"Ah… fuck!" Kaden cursed as he lay on the icy floor of the cave, flat on his back, his chest rising and falling from exhaustion.

His black tunic was shredded in multiple places, leaving his smooth skin exposed to the merciless glacial wind of the realm.

Sora sat in her usual spot, back against the wall, trying hard to regulate her breathing and keep her trembling hands still.

Her body was drenched in sweat, golden hair plastered to her head like glue, her skin streaked with wounds, her clothes torn in several places.

There was one part of her precious robe in particular now ruined with a gaping hole torn straight through it.

They had just survived another icy storm, and by now both Kaden and Sora were certain of one thing…

The next one would kill them, or at the very least leave them dangling on the edge of death.

This was too much.

Weeks had passed, and during that time the duo had endured countless trials together.

The shadowy lunar phase grew more dreadful with every cycle.

After the wraiths, came the Moonlight Owls — their eyesight was monstrous, able to see and react with such speed that Kaden struggled to land a proper killing blow, especially since they could fly.

In that one, Sora went wild with her explosive attacks, catching them off guard.

But their eyesight was not the only thing monstrous about them, there were also their talons… and ah, the gods knew how Kaden almost screamed like a little girl when one Owl almost ripped his heart straight from his chest.

After that incident, he discovered a new fear, a very real fear of owls.

If it had only been the Moonlight Owls, Kaden and Sora might have considered themselves fortunate, but worse came after.

There were Cheetahs of the Moon, making Sora's life hell as she wasn't able to land a single strike because of how fast and slippery they were, and here, to win, they had to use intellect instead of brute force.

Kaden smeared the ground with sticky blood, slowing their speed significantly, and then with her flaming punch Sora seared a hole through their chests without mercy, added with Reditha's lethality.

And it was not over.

They found themselves against vampires, whose strength was at Master rank and further enhanced by the moon.

They almost died.

The threat of death was so omnipresent that Sora discarded completely her worthless pride and cooperated with Kaden in order to prevail, and they succeeded… albeit after Kaden lost one limb and Sora had her stomach shredded open and watched her intestines spill onto the whirling shadowed ground.

It was so painful, so damn painful that Sora had cried her eyes out, shrieking as she tried to keep her blood from flowing out, draining her of any warmth.

All of that while Kaden, accustomed to pain, managed to keep his head barely calm as his right arm was cleaved from the elbow and continued the fight with only his left arm, Reditha hungry for blood to venge her master.

He used Soulbrand, inflicting soul damage, tearing their enemies' souls into pieces, and only then did he manage to kill them.

Afterward he had approached Sora, giving her high-grade healing potions to save her while he clenched his teeth and bore the torment in his own right arm.

They only survived thanks to the high-grade potions they carried, treasures afforded by their backgrounds.

But that was only the shadow phase.

The icy storms were something else entirely.

Each storm grew worse, and at first they weren't sure, but as days passed, the icy storms began to manifest into one ferocious Winter Beast, with monstrous height, a body made of snow and ice.

Each of its steps shook the entire realm while it was enveloped by a swirling storm harrowing enough to freeze you solid if you lingered more than a couple of minutes, making them feel like they were against a god or…an envoy of one.

They survived only because the beast was not yet whole, but it would be in the next glacial lunar phase.

And that meant only one thing.

Death.

All of these ordeals convinced them the dungeon had been designed to be cleared in one attempt, because the more time passed, the more the difficulty increased absurdly, and they had reached their limits.

But they had no idea how to clear this trial. They had searched the entire realm during the full moon phases, crossing the endless icy expanse, but they had found absolutely nothing to help them.

Kaden had asked Sora numerous times, but all she said was that the true inheritor of the Moon would instinctively know how to clear this dungeon.

Because the moon would tell him.

But for them… they had no place in this realm, they were intruders, and that was why the realm wanted to devour them.

"Ah, fuck!" Kaden cursed again, the weight of the situation pressing down heavily on his shoulders.

"Can you stop cursing like a Barbadian?" Sora's contemptuous tone cut the cold air.

Kaden ignored her.

If there was one small blessing — if you can even call it like that — it was that he had grown closer to Sora. Well, as close as former enemies could be.

Close enough to look at each other's eyes without wanting to gouge them out, or to imagine the other drowning in their blood while sipping tea beside them.

