Five soldiers stood in front of the briefing room doors, their uniforms catching the faint light spilling from the hallway lamps. None of them spoke. Their eyes followed the fading figure of Saint Jack, whose heavy footsteps echoed down the marble corridor until only silence remained.
Rylan, Liora, Jaxon, and Varick lingered in place, uncertain, their thoughts tangled. The air still felt charged from everything that had happened inside. From Vale's arrogance to Jack's surprising warmth, they had witnessed every shade of emotion in the span of minutes. It was their first time standing before humans who had ascended to Sainthood, and their first time realizing just how far apart their worlds really were.
Elysia stood a few paces ahead of them, her hands folded neatly behind her back. The soft blue light of the holographic panels still shimmered faintly on her coat. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes calm yet perceptive, reading every flicker of confusion across her team's faces.
"I know all of you have questions," she said, her voice level, the kind that steadied a room. "And worries about the mission, too. But you all did great in there, keeping your composure when it mattered. That's exactly what I expect from my team."
Her lips barely moved as she switched to the earpiece, her voice now an even whisper across their private channel.
"Captain," Varick's voice came through first, low and measured. "We need to talk. About the mission, and about the Great Houses."
Liora's reply followed quickly, sharper. "Please don't expect the same restraint next time if that arrogant bastard tries something like that again." Her voice trembled slightly, not from fear, but from fury held in check.
Jaxon, usually the quiet one, finally spoke up. "Captain… do you always deal with this kind of discrimination?" His words carried weight. "How do you handle all that pressure?" He clenched his fists as Vale's mocking tone replayed in his mind.
Then came Rylan's voice, low, rough, and heavy with something deeper. "You can't expect us to stay quiet if it happens again, can you?" He hesitated, the next words coming slower, more personal. "And I wasn't happy with Saint Jack either. No matter how kindly he spoke… he had no right to say what he did. He can't just force you to marry his son against your will."
The hallway grew still. The hum of distant machinery filled the silence as Rylan's anger sank into the air between them.
Now, it was clear, his restlessness during the briefing hadn't come from the mission at all. It had come from fear. Fear of seeing Elysia treated as something to be possessed rather than respected.
Elysia turned slightly toward him. For a brief moment, her expression softened.
"First of all," she said quietly, "I'm truly grateful to all of you for feeling anger on my behalf, I truly am. No one's done that for a long time, except my mentor… or my family." A faint smile touched her lips. "It meant more than I can say to see you angry on my behalf."
Her words landed gently, and for the first time since leaving the briefing, the sharpness in the air began to fade. Rylan's shoulders eased; Liora exhaled softly. Jaxon's clenched fists loosened.
Elysia looked at them one by one, her gaze steady, her presence grounding them again.
"And because of that," she continued, her tone quiet but resolute, "I don't want to lose any of you. I was planning to do this later, once I knew you all completely, but I don't see a reason to wait anymore."
A faint hum filled the silence, the overhead lights flickering as if to punctuate her words.
"I know we can work together."
She took a step forward, her silhouette framed against the corridor's light. "Meet me in my office after wall patrol, five p.m. sharp. I'll explain everything then."
For a heartbeat, no one spoke. Then, as she turned away, the team exchanged glances, unspoken trust passing between them.
They didn't fully understand what lay ahead, but they understood one thing now: their captain wasn't just someone to follow. She was someone worth standing for.
After some time during the day, Elysia and her team need to patrol along the outer wall of the city
Soon after the meeting, it was time for Elysia and her team to begin their patrol along the outer wall of the city, a duty repeated every single day, without exception.
The wall stretched endlessly in both directions, a colossal barrier made of black, scale-like metal. Each plate overlapped the next, forming a seamless armor that gleamed faintly beneath the afternoon sun. Dust and grit had settled between the scales over the decades, dulling their shine, but even now, after centuries, not a hint of rust could be seen.
Walking across it felt strange. The surface wasn't smooth like metal should be. It carried a faint, uneven texture, as though the scales themselves had hardened from something once alive.
Elysia walked at the front, her long-range sniper rifle slung across her back. Behind her came Liora and Rylan, alert and silent, while Jaxon and Varick covered the rear. All of them moved in formation, boots thudding rhythmically against the black metal, eyes sweeping across the horizon.
Inside the wall lay the largest district of Draycrest—The Grind—a patchwork of tin roofs, clogged canals, and narrow alleys. Slums stitched together with rusted scaffolds and broken pipes; choked sewers that stank of neglect; and the steady grinding life of those who had little else. It was the biggest district in the city, home to the largest number of people, and the fewest resources.
