"lissa!"
"O-Oppa?!"
In a fit of rage and panic, Zen imdiately rushed back to the ho he had arranged for lissa.
Ever since the incident years ago, lissa had sohow managed to acclimate to society with surprisingly little change.
Though the seal remained within her, she still lived relatively normally, learning magic at her own pace while trying to enjoy the life of an ordinary young woman.
The mont Zen arrived, he imdiately grabbed both of her shoulders.
"Was it you?!" he demanded. "Those Demons... were you responsible for them?!"
"W-What?!"
However, contrary to his expectations, lissa looked utterly baffled, confused, terrified, and offended all at once.
At that mont, Zen imdiately retracted and ntally berated himself for even suspecting his own little sister in the first place.
"I..."
For a mont, words failed him.
lissa stared at him in disbelief, still trying to process why her brother had suddenly barged in and accused her like that.
"O-Oppa... what are you talking about...?"
Zen lowered his gaze.
The hysteria in his eyes gradually faded, replaced entirely by guilt.
"I found one," he said, his voice as low as a whisper. "A Demon."
"And...?"
"...It used to be human."
The atmosphere inside the room instantly sank.
Zen slowly clenched his fists.
"The mana signature coming from it..." he continued. "It resembled the sa dark flas from that day...."
lissa’s expression paled. "No..."
"I know," Zen imdiately said, rubbing his face in frustration. "I know. I shouldn’t have suspected you. But the mont I saw it, the first thing that ca to mind was what happened years ago..."
lissa remained silent.
Truthfully, she understood why.
Because even now, she herself still feared the thing sealed within her.
"Oppa... there’s sothing I need to tell you..."
Zen looked up imdiately.
"What?"
lissa hesitated briefly before lowering her gaze.
"This thing... it’s been communicating with ..."
"...."
At that mont, goosebumps crawled down Zen’s spine.
He already knew the thing sealed within lissa was capable of thought. Sothing intelligent. Sothing that should not have existed in the first place.
Those massive purple eyes that had stared back at him that day were enough proof of that.
Eyes so vast and incomprehensible that rely looking into them instinctively filled a person with dread. Eyes that felt more akin to standing before an abyss so imnse that the human mind itself could barely process its existence.
"...What did it say?" Zen asked.
lissa slowly clenched her hands together.
"At first... it only whispered things I couldn’t understand," she admitted. "But lately... the voice has beco clearer."
Zen’s expression gradually darkened.
"And?"
lissa hesitated again. "It says... there’s not much ti left..."
The room instantly fell silent.
"It keeps saying the world is already exposed," lissa continued quietly. "That the White Nights was only the beginning... and that eventually, everything will return to nothing if humanity continues as it is..."
Zen narrowed his eyes. "...That sounds like manipulation."
To him, it sounded no different from the whispers of a Demon attempting to tempt soone into lowering their guard.
Ever since encountering those corrupted humans, he had already begun to understand how insidious outside influence could be.
"I thought so too. But..." Slowly, she raised her gaze toward him. "...Oppa, what if it isn’t lying?"
Those words caused Zen to montarily freeze in place.
For a brief mont, the room fell completely silent, the atmosphere growing heavier as the implications behind her question slowly settled in.
"But what does it even an?" Zen eventually asked, his voice noticeably quieter than before. "Exposed... exposed to what exactly?"
"I don’t know..." lissa answered honestly as she slowly lowered her gaze again. "But I feel like... in this vast universe... we’re not alone..."
The mont those words left her mouth, an uncomfortable chill crept down Zen’s spine.
Because, strangely enough, that thought had crossed his mind before, too.
The more Zen learned about the world after the White Nights, after humanity was reset, the more it felt as though reality itself had been tampered with.
Humanity did not simply evolve overnight. Entire laws governing the world had changed. Mana had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, while creatures that should not have existed were now erging across the planet.
It was as though sothing had fundantally rewritten reality itself.
And if those purple eyes truly originated from sowhere beyond their world...
Then perhaps humanity had unknowingly opened a door it was never ant to touch in the first place.
lissa slowly clenched her hands together.
"It keeps calling humanity ’visible,’" she murmured quietly. "Like... before the White Nights, we were hidden sohow. But now..."
"...Now what?"
"...Now sothing else has started looking back."
"...."
After that conversation, the most natural course of action was to place lissa under constant observation while ensuring she had access to the best treatnt, protection, and facilities available to practice her magic.
Because at that point, lissa had beco the only direct connection Zen possessed to whatever those purple eyes belonged to.
Zen concluded that the thing sealed within her might possess answers humanity desperately needed to understand.
Years passed.
Six years later, reports of strange hallucinations began surfacing across different regions of the world. At first, governnts attempted to dismiss them as side effects of mana exposure, psychological stress, or mass hysteria caused by the unstable state of society.
But the incidents only continued increasing.
People claid they could hear voices whispering to them at night. Others reported seeing shadow-like figures standing at the edge of their vision before vanishing the mont they turned their heads.
So victims eventually lost the ability to distinguish reality from hallucination entirely, descending into madness while muttering incoherent phrases about the sky, the stars, and eyes hidden beyond darkness.
Then, a year later, humanity finally reached a conclusion.
Spirits.
That was what they began calling them.
Entities that seemingly lacked physical bodies yet could still influence the minds and emotions of people around them.
And those spirits... for reasons Zen desperately wished were rely coincidence... also carried traces of that sa signature.
The black flas.
Those purple eyes.
At that point, Zen finally understood there was no longer any room left for hesitation.
Everything was connected.
The White Nights.
The Demons.
The spirits.
Those purple eyes.
Whatever existed beyond those eyes had already begun influencing their world long ago.
And if humanity continued remaining ignorant, then eventually, they would be destroyed without even understanding what they were facing.
