Kerin looked upward as he free-fell. Thoughts rose within him as he felt something cold and absolute settle in his chest.
Death felt near.
"So this is it… huh…"
He raised his hand as he fell, his fingers reaching toward a sky that no longer existed.
Suddenly, he seemed to perceive something beyond his body, mind, and energy—something intangible and vast. This was something he felt like he had been searching for for an eternity.
He closed his eyes as he accepted death—then felt himself caught in an embrace. Soft hands cradled him as he escaped death.
What happened? Even as he felt that he was free from death, he was still immersed in that strange feeling.
Gradually, he opened his eyes and saw the face he least wanted to see.
It was Caria.
He had survived, but the sense of that intangible feeling and death had left a lasting impression on him. So much so that he simply stared at Caria for quite some time. He seemed trapped in a reverie.
It was only when Caria wore a smirk, her eyes gleaming in the dim light, that she spoke.
"Oh, my, my… Princess… you're not dead… Should I kiss you to wake you up…?"
As she said that, she actually brought her lips close to his face.
Kerin strangely did not respond. The earlier perception was still vividly clear. It had been so near, yet so far.
Suddenly, he seemed to understand what she had said. His cheeks reddened as he realized what she was saying and doing. He suddenly jumped out of her embrace.
"Shameless!" he spat.
"Oh… just now you would have died… and you still have the nerve to say this…"
"Moreover, you were getting a free kiss…"
Kerin looked at her coldly as he unsheathed his longsword.
"Shut up…"
The blade caught what little light remained, a thin silver line against the shadows.
He pointed it at her while examining her. She was wearing the familiar blue armor he had seen her wear before, her hair loosened and no weapons in her hands. A golden crown rested on her head, catching the faint glow like a mockery of royalty.
His eyes narrowed as the memory of the past explosion caused by Caria emerged in his mind.
Kerin suddenly sighed and asked, "Caria, what is the point of this? You betrayed us all and killed hundreds…"
Caria looked at him and said slowly, "So what are you going to do, Kerin? Kill me?
Can you kill me?"
She came very close to him, and Kerin felt an obvious difference between the Caria he had known and the one before him now—colder, sharper, almost indifferent to him.
He grasped his sword tightly, but his grip felt weak.
"Who are you, actually?"
Caria looked at him with a half-smile.
"Well, who do you think I am?"
Kerin spoke as though reminiscing.
"I don't know anymore. The you that Veer, the princesses, Sythris, and I spent time with… she isn't there anymore."
Caria stopped advancing as she said, "What a beautiful answer."
She raised her eyebrows at him and said, "That time, you told Eleana to kill me. Why?"
"You attacked me so many times, but you lacked the will to kill me. Why? What is stopping you?"
Kerin closed his eyes as he seemed to struggle internally.
"Even if you had the ability to kill me, would you kill me?" Caria asked.
Kerin opened his eyes and looked at his friend and at his sword, then kept his silence. He kept his head down.
Caria looked at his trembling hands and sighed softly. Her gaze was complicated, something unreadable flickering behind it.
She walked away as she said, "Come with me."
Kerin looked up at her and saw her walking away into the dark.
Should he try to attack her from behind? But would he be able to do it? Could he do it?
All kinds of thoughts and questions arose as he looked at his sword and put it back in its sheath.
He finally looked around and saw where he was. His mind still craved that fleeting feeling he had tasted at the edge of death.
The room was dimly lit by a few flickering sconces set high on the stone walls. Kerin was astonished—he had never known the castle held such a vast chamber so far below. Intricate paintings covered every surface: women with drawn bows, arrows frozen mid-flight, eyes that seemed to follow him through the gloom. The air was cool and still, heavy with the scent of old stone and something faintly metallic.
It felt surreal, as though the chamber itself were holding its breath.
He murmured as he looked at Caria, "Just what is she doing here…?"
"Are the princesses and royal survivors here? I better hurry."
As he increased his pace, he finally reached the end of the room, where several heavy doors stood on all sides. Caria entered one without looking back, and Kerin followed.
His heart was thumping for some reason.
What was it?
As he looked into the new room, his eyes became wide as saucers. He stepped back immediately, trying to escape. The air here was colder, thicker, carrying the faint iron scent of old blood.
Caria blocked him and said, "Now that you are here… where do you think you can escape?"
Kerin pointed a finger at her.
"You… how?"
His shoulders trembled as he said, "The princesses Eve and Alicia… you guys actually killed them?"
Caria picked him up by his collar, and Kerin could not resist. He could have struggled, but he knew he was no match for her.
He did not even try.
Caria dragged him forward by his collar as she mocked him.
"Aren't you a pursuer of truth? Of knowledge?
Why were you running?"
"Whatever you do with me," Kerin answered through clenched teeth, "I am never believing you murderers…"
Kerin looked at where Caria had brought him. His gaze froze again.
"Er… Eryssa… Princess?"
This time, Kerin's emotions again raged as he really tried to choke Caria. His hands locked around her neck, but Caria did not stop him.
"She is not dead," she said quietly.
Kerin continued to choke her until she kicked him back and he fell into the distance.
"What do you mean, not dead?"
Kerin rose and moved closer, trembling. All around them lay seven bodies that had clearly died. Eve and Alicia were among them, their forms still and pale in the low light.
Kerin saw a beautiful woman in a purple dress lying unconscious. A strange void floated at her chest, dark and shifting, as if reality itself had been torn open there.
