Kael crossed the portal first.His steps did not falter, yet his mind remained fractured.
His body had recovered—almost entirely.Every muscle responded.Every nerve obeyed.His wounds were nothing but a memory now, as if time itself had hastened his healing.
And yet—
That stability was only a mask.His senses remained sharpened, strung tight like cords ready to snap.His thoughts were neither clear nor fluid.They crackled.They collided.As if his unconscious refused to believe respite could ever exist.
Since the illusions of the Queen, his mind had never ceased trembling.Every silence seemed suspect.Every shadow, too heavy.Every breath, too dense.
He passed through the breach without slowing, but his gaze still wavered between clarity and fracture.A whole man, trapped in a broken mind.
Unlike Kael, Thana had yet to fully recover.It was obvious at first glance.
Her ethereal body had shrunk to a frail silhouette, no larger than a hand. Fifteen to twenty centimeters at most. A deliberately reduced form—calculated.She had contracted herself, compressing her essence to minimize Magia consumption.
A rational choice.A necessary one.For in this state, every spark of saved energy became a step closer to regeneration.
But that strategy bore a cost.In this form, she no longer carried the terrifying shadow or majestic presence she once embodied.She could no longer shield Kael through sheer force.Nor lend him her magic in any offensive way.
No.Her role was reduced to support.Strategic, cold, methodical.Observations.Counsel.Warnings.
No longer a shield.Even less a blade.Not on this floor.
She finally settled against him, steadying herself at shoulder height.A faint shimmer clung to her small frame, like a coal ready to die out at the slightest breath.
A halo.Weak. Flickering.A remnant of the immensity she once incarnated.
Kael turned his head, watching her in silence.She looked so light a mere motion might sweep her away.Her features, though, remained impassive.No complaint. No reproach.
Just that reduced, stubborn presence.A fragment of Thana clinging to his flesh, refusing to abandon him despite her state.
And in that instant, Kael understood without words:he could no longer rely on her to strike, nor to endure.Not here.Not now.
His gaze lingered on her pale halo.A dull worry climbed his chest.But he said nothing.
When they emerged from the portal, finding a semblance of stability, Kael immediately sensed the difference.He had suffered little from the passage.But Thana—
Her miniature form trembled faintly upon his shoulder, her halo faltering like a flame battered by the wind.
Kael clenched his jaw.Instinct pushed him to ask.To make sure she endured.
The words rose.They were already upon his tongue.
— Are you… all right?
But his voice broke before leaving his lips.He froze, eyes fixed on her fragile figure.
Because he knew.He knew the question would wound her more than her state.That she would reject concern.That with the icy pride of one who had claimed the title of protector, she would remind him it was her role to bear the weight in his stead.
So he swallowed the words.And kept silent.
A silence heavy, but respectful.A worry he would never voice.
Then suddenly—
In that oppressive, almost sickly silence, a low vibration rippled through the air.Not a sound.Not a pulse.Rather an invisible dissonance, as if the world itself held its breath.
And the window appeared.
Without warning.Hanging in the void before them.Its luminous edges unfurled slowly, slashing through the air like an unreal scar.
The text inscribed itself in a single stroke, cold, relentless.
⟡ [ Interface — Thana System ] ⟡Processing results...
The screen scrolled.Notifications aligned with surgical precision.
— Rewards from previous Floor: validated.— Conversion: standard rewards replaced by the effect of the Seal received.
Kael frowned.He already knew nothing came without cost.But seeing the words laid bare confirmed the Tower forgot nothing.Every choice left a scar.Every fracture, a trace.
The lines vanished, instantly replaced by a new interface.This time, a different symbol pulsed in the corner of the screen.A shifting sigil, like a glowing scar, followed by a +.
Kael instinctively reached out.His fingers pierced the translucent surface, and the sigil opened at once.
⟡ [ Hidden Reward – Floor 2 ] ⟡— Whispered Truth: authorization to access full descriptions of hidden objectives.
Kael stood still for a moment.Not surprised.Not relieved.Simply aware the system never granted anything freely.Every favor carried an invisible debt chained to his shadow.
And without pause, another window surged.Broader.Heavier.As if every word weighed more than the air around them.
⟡ [ Interface — Thana System ] ⟡Floor 3 — Cursed Feast
• Main Objective: While preserving your soul, find the access to the next floor.• Secondary Objective: Free the chained souls within the feast's prisons: 0 / 1• Bonus: 0 / ∞• Hidden Objective: Reach Anima Rank E
The letters faded slowly, but Kael remained marked by them.Part of him had already guessed this new demand's nature.And yet… seeing the injunction written, raw, stirred a cold tension in his gut.
He felt Thana's presence still perched upon his shoulder.Her voice, faint yet precise, slid into his mind:
— The Anima will reveal itself naturally. As with the two previous Floors.— You will not need to force it.
Kael simply nodded.No wasted words.He knew she was right.But knowing did not ease the weight.
Kael did not rush.He stood before the interface, mind still, rereading each line with frozen meticulousness.
He felt Thana straighten slightly on his shoulder, as if to share his view.Their silence lasted only a breath before they agreed, silently, not to ignore the words.
For in this Tower, words were never chosen by chance.
They began with the secondary.Free the chained souls within the feast's prisons.
Kael ground his teeth.A detail struck him at once.
— Free… he muttered.Would killing a bound soul not be, technically, a liberation?
Thana nodded without delay.Her voice, weaker than before, had lost none of its clarity.
— Here, everything is interpretation.For the Tower, release may be deliverance… or annihilation.It is not the act that matters, but the outcome.
Kael closed his eyes briefly.The thought of cutting down souls simply to mark a line left him strangely cold.Perhaps because he knew already, deep down, it was inevitable.
But he remained skeptical.A crease formed between his brows.
— To kill an immaterial soul… how?The thought rang inside him, brutal.How to strike what has no flesh?How to wound what bears no body?
His fists clenched, almost in spite of him.He hated admitting ignorance.
And then, discreetly, an image surfaced.A memory.Not a violent flash, but a subtle echo.
Umbra.The instant of his predation.That frozen shiver as he watched shadow devour the essence of an enemy without blade ever piercing skin.
Kael opened his eyes again, startled by the image's sharpness.As if his mind had dredged it up on its own.
Yet he felt, in a corner of his awareness, Thana's faint caress.Not an intrusion.More like a breath, slipped in as an inevitability.Just subtle enough to let him believe the thought was his.
He turned his head slightly toward her, but said nothing.She too remained silent, her gaze fixed on the interface.
Kael stood frozen a moment longer.His thoughts circled.Preserve his soul.Free the others.Reach the Anima.
Every word sounded like a promise… or a sentence.
Umbra.The memory of his shadowed fangs still coiled in his mind.
A frozen breath swept through the chamber.As though the Tower itself reacted to his hesitation.
Invisible walls quaked.A distant rumble bled into the void.
Kael lifted his head.His eyes narrowed.
Before him, the darkness thickened.Dense. Total.And beyond it… only the unknown knew what awaited.