With that realization, Zen finally made up his mind. No matter the risks, no matter the consequences, he needed answers.
And the only being capable of giving them was the entity sealed within lissa.
"...You’re serious."
Jihyeon’s expression had darkened the mont Zen explained his plan.
Inside the underground chamber beneath their research facility, countless magic circles illuminated the walls while layers upon layers of sealing formulas continuously rotated throughout the surroundings.
Ever since the incident years ago, the place had gradually evolved from a small hut into sothing closer to a prison than a laboratory.
Or perhaps a sanctuary.
Even Zen no longer knew which description fit better.
"I am," he answered.
"This is insane, even for you."
"...."
Zen remained silent.
Because truthfully, he knew she was right.
Attempting to directly communicate with an entity capable of influencing reality itself was no different from willingly throwing oneself into the abyss and hoping the abyss decided not to swallow them whole.
But humanity was running out of ti.
The Demons were increasing.
The spirits were appearing more frequently.
And worse, the mana density across the planet continued rising year after year, as though reality itself was gradually becoming more compatible with whatever existed beyond it.
"Zen." Jihyeon’s voice softened. "You know what this thing is capable of."
"...Yeah."
At that, Zen slowly lowered his gaze toward his own hands.
For a brief mont, mories resurfaced within his mind.
The wars.
The Demons.
The corrupted humans screaming in agony while turning into monsters.
"...Oppa."
Zen imdiately turned toward lissa.
"What if..." lissa hesitated, slowly clenching her fists. "What if I stop being myself...? What if I die...? What if I just..."
"Stop talking," Zen cut her off imdiately. "I won’t let you die."
At that mont, the atmosphere inside the chamber fell silent.
Because that was the one possibility Zen never wanted to acknowledge.
The seal had held for years, but with every passing year, the entity’s connection to lissa only continued strengthening.
The line separating the vessel from the thing sealed within her had gradually beco more blurred over ti.
And if they pushed too far, there was a very real chance lissa herself might disappear entirely.
In any case, the underground chamber trembled as the ritual finally began.
Layers upon layers of magic circles illuminated across the floor, walls, and ceiling. Their patterns rotated slowly while enormous quantities of mana flowed through the chamber like streams of light.
At the center of it all sat lissa.
"Last chance to back out," Jihyeon muttered while making final adjustnts to the outer formation.
Zen stood directly across from lissa.
"...No."
Humanity had already crossed the point where ignorance could save them.
"Alright then," Jihyeon said. "Once the connection establishes itself, do not provoke it unnecessarily. If the entity attempts to overwhelm lissa’s consciousness, I’ll forcibly sever the ritual."
"And if severing it fails?" Zen asked.
"...Then we contain whatever cos out."
At this point, Zen stood second to none in the world when it ca to magic.
And quite frankly, compared to the monsters and prodigies that had begun erging across the globe, Jihyeon herself was no longer considered anyone particularly extraordinary anymore.
But what the two shared was sothing far more important than talent.
Absolute trust.
For Zen, there was no one in the world who understood him better than Jihyeon did. She had seen him at his weakest, watched him grow stronger, and remained beside him through every stage of his life as Zen.
Likewise, Jihyeon trusted Zen enough to stand beside him even while confronting sothing neither of them truly understood.
And perhaps that trust was the only reason they had made it this far.
Slowly, Jihyeon stepped back toward the outer layers of the formation while Zen approached lissa at the center of the chamber.
"You ready?" he asked.
lissa forced out a small smile despite the tension visible on her face.
"...Not really."
"That makes two of us."
For a mont, the atmosphere felt light.
Zen placed his hand against the center of the main formation.
The ritual imdiately reacted.
Boom——!
Every magic circle within the underground chamber illuminated simultaneously as enormous quantities of mana surged through the formation.
Dark flas spilled outward across the chamber floor.
Imdiately, the sealing formulas activated. Chains of golden mana wrapped around the spreading darkness before it could consu the surroundings entirely.
lissa winced.
"lissa!"
"I-I’m okay..."
But she clearly wasn’t.
Black markings slowly spread across her skin while the air inside the chamber rapidly grew heavier with every passing second. Even the mana itself felt distorted now, as though reality was slowly bending beneath the weight of sothing trying to erge.
———!
At that mont, Zen flinched.
"...."
Those eyes.
"...."
Watching him from sowhere beyond the darkness.
The black flas gathered behind lissa like an endless ocean of shadows slowly taking shape.
———!
And at that mont, the world turned black.
As though existence itself had suddenly been swallowed whole.
Sound disappeared completely. There was no ringing silence, not even the subtle noise one normally noticed when everything beca too quiet.
It was as though the very concept of sound had ceased to exist entirely.
For a brief mont, Zen could no longer even feel his own body. There was no air, mana, gravity, or anything.
"Noona?"
Zen looked around.
"lissa?"
But no one responded.
Then, amidst the void, those purple eyes opened.
Massive beyond comprehension, they erged within the darkness like celestial bodies staring directly into reality itself.
rely looking at them caused an instinctive sense of dread to crawl throughout Zen’s entire being.
The sensation resembled standing beneath an endless night sky and suddenly realizing the stars themselves were staring back.
For the very first ti in his life, Zen felt insignificant. In a world that treated him like a deity, before this monster, he was nothing more than an ant.
——So you’ve co.
The voice did not echo throughout the darkness. Rather, it manifested directly inside Zen’s mind, vast and incomprehensible, as though existence itself had spoken to him.
"...Araxys."
Zen had never heard that na before.
No history book ntioned it.
No ancient text had ever recorded it.
No human had coined such a term.
And yet, the mont those purple eyes gazed upon him, Zen instinctively understood exactly what this being was called.
The na simply existed within his mind as naturally as breathing.
Araxys.
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