'Huh? How?'

The reason for this expression of surprise he uttered to himself was that he could feel the sensation of sinking toward the bottom of the sea firsthand.

'Ah, never mind. I don't care. This relaxes me... a lot.'

However, his curiosity got the better of him.

To understand this feeling of relief and relaxation, he slowly opened his eyes.

'What?'

Darkness. He only saw darkness. Thinking his eyes were still closed, Teyat shut and opened them again.

It was the same—just pitch black.

But he knew very well, through his senses, that this darkness was not just an ordinary kind of darkness. Because right now, he could feel himself slowly sinking deeper, as if in a dark sea, while lying on his back.

And this sinking gave him an incredible sense of relaxation and peace.

For the first time in a long while, he felt true relief, peace, and calmness.

At this moment, he let himself sink toward the bottom of the dark sea with a great sense of ease, without caring about where he was or what was happening.

"Ah, I thought I'd end up in Hell. Oh well, this place will do."

Instead of being surprised by his situation, he enjoyed the feeling of sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Because the dark sea was giving him a sense of peace and safety.

But something was wrong. It was as if something was missing from his head.

To figure out what was going on, he lifted one of his hands, which he couldn't see in the pitch-black darkness, and brought it to his head to understand what was happening.

But it was empty because instead of touching his head, he felt his hand touch the dark and silent waters of the sea.

Teyat was struck with panic because of the emptiness he felt in his hand. The sudden feeling of fear engulfed his body as he realized his head was missing.

'Huh? My head is gone?'

The sense of peace and relaxation on Teyat's face gave way to sheer panic and terror that engulfed his body.

In a panic, he turned his body from lying on his back to lying face down—well, not exactly face down, because he had no head.

And still the same view—darkness.

'Alright, I understand I like darkness, but right now, instead of darkness, I need some kind of explanation to tell me why my head is missing. Damn it, who took my head?'

He summarized his situation with fear, panic, and fleeting peace and desperately tried to find his head.

'Give me my head back, you bastards! Leave me alone already.'

Internally, he protested against his situation, shouting in frustration.

While he was frantically sinking deeper into the dark sea, searching for his head, he heard something call out to him, even though he no longer had ears.

"Teyat."

'Don't start with the Teyat thing, just give me my—Huh?'

Surprised by the sudden change in emotion, he was baffled by the voice he heard.

'Who's that?'

And suddenly, instead of the dark sea he had been sinking into, he found himself standing above dark flames emerging from the ground.

Shocked yet again by his new surroundings, Teyat turned from lying face down to lying on his back.

And right there, in his line of sight, was a massive gray moon staring back at him. The moon was so close that it would only take a short time before it crashed into the place he was in. That's how close it was.

He looked at the moon, headless, with both panic and astonishment, yet also with a strange inner calm. It was a moon he had always wanted to climb up to and walk on.

"Your head is missing, and instead of being surprised by that, you're gazing at the magnificent beauty of the moon with your nonexistent eyes, sir?"

"Ha... yes, the moon looks really beautiful. What?"

As the headless Teyat remained fixated on the stunning beauty of the moon, he heard a soft and gentle voice. He responded to that delicate voice calmly for a moment but then was suddenly struck by the realization of his current situation, experiencing a massive shock.

Panicking, he turned his body from the moon's beauty toward the direction the voice was coming from.

Since Teyat had turned his headless body toward the source of the voice, in his field of vision, he saw a tall and delicate figure whose face was covered by a mixture of white and black hair that reached down to their shoulders. The figure's face was smooth and pure white, their eyes a blend of black and white. Their body was draped in a closed red robe, and their bare foot touched the dark flames emerging from the ground, but also, beneath the flames, the pitch-black onyx-colored water. In one long, slender hand, they held Teyat's own head.

Teyat saw his own head in their hand, eyes closed, the neck cleanly severed as if cut with a straight line, resting in their palm.

"Huh? E-excuse me, but why are you holding my head? And that head belongs to me. Could you please return my head?"

Teyat had no idea what was happening. But at that moment, his only focus was on the head, half-extended toward him, in the man's palm.

"Alright, you can have it."

The tall, slender figure with black and white mixed hair, a calm face, and a red robe suddenly threw Teyat's head toward him.

Realizing his head was coming his way, Teyat panicked and tried to catch it.

And he did.

Now, in the realm of the Legacy of Darkness, with the magnificent view of the moon hanging low in the sky, Teyat found himself holding his own head with his hands, standing in the dark waters beneath the dark flames.

He felt strange. At this moment, he was staring at his own head, eyes closed, being held in his hands by his headless body.

"Ah, th-thank you."

'Yeah, holding my own head feels a bit weird...'

•

Teyat, now a headless body, grabbed his head by the hair with his right hand, then pointed at it with his left hand, signaling to the man in the red robe.

"Yes, thank you for giving me my head back, but how exactly am I supposed to attach it?"

He asked the question, hiding his deep anger behind a smile.

The calm, slender man in the red robe answered calmly.

"I don't know."

"Huh? What do you mean, you don't know?! My beautiful, handsome... okay, not handsome, but delicate and kind and charming face, you just handed it to me like a gift! Give me my head back, you good-looking bastard!!"

"Thank you for the compliment, but having your head in my possession doesn't make me guilty. The reason your head isn't on your body is—"

"Damn it, just give me a solu—"

Teyat's angry outburst was cut off because the man in the red robe split Teyat's headless body in two.

"Another hopeless case, huh?"