Cradled in his arms, Elun closed her eyes as Yuto instructed and settled down to rest. Soon her breathing grew quiet, and he started down the passage, taking care not to cause her any discomfort.

It felt strange. The slight weight in his arms. The quiet breathing. Elun's body felt a little cool, yet Yuto sensed a warmth that went beyond her actual temperature.

"..."

They had almost nothing in common, so why did he keep seeing his daughter in Elun?

'It must be because I can't let go.'

Or perhaps it was guilt over failing to protect her. With a bitter smile, Yuto looked away from Elun. Seeing the daughter he could never... meet again in Elun was unfair to them both. He knew that, yet longing and guilt-ridden attachment still made him project his daughter onto her.

He should not do it, but the heart did not always obey one's wishes.

After he had walked for some time, he began to see people huddled on the passage floor. They were the victims the Black Mages had captured and subjected to human experimentation underground.

Before that, they had been impoverished grave robbers who had come to scour Belkain's ruins for anything worth even a few coins.

Yuto gazed at the survivors with mixed feelings. Every one of them was in a dreadful state. Not only had they been poorly fed, but they had also endured cruel experiments that corrupted their aether through the pain of torture. They wore rags crusted with dried blood, and their bodies were so emaciated that their skin clung to their bones.

"..."

Perhaps they lacked even the strength to speak. The survivors barely managed to raise their somber eyes to look at him.

Yuto silently met their gazes. Grave robbing was not something he could forgive... but neither did he want to rebuke people who had barely escaped with their lives. Besides, not all of them had come to Belkain to rob its graves. Among them were slaves the Black Mages had brought in solely for their experiments.

"I understand that it's difficult, but we need to get up now."

Yuto swallowed a sigh as he spoke. There were roughly twenty survivors. Judging by their condition, they did not look capable of walking for long.

"Let's head aboveground first."

Yuto's Charm stat had a stronger effect on those who were faint of heart. His tone was by no means forceful, but the air about him made the survivors unable to even contemplate defying his orders.

The huddled survivors staggered to their feet. Taking them with him, Yuto headed toward the end of the underground passage.

He opened the heavy iron door with Void Touch and climbed the stairs leading to the surface.

RUMBLE...

When he moved aside the stone slab covering the top of the stairs as well, thick fog poured in, carrying the smell of damp earth.

"Yuto!"

Levian and Flokiro had already arrived at the cemetery. As Yuto emerged with the survivors, the two approached with startled expressions.

"E-earlier, the city... It was only for an instant, but it was covered in black light."

Levian stumbled over her words.

"I thought perhaps some of the Black Mages' magic was still lingering, but i-it didn't feel like that sort of evil magic. It was..."

"I merely comforted the restless spirits."

Levian's eyes went wide at his answer. Then, with a soft gasp, she slowly nodded.

"So... it really was your doing?"

"Yes."

"Haah... You... still have so many secrets. When will I get to hear the rest of them?"

"Someday, when I feel like telling you."

Levian blinked at his deadpan reply.

"Was that a joke?"

"Who knows?"

"A joke... It was a joke. I never imagined I'd hear one from you."

Levian chuckled, gazing at him.

"We've grown quite a bit closer on this journey, haven't we?"

"I feel we have. I take it you don't?"

"Of course I do. I feel closer to you, too."

Smiling softly, Levian looked at Elun in Yuto's arms.

"Is she asleep?"

"No."

Elun opened her eyes.

"I am merely resting for a while."

Her voice remained as cold as ever. When she shifted slightly, Yuto carefully lowered her to the ground.

"It was convenient not having to walk on my own two feet. I could travel this way from time to time."

"You liked it, then?"

"A little."

Elun answered quietly and turned to the survivors.

"Do you intend to take all those humans with you?"

"I can't leave them here."

"Taking along creatures who can barely walk is irrational. It will take too long and be a nuisance."

"That's why I'm going to get some carriages."

Yuto turned to Levian.

"Could I ask you to handle that?"

"Hmm... We should be able to borrow carriages from the checkpoint. But getting there and back will take time..."

"Flokiro."

Yuto turned to look at him. At the summons, Flokiro heaved a sigh and nodded.

"I'll give her a ride there and back."

Flokiro's aether swelled, and orange flames enveloped his small body.

"Wow..."

Levian stared openmouthed as Flokiro evolved. She had heard before that he could evolve at will, but seeing it with her own eyes, she could not help being amazed.

"This... This is impossible. To think an Evomon like this exists..."

"I told you. I'm a special Evomon."

Flokai snorted, approached Levian, and lowered himself.

"You can't just explain it away by saying you're... special. Presenting this to an academic society could win every award... C-could I perhaps examine you in more detail later?"

"Are you planning to do some weird experiments on me?"

"N-not experiments. Observation. I'll bake you as many cookies as you want, all right? I'll make c-cake, too."

"Well... I'll think about it."

Flokai gulped as Levian climbed onto his back. Leaving through Belkain's gates, crossing Lasia Plain, and reaching the nearest checkpoint would take a full day even on an Iron Horse. But at Flokai's full speed, they would reach the checkpoint in no time.

