When Elias opened his eyes again, he was already standing within the vast interior of the Celestial Spire. The transition was so smooth that for a moment it almost felt natural, as if his consciousness had simply drifted from one room into another rather than crossing the boundary between worlds.
Grey dust floated endlessly through the silent expanse, forming slow currents that moved like mist caught inside a cavern. The towering pillars of the Spire stretched upward into the haze, their distant forms fading into an indistinct ceiling that could not truly be seen.
Elias instinctively looked down at his left hand.
The faint symbol was still there.
Eight points connected around a central point, forming the wheel-like pattern he had drawn during the ritual. The mark shone with a subtle white light, barely noticeable unless one looked directly at it.
After a moment of quiet observation, Elias nodded slightly to himself.
"I see it worked like a charm."
When he had first entered this place, he needed to complete the full ritual and recite one of the honorific names in order to establish contact with the Sefirah. But once the connection had been formed and he became the first person to gain even partial control over the Celestial Spire, the requirements had clearly changed.
The new symbol of the wheel itself had become a key.
Drawing it allowed him to open a path into this space, and after drinking the potion the connection had clearly strengthened further. Now the mark on his hand functioned almost like a permanent gateway. Simply focusing his will was enough to return here.
Elias lifted his gaze and activated his ability.
The world changed immediately.
Under the influence of Link, thin white threads began appearing everywhere around him, stretching outward from his body in countless directions. Some were faint and barely visible, while others shone with stronger clarity.
Most of them connected to nearby objects in the physical world; furniture, items inside his house, and fragments of recent interactions.
But one thread was far brighter than the rest.
It extended outward from Elias's body and disappeared into the distant haze.
Recognizing what it represented, Elias followed the thread with his perception.
His awareness moved along the connection and gradually slipped beyond the boundary between the Spire and the physical world.
A moment later, a scene began to form in his mind.
The narrow courtyard where he had killed the Hunter came into view.
The corpse was still there.
However, the area had changed significantly since Elias left it behind. A faint wall of spirituality surrounded the courtyard, sealing the scene off from ordinary perception. Several figures in dark uniforms were carefully examining the area.
Elias recognized them immediately.
They were members of the Nighthawks.
Their arrival did not surprise him. A Beyonder death inside the capital would naturally attract attention from the Church.
Among the investigators and next to the corpse stood a woman with a calm but somewhat distant expression.
She wore a hooded black robe and a silver bracelet with hanging white crystal pendant around her wrist. She was wearing makeup of blue eyeshadow and blush.
She was Daly Simone.
Elias watched as her eyes gradually turned completely white while she began channeling the spirit of the dead Beyonder.
Through the faint connection provided by the thread, Elias could sense the spiritual fluctuations forming around the corpse. The lingering remnant of the Hunter's spirit slowly began to gather, drawn back together by Daly's ritual.
But something else also happened.
Guided by her ability, Daly's perception began to move along the spiritual traces left behind by the dead Beyonder.
Although she could not see the white thread itself, her investigation gradually aligned with the same direction it followed.
Slowly but steadily, her spiritual perception advanced through the city.
Toward Elias.
Elias frowned slightly.
"That's troublesome."
He could clearly see where her investigation was heading. If she continued along that direction long enough, she might eventually approach the district where he lived.
That was not something he could allow.
Without hesitation, Elias focused his will on the thread.
The connection snapped.
The moment the thread broke, the forming remnant spirit beside the corpse instantly lost its cohesion. The faint spiritual figure dissolved into scattered fragments of light before fading completely.
Back in the courtyard, Daly abruptly stopped the ritual.
The white color in her eyes faded as she withdrew from the spiritual state, her expression revealing a trace of confusion.
"What happened?" one of the Nighthawks asked.
Daly looked down at the corpse again before replying slowly.
"The remnant spirit disappeared. Something interfered with the connection."
The other investigators exchanged uncertain glances.
Originally the incident had appeared fairly simple; two unregistered Beyonders fighting in a secluded location, resulting in one death. Cases like that were unpleasant but not particularly mysterious.
But the interruption of a spirit-channeling ritual suggested that someone else might still be involved.
Daly crossed her arms thoughtfully.
"The spiritual trace I followed led toward the western residential district," she said. "We should focus our investigation on that area."
Another Nighthawk nodded immediately.
"I'll report it."
A brief discussion followed before a decision was made.
"Dispatch an investigation team," one of them said. "Send someone capable of handling hidden threats."
After a short pause, Daly added calmly, "Have the team led by a Sequence 7 Nightmare."
With that, the investigation expanded.
Within the Celestial Spire, Elias withdrew his perception from the scene.
The severed thread had already dissolved into drifting fragments of light, leaving no trace of the connection behind.
Satisfied that the situation had been handled for the moment, he turned his attention toward something else within the Spire.
The foggy orb of light still floated nearby.
It hovered silently above the grey dust, its surface releasing faint strands of mist that slowly dispersed into the surrounding space.
Elias reached out and summoned it closer.
The orb drifted toward him obediently until it hovered directly in front of his hand.
For a few seconds he simply studied it.
Then he lightly tapped it with his finger, causing a wave to ripple across its foggy surface.
Far away, in the city of Tingen, inside a cozy, rented two-story terrace house, a man suddenly woke up.
Klein Moretti sat upright in bed, his brow slightly furrowed.
Something had just happened inside Sefirah Castle.
The sensation differed from the layered whisper of prayers he had occasionally received from the Club members. This one felt like a ripple spreading across still water.
Curious and slightly wary, Klein got out of bed and walked toward the bathroom. After ensuring that his surroundings were secure, he performed the familiar ritual that allowed him to ascend above the grey fog.
A few seconds later, his consciousness appeared in the familiar space.
He was seated once again upon the high seat above the endless grey fog belonging to The Fool.
Crimson stars floated throughout the fog as they always did.
But Klein's gaze quickly settled on something unique.
Among the countless crimson stars hovered a single glowing orb formed entirely of dazzling starlight.
He remembered it clearly.
This object had appeared the moment that mysterious individual vanished during his first strange encounter within the grey fog. At the time, Klein had not dared to touch it.
Later, after finally gathering enough courage, he had tried interacting with the star the other day.
Nothing had happened. He received no response at the time, this caused him to experience a mixed feeling of both disappointment and relief.
Today however, the orb was flickering faintly.
Klein narrowed his eyes in thought before extending his spirituality toward it once again.
Then, with cautious focus, he activated the orb.