The rain was still pounding against the windows when I finally made it back to the hotel lobby.
Now that I actually had a weapon with some real stopping power—okay, maybe not kill-a-literal-angel powerful, but definitely useful—it was time to get moving. We needed to set sail for the Archipelago of Drift before Raphael or any of his divine brothers caught my scent again.
I leaned against the front desk, feeling the reassuring, heavy weight of Bad News hidden inside my coat. Where the hell did Arthur and Sera even go?
[Notice: Look toward the front entrance. They are approaching.]
I shifted my gaze to the heavy double doors just as they swung open. Right on cue, Arthur and Sera strolled into the lobby, carrying themselves like they were about to casually take over the world.
Sera glided over to me, not a single silver hair out of place despite the miserable storm outside. "We are ready to move out, I presume?" he asked, his amber eyes gleaming with mild boredom.
"Yeah," I nodded, but my eyes drifted past the disguised Angel of Fate to land directly on Arthur.
The newspaper headline from the notice board flashed in my mind: Pendragon family dies suddenly in the night. Looking closely at the massive Grandmaster now, it was painfully obvious something had happened. Arthur looked completely drained. The dark circles under his eyes were heavier than usual, and his massive shoulders slouched. He looked like he was practically sleepwalking.
My mind quickly connected the dots. The Hibernation Flaw. Arthur's Sequence of the Dragon required massive amounts of sleep just to conserve his baseline calories. For him to look this utterly exhausted, he must have unleashed a terrifying amount of power recently. Like, say, wiping out an entire noble family back in the capital.
I felt a sharp spike of curiosity, but my Pride kept my mouth shut. Now wasn't the time to interrogate the heavy-hitter of our party, especially with Sera standing right there. I took the questions and buried them deep in my chest for later.
"Let's get going," I said smoothly, pushing off the desk.
We gathered up what little luggage we had brought from London, pulled our coats tight against the freezing Bransy Town rain, and finally stepped out into the storm, heading straight for the docks.
----------
As the freezing rain poured down on us, I suddenly remembered a little perk of my Tier 2 powers. Event Horizon. It was an absolute defense meant to fold space and stop fatal attacks, creating an infinite distance between me and my enemy. I rarely used it casually, but... what if I just used it as an umbrella?
I let a thin layer of royal blue Ether coat the air directly above my head. Instantly, the raindrops froze a millimeter above my hair, crushing themselves against the folded space, completely unable to touch me. I walked toward the docks perfectly dry, feeling incredibly smug about it.
Waiting by the gangway of our dark schooner was the captain. Technically, Sera was the ones who had saved his ship during the trip over here, but I happily lumped myself into the "heroic saviors" category.
The captain rushed up to us, looking nervously at the blackening sky and the choppy water. "We need to set sail immediately," he said, his voice tight with urgency. "The weather is turning foul fast. It's best we move out now before something terrible happens again."
I suppressed a heavy groan.
Ahhh, why do I feel like he just completely jinxed us? Everywhere I went, absolute disaster followed. I felt like a walking bad omen. Let's just hope nothing crazy happens this time.
The heavy horn of the ship groaned, the sound echoing through the freezing fog of Bransy Town. I stood on the wet deck, more than ready to say goodbye to this miserable place.
I had met terrible people here. I had trusted the wrong man, and I had watched an Emperor get casually reduced to ash by Raphael, the Grounded Angel of War. But, looking on the bright side, I was leaving with a Tier 4 Boss core, thirty thousand pounds in cash, and a hand-cannon named Bad News. Not a terrible haul for a few days of absolute trauma.
I leaned against the wooden railing, watching the dark water churn as the ship slowly pulled away from the docks.
A moment later, Sera strolled up to the railing, leaning casually against the wet wood next to me. He didn't look at me right away, keeping his burning amber eyes fixed on the misty horizon.
"There seems to be a misunderstanding between us," Sera spoke, his voice unusually slow and soft.
"A misunderstanding?" I questioned, playing dumb, even though my heart immediately started beating faster.
"Yes," Sera said, turning his head slightly. "You see, I can see the ends of life, the birth of life, and the present, all at the exact same time. It is not all-knowing, but I get... glimpses. Pieces of the tapestry."
He paused, the damp wind catching his flawless silver hair. "The reason I have been so casual around you, Lucian, is because I know how the Sin of Pride acted during the First Dark. And I have seen glimpses of you. I just hope... I hope I don't have to personally seal you away."
A profound, heavy sadness crossed his usually arrogant, aesthetic-obsessed face. He looked like a man who genuinely wanted to see something—anything—change this time around. He just looked deeply tired. Tired of the endless cycle, tired of the fighting that had started two thousand years ago. And honestly, it made sense. If you lived for tens of thousands of years, watching the same tragedies play out over and over, you'd be exhausted too.
I didn't say a word. I didn't look up at the dark sky, and I didn't look down at the churning water.
Instead, I looked straight ahead. Past the text, past the System. I looked directly at you—the one reading our story.
Tell me, what am I even supposed to do in this situation?
I was just an orphan. I don't even know who my mother and father were. And now, this immortal being is standing next to me, telling me that I might have to die or be sealed away in the dark forever just because "fate" decided it?
No. I absolutely refuse to die like that. I will either kill every single god, angel, and monster that gets in my way, or I will die trying. My Pride demands nothing less.
So, I just looked back at Sera and gave a single, firm nod.
"I know it is incredibly hard, being the host of something so dark and primordial," Sera said, trying to comfort me in his own strange, divine way. "But trust me. You are different."
"I know for a fact that one day, I will probably have to stand against them," I said quietly, the weight of the Sins and the Angels pressing down on my chest. "I just hope that day never comes."
[Notice: Awwwww. How cute of you two.]
Shut up, System, I thought internally, my royal blue Ether flaring in annoyance.
[Notice: You mean Kallisto, right?]
Yes, yes. Shut up, Kallisto.
Sera offered a small, melancholic smile. He pushed off the railing, his pristine coat shifting in the wind. "Take care, Luci. I will see you when we reach the pirate island."
I watched Sera walk away, disappearing into the fog on the upper deck. He carried himself with such effortless grace, but for the first time, I could see the massive, invisible weight resting on his shoulders.
This journey was teaching me one very harsh truth: everyone is burdened by their responsibilities. Arthur, carrying the guilt of his dead family—whether he killed them himself or is hunting the one who did. Sera, living for an eternity, forced to protect a world that constantly breaks. And me, a Tier 2 Awakened carrying the rotting sin of pride in my soul.
We just live in completely different worlds, don't we? I thought to myself, staring out at the endless blue ocean.