur let out a sigh.

“I hadn’t thought about that, and unfortunately you’re right.” He brought a hand to his chin. “Actually, I could ask them to follow her, right? You know I don’t like being looked at that way.”

“Would you really do that?” she asked quickly while a smile formed on her face.

He laughed at that energy. “Of course, it’s not like I’m going to need followers.”

She let out a small laugh and in a teasing tone said, “Ah right, I forgot that Lord Arthur is going to end up joining the great Clan Song.”

He could not help but laugh at that, and a question also formed in his mind.

'How did she know?'

Before he could ask, almost as if reading his thoughts, Cassie said, “Before you ask, it was very obvious you were going to do it. Seishan’s charm is very hard to resist.”

Cassie said the last part with the same expression as before, but Arthur could not help but notice there was a feeling behind those words. She sounded as if she was… jealous.

Arthur frowned at that revelation.

'Is Cassie jealous of Seishan?'

He would love to ask her that, but he knew he would not receive an honest answer, so he asked the second thing that bothered him.

“How did you know Seishan is from Clan Song?”

She tilted her head a little as if surprised by the question. “Nephis obviously told me. How else would I know?”

“I don’t know.”

“Exactly.”

There was a moment of silence and suddenly Arthur’s eyes widened.

'The meeting with Nephis!'

After that, Arthur had to leave almost running toward the meeting since he was getting late. Cassie was taken back to her room with the help of a handmaiden and the rest of the day passed without much more drama.

The only thing that changed was that in a few days Arthur and Sylvie were going to make a reconnaissance flight toward the Crimson Spire, hoping to gather more information about what creatures were defending the tower, their ranks and classes, as well as the terrain and possible areas to avoid during the journey. Kai offered to accompany them at the last moment, and having no reason to refuse, he joined the trip.

***

The next day had arrived and it was going to be busy. Today they were going to kill the Lord of the Dead, a Fallen Tyrant. Luckily, Kido had crafted a bone eating vine and it had been weakening him for a day. So it would not be that difficult.

What Arthur was really looking forward to was the sparring match he was going to have with Sunny.

In the same plaza as the other day stood Nephis, Sunny, Arthur and Seishan. The rest of the cohort was handling castle duties and helping with the preparations so everything would be ready in less than a week. Everyone except Effie, who had gone out hunting on her own because she was hungry.

Cassie had taken on an administrative role and was helping Sylvie with the hunters. Caster was in charge of reviewing all the preparations and obviously he was not alone. Kai was helping train the archers in another, more distant plaza.

Returning to the sparring.

Today they were going to finish the tournament they had started a few days ago. The rules were the same, but their relationships had already changed.

Now Arthur had a clearer idea of how Sunny fought, and he had already seen Nephis in action dodging attacks from a Fallen Devil. Obviously, they had also seen how he fought, not that it would make much difference.

Although it was a two against two, the matchups would be Nephis versus Seishan and Sunny versus Arthur. After that, if someone defeated their opponent first, they could choose to join the other fight or wait their turn if their partner was defeated.

And so the fight began, each standing in front of their opponent.

Arthur summoned Dawn’s Ballad and took the first step forward. The blade reflected the sunlight while a light augmentation ran through his body. Nothing exaggerated. Just enough to be as close as possible to equal conditions.

Sunny did the same. Moonlight Shard appeared in his hand and at the same time his shadow twisted beneath his feet and attached itself to his body.

He moved forward immediately.

Arthur turned his torso when the first slash brushed past his cheek. The second impact was the pommel of Moonlight Shard striking his abdomen, forcing him to step back half a step.

Sunny did not stop. A high diagonal slash followed by an immediate transition into a low thrust.

A short spin and the flat of the blade aimed for the neck.

Arthur blocked, deflected, absorbed the impact with Dawn’s Ballad. But he did not respond with true intent.

Sunny noticed.

The next exchange was similar. Sunny put more force into the movement and the clash of sword against sword rang loudly. Arthur crossed his blade to block and the impact pushed him a couple of meters back, raising dust.

Sunny clicked his tongue.

“Don’t play with me.”

Arthur tilted his head slightly.

“I’m not playing.”

Sunny moved again.

This time he appeared at Arthur’s side, low, aiming for his supporting leg with a horizontal cut. Arthur jumped just enough to avoid it, but Sunny was already on him. Two quick slashes to the torso, one to the shoulder, one to the face.

Both were dodged.

During the first exchanges, Sunny had a slight advantage.

Arthur was testing him and Sunny knew it.

“If you’re going to fight, fight seriously.”

Something changed in Arthur’s gaze.

The next exchange was different.