The people who lived there were among the poorest, most of them born without any affinity powers like the Aspect Holders.
Perhaps that was the reason behind the miserable conditions of the district. Only those who had awakened affinities could manage to live comfortably in Draycrest.
Elysia had seen it countless times, but she still couldn't look at it without feeling something heavy in her chest. From the corner of her eye, she noticed Liora and Rylan wearing the same expression. Only Jaxon and Varick seemed unaffected, still new enough to the squad to carry the naivety of first-timers.
They marched with steady steps, their eyes occasionally drifting to the world outside the city walls. Beyond the steel barrier stretched a forest, an uneven sprawl of trees, many snapped halfway, leaving only their skeletal trunks behind.
The wall itself towered high, nearly thirty feet tall, cutting the horizon like a black blade.
"I still don't get it," Varick muttered, his voice carrying a lazy drawl as he adjusted the automatic rifle slung over his shoulder. "Why do we have to patrol this wall every damn day when it's impossible for any creature to break through it?"
He paused a moment, his boots clanging softly as he continued walking. "We all know it's enchanted by one of the first Heroes who stood against the Unknown. And nothing can break it. So what's the point? Why are we doing this?"
For a moment, everyone stayed silent, each of them resonating with Varick's question.
"I suppose it's time for all of you to correct your knowledge about this world," Elysia finally said, her voice calm yet commanding. "There are a lot of things you don't know. Most of us know what the Government and the Three Great Houses have fed us so far."
The group exchanged uneasy glances, their boots clicking against the steel as they followed her.
"First of all," she continued, "the wall you're walking on, it's alive."
As soon as the word alive left her mouth, everyone except Elysia froze where they stood. At first, she didn't notice anything and kept walking a few steps further before realizing she'd gone too far ahead. Turning back, she saw the faces of her teammates, each one frozen in shock.
"What's the matter? Why did you all stop?" Elysia asked, her brow furrowed.
"What's the matter? You just told us that this whole wall is alive!" Liora exclaimed, still clutching her sniper rifle tightly. Her rifle was different from Elysia's, both in shape and function. "Do you expect us to act normally after hearing something crazy like that?"
"Yeah, same here," Rylan added, his usual calm replaced by unease. "You can't just drop something like that so casually."
Elysia sighed, her lips twitching into the faintest smirk. "Gotcha," she said, realizing how her words had landed. "Let me explain."
She resumed walking, and the others followed closely, their faces filled with curiosity and unease. They wanted to know what she meant by alive, and she was about to tell them.
We know that one of the first Heroes cast a divine-level enchantment around the city to protect humankind from extinction," she began. "That part of the story is true. But what no one ever told you is that to sustain such a powerful enchantment, the source of power must be equally immense.
To acquire that kind of energy, one would need the soul stone of a high-rank creature. And by high-rank creature, I mean a Demon God."
The words Demon God sent a cold chill down each of their spines. They all knew the sheer power of those beings, and it was forbidden to even speak their names.
No one knew how many had descended upon this world, but everyone knew that only the first awakened Heroes had ever managed to slay one, and that was a very long time ago.
"This wall," Elysia continued, "is made from the body of a Demon God. And it's still alive, to this very day."
For a moment, Liora, Jaxon, Rylan, and Varick all felt as if the ground beneath them had begun to breathe, realizing they were walking on the living flesh of a godly beast.
"But you don't have to worry," Elysia said, her voice soft but firm. "Even though it's alive, the ancient Heroes sacrificed themselves to seal its body and place an enchantment over it, turning it into a safe haven for humanity."
Hearing that, the others gradually began to calm down.
"The government keeps most of this hidden from the public," Elysia continued. "If people learned the truth about what lies ahead of them, the panic and unrest would tear this city apart."
She paused, letting her words sink in.
"No matter what happens," she added, her tone serious, "don't share this with anyone in the army. Only a handful of people know about it, including me. Now you all do. So don't you dare tell this to anyone else. I am putting my trust in all of you
"So you're saying we're walking on the living body of a Demon God?" Jaxon asked, staring down at the black surface of the wall. "And all this time, it was that Demon God keeping us safe from the outside world?"
"Now that you mention it," Rylan said, his voice full of awe, "I always wondered about those scale-like marks on the wall, whether they were part of some creature or not."
"I've also wondered," Varick added thoughtfully, "how the first Heroes managed to create a divine-level enchantment that never needed fuel. Now I know. It all makes sense." The lazy expression was gone from his face, replaced by curiosity and unease.
