Lilith, three steps behind Kaito, didn't move.
The voice came from everywhere at once.
It wasn't exactly human. It was as if the sound constructed itself from the crystals themselves — harmonic, without emotional intonation, perfectly clear.
—Welcome.
Kaito didn't step back.
—Thank you.
—The previous visitors did not have what they sought. You do.
—What do I have?
A longer pulse. Like a deliberate pause.
—The marks.
Kaito looked down at his hands. At the black gloves.
—They were created for this. Among other things. The knowledge here cannot be transmitted through observation. Only through direct contact with the one who bears the summoning marks.
Kaito processed that.
That's why Lilith and Aria couldn't access it. It wasn't that the Guardian rejected them. It was that the system couldn't transfer to someone who wasn't the correct recipient.
—Why the gloves? — Kaito asked.