Sunny launched a direct attack at his face. Arthur moved barely half a centimeter to the side and in the same motion the pommel of Dawn’s Ballad descended precisely onto Sunny’s thigh.

A sharp blow.

Sunny’s leg trembled and for a moment he lost his balance.

Arthur did not let him recover.

A short spin and a kick struck Sunny’s back. The blow was clean and sent him several meters forward, rolling over the dust before stabbing Moonlight Shard into the ground to stop himself.

Sunny stood up almost immediately and it was clear he was angry.

Arthur advanced.

His movements were faster now, more direct. He was no longer testing. He was pushing.

A rapid exchange of sword against sword.

Sunny blocked two cuts, dodged a third by centimeters, but Arthur was forcing him to retreat.

A strike to the shoulder, another to the ribs.

Sunny clenched his teeth.

Arthur turned his body and launched a direct strike to the head, clearly intending to end the fight right there.

Sunny moved at the last second.

The blow passed through the air without contact and Arthur felt a displacement behind him. Sunny appeared at his back and launched a horizontal slash to his side.

Arthur managed to turn his torso in time to intercept it and both stepped back.

Something had changed and Arthur noticed it.

Sunny’s next movements were familiar. Too familiar.

Sunny advanced with the same lateral step Arthur had used before. The angle of the thrust, the weight transition, even the way he turned his wrist to redirect the blade.

Arthur let him do it. One cut, blocked, the next dodged.

Sunny adjusted. He began copying his movements, replicating them and finally adapting them.

Arthur did not interrupt the process. He allowed himself to be read. He allowed himself to be imitated and little by little Sunny began to take the advantage again.

A clash that forced Arthur to step back.

A low spin that almost disarmed him.

An exchange where Sunny anticipated the counterattack before Arthur executed it.

Arthur was pushed for the first time.

Taking advantage of this, Sunny advanced, his movements now a strange mix between his own style and Arthur’s. Fluid. Efficient. Precise.

Arthur smiled slightly.

'Interesting.'

Sunny slid through his blind spot and launched a direct slash at his back. At the last instant, Arthur used his second augmentation.

He did not know if it was necessary, but he did it anyway. Now he was faster, stronger.

He spun on his axis with increased speed and deflected Sunny’s blade, catching his wrist with his free hand. The sudden change in strength made Sunny lose his balance.

Arthur tried to capitalize, but Sunny managed to free himself by rolling backward.

A fast and dangerous exchange followed. Swords passing inches from faces. Sparks flying from the clashes. Thrusts deflected by millimeters.

Sunny narrowly escaped more than once, so Arthur slightly changed his style to a shorter, more compact one that required less reading and had a less predictable rhythm.

Sunny tried to copy it but it no longer fit completely.

A high feint and Sunny raised his guard.

Arthur lowered his center of gravity and with a clean motion swept his leg while sliding Dawn’s Ballad beneath the defense.

Sunny fell on his back.

Before he could get up, the tip of the sword was at his throat while Arthur’s right foot pressed firmly against his chest, immobilizing him.

“Do you yield?”

Sunny held his gaze for a few seconds, breathing heavily.

“Yes.”

Arthur dismissed Dawn’s Ballad instantly and removed his foot. He extended his hand with a genuine smile.

“You did very well. What changed from one moment to the next when you started copying all my movements? That was very cool.”

Sunny did not take his hand and remained seated.

Arthur noticed his gaze was fixed on his runes, as if checking them.

Finally Sunny looked up.

“I unlocked my Aspect Legacy.”

Arthur was completely surprised.

'A Sleeper unlocking his Aspect Legacy?'

“Would you mind telling me what it does?”

Sunny hesitated.

“I’m not entirely sure… I think it allows me to imitate fighting styles.”

He stood up and dismissed the upper part of his armor.

His pale torso was revealed, and on it there was a black serpent tattoo coiled around his arms and torso, its tail resting just above his right hand, its head just above his left. The serpent almost seemed to move beneath his skin, two curved fangs threatening to break through the surface.

Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but the metallic sound of a sword hitting the ground interrupted everything.

Turning around, he saw Nephis’ sword on the floor.

She was still standing in a fighting stance but with her eyes completely open, staring fixedly at Sunny.

'What the hell?'

Seishan took a second to understand. Then she followed Nephis’ gaze toward Sunny and also froze.

Arthur looked at the girls and then at Sunny, did this a couple of times, and finally started laughing.

Between laughs he said, “I think the girls have already approved your tattoo, Sunny.” Then he recovered slightly and added in an amused tone, “Congratulations on unlocking your Aspect Legacy as a Sleeper, you’re very talented.”

