Nightfire watched as Aether disappeared into the distance. She then turned her gaze toward the casket and Starla, her lips curling into a wry expression.
"So, if not for Aether stepping in... she would have killed me outright and stolen my sisterâs soul just to patch her own?"
The thought burned in her chest. She was still annoyed, furious, her temper refusing to settle.
Starla glanced at Nightfire, shaking her ghostly head with a quiet sigh before speaking, "Itâs true that Lordâs Love saved you, but... no, she wasnât going to kill you. She only needed another soul resting inside your body, thatâs all."
"Thatâs all? Fuck you!!" Nightfire snapped, her voice sharp and cutting.
She snorted furiously and glared at Nyxâs face, her nostrils flaring before she spat another snort. "Canât she just use one of you then? Oh? Donât tell me she wanted to protect her precious loyal servants!"
Starlaâs frown deepened. "If it were possible, for our Queen, we would have given every single one of ourselves to her..." Her eyes wandered toward the other ghosts, their silent nods falling in unison like a vow.
Starla added in a solemn tone, "A vessel that holds two souls... thatâs what you are. Your body and soul are unique, unlike any other. Your vessel itself is strong, and your soul has the rare ability to adapt and adjust into her body. That is why it was easier to claim yours, why it could fix her issue."
Still... Nightfire gave another irritated snort, her tail twitching as her brows furrowed. "If she died... then why the hell are you all still here? Wouldnât your pact or something have been cancelled the moment she fell?"
Starlaâs expression softened. She smiled gently, her ghostly hand ruffling Nyxâs forehead with a tenderness that lingered. She muttered, "Itâs because she gave this place to us... she wanted us... to live here peacefully, to remain here happily."
Nightfire rolled her eyes and let out another sharp snort. "So Love~" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Her tone shifted as she narrowed her gaze. "Is Aether really going to bring Nyxâs soul back from the Grenthollow? Is that even possible?"
Nightfire asked again with a deep frown. She had never heard of anything even remotely possible, not once in her life. Just how was Aether planning to bring Nyx back then?
Starla only shrugged her shoulders, her spectral form dimming slightly. "Itâs impossible to pull a soul back from there... I donât understand what My Lord is thinking. Maybe he just wants to believe heâs doing something for her, something that feels meaningful?"
Nightfire hummed under her breath, crossing her arms. ...If anything, he would still try. He would always do something for Nyx.
Which, of course, only made her chest tighten.
âPlease donât bring any more disaster,â Nightfire thought bitterly, her lips twisting into a wry expression.
Meanwhile,
Grenthollow Mountain
The green stony mountain glowed faintly, like veins of neon light woven beneath its surface. The glow spread beneath the crimson sky, casting an unearthly aura across the land.
The sight alone made the towering stone look divine, otherworldlyâmountain light and red heavens mixing into a vision almost too unreal to be true.
So mesmerising... almost enough to steal oneâs breath.
But... that wasnât the reason Aether had come here. Aether stood before the mountainâs base, motionless, his eyes cold, stripped of warmth, devoid of all emotion.
â... Is it possible?â he asked inwardly.
!~Ding~!
[Due to her Death-Alive State, her body isnât really dead... Itâs just her unstable soul that moves around... so as long as her soul is placed back inside her body... yeah, itâs possible to bring her back.]
Aether hummed softly, a small smile tugging at his lips.
However,
[But what happens after that?]
âI will use the Aethââ
[Seal of Aethernal? Just like you did with Maelona?]
Aether nodded with serious. After all, even Maelona, who was supposed to die, still lived because of his seal, right? If he did the same thing, then maybe he could save Nyx too... right?
[Not sure if itâs a good plan, but... why donât you first focus on yourself?]
Aether blinked and slowly raised his hand. His skin wavered, flickering between hazy transparency and solid form. "Is it... because she isnât alive?"
[Affirmative!]
"How long do I have?"
[... I donât have an approximate number.]
Aether fell silent, blankly staring at the glowing mountain ahead of him. His lips pressed together. He uttered no more words.
Just then,
"Hey, you! What are you doing here!!" Soldiers nearby shouted as they ran toward him, their faces twisted with fury. "Get out! Youâre a trespasser!!"
Aether turned, his cold gaze falling upon the soldier who had guided them here before. "You know me, donât you?"
The soldier spat back, "So what? Without permission from the Empress, no one is allowed to enter this place. Get out before I call the others!"
Aether said nothing. He simply stared, his eyes flickering with a faint crimson hue. The soldier stiffened, flinched, then his pupils glazed over into a lifeless blank.
"Tell me... where would the souls of someone who just died be?"
"If they died recently... their souls would still linger at the base of the mountain stairs."
Aether nodded and began walking forward.
There, standing before the base of the stairs, were a headless naked woman and a man. Their severed necks flared with purplish flames, smouldering like eerie torches.
They stood like guardians.
Behind them stretched the staircase, and upon it countless souls trudged upward, each step sluggish and heavy, as if the climb itself dragged eternity behind their feet. Slowly, they climbed toward the unseen peak.
Sensing an intruder, the Soulwardensâ flames flickered violently, their featureless forms seeming to frown as Aether approached.
But Aether did not spare them a glance. He stood still before the stairway, his eyes fixed past the guardians, straining to see if someone familiar â someone he knew â might be among the endless procession of souls.
