Kaden didn't just sit there, talking idly about songs with Sora while forgetting about the imminent death that loomed over them.

No, that would have been foolish of him.

He had come to understand the weight of life, and so he wouldn't simply surrender without exhausting every possible way to claw himself out of this trial.

And so he thought. He thought about how to clear this dungeon.

The barren landscape stretched endlessly with nothing but ice and snow — no clues, no hidden boss room, nothing — and that alone showed him they were approaching it the wrong way, thinking in the wrong direction.

This realization made Kaden take a step back and ask himself a single question.

What was the cause of all their suffering?

The answer came, sharp and undeniable.

The moon.

It was the moon's shifting phases that had driven them into hell again and again, dragging them back half-dead each time. And so Kaden thought…

If the moon was the problem… then what if they killed the moon?

It was a daring thought. No, more than that — it was an inconceivable thought, something no sane person would even dare to entertain.

Sora's mind hadn't even strayed into this territory.

But Kaden's did, and for one particular reason…

He had seen a sun bleed once, in that vision. And if a sun could bleed, then it could die. And if a sun could die…

'Then a moon can be killed too,' Kaden thought as he gazed coldly at the glowing sphere above, his intent stirring violently, spreading a suffocating scent of blood and death into the frozen air.

It lasted only a moment before he reined it in, turning his head toward Sora who was staring at him as if he had just spoken outright heresy.

He smirked.

"What's wrong, golden voice?"

"You are crazy," she said, her face tightening into a frown.

"What did you just say we are going to do?" she added, half-convinced it must have been her ears at fault.

Because there was no way this guy just said that…

"Kill the moon." Kaden answered with confidence.

…he actually said it?

Sora couldn't believe her ears. No… it wasn't just disbelief — something deep inside her recoiled at those words, a visceral discomfort, as if what he had spoken was sacrilege itself, an insult against her very bloodline.

She shook her head violently. "We cannot kill the moon. A moon cannot be killed." she grunted.

"It can. And we will."

"That is, if you want to get out of this realm alive. Don't forget we have one hour before death comes knocking at our door. And this time…"

He looked at her with unflinching seriousness, his blood-red eyes gleaming sinisterly.

"This time, I'm afraid you won't just see your intestines spilling out like water on the ground. You'll see the life itself snuffed from your body… just as a candle's flame is smothered by the howling wind."

Sora clenched her fists tight, glaring back at him with defiance as she growled, "We managed to survive until now. We can do it again. We just need to work together like we always do."

Kaden was honestly shocked to hear her say it aloud.

Who would have thought that this prideful princess, who had refused any help from the very beginning, would now be the one speaking these words?

It was almost funny… but Kaden didn't laugh, because time was slipping away.

"I appreciate your confidence in me, but there's no way we can survive the next one." he said coldly.

"You're just a coward. You're giving up because things are hard. Are you really Warborn? You're disappointing," she spat, her gaze burning with visible disappointment.

Kaden held her eyes for a long moment before turning away to face the moon above once more. His lips parted.

"You are the coward." he said, his voice carrying the weight of death itself.

"You refuse to even fathom the idea of killing the moon because it touches something deep inside you, doesn't it? After all, if the moon can be killed, then doesn't that mean the sun can be killed? The stars can be killed? Then doesn't that mean—!"

"Don't you dare!" Sora roared, cutting him off as she stepped closer, stopping just an inch from him, her gaze blazing into his.

"Don't you dare continue those words." she repeated, fire flickering violently around her, erupting like droplets of molten light.

"We cannot kill the moon. There is another way. We just haven't found it yet."

Kaden looked at her with impassive eyes, his face unmoved.

"You are trapped in your own mind. How do you expect to write a song like this? Even if you do succeed, it will be pale, empty, stripped of the individuality every true song must have." he said flatly, staring into her eyes.

Sora faltered, his words striking a nerve she didn't want exposed.

"It's not true!" she barked back.

"Then prove it." Kaden said, before stepping forward and vanishing from the cave.

His feet crunched against the snow-covered ground, steam escaping from his mouth and nose with every calm breath, his eyes closed as he sank into meditation.

Sora appeared behind him, hesitation written across her body, but she couldn't accept Kaden belittling her like that.

She clenched her teeth. She knew she was being provoked, but that didn't change the fact that she would not let such words go unanswered.

'My mind is trapped? My mind is not trapped. You are the foolish and arrogant one.' she raged inwardly.

"You want to kill the moon? Fine. Let's do it. You'll see how futile your actions are when you stand against the celestial." she said, her voice dropping low, edged with unconcealed anger.

Kaden's lips curved faintly as he opened his eyes.

"Perfect." he said.

Sora stepped to his side. "And what's your plan?" she asked scornfully.

"Shouldn't you know this? You carry the power of the sun in your bloodline."

