The wind.

The pressure.

Even Aethra’s expression.

A small figure stood several yards away in the field.

A girl.

No older than eleven.

Long dark hair moved softly in the wind while her black dress remained completely untouched by the pressure saturating the plains.

She looked strangely ordinary.

Until you noticed the darkness beneath her feet wasn’t shadow.

It was absence.

Aethra’s smile disappeared instantly.

“…You.”

The little girl looked toward Celeste first.

Then at the blood.

Then toward Aethra.

Her expression remained calm.

“…I said that’s enough.”

The little girl looked toward Lilith.

“And she isn’t a human.”

Silence settled across the field.

The girl’s dark eyes remained fixed on Lilith calmly.

“She is a vampire.”

Aethra’s gaze shifted slightly.

“An immature one at that,” the girl continued softly. “Which means you should stand down. This is not your fight, Lilith.”

Lilith’s expression hardened instantly.

“…How do you know my name?”

The little girl tilted her head slightly.

“…I merely know everything.”

The answer landed wrong.

Not arrogant.

Not boastful.

Simply...

matter-of-fact.

Even Aethra’s expression had lost its earlier amusement.

The pressure across the plains shifted uneasily.

Lilith slowly tightened her stance.

“…And who exactly are you supposed to be?”

The girl finally looked toward her fully.

For the first time since appearing, the darkness beneath her feet spread slightly outward.

“…Black.”

The moment the name left her mouth—

the world dimmed.

Not visually.

Conceptually.

The moonlight above the plains dulled. The wind weakened. Even the fractured sky over Caelrith seemed quieter.

Aethra’s golden aura sharpened instantly.

“…You continue interfering where you do not belong.”

Black looked back toward her.

“…You speak as though this world belongs to you.”

“Perhaps…but soon you shall see who it really does belong to not that imposter you chase after,” she laughed.

The temperature across the field dropped violently.

Lilith’s instincts screamed at her to move. To run. To leave.

But her body refused.

Because the pressure between these two beings no longer resembled ordinary power.

It felt like reality itself was becoming unstable simply from their presence.

Celeste still stood silently between them.

Blood continued trailing slowly from her mouth.

Aethra’s eyes drifted toward her again.

“…You failed.”

The words cut sharper this time.

Celeste remained motionless.

Black’s gaze narrowed slightly.

“…You mistake damage for failure.”

Aethra laughed softly.

“She lost the target.”

“She adapted.”

“She bled.”

Black looked toward the wound in Celeste’s shoulder.

“…Everything bleeds eventually.”

For the first time since appearing, Aethra’s smile faded completely.

The golden pressure around the plains intensified.

Lilith realized immediately—

this conversation was no longer about them.

It was something older. Something far beyond kingdoms. Far beyond Refraction.

And standing in the middle of it all was Celeste.

Silent. Trembling faintly beneath unstable stabilization.

Then Black looked toward her.

“…Celeste.”

The galaxies in Celeste’s eyes flickered once.

Black stepped forward slowly.

“…You are breaking yourself.”

Aethra immediately answered.

“She exists to fulfill her directive.”

Black ignored her.

“…Your body cannot sustain forced correction forever.”

Celeste’s fingers twitched slightly near the wound.

Aethra’s expression darkened.

“…Do not speak to her as though she has agency.”

That sentence changed something.

Lilith noticed immediately.

Because for the first time—

Celeste reacted.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

Tiny. Barely visible.

But there.

The galaxies within her eyes destabilized for a fraction of a second.

Aethra saw it too.

And smiled.

Cruel.

“…Still broken inside after all this time.”

The golden pressure surged.

Lilith finally moved.

“Alright. I’ve had enough of this cryptic god nonsense.”

Both beings looked toward her simultaneously.

Lilith pointed toward Valemore.

“…My friends are dying.”

Then toward Celeste.

“…And she’s bleeding all over the damn countryside.”

Aethra looked mildly annoyed by the interruption.

Black, however—

almost smiled.

Lilith slowly backed away.

“…So if either of you wants to erase reality or whatever the hell this conversation is becoming, do it after I leave.”

