A few more days passed by, and the pair spent their time in the cave recovering and planning.

Normally, an ascender wasn't supposed to take this long to recover their essence. But Anna's strength had fallen greatly. And as a long-range ascender, fighting in close combat cost her a lot of zenshi.

"So what do you use to link yourself to a fragment?"

"Huh. You're still interested." Anna was seated close to the flames. She was tinkering with a damaged artifact.

It resembled a mechanical beetle, with six gold legs and a gold--black surface. It was about the size of a woman's palm with a single rune on the back.

"Well, yes. We tap into these fragments with the help of a special rune my master created. Think of it as an anchor."

"An anchor?"

Anna nodded. "Yes," she answered calmly. Her focus didn't waver from the artifact she was working on. "The rune that anchors a mortal as they attempt what gods do. Balance."

Luna's mouth opened. That's because she had just had an epiphany. Why hadn't she thought of that? Balance was a concept that kept the realms at bay and all things in order. As the Divine Realm continues to bleed into the mortal realm, the Balance shakes, and something loses that order.

Anna's master must've figured this out and chose to make use of the situation. He was making use of the weakened concept to replicate sorcery.

It was genius.

"Why didn't I think of that?" she muttered. As the inheritor of the god of balance, she was embarrassed by herself.

"I see." She turned to Anna. "Your master is a genius indeed. Why doesn't he share such knowledge?"

"He swore to himself not to share. Knowledge like this could start a war between clans."

Luna understood what she meant. The clans were like ticking time bombs. A taste of more power, and they would explode.

In that matter, Luna wasn't even sure about her clan. Human beings were naturally selfish. Power like this could start another war rather than save the world from it.

"I understand. Do you happen to know what the rune of balance looks like?"

Anna shook her head.

"No. I know I have the rune on me," she paused and searched her arms one more time. "But I can't see it. It's hidden from my gaze."

Luna's eyes sparked once again, "I have to see your master when we return to the real World."

"If we return," Anna corrected her. "Your confidence might affect our probability of success."

Luna rolled her eyes. 'Thanks for the confidence booster.'

She finished tinkering with the artifact and smiled. "It is done." Its body cackled with blue static. "I thought I had lost you, my darling."

"What's that?"

"A beetle. An Elemental Catcher Beetle, to be exact. It's an S-grade artifact that I created." She responded with enthusiasm. "You see, I don't have a flashy Aura like most ascenders. My Aura is more statistical and focuses mostly on calculation and innovation. In other words, I wield the concept of Advancement. I can basically think strategically and build stuff."

"The concept of Advancement. You're supposed to be a support-type ascender."

Anna nodded. "Yes…But I don't like fate. So I found other ways of fighting. Artifacts and magic tools are some of them. Think of me like the mage character in a party."

"This elemental catcher grants me the sole ability to wield elemental powers for a limited period. See." She touched the beetle and opened her palm while she willed some zenshi into the small artifact.

The beetle's legs twitched, and wind converged in her palm to create a miniature tornado.

The catcher then opened its wings, and the first transparent wing started fading as they flapped, pulling in natural essence from the world.

It floated out of her hand and she activated another element. This time, it was fire. The white flames danced in her hand until she dismissed them.

"White flames and lightning are the strongest types of elements. I can only use them for five breaths. Blue flames for ten. And normal flames for ten minutes."

Luna stared at the artifact. This was the sorcery she needed to learn and master just in case her Aura turns out pathetic.

"I need you to teach me your sorcery."

"Huh?"

"You mean enchanting?"

"Whatever you want to call it."

Anna shook her head. "We still have bigger things to focus on, Miss Lara." She dismissed the artifact and shifted her green eyes to the world beyond the cave.

It was quiet, waiting for them to return to it.

"We need to find the Castle. We've already wasted so much time being here."

Luna wanted to interject by asking, "Is waiting for you to recover a waste of time?" but she remained quiet and only nodded.

"So..." Anna picked up the Noctis Dial and waved it in the air like keys. "Should we?"

Luna summoned the shadow dagger and smiled. "We should."

Anna nodded and poured her essence into the Dial first. It activated immediately, and its needle started to turn clockwise.

After that, she passed it to Luna, who added her essence. Usually, when the two energies meet, there is a reaction.

However, this time, the zenshi merged with the essence, and the Dial registered the two essences as though they weren't different.

The needle paused and pointed to the right. The runes on the sides changed into cardinal points that the pair could understand.

"Fascinating," they muttered at the same time as the special dream artifact displayed what should be considered impossible.

"Let's get moving then."

With that agreed on, Anna and Luna left the cave and started moving East as the compass had indicated. They left the mountains following a special path that had already been laid out for them.

The terrain changed gradually as they left behind the suffocating, grotesque mountains and entered a far more vibrant land.

Alien vegetation stretched in every direction. Tall stalks and indigo leaves swayed gently as if stirred by a breath only the land itself could feel.