He smiled.

"Then you should know that we cannot have both the sun and the moon in the same sky, at the same time."

Sora's eyes widened.

Kaden's smile stretched.

"We will create a sun, golden voice. A sun that will devour this moon and free us from this unending cold."

The idea was insane.

But…

'Why… why am I feeling excited?' Sora wondered, her whole body shivering as a wave of exhilaration surged through her.

Something about the image of a sun swallowing the moon struck deep inside her, resonating with her bloodline as the heiress of the sun. But it was more than that — in the back of her mind, something began to form…

Some words.

Some rhythm.

Some lyrics.

Her own song was taking shape. Inspiration had begun to flow inside her like fire racing through dry wood. She snapped her head toward Kaden, who was watching her with that knowing smile.

"Let's do it now." she said, urgency trembling in her voice. She was terrified that if they lingered too long, she would lose this fragile spark of inspiration.

"Your sunfire, my blood. Your intent of flame, my intent of death and blood."

"Let's combine it all."

The moment he spoke those words, they moved into action.

Sora raised her right hand, palm facing the sky. Kaden mirrored her, placing his hand beneath hers.

Sora focused, her eyes narrowing as golden fire erupted from her palm, forming first a ball of flame the size of a tennis ball, which grew steadily, swelling until it reached the size of a basketball. The heat climbed alongside its size, melting the snow beneath their feet, hissing steam rising in bursts as the very air grew heavy with fire, wrapping them in a cloak of mist.

The space itself began to ripple like waves as the temperature soared to impossible heights.

The golden fireball shifted in hue, a faint shade of white bleeding into its surface, revealing just how blisteringly hot it had become.

Sora's face streamed with sweat, her hand trembling as she struggled to stabilize the mass of power she was birthing. The fireball had grown as large as a car wheel now.

She pushed further, weaving her fire intent into the sphere, draping it like a veil that made the blazing orb even hotter, even deadlier.

Steam engulfed the world around them, dense and suffocating, until it was impossible to see anything. The fire consumed all, and they stood within a foggy world of grey, a world where the mysteries of creation seemed hidden just beyond the mist.

"Y-Your turn," she strained, her voice cracking from the weight of her exertion.

Kaden nodded. Blood erupted from his body, enveloping the fire. Soulbrand merged into it, his corrosive blood and death mana following. Then came his dual intents — crimson sword and death — slicing into the mix.

They added their blood together, the fusion hurling upward toward the sky.

This was a trial-realm, so the sky was an artificial one, not the untouchable heavens of Darklore or Fokay.

And so their blazing sphere touched the sky, ripples spreading above as the clouds evaporated, the false firmament trembling.

That was when Kaden finally released what he had been holding back.

"Look." he told Sora, who was staring at the sky, her heartbeat quickening.

Kaden invoked his trait synthesis with a single instruction.

'Bloody Sun.'

The effect was immediate. In the sky, beside the glowing blue full moon, the fusion began.

The fireball swirled and twisted, powers merging seamlessly until a sun was born — a golden sun scarred with crimson markings, its celestial body dripping blood along its edges like wounds that refused to close.

It radiated a beauty that was sacrilegious, abnormal, something that should not exist, and yet did, and in doing so defied the very laws of heaven.

Its crimson light poured across the horizon, burning the endless ice into a steaming wasteland, turning the world into a sea of rising fog.

Then the sun advanced. By the command of its creators, it reached out with tendrils of bloody fire, wrapping around the moon, beginning to consume it.

Not to kill.

To devour.

A scream shattered the realm — a deep, crunching wail of agony as the moon cracked, the space fracturing into thousands of bleeding shards, the ground splitting open. The once-pristine white sky bled into crimson.

The moon wept.

But the sun did not stop. It devoured, merciless, like a starving beast sinking its fangs into a prey.

Sora stood transfixed, her mind expanding and expanding until something within her finally clicked.

Inspiration rooted itself into her very being.

Her lips curved into a smile…radiant, fierce, a smile so bright it rivaled the bleeding sun above.

Then, instinctively, she parted her lips and sang.

She sang without thought of Kaden, without thought of the world of steam cloaking them.

She just… sang.

A song born of the pride and arrogance of the sun, but shaped by the inevitability of blood and death.

A song that revealed the fire burning bright within her, a fire that refused to be extinguished by the scorn of society, a song forged from the blood she was willing to spill to chase her dream.

And so she sang, with the moon's death-cry as her accompaniment, and the heir of death as her witness.

Yes, this was her first song.

It was…

Kaden smirked knowingly, closing his eyes as he listened.

"A song of Fire and Blood."

DING!

{Congratulations Sora Asterion, you have received a new title.}

{Title received: The Golden Voice.}

{Let your voice carry your fire, and illuminate the world in its glory.}

—End of Chapter 219—

A/N:

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