"We need to move. Now," Arthur said, his eyes scanning the shadowed corners of the room. "It's only a matter of time before this hotel becomes a target."
"I agree," Sera added, looking out the shattered window toward the dark silhouette of the cathedral. "We should split into pairs. It'll make us harder to track and allow us to cover more ground."
"Isaac and I will head out and see what we can find," I said, glancing at Isaac. He gave a sharp nod, his previously lazy expression replaced by the focused gaze of a Hunter.
Thanks to my Shadow Weave, my body had completely finished knitting itself back together. The broken ribs were healed, the bruises had faded, and my Ether core was humming with energy once again. I was finally ready for whatever was coming.
"Good," Sera stated. "Arthur and I will go directly to the cathedral. We need to see exactly what kind of nightmare is brewing in those crypts. We still haven't received word from the Guild, which is deeply concerning. Something—or someone—is blocking our communications."
He turned to me, his expression turning serious. "Lucifer, go to the central post office by the docks. See if any messages have managed to get through. It's at the far end of the island. If the Guild is trying to reach us, that's where the trail will start."
"Understood," I replied.
As we stepped out onto the balcony, I felt a heavy chill in the air. The weather had turned foul in a matter of minutes. Thick, charcoal-grey clouds were swirling violently above the island, and the low rumble of a thunderstorm rolled across the sea. It felt like the island itself was holding its breath.
The Devil was clearly moving into the next phase. Whether he was continuing the ritual or going into a desperate, violent overdrive, we were about to find out.
Just as Isaac and I were about to depart, Sera gripped my shoulder.
"One more thing, Luci," he whispered. "Use your Ascendant Flow. Practice it. Get used to that state of being where you don't rely on your Ether. If the ritual completes and the island is flooded with the Devil's influence, your magic might become unstable. You'll need your instincts more than your spells."
I nodded, absorbing the advice. With a final look, we parted ways. Arthur and Sera blurred into the shadows, moving with incredible speed toward the cathedral, while Isaac and I turned toward the docks, disappearing into the rainy, lightless streets of Blackwater Roost.
----
[Lucian and Issac POV]
"It was fun fighting with you, Lucifer," Isaac said, leaping from one clay-tiled roof to the next. "And you've got some seriously great friends."
I gave a curt nod, my eyes fixed on the distant docks.
"Again, not a big talker, are you?"
"No," I replied flatly.
We continued our sprint across the skyline, moving toward the central post office. The cool air rushed past us, but it didn't soothe the growing knot in my stomach.
"So, that thing we did—when we were out of Ether. Sera called it Ascendant Flow, right?" Isaac's eyes gleamed with excitement. "That feeling was epic. He told us to get better at it, didn't he?"
"Yes." I wasn't in the mood for small talk.
A dark premonition was clawing at my mind. Why was the city so quiet? Why were people in the streets below going about their business as if a massive explosion hadn't just rocked the cathedral's roots? And more importantly... why hadn't the pirates we killed dropped any Ether crystals? Usually, when an Awakened dies, their core stabilizes into a crystal. Here, the energy had just... vanished. It was as if the island itself was drinking the Ether before it could solidify.
"Also, Lucifer," Isaac said, his tone suddenly dropping its playful edge. "I need to get you to my captain soon. I've been keeping something from you."
Finally, I thought. He's ready to talk. I knew he was hiding something. I hadn't forgotten the look on his face when I first told him my name was Lucifer—it wasn't just surprise; it was recognition. Nor had I forgotten that he held back a "trump card" while we were nearly being beaten to death.
"Do tell," I said, my voice cold.
"My captain has an ancient book," Isaac began, his gaze drifting as we ran. "It's called The Fallen Archangel. On the very first page, it describes a being of absolute perfection. A name from before the Great Collapse: Lucifer Morning Star."
I didn't interrupt. My heart hammered against my ribs, but I kept my expression stony.
"My captain is incredibly knowledgeable," he continued. "She taught us everything—reading, writing, the complexities of the Pathway systems, even the Sea of Concepts. She found that book in the ancient ruins of the Dead Sea and brought it back to the ship."
"Go on," I prompted.
"That's why I want you to meet her. When I heard your name, I thought... maybe it was a sign. But there's a problem. She's anchored at a nearby island, only a day's journey away, but I haven't been able to contact her for three days. I thought she was just busy, but now? Between your Guild going silent and my captain disappearing from the comms... something is fundamentally wrong with this place."
"Yes," I agreed. "It seems so."
We reached the edge of the residential district and looked down. Below us, the docks stretched out into the dark, churning sea. The citizens walked the piers, laughing and trading as if the world wasn't ending. The contrast was sickening.
We had arrived at the end of the island. The central post office stood before us, a lone stone building silhouetted against the gathering thunderstorm.
As we approached the post office, the world suddenly buckled.
The ground didn't just shake—it felt as if reality itself was being wrung out like a wet cloth. A wave of absolute darkness crashed over my vision, cold and suffocating. Then, in the blink of an eye, the darkness vanished.
"It was fun fighting with you, Lucifer," Isaac said, leaping from one clay-tiled roof to the next. "And you've got some seriously great friends."
I felt a phantom weight in my chest. I looked around, my eyes widening behind my mask. We were back on the residential rooftops, miles away from the docks.
"Again, not a big talker, are you?" Isaac asked, his voice bright and oblivious.
"No," I replied flatly, the word slipping out like a recorded script.
Wait. My blood ran cold. Something was horribly wrong. Why was I giving the exact same answers? Why were we back here?
Suddenly, a series of urgent, crimson-tinted windows flared into existence before my eyes, flickering with static.
[CRITICAL ALERT: External Conceptual Interference Detected] [Counter-Abilities: INITIALIZING...] [FAILURE: Interference source is Tier 6 or higher. Insufficient Ether for bypass.] [REQUEST: Permission to borrow Ether from the Cenatoph of Pride?]
Yes, I hissed in my mind. Do it.
The sensation was like a bolt of lightning striking my soul. A cold, arrogant power surged from the depths of my being, burning through the fog that had settled over my brain. The world around me seemed to "snap" back into focus, the colors becoming vivid and sharp.
"Wait, Isaac," I called out, stopping mid-leap on a steep roof. "Didn't we just have this conversation?"
Isaac stopped and turned, looking at me with genuine confusion. "What are you talking about? We just got separated from Sera and Art. We're heading to the post office, remember?"
He doesn't know, I realized. The loop reset his mind.
The pieces finally clicked together. It wasn't that information wasn't getting out; it was that the entire dock district was wrapped in a conceptual trap. Anyone who tried to reach the port would simply be reset, looped back to a previous point in time, or forced to forget their goal and continue their mundane lives. It was why the citizens looked so peaceful—they were puppets in a recurring play.
"Sigh," I muttered, my hand tightening on the Bad News.
I had encountered something like this once before in a Tier 4 Mirror Dimension. It was tedious, draining, and incredibly dangerous. The Devil wasn't just hiding; he had turned the island into a closed loop.
"Isaac, stay close to me," I commanded, my voice dropping to a dangerous register. "We aren't just walking to the docks anymore."