He blinked hard, unable to believe what he was seeing. There seemed to be another projection of Eryssa, gently shifting between her present form and something older, softer—fading in and out like a memory that refused to stay gone.
Kerin pointed, his voice barely steady.
"What is that?"
Caria said, "She seems to have suffered from soul and spirit assembly… that caused her to be like this…"
"Haha…"
"Haha…"
Kerin looked at Caria, eyes narrowing.
"You are hiding things, aren't you, Caria?"
"Haha… how could even she get to that point? Unless… unless she was forced to use some spirit artifact."
Caria did not say anything.
The silence in the chamber stretched, broken only by the soft, unnatural shimmer of the void above Eryssa's chest.
Kerin said thoughtfully, anger underlying his words, "Maybe you knew I was going to investigate the castle because you know I have that stone."
He looked at her side profile, the golden crown still glinting faintly in the gloom, and said,
"So what do I have to do to save her?"
A rumble sounded from above as Caria faintly looked upward.
.....
On the ground, Sythris tried to move but could not. She watched helplessly as Veer beat the injured John. She could see that Veer's condition was worsening—blood streamed freely from his hands.
She shouted, "Stop it, Veer!" but she was not sure if the voice even reached him.
Amidst the chaos, Veer could no longer endure as he punched continuously. John's gruesome face became utterly unrecognizable. Veer collapsed as John drove a kick into him.
John spat out two teeth, and Veer was thrown near Eleana. He could not rise. He simply stared at John.
"Damn it, Veer… you're still alive."
Sebastian, meanwhile, walked slowly toward the huge pit in the middle of the square. When he reached the edge, he pressed a hand to his chest and knelt down.
Within the vast void torn open by the King's ethereal blade, the pale hands finally stabilized the rift enough for her to emerge. As she rose from the gap, a deep, instinctive fear crept through everyone present.
It was not the fear of death. It was the sense that the natural order itself was being overtaken.
She stepped fully from the void. Hundreds of spears shot toward her from the clouds—only to shatter the moment she waved her hand.
She wore a purple velvet dress identical to Eryssa's. Beautiful blond hair fell to her shoulders. Ornaments of exquisite craftsmanship adorned her.
Down below, Sythris stared in stunned silence. Her body froze as she gazed at that distant figure.
For a moment, she could not comprehend what she was seeing. There was something strangely familiar about that face.
She searched her memories, desperately trying to understand why she recognized the woman standing above the crater.
Then her eyes widened.
"This…"
"Isn't this…?"
Her voice barely left her lips.
"Isn't she Eryssa's mother?"
Sythris's face turned pale.
"The Queen…"
She stared in disbelief.
"The Queen who was supposed to be dead?"
The woman stepped completely free of the void. Behind her, the spatial rift began to collapse. Before it vanished, a furious voice thundered from beyond the clouds above.
"Mortal!"
"You dare defy the natural order?"
The Queen simply looked upward and answered gently, "Go home, Incarnation. Leave this Neithelric. You can't kill me."
For several moments, no one spoke.
The morning sun continued to rise over Drudar. Golden light slowly spread across the ruined kingdom, revealing the full horror left by the night's battle.
Then a voice echoed from within the crater.
"You have done well, Sebastian."
John immediately lowered his head. Sebastian remained bowed.
"All the preparations are ready," Sebastian eventually uttered.
The King spoke as he slowly rose.
"Then all that remains is that damn Incarnation. My wife… she emerged."
The King emerged from the crater. Veer watched him emerge while Eleana worked to heal his wounds. Eleana was still crying, but she was still healing Veer. Veer didn't know how to console her. Moreover, every time he looked around, he had trouble containing his emotions. But he could do nothing.
Through the blood clouding his vision, he saw a blackened figure—tall, at least two meters in height.
The King's entire body was blackened. Long hair hung around him. Emerald light glittered faintly through the cracks in his flesh.
Veer's eyes widened as the King fell to one knee.
Emerald blood poured from his mouth—not red, but a vivid, luminous green. Even Sebastian took several steps backward. The ground sizzled as the blood corroded it and sank into the depths.
The King slowly regarded the blood dripping from his wounds.
"Is this it? Emerald Soul's blood?"
At the same moment, the pale figure vanished from the void and reappeared beside him.
The woman wrapped her arms around his neck from behind.
Veer felt the King smile as she spoke softly.
"My loved one… let us erase this Incarnation.
I will hold back her spears. You need only drive the blade through her body."
"I will tell you when and where."
His voice suddenly thundered across the battlefield. Veer's eardrums bled as he grunted. Everyone who heard it staggered.
A vast aura erupted from the King's body.
The enormous sword that had been embedded in the distant golden castle vanished. In its place, a long but not overwhelming blade appeared in his hands—nearly three meters in length, covered in intricate emerald runes.
The woman said, "You have finally controlled it, dear."
As the King rested the sword upon his shoulder, the whole of Drudar witnessed what followed.
A horizon event.
The red morning sun was fully visible now. The light above the King suddenly expanded—
then began to darken.
The sun was slowly being swallowed by darkness.
An eclipse.
The King raised his sword. Multiple sword-like clones manifested across his shoulders and hovered behind him like a silent army awaiting command.
Below, the ruined battlefield remained deathly quiet.
The rising sun disappeared. Darkness slowly consumed the sky.
And the eclipse began as the King took to the air.