"…what a perfect timing it was," Kaden muttered as he found himself inside the unfathomable darkness of Death.

He was standing weightless, his arms crossed on his chest as multiple thoughts churned through his mind.

He was dead.

That much was obvious regarding the place he was.

But the next question would be how he died?

The Asterions didn't touch him, and until further notice, he didn't have any illness that might have caused him to die, that means…

"Vaela was killed," Kaden concluded, his expression immediately hardened, his eyes turning cold like frosted steel.

"Who killed her? Who would even dare to enter the Cerveau and kill her?" he wondered, not understanding how all of this was possible.

But there was another possibility as well, one he had to consider.

"The Cerveau killed her…?"

But that too didn't make any sense to Kaden. Vaela's power was too useful, too powerful and unique, especially for people like the Cerveau to just be killed like that.

If they truly killed her…

Then something must have happened.

Something that made them take the risk to kill a being like Vaela and bear the burden of losing their eyes, eyes able to see beyond the current reality most of us were bound to.

And whatever it was…

"I wouldn't like it," Kaden concluded, a weary sigh escaping from the bounds of his lips.

Things were on track.

He had just opened a Mythic rank Evolution Stone and was ready to take his evolution quest to become a Master.

Yes, a renowned Master with considerable power.

But now something happened, something he needed to solve, because otherwise he might be trapped in a loop of dying until his death coins were exhausted and…

…death. A permanent one this time.

"Ah… Vaela…" Kaden breathed. He should have been unhappy with this, but strangely he was not.

Because this made him able to know the state of Vaela.

And weirdly — or maybe not — he didn't want to see Vaela die.

She was his Seer, after all.

And if the Cerveau didn't want her, that was fine.

It was time for her to completely detach herself from that damned family and integrate fully into the Crimson Veil.

And be their eyes. Eyes that would make sure to guide the group in a meaningful way.

But first…

"I have to save her." Kaden began to walk back and forth through the darkness, his eyes closed, his arms behind his back, as he thought of how.

First, he needed to escape Mahina safely, then once in Darklore he needed to find a way to save his Seer.

It should normally not have been an easy task, but fortunately Kaden had taken some precautions beforehand.

"She must have arrived by now, right?" he wondered, thinking about the abomination he had turned beautiful.

He had told her before going back to Waverith to depart her territory as well and get closer to Waverith. And now, with her perfectly human appearance, with no sign of beast blood remaining in her, she could act like a human and enter the city.

"She will be enough… I will send Nasari too. They just need to distract them and I… I will save Vaela amid the chaos they will create." he decided, his heart beating fast because of what he would have to do.

It wouldn't be easy to enter the Cerveau and escape unnoticed.

But it hardly mattered.

The number of death coins he had now was huge, he could afford a couple of deaths.

Sighing again, Kaden finally ordered Death to start the process.

"Go on, Death."

[You have been killed. At what point of time do you wish to be revived?]

"The instant we met Lumina," he answered.

[Understood.]

[The Origin of your death is both caused by Vaela, The Seer and The Executioner. For this situation, you are automatically granted a trait within the Cerveau bloodline.]

[You have obtained the Trait: Memory Alteration.]

[Description: You are able to alter, to change, to modify, to delete, to add memories inside a being with: lower will than you and up to two ranks higher than you.]

Kaden examined the trait. But what he was most focused on was the origin of his death… and thus confirmed his earlier thoughts.

Vaela had been killed by the Cerveau.

An intense feeling of anger fluttered through his chest like the restless wings of a raven. His crimson eyes gleamed ferociously as he couldn't help but imagine the feelings, the emotions Vaela must have experienced in that moment when her family killed her.

What were her last thoughts before death? What… just what kind of feeling did she have?

Hatred, indignation, anger… or even fear?

The more he thought about it, the more his heart thundered with fury.

Kaden was not someone who liked easily. He might have spent little time with Vaela, but their meeting had been impactful.

He had made an obvious mistake that day regarding how to act with a seer, but the price he paid was nothing compared to what he gained — a friend.

And Kaden held his friends dear.

He didn't have many, after all.

And that was why he had to save her before she felt again whatever despair she felt at her death.

Clenching his fists tightly, he tried to calm the turbulent emotions raging inside him.

