The golden light didn't feel like salvation. It felt like being flushed down a cosmic drainpipe.
One second, Sai was standing in a ruined city intersection. The next, the world twisted, gravity violently reasserted itself, and he was dropped out of the sky.
THUD.
He landed on his feet, boots sinking into soft, expensive grass. Drex wasn't so lucky. The unconscious Hero flopped onto the turf beside him like a sack of potatoes.
"Rough transportation, as usual," Sai muttered, shaking off the dizziness.
He looked around. They definitely weren't in the city anymore.
They were standing in the center of a sprawling courtyard belonging to a massive, European-style estate. But it wasn't just a home; it was a fortress. The entire compound was encircled by towering stone walls etched with humming defensive runes. Inside those walls, the manicured gardens had been converted into a military camp, with ragged settlement tents packed into every available space.
It was the silence of a stronghold that had been holding its breath for a very long time.
"FREEZE!"
The shout came from everywhere at once.
In seconds, they were surrounded. Dozens of guards in heavy, dented armor emerged from cover—behind statues, roof eaves, and stone patrol paths. They didn't attack, but their spears and crossbows were leveled at Sai's chest, the tips glowing with a volatile, hungry light. They looked gaunt, their eyes sunken from weeks of paranoia.
"Don't move!" a guard shouted, hands trembling on his polearm. "Identify yourselves! How did you get in here?!"
Sai raised his hands slowly. "Would you believe me if I said 'divine intervention'?"
"He's lying!" another guard yelled, voice cracking with terror. "Nothing human comes from the outside!"
The accusation hung in the air like smoke.
Sai looked at the terrified faces. He realized the problem wasn't just how he arrived, but where he came from. The logic was simple: nothing living remained outside the walls. Therefore, anyone appearing from the wasteland had to be one of the skinwalkers—monsters wearing human bodies.
"Skinwalker," a guard whispered, his shield arm shaking. "It's mimicking a kid to get us to drop our guard."
"I'm not a skinwalker," Sai said, keeping his voice level. "My friend here is human, too. He's just unconscious, not dead."
"That's exactly what a skinwalker would say!" One guard stepped forward, his spear tip inches from Sai's throat. "Drop to your knees and revert to your true form, or we kill you now!"
The tension was razor-thin. These men weren't just scared; they were traumatized. They had been fighting for weeks, and their trigger fingers were itching.
Sai sighed. He really didn't want to fight humans today.
"Look," Sai said, pointing to a scratch on his cheek. "Do skinwalkers bleed red? Do they wear high school uniforms? ...Well, maybe they do." He tapped his chest. "I have a pulse. I have a headache. And I really need a chair."
The lead guard hesitated. He pulled out a small X-ray scanner and aimed it at Sai with a shaking hand.
BEEP.
"Green light," the guard whispered, staring at the screen in disbelief. "It looks... human. Everything is where it should be."
"It's a trick," another hissed, refusing to lower his crossbow. "The high-level skinwalkers can replicate internal anatomy perfectly. If he came from the town, he's a monster. End of story."
Before the paranoia could turn into a massacre, the heavy oak doors of the manor swung open.
"Lower your weapons."
The voice was clear, authoritative, and surprisingly young.
The guards immediately stiffened and stepped back. A girl stepped onto the porch. She looked to be about Drex's age, with long, pale blonde hair tied back in a practical ponytail. She wore a combat dress that looked like it had been worn for weeks.
She walked straight past the trembling guards and stopped a few feet from Sai. She looked him up and down, her eyes sharp and assessing, before glancing at the unconscious Drex.
"My guards are on edge," she said calmly, though her hand rested on the pommel of a rapier. "We have been under siege for weeks. Sudden guests usually try to eat us."
"I can see that," Sai said.
"My name is Lucianna Von Arbalest," she said, ignoring the quip. "This is my family's estate. You appeared from a pillar of light. That is not something we've seen before."
"Not surprised," Sai replied.
Lucianna studied him for a long moment. Activating a skill, the golden glow in her eyes intensifying.
She turned to the lead guard. "Take the unconscious one to the guest wing. Get him a healer and let him sleep."
"But My Lady!" the captain protested. "If they transform inside the manor—"
"I already glimpsed at their seed with my skill," Lucianna snapped, her voice cold and absolute. "There is no way a skinwalker can possess a Goddess Seed, let alone one this saturated. Captain, do as I say."
The captain flinched under her gaze, the weight of her [Eye of a King] skill making it impossible to argue. He signaled to his men, who tentatively stepped forward to lift Drex.
As they carried the boy away, Lucianna turned back to Sai. The golden shimmer in her eyes faded, replaced by profound, weary curiosity.
"Come inside," she said softly. "You look like you've been through a war yourself."
Ten minutes later, Sai sat in a drawing room that was breathtakingly expensive, filled with oil paintings and velvet furniture. But the luxury felt hollow; the air smelled of fatigue and fear.
Lucianna poured two cups of tea. Her hands were steady, but her eyes were red-rimmed.
"Where are we?" Sai asked.
"The Arbalest Estate," Lucianna said, sitting across from him. "One of the great families in what's left of Europe."
She set her cup down with a clink and looked toward the window, staring at the high stone walls that caged them in.
"A few weeks ago, a Gate opened in the town," she said quietly. "It was a total infestation. The entire area beyond our walls is crawling with monsters. But it's the skinwalkers that have everyone terrified.
They mimic us perfectly until they're close enough to kill."
Sai stared at her face. Skinwalkers, he thought silently.
He knew them better than anyone; he had stayed undetected among them for years thanks to his [Fate Viel] skill. He knew their hunger, and he knew their cunning.
Lucianna took a shaky breath, her knuckles whitening as she gripped her dress. "My father... Duke Arbalest..." She paused, forcing her voice into a steady, hollow tone. "He led a party outside the walls to try and push the horde back. To close that Gate."
"And?"
"He never came back," Lucianna whispered.
She looked up at Sai. The nobility was gone now. She was just a daughter who had lost her father, burdened with the lives of everyone in the estate. She stood up and bowed her head—a gesture a noble should never make to a stranger.
"Please," she begged, her voice trembling. "Help us. If the wall falls, my people... my family... we will all be slaughtered."
Sai stared at his tea. The dark liquid reflected his tired face.
He finally understood.
Of course, Sai thought bitterly. This is how She operates.
The Goddess didn't just teleport people randomly. She used her Heroes like janitors. She found a mess and dropped a Hero right in the middle of it.
'Clean this up for me, would you?'
He looked at the desperate girl in front of him. He could leave. He could jump the wall himself and slip through the horde.
Sai sighed—a long, weary sound—and set the cup down.
"Fine," he muttered, leaning back in the velvet chair. "It's not like I have anywhere else to go right now anyway."