Miles away from the shattered crater, the night breeze sweeping across the mansion's balcony carried the faint, metallic scent of ozone and crushed rock.
Silver stood motionless by the marble railing. He didn't need to be standing in the dust to know what was happening out there in the stone wasteland.
Even from that distance, the soles of his boots picked up the distant, rhythmic tremors vibrating through Lavinsk's tectonic plates.
Two distinct auras clashed over and over.
One was a fierce, howling emerald tempest; the other, a hungry, devouring crimson shadow.
They were tearing each other apart, deciphering each other's limits in the dark.
The soft clink of porcelain against a saucer pulled him from his trance.
Kânia stepped onto the balcony, her golden hair catching the pale moonlight. She set a steaming teacup on the small iron table beside him.
"You're quiet tonight," she murmured softly, wrapping a delicate shawl around her shoulders.
She stopped beside him, her warm eyes following her husband's gaze toward the dark horizon.
"Thinking about the disciples?"
Silver picked up the cup, letting the herbal steam warm his face before taking a slow sip.
"They're evolving faster than I anticipated," he replied, his voice a low, clinical murmur.
"Suki and Laura achieved a level of synchrony in a single night that takes experienced generals decades to forge in war."
He paused, lowering the cup.
The green of his eyes darkened, becoming sharp and cold.
"...But Arthur."
Kânia tilted her head, observing the subtle tightening of her husband's jaw.
"What about the boy?" she asked, her tone gentle yet probing.
Silver remained silent for a long moment. He looked down at the dark liquid in his cup, watching his own reflection ripple.
"I sense something in him," he finally answered.
"My intuition tells me he wants to reach a certain level just so he can do something crazy."
Silver gripped the porcelain tighter, a shadow of ancient grief crossing his platinum features.
"A dangerous kind of madness. The exact same thing Lysander did back in the day..."
Kânia's breath hitched slightly at the mention of that name.
Instead of merely offering words of comfort, she stepped closer, sliding her hand affectionately across his chest, and left a soft, lingering kiss on Silver's cheek.
He turned his face to her.
The weight of eras that always darkened the god's green eyes melted for an instant beneath his wife's touch.
Silver's hand slipped to Kânia's waist, pulling her close.
The outside world seemed to vanish, and the two were about to lose themselves in that intimate, rare moment of peace...
But, before their lips could actually touch, reality itself vibrated around the balcony.
The pressure was sudden and absolute, making the marble floor beneath their feet groan in protest.
A voice resonated, not through the air or from spheres of light, but directly and simultaneously inside both their minds.
It was an unquestionable presence, heavy as a collapsing star, yet carrying a noble politeness.
*"I apologize for the rude interruption,"* echoed the voice of the Supreme Queen of the Gods herself.
*"But I need your presence in the Celestial Hall immediately, Silver."*
"A being has dared to raise its fists against Lavinsk, and the balance of worlds may shatter."
*"I hope you understand, Kânia."*
Silver froze inches from his wife's face, closing his eyes for a second with a heavy sigh, frustrated by the broken moment.
Kânia, however, smiled gently and understandingly.
She pulled back just a millimeter to smooth her husband's shirt with her hands.
"It is quite alright, Your Majesty. I perfectly understand," Kânia replied aloud, her voice serene, knowing the deity would hear her, and then returned her warm gaze to Silver.
Silver slowly set the cup back on its saucer.
The momentary vulnerability he had shown her evaporated, instantly replaced by the hardened, impenetrable mask of Lavinsk's greatest weapon.
He turned to his wife and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.
"Wait for them," he whispered.
In the next fraction of a second, his physical form dissolved into a pillar of blinding light, shooting upward and tearing through the clouds.
Silver's boots touched the solid marble floor of the Celestial Hall, which reflected the environment perfectly, akin to the surface of a mirrored lake.
At the far end of the room, at the top of the crystal stairs, the majestic golden throne sat completely empty.
The Supreme Queen of the Gods was not wearing her cosmic crowns, nor was she shrouded in her veils of starlight.
Instead, she was pacing back and forth across the mirrored floor, wearing only an absurdly simple white silk nightgown.
Her long black hair cascaded loose and messy down her back.
Just below the throne's steps, sitting in a relaxed posture, was Katan.
The colossal being wore his full armor, black as the vacuum of space.
With both hands resting on the pommel of his green-jade straight sword, whose thick blade was incredibly wide, the bodyguard lifted his face and gave a subtle, silent nod in greeting to Silver.
