Aeris Talvora didn't sleep that night.
She sat alone in the Crimson Dawn Guild's war room, lights dimmed, fingers trembling as she scrolled through old data logs—tower records, raid footage, name lists from the "Phantom's Fall."
He was dead.
He had died.
She saw it. She stood there, sword drawn, frozen as her team turned on him.
"Rael..."
The name scraped her throat like rusted glass. She said it aloud, as if testing whether it would vanish like a ghost.
But it lingered. Heavy. Real.
Five Years Ago – Tower, Floor 99
They had made it to the summit. Against logic. Against gods.
Rael stood at the center of the chamber—his silver blade cracked and steaming. Behind him, the corpses of Celestial Guardians faded into ash.
The team was exhausted. Bleeding. But triumphant.
Then the sky split open.
A voice spoke. Cold. Divine.
"Only one may ascend. One must carry the burden. One may take the god-fragment."
A choice.
An offer.
A trap.
They turned.
First Vale. Then Sera. Then every hunter who had once sworn to die for Rael.
All but Aeris.
She hesitated.
She watched.
As Rael shouted, blocked, bled—still refusing to kill them back.
Even at the end, his blade was turned away. He only defended.
Until he couldn't anymore.
And when he finally fell, surrounded, alone, his last look was not at his killers.
It was at her.
And she had done nothing.
Present Day – Crimson Dawn HQ
Now, five years later, he was back.
Stronger. Colder. Not a ghost—a storm in waiting.
She saw him in that cursed dungeon. The Forgotten Cathedral. His movement. His voice. That aura that shook the marble under her feet.
She replayed the moment in her mind.
He could have killed her.
He didn't.
That was the worst part.
He let her live.
Not out of mercy.
Out of purpose.
And that scared her more than death ever could.
She tapped into the secure Guild line.
"Put me through to Commander Vale."
A pause. A click.
"What is it, Talvora? It's late."
"I made contact inside a B-rank dungeon. Solo-clear type. The target displayed movement and skill patterns matching a known Tower irregular."
Silence.
Then:
"A name?"
Her voice barely escaped her throat.
"...Rael Arden."
A longer silence.
"Impossible."
"I saw him. He spoke to me. He knew."
"Did you engage?"
"Yes. I survived."
"That is impossible."
"I'm sending the footage. Coordinates too."
Vale didn't speak for a while. Then:
"I'll inform the others. Prepare for containment protocol."
Aeris ended the call, her stomach churning.
The others.
The rest of the traitors.
They wouldn't hesitate like she did. Not again.
If they learned Rael had returned, they'd come for him.
Harder. Faster. Together.
And this time, he wouldn't just survive.
He'd obliterate.
Elsewhere – Unknown Location
A screen flickered to life in a chamber carved from obsidian.
A cloaked man watched Aeris' transmission in silence. Muscles taut. Eyes like hollow stars.
Once, he was called the Spear of Heaven. A title earned by cutting gods in half.
Now, he ruled the Western Guild Coalition—and every black op beneath it.
He smirked.
"So... the Phantom lives."
He turned to the darkness at his back.
From the void, several silhouettes emerged.
"Confirm it. Scrub all satellite records. Spread misinformation. But if it really is him..."
His grin widened.
"...Then it's time we bury him properly this time."
A woman in white armor stepped forward. "And if he comes for us first?"
The Spear's eyes gleamed.
"Then let him come. I want to see if ghosts bleed."
Meanwhile – Rael's Apartment
Rael sat in silence, eyes open, breath steady.
The memory of the clone's encounter pulsed behind his eyelids.
Aeris.
Her face. Her fear. Her regret.
Selene approached from the kitchen, a cup of tea in hand. "You saw her?"
Rael nodded, accepting the cup.
"Will you kill her?"
He didn't answer at first. He took a slow sip.
"Not yet."
Selene's gaze hardened. "Why not? She didn't stop them."
"Because fear is a better teacher than vengeance."
He looked down at his hand—still faintly trembling.
"She'll understand that soon."
Outside, lightning cracked the sky.
Rael stood and turned toward the window.
"They're moving. Gathering. Preparing."
Selene leaned beside him. "Then what will you do?"
He smiled, cold as a blade.
"Remind them why ghosts should be left alone."