A few moments earlier, deep beneath Drudar, something unimaginable had taken shape.
The place resembled the nest of some eldritch creature. In every direction stretched an endless expanse of blood-soaked ground, disappearing into the surrounding darkness.
At the center writhed a colossal mass of flesh, skin, and intertwined tentacles. The grotesque structure pulsed faintly, though the violent heartbeat that had previously sent devastating shockwaves through the depths had finally ceased.
Scattered around it lay hundreds of corpses.
Each corpse had died with its hands raised toward the abomination, as though desperately reaching for salvation... or surrendering to it.
A low moan echoed through the cavern.
Space rippled.
A woman materialized silently.
She wore an elegant velvet dress draped with delicate veils, though much of it had been torn apart. Her once-beautiful skin was now grotesquely stitched together with black threads and crude needles, as if someone had painstakingly reconstructed a broken doll.
In her right hand, she carried a freshly severed human head, blood still dripping from its neck.
Had Veer been present, he would have recognized it immediately.
It belonged to the old man who had helped him escape the strange temporal artifact and awakened the Soulweaving Art within him.
The woman gazed at the monstrous flesh above and whispered,
"Is it ready?"
She narrowed her eyes before muttering,
"So... an Aetherial is truly descending."
"I need to hurry..."
A brief silence followed.
Then her expression relaxed slightly.
"Oh..."
"It's only an incarnation."
"That madman should be able to handle it."
She shifted the severed head into her left hand before summoning an ancient painting.
The canvas shimmered as though its colors were alive.
Soft ripples spread across its surface like water.
Within the painting stood an ethereally beautiful woman dressed in flowing pink robes, gently holding an enormous white lotus.
Had Veer or Lythria seen it, they would have been utterly stunned.
The woman in the painting was almost identical to the figure Veer had once seen in the ancestral house of Mythria.
The stitched woman smiled faintly.
"So the Saint Artifact of Mythria..."
"...was nothing more than a painting."
"I'm close."
"Very close."
"Finally..."
"It's time."
She carefully arranged several ritual materials upon the crimson ground.
Among them were numerous small puppets.
Each figurine possessed an unmistakably human face.
Anyone from the current cohort would have recognized them.
Merissa.
Laren.
Clayren.
Myrell.
One by one, she coated the puppets in molten wax before pouring strange jelly-like substances from crystalline vials over them. Then came peculiar fruits and countless unidentified ingredients, all placed with meticulous precision as the ritual slowly took shape.
Finally, she laid the painting upon the ground.
The moment it touched the earth, a gigantic white lotus bloomed beneath the pulsating mass of flesh overhead.
The monstrous structure twitched violently.
A vast crimson magic circle spread across the cavern floor, filled with incomprehensible runes that glowed like flowing blood.
Countless distorted voices began chanting from every direction.
The woman smiled.
"Just one step remains."
She slowly lifted the old man's severed head.
Just as she was about to complete the ritual—
A mass of black flames exploded toward her.
Her eyes widened.
She vanished from her spot an instant before the flames engulfed it.
The cavern fell silent.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the darkness.
Step.
Step.
Step.
A figure emerged.
A man with no face.
From one side of his back extended a single enormous black wing, its feathers burning with dark flames.
In his hand rested a sword shrouded entirely in living darkness.
For the first time, the stitched woman's expression changed.
Her entire body trembled.
"...How..."
"How can it be you...?"
.........
Sythris said absentmindedly looking at a faint manifested figure in the sky, "She... it's her. She is one of the Seven Great Beings..."
She then shook her head and said, "Sorry... one of the Five Great Beings..."
Veer gave her a side glance as he asked, "You said seven...?"
Sythris shook her head. "It's said the rest disappeared decades ago."
Veer was actually sweating a bit. More or less, it seemed this woman was really the one from his dreams. So... did that war really happen? The memory of countless people burning and the Seven Great Beings assaulted his mind.
So... does that mean the figure that looked like me—supposedly my father—fought them and took two of them out? What exactly happened?
"Veer, now that she is here, there is hope."
"Veer?"
"Veer?"
Sythris found Veer staring at that pale hand, suppressed beneath a huge spear, looking unusually stiff.
Meanwhile, that pale hand was like the whispers of morning birds clashing against the enormous ethereal spear, struggling to break free from that unidentified dimension.
"Hmm?"
"Why are you spacing out?"
"Me? Nope. I'm perfectly fine," Veer laughed, though it sounded a bit stiff.
"Are you really okay?" Sythris asked uneasily. Her beautiful azure eyes wandered across his face in the glistening darkness.
Veer said, "Nothing... probably just the pressure finally hit."
Sythris nodded. "Quickly, let's go and find the others. We need to move."
"Or it will be too late."
