Ella ran.
Deeper.
Deeper into the Ashen Cave.
She didn't dare look back for too long.
Behind her...
Hundreds of awakened creatures were pursuing her.
Their roars echoed throughout the enormous cave, shaking dust from the ceiling as their footsteps thundered across the ground.
Ella had already dismissed her summoned spirit.
She couldn't afford to waste any more essence.
This entire situation had been carefully planned.
She wasn't trying to kill the creatures.
She was trying to make them angry.
Angry enough to follow her.
One after another, Ella had attacked them just enough to provoke them before immediately retreating.
A wound here.
Another there.
Nothing fatal.
Just enough to make them furious.
Now she had an entire army chasing her.
Hundreds of awakened creatures.
If she still possessed the bad luckCharm Data...
This would have been much easier.
Unfortunately, the Mystic Jade had destroyed it.
So Ella had been forced to improvise.
She sprinted through the darkness, her breathing becoming increasingly ragged.
"Come on..."
"Just a little farther."
She didn't know whether her plan would work.
She only knew that stopping meant death.
Then—
Ella saw something ahead.
Her footsteps slowed.
Her eyes widened.
A magnificent structure stood in the darkness.
A citadel.
Unlike the ruined structures scattered throughout the Ashen Cave, this one looked almost untouched.
Its enormous walls rose toward the ceiling.
Ancient towers surrounded the main structure.
Strange silver light illuminated the entrance.
Ella stared.
"What is this?"
Something was pulling her toward it.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
A strange force seemed to be calling her.
Ella instinctively wanted to turn around.
But then she heard the creatures behind her.
ROAR!
ROAR!
ROAR!
They were getting closer.
Ella gritted her teeth.
"Fine."
"If I have to enter..."
"I'll enter."
She ran toward the citadel.
But something strange happened.
The moment the awakened creatures saw the structure...
They stopped.
Every single one.
Ella glanced over her shoulder.
The monsters that had been chasing her relentlessly were now slowly stepping backward.
Fear.
Real fear.
Their bodies trembled.
Some even lowered their heads.
Ella froze.
"What?"
Why were they afraid?
She wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and escape.
But her legs stopped responding.
Ella tried moving.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
It was as though an invisible force had taken control of her body.
"No..."
Her eyes widened.
"What is happening?"
Her legs moved.
Not according to her will.
But according to something else.
Step.
Step.
Step.
She crossed the entrance of the citadel.
The moment she entered—
BOOM!
A powerful wave of darkness swept through the chamber.
Ella's eyes widened.
Then she saw him.
Blake.
He was lying upon a massive stone altar.
His body remained restrained.
His expression was tense.
And approaching him...
Was a figure.
Ella tried looking at the mysterious being.
She couldn't.
It was like trying to stare directly into the concept of darkness itself.
There was no face.
No clear body.
Only an endless blackness that seemed to swallow the light around it.
Blake suddenly shouted.
"Leave me!"
His voice echoed throughout the chamber.
"Night God!"
"What are you trying to do?!"
Ella froze.
Night God?
The mysterious figure stopped.
A terrifying aura suddenly spread throughout the citadel.
Ella's knees buckled.
She fell onto one knee.
Her entire body trembled.
Even breathing became difficult.
The pressure wasn't simply physical.
It was something that pressed against her soul.
The figure finally spoke.
"I'm not Night God."
Ella's pupils contracted.
"Night God died long ago."
"During the War of the Gods."
The words echoed through the chamber.
"Even witnessing that war directly could kill a mortal such as yourself."
Ella's heart pounded.
The figure continued.
"I am merely the will he left behind."
"The will of Night God."
Blake stared at him.
The figure slowly turned toward Blake.
"And I am here to give you our father's lineage."
Blake's eyes widened.
"Our father?"
The figure nodded.
"I do not require an heir."
"I will return eventually."
"One way or another."
The darkness surrounding him seemed to deepen.
"But I want him back."
"And the second War of the Gods is approaching."
"Perhaps another hundred years remain."
Ella remained frozen.
A second war?
Another war involving the gods?
The figure continued.
"Giving you this Aura will allow you to form your God Body."
"It will also help you locate the remaining lineages of the Death God."
Blake's soul trembled.
He wanted to ask questions.
Hundreds of them.
But an instinctive fear prevented him from speaking.
The figure slowly extended one hand.
His palm touched Blake's chest.
The world disappeared.
---
Blake found himself standing somewhere else.
A strange scene unfolded before him.
Two figures stood within an endless darkness.
One was impossibly powerful.
The other seemed equally extraordinary.
The first figure spoke.
"If I were to die..."
"Would you become my heir?"
The second being immediately answered.
"Of course not."
Despite the harsh response, there was something strangely emotional within the voice.
"As much as I hate you..."
"I wouldn't want you dead."
The first being laughed.
"Though I am Death itself."
The second figure remained silent.
The first continued.
"All beings must die eventually."
"Every creature."
"Every god."
"Every mortal."
"Everything that begins..."
"...must eventually end."
His voice became quieter.
"But even if I were alive..."
"It would be as good as being dead."