Sunny was completely consumed by embarrassment, his pale face as red as a tomato. He immediately summoned the upper part of his armor.

“Thanks.”

He turned around and left.

Arthur looked back at the girls.

“I suppose we won, right? Nephis don't have a weapon.” And he pointed at the ground where her sword was lying.

She blinked a couple of times.

“Oh… right.”

Seishan looked at her with a silly smile.

“So you and Sunny, huh.”

Nephis did not reply, she simply turned around and began walking toward the castle, a little faster than usual.

Arthur stood beside Seishan as they watched Nephis walk away toward the castle.

“How did it go?”

She turned to look at him.

“Bad.” She let out a sigh and looked back at Nephis’ figure. “If it weren’t for that thing with Sunless, she would have defeated me in the next exchange.”

“Yes, she is strong. Who do you think would win between her and me?” he asked, looking at her.

Seishan kept looking at Nephis, but now there was a faint smile on her face.

“It would be a complicated fight for both, but I think she would win.” Arthur raised an eyebrow but Seishan continued speaking. “But it would be a different story if you were actually trying to kill her.”

Chapter Text

That same day - after the sparring against Nephis and Sunny - it was time to go kill the Lord of the Dead. The Fallen Tyrant was weakened thanks to Kido.

Through the streets of the Dark City, the entire cohort moved at the front - with the exception of Cassie -, Gemma was talking with Sunny a little behind, while at the back were Seishan, Sylvie, and Arthur. The trip did not take long and they arrived a little after midday.

The fight was not easy, but thanks to everyone’s coordination and the fact that the creature was already weakened, in the end, it succumbed under so many simultaneous attacks.

Finally, it was Effie who delivered the final blow and thanks to that, the last Shard Memory was obtained.

Back at the castle, the day continued as if nothing had happened. Each member went to fulfill their tasks and the day passed calmly.

The next day, all the members of the cohort went out hunting on their own and at night Arthur found out that Nephis had already completed her second core and was now a Demon. Strangely, that day Sunny accompanied them as well, at Nephis’ request. Now Arthur knew it was related to the pain one feels when forming a new core and how it leaves you defenseless while it happens, obviously it was to prevent Caster from taking the opportunity to try to kill her.

Arthur had just found out that Sunny supposedly was not part of her cohort and added it to his list of strange things about Sunny.

***

Two days later it was time for Sylvie, Kai, and Arthur to travel toward the Crimson Spire to analyze what creatures could be found, their ranks, etc.

Sylvie and Kai were flying calmly above the labyrinth, at a height not too high so as not to draw attention and not too low so as to be exposed to ambushes. Arthur was on Sylvie’s back while she used her dragon form. 

Three months after so much meditation and training, she could now maintain it for close to forty minutes or even an hour if she pushed herself.

The trip was not very long. They did not need to reach the base of the tower, only approach a distance considered safe and analyze from there. Thanks to Arthur’s excellent vision they could obtain a lot of information.

During the trip they talked about many things.

Kai had several questions about the state of the Walking World. Those Arthur could answer without much problem. But when the archer started asking about music, trends, and fashion… Arthur could only shrug.

“Sorry, Kai, but I have no idea.”

Kai sighed dramatically.

“What a tragedy.”

Between laughs they also remembered the moment when the cohort, plus Sunny, found out that Sylvie could transform into a dragon.

It was impossible not to laugh.

Effie and Sunny had stood there with their eyes and mouths completely open, not knowing what to say. Kai had literally been on the verge of fainting. Caster had been just as surprised as them, he just hid it a little better. And even the stoic Nephis had shown a clear expression of surprise.

Sylvie almost lost stability in the air when Arthur remembered Sunny’s face at that moment.

“I still remember,” Kai said between laughs, “he had the same expression as when he had to spend his Shards on memories.”

They finished telling stories just as the atmosphere began to change.

Even from that distance, the presence of the Crimson Spire was… oppressive.

A chill ran down Arthur’s back.

As they got close enough to observe, they could see that around the tower there was an enormous number of creatures frozen in different positions, as if the air itself had petrified them.

Arthur focused aether into his eyes and sharpened his gaze.

Most were Awakened rank, but he also distinguished a couple of Fallen.

As for classes, Beast and Monster predominated. However, among the mass he could identify some Demons… and surely some Devil camouflaged among them.

Analyzing all that, he compressed his aether sense, extending it just enough not to give himself away.

That was when he felt something strange.

A tremor in the air.

To his left, Kai shuddered and shouted with a voice he had never used before.

“We have to leave now!”

Arthur came out of his concentration and looked toward where Kai was looking.

In the distance, a dark figure cut through the sky and was coming straight toward them.