With no audience, no minor gods or servants to impress, the weight of royalty simply vanished from the room.
They were just three old acquaintances sharing the burden of having existed for countless eras.
Silver didn't kneel, nor did he bow his head.
He merely shoved his hands into his pockets, relaxing his stance, and let out a long sigh.
The Queen stopped pacing and looked at him, her shoulders dropping as she rubbed her temples with her fingers, revealing a deeply rare and terribly human exhaustion.
"Silver..." her voice didn't vibrate with absolute power; it sounded only like a tired vent.
"Thank you for coming so quickly. And... I apologize again for interrupting you and Kânia like that. I know you rarely get a moment of peace."
Silver let out a nasal laugh, walking up to the crystal steps and stopping beside Katan.
"We've survived billions of years of chaos; I think a broken kiss won't kill us," he replied, his tone light and genuine.
"It's fine. But for you to pull me from my home in the middle of the night dressed like that... what stole your sleep?"
The Queen sighed and, ignoring all protocol, simply sat down on one of the throne's crystal steps, resting her elbows on her knees.
"I was woken from a dream," she murmured, her unfathomable gaze fixed on the reflection of galaxies on the mirrored floor.
"A dream of the future, Silver. The balance of worlds has been touched again, and what I saw in my mind's eye... was a collapse spreading like a plague."
Silver crossed his arms, his posture still casual, but his green eyes already adopting an analytical focus.
"Which world threatens the balance this time?"
The Queen looked up at him, frustration evident in her features.
"The world of Ruitan is in danger. The planet is currently being ruled by Tsukumo, the son of the God of Strength. Ever since he reached his divine maturity, he has ignored the sacred pacts. He has become a tyrant... arrogant, authoritarian, and unspeakably cruel."
The mention of the God of Strength made Silver's eyes narrow subtly.
Katan, sitting nearby, let out a low grunt of disapproval.
"Vangor hasn't intervened in his own son's tantrums?" Silver asked, his voice sounding dry.
"He refuses," the Queen replied, shaking her head with a flash of disgust.
"He claims Tsukumo needs to 'learn the ways of rule on his own.' But the people of Ruitan—humans, hybrids, even minor demigods—live under absolute oppression. That idiotic boy has self-proclaimed himself Emperor of the Ruitan Palace."
"He's forging a divine dictatorship," Silver noted coldly.
"Exactly."
"His power grows unchecked," the Queen confirmed.
"And he isn't alone. He is guarded by Katarina and Vanki, two fiercely loyal demigods who act as his executioners. They hunt down anyone who dares to resist; they are cruel, lethal... and blindly devoted to Tsukumo."
Silver cracked his neck from side to side.
"Do you want me to go down there and handle it? I'm not known for having much patience with arrogant children playing emperor."
"No."
The Queen's denial was swift.
The silence that followed, however, was dense.
The relaxed atmosphere that had hovered between the three old acquaintances evaporated in the blink of an eye, replaced by a cold, ancestral tension.
She locked her unfathomable eyes directly on Silver.
"How is he doing?" she asked, her voice dropping an octave, suddenly sounding dangerous.
"The boy. Suki."
Silver took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms.
Katan, sitting on the step below, stopped stroking the pommel of his jade sword, the beast's musculature beneath the black armor tensing in absolute attention.
"His evolution is terrifying," Silver replied, his tone losing any trace of casualness.
"He learns and absorbs combat in an almost parasitic way; he swallows pain and turns it into his foundation."
"In our last session, he just unlocked his second transformation."
The Queen's eyes darkened.
She absorbed the information in silence, waiting for the rest of the diagnosis.
"With every passing day..." Silver continued, averting his gaze to the reflection of the galaxies on the mirrored floor, his voice taking on a rare gravity.
"...the blind ferocity, the sickly stubbornness in refusing to stay down, and that distorted aura when he's cornered..."
Silver paused heavily, clenching his jaw.
"His resemblance to *that person* is becoming absurd. Almost unbearable to watch up close."
The air in the Celestial Hall froze.
The mere indirect mention of that being made Katan himself let out a low, guttural growl that reverberated through the massive marble of the room.
She finally stopped pacing, smoothing out her white silk tunic and turning back to face him with the crushing seriousness of someone holding the fate of worlds in her hands.
"If the boy is following the same path and the same thirst for destruction... you know perfectly well that I will not hesitate to erase him from this existence."
"He won't. Despite the similarities, his motivations are entirely different,"
Silver countered dryly, his inflexible green gaze crossing hers as an equal.