Veer nodded, but his vision remained fixed on that giant ethereal white spear with an elongated banner. The banner bore the image of a spear, and that spear looked exactly like the ethereal one itself. It too carried a banner, as though an infinite number of spears were contained within that single spear.
As they started walking back, Veer asked, "You said 'Way Path.' What does that mean?"
Ready to leave, Sythris asked skeptically, "Are we really wasting time here?"
Veer replied awkwardly, "Yes... let's move."
Sythris said, "Let's first look for Eleana and Kerin. Then we'll go together to find Eryssa."
Veer nodded as she pointed toward Revel and Temur.
"What about them? We need to move them to a safe place."
"Let's keep them at the nearby guesthouse," Veer suggested.
"Then we go," Sythris said.
Both of them walked over to Revel and Temur and picked them up. Veer carried Temur over his shoulder, while Sythris carried Revel.
As they sprinted forward, Sythris glanced at Veer carrying Temur and said, "About your question... I don't know much."
"But I heard from my master that the Martial Saintess is from the Way Path."
"Hmm... what did she used to say..."
"Yes..." Sythris pondered for a moment before saying, "Divinity is the price of a being... a being being guided... Ravel the Way to be guided by thyself..."
Veer continued running as he contemplated those words.
"Ravel the Way to be guided by thyself..."
"Ravel the Way to be guided by thyself..."
The line echoed in his mind.
They headed south and crossed the boundaries of the castle gates. Though much of the area was devastated, broken debris lay everywhere.
As they ran, the war still raged behind them. Gradually, people noticed something. The blue mages standing outside the gates looked upward and uttered in shock,
"This..."
"A magical barrier of this level..."
Sythris also looked up to see something appear in the sky. It was now covered with bubble-like colors, forming a vast transparent dome.
The king's enormous sword could pass through it and attack something unseen in the darkness. This was evident from the rapid slashes and sizzling sounds echoing through the air. Normal humans still couldn't even stand under that overwhelming pressure.
The huge spears descending from the unseen realm could not pass through the shimmering dome.
Who had erected it?
No one had any idea.
Sythris gritted her teeth as she remembered the scene that had tormented Veer in her dreams.
"Is this dome from Academy time?" she murmured.
Veer asked, confused by the sheer scale of the events around them, "What did you say?"
"Nothing. We're near," Sythris replied flatly as she looked ahead.
She sighed inwardly,"I shouldn't mention that to him now..."
A large number of blue mages were protecting a guesthouse. The guesthouse was two stories tall and had a very old architectural design.
The mages wore blue hats and brown gowns. Strange golden jewelry hung around their necks, each piece holding a complicated compass-like artifact. Some carried wands in their hands, while others had bags attached to their waists and pocket watches hanging from their belts.
Coincidentally, it was the same guesthouse where Veer had first awakened after losing his memories. A strange sense of déjà vu washed over him. The guesthouse stood near the foothills of the castle, just beyond the huge courtyard where the giant cross had landed. Beyond that lay the knights' residence, most of which had been devastated.
Sythris glanced at Veer, feeling that he was behaving strangely once again.
All around them, blue mages coughed up blood as they desperately tried to prevent any damage to the barriers.
Sythris reached the barrier entrance and addressed the mage standing there.
"Please take them inside."
The mage nodded.
"Forgive me, my lady and sir. As you can see, I can't move. Please don't take offense, but could you take them inside yourselves? There are nurses and volunteers waiting inside."
Sythris nodded as a gap opened in the barrier. Veer nodded to her, and together they stepped inside.
Many of the mages recognized Sythris, but they were all too busy reinforcing the barriers to say anything.
A wave of nostalgia washed over Veer. This was the earliest place he could remember after losing his memories. He could still vividly recall the dancing puppet that Eryssa's uncle had shown him.
"Hah..." he sighed.
Sythris looked at him.
"Bring him to the male patients' section."
There was constant chatter inside as nurses rushed about treating the wounded. The scent of medicine filled the air, almost intoxicating him, but the faint tremors shaking the building quickly brought him back to reality.
Veer gently laid Temur down and said to a male nurse, "Take care of him."
The nurse nodded.
"Knight Veer, don't worry. I'm Talyed. I'll take good care of Knight Temur."
Veer looked at him.
"Don't you all feel the pressure?"
The man smiled bitterly as he pulled up the leg of his white trousers.
Veer's eyes widened.
Both of the man's feet had been completely mangled—crushed beyond recognition.
"What...?" Veer asked in horror. "How in the world are you walking?"
The nurse smiled.
"I don't feel pain. We nurses possess a special art that allows us to withstand higher-level pressure without affecting our ability to work."
"But... this?" Veer muttered.
He found himself speechless. This man's legs were utterly destroyed, yet he continued protecting others and treating countless wounded.
Something stirred within Veer.
Hope.
A tiny spark of hope in this hopeless world.
