In the mountain.
This time, the silence was not the silence of fatigue. It was the silence of waiting.
Kai and Skyler stood before the glowing fissure. The golden line in the rock… had not widened. But the light inside it… was pulsing.
A pulse. Then another. Skyler tightened his grip on his weapon. The solar light tried to ignite. Hesitated. Frozen for a moment between his fingers. He frowned.
"…Move."
It did not move. Inside… Something pressed against his head. Not pain. But… a sound without sound.
A ringing. Faint. Then deeper.
Kai suddenly dropped to one knee halfway. His hand pressed to his chest. The silver energy beneath his skin trembled… as if it no longer knew its rhythm. He slowly lifted his gaze.
—"Skyler… this is not..!!!!"
The air shuddered. No… it did not shudder. It split. A thin thread of light slipped out of the fissure. Not a beam. But… a thread.
Pale gold.
It drifted through the air slowly… as if searching for something. Then a second thread. And a third. Dozens. They formed in the void… with no clear source.
Skyler instinctively stepped back. The mountains around them did not shatter. There was no explosion.
On the contrary, Everything grew quieter than it should have been. The threads began to coil.
Intertwine. Arrange themselves. As if an unseen hand… were weaving a form.
Skyler reacted at once. He raised his weapon. The solar light surged. Then… recoiled. Not shattered. But withdrawn. As if the light itself… recognized what stood before it. Skyler's eyes widened.
"What..!!!!!?"
The threads halted abruptly. Then, They spread out. Flattened. Taking the shape of a body.
Feminine. Standing.
The head formed last. Hair flowing like liquid light. Features emerging slowly.
Soft. Calm.
But the eyes Not human. In their depths… Faint circles. As if a wave spun endlessly within the pupils.
Skyler froze. Something in his chest… shook violently. Not fear alone. But recognition.
She whispered. The sound did not leave her mouth, It came from inside him.
"This resonance…"
She took a single step. She did not touch the ground. Yet the stone beneath her cracked lightly.
Skyler's fingers trembled. Golden fractures appeared along his weapon's surface. Thin. Delicate. As if the stone… remembered.
He shouted, forcing the activation. The light erupted violently But this time it did not rush toward her. It wrapped around him instead. Pressed into his body.
He dropped to one knee. His breath strangled in his throat. It surged again But the threads moved faster. One sliced through the air.
A single strike.
It struck Kai. Not a shallow wound. The silver beneath his skin fractured for an instant. He collapsed to one knee, One hand bracing against the ground. Blood seeped slowly. He lifted his head with effort.
The demoness was complete. No longer threads, A full body. Set features. And a calm… older than the mountain itself. She studied Skyler for a long moment.
No anger. No hostility. Only… judgment. Then she spoke, This time aloud. Calm. Deep.
"Finally… I have found my resonance."
She paused. Her gaze fixed on him.
Silence fell. Even the wind stopped breathing. She stepped forward once more. And the fissure behind her… flared brighter. She whispered at last:
"And now… the resonance has returned to its home."
The solar light in Skyler's hand extinguished completely. Not defeat. But… submission.
Kai tried to rise. Failed. He looked at her… then at Skyler. She stood before them. Calm. As if she had not emerged from a mountain's wound But returned to a place she had always known.
She observed them for a long while. Then tilted her head slightly.
"The scent of dragons…"
Her voice was not loud. Yet it reached the bone.
"Drakhaens."
The word fell between them like a stone. Kai clenched his fist despite the blood. Skyler struggled to reclaim his light.
The golden cracks along his weapon… deepened. She whispered:
"Did you come… to finish what my children's killer began?"
Silence.
Even the mountain did not answer. Skyler's jaw tightened.
"We don't know what you're talking about."
She smiled. Not mockery But ancient knowing.
"Of course you don't."
She stepped forward again. Never touching the ground. The stone beneath her sank. She stopped. Her gaze settled on Skyler's weapon. The faint threads still drifted around her slowly. Breathing.
"They used to call me…"
She lifted her hand. A single thread coiled around her wrist.
"Kanade."
The name was not sound. It was resonance. Skyler's chest convulsed violently. Something inside him… answered. He lunged. A sharp cry, Solar light exploded outward.
It rushed toward her Then veered away. Shattered before reaching her. Frozen midair. As if refusing to approach. Skyler's eyes widened.
"Move…"
He did not move.
She laughed softly. Gentle. Unhuman.
"So this… is the power of the First Beam now?"
The threads drifted toward the suspended light. They did not touch it. Only encircled it.