'Being angry will not solve anything… calm… be calm…' he repeated to himself, and slowly, his heartbeat began to settle, like an ocean quieting after a storm.

He exhaled, a steamy breath of stress escaping his lips.

"Death, how many death coins do I have?"

[Death coins: 25,000.]

He nodded.

"Revive me."

[Cost: 600.]

Tick—!

…

"Ah, stupid sun—!" Lumina didn't even finish her words before she felt a hand wrap tightly around her small body, cutting her voice off instantly.

She struggled in the grasp, squirming like a pig trapped in the mud, but the grip only tightened further, her fragile frame on the verge of snapping in two.

She froze, panting heavily, her eyes raising upward and found herself staring into a pair of crimson eyes that sent a violent shiver down her spine.

She shuddered.

"W-Wait what…?" she scrambled, her voice trembling.

Kaden's face was as cold and merciless as death itself. There was none of the humor, none of the relaxedness he had displayed last time.

"You…" he said, his tone flat and deadly, "give me the Mythic Stone."

He didn't actually need it. He already possessed the Mythic Stone he had taken last time, but…

…Kaden was a greedy man.

He knew how impossibly difficult it was to obtain such a rank, and he would have been a fool not to hoard it while the chance was before him.

He turned his gaze toward the silent Sora, who was watching him with open scorn as she saw him threatening a pitiful fairy.

Kaden's lips twitched slightly, but he ignored her look. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked, as if to confirm.

Sora only shrugged. "You earned it," she said flatly, before turning her head away.

She was an Asterion. If she willed it, she could always obtain a Mythic Stone for her own evolution quest, all she had to do was act like the obedient and exemplary child her parents demanded her to be.

The child born to carry the sun of the empire.

And besides, Kaden truly deserved it. Her pride wouldn't allow her to take it away from him.

Kaden smiled lightly at this. He would have loved to jab at her with a remark in that moment, but time was running short.

He took the Mythic Stone from Lumina and stored it into his space ring. Then he invoked the new trait he had obtained.

Memory Alteration.

Lumina was only a fairy, the personification of an artifact. She had no cultivation until she bound herself to a master.

So the only thing Kaden had to contend with was her will, and his will was higher.

Without difficulty, he erased every trace of memory she had of him, then carefully inserted new ones — memories of Sora wielding her sun flame brilliantly, while also deleting all traces of Sora's singing from Lumina's mind.

That was his thanks for the Mythic Stone.

He turned toward Sora, who was staring at him strangely, and handed her the unconscious Lumina.

"I have a favor to ask you, golden voice." he said, his tone serious.

Moments later, the realm began to tremble once again, the same as before, light swallowing them as their bodies dissolved into molten glow and vanished from the Moonborn's realm.

A flash of blue.

The realm was gone.

…

Outside, Mahina and Sirius were waiting.

They had just arrived, scanning the air around them to pinpoint the trial's realm more clearly when suddenly Mahina sensed a violent twist in the space.

Turning her head, she was met with a wave of scorching fire bursting into existence, blinding and searing, sizzling the very air into tongues of flame, making both her and Sirius instinctively squint their eyes against the burning brilliance.

The flames vanished almost immediately, and in their place stood Sora — her golden robe torn, her skin marked by wounds, dried blood smeared across her body.

In her palm was Lumina, curled up asleep.

She forced a strained smile toward her mother and brother.

"Hi…?"

…

Darklore — Warborn Estate.

Kaden had just returned from Fokay thanks to Sora's diversion. He was sprinting through the corridors of his home, a runic communicator clutched in his hand.

Soon, a voice boomed from it.

"Ah! Harvester! You finally—!"

"Alea." Kaden interrupted briskly, his voice cold.

Alea immediately recognized the gravity in her master's tone.

"Yes, Harvester." she replied without hesitation.

"Are you in Waverith?"

"Yes. I'm even at the Cerveau's territory, as you told me."

Kaden's lips twisted into a lifeless smile.

"Alea, from this moment on, you are the Masked Abomination of the Crimson Veil. You have received your first task."

"Take all of your undead and plunge them into the Cerveau's main house. Drown them in chaos. Cause as much devastation as you can."

"Do not die, do not be captured and…"

He paused, then added quietly,

"Don't forget your mask."

—End of Chapter 222—

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