The air around the Seal slowly settled.
The chains stopped trembling, their glow fading back into a dormant rhythm, as if satisfied—for now. Feno remained kneeling, his head lowered, his breathing uneven. He did not understand why his body had reacted that way.
But he also did not resist it.
Behind him, his companions stood frozen.
One of them, a sharp-eyed woman with ash-blonde hair and a scar running across her cheek, finally spoke.
"Captain… what just happened?"
Feno exhaled slowly and rose to his feet.
"I don't know," he replied honestly.
The answer unsettled them more than silence would have.
Across the courtyard, Luka watched everything quietly. He said nothing, but his instincts screamed that this moment would not be forgotten—by anyone present.
Kael leaned closer to Arelia and whispered, "I don't think this city is the problem anymore."
Arelia nodded. "Something far worse is breathing here."
Eren's gaze never left the Seal. "Or waking."
Later that night, far from the Seal, Feno stood alone on a high balcony overlooking the sleeping city. His companions had withdrawn, respecting the silence that surrounded him.
The scarred woman approached carefully.
"Captain… you've been like this ever since you returned from that place."
Feno didn't turn. "Which place?"
She hesitated. "The Second Forbidden Area."
His fingers twitched.
"I don't remember it," he said calmly.
Her eyes widened. "You… don't?"
"No." His voice was steady. "I remember deciding to go there. I remember stepping inside."
He paused.
"And then… nothing."
She swallowed. "But you came back injured. Almost dead. And after that… you changed."
Feno finally looked at her.
"Tell me," he asked quietly, "what kind of man was I before?"
She searched for the right words. "Strong. Skilled. But human. You laughed. You hesitated. You doubted."
"And now?"
"…Now," she admitted, "you feel like something carved out of war itself."
Feno turned away again.
That night, sleep came unwillingly.
When it did, it was not peaceful.
Feno stood in a land painted in ash and crimson. The sky was torn, cracked like broken glass. The ground was littered with ruins—cities reduced to skeletons of stone and steel.
Screams echoed, yet no mouths moved.
He walked forward.
Every step felt heavy, as if the world resisted his presence.
Then he saw it.
A figure.
Standing amid the destruction.
Surrounded by floating blood, moving unnaturally, as if gravity itself had lost authority. The figure's face was unclear, blurred by distortion—but the presence was overwhelming.
Not rage.
Not hatred.
Just finality.
Feno tried to speak.
No sound came out.
The figure raised a hand.
The world collapsed.
Feno woke up gasping.
His heart pounded violently.
"…Again," he whispered.
Every time he dreamed of that place, the details vanished the moment he woke. Faces blurred. Voices erased. Only the feeling remained.
Overwhelming.
Absolute.
Elsewhere in the city, Luka sat with Eren on a quiet rooftop.
"You noticed it too, didn't you?" Eren said.
Luka nodded. "The way the Seal reacted."
"And Feno?"
"He didn't kneel because of fear," Luka replied. "He knelt because his existence recognized something older than himself."
Eren frowned. "That shouldn't be possible."
"Yet it happened."
Arelia joined them, crossing her arms. "I don't like that man. Not because he's dangerous."
"Then why?" Kael asked.
"Because he doesn't know what he's standing in front of."
Days later, Feno stood once more before the city gates.
His team gathered around him.
"We're leaving," he announced. "For the Second Forbidden Area."
Shock rippled through them.
"You don't even remember what happened there!" one protested.
"That's exactly why I'm going," Feno replied.
The scarred woman stepped forward. "What if it erases you completely this time?"
Feno looked back toward the city center.
Toward the Seal.
"I don't think it will," he said. "Something there… doesn't want me afraid."
And that scared him more than anything.
The land beyond the barrier was silent.
Too silent.
The moment Feno crossed the threshold, his vision blurred. His memories felt heavy, like waterlogged pages of a book being torn away.
He saw ruins again.
Blood again.
That same figure.
Standing where death itself seemed to kneel.
Feno reached out.
The moment his fingers moved—
Everything vanished.
When Feno woke, he was lying outside the barrier.
His companions surrounded him in panic.
"Captain! Do you remember us?"
He slowly sat up, touching his head.
"I… don't know," he admitted.
But then, strangely, he smiled faintly.
"There was no fear," he said softly. "Only silence."
His gaze drifted unconsciously toward the distant city.
Toward the Seal.
That same night, far away, Vicky stood alone.
The Seal pulsed faintly behind him.
He placed a hand over his chest, expression unreadable.
"…Strange," he murmured.
"When I came near this place… I didn't feel fear."
He looked at the chains calmly.
"…It felt like peace."
Miles away, Feno whispered the same words under his breath.
When I came near the Seal… I didn't feel fear.
Instead… it felt like peace.
And somewhere deep within the Seal—
Something listened.