Rylagh watched the starlight baby vanish, as though the colors on a canvas were slowly fading away. He was deeply disturbed by the scene unfolding before him.
It disturbed him so profoundly that he didn't even notice the emergence of the giant sword piercing the heavens in the north.
Rylagh muttered in shock, "So... you were still there in that form. And... it was that boy. He is your son."
"Haha..."
"Hahah..."
He laughed sadly.
The starlight baby disappeared completely, and the scene changed.
A small boy appeared before him and silently looked at Rylagh. They stared at one another for a while before the boy let out a quiet sigh.
With a hint of sadness in his childish voice, he said, "Look, Rylagh..."
He paused before continuing,
"Let him go. I already consumed his last essence."
Rylagh's temper flared.
He vanished instantly.
A crushing punch slammed into the small boy's cheek, sending him tumbling across the area.
"You fucking halfwit..."
Punches rained down relentlessly.
"I knew it... He never should have chosen you."
More punches landed as the surroundings shattered.
"An inferior slave as his disciple..."
The small boy emerged from another side, only for another punch to send him flying again.
"Never should kindness be shown..."
"...to a painted man," Rylagh growled through gritted teeth.
As though he had completely lost himself, Rylagh continued punching without restraint.
He struck him hundreds of times before finally stopping.
The small boy's body had been reduced to a mashed jelly-like mass, resembling a watery slime shimmering with countless colors.
Rylagh spat onto the ground and stood there, breathing heavily.
His hair had turned much whiter. His beard had also become streaked with white. The once brilliant blond strands now mingled with white hair. His face looked disheveled and deeply wrinkled.
Only his regal green robes remained pristine, still reflecting the pride of the Mythria Clan.
He stared at the jelly-like slime.
With a sudden whoosh, the mashed mass transformed.
Black wings unfurled from its back.
A crown rested upon its head.
A pitch-black sword appeared in its hand, radiating sacred black flames.
"Calmed down, Rylagh?" it asked.
After a pause it asked again, "So you failed again huh and now.."
"your half step powers also dissipated."
It had no face.
It looked toward Rylagh despite having no eyes, no mouth—no expression at all.
Rylagh merely stared back.
The faceless figure gave a slight nod before turning and walking away.
Rylagh made no attempt to pursue it.
Instead, he looked toward the north.
"Bastard..." he muttered.
"He even has the sacred black flames."
....
Veer's eyes twitched slowly.
His entire body felt heavy, as though an invisible force was pressing down on him. A sharp pain throbbed inside his ears, making him wince.
Did they rupture...? he wondered.
With considerable effort, he forced his eyes open.
The first thing he saw was a beautiful face. He recognized those eyes. It was Sythris.
Her face hovered above his, tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes.
Seeing him awake, she whispered gently. Her voice was as soothing as the melody of a cuckoo bird.
"Do you recognize me?"
Veer looked at her for a few moments before giving a slow nod.
Only then did she finally release the breath she had been holding.
He soon realized his head was resting on something soft.
"...Your lap?"
Veer instinctively tried to sit up.
The moment he pushed himself upright, another violent tremor swept across the land.
The ground lurched violently.
Losing his balance, he toppled straight back into Sythris's lap.
"Ouch..."
He frowned awkwardly.
"What is this strange suffocating feeling...?"
"It feels like we're on a boat."
"...Or drifting in the middle of the sea."
He tried to get up again.
Sythris glanced down at him.
His face buried itself against her lap as he fell once more.
She looked around and saw Temur and Revel still lying unconscious nearby.
Quietly letting out a sigh of relief, she gently helped Veer sit upright.
Veer rubbed his head and looked at her.
Her blue robes were stained with blood and torn in many places. Her blue armor had been heavily damaged, exposing patches of flawless skin. Even her skirt was ripped, and bruises marked her beautiful face.
A wave of comfort washed over Veer.
Someone was here for him.
He wasn't alone.
His eyes became slightly misty as he cleared his throat.
"Sythris..." he said softly.
"...It really feels like we're on a boat."
"It honestly feels like everything is swaying."
She didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she leaned closer.
Their faces were only inches apart.
Veer simply looked back at her, still too disoriented to understand why she was staring.
Who... is he?
Is this really the same Veer who entered the academy?
And that strange diary... with its impossible dates...?
After everything she had witnessed...
And after those strange dreams...
She could no longer be certain.
Veer tilted his head.
"What are you looking for?"
Sythris searched his eyes before asking quietly,
"...Are you Veer?"
"No."
Her pupils shrank.
For one terrifying heartbeat, every dreadful possibility flashed through her mind.
Then Veer blinked.
"...Then who else would I be?"
"It's me."
"Veer."
A long silence followed.
Then Veer took a slow breath.
His eyes seemed calmer as he let out a deep sigh.
