Night descended slowly along the mountain slope.
A thin mist crawled between the trees, making the lights of their small home flicker like fireflies refusing to surrender to the dark.
Hana was asleep.
Wrapped in a thick blanket, her breathing steady, peaceful, innocent.
The Great Ancestor sat on the wooden chair at the porch.
Silent.
Unmoving.
Like a statue waiting for the world to reveal its next secret.
He had sensed something since late afternoon.
Not a monster.
Not a system.
A gaze.
A soft, faint gaze but extremely trained… like someone who had observed targets hundreds of times without ever being caught.
A gaze from afar, hiding behind the mist, holding its breath.
The Great Ancestor opened his eyes.
"Come out."
His voice was low. Almost a murmur.
But the mist stopped.
The wind stopped.
Everything… listened.
And between the trees, quiet footsteps emerged.
Light.
Precise.
Not touching a single twig.
The figure appeared.
A woman.
Black cloak.
Black mask.
A faint violet lining.
No guild insignia.
Her movements flowed like shadows quick, weightless, leaving no trace of presence.
Yet the Great Ancestor did not see her as a threat.
He saw her as someone trying to look harmless, while her soul churned like a whirlpool.
The woman stopped three meters from the porch.
"You found me," she said. Her voice cold yet soft. "Not many Hunters can."
The Great Ancestor raised a brow. "I'm not a Hunter."
"…That's even more frightening," she replied instantly.
She drew her cloak tighter. For a moment, her eyes glimmered behind the mask.
Violet.
Eyes that had witnessed too many deaths.
"What business do you have spying on this house?" the Great Ancestor asked.
The woman fell silent.
Then spoke softly:
"I wasn't spying on the house."
She pointed toward Hana's bedroom door.
"I was spying on your sister."
The Great Ancestor shifted slightly.
A tiny movement.
But the air temperature dropped.
The woman instantly felt the pressure…
as if the entire mountain bowed.
Yet she remained standing.
Her body trembled faintly but her eyes stayed steady.
"Relax," she said. "If I wanted to harm her, I wouldn't be standing here."
"Who are you?"
The woman hesitated.
Then slowly removed her mask… revealing a young, beautiful face marked with small battle scars.
Thin lips. Sharp eyes.
Long black hair tied neatly.
She looked like someone who had trained to kill since her early teens.
"I don't have a name," she said. "The guild discarded us as children. We were only given codes."
She looked directly at the Great Ancestor.
"Call me… Violet Shadow."
The Great Ancestor studied her for a long moment.
He sensed something inside her.
An aura that didn't belong to this world.
Not fully human.
Not fully monster.
Like something forcibly fused into flesh through an ancient ritual.
And one more thing…
He sensed her fear.
A fear not directed at him…
but at Hana.
"What did you see in my sister?" the Great Ancestor asked, voice calm.
Violet Shadow swallowed.
"…Something that should not exist inside a human."
She let out a heavy breath, as if each word had to fight through layers of forbidden oaths.
"Your sister carries the Mark of the Eternal Firefly."
The Great Ancestor said nothing.
Violet Shadow continued, even softer:
"That mark… isn't just luck. Or talent. It is"
Her voice stopped.
Violet Shadow's eyes widened.
She stared past the Great Ancestor.
Toward Hana's room.
Toward something only cursed eyes like hers could see.
"That mark… is glowing."
And before the Great Ancestor could ask
THUD!
A gentle yet immense energy burst from Hana's room.
The door swung open.
A soft golden-white light radiated outward, shaping Hana's silhouette standing half-awake, hugging her tiny stuffed dog.
"Huh… Brother? What happened…?"
But it wasn't Hana's voice that froze both the Great Ancestor and Violet Shadow.
It was another voice.
A voice impossibly soft.
Impossibly ancient.
Coming from behind Hana…
Like an angel speaking from behind a veil.
"At last… I've found you."
The Great Ancestor stood.
Violet Shadow stepped back three paces.
Hana rubbed her eyes, clueless.
And from within the light
a woman's shadow emerged, wings of faint radiance unfurling, a translucent form with golden eyes staring straight at the Great Ancestor.
Eyes that had known him.
Since the age when the stars were newly born.
"Great Ancestor…"
whispered the figure.
"…it has been far too long."