Kael stood frozen.His jaw clenched until his teeth ground under the strain.His fists closed until they bled, nails sinking into his palms.
Hate rose—searing, devouring.His eyes flared red, saturated with Magia.His chest vibrated; his breath roared like a volcano on the brink.
So this was what the celestials were…Lies.Betrayal.Massacre.
He felt his own fury swell—savage, without limit.Enough to fracture the memory-space itself.
Then a colossal weight settled on his shoulder.A heavy, burning, yet controlled touch: the tip of Mimas's finger.
The giant watched him.His lava eyes had lost their earlier blind rage.They burned with bitter lucidity.
— "Now… I know," he said, "that you are of the same nature as I am."
Kael raised his head, panting, his incandescent gaze locked to the colossus's.
Mimas went on, his deep voice ringing like stone split by a wedge:— "I don't want to fight you anymore.Better still… I'd like us to be allies.Friends, if that word still holds meaning for us."
He slowly drew back his hand, his flames wavering like a tired breath.— "But listen well.There's still a parasite prowling.And it will have to be dealt with."
His eyes narrowed, burning.— "So hurry and steady yourself before you go back out.Don't let it find another gaping crack in you."
Silence fell, thrumming with a new weight.Mimas, the colossus, was no longer an adversary.He had just become a witness… and perhaps more.
The Fragment's light dimmed, and Kael felt his legs buckle for an instant.He caught his breath, lungs burning as if the Furnace itself had entered his body.His hands still trembled, steeped in raw Magia.
Beside him, Mimas stood straight.The colossus hadn't moved, but his gaze had changed.No longer the blind rage of a warden—a muted, ponderous regard, like an ancient comrade measuring an equal.
Kael looked up, breath ragged.— "The Echo… where is it?"
Mimas growled, repeating the question in a voice of broken stone:— "Where is the parasite hiding?"
A step rang across the darkened arena.Thana.Her features were grave, her eyes glittering with cold.
She held them a moment, then answered, her low voice cutting the air:— "Him?"
She lifted one shoulder slightly.— "I enrolled him in swimming lessons."
Kael frowned.Mimas inclined his head.
Thana's smile edged in, glacial.— "In the Styx. Every day, he'll swim. Every day, he'll taste a thousand agonies.For life… or for death.Honestly, I'm not sure which."
Silence.Then, against all odds, a low rumble escaped Mimas—almost a stifled laugh.Kael dropped his gaze and exhaled, the corner of his mouth twitching despite himself.
— "Typical," he muttered.
He had no time to add more.
A broken breath split the air.Then another.He looked down.
Thana.
Her shoulders trembled.The features that had held such icy severity cracked.Her eyes overflowed.Tears surged, uncontrollable, cascading down her cheeks.
Before he could grasp it, she had hurled herself against him.Tiny arms clamped around his waist with desperate force.Her fingers knotted in his coat as if she feared he might vanish again.
She buried her face in him, sobbing with her whole body.Not a controlled sob.No restraint.But a rain—brutal, unending.All the tears she had held back from the start.
Kael stood fixed for a breath.His harsh breathing rasped in his throat.Then, slowly, he lowered a hand to her nape.His fingers settled—hesitant at first… then stroked gently, in silence.
A few paces off, Mimas turned away.The colossus who had known only rage and betrayal said nothing.His incandescent body stilled, as if he understood this moment was not his.
Thana clung on, a tiny creature fused to her host, unable to let go—a marsupial clawed to its survival.
Her sobs echoed through the empty arena.And Kael, jaw tight, felt a weight lift from his chest—if only for an instant.
He stroked the trembling nape again, then murmured, rough:— "It wasn't your fault, Thana. It was mine.So let's forget that business about 'agreements.'Next time… I'll try thinking before I spit out something stupid, okay?"
Thana shook her head, eyes still wet.— "No… even if it hurt, part of it was true.I'm not your mother—I know that.I should never have acted as if I could replace her.But… I hope that one day, you'll let me into your family."
Kael sighed, a bitter half-smile on his lips.— "Idiot."
He flicked her forehead with a finger.Thana blinked, surprised.
— "You're already family," he said, glancing aside.
Silence.Then Kael drew a breath and straightened.— "And speaking of family… let me introduce my new friend."
He tipped his chin toward the colossus.— "Mimas. Mimas, this is Thana.Thana, Mimas."
He scratched at his neck.— "By the way—now that I think of it… Mimas, what's your boss called again?You call it… an Archdemon, right?"
Mimas tilted his massive head.— "Lord Samael. You mean him?"
— "Yes, that's it. Thanks."
Kael exhaled, an ironic smile tugging at his mouth.— "Well… looks like we're done here.And in under five minutes, too. Thanks to you both."
Mimas stepped a little closer, his magma eyes narrowing.— "By the way, what's your name, little being?"
Kael stiffened.— "Me?"He frowned.— "Kael. And I'm human. Not a 'little being.'"
A rumble—almost amused—vibrated in the giant's chest.— "Kael, then. You must have received an orb when you began, yes?"
— "Yeah… this one?"
He pulled the orb from his dimensional space.
Mimas nodded, impressed.— "You even have a dimensional space… you're doing well."
He raised a glowing finger, almost touching the sphere.— "This orb has another use. It lets two spheres communicate.Watch… I'll show you."
The orb thrummed in Kael's hand.Bing… bing.
A mineral smile crossed Mimas's features.— "There. From now on, you and I can speak directly.More practical than descending dozens of floors for a few words."
The air vibrated again.A portal opened behind them, rimmed in dark-red arcs.Not the cold, mechanical aperture of routine transitions—this one exhaled raw dominion.
Mimas stiffened; his flames drew in at once.He dipped his head slightly, as though recognizing the signature.
A voice sounded—deep, grave, saturated with ancient echo.It seemed to rise from the portal, and from everywhere at once.
— "Mimas.It's time to return."
The colossus clenched his fists; his lava eyes settled one last time on Kael.He nodded.Mute respect—heavy with meaning.
A second translucent window opened before Kael.Not the System's.Another.Black, ringed with runes he didn't know.
Text burned itself across it, each letter scorching his sight.
⟡ Message from Samael, Archdemon ⟡"Thank you for calming my emissary.And thank you as well… for entertaining me."
The window dissolved.The portal swallowed Mimas, and darkness sealed shut.
Kael stood, breath short, frozen.He now knew one thing:someone far beyond the Tower's wardens had seen him.