"I've calmed down... at least a little."
"...Thank you, Sythris."
.........
He was genuinely thankful to Sythris. It seemed that after he had been buried beneath the debris, she had found him and taken care of him.
The tension inside Sythris's chest finally eased.
She gave a small nod, her eyes growing misty.
Without realizing it, she reached out and held his hand.
Veer looked at her dainty, bruised hands. The beauty before him resembled a wounded beast. Yet even so, he could still see a spark of hope in those azure-blue eyes and her jade-like face.
"Veer..." she said softly.
"I don't understand what's happening anymore."
After a brief pause, she glanced behind her before continuing,
"I don't know what those monsters are planning..."
"But I want to get you out of here."
"You can feel it too, can't you?"
Veer looked toward the distant emerald lights illuminating the horizon. Countless shades of emerald seemed to be driving the night away.
They were the seven emerald runes.
"...Yes. I can."
He paused.
As Sythris slowly released his hand, he said,
"It's strange. I think I can feel Eryssa's faint presence."
Sythris stiffened.
"...You mean...?"
Veer lowered his eyes.
"Eryssa... when I was kidnapped by that strange woman some time ago, we arrived at a mysterious place where time flowed much faster."
Sythris listened silently as he continued.
"The old man said it was some kind of artifact that slowed time. He helped me escape from there, but before I left... I felt something in my heart."
He paused once more.
"I don't know how it works, but at that moment... it felt like Eryssa had gone very far away."
Silence fell between them.
After several moments, Sythris spoke quietly.
"Then let's leave."
"The more I try to understand today's events..."
"...the less anything makes sense."
"It feels like something even worse is about to descend."
Before she could continue, Veer shook his head.
"I can't leave."
"...Why?" Sythris asked.
He looked toward the distant battlefield.
"Even if there's only the slightest chance that Eryssa is still alive..."
"...I have to save her."
"It's my responsibility."
"And it's not just her."
"Eleana... Kerin... and the others are still there."
His expression slowly hardened.
"And..."
"I still need to ask that bastard John..."
"...why."
Sythris studied him before asking in a low voice,
"...You seem different."
Veer smiled faintly before letting out a quiet sigh.
"I don't know either. Somehow... it feels like I've gained a little clarity."
"And... a little peace."
Sythris nodded, though confusion still lingered in her eyes.
Another tremendous tremor shook the land.
Both of them instinctively turned toward the distant battlefield—
Toward the place where the emerald runes had appeared.
"...You seem different."
Veer smiled faintly before letting out a quiet sigh.
"I don't know either. Somehow... it feels like I've gained a little clarity."
"And... a little peace."
Sythris nodded, though confusion still lingered in her eyes.
Another tremendous tremor shook the land.
Both of them instinctively turned toward the distant battlefield—
Toward the place where the emerald runes had appeared.
They were stunned by what they saw.
Hundreds of gigantic magic circles were forming across the sky. The magic circles were in various shapes and colors and were very intricately designed . They rotated and covered the skies like a colorful tarnsaparent tunnel all way up. Numerous ancient words were etched in there.
A humming sound echoed evrywhere.
Sythris tried to focus on one word but she felt nauseous ans she withdrew her sense.
It was similar to star vision used by Veer.
Sythris suddenly frowned and asked
"...Veer."
"Don't you feel that pressure?"
He nodded almost subtly, "Yes. But it isn't unbearable."
She looked at him in disbelief.
"...You don't even have any essence left. The strange heartbeat thumping which now ceased and with this pressure even I feel as though something is trying to stop me from moving. Something untouchable that exists without. "
Veer calmly checked his body.
"It feels like no essence energy is there inside my nadis. I cannot even feel them."
"But still this pressure also I don't feel much."
Sythris nodded sighing, "Fine then. You really are an anomaly"
Veer blinked, "What do you mean?"
She pointed toward the enormous formations spreading through the sky.
"Do you recognize those magic circles?"
Veer studied them for several seconds before shaking his head.
"...No."
Sythris's expression changed. She thought inwardly,
"He doesn't remember...
He truly doesn't.
Did that academy incident erase those memories...?
Or... was everything I witnessed in that dream was really just an illusion?"
She looked back at him.
Despite everything...
He seemed strangely calm. Not emotionless.
Just...
A bit different.
A familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.
"Sythris?"
She blinked.
"Hm?"
Veer pointed toward the heavens.
"...Look."
"What a gigantic sword."
Sythris followed his gaze. They saw instead of emerald runes suspended above that huge cross . A man was standing there. Sythris said with gritted teeth, "That's the strange man , Sebastian on top of it."
Veer's eyes narrowed as he said,"It's him that tried to sell something to us in puppet bazaar."
He put his hand on his chin as she said,"Now that I remember, its him .. Damn it it was him that continuously checked me when I was at the library with Eleana."
