Nightfire watched as Aether disappeared into the distance. She then turned her gaze toward the casket and Starla, her lips curling into a wry expression.
"So, if not for Aether stepping in... she would have killed outright and stolen my sister’s soul just to patch her own?"
The thought burned in her chest. She was still annoyed, furious, her temper refusing to settle.
Starla glanced at Nightfire, shaking her ghostly head with a quiet sigh before speaking, "It’s true that Lord’s Love saved you, but... no, she wasn’t going to kill you. She only needed another soul resting inside your body, that’s all."
"That’s all? Fuck you!!" Nightfire snapped, her voice sharp and cutting.
She snorted furiously and glared at Nyx’s face, her nostrils flaring before she spat another snort. "Can’t she just use one of you then? Oh? Don’t tell she wanted to protect her precious loyal servants!"
Starla’s frown deepened. "If it were possible, for our Queen, we would have given every single one of ourselves to her..." Her eyes wandered toward the other ghosts, their silent nods falling in unison like a vow.
Starla added in a solemn tone, "A vessel that holds two souls... that’s what you are. Your body and soul are unique, unlike any other. Your vessel itself is strong, and your soul has the rare ability to adapt and adjust into her body. That is why it was easier to claim yours, why it could fix her issue."
Still... Nightfire gave another irritated snort, her tail twitching as her brows furrowed. "If she died... then why the hell are you all still here? Wouldn’t your pact or sothing have been cancelled the mont she fell?"
Starla’s expression softened. She smiled gently, her ghostly hand ruffling Nyx’s forehead with a tenderness that lingered. She muttered, "It’s because she gave this place to us... she wanted us... to live here peacefully, to remain here happily."
Nightfire rolled her eyes and let out another sharp snort. "So Love~" she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
Her tone shifted as she narrowed her gaze. "Is Aether really going to bring Nyx’s soul back from the Grenthollow? Is that even possible?"
Nightfire asked again with a deep frown. She had never heard of anything even remotely possible, not once in her life. Just how was Aether planning to bring Nyx back then?
Starla only shrugged her shoulders, her spectral form dimming slightly. "It’s impossible to pull a soul back from there... I don’t understand what My Lord is thinking. Maybe he just wants to believe he’s doing sothing for her, sothing that feels aningful?"
Nightfire humd under her breath, crossing her arms. ...If anything, he would still try. He would always do sothing for Nyx.
Which, of course, only made her chest tighten.
’Please don’t bring any more disaster,’ Nightfire thought bitterly, her lips twisting into a wry expression.
anwhile,
Grenthollow Mountain
The green stony mountain glowed faintly, like veins of neon light woven beneath its surface. The glow spread beneath the crimson sky, casting an unearthly aura across the land.
The sight alone made the towering stone look divine, otherworldly—mountain light and red heavens mixing into a vision almost too unreal to be true.
So srising... almost enough to steal one’s breath.
But... that wasn’t the reason Aether had co here. Aether stood before the mountain’s base, motionless, his eyes cold, stripped of warmth, devoid of all emotion.
’... Is it possible?’ he asked inwardly.
!~Ding~!
[Due to her Death-Alive State, her body isn’t really dead... It’s just her unstable soul that moves around... so as long as her soul is placed back inside her body... yeah, it’s possible to bring her back.]
Aether humd softly, a small smile tugging at his lips.
However,
[But what happens after that?]
’I will use the Aeth—’
[Seal of Aethernal? Just like you did with Maelona?]
Aether nodded with serious. After all, even Maelona, who was supposed to die, still lived because of his seal, right? If he did the sa thing, then maybe he could save Nyx too... right?
[Not sure if it’s a good plan, but... why don’t you first focus on yourself?]
Aether blinked and slowly raised his hand. His skin wavered, flickering between hazy transparency and solid form. "Is it... because she isn’t alive?"
[Affirmative!]
"How long do I have?"
[... I don’t have an approximate number.]
Aether fell silent, blankly staring at the glowing mountain ahead of him. His lips pressed together. He uttered no more words.
Just then,
"Hey, you! What are you doing here!!" Soldiers nearby shouted as they ran toward him, their faces twisted with fury. "Get out! You’re a trespasser!!"
Aether turned, his cold gaze falling upon the soldier who had guided them here before. "You know , don’t you?"
The soldier spat back, "So what? Without permission from the Empress, no one is allowed to enter this place. Get out before I call the others!"
Aether said nothing. He simply stared, his eyes flickering with a faint crimson hue. The soldier stiffened, flinched, then his pupils glazed over into a lifeless blank.
"Tell ... where would the souls of soone who just died be?"
"If they died recently... their souls would still linger at the base of the mountain stairs."
Aether nodded and began walking forward.
There, standing before the base of the stairs, were a headless naked woman and a man. Their severed necks flared with purplish flas, smouldering like eerie torches.
They stood like guardians.
Behind them stretched the staircase, and upon it countless souls trudged upward, each step sluggish and heavy, as if the climb itself dragged eternity behind their feet. Slowly, they climbed toward the unseen peak.
Sensing an intruder, the Soulwardens’ flas flickered violently, their featureless forms seeming to frown as Aether approached.
But Aether did not spare them a glance. He stood still before the stairway, his eyes fixed past the guardians, straining to see if soone familiar — soone he knew — might be among the endless procession of souls.
