A creature appeared beside Tarisel. It was a massive owl with a pair of blazing, luminous eyes. The bird demon was covered in black feathers streaked with shimmering silver, as if tiny stars were scattered across its body. Its wide wings stretched out in silence, blending into the stillness of the night.

From the east, a young man drew near at a measured pace, his beauty so unnatural it seemed absurd.

“The scent of his blood is so sweet … I can hardly wait to have a taste,” he said.

This man bore the majestic wings of a falcon, and he was draped in a long transparent cloak that looked as though it had been woven from moonlight itself. His smile was enough to melt away reason from anyone who dared to gaze upon him.

Under his steps, the entire eastern horizon transformed into an ocean of pale, white slime. Mountain-like waves, so high they reached the clouds, lifted him up and carried him forward.

“How foolish. Who would have thought Apollo’s most beloved child could be this naive? Anyway, you have proven yourself to be quite impressive, Tarisel,” another voice declared from the west.

Blocking the way in that direction was a lion engulfed in flames. Its blue eyes glowed like gemstones, and its smoldering fur gave off thin wisps of smoke, resembling sacred ash.

“Apollo will be crushed by grief. But worry not; I’ll take great care in cooking you and make sure Lumenos receives a serving as well,” yet another voice resounded, this time coming from the north.

It belonged to a man dressed in a long cloak embroidered with ancient runic symbols. He held a thick tome locked with multiple intricate chains. Dozens of pale white faces circled his head in a languid, unsettling motion, each one wearing a different expression and carrying its own distinct thought.

“Dantalion, Marbas, Sitri, Stolas. So, you four are the ones pulling the strings behind all of this,” Orpheus said with a small shake of his head. “Four Primal Ones. You are giving me more attention than I deserve.”

The man holding a tome, Duke Dantalion of Hell, responded:

“Who in the entire cosmos would ever dare to look down on one who carries the Heart of Everlasting Light? If you were ever allowed to fully mature, the ones who would need to be careful would be us. Unfortunately, you must die today.”

“In that case, let’s just fight then. I heard your granddaughter was killed by my father back in the day, right? From what I remember, the old man said she lasted three strikes. Let’s see if today I can do better than she did,” Orpheus said.

“Enough! Stop this foolish resistance!” Tazriel’s voice thundered, sharp with fury, though behind that anger lay an urgency he could not keep entirely veiled.

Orpheus’s lips curved in a cold smile.

“What’s wrong? Regret? Or worried that I might actually win?”

His body began to radiate a brilliant golden fire, and in a matter of seconds, he expanded and transformed into a towering giant of pure light. The sky where he stood turned into a magnificent twilight. The blazing sun behind him illuminated the entirety of the seventh layer of the Abyss.

Orpheus charged headlong toward Eurydice and the enormous owl.

At that very moment.

“Release my son!”

A thunderous roar echoed from a distant dimension, reverberating across every layer of the underworld. A blinding light broke through the main gate of the Underworld and tore through all the obstacles of the first layer in an instant.

When Apollo prepared to descend to the second layer, the amber moon hanging in that sky gave off a dim shimmer and, with frightening ease, pushed him back upward to the first layer before casting him out of the Underworld altogether.

“Minos!!!” Apollo bellowed.

“Your son has broken the laws of the dead. No divine being can enter the realm of the dead without permission. He even had the nerve to sneak all the way to the seventh layer,” Minos replied, his voice firm and unyielding.

“Please … brother,” Apollo pleaded.

“Do not be reckless. Even you would only throw your life away in vain, and that would make our old man lose control and go on a rampage again. I do not want another War of Atonement. Besides … it is already over.” Minos sighed.

Orpheus had already been torn apart during that short exchange. The battle could not have been more unfair, and yet it was still a war waged in earnest between divine beings.

The whole land beneath the battlefield was left shattered and broken. The terrain was changed beyond recognition. The once-endless plain was now riddled with deep fissures, gaping craters, and foul lakes of slime. Violent tornadoes, deafening thunder, and rain made of blood swept across the land.

The ground had been shattered and forced upward, rising into towering mountain ranges that pierced the sky. The sun behind Orpheus crashed into the earth, detonating with a catastrophic explosion that left behind a blazing ocean of fire.