'Well, I never had a problem with her anyway,' Kaden shrugged in his mind, though he was glad they could finally work together without conflict.

'And… we work so well together,' he mused.

This was something both of them noticed after fighting side by side so many times, but neither addressed it, as if embarrassed or disgusted by the thought.

But the fact remained.

Their synergy was better even than Kaden and Asael's, a surprising truth.

The two of them didn't need to talk, didn't even need to look at each other to know what to do — it came naturally, as if they were one.

Kaden winced at this thought, discomfort twisting in his chest, and shook his head, casting it aside as he sat up in front of Sora, the flickering golden fire between them giving a fragile warmth in this frozen hell.

The threat of death was imminent, only two hours away, but it seemed they agreed to simply… live the moment.

Usually they sat in silence, but lately they had begun to share small conversations, little exchanges to ease their minds from the strain of fear and the shadow of failure.

Kaden looked at the silent Sora, noticing how her fingers twitched at her side, how her lips opened slightly as if to speak only to close again, and he raised an eyebrow before parting his own lips.

"So," Kaden said, pulling salmon from his space ring, "did you change your vocation or something?"

Sora raised the fire's heat to cooking temperature while Kaden seasoned the salmon with salt, smoking herbs, and garlic, shaping a frying pan with his blood control and setting it above the flames.

It was evident this was not the first time they had done this.

"My vocation? What do you mean?" Sora asked, confused.

"I haven't heard you sing since we got here," Kaden clarified.

At that, Sora bristled, immediately defensive, scowling at him.

"So what? You want me to sing so you can threaten me with it, is that it?" she snarled, like a cat ready to slash its master's face with her claws.

"Hey, hey! You're burning the salmon! These are my last ones, and if you burn them you won't eat today," Kaden said quickly, urgency evident on his voice, noticing the fire flare hotter with Sora's rising emotions.

She calmed instantly, glancing worriedly at the salmon, sighing in visible relief when she saw it was safe, before returning her scowl to Kaden.

Kaden suppressed a smile watching her act.

Sora was a big foodie.

An unexpected discovery, and one of the reasons she had opened up a little to him.

After all, Kaden could cook a little, and unlike him, Sora hadn't thought to bring food in her space ring.

Truly not worthy of being called a foodie.

"It was just an observation. I saw you moving your fingers, but never singing aloud," Kaden said, pausing a moment before continuing.

"If you're worried I'll threaten you with it, don't be. I'm more concerned with how to clear this trial."

"And if also you're worried I'll mock you, please don't. I'm kind of a fan of music myself."

His last words immediately caught Sora's attention, making her pause and look at Kaden strangely.

"Are you saying that just to get my attention?" she asked suspiciously, clearly not believing him.

Kaden scoffed. "Who even are you?"

"I'm the princess of the Celestial Empire. Everyone wants my attention," she growled.

Kaden shrugged. "Not me. I have nothing to gain from it except problems I don't want. So no thank you."

He said it, but he knew damn well it was not true.

He had already gained this princess's attention, ever since that day in the Forest of Eternal Sunshine.

And Sora knew it too. Watching him now, so unbothered, she realized he wasn't trying to earn her gaze.

Which meant…

'He really does love music?' she thought, a strange, bright feeling shining in her heart like the summer sun.

"You… you really love music?"

"And you don't find it strange, a princess like me singing?" she asked, hesitation and hope mingling in her voice.

Kaden, still tending the salmon, didn't even raise his head, only shrugged lightly.

"It did surprise me when I learned it, I found it unusual," he replied honestly.

Sora's expression began to change, anger flickering in her eyes, but before she could snarl…

"…but isn't singing just another craft, like blacksmithing and others? Granted, it's not as respected, but that's only because no one ever invested the same effort to raise it to that level."

He raised his eyes and locked them onto hers, noticing how her golden eyes widened in shock.

"Because let me tell you something, golden voice…"

He smirked.

"The power of words is one of the most dreadful powers in the world."

"You just have to sing the song they want to hear, with the right beats, the right rhythm, the right lyrics, and…"

His smirk sharpened.

Sora's eyes shone with wonder, shock, and elation as Kaden finished his sentence.

"…and the whole world will do your bidding."

BADUM—!

—End of Chapter 217—

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