"And I know perfectly well what I am doing."
The Queen evaluated him for a long second, measuring the conviction of her oldest champion.
The silence lasted until she gave a slight, slow nod, accepting the answer, and shifted the course of the conversation back to the crisis that had pulled her from bed.
"I want to resolve this problem in Ruitan."
Silver's eyes widened a fraction of a millimeter, surprised by the unusual request.
"And I want to see how your boy handles it," the Queen continued, taking a few steps toward him.
"I admit he did a good job with the elves; helping that ruined royalty required a fair amount of cunning and grit."
She stopped, her unfathomable eyes gleaming with the gravity of the challenge.
"But leading a rebellion for survival in a forest is one thing. Clashing head-on with the son of a Major God who has enslaved an entire planet and dictates the rules of his own world... is a completely different situation."
"I want to see if he breaks under the weight of an empire. Arthur and Laura must accompany him."
"They're still smoothing out their own rough edges..." Silver commented, weighing the gravity of the choice and the danger of unleashing the assassin and the immortal in a world without rules, alongside Suki.
"...But I understand the mission will be theirs."
"And, Silver," the Queen warned, her divine authority finally coloring her tone to make the main rule absolutely clear.
"They must not kill Tsukumo. They must break his domain, show the oppressed people that the brat bleeds, that he can be challenged."
"They will teach him that no one is above my justice, and above all, remind him of who truly rules this universe."
"Understood," Silver agreed with a nod.
The Queen extended her dark hand.
A fragment of golden energy detached from her fingertips, floating until it stopped before Silver.
As soon as the light touched the air in front of him, the space of the Celestial Hall tore open, expanding silently until it forged a swirling portal.
On the other side of the dimensional rift, Silver could see the night breeze swaying the curtains and the peaceful view of his own home's balcony.
"Finish your night with Kânia," the Queen murmured, a faint trace of humor softening her tired face.
Silver let out a nasal laugh, gave a final nod in farewell, and dove into the portal, returning to his mansion in a fraction of a second.
As soon as the golden rift closed and the funereal silence returned to reign in the Supreme Palace, Katan finally moved.
The black-armored giant released the handle of his jade sword and stood up.
The sound of metal plates grinding echoed heavily across the mirrored marble floor.
"You should go back to sleep," Katan's voice resonated deep and cavernous beneath his dark helm.
"It is still early in the night; the universe can wait a few hours."
The Queen did not move immediately.
She kept staring at the empty spot where the portal had closed, her arms crossed over her white silk tunic.
"What do you think of the boy, Katan?" she asked suddenly, her voice hovering on the edge between curiosity and divine caution.
Katan didn't need to think to answer.
"I think I should have crushed his head the very first day he stepped foot in this realm," the bodyguard replied with brutal, absolute coldness.
"Silver is blind. He might be making a mistake of catastrophic proportions by allowing that bloodline to keep breathing."
The Queen turned her face slightly, her unfathomable eyes evaluating the contained fury and unwavering loyalty of her protector.
The black-armored monster bowed his head in a rigid reverence.
"But," Katan concluded, his cavernous tone carrying the unquestionable weight of his devotion, "if Your Majesty wants him alive to see how far his power can reach... then so it shall be. Your will is the only law that matters."
The Queen sighed slowly.
As she turned her back to the reflections of the galaxies on the floor, walking back to her chambers in silence, she smiled.
Back in Lavinsk, Silver landed silently on the edge of his balcony; the twin moons were high in the sky.
Miles away, he could still feel the faint, rhythmic pulses of wind and shadow colliding in the crater.
*Are they still at it?* he thought.
*You three... again,* Silver mused, a faint, exhausted smile pulling at the corner of his mouth before his expression hardened like stone.
Kânia was still waiting for him there, exactly where he had left her.
Her delicate shawl swayed in the night wind, and the worry in her brown eyes melted into silent relief upon seeing him intact.
Silver didn't say a word about the tyrant Tsukumo or the burden the Queen had just placed in his hands; he simply pulled her into a long embrace, allowing himself to be just a man for a few short hours before becoming a weapon again.
The night pushed forward and swallowed Lavinsk, funereal and silent.
I opened my eyes with a sudden jolt. Lavinsk's sun had barely begun to scratch the horizon, bathing the cold marble of the room in a pale, sickly hue.
I sat on the edge of the bed with a guttural groan.
"I don't even remember what time I got home," I muttered.
Every joint in my body cracked in protest, like rusted gears being forced to turn.
