Modernia was beautiful in a way that felt lonely.
Out of the three islands of Regnum Musicae, it was the quietest, the oldest and perhaps the saddest. Concerto carried life, performance, and civilization while Antiqua carried ancient traditions and forgotten arts. Modernia however, existed as memory. It was an island built for the dead where every Musica who had once lived was allowed to rest beneath the songs they left behind.
Despite being a graveyard, it never felt horrifying.
The island itself was surrounded by vast coastlines where sapphire oceans kissed pale sands beneath tropical skies. Dense forests covered much of the land, filled with towering tropical trees and flowers that bloomed year-round because of the island's unusual rhythm. The air smelled of rain, saltwater and flowers all at once, creating an atmosphere that somehow made grief feel gentle rather than painful.
The forest itself was strange.
Floating instruments drifted above tombstones like spirits refusing to leave their owners behind. Violins hummed softly in the wind. Pianos played notes when rain touched them. Harps shimmered quietly at sunset. Drums echoed faint rhythms deep in the forest.
Every grave carried music. Every death left behind a song.
At the center of the island stood the giant statue of Melody herself with her violin raised toward the heavens as if she were still performing for a world that no longer deserved her. The mountain near the island's center had once been one of Modernia's most sacred landmarks.
The first successful activation of the Soul Eradication Mystic Circle had permanently changed the geography of Modernia. The mountain no longer existed. In its place sat an enormous abyss stretching down into darkness so deep that even light struggled to reach the bottom. The edges had become smooth from complete spiritual annihilation, and because the Circle erased souls as well as matter, nothing grew there anymore.
No birds flew over it. No plants approached it. Even the wind seemed reluctant to enter.
The Musica quietly began calling it The Silent Maw. They saw it whenever they came to bury the dead. Veneri knew them for over forty years as they came to bury their loved ones. They even called him Omega I, which was the opposite of Melody, who was Alpha I.
Veneri still insisted it sounded dramatic.
"You erased a mountain," Melody told him once while staring into the abyss. "Do you understand how ridiculous that sentence sounds?"
He crossed his arms.
"In my defense, I thought it would stop earlier."
Time moved strangely in Modernia. Or perhaps immortals simply stopped caring about the concept after long enough. Forty-five years passed. To Adelasta, watching the memory, it felt surreal. To Veneri, it felt natural.
He changed.
His dark bronze skin had his sapphire-blue tattoos that glowed brighter than before, spreading elegantly across his back and prosthetic arms. His white curls had become long, often tied behind him because ankle-length hair had become inconvenient.
But the biggest change was confidence.
The boy who once desperately improvised Magecraft to survive no longer existed. This Veneri knew exactly what he was doing.
Rune Manipulation had become second nature. Circlecraft had become art and Castless Magecraft became terrifying. Ironically, Castless Magecraft ended up being the simplest part of his reconstruction.
He already understood sapphire. He already understood energy. What he lacked was precision. That changed because of the Divinity of Protection.
Protection as a Divinity sounded defensive on paper, but Melody quickly realized how horrifying it became in Veneri's hands.
The Divinity itself revolved around one concept: to protect what mattered. For five years, Veneri incorporated it directly into his Castless Magecraft. At first, he practiced simple barriers and shields surrounding individual body parts. Then came layered barriers. Eventually, his precision became absurd.
Melody once fired hundreds of attacks using rocks just to test him. He blocked every single one with hundreds of sapphire barriers appearing and disappearing around his body in fractions of seconds.
Each barrier lasted less than a moment. He could create shields larger than mountains and barriers thin enough to cover a single fingertip. His control had become monstrous. And because of Limitless, his Base Tether constantly strengthened his understanding. It took him only five years to master Castless Magecraft.
The Fifth Enlightenment only made him more terrifying. By the forty-fifth year, even Melody admitted something she hated saying.
"You stopped feeling like a student twenty years ago."
Veneri smiled.
"That sounds like a compliment."
Then came the final challenge. On the last day of the forty-fifth year, the beach stood silent beneath dark skies.
Clouds rolled endlessly above while the ocean crashed violently against the shore. Rain drifted lightly through the air, though neither of them seemed bothered anymore. Both stood barefoot against the wet sand in their towering five-meter forms, facing one another like two ancient beings preparing to decide something important.
Adelasta noticed immediately. The atmosphere felt different. Melody stood with her dark hair flowing in the wind as her green looked at him.
"You already understand the requirements. A being with a World Overwrite cannot progress through the Enlightenments carelessly."
Veneri nodded slowly.
"To go from the Fifth to the Seventh Enlightenment, I need to understand my Divinity and Overwrite for a hundred years each."
"Correct."
She crossed her arms.
"Your World Overwrite already matured faster than expected."
That part annoyed her. Most people spent centuries understanding their Overwrite. Veneri had accidentally strengthened his by rebuilding his entire Magecraft system.
The destruction, the rebuilding, the suffering, sacrifice, understanding, everything deepened his connection. His Closed World Overwrite had evolved alongside him meaning the real obstacle was Protection.
Divinity required understanding it three times, with each taking 33% of the rank. The first had come with Nepenthes.
The moment he abandoned Xinoraci and created something entirely his own, he finally understood Protection as preservation through reinvention.
The second came with the Peony Mystic Circle. Love itself became protection which was about safeguarding what mattered. The flowers represented that.
And now, the third understanding awaited him.
Melody exhaled and slowly lowered her power. The pressure around her dropped. Her rank descended until she stood at the exact same level as him as a Fifth Enlightenment Divine.
She rolled her shoulders.
"For forty-five years, you rebuilt yourself."
The rain became heavier.
"Now prove it."
Sapphire light shimmered around Veneri. He slowly raised his hand.
"Show me the fruits of your suffering, Veneri."