The void pulsed.
Black mana slithered like ink through Reyon's veins, coiling around his thoughts—tightening with every heartbeat. It wasn't just pain. It was distortion, the blackness forcefully drawing out his deepest, most fragile memories.
He couldn't resist it.
He saw it—again.
Wind howled.
His boots hit cracked stone, his heart raced.
The Phoenix Clan… was in ruins.
"This…" Reyon muttered.
Ash fluttered like snow. The tall golden towers once rising with pride now lay shattered, splintered, and half-buried beneath rubble. Marble steps cracked under his weight as he moved forward, past statues broken at their waists, past banners reduced to cinders.
"How could this happen…"
He tightened his fists, jaw clenched.
The tragedy.
He'd heard about it—whispers of Evelyn's fall, Edward's absence, and Min Hee's death.
And now he was here. Too late. Always too late.
He reached the outer court. Flames no longer burned, but the air still carried the stench of soot and scorched mana.
In the distance, solemn horns echoed—the mourning rite had begun.
"That must be the hall of remembrance," Reyon whispered to himself and began walking faster.
But before he could approach, two guards stepped into his path.
"Halt!" One thrust his halberd forward. "You have no right to enter."
"What…?" Reyon stared at them, eyes narrowing.
"You are no longer of the Phoenix Clan," the other declared. "You've been cast out. You have no place here."
He felt it rise within him—rage boiling, wild and fierce. His fingers curled, mana coiling beneath his skin.
"You bastards—" he growled, "I'll crush you—"
"Stop."
The command silenced everything.
A cold, commanding voice sliced through the tension like ice.
From the path behind, a woman in silver-and-black armor stepped forward—her very presence drawing gasps from nearby mourners.
Marshal Serena Bellford. The Cold Sword.
She walked with controlled fury, eyes sharp as blades. Her gaze landed on Reyon, then on the guards.
"Even if he is no longer a member of the Phoenix Clan…" she said slowly, "as one who shares our bloodline—he has every right to attend their last rites."
The guards tensed.
One stammered, "Marshal, I understand but—"
"Are you refuting my word?" Serena's voice flared.
She stepped forward and seized Reyon's wrist, firmly yet without malice.
"I said he enters."
The guards stepped aside instantly, heads bowed. "Forgive us…"
Without another word, Serena led Reyon forward, through the debris and into the main courtyard.
Inside, dozens of Phoenix retainers stood in solemn silence.
A ceremonial pyre burned low in the distance. Red petals floated in the wind.
At the center, Ray knelt before a large portrait—Min Hee's image framed by fire lilies. Beside her, Evelyn and several elders' names were etched into a black monolith.
Ray's head was bowed. He raised his arms in the final gesture of farewell.
Reyon stopped, heart hammering in his chest.
Edward stood near the base of the stairs—face pale, expression hollow. His robes were stained with ash. And yet, dried tear streaks still marked his cheeks.
Reyon turned his eyes to Serena.
…Her face too was hard.
But beneath it—he saw it. Dried trails, faint but undeniable.
Even the Cold Sword had cried.
Reyon looked away.
He stood in the shadow of the ceremony, unable to step forward. His lips parted slightly, but no sound came out.
No goodbye. No glance. No forgiveness.
Just… ashes.
He turned and walked away without a word.
His feet wandered.
The ruins stretched beyond the courtyard, past what once had been libraries, vaults, training halls.
He remembered every corner.
Even now, his mind replayed it. His first sword lesson with Ray. The time Evelyn had struck him with a mana rod for failing a vector calculation. His childhood, bitter as it was, had still been home.
He found himself standing near a scorched building, walls half-collapsed.
"…The treasury?"
The Phoenix treasury. Gone.
Charred beams jutted from the foundation like bones from earth.
He stepped through.
"Why am I even here…" he mumbled, boots crunching on cinders.
A glint caught his eye.
He crouched near a broken slab.
There—half-buried in soot—a book.
Blackened, its pages curled from fire, but not entirely destroyed.
"…What's this?"
He picked it up carefully, flipping through warped parchment.
The writing was distorted, smudged. Most of it had burned.
But…
Two symbols gleamed through the ash:
£
§
His breath caught.
"…Epsilon? Delta?"
His eyes widened.
"These are… vector markers."
He stood slowly.
"This has to be grandfather's… then that means this is his research."
But a strange feeling coiled in his stomach.
A whisper.
You've seen this before.
Reyon frowned.
"Why do I feel like… this isn't the first time?"
His head pounded.
A white-hot pain tore through his mind like a needle through nerves.
"Ah—AHHH!"
He dropped the book, clutching his skull.
"My… my head…!"
Pain surged. Images flashed—sigils, orbs, explosions.
"I can't… I—" He staggered back, nearly falling into rubble.
"Damn it—! I need to get out…!"
He stumbled out of the treasury, the book still clenched in his arm.
He ran—limping through what remained of the eastern gate, until the burned stone gave way to dirt roads.
He didn't stop, and went straight to elise kingdom
Time passed in silence.
Outside of Reyon's mind, his body lay motionless—bathed in a cocoon of faint blue light.
Healers circled him, pouring mana into ancient sigils.
Black mist flickered around his temples like serpents.
"He's still resisting," one muttered.
Evelyn stood to the side, arms crossed tightly over her chest, watching his twitching fingers.
"…He's still not waking up," she whispered.
The healer at his side glanced up. "His consciousness is locked in battle. The black mana is digging deep, trying to bury his mind. All of this… is a fight inside his soul."
Evelyn exhaled slowly.
Three months. It had already been three months since Reyon collapsed in the test chamber.
"Just how much more pain is this child supposed to endure…"
She clenched her jaw.
"…How long must he suffer…"
Suddenly—
BOOM.
The chamber shook.
A violent explosion echoed across the capital.
Healers froze. The light around Reyon flickered.
"What was that?!"
Evelyn turned on her heel and ran to the balcony, storm swirling in her eyes.
As she moved through the palace halls, others joined her.
Edward arrived from the upper corridors, face grim.
From another entrance, Serena emerged, already armored.
All three of them reached the edge of the southern wall, breath tight.
Smoke billowed from the heart of Elise City.
Flames curled into the sky like a serpent.
A deep, rumbling roar trembled through the heavens.
A creature burst from the smoke, wings wide as towers, scales black with molten veins.
Serena stepped back.
Her voice, usually composed, now cracked with disbelief.
"It… it's a dragon."
Edward's eyes widened. "That's not possible…"
Evelyn's heart stopped.
"I thought they… all died centuries ago."
The dragon howled.
The sky turned dark.