Sasrir stood still, gazing at the Dark City sprawled out before him.
It was a vision of contradictions—majestic spires clawing at the sky, decadent architecture layered upon itself in arrogant excess, and beneath it all, the unmistakable rot of decay. Black stone streets wound like veins through districts half-swallowed by shadow, while crimson towers loomed like open wounds against the horizon. No matter how many times he saw it, the sight always stole his breath.
Adam liked to joke that Sasrir had no taste, that his only hobby was killing things.
That, of course, was wrong.
To be precise, Sasrir was something of an art critic. He simply saw more than most—motives carved into stone, intent hidden in angles and proportions, meaning embedded in negative space. Where others saw rubble or menace, he saw failed ideals, distorted ambition, and echoes of genius long since corrupted. He held everything to higher standards. That did not mean he disliked everything.
The Dark City, for all its sins, still met those standards.
Adam…
The thought of his creator—his other half, his origin—sent a sharp ripple of unease through him. It had begun the moment they reached the Coral Labyrinth encircling the City, a dense crimson maze that pulsed faintly with hostile life. Since then, the feeling had only grown worse with every step closer.
Wrong. Something was wrong.
He had urged Effie and Kai onward faster and faster, his voice clipped, his patience thinning. In the end, they had been full-sprinting through the living corridors of coral, ignoring monsters they would normally have crushed without hesitation. They abandoned Soul Cores without a second thought, trading power for speed.
Now, eighty-five days after they had left, they were back.
"Damn," Effie gasped, lifting a hand to shield her eyes as she squinted at the skyline. "The City hasn't changed a bit."
Beside her, Kai methodically checked the last of his arrows, his movements steady despite the exhaustion etched into his posture. "It's stood like this for a thousand years," he said quietly. "It'll probably last another thousand—unless we manage to take the Crimson Spire."
Effie snorted. "You think that thing will really help?" She jerked her chin toward Sasrir. "After everything we went through to get it, I sure as hell hope so."
Sasrir did not answer. Instead, he summoned the Dawn Shard.
Light gathered in his hands, condensing into a golden circlet adorned with a single scarlet ruby embedded at its center. The artifact shimmered into existence, radiating a warm, invigorating glow that cut cleanly through the surrounding gloom.
The effect was immediate.
Effie's spear drank in the light, its edge gleaming with newfound sharpness. Kai's bow followed suit, its limbs faintly luminous, the string thrumming with restrained power. Perhaps it was imagination—but both of them could feel it. The weapons felt lighter, keener, more eager.
Sharper.
Sasrir, however, experienced something else entirely.
The light did not merely wash over him—it settled into him, threading through his being, awakening dormant aspects of his existence. Power unfurled quietly, deliberately, like a blade sliding free of its sheath.
He opened his Attribute Panel, and the truth revealed itself.
[Name: Sasrir]
[True Name: - ]
[Soul Core: Demon [3/7]]
[Aspect: Hanged Man]
[Aspect Rank: Divine]
[Attributes: Flame of Divinity, Uniqueness of Hanged Man, Envisioned, Radiance of Dawn]
[Memories: Moonlight Shard, Steel Memento, Azure Blade…]
[Echoes: - ]
[Flaw: Hanged Man]
[Attribute Description – Radiance of Dawn: You are empowered by the Dawn Shard, and all your characteristics are improved (Dormant ⇒ Awakened).]
Sasrir closed the panel slowly.
The Dawn Shard did not merely strengthen him—it elevated him. Where his power had once lain dormant, constrained by circumstance and restraint, it now stirred with awakened clarity.
Sasrir did not understand this process, but he didn't need to-so long as he could wield the power it brought him. According to his [Envisioned] Atribute, Sasrir was not a real living thing. He possessed an Island of Consciousness, a Fate Tributary and a Soul, but all these things were Imagined. They existed in-between reality and fantasy. His body was the same, which granted him a unique physiology: he could feel hunger and eat, but would never starve or thrist to death; he could feel fatigue and tiredness, but could still go on forever without sleep; his lungs hurt if he held his breath for too long, but past a certain point the sensation just vanishes. Likewise, he can turn off his pain receptors, almost like an Imagined being doesn't feel real pain.
The only exception was damage caused by his Flaw-that, he felt fully. It was also the reason why he didn't cut off all his pain receptors: if he went weeks or months without pain, then felt a massive sudden rush from his Flaw, he would probably go into catonic shock. He needed to remind his body was pain was, so it would never be surprised by it.
The thought was depressing.
They moved through the streets of the Dark City with practiced ease, their feet carrying them along familiar routes despite nearly three months of absence. The labyrinthine layout, the collapsed arches, the narrow alleys choked with shadow and debris—none of it had changed. Sasrir remembered every turn, every blind corner, every place where ambushes had once waited.
They had missed the solstice by two weeks, much to Effie's vocal displeasure.
"Unbelievable," she grumbled as they passed a long-abandoned plaza. "Do you know how much fun that is? Fresh meat everywhere. Wide eyes. Shaking knees. I used to play tour guide, you know."
Kai glanced at her, amused. "You… guided people?"
"Absolutely," Effie said proudly. "Scared them half to death, too. It's one of my only hobbies. You can't just fight monsters all the time—you've got to nurture culture."
Sasrir ignored the banter, his attention fixed forward. The closer they drew to their destination, the tighter that sense of urgency coiled in his chest.
When the outline of the Outer Settlement finally emerged, all three of them fell silent.
They did not linger.
They knew exactly what to do.
Effie stopped first, unclasping the Unshadowed Crucifix from where it hung at her side. She stared at it for a moment longer than necessary, then thrust it into Sasrir's hands with a reluctant scowl. "I liked this thing," she muttered. "Felt… sturdy."
Kai followed suit, removing the Starlight Shard and passing it over without ceremony. Unlike Effie, his expression was calm, but there was a trace of reluctance there as well. Powerful tools were hard to give up, especially when the situation ahead promised violence.
With a brief nod of farewell, Athena separated from them, her form slipping away as she headed deeper into the City. Kai then rose smoothly into the air, invisible currents carrying him upward and back toward a vantage point overlooking the streets.
"I'll wait for your signal," he said. "If things go bad… I'll be ready."
Sasrir nodded once.