"Cold… too cold…" Sora muttered as she stirred, her eyes sluggishly starting to open. Once open, everything became hazy for a moment, she blinked, and her vision cleared, making her able to see her surroundings.

But the first thing she saw was the reason why she was feeling so much cold but also a certain level of warmth on her body.

She stiffly lowered her head, praying it was not what she thought, and saw the smiling face of Kaden looking at her, amused.

His crimson eyes were truly striking.

"I didn't remember being a bed for you, golden voice." He said, his tone laced with a note of amusement, making Sora realize the position they were in.

Kaden was on the ground, on his back, with her whole body resting on him, her hands on his chest, their faces only an inch apart.

If anyone was looking, they would think that these two were about to do the glorious deeds.

But they couldn't be more wrong.

Sora's face twisted into a deep, disgusted scowl as she raised her curled fist and struck at Kaden's face with all her strength.

The latter simply tilted his head, making the strike miss him and smash directly into the snow beneath them, causing a small cluster of white to burst upward from the ground with a booming sound.

Her eyes were clouded by the snow for a moment, and Kaden used that moment to push her away from him and get up, taking his distance.

The veil of snow melted down by Sora's fire as she glared at Kaden with her burning eyes, clearly angry.

"You are quite ungrateful." Kaden spat as he slowly dusted off the snow from his beautiful but bland black tunic.

He raised his bloody eyes to look at Sora, who was about to attack again.

His lips twitched in irritation.

"Instead of attacking me like a mindless beast you should first look around you and get hold of our situation, golden voice. And besides…"

His voice turned cold, sharp as the air around them.

"…next time you attack me I won't only block you or dodge. I will attack you back, and you won't like the outcome."

Sora stopped abruptly in her attack. "Are you threatening me?" she growled as she took a step toward him.

Kaden didn't budge.

He stood firm, looking at the approaching Sora with indifference.

She stopped just an inch away.

"You dare to talk like this when all of this is your fault?" she snarled.

"I don't remember telling you to run after me like a mad dog whose bone has been stolen." He shrugged.

"Listen, you cannot blame me on this one, golden voice. All I did was run." He added, looking at her with a small, subtle smile.

Sora was stupefied by his words. Because if she thought about it, he was right.

But never in hell would she admit that.

"You started all this back in my golden castle or did you forget what you did there?"

"It's been a while. Why don't we forget about all of that, golden voice?"

"I promise I won't tell anyone that the celestial beloved princess likes to sing."

He raised his palm as though making a solemn oath, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I swear I won't!"

"And I am a Warborn. I will always keep my word."

Sora was, once again, speechless.

She was not used to someone talking back at her every time she spoke, so she was unable to make a proper counterattack.

All she could do was glare at Kaden with eyes that could kill, but she knew better than to act purely on her emotions. She had heard the words of The Will, and as an Asterion she obviously knew where she was.

'Inheritance ground for the moon aspect of our family. Isn't this what brother Sirius was looking for?' Sora mused, as she looked around her at the same time as Kaden, who ignored her completely.

The landscape was filled with snow as far as eyes could see, jagged mountains of blue-white ice stretching toward the heavens. Above, the sky was painted pristine white, with a blue full moon glowing with an eerie luminance that made Sora's skin crawl.

Beneath her, the ground was littered with deep, crunching snow shining faintly under the moonlight, each step sinking feet deep into it like quicksand.

She was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

This was not her aspect.

She had inherited the sun aspect of her bloodline, while her brother Sirius bore the moon aspect. So for a being of blistering heat and intensity like her, being in this cold, desolate place with the moon glaring down upon her spine was enough to make her shiver — not only from the coldness but from dread.

'All of this… all of this because of him.' She grunted in her mind, looking at Kaden who was walking away, toward the jagged mountains far in the distance…

…without a care for her.

She gritted her teeth.

At that moment, they were in a wide open space. And there was nothing more dangerous than being exposed in such a place, where anyone could spot you and strike you down.