"I'll borrow the fastest horses and carriages I can find. We should... arrive tomorrow morning."

"We'll wait near the city gates until then."

Flokai and Levian disappeared into the thick fog. Yuto gazed at the silent streets of Belkain. The Void's veil was no longer visible to the naked eye, but the air against his skin had a different weight.

With the once unbearably loud screams of the restless spirits hushed, the city was profoundly quiet.

'For now... sleep here, my people.'

Yuto murmured the words in his heart. The peace that lingered here was not true repose. This quiet was merely the calm before a storm that would one day come, a flimsy covering laid over the traces of sins that could never be washed away.

The souls of his people, held in thrall by the constellations, still lay upon Babylon's scales. The chains binding them had not been broken.

Yuto's gaze lingered on the remains of the once-splendid royal palace beyond the collapsed walls. Those who had once laughed and talked there now drifted about as nameless mist. Even the Void's power, which he had gained by cutting down the wraith and proving his existence, could not bring immediate salvation to those who had perished in this city.

All he could do was hide them for a while from the constellations' sadistic gaze and the Black Mages who might return. For now, that was the only comfort and mourning Yuto, Belkain's last king, could offer.

'... Someday.'

Yuto clenched his fists until they turned white.

'I will grant you eternal rest, not this fleeting respite.'

So swore the last king, who had executed the benighted king with his own hands and chosen to shoulder the burden of his fallen homeland. Until the day he toppled Babylon's pillars and severed the constellations' heads one by one, this vow would burn in Yuto's heart as an undying flame.

"Yuto."

Elun spoke beside him, her expression indifferent.

"Do not let passion consume you. You are still weak."

"I know."

Yuto gave a brief reply and closed his eyes. He almost thought he could hear the breathing of the restless spirits sleeping beneath the veil.

May they, freed for a moment from their hellish suffering, find peace at least in their dreams. May they remember not the Belkain destroyed by calamity, but the glorious, radiant Belkain of old.

Yuto let out a long breath and opened his eyes.

"Let's head toward the city gates."

The fog was still thick, but his steps were unhesitating as he made his way through it.

* * *

Far, far from Belkain stood an immense, gloomy tower atop a sheer cliff.

Here at Dark Star's headquarters, the musty stench of corrupted aether hung heavy in the air, as always.

On the tower's top floor, in an office where black draperies fluttered in the wind, a woman glared at a crystal ball.

She was the founder of Dark Star and leader of the Black Mages, who worked in the continent's shadows, collecting and researching evil magic. She was known by the epithet "Dark Mage."

Though she had founded Dark Star more than fifty years ago, she looked not like an old woman, but a youthful girl.

Calipha Asward. After glaring at the crystal ball through narrowed eyes, she clicked her tongue irritably and began gnawing at her nails.

"Why?"

Calipha's violet hair writhed like snakes in response to her aether, which seethed with fury.

"Why can't I see anything?"

Normally, she should have been able to inspect the aether produced in Belkain through the crystal ball. Now, however, it showed nothing.

That could mean only one thing. Something had gone wrong at the "factory." But why? With a crunch, Calipha bit through a fingernail.

"Betrayal?"

Impossible. The Black Mages dispatched to the factory knew all too well how terrifying she was.

"Has something gone wrong with the process?"

That was impossible, too. The crystals that had transformed Belkain into a factory were her masterpiece. The processing system she had painstakingly devised would never malfunction.

If the crystal ball still showed nothing, there could be only one reason.

"Someone has wrecked my factory."

Had there been even the slightest malfunction in the process, the Black Mages she had dispatched would have sent an urgent report. Yet she had heard nothing.

"They're all dead."

Calipha's shoulders shook. It was not grief for the Black Mages she had sent. Human death brought her no sorrow. Not even the death of a subordinate faithful to her commands could make her grieve. Dying without properly carrying out her orders was cause not for mourning, but for anger.

"Incompetent fools...!"

Murderous intent at its height stained Calipha's eyes pitch-black. Belkain. That kingdom cursed by the constellations was an aether factory she had created with tremendous effort. The aether produced there was not merely for elevating her own standing. It was an offering to the one she adored and worshipped.

And yet someone had dared—dared—to ruin her factory.

"What filthy rat dared lay a hand on my harvest?"

Spitting out the words viciously, Calipha thrust out a hand. A pitch-black mage's robe flew from the wall and wrapped around her.

Standing here trembling and raging would change nothing. If the factory had been destroyed, she had to go there at once and find out which filthy rat had done it.

The tower was a great distance from Belkain. All the more reason not to waste time standing around. She would leave the tower immediately, reach that cursed land, and...

As she strode toward the door with those thoughts in mind, Calipha stopped dead.

"Ah... Aah..."

Calipha shuddered, then prostrated herself on the floor.

"Lord Shiro...!"

Shiro Ristal.

The boy Calipha adored and worshipped, radiant as the sun and beautiful as gold, stood with his back against the door.