The air smelled sweet, almost intoxicating. And the Qi here… it was cleaner. Purer. Luna could sense it in her blood, like breathing for the first time after being submerged too long.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

She glanced over her shoulder to get a better look at where they were coming from.

Behind them, the path faded into red mist. From this distance, the flesh mountain they'd escaped now looked like the corpse of some long-dead god. A giant's spine jutted from the terrain, overgrown with thorny trees and parasitic vines. The mountain breathed no longer, but its presence still corrupted the air.

It had taken days of pain, blood, and desperation, but they'd survived.

Luna turned forward again.

The indigo field ahead stretched endlessly, and beyond it loomed the silhouette of their next challenge: the ruins of the Dream Towers.

Most stood tall, suspended in the air by strange blue crystals and hanging chains, impossibly defying gravity. Others had crashed to the ground long ago—collapsed, broken, half-swallowed by nature and time.

Each tower pulsed with a faint aura, like dying beacons left behind by a civilization that had long since vanished.

The Noctis Dail was pointing in that direction.

A few creatures soared through the skies. Most of them were red feathered with dorsal spikes on their backs. These were creatures known as red-winged fish. Luna had seen them a couple of times in the divine realm.

"We should hunt for something."

Anna's voice snapped Luna out of her thoughts. The wonder of this place had marveled her so much that she almost forgot what was happening around her.

Luna immediately frowned. "Hunt? Don't you have an artifact with storage abilities...you know, the one that's supposed to have all our supplies?"

"I do."

Anna lowered her voice and pointed at something. "There's something in this field. It's watching us. I had a similar feeling when I faced the demon with the power to create illusions."

Luna remembered her terrible experience in the flesh swamp. "It's the wind ability that I fear the most."

Anna agreed, "Soul attacks that can't be seen coming are a problem," Anna added as she called on her forged weapon, which resembled a silver-blue magic staff with runes.

Luna withheld from summoning the Sun Ember this time. She didn't want to trigger Anna's vigilance—not when a god relic like that radiated an unmistakable aura that any seasoned Ascender could sense.

"But I am confident it's not a Sovereign," Anna murmured, scanning their surroundings. "They're prideful and therefore don't use tricks like illusions."

With those words, she gripped her staff and chanted under her breath. Then, she slammed the staff into the ground with a resounding crack.

The air around them thickened with tension.

Roots burst from the earth in all directions, lashing out like hunting serpents within a ten-meter radius. They slithered, snapped, and pierced through the terrain, searching for any sign of movement.

Anna stood perfectly still, eyes locked onto the roots.

Then—there. One of them came back bloodied.

"Let us hunt," she said, her voice sharp and cold. She pointed at what appeared to be empty space until one looked closer.

Killing intent pulsed in the air like a second heartbeat.

Luna was already moving. She shot forward, coiled her fist back like a spring, and drove it into the space with monstrous force.

Boom!

The air split open as her blow collided with something solid. The impact tore a path through the underbrush, sending shockwaves through the ground. Whatever was hiding had been struck and pushed back violently.

Then—

"Hehehehehehehe…"

"Huhuhuhuhuhuh…"

"Hehehehehe…"

A chorus of twisted giggles echoed, warping the air itself.

The creature's camouflage dissolved, revealing a grotesque form now squirming on the earth. It had the upper half of a human—bare, muscular, and painted a strange sapphire blue—while the lower half twisted into a lizard's scaled, digitigrade legs. Its skin shimmered like glass, barely holding in the energy underneath.

"A devil?" Luna muttered, caught between fascination and disgust.

The thing grinned, its elongated mouth filled with uneven, sharp teeth. It was about to attack, but it trembled once and collapsed like an insect.

Luna, who was aware of what had just happened, narrowed her eyes and thought, 'It resisted my blow for a moment. Interesting. Once again, the quality of my essence is still not good enough.'

The Dream consists of many of these," Anna said, walking slowly toward the downed devil. "Not all divine beings looked like the ones we've seen. They say the gods made their servants using their own concepts. The Heart Goddess was creative… so her servants were unique."

The creature no longer moved. Luna's strike had broken it.

Anna raised her hand and flicked her wrist. With the help of her artifact, wind blades shimmered into existence around her fingers, then spun forward in sharp arcs, slicing the creature into three pieces.

Blood hissed on the ground, but Anna didn't flinch. She stepped closer and knelt, placing her palm against the devil's cold, segmented hide.

She closed her eyes.

Luna watched silently. She could see the creature's essence. A bright energy pulsing from the body, fading, flickering, dying. This devil had been born from something powerful, its soul laced with corrupted echoes of creation.

"This world," Anna muttered, her voice distant, "is rich with true essence. I can feel it... and the barrier that keeps it just out of reach."

Luna took a step forward. "Is that what your master is trying to do?" she asked. "Break that barrier?"

Anna opened her eyes, cold as ever. "Yes," she said. "He believes the Age of Chaos is upon us. And humanity needs to try harder… or we'll vanish."