“How amazing. He had just ascended to godhood not long ago, and yet his power was already at such a level. If he were allowed to grow for a few thousand, no, even just a few hundred years longer, who knows who would be the prey in this battle,” the beautiful young man muttered.

His body, once burnt to nothing but ashes, was now beginning to knit itself back together.

In Tarisel’s hands lay Orpheus’s severed head. Death had not yet claimed him in full. His golden eyes, steeped in sorrow, lingered on Eurydice as though reaching for her one last time. The goat heads burst into wild, hysterical laughter, savoring the joy of victory. But on the perfect face of Eurydice, tears were rolling down in silence.

“The heart isn’t here!” the beautiful slime-born man shouted, pulling his hand out of the headless corpse’s chest. His hand held nothing at all.

He then wrenched Orpheus’s ribcage open, baring everything inside, tearing out all the organs and searching every inch with utmost care, but the heart was nowhere to be found.

“Orpheus!!!” the six goat heads roared in furious unison.

Outside the sea of fire, Tarisel watched everything unfold. They continued to hum their soft, haunting melody.

“Damn it! You still haven’t found it? Useless, completely useless!” one of the goat heads screamed in rage.

“There are just fewer than five minutes left. If he doesn’t find it, then we lose everything,” another head said.

“No! That can’t happen! We refuse to accept this!”

All of a sudden, at that very moment, the golden ocean of fire wavered, pausing for the briefest instant. Tarisel sensed something and raised their head. The rectangular pupils of their eyes contracted.

They whispered in a trembling voice:

“Moon … Moon Ascension?”

…

Aaron had not given up yet. He was flying around the battlefield, touching every single severed piece of Orpheus’s body, but none of them was the heart.

“Where else could it be? Did I miss a clue? Think, Aaron, think this through,” he muttered again and again. “Huh?”

He then noticed that every figure in this dreamlike scene had stopped moving at the same time and was now staring up at the sky.

Aaron followed their gaze.

Through the layers of golden fire, he caught a glimpse of … a dark blue crescent moon rising with measured grace.

Its light overwhelmed the golden glow of the burning sea and shone down upon the cruel, merciless scene taking place within this hazy dream.

Tarisel tightened their grip around the dying Sun God’s skull. One of the goat heads screamed in anger:

“Where is it? Where did you hide it?”

“Damn it, he is dying. His divine soul, his godly essence, and even his body have all been damaged beyond repair. If we want him to recover, the only option is to return him to the world of the living,” another head said.

“Are you insane? Apollo is waiting above! Forget leaving the underworld, if you even set foot on the first layer, that old man will slaughter us in a blink!” The first goat head cursed out loud.

“Where is the heart? Tell us! Tell us now!”

But Orpheus did not respond. He did not even give them a glance. From beginning to end, his eyes were fixed on the beautiful face weeping before him. He was struggling to discern what was real and what was fake.

The blue moonlight passed through the scene, making Eurydice’s tears glisten like falling stars.

Out of nowhere, an idea flashed through Aaron’s mind as he witnessed this sight.

“Could it be …? I know where it is!” he shouted.

He lunged forward. In that final instant, just before Orpheus closed his eyes and the last dream dissolved, Aaron’s fingertip caught a falling tear with tender precision.

The instant he touched it, a radiant light exploded.

The entire burning sea dissolved into shimmering golden droplets that gathered together and condensed. In the end, a golden apple appeared and landed in Aaron’s palm.

It radiated a gentle, pale-golden glow that enveloped him like a protective aura.

“The Heart of Everlasting Light,” Aaron whispered as he cradled the precious treasure in his hands.

He lifted his head toward the blue moon fading from the sky and said:

“Thank you.”

“You are right. We truly should be thankful to the one who just tried to carry out the Moon Ascension Ritual, even though they no longer exist,” Tarisel’s voice sounded from behind him.

“No longer exist? What do you mean by that?” Aaron asked, startled.

“Although that being almost succeeded, the disappearance of the ascended moon proves that the ritual failed. And for those who fail, there is only one path left: they must return to the embrace of the Flow,” the demon answered.