The violent grinding of stone and the suffocating scent of pulverized quartz faded into absolute nothingness.
When Sora finally opened his eyes, he wasn't buried under tons of heavy dungeon debris. He was lying flat on his back upon a cold, black marble altar that sat at the center of an incredibly ethereal and sacred sanctuary. The surrounding environment was a total contrast to the dark, chaotic ruins they had just ventured through. It was massive, translucent pillars stretched toward a ceiling that looked like an open, swirling night sky, casting a soft, starlight glow across the room. Water as clear as glass flowed silently in narrow channels along the floor, carrying a faint scent of crushed night lilies.
Sora coughed up a bit of dust he had inhaled from the crumbling exit, his lungs burning slightly as he sat up straight to look around.
The movement caused his uniform to shift, and he immediately froze. The heavy spatial distortion and the raw, sacred pressure of the room had completely shattered his disguise. His female glamour had entirely dissolved, leaving him in his true, elven form—his long black hair catching the starlight, and his sharp, masculine features exposed.
But that was the least of his worries at the moment.
"My child, you have woken up."
The voice was soft, melodic, and seemed to vibrate directly within Sora's mind.
Sora trailed his dark eyes slowly toward the steps of the altar. There, sitting in high, carved stone chairs, were several ethereal figures looking down at him. They were so dreamy and flawless that they looked like true elves out of ancient tapestries—but there was a striking difference. Their hair had deep, ink-like hues as dark as the midnight sky, completely unlike the shining blonde of the Vadrant Alliance or the pure silver of the high elven nobility.
They were Moonborns. Real, living fragments of the history that had been stripped away from him.
"That is true... we are your ancestors, the anchorers of our race," a graceful woman at the center replied, her voice carrying a soft chuckle as if she could read Sora's chaotic thoughts perfectly. She stood up, her dark robes trailing silently on the marble as she stepped down toward him. "And you, child... you must be our sole descendant who has successfully survived the brutality of our extinction. The one who carries our bloodline with pride... a Curzon."
Sora didn't swoon or drop to his knees in reverence. Instead, his analytical mind immediately clicked into a defensive gear.
"What is going on here?" Sora demanded, his voice sharp as he scrambled off the altar, his eyes darting around the sacred temple looking for a baseline exit. "Why did you forcefully trap me here? I need to go back immediately. His Highness must be completely worried about my absence!"
"Oh, lovesick child, will you please calm down?" the woman chided gently, waving her slender hand to soothe his frantic aura. "We only wanted to greet you since we finally had the rare chance to reach your core through the dungeon's rift and offer our formal blessings to you and your child. You have done a truly great job by expanding our bloodline, even though it is with a human."
Sora crossed his arms, his spock ears twitching with a defensive edge. "Well, what exactly did you expect? The modern elves want absolutely nothing to do with us. They call us impure."
"Mhm, that is a historical truth," an older man with long, dark hair noted from the steps, shaking his head. "But nonetheless, you have achieved so much in your short lifespan, and the absolute blessings of our moon god have officially dwelled upon your head, child."
Before Sora could formulate another logical argument, the ethereal figures all walked down from the steps, their movements entirely weightless. They formed a perfect circle, surrounding Sora on the black marble floor and holding hands as their dark mana began to hum in a beautiful, synchronized frequency.
"Allow us to pray and offer our divine blessings for you," the woman said softly, her dark eyes flashing with power. "After today, even the proudest elves of the alliance won't be able to feign ignorance toward your existence and your true power."
They closed their eyes and began to softly chant the exact phonetic script of the praise Sora had read from the stone slab at the entrance of the dungeon.
*"Kaelis-mor, vae solis-thun... Zorathis el-vahn, lunas-run..."*
'So that is exactly how they found me,' Sora thought, his heart rate stabilizing as the rhythm of the ritual echoed through his bones. He had unlocked the gateway with their own language, signaling his presence to the ancient anchorers.
Just then, a massive, sacred power evaporated all over Sora's body. An overwhelming, dense wave of pure dark-attribute mana coursed straight through his closed mana circuits, instantly filling his depleted reserves to the absolute maximum. The feeling was completely intoxicating—like an endless ocean of energy dropping right into his core, settling the frantic, hungry pulse of his pregnancy.
"We have blessed you with our divine powers," the matriarch spoke, her voice echoing with immense authority as the light began to fade. "And your child has been blessed with a cosmic authority that will command even the heavens above. From this day forward, no one on this continent will condemn you. Everyone will be entirely unable to feign ignorance of your power. Our hidden followers will deeply revere your existence, and not even the tyrant Queen of the Elves will dare to harm you. From now on, Curzon, stand with absolute pride among the masses and—"
"Wait," Sora interrupted, his voice completely deadpan as he looked at the grand spirits of his lineage. "Can you all just bless me with a specific pheromone that could make the Crown Prince love me forever instead?"
The heavy, ancient chanting stopped instantly.
The entire council of Moonborn ancestors stood completely frozen, staring down at him in absolute, unbothered disbelief. The profound, holy atmosphere of the sacred temple popped like a bubble.
"Our race seems to be entirely doomed," the older man muttered, rubbing his temples with an expression of pure, ancestral exhaustion.
"Indeed," the matriarch sighed, her shoulders dropping. "He is truly lovesick beyond any psychological repair."
Sora frowned, completely unbothered by their judgment.
"I am simply looking at the most critical variable in my current life. Will the blessing work on him or not?"
"Child, the Crown Prince is your fated mate," the woman explained, her tone dry as parchment. "He is going to love you forever whether his logical mind likes it or not. The soul resonance cannot be mathematically undone by a human core."
"But... we plan to cut our bond after birth because of the imperial politics," Sora murmured, his eyes dropping slightly as he thought of Cassian's cold, political restrictions. "He cannot have an impure heir while aiming for the throne."
"That won't be necessary anymore, child," the matriarch stated firmly, reaching out to lightly tap Sora's forehead with her cool fingers. "Didn't we just tell you? With our divine blessings resting on your bloodline, the masses won't be able to ignore your existence. Even that calculating Crown Prince of yours will feel immensely blessed to have you as his permanent mate. All that you have to do now is prove to them that you are worthy. Make them all bow to your feet—a bloodline that they all foolishly deemed impure."
"Whilst we are on that specific topic," the older man chimed in, a thoughtful look on his face as he tapped his chin, "shouldn't we grant his system another child right now? The more children he bears, the better our bloodline continues its survival."
"There is absolutely no need for that," the matriarch countered, letting out a soft chuckle as she glanced down at Sora's abdomen. "Sora is already hands full with that one in there. Let's grant that specific blessing far into the future."
The ancestors all chuckled softly among themselves, their forms beginning to turn translucent and drift back into the starry sky.
Sora's eyes widened, his face flushing red as he processed the information. "Two?! Wait—I am still here, you know! Hurry up and send me back to the arena parameters right now. I need to be with my mate!"
The matriarch offered a final, pitying smile as her form dissolved into pure light.
"Indeed... we are completely doomed."
A sudden, violent flash of white light consumed the sacred sanctuary, and Sora felt the familiar, crushing sensation of a teleportation gate gripping his core, pulling him back to reality.
*****