Aethra’s gaze narrowed slightly.

“…You are remarkably casual in the presence of divinity.”

Lilith shrugged weakly.

“…I’m exhausted.”

That answer actually lingered in the air.

Because it was honest.

Not brave. Not rebellious. Just tired.

Aethra looked toward Celeste one final time.

“…The directive remains active.”

Celeste’s eyes lifted slowly.

“…Retrieve Elysia Morven.”

The words left Celeste barely above a whisper.

Blood ran from the corner of her mouth as she forced another step forward.

Her body shook violently beneath unstable Refraction.

Still moving.

Still obeying.

The fractured heavens above Caelrith groaned softly in response.

Lilith stared at her in disbelief.

“…You’re still trying to move?”

Celeste’s galaxies shifted slowly toward her.

Another step.

Unsteady.

Like her body was beginning to collapse beneath its own existence.

Lilith tightened her jaw.

“No.”

She planted her feet harder into the torn earth.

“You’re not getting past me.”

Then—

Black spoke.

“Mortal.”

The wind weakened instantly across the plains.

The world itself seemed quieter around her voice.

“She can no longer sustain much more.”

Lilith’s breathing remained uneven.

“…Then why is she still standing?”

Black looked at Celeste for a long moment.

“…Because she was told to.”

That answer hit harder than expected.

Celeste took another trembling step.

Blood splattered softly into the grass beneath her feet.

Lilith’s expression darkened.

“…Who are you?”

The darkness beneath the little girl’s feet spread outward slowly.

Not shadow.

Something emptier.

“…Black.”

Even Aethra’s expression shifted faintly at the name.

“…The First Primordial.”

Lilith froze.

Her eyes slowly drifted upward toward the fractured sky.

“…So that’s why everything feels wrong…”

Another crack spread faintly through the heavens overhead.

Black’s gaze remained on Celeste.

“I came because what remains cannot be allowed to disappear.”

Aethra’s eyes narrowed instantly.

“You still speak of her.”

For the first time—

Celeste visibly reacted.

Tiny.

But there.

The galaxies within her eyes flickered unevenly.

Black finally looked toward Aethra.

“…Someone should.”

Golden light pulsed violently around the goddess.

“She abandoned this world long ago.”

Black’s expression never changed.

“…And yet you still fear her.”

Silence consumed the plains.

Heavy.

Ancient.

Even Lilith felt like she should not be hearing this conversation.

Then Black looked back toward Celeste.

“…Her Refraction is tearing through the foundation surrounding this region.”

Celeste’s body trembled violently again.

Still trying to move.

Still trying to continue the directive.

“…If she continues forcing herself forward,” Black said quietly, “the damage will spread.”

Lilith swallowed hard.

Her exhausted body screamed at her to run.

Instead—

she stepped forward.

“…Then let me slow her down.”

Aethra laughed softly.

Coldly.

“You?”

Lilith ignored her.

Her eyes stayed locked onto Celeste.

On the blood.

The shaking.

The way she still kept trying to walk despite everything happening to her.

“…She hasn’t stopped yet.”

Her voice lowered.

“…So neither will I.”

Black watched her for several seconds.

Then—

a faint smile crossed her face.

“…Persistent little thing.”

Darkness gathered within Black's hand.

The air warped around it as steel formed from absolute nothingness.

A blade emerged.

Long.

Dark.

Perfect.

Black extended it toward Lilith.

Dahu.

Lilith’s breath caught immediately.

Black extended it toward her calmly.

“…Take it.”

Lilith slowly grabbed the replica.

The moment her fingers touched the handle—

the sword hummed.

Exactly like the original.

Aethra rolled her eyes.

“…Pathetic.”

Lilith ignored her completely.

She slowly raised the blade toward Celeste.

Her arms trembled from exhaustion.

But her stance still held.

Celeste looked back at her beneath the broken sky.

Bleeding.

Shaking.

Still trying to move forward.

Lilith tightened her grip.

“…Come on then.”

Celeste stood silently beneath the fractured heavens.