Sythris asked in a low voice, "Any other incident ?"
Veer said in a low voice after thinking ,"Hmm...Not that I remember.."
They looked ahead. Now there was a giant Emerald sword. It was like something that emerged from stories. Sythris gritted her teeth as she experienced something pressing on her soul.
Veer said with deep sigh as the land trembled," Those magic circles ... The sword appeared inside the magic circles . And those seven emerald like runes seems like merged to somehow form the sword."
His eyes frowned,"This is really making everything hopeless..."
The emerald blade stretched across the sky.
Sythris was left speechless as Veer muttered
"This..."
"It feels..."
"...familiar."
She turned sharply toward him, lost in thought.
You couldn't recognize those magic circles...
Yet this sword feels familiar?
The more she tried to understand Veer, the more enigmatic he became.
Oddly enough...
That uncertainty no longer frightened her as much as before.
Simply seeing him awake again eased a burden she hadn't realized she had been carrying.
At least...
She wasn't alone anymore.
Veer suddenly narrowed his eyes.
"...It's him."
Far away, a solitary figure walked through the sky itself.
Step by step.
Neither flying...
Nor falling.
Simply walking.
Sythris whispered,
"...Has he already reached half a step into Ascension?"
Veer remained silent.
His eyes never left the figure.
Together, they watched as the countless magic circles slowly faded.
The King reached toward the impossible emerald sword.
The instant his hand grasped its hilt, his body began to transform.
Emerald flames engulfed him.
His figure blackened completely.
His body doubled in size, becoming large enough to wield the colossal blade.
As he rested the immense sword upon his shoulder, he looked like a tiny ant carrying a mountain.
The blade itself seemed infinite.
His entire body was shrouded in black, while emerald runes shimmered across his form.
Sythris slowly exhaled.
"...Looks like it only appeared infinite."
"The actual sword isn't that large."
Veer slowly shook his head.
"I don't think so."
His gaze remained fixed upon the blade.
"It feels..."
"...as though the sword can become whatever size its wielder requires."
"...As though distance itself means nothing to it."
Before either of them could say another word—
Their eyes widened.
The King bent his knees before leaping into the heavens.
He swung the sword twice.
The two slashes were silent.
Then—
The void split apart.
A massive tear opened across reality itself.
Sythris asked gravely,
"Veer... this is like..."
Veer gave a heavy nod.
"It's like what... the white version of me did that day..."
"...but on a much larger scale."
"He used it to devour that old man."
"But this..."
"...feels like something is about to emerge from that void."
The rift continued rippling with torrents of color and streaks of white.
Then...
A pale hand slowly emerged from within.
Sythris instinctively stepped back.
"...Impossible."
She looked at Veer.
"What is this, Veer?"
"How do you know about it?"
Veer let out a self-deprecating laugh.
"No idea."
"It just feels like something changed after John thrashed me."
He didn't mention the puppet.
How could he?
It had frightened him beyond belief before somehow leaving behind something inside him.
Something he couldn't explain.
Something that strangely made him feel... complete.
He knew that if he tried to explain it now, Sythris would only become more confused—and perhaps even wary of him.
"Sythris... let's hurry—"
Before he could finish, she muttered tiredly,
"Veer..."
"I'm really tired of these hopeless escalations."
"They just keep getting worse."
Veer didn't answer.
He simply stared at the spatial tear suspended high above the sky.
Beyond it stretched a strange world that resembled the one he had once seen.
Yet...
The stars weren't in the same positions.
Suddenly—
Both of their pupils contracted.
The pale hand emerged even farther from the rift.
Sythris spoke in a grave voice.
"...Whatever that thing is..."
"...if it fully emerges..."
"...everything may descend into chaos."
Veer was about to respond.
Then—
Another piercing sound echoed through heaven and earth.
The pale hand stopped.
Something had halted its advance.
It was...
A white spear.
It was unimaginably long.
Like the emerald sword, it possessed an ethereal existence.
It looked less like a weapon and more like the work of a god.
Veer instinctively covered his eyes.
He could barely bear to look at it.
Sythris stared at the banner fastened beneath the spearhead.
Her lips trembled.
"...Really..."
"...It's her."
"...She actually came."
Veer asked absentmindedly,
"...Who?"
His body suddenly became rigid.
He had seen that spear before.
In his dreams.
It was the same spear that had slaughtered hundreds—perhaps thousands—of his clansmen.
Or...
Had that truly been a dream?
He wasn't even sure anymore.
Blood trickled from the corner of Sythris's lips as she whispered,
"It's her..."
"...the Martial Saintess."
"Martial Saintess?"
Sythris nodded faintly.
"Veer..."
"She is a genuine Saint..."
"...a true Aetherial of this world."
"...One of the Seven Great Beings."