"Are you… the bearer of the First Beam Stone?"
Silence.
Skyler dropped to one knee. Breathing ragged. He stared at her And froze. The features. The eyes. The curve of her face.
Impossible… These features,
Lilithia.
His thoughts recoiled.
No.
Impossible.
Kanade stepped closer. Stopped before him. She looked at him the way one looks at something broken.
"The resonance within you… is incomplete."
She turned slowly toward Kai.
"And the silver… is cracking."
Kai ground his teeth. Tried to stand. Failed.
The threads began to rise. Stretching into the sky. The mountain trembled. Not with force, With rhythm. A pulse. Then another.
Kanade closed her eyes briefly. Opened them again. The circles of light within them expanded.
"Do not worry."
She smiled. Her calm was worse than any threat.
"I will not kill you… yet."
The threads wound slowly around her form.
"What I want… has not awakened."
She lifted her gaze to the fissure behind her. The light intensified.
Then, She extended her hand toward Skyler. Stopped a hand's breadth away.
"It is enough… to awaken what sleeps within you."
The golden threads revolved around Kanade like a deep breath. The fissure pulsed. Once. Then again.
Skyler tried to steady himself. The light in his hand trembled… refused to ignite.
Kai stepped forward halfway. The silver beneath his skin fractured But his eyes remained steady. He spoke quietly, only to Skyler:
—"Don't look at her."
The threads moved. No rush. No scream. Just one swift turn, Skyler saw it too late. The thread was aimed at him.
But Kai Moved. He slammed into him with his shoulder. Skyler hit the ground. The light slipped from his grasp.
The thread shifted instantl, Pierced Kai's chest. No spray of blood. No explosion. Only, A faint sound. As if glass inside him… had shattered.
Kai's eyes widened briefly. The silver beneath his skin flared, Then fractured completely. He dropped to his knee.
Skyler lifted his head slowly. He saw the thread withdraw from his friend's body.
"Kai…?"
No answer.
He tried to rise Staggered. Light bled from his arm where the threads had grazed him earlier. The wound was shallow But the ringing in his head tore at him. He crawled closer.
"Get up… don't joke now."
Kai did not move. His hand remained half-extended As if reaching for something unseen. The silver beneath his skin… went dark.
The mountains did not shake. No one screamed. Even the wind… fell silent.
Skyler pressed a hand to his chest. No pulse. No resonance. Only cold, creeping in. Something inside him convulsed.
Not the stone. Him.
He screamed. Not a battle cry But grief. Light burst from him chaotically. The threads moved gently
Encircling him. Not attacking. Restraining.
He collapsed to one knee, gasping. He lifted his gaze to her.
Kanade was staring at Kai's still body, Not at Skyler. A long, silent look. Then she whispered:
"Choose… as they chose before him."
She stepped closer. Bent over Kai slightly. The threads rose. Skyler tried to crawl. Screamed his name. The light in his hand Went out. Completely.
Kanade finally turned to him. Distant circles glimmered in her eyes. She spoke with a calm older than the mountain:
"This pain…"
She paused. Closed the distance until only a hand's breadth remained.
"It resembles theirs."
His eyes widened.
Theirs…?
The threads coiled around Kai's still body.
Then, A weak resonance stirred in Skyler's chest. Faint. Strange. Not light.
Kanade closed her eyes briefly. Smiled a small smile that never reached them.
"Good."
The fissure behind her blazed brighter. And darkness fell Over Kai's motionless body, Over Skyler kneeling at the edge,
Between loss… And an abyss beginning to open within him.
_
Meanwhile, in the Drakhion Kingdom,...
Kailena stood at the edge of the stone balcony. The wind drifted slowly… carrying the scent of war.
Footsteps stopped behind her.
—"Aturo's Stone is still with Lilithia,"
Daemon said plainly.
She did not turn.
"I know."
Silence.
"We must allow him to choose again. This power cannot remain without a bearer."
Her tone was sharp. Efficient. Daemon stepped beside her.
—"Aturo was the purest among us."
She finally faced him.
"I know who will inherit the Luck Stone will be fortunate… for he carries a single point of darkness."
He did not answer.
Then :
—"Some changes in darkness points do not come from battle."
She looked at him.
"Then from what?"
He hesitated.
—"From decisions unseen."
The wind surged briefly.
—"The stone does not deepen because its bearer weakens…"
He paused.
—"But because something… was allowed to happen."
The words settled heavily. Kailena folded her arms.
"Then we watch the stone."
—"No."
He stared toward the horizon.
"Watch the bearer."