"I need a soul," he said firmly as he looked at them. "Only one!" He raised a single finger, his voice echoing through the heavy silence. "If I get that, I will leave without making a fuss here."
He stepped forward... only to be blocked by the Soulwardens, their purplish flames flickering furiously as they raised their arms toward him.
Aether frowned, his eyes narrowing. He turned his gaze toward the soldier, whose eyes still remained blank and lifeless. Stepping forward with calm authority, he said, "Please... allow this man to claim only one souâ"
Ssshhhh~
Before he could even finish his words, the Soulwardensâ flames lashed out. The purplish fire engulfed the soldier instantly, burning away flesh and bone in less than a second until nothing remained.
Only his ghostly soul lingered, pale and hollow, drifting forward silently to step onto the mountain stairs.
Aether raised his eyebrows, caught off guard. He hadnât expected that kind of power. The Soulwardens were clearly more dangerous than they appeared... but still, he couldnât just give up here, could he?
He needed to bring her back before it was too late.
[đ Danger: If the user hasnât found a stable candidate, he will be forced to be removed from this reality forever!]
Aether clenched his fists before releasing a slow sigh. "I know you are only doing your work... but I am sorry."
His entire body suddenly ignited, bursting into purplish flames that surged outward violently. In an instant, both Soulwardens were consumed, their forms collapsing into ashes.
PUFFFF!!!
Their bodies scattered into nothingness.
Aether exhaled again, shaking his head as he stepped forward... only to see another pair of Soulwardens materialise before the stairs.
Aether frowned deeply. He thought maybe Soulwardens from other stairways had rushed here, but as he kept burning them, again and again, before their flames could reach him, it became clear... it was an endless cycle.
Just then, Aether noticed something strange. They burned, they fell, they vanished... but where were their souls supposed to go?
Wasnât he the one who had just watched the soldier burn, and then calmly walk forward as a soul toward the stairs?
"Donât tell me... these things are soulless creatures?" Aether muttered in a curious, almost disturbed tone, his flames bursting once more to consume the next Soulwardens.
This time, instead of incinerating them, he tried freezing them in ice. The moment the frost spread, their bodies slid unnaturally through it, as though their forms werenât truly solid to begin with.
Sslll~
Their flames lashed out, nearly grazing his chest, and Aether was forced to take several quick steps back.
His lips twitched, irritation sparking in his eyes... until he remembered his Pasa robe. Without hesitation, he raised the rope high, "Yeah... this is your Graceâs power! Kneel before it!!"
The Soulwardensâ flames flickered wildly as their empty gazes locked onto the rope. For a moment, they froze, as though seeing not rope, but their very origin, their very body.
Then, without a sound, their forms trembled... and their bodies kneeled down on their own.
"Thatâs easy?"
Aether sighed, shaking his head. "A rope can do more than I can... so messed up," he muttered under his breath as he walked forward.
Neither of the Soulwardens moved to stop him this time. Aether smirked as he stepped onto the stairâ
âor so he thought, until,
BOOM!!
Something blasted him away.
Aether flew several meters back before twisting in the air and landing correctly on his feet. He frowned, staring at the mountain, then glanced down at his foot. His boots had shattered into pieces, reduced to fragments, yet his legs... they seemed perfectly fine.
"What just blasted me then?" Aether muttered, his frown deepening as his eyes darted toward the Soulwardens, suspicious they might have pulled something sneaky. But to his surprise... no! They hadnât moved at all.
He stepped forward.
It happened again, the very moment his foot touched the stairs.
Aetherâs eyes widened as he saw it clearly this time. A sudden green ray was ejected straight from the stairs itself, striking him with tremendous force and blasting him off.
He rolled across the ground before standing, growling low. "The mountain itself... itâs not allowing me!!" He gritted his teeth.
But why?
Hadnât he entered last time without any problem?
Aether moved closer to the mountain again, but this time stopped short of stepping on it. Instead, he raised his hand, attempting to reach inside the stair. His palm slammed against something unseen... an invisible block pressed back, preventing him from even touching a fragment of what lay within.
Aetherâs frown darkened. He clenched his fist and,
BOOOMMM!!
He punched the barrier with all his force. For a moment, it looked as though it would breakâthe shockwave cracked the air itselfâbut then, instantly, the barrier healed, as if nothing had happened.
He didnât stop.
He kept punching, again and again, his strikes landing with relentless force. The entire Cycle of Samsara trembled beneath his blows, each hammering strike echoing like distant thunder across the Empire itself.
And yet... the barrier continued to mend itself the instant it cracked. Web-like fissures spread across its surface, only to vanish instantly as though they had never existed.
Sighing... He had no other choice but to ask for help... Graceâs help.
Of course, he twisted his words carefully, disguising them as curiosity.... He could not let her get any ideas about what he was truly attempting.
Howeverâ
"No! No flesh or living being could ever enter the functioning Grenthollow."
That was her answer, spoken with a face far too serious to mistake for jest.
Aetherâs face turned grim. His gaze fell back on the endless souls trudging up the steps. Some didnât even make it farâseveral were suddenly swallowed by a dark, sticky black liquid that oozed out from the stair itself, devouring them whole before they could scream.
[What are you going to do? You donât have time to just stand there staring!!]
His logâs voice shouted at him!
"Iâm not sure it will work... but something tells me this is the best chance Iâve got," Aether muttered to himself.
[Hmm? đ€]