The bruises from our fight in the crater hadn't faded; they had darkened to an almost pitch-black purple, and the taste of old blood still soured the back of my throat.
I stood up, a shiver crawling up my neck, and walked with heavy steps toward the large glass window. I pulled back the curtains.
Down below, the morning mist clung to the courtyard floor like ghostly claws.
I turned my back to the window and went to the dark corner of the room.
My bandaged fingers closed around the icy shaft of my spear.
I gripped the handle tightly, feeling the steel's vibration respond instantly to the adrenaline that returned to burn in my veins.
The center of Silver's house was dominated by a massive ancestral oak round table.
Silver stood at the head, his posture rigid and unwavering. To his right, Kânia sat with her hands elegantly folded in her lap; her expression was one of divine calm, but she radiated an attention so dense it made the air heavy.
The creak of the heavy wooden doors broke the silence. Laura and Arthur entered.
Laura looked even sleepier than I did.
"Sit down," Silver ordered, his voice icy and stripped of all pleasantries.
The two pulled out the heavy wooden chairs and collapsed into them, ignoring the piercing protests of their own torn muscles.
"A new mission has been handed down to you directly," Silver began, pacing slowly behind his chair, his footsteps making no sound at all.
"It will be something different from what you've done so far."
Kânia leaned forward.
When she spoke, her sweet voice carried a tone that made the air in the room turn cold.
"An entire planet is plummeting into imbalance. The name of the world is Ruitan, and currently, it is ruled by Tsukumo, the son of the God of Strength."
"He is an immensely powerful entity... but his soul has been completely corrupted by arrogance and the blind desire for domination, according to the Queen."
"He rules through tyranny," Silver added, stopping to face his disciples.
"The inhabitants there—humans, hybrids—live under a suffocating and constant fear. But fear is not respect. Now, that boy has begun to directly disobey the Supreme Queen's mandates."
"According to the Queen, if his dream comes to fruition, this could very well end up in a very ugly war with the Domain of Strength, Tsukumo's family."
*SNIKT.*
The metallic sound sliced through the air. Laura's silver claws involuntarily slid a few inches out from her knuckles, scratching the polished oak wood.
"He is the son of the God of Strength," she said, her crimson eyes narrowing until they became dangerous slits.
"Master, you know exactly how absurdly strong Uncle Vangor is!"
"I know," Silver cut her off, his voice soft but absolute, silencing the assassin instantly.
"And that is why we must avoid a possible war."
Silver planted both palms flat on the table, leaning his torso forward and forcing the three of us to look directly into his green eyes.
"If you can shatter his protection forces and show the planet that he bleeds... maybe he'll understand that his reign of terror is made of glass."
Arthur, who until then had been sprawled in his chair with his massive arms crossed over his gray chest, finally moved.
He frowned.
"And if he doesn't understand?" the giant asked, his green eyes completely empty of empathy.
"What if he responds to our arrival with a mass slaughter? What if he simply decides to crush us?"
"Do whatever is absolutely necessary to break his control over that planet... but you *will not* kill him."
Arthur's jaw clenched so hard a cracking sound echoed.
"That is the Supreme Queen's direct order, out of consideration for Vangor," Silver reinforced, holding the giant's dark gaze without blinking.
I remained entirely silent.
My face showed no reaction, but beneath the table, my bandaged hands clenched into fists so tight my knuckles turned white under the rags.
My ribs began to throb with a phantom ache, hot and blinding.
*The son of the God of Strength...*
The memory flashed violently through my mind like a nightmare that refused to die. The colossal axe tearing through the Lavinsk arena.
The absurd kinetic force, the pure and impossible physics of Kamiko's blows that altered gravity and nearly split me in half.
She was a demigoddess, the fruit of Vangor and a mortal.
And she had been the most terrifying, overwhelming force of nature I had ever faced in my life prior to Lucas, I thought.
If this Tsukumo is even older, and has the power to rule an entire planet...
I gritted my teeth hard, swallowing dryly and forcing the ghost of Kamiko's axe into the dark recesses of my mind.
I couldn't afford to tremble now.
Silver stepped away from the table.
With a subtle gesture, the golden seal floated until it hovered in the exact center of the room, illuminating our battered faces.
"You have exactly one week," the master declared, his oppressive presence filling every inch of the room and suffocating our physical fatigue.
We slowly stood up from our chairs; the air in the room was thick, almost hard to breathe, yet electric and alive.
The countdown had begun.
We had seven days to prepare.
Seven days to become monsters capable of taking down an emperor.