Mount Arf was not silent.
It listened.
Alexius realized this the moment the ground beneath his feet responded to his breathing — not with a tremor, but with a deliberate delay, as if the mountain were deciding whether it was worth reacting.
The group advanced with difficulty through broken columns and corridors that no longer held the same shape they had minutes before. Where there had once been solid stone, smooth slopes now emerged, almost organic. Where there had been cracks, faint veins of opaque energy now pulsed at irregular intervals.
— This isn't a collapse — Alexius murmured, stopping before a wall covered in ancient inscriptions. — It's adaptation.
Shirō swallowed hard.
— The mountain… is changing?
— No. — The sensei ran his hand over the symbols, feeling the restrained heat beneath the surface. — It's responding.
Further back, Sora reinforced an unstable passage with thick layers of ice, while Kensha leaned on his bow, breathing with visible effort. Yumiko kept fragments of rock suspended in the air, but her hands were already trembling with exhaustion.
— Sensei — Ichika called out — if this place is a seal… then what happens when it starts to move?
Alexius did not answer immediately.
The crystal in his gauntlet glowed more faintly than before.
— It means something inside has been recognized as… too relevant to be ignored.
Dakenno frowned.
— Relevant as a threat?
Alexius lifted his gaze.
— Or as a key piece.
Mount Arf answered.
Not with words — but with a deep echo rising from far below, a heavy sound, like a heart beating only once.
Everyone felt it.
Even those without magical sensitivity.
— Arthur… — Alexius murmured, almost unaware that he had spoken aloud.
Far below, in another layer of the mountain, the separated group moved forward in heavy silence.
Kidero led the way, his steps too harsh, too fast, as if he wanted to crush the ground beneath each stride. Flames flickered along his sword, appearing and vanishing without control, reacting to his unstable mood.
— Don't look at me like that — he snarled, without turning around.
Ayame clenched her fist, electricity crackling around her fingers.
— You almost got all of us killed.
— Almost — Kidero shot back. — But I didn't.
Kazuko stopped.
— Arthur and Mia fell — he said, his voice too low to be an accusation, but far too heavy to ignore. — And that happened after you broke the chain.
Silence fell like stone.
Shirō observed the surroundings, but his eyes were distant.
— The mountain didn't react to the giant's strength — he said. — It reacted to Arthur's pathetic attack.
Ayame turned sharply.
— So now it's his fault?
— No — Shirō replied. — It's the place's fault.
Kidero ground his teeth.
— If that Katlônian were dead, this wouldn't have happened.
— Or it would have been worse — Kazuko countered. — You don't know what would happen without him here.
They continued forward.
The corridor narrowed, and ancient symbols began to appear on the walls — not complete murals, but fragments: raised hands, broken circles, humanoid figures kneeling before something that was never depicted.
— This… — Ayame touched one of the symbols, shivering. — This doesn't feel like a warning.
— It feels like a memory — Shirō finished.
Ahead, the ground bore deep grooves, as if something immensely heavy had been dragged across it again and again.
Kazuko felt the poison within him pulse differently.
— There's something wrong — he murmured. — It's not shadow… not a creature…
— It's presence — Shirō replied.
And then they heard it.
A dry sound.
Rhythmic.
Clack.
Then another.
Clack.
Kidero raised his sword.
— Teeth — Ayame said, recognizing the sound. — That's the sound of teeth chattering.
The corridor ahead was empty.
But the sound came from all sides.
---
Far below.
Far beyond the reach of light.
Arthur did not move.
Time did not flow.
The throne room had lost all color.
Everything was gray.
The bones scattered across the hall — once shattered, inert — began to vibrate.
A femur rolled slowly, drawn by something invisible.
Then another.
Fragments dragged themselves across the floor with a dry, repetitive sound.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
Arthur did not react.
His eyes were open, but empty.
The stain before him — what remained of Mia — was still there.
The skeletal avatar watched, motionless, satisfied.
Then…
Something cracked.
Not in the ground.
Not in the hall.
In Arthur's forehead.
A symbol that had never been visible to him began to surface beneath his skin — curved, ancient lines forming the shape of a third eye.
For an instant, it appeared whole.
Then a thin fracture, almost imperceptible, split the center of the symbol.
From it, a faint, restrained blue light seeped inward, as if Arthur's very mind were being forced open.
The skeletons around him laughed.
Or something like laughter.
Teeth clicking together.
The world remained gray.
And then…
Everything fell into absolute silence.
---
Above, Alexius pressed a hand to his chest.
The crystal in his gauntlet flickered.
— The mountain has chosen — he murmured.
— Chosen what? — Sora asked.
Alexius closed his eyes for a brief moment.
— Not the safest path.
He opened them again.
— The inevitable one.
And Mount Arf, as if it had heard him, answered with another deep echo — stronger, closer.