Blood continued flowing from the wound in her shoulder, staining the black fabric around her body while unstable Refraction spiraled in violent rings beneath her skin.

Yet she refused to stop.

Still obeying.

Across the ruined plains, Lilith stared at her breathing heavily.

Every instinct in her body screamed the same thing.

Run.

But somewhere beyond the battlefield—

Seraphina was still escaping with Elysia.

So Lilith stepped forward instead.

“…Look at me.”

The galaxies within Celeste’s eyes shifted slowly toward her.

The pressure immediately intensified.

The earth beneath Lilith’s feet shattered.

Then—

BOOM.

Celeste disappeared.

Lilith’s instincts detonated.

She twisted sideways—

WHAM.

Celeste’s fist still clipped her ribs hard enough to launch her across the plains like a cannonball.

The ground exploded repeatedly beneath Lilith’s body as she bounced through shattered earth before finally crashing through a massive stone ridge.

Dust erupted skyward.

Lilith coughed violently.

“…What the hell IS she…”

The air distorted again.

Too fast.

Celeste appeared directly above her and drove another strike downward.

Lilith rolled aside at the last possible second—

BOOOOOOM.

The entire ridge vanished.

Not shattered.

Gone.

Lilith stared in horror at the empty crater left behind.

No hesitation.

No anger.

Celeste simply continued advancing through the destruction mechanically.

“…Retrieve Elysia Morven.”

Lilith’s expression twisted.

“SHUT UP!”

She rushed forward and slammed her fist directly into Celeste’s face.

The impact cracked the surrounding air.

Celeste barely moved.

Lilith hit her again.

And again.

And again.

Each strike powerful enough to flatten buildings.

Yet Celeste simply endured them while continuing forward.

Blood flowed from the wound near her shoulder continuously now.

Not from Lilith’s attacks.

From the instability tearing through her body internally.

Then Celeste grabbed Lilith by the throat.

WHAM.

She slammed her into the plains hard enough to split the battlefield apart.

Lilith screamed as the impact cratered the earth for hundreds of feet.

Before she could recover—

Celeste dragged her across the plains violently, carving a trench through the land while unstable Refraction erupted around them in catastrophic bursts.

The fractured heavens screamed overhead.

Black watched silently from the distance.

Aethra folded her arms.

“…Pathetic.”

Lilith snarled and slammed both feet into Celeste’s stomach, forcing separation.

She rolled backward across shattered stone coughing blood.

Her entire body trembled.

Yet Celeste still approached.

Bleeding.

Shaking.

Still moving.

“…Why won’t you stay down?!”

Celeste’s galaxies trembled faintly.

“…Retrieve…”

The wound near her shoulder split open further.

Blood ran heavily down her arm.

“…Elysia… Morven…”

Lilith’s frustration finally snapped.

“…DAMMIT!”

She ripped the replica Dahu free.

The battlefield changed instantly.

The humming resonance pouring from the blade vibrated across the plains like a living thing awakening.

Even Celeste slowed slightly.

The galaxies within her eyes shifted toward the sword.

Recognition.

Deep beneath Refraction—

something remembered Dahu.

Lilith lowered herself into stance breathing heavily.

“…Yeah.”

Blood dripped steadily from her fingers onto the handle.

“…I didn’t wanna do this either.”

Then she vanished.

BOOOOOOM.

The plains detonated beneath her acceleration.

Lilith appeared beside Celeste instantly and slashed horizontally toward her neck.

Celeste raised her forearm—

CLANG.

The collision erupted across the plains.

Refraction spiraled wildly around Celeste’s arm as the replica Dahu carved partially into her flesh before stopping.

For the first time—

Celeste staggered.

Tiny.

But real.

Lilith’s eyes widened.

“It CAN hurt you—”

Then the pressure changed.

Refraction surged violently around Celeste’s body.

The wound near her shoulder tore wider immediately.

Blood streamed heavily down her side.

Yet the cut on her arm began sealing almost instantly beneath unstable violet light.

Lilith’s smile vanished.

“She’s adapting…”

Celeste disappeared again.

Lilith barely reacted in time—

CLANG.