The words struck Luna like a thunderclap.

Her heart skipped.

The Age of Chaos.

She hadn't heard that term in two years. Not since her encounter with the being she met while inside her soul.

The Being had spoken cryptically. It claimed that that day—the day the Blood Tower collapsed—marked the beginning of the Age of Chaos.

At the time, Luna hadn't understood what it meant. There had been no signs, no widespread destruction, no divine descent.

The world hadn't changed overnight. Nothing chaotic had happened in the years that followed. No Sovereigns had appeared.

The Balance, for all its flaws, still held. The Servants of the old world were still shackled by their strength.

So what was Anna talking about?

To maintain her cover, Luna softened her expression and tilted her head in feigned confusion. "The Age of Chaos?"

Anna finished analyzing the devil's corpse and finally turned. "It's stupid, honestly," she muttered. "But my master believes there are… beings… trying to enter our world. Not demons. Not cursed creatures. Something older. Something stranger. The day one of them manages to descend—that's the day the Age of Chaos officially begins."

Luna's breath hitched.

'He's right.'

She almost said it out loud. But she bit her tongue. The being in her soul had warned her, and now Anna's master echoed that same truth.

Her instincts screamed that this wasn't a coincidence.

"We need to get to the castle," Luna said instead, redirecting the conversation with a cold tone. Talking about the Age of Chaos now—diving deeper into it—might unravel her too much.

She couldn't risk exposing what she knew. Not yet. Not until she understood who Anna served.

Luna knew too much, hence why she was cursed. Anna's master could've been cursed too, and was under a fake name similar to her own. Or maybe, because he was an expert in real sorcery, he could've found a way to bypass the curse on fate.

But what are the odds of that being possible? By a human, no less.

'No. That's not it. It's too odd to find someone this intrigued with true essence.'

Luna thought deeply as she followed behind Anna, who was holding the Noctis Dia and leading the way.

There was something odd about the ascender that Luna still couldn't prove yet. She was known for her curiosity and knowledge.

Luna has seen her knowledge. But where is her curiosity?

How is it that she hadn't asked a single question about her abilities? Wasn't she curious about Luna's strength despite being a First Soul Gate user?

Luna now saw Anna's silence differently. If this was a trap, then she had no choice but to kill Anna with the shadow wolf dagger in her right hand.

She might be difficult to handle because of her devices and experience. But. Against Luna, who was familiar with Divine arts, Anna stood no chance.

'I would win.'

*****

*****

After the field of indigo, Lunaris and Anna made it to a territory made of stone ruins and mist. It was so cold, and both could see the vapor every time they exhaled.

"Wow…"

Anna's voice was hushed as she tilted her head up, gazing at the stone towers that loomed like sentinels of a forgotten age. Each one was perfectly vertical, carved from grey stone that almost merged with the mist, like ghosts rising from the ground.

The earth beneath them was made of broken cobblestone, weathered, uneven, and treacherous. Cracks split through every direction, as though something massive had once rampaged through this place.

Luna crouched beside one of the stones and placed her palm against it. A jolt of biting cold shot up her arm, making her flinch.

Her suit responded automatically, adjusting its inner temperature to preserve her core heat.

Then...

[Threat Detected!] [Threat Detected!]

Both suits screamed in unison, their automated voices cutting through the heavy silence like sirens.

Luna and Anna instantly shifted into battle positions, standing back to back. Their gazes scoured the fog, but strangely, no presence had been felt. No aura. No Qi signature.

It was too quiet.

Then—

Tap. Tap. Tap.

A soft, metallic sound echoed across the ruins. Luna's eyes sharpened, following the source toward the top of one of the nearby broken towers.

There, standing motionless on the broken lip of the ruin, was a figure. A shadow within the mist.

The temperature dropped further. Not physically, but in her heart. The mist parted just enough for her to fully see him.

The golden eyes.

The golden hair.

The smile that once made her feel safe.

Her body screamed at her to move, to run, to draw her blade—but she couldn't. Not immediately. Her muscles remembered this man. And her soul remembered what she had done.

Her pupils shrank to pins, her knees slightly bent, and the rage she had buried deep within the marrow of her bones surged upward like a volcano breaching the crust.

"How dare you!"

The wind hissed, and her bloodlust surged out in waves, disrupting the mist with its violent presence. Even Anna took a half-step away, startled by the sudden pressure.

But the golden-haired man didn't flinch.

He smiled still, warm, welcoming. Familiar.

"What's wrong, Captain?" he asked, tilting his head ever so slightly, as if mocking the sincerity in his voice. "Are you still afraid of the man you killed?"

He stepped forward. Not a sound. Not a trace of essence.

Just… him.

Energy gathered in his right hand, and a light spear manifested in his right hand. "You know...your still weakness disgusts me."

"Is that who I think it is?"

"That's not Gail Silverman," Luna interjected while gritting her teeth. She sensed nothing coming from him.

"That thing is not alive."

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