"She's nearly twice my size. I was only a boy the last time I saw her. I'll never forget that day… she slaughtered an army of Knights with her bare hands. Tore them limb from limb. Ripped out spines through throats as if they were nothing. She wasn't human. She was a monster."
Not even Halo's cold nature could stop him from shaking. He used to be terrifying but definitely not in this world.
Was she still in the castle? Why would the gods be this cruel? This was no different from walking straight to his death.
There wasn't much he could do. His purpose was to protect the Galactic Castle, refusing would mean death anyway. But Kysa? Could she really be that much of a monster?
"She serves the God of Destruction, and her castle echoes that devotion. The Changing Malicious Solemn, a name born from calamity. The castle moves like a living curse, more ruinous than Kysa herself."
Listening to the man speak so casually about their destination, Halo couldn't help but bury his face in his hands, wishing this was all a dream. The Galactic Castle was the worst place he could be.
"My mentor, who fell to Kysa's hand seven years ago, once said the castle had witnessed every cycle the triad lands endured. I believe him, that thing has been alive since the moment this world came to be."
Halo listened as they all tossed around every myth they'd heard about the castle. He was dying inside. But why panic when he could turn those myths to his advantage?
Knight's purposes were rarely solo assignments, he'd been told that much. A castle as prestigious as this one? There had to be other Knights sharing his burden. They'd hear the same myths eventually.
He just had to reach them first and use those myths to his advantage.
Their theories contradicted each other wildly. Some claimed Kysa had been alive for centuries. The towering man, though, who insisted he'd glimpsed her once, swore she couldn't be older than twenty-five.
This led Halo to a realization… either Kysa had some ability that preserved her youth and extended her life, or these people were full of it. Either way, he couldn't dismiss the possibility entirely, she might actually be there.
"Wait… back in Broad Park, I heard them speak of it. I was there for a Purpose, and I couldn't believe what I heard. The Changing Malicious Solemn… even that far away, they spoke of it with awe. They had portraits too… proof that the castle shifts its very shape. Once, it gleamed like a golden palace."
Halo scowled.
The system had warned him about the Galactic Castle's shifting walls. He'd thought it was speaking metaphorically since it usually dealt in cryptic language. Turns out it had been disturbingly literal.
Something didn't add up, though. How did they know it was the Changing Malicious Solemn specifically? Could've been any castle.
Before he could even finish thinking about it, someone asked the same question, as if plucking it straight from his mind.
"You haven't seen the castle before, have you? Haa… Crawlers infest that place. Strong or not, their traits make them deadly. It's as if the castle calls to them. No one lays eyes on it without meeting a Crawler."
Halo sighed. He was done for.
He turned his gaze outside, staring harder than before. He'd faced a Crawler, killed one even.
But he'd watched it transform, growing in height and monstrous features within seconds.
Dark Saint had warned him, a fully developed Crawler's Sin Fragment alone would have made him formidable.
He was walking into a dead end.
He pieced together everything he'd learned about his purpose. The castle held legends… Kysa, supposedly the strongest knight in existence, whose reputation made Dark Saint look tame.
The Galactic Castle itself, feared across even the most distant lands. And the Crawlers, Sinners so dangerous they'd been given a name.
The inevitability of his destiny was evident, and even in this dense daze, despite his fears, he was glad to actually know what he was walking into.
***
Hours dragged on.
Ten hours in the wagon now, no stops. The wheels rolled without mercy, driven by the desperate hope of arriving before nightfall, before the Sinners emerged.
Halo sat hunched, elbows on knees, chin resting on his fists as his thoughts flickered between fragile optimism and dread.
Perhaps his fellow Knights at the castle would be strong. Perhaps they'd make this survivable.
But as his gaze drifted to the road outside, something made his blood freeze. Blood. Thick as guilt itself, painting the ground in deep, glistening red.
He swallowed hard, searching the other passengers' faces for alarm. Nothing. They were too absorbed in chatter to notice. He was on his own.
The blood was fresh, still glistening. But as Halo searched the dense forest pressing in on both sides, there were no bodies. No wounded. Nothing to explain it.
This was the Lost World. Strange sounds were par for the course. Probably just a wounded Sinner retreating through the area. No reason to panic. Besides, it was still daylight.
Another two hours passed, the sun sinking toward the horizon, and Halo's reassurances crumbled.
Blood painted the road in growing frequency. Torn limbs became impossible to ignore.
Finally, they stopped before the carnage's centerpiece to a shattered wagon surrounded by the mutilated corpses of everyone who'd been traveling in it.
Halo's heart hammered against his chest as he watched everyone else treat it like a casual stroll while the strongest among them cleared the road.
"They must've encountered Beast Sinners not long ago. Nothing we can do now… this is their territory. Our only option is to move quickly."
'Wait… what?'
Halo listened to the men speak carelessly, fearlessly.
But he wasn't having it.
If this was their territory, then why not retreat, find a better place to lay low until things settled, then continue their journey?
That's when it hit him. Every land was equally dangerous.
Perhaps they'd been able to ride free this long because they were simply lucky, and going back could put them in a worse situation that would ensure their death.
Still, once they finished and began climbing back into the wagon, Halo had no intention of going along. He grabbed his luggage as everyone watched him in confusion.
He wasn't certain about anything anymore, but his instincts screamed at him to leave.
Looking at everyone's faces, it was clear they wanted to question him, but the cold detachment in his expression was enough to silence them.
Perhaps they saw him as someone powerful enough to survive the land on his own.
Halo stood there idly, watching the wagon roll away.
If this were the Sinners' land, and the path to Mirror Steppe cut through their forest, they'd grown accustomed to viewing wagons as threats.
Halo wasn't naive.
He was certain at least one or two Sinners would come for him. But his clone had rested for almost a week now, and it should be strong enough to help him fight them off.
If any of them stood a chance of surviving, it was him. Halo D. Tenebris.