Sighing to release her anger, Sora cloaked herself in her solar power to fend off the cold. Steam rose around her as she burned away the snow.

She began walking softly, the snow beneath her hissing into vapor with each step, then quickened her pace. Soon she was walking just behind Kaden, her face twisted in a tight frown.

She tried to recall information about this inheritance ground but nothing came. And that was expected.

She only ever cared about the sun aspect of their bloodline, neglecting the moon and stars. And now, she was paying the price.

In that moment, she deeply regretted bribing her teachers to let her skip those lessons.

The gods knew how much that had cost her.

But even if she didn't know much about this particular place, there were certain rules common to all of them.

For one, the difficulty was peak Master-ranked. Crafted for those about to step into Grandmaster and create a Domain.

This would have been the perfect place for her brother to forge his moon domain.

But here she was, a mere Intermediate, in a place built to break her, with an aspect utterly opposed to her own.

"Damned scoundrel…" she cursed under her breath, frustration boiling inside her.

She glared at Kaden's back, then growled, "Do you know what type of situation you are in?"

Kaden didn't slow his pace. His perception stretched wide, combing through the land.

He felt danger, but he couldn't pinpoint where.

Still, he parted his lips to answer Sora, his eyes darting across the snow-laden world.

"I was hoping for you to enlighten me. After all, The Will said it was your family's inheritance ground." He spoke calmly, too calmly for Sora's taste.

"I don't think you realize your situation, Warborn's spawn."

"You first dared to step into our property, the Forest of Eternal Sunshine, but you managed to escape only because you…" she faltered on her words, ashamed to admit it, but pushed through.

"…because you blackmailed me. But here, you won't get out alive." Sora barked, making Kaden finally stop.

He turned his head slightly toward her. "And why is that?" he asked, more curious than afraid.

Sora hated it.

She hated his calm demeanor, even in this situation. But she believed it was because he had yet to understand the repercussions of his reckless actions.

"If you do not know, this is the inheritance ground of our family. The moment you activated it to enter, my parents, especially my mother, would have sensed it."

"Do you know what that means, you barbarian?"

She stepped closer, her face twisted in fury.

"That means that if you ever manage to get out of here alive, you will face our armies outside, ready to burn you into crisp." She said, standing just an inch away.

"If…?" He inquired, ignoring the latter part of her words.

"What's the difficulty of this place?"

"Peak-Master rank." Sora said, expecting Kaden — an Intermediate like her — to finally show fear.

But instead, Kaden simply gave a casual "oh!" then smiled.

"I expected worse from you, Asterion. If it's only that, then it will be fine." He said with confidence, then turned away again, continuing his scouting.

Sora's body trembled as she restrained the urge to slap him with her burning hand and carve a mark across his face.

She looked at his back as if he were an idiot, but she stayed silent, letting him test this place first.

Kaden understood clearly the situation he was in.

Honestly, he didn't need to be told he was in danger. His perception had been warning him for a while now.

'But I have no choice… it's my only lead for an evolution stone. I cannot pass it up…'

Even if it meant enraging the Celestials.

As this thoughts formed in his mind…

He stopped abruptly, making Sora bump into his back. She opened her mouth wide, ready to curse him, but snapped it shut as a dreadful pulse surged through their bodies like venom.

Their hearts hammered like war drums beaten by a berserker as they snapped their heads toward the pristine sky.

The previous full moon was no more. In its place was a half-moon, its left side glowing with a dark, murky light.

Instantly, the whole realm was plunged into unfathomable darkness, thick as oil. The snow beneath them shifted and was swallowed by living shadows that coiled around their ankles like hungry maggots.

They staggered.

"What the…?" Kaden muttered, feeling an unsettling sensation of being watched by sinister eyes.

He looked around, and all he saw were red eyes burning with malevolent rage through the abyss.

Sora shifted instinctively, standing at his side.

Kaden smiled crookedly.

"I forgot to ask… what was our chance to get out of this alive again?"

"Shut up!" Sora snarled.

—End of Chapter 208—

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