The second figure looked toward him.
The first being continued.
"I am inevitable."
"Not merely because I bring death."
"But because death is inevitable to every living thing."
"No life can escape it forever."
"Even immortality cannot escape the end."
Blake felt something shift inside him.
Understanding.
Slowly.
The first figure raised his hand.
"My Aura is my Will."
"My presence is already woven throughout the world."
"I may not remain alive forever..."
"But my Aura will."
"Because the world needs Death."
"Without death, life would lose its meaning."
"Without an ending, nothing could truly begin."
The vision trembled.
The first being looked into the distance.
"As long as my Aura remains..."
"The world will continue to maintain its balance."
Then—
The vision disappeared.
---
Blake opened his eyes.
He was back inside the citadel.
The mysterious figure still stood before him.
Yet something had changed.
Blake could feel it.
The Aura.
He understood it now.
Aura Weave wasn't simply an ability.
It was the presence of Death itself.
Every god possessed an Aura.
A manifestation of their existence.
A force that naturally influenced the world.
Death God's Aura had already spread throughout reality.
It was present when a person died from a wound.
It was present when poison ended a life.
It was present when an ancient creature finally reached the end of its existence.
It was present after centuries of immortality finally became meaningless.Of
Death was everywhere.
And Death God's Aura was already part of the world.
Blake finally understood the terrifying truth.
Aura Weave wasn't about creating death.
It was about making the presence of Death tangible.
When someone looked at Blake after he mastered Aura Weave...
They wouldn't simply see a man.
They would feel something.
The sensation of standing before Death itself.
The instinctive understanding that their existence had an ending.
That no matter how powerful they became...
There was something waiting at the end of the road.
Blake slowly opened his eyes.
The mysterious figure had disappeared.
The altar was gone.
The darkness was gone.
Everything vanished.
---
Blake woke up.
His eyes opened inside a sleeping pod.
The transparent cover slowly lifted.
Cold air touched his face.
For several seconds, he didn't move.
He simply stared upward.
Then—
He heard another pod opening nearby.
Ella.
Her eyes opened at almost the exact same moment.
Neither spoke.
Neither understood how they had returned.
There was no sensation of traveling through space.
No return device.
No familiar transition.
It was almost as though something had simply decided they no longer belonged in the Spiritual Realm.
And yet...
They knew they hadn't truly been banished.
Something had happened.
Something connected to that citadel.
Something connected to the mysterious figure.
Ella slowly turned toward Blake.
Blake looked back.
For several seconds, they simply stared at each other.
Then—
Neither said a word.
They walked toward each other.
And embraced.
Their lips met in a long, passionate kiss.
After everything they had survived...
After nearly losing each other...
Neither wanted to waste another second.
The kiss lasted several moments before they finally separated.
Ella rested her forehead against Blake's.
"We're alive."
Blake smiled faintly.
"Somehow."
---
Meanwhile...
Deep inside the Ashen Cave...
The citadel remained silent.
The Mystic Jade stood before the place where Blake had once been.
It slowly looked toward the darkness.
"Do you think he understood the revelation?"
A voice answered.
"He should."
"If he is truly the heir of Death..."
"...he should understand."
The Mystic Jade remained silent for several seconds.
Then it asked,
"Why didn't you deal with the Death Priestess?"
The mysterious figure didn't answer immediately.
Finally, he spoke.
"This mortal does not know what her past self did."
"It would be wrong to punish her for a crime she cannot remember."
The darkness shifted.
"But..."
"If she forms her own Gate..."
"...and enters her Trial..."
"...she may remember."
The Mystic Jade tilted its head.
"And if she uses another person's Gate?"
"I'm not certain."
The figure paused.
"But regardless..."
"I don't believe punishing her now would be meaningful."
"She doesn't know what she did."
The Mystic Jade suddenly laughed.
"Still..."
"It was entertaining watching her lose her arms."
The figure remained silent.
"They grew back anyway."
The Mystic Jade slowly looked toward the entrance.
Then sighed.
"It seems my eternal sleep is approaching."
"The War of the Gods will eventually begin."
"When it does..."
"I will awaken."
"Stronger than before."
The mysterious figure said nothing.
The Mystic Jade raised one hand.
The entire citadel began trembling.
Its walls became transparent.
Its towers dissolved into particles.
The magnificent structure faded.
Then the surrounding Ashen Cave began disappearing as well.
Stone vanished.
Darkness vanished.
The ancient passages vanished.
The entire location slowly ceased to exist.
It was as though...
There had never been an Ashen Cave at all.
The Mystic Jade looked toward the empty space.
Then raised one hand.
A black shadow appeared before him.
The Mystic Jade stared at it.
A faint smile appeared.
"Blood King."
"Nice to see you."
The shadow remained silent.
Then—
It disappeared.
---
Far away...
In the Human World...
A boy suddenly opened his eyes.
He was lying inside a quiet room.
His breathing stopped.
His expression changed.
Then the System whispered inside his mind.
Your shadow has been revived.
The boy froze.
For several seconds...
He didn't move.
Then his eyes slowly widened.
"...What?"