Veer bowed slightly.
"Thank you."
"No, no. Please don't do that, Knight Veer. It's our duty."
Veer nodded and walked toward Sythris. She seemed to be speaking with someone whose face he couldn't see.
Just as he got closer, he heard,
"Is she okay?"
"Yes. She should wake up... but after that, I don't know what she'll do."
"Sythris? Let's go if you've settled Revel," Veer called.
Sythris turned around, and Veer finally saw the person she had been speaking with.
It was a woman.
She was bruised, battered, and wore a blindfold over her eyes.
Veer was stunned.
There was something about her that felt magical, just like Eryssa. He couldn't explain what it was.
The woman slowly walked toward him.
"This may be our first time meeting, but I know you. You're Veer, correct?"
Sythris silently watched from the side as Veer nodded.
"I am Canthia of Breavan."
Veer's eyes widened.
He recognized her.
She belonged to the enemy side—the Black Knight who had killed Laren.
"You..." Veer said coldly. "What are you planning here?"
Canthia smiled faintly.
"Oh, don't get worked up. I'm not fighting anymore."
Veer instinctively reached for his sword, but Sythris gently placed a hand over his and shook her head.
Grinding his teeth, Veer turned away and began walking.
As they passed through the doorway, something suddenly flew toward him.
A bangle.
Before anyone could react, it landed perfectly in Veer's hand. It fitted into his hand autmatically.
Sythris looked at it but remained silent.
"Sythris... this?"
She sighed before replying in a complicated tone.
"It shouldn't be harmful. In fact... it might even be helpful."
Veer looked back at Canthia.
"Why are you doing this?"
Canthia lowered her head.
She looked like a pitiful woman.
Many of the nearby nurses turned toward her after hearing Veer's question.
Finally, she bowed.
"I just hope... I can still be of some use."
Sythris grabbed Veer's hand.
"Let's go."
The two left together.
Veer let out a quiet sigh and followed her.
Canthia looked at Veer's back as she muttered, "How much has he suffered ?"
A woman patted Canthia's back as she said,"We are here to nurse everone. If you can move help others who are injured."
Canthia nodded and went to help the patients.
Sythris and Veer began running toward the distant, burning castle barely visible.
As they ran, Sythris caught up to him.
"The king keeps leaping into the air again and again. He was walking in air back then now what happened?" she said.
Without looking back, Veer shook his head,"He's fighting that higher-level entity. I am not able to perceive anything."
Sythris sad strangely,"It would be strange if you can perceive anything."
Every time the king landed after exchanging a strike or two, the ground trembled with a small earthquake.
Then they heard a voice.
It echoed from every direction.
Soft like birdsong.
Gentle like waves brushing against the shore.
Yet it carried not a melody, but a declaration of war.
It was an ethereal woman's voice.
Veer and Sythris looked up to see the faint image of a beautiful woman in the sky.
She resembled the very incarnation of the moon, dressed entirely in white.
Veer whispered,"It's like I'm seeing grown up Eleana."
But Sythris couldn't see his expression.
Veer, however, was deeply disturbed.
That woman with the spear looked almost identical to the gigantic figure from his dreams—the one who had destroyed his clan alongside the others.
Then the voice echoed across the heavens.
"The Kingdom of Drudar has fallen to the willfulness of its incompetent ruler. The incompetent one who dared challenge the decree of the Aethrials and bring ruin upon the common people shall be judged today by this Seat."
Then they witnessed something so horrifying, yet so breathtaking, that they stopped running altogether.
It was a spectacle.
A colossal spear descended from the heavens.
As it fell, it became tens...
Then hundreds...
Then thousands...
Just as Veer had seen in his dreams.
Even the bright white moon had become visible in the sky.
It seemed impossibly enormous.
As though every one of those spears had been launched directly from the moon itself.
The faint figure of that woman appeared to wield the moon itself.
As the countless spears descended, they blossomed into radiant white flowers, spinning through the heavens before crashing toward Drudar.
A deafening resonance echoed through the world, as though something unimaginable was descending upon everyone.
Everywhere people looked up.
Then they witnessed something even more magnificent.
An enraged roar thundered through the battlefield.
"I will defy fate.. today.."
"No one can stop me.."
A black-clad figure shot into the heavens.
A sword rested upon his shoulder.
Then it stretched...
Longer...
Longer...
Until it became unimaginably vast.
The blade shimmered with countless colors and projections, as though it did not belong to this dimension.
Then flashes of light erupted so rapidly that they resembled meteors striking countless mirrors, reflecting endlessly across the sky.
The sword swung with impossible speed, blooming into a gigantic flower of countless colors that enveloped the entire Kingdom of Drudar before colliding with the thousands of spear-flowers descending from above.
The sight was both horrifying and breathtaking.
Not a single person made a sound.