"I need a soul," he said firmly as he looked at them. "Only one!" He raised a single finger, his voice echoing through the heavy silence. "If I get that, I will leave without making a fuss here."
He stepped forward... only to be blocked by the Soulwardens, their purplish flas flickering furiously as they raised their arms toward him.
Aether frowned, his eyes narrowing. He turned his gaze toward the soldier, whose eyes still remained blank and lifeless. Stepping forward with calm authority, he said, "Please... allow this man to claim only one sou—"
Ssshhhh~
Before he could even finish his words, the Soulwardens’ flas lashed out. The purplish fire engulfed the soldier instantly, burning away flesh and bone in less than a second until nothing remained.
Only his ghostly soul lingered, pale and hollow, drifting forward silently to step onto the mountain stairs.
Aether raised his eyebrows, caught off guard. He hadn’t expected that kind of power. The Soulwardens were clearly more dangerous than they appeared... but still, he couldn’t just give up here, could he?
He needed to bring her back before it was too late.
[💀 Danger: If the user hasn’t found a stable candidate, he will be forced to be removed from this reality forever!]
Aether clenched his fists before releasing a slow sigh. "I know you are only doing your work... but I am sorry."
His entire body suddenly ignited, bursting into purplish flas that surged outward violently. In an instant, both Soulwardens were consud, their forms collapsing into ashes.
PUFFFF!!!
Their bodies scattered into nothingness.
Aether exhaled again, shaking his head as he stepped forward... only to see another pair of Soulwardens materialise before the stairs.
Aether frowned deeply. He thought maybe Soulwardens from other stairways had rushed here, but as he kept burning them, again and again, before their flas could reach him, it beca clear... it was an endless cycle.
Just then, Aether noticed sothing strange. They burned, they fell, they vanished... but where were their souls supposed to go?
Wasn’t he the one who had just watched the soldier burn, and then calmly walk forward as a soul toward the stairs?
"Don’t tell ... these things are soulless creatures?" Aether muttered in a curious, almost disturbed tone, his flas bursting once more to consu the next Soulwardens.
This ti, instead of incinerating them, he tried freezing them in ice. The mont the frost spread, their bodies slid unnaturally through it, as though their forms weren’t truly solid to begin with.
Sslll~
Their flas lashed out, nearly grazing his chest, and Aether was forced to take several quick steps back.
His lips twitched, irritation sparking in his eyes... until he rembered his Pasa robe. Without hesitation, he raised the rope high, "Yeah... this is your Grace’s power! Kneel before it!!"
The Soulwardens’ flas flickered wildly as their empty gazes locked onto the rope. For a mont, they froze, as though seeing not rope, but their very origin, their very body.
Then, without a sound, their forms trembled... and their bodies kneeled down on their own.
"That’s easy?"
Aether sighed, shaking his head. "A rope can do more than I can... so ssed up," he muttered under his breath as he walked forward.
Neither of the Soulwardens moved to stop him this ti. Aether smirked as he stepped onto the stair—
—or so he thought, until,
BOOM!!
Sothing blasted him away.
Aether flew several ters back before twisting in the air and landing correctly on his feet. He frowned, staring at the mountain, then glanced down at his foot. His boots had shattered into pieces, reduced to fragnts, yet his legs... they seed perfectly fine.
"What just blasted then?" Aether muttered, his frown deepening as his eyes darted toward the Soulwardens, suspicious they might have pulled sothing sneaky. But to his surprise... no! They hadn’t moved at all.
He stepped forward.
It happened again, the very mont his foot touched the stairs.
Aether’s eyes widened as he saw it clearly this ti. A sudden green ray was ejected straight from the stairs itself, striking him with trendous force and blasting him off.
He rolled across the ground before standing, growling low. "The mountain itself... it’s not allowing !!" He gritted his teeth.
But why?
Hadn’t he entered last ti without any problem?
Aether moved closer to the mountain again, but this ti stopped short of stepping on it. Instead, he raised his hand, attempting to reach inside the stair. His palm slamd against sothing unseen... an invisible block pressed back, preventing him from even touching a fragnt of what lay within.
Aether’s frown darkened. He clenched his fist and,
BOOOMMM!!
He punched the barrier with all his force. For a mont, it looked as though it would break—the shockwave cracked the air itself—but then, instantly, the barrier healed, as if nothing had happened.
He didn’t stop.
He kept punching, again and again, his strikes landing with relentless force. The entire Cycle of Samsara trembled beneath his blows, each hamring strike echoing like distant thunder across the Empire itself.
And yet... the barrier continued to nd itself the instant it cracked. Web-like fissures spread across its surface, only to vanish instantly as though they had never existed.
Sighing... He had no other choice but to ask for help... Grace’s help.
Of course, he twisted his words carefully, disguising them as curiosity.... He could not let her get any ideas about what he was truly attempting.
However—
"No! No flesh or living being could ever enter the functioning Grenthollow."
That was her answer, spoken with a face far too serious to mistake for jest.
Aether’s face turned grim. His gaze fell back on the endless souls trudging up the steps. So didn’t even make it far—several were suddenly swallowed by a dark, sticky black liquid that oozed out from the stair itself, devouring them whole before they could scream.
[What are you going to do? You don’t have ti to just stand there staring!!]
His log’s voice shouted at him!
"I’m not sure it will work... but sothing tells this is the best chance I’ve got," Aether muttered to himself.
[Hmm? 🤔]
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