The Tower of Myths never stayed the same for long.
Some days its halls resembled ancient temples carved from silver stone. Other days entire corridors drifted through open space while distant universes rotated beyond transparent walls like floating lanterns in darkness.
Tonight—
the tower felt heavy.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Satre noticed it first.
She stood alone near one of the upper balconies overlooking the endless dimensional storms below, silver-gold light flickering faintly around Gurter as future timelines drifted across her vision.
Ten timelines.
Ten minutes.
Again.
Again.
Again.
In seven of them—
Shiro screamed.
Her hand tightened unconsciously around the sword's handle.
Far away…
Raiku was still hurting him.
She could feel it now.
Not clearly.
Not perfectly.
But enough.
Every time Shiro suffered, the bond between them reacted like a wound reopening.
And lately—
it had been happening constantly.
"You sensed it too."
Satre glanced sideways.
Gramia leaned quietly against the archway nearby, silver eyes calm but knowing.
Satre looked away first.
"…He's getting worse."
Gramia remained silent for a moment before answering carefully.
"Yes."
No comfort.
No false reassurance.
Just truth.
And somehow Satre appreciated that more.
Behind them, the sound of explosions echoed across the training fields.
Amelia again.
Probably.
---
The lower combat arena looked like a battlefield dragged through three different dimensions.
Rivers of blood floated upward against gravity while black flames consumed shattered stone endlessly without spreading. Entire sections of the arena remained frozen solid beneath Yura's magic.
At the center—
Amelia laughed while fighting six dimensional guardians simultaneously.
Not smiling.
Laughing.
Her crimson eyes glowed violently beneath trails of blood magic spiraling around her body like living serpents. Every strike of Duskpiercer exploded with dark fire and blood-forged force strong enough to rupture dimensional barriers themselves.
A guardian lunged toward her.
Amelia caught its face with one hand.
"Too slow."
The construct suddenly imploded from the inside.
Blood erupted outward through cracks in its body before reshaping itself into dozens of crimson spears that immediately pierced two more enemies behind it.
Yura watched calmly from above.
"…She enjoys this too much."
Another guardian attempted to flank Amelia from behind.
Without turning—
Amelia snapped her fingers.
The blood coating the battlefield rose instantly like a tidal wave.
The guardian vanished inside it.
A second later the creature exploded apart midair.
Amelia exhaled slowly while blood dragons coiled around her shoulders possessively.
Daywalker vampires weren't subtle fighters.
They were apex predators wearing elegance like jewelry.
And Amelia—
especially lately—
had become terrifyingly battle hungry.
Not reckless.
Not uncontrolled.
Just alive in combat.
Her power responded directly to emotion now.
Wrath.
Love.
Fear.
Protectiveness.
The stronger her feelings became—
the more monstrous her blood manipulation evolved.
And Shiro's suffering was feeding all of it.
---
Meanwhile—
Yura trained differently.
Quietly.
Silently.
The upper frost chambers resembled a frozen cathedral suspended inside a blizzard. Entire dimensions had been sealed beneath layers of divine ice while snow drifted endlessly through pale blue light.
Yura stood barefoot at the center.
Still.
Untouchable.
The guardians surrounding her moved first.
Thousands of attacks descended simultaneously from every direction.
Blades.
Magic.
Spatial ruptures.
Soul attacks.
Yura simply raised one hand.
Everything froze.
Not slowed.
Not resisted.
Frozen.
The attacks crystallized midair before shattering apart into glittering frost.
The chamber fell silent again.
Yura closed her eyes slowly.
Her awakening as the Sin of Lust had changed her fundamentally.
Not into someone seductive.
Into someone overwhelming.
Lust was no longer simple desire.
It was attraction.
Pull.
Gravity.
Control.
The ability to make the world itself lean toward her existence.
Combined with her ice magic—
it became horrifying.
The stronger Shiro became…
the stronger she evolved in response.
Because somewhere deep inside herself—
Yura had unconsciously decided something.
If the world wanted to keep hurting him—
then she would become cold enough to freeze the entire world first.
---
Later that night—
the four women gathered near one of the tower gardens beneath drifting dimensional stars.
Babylis was gone now.
Officially.
She had left days earlier under the excuse of "investigating movement within the lower realms."
None of them trusted that explanation.
Especially Gramia.
"She's preparing something," Gramia said quietly while adjusting one of the floating spatial maps beside her.
Amelia scoffed.
"She's been preparing something since we met her."
"True."
Satre sat quietly nearby listening.
Gurter rested beside her while future timelines flickered faintly across her eyes again.
Then suddenly—
her expression changed.
Yura noticed immediately.
"What did you see?"
Satre hesitated.
"…Blood."
Amelia blinked.
"That doesn't narrow anything down around me."
"No." Satre's voice lowered softly. "Shiro's."
Silence.
The garden suddenly felt colder.
Satre looked down at her hands.
"In one timeline… he stops fighting back."
Amelia's expression darkened instantly.
Yura quietly clenched her fists.
Even Gramia looked unsettled by that.
Because everyone here understood the same terrifying truth:
Shiro surviving wasn't enough.
If Raiku broke him mentally—
they could still lose him forever.
Amelia stood abruptly.
"Then we climb faster."
Her blood aura ignited automatically around her body.
"We get stronger faster."
Yura rose beside her.
"Agreed."
Satre slowly stood last.
Future sight shimmered around her faintly.
Ten timelines.
Ten minutes.
And in every single future—
the path toward Shiro was drowning in violence.
Good.
Because she was done running from it.
Her hand tightened around Gurter.
The legendary blade hummed softly in response.
Then Satre finally spoke.
Quietly.
But with enough conviction to silence the entire garden.
"When we find him…"
Golden light flickered around her body.
"…we are never letting him suffer alone again."
Far away—
beyond endless dimensional layers—
Raiku smiled while chains tightened around Shiro's wrists once more.
And somewhere deep inside the bond connecting them—
Satre felt him break a little further.