The air seemed to freeze.
Aside from Livia, everyone else in the room was caught in a silence too heavy to name—something between stunned quiet and suffocating pressure.
No one could speak.
Celesta's sacrifice.
Edgar's descent into madness.
The Grail's lure and its terrible cost…
It all crashed down on them like a storm, sweeping through the heart.
Even Marcellus and Elias—sons of the very people at the heart of this tale—sat motionless, eyes hollow, still unable to process the weight of what they'd just heard.
Adrian swallowed hard. His eyes drifted to the now-closed diary. His throat bobbed once, twice—then finally, he broke the silence:
"…This is… hard to believe."
Elise nodded slowly, her voice tentative:
"The thing we're looking for… is it even something good?
Or maybe… maybe we were never meant to find it at all."
Adrian turned to his sister, unease flickering in his eyes.
"Should we destroy it?"
All eyes turned to Livia.
She didn't respond right away.
But only for a moment.
Her gaze was sharper than ever. There was no confusion in her expression—only a rare clarity. She lowered her eyes to the floor, as if searching through memory, or weighing an answer far too large to carry alone.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"No…" she said softly. "It's not that simple."
She lifted her head, eyes steady and almost blade-like.
"I have a strong feeling. Not just intuition—something in my memory, or maybe… a lingering presence. We can't destroy it."
"You mean… it can't be killed?" Adrian asked, almost automatically.
"No. I mean—it will come back," Livia answered, her voice unnervingly calm.
"Think about it. Celesta blew it to pieces with explosives—and what happened? The shards still existed. And when we simply brought the base into the vault, it fused itself with another fragment—no ritual, no incantation. It just… came together."
Everyone drew a sharp breath.
"You're saying… it's rebuilding itself?" Elias finally found his voice, his brow furrowed.
"Yes," Livia nodded. "So trying to destroy it with what we know now—it's pointless. What we need is something far more fundamental. A way to dismantle not just its body, but its will, its power, even the way it exists."
She paused, then added,
"At the end of the diary, Marcellus's father seemed to get close to that kind of method. But he was clearly slipping—his mind was divided, his thoughts scattered. That last passage read like someone caught between lucidity and madness.
But… he never managed to finish the thought."
She looked at her brother, her gaze softening.
"So Adrian… I know you're worried. But right now, what we can do is contain it. Restrict it. Not rush into trying to destroy it."
Adrian nodded slowly, though worry still clouded his face.
"But what if… what if it starts affecting us too? I mean me and Elise. Even you…"
Livia took a breath, closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again.
"So far? It doesn't seem like it. Not immediately, anyway."
"Why not?" Elise asked.
"Do you remember how the diary described its influence?" Livia said. "It wasn't subtle. It wasn't slow. It hit hard—just knowing about it, being near it, stirred dangerous thoughts. But the three of us—we've all held it. And we're not losing control. That means… its influence has limits."
"Limits?" Elias echoed, thoughtful.
"Yes. I think there are three conditions for its full effect." She raised three fingers.
"One: you must know where it is.
Two: you must physically touch it.
Three: there must be a weakness in your heart."
"And the third," she said, looking to Adrian,
"is the most dangerous. You did have a selfish thought. But you didn't lose yourself. That proves you're still strong where it counts."
Adrian looked down, cheeks tinged with red. Elise reached out and held his hand.
Livia went on,
"The diary also mentioned how Marcellus's parents weren't affected until they knew where the base was. This isn't some telepathic assault—it's a mental lure. Once you know it's there, it plants a seed.
And the more you think about it, the more it grows."
"Then we have to seal the seed," Elias nodded.
"Exactly." Livia stood, her voice now firm and commanding.
"From this moment on—no one except me, Adrian, and Elise goes near that vault."
"I'll return at once and make sure the staff stay away from that entire wing."
"Then we start locking down all information, and we analyze the route and defenses Jim gave us. We have to find the next fragment—before Edgar does."
Everyone nodded in unison.
But Livia's gaze had already turned toward the window,
toward the darkness gathering beyond it.
As though, through that deepening night, she could already see the approaching storm.
Because she knew—
The real battle
had only just begun.