"But still," Liora said, her voice softer now, "I don't understand why we have to patrol the wall every day when we know the body of a Demon God can't be destroyed by normal creatures, and there's already a divine enchantment on top of it."
Because the enchantment and the body of the Demon God only help us to keep other creatures from crossing the wall. But some of them, both the ones we know and the ones we don't, have abilities far more dangerous than brute strength.
Some can kill a human with their voices alone. Their whispers can crawl into your mind, twist your thoughts, and lure you into madness.
Others can drown you in hallucinations, make you smash your head against the wall.
Elysia spoke carefully, keeping the details vague, revealing only what was necessary. She didn't want to plant fear in the hearts of her team, not more than what already existed.
"And that's where the army comes in," she continued, her gaze steady as she looked toward the horizon. "From up here, you can see the condition of the people below, how they cling to life with whatever little hope they have left.
The Government and the military don't have enough resources to make their lives better. So, the least we can do is keep those creatures as far away as possible.
That's why we patrol the wall every single day. That's our duty, to keep the nightmares outside, so these people can sleep in peace, even if just for one night."
It was a simple explanation, but the weight of her words settled deep within them. When Elysia told them why they patrolled the wall every day, Liora and Rylan's faces lit up, not with fear, but with determination. The harsh rays of the sun seemed to soften against their renewed resolve. Even knowing about the body of the alive demon god didn't faze them now.
Rylan gripped his automatic rifle tighter, his eyes sharper now, every movement deliberate. The lazy rhythm of patrol had turned into purpose.
So both of you are from the Grind, Elysia thought to herself, noticing the flicker of fire in their eyes, the kind that only those who had seen suffering up close could possess. But she didn't ask them directly, as she knew the lives of those who once lived inside The Grind
Even Jaxon and Varick, though quieter, seemed to understand now. The reason behind the endless patrols wasn't just about following orders; it was about protecting the poor and powerless, the ones who clung to a faint spark of hope in a cruel world where only those blessed with affinity could live in comfort.
You can also see a large number of defense projectiles and artillery units placed every ten feet along the wall. Most of the time, we don't have to lift a finger, just watch as those creatures are blown to bits by the heavy rounds fired from the turrets and cannons mounted across the rampart.
Elysia continued as she walked ahead, her tone steady. "Every month, the army clears out the high-level creatures near the walls, so usually the only ones we encounter are low-tier strays. But lately, their numbers have been increasing. More and more creatures are appearing closer to the wall, even if their rank remains low."
She paused for a moment before adding, "That's why we have to take our duty seriously now."
"What do you think is causing it?" Varick asked, a hint of uneasiness threading through his voice.
"There's no definite answer," Elysia replied quietly. "But my teacher… he had a theory. One he believed is coming true right now."
She paused for a moment, searching her memory, recalling the exact words her former captain had once spoken.
"He told me that the enchantment placed on the body of the Demon God has begun to fade, just slightly. And through those cracks, the Demon God's will is starting to leak out, drawing more and more creatures toward the wall."
A heavy silence fell over the group. The rhythmic sound of their boots against the metal slowed as unease rippled through them.
Elysia didn't stop walking. Her voice remained calm, steady.
"I know this makes you uneasy," she said, "but it also means we have to grow stronger. Each of you already holds two aspects of a single element. What you need now is to evolve, gain new aspects, and refine the ones you have."
She glanced back at them, eyes steady with quiet determination.
"The first awakened Heroes gave us the chance to become stronger than we are, to keep surviving in their place. And that's exactly what we'll do."
They instantly understood the meaning behind her words, and the uneasiness began to fade. It was the duty of every captain to look after their team, to guide their growth, to make sure no one was left behind. After facing Elysia in a mock battle, they all knew they were in capable hands. With her as their captain, they could only grow stronger from here.
They continued walking when, a short distance behind them, a siren suddenly blared to life. Red warning lights flashed in rapid succession, rising and falling across the length of the wall.
"A creature's been spotted nearby!" Elysia called out, her tone sharp and commanding. "Move, quickly! This will be your first encounter with something from beyond the city."
Without hesitation, she dashed toward the sector where the alarm originated. All around them, the wall's defense systems began to activate, massive turrets unfolding, targeting systems locking in, and mechanical barriers shifting into position.
Elysia wanted her team to see the creature first, before it was blown to bits by the wall's defense mechanisms.
She wanted them to witness it with their own eyes, to understand the kind of beings that roamed beyond the city's protection.
Seeing such a creature, even once, was an experience no amount of training could replace, an encounter that carved itself into memory, showing them what they were truly fighting against.