Areday could barely stand, but he slid next to Rintal and held him up, afraid he might collapse again.The cathedral's silence pressed down on them like lead — bits of rubble still fell here and there with faint, chiming sounds, as if the ruins themselves trembled from Gnatz's departure.
Rintal looked around, gasping for air.Everything blurred… distorted… as if reality itself moved with him a moment late.His memories piled up one after another, and in every single one he saw a twisted image of Areday — how selfish he truly was.How he hid during the night their mother was killed.How he never fought back in the orphanage, only hoped and dreamed.And what happened in the Vamir Castle… to everyone… but especially to Zofia.
The seal pulsed dully on his arm.But he wasn't commanding it anymore.
Now the seal commanded him.
Areday spoke slowly, carefully, as if another explosion could erupt at any moment:
— "Brother… I need to go. Up to the roof. If I stay here… I'll die. You're hopeless anyway.""How many times did I save you, yet you still can't crawl out of the filth — just like that night when you lost your mother."
But Rintal only heard fragments and stared ahead with an empty gaze.
— "Brother… we need to go. Up to the roof. If we stay… we die."Areday raised his voice:"Brother, do you hear me? You can't fall apart now!"
Rintal tried to nod, but something inside him resisted.The seal dragged a burning line along his nerves — not as pain, but as a foreign hand rummaging inside his skull, taking apart his memories… and putting them back differently.
"Areday…"
The name felt strange.For a moment he didn't know which face belonged to it.
The seal whispered inside:
"Traitor…"
And then he heard Zofia's voice too:
"Take revenge, my love.""I cannot rest in peace."
Rintal shook his head.The memories flickered:
One moment Areday was smiling at him,the next… a dark shadow stood in the same place.
— "Brother?" Areday asked slowly as he saw Rintal's eyes change.— "Rintal… can you hear me?"
Rintal stared… too long.Too motionless.
Beside him he saw Zofia's figure, wrapping her arms around him:
"He has always been an obstacle for us, my love."
Rintal's fists tightened.He no longer knew why he wanted to lift his blade.
Areday noticed instantly.
He slowly raised his hands to show — he was not an enemy.
— "Brother… this isn't you. The seal… is playing with your mind. Listen to me. Stay with me."
Rintal blinked.For a heartbeat, the world snapped back.Areday's face became recognizable again.
The seal retreated suddenly, as if waiting.Watching.Learning.
Rintal shuddered.
— "Let's go… let's just go higher…"
Areday nodded.He reached into his pocket, took out a small metal case, and flipped it open. A single black pill lay inside.
— "I kept this… only for emergencies."His voice trembled.— "This is that moment."
He swallowed it.He collapsed to one knee instantly as heat flared inside his chest and a tingling spread under his broken ribs. The pill slowly began healing him — painfully, bit by bit.
Rintal watched.Something dark… jealous flickered in him, as Zofia's whisper echoed:
"He heals… and you… are alone."
Areday looked up, panting:
— "That was the last one, Rintal. There's no more. And now… we can't afford mistakes. The fight definitely caught the attention of some Dawn Sons member… or a phantom.""Let's hope Rayuka and Geremisz are far away and didn't notice.""I don't even understand how we haven't been found yet."
Rintal nodded."You're right, Brother… let's hurry."
His wounds also began to close — but not properly.The seal made sure of that, as if it wanted him to suffer… and lose his mind.
He felt the seal stitching the gashes on his arm — not cleanly, not naturally, but with glowing red lines that pulsed under the skin, as if trying to reshape his flesh to its own design.
Areday watched from the corner of his eye.
— "From now on, don't use it for anything except healing. There is always a price for its power."
— "Yes…" Rintal groaned.But he did not sound grateful.More like someone observing an enemy inside his own body.
The seal kept rewriting him.Small details.Small memories.
Areday's face.His voice.His smile.
All becoming duller.Colder.Stranger.
And Rintal felt it.
The two boys climbed the ruined staircase on the cathedral's side, toward the broken towers.The red moon cast long, ghostly lines ahead of them.
As the steps creaked beneath them, Areday whispered:
— "Brother… have you thought about why Gnatz didn't take the orb from you?"
Rintal froze for a moment.The seal burned suddenly, as if reacting to the word orb.
— "Yes…" he said slowly. "Why did he leave it behind… if that was the goal?"
Areday touched the wall to steady himself.
— "He knows something is waking up inside you. Maybe he doesn't want the orb. Maybe he wants you. You… and whatever you will become.""Maybe that's why he called you Antichrist.""What Cassadee said about the devil and his son… maybe Daragran is reincarnating in you?"
Rintal's eye twitched."I don't know… but whatever this is, I must get rid of it.""I don't understand how I could be the Antichrist anyway — with Satan's power I would've crushed these enemies easily.""There are too many questions, but no time to think. We move… slowly but surely."
Areday nodded firmly."I agree.And you know — whatever happens, I won't leave you alone."
Rintal's fists trembled.
He no longer knew what thoughts were his…and what belonged to the seal.
They reached the door leading to the roof.Cold wind blew through it, carrying blood and ash.
Areday stopped before stepping out.
— "Brother… whatever happens… we go on together. You and me."
Rintal turned toward him slowly.The red glow in his eyes was faint… but still burning.
— "…I hope so…"
But his voice lacked conviction.Areday saw it — and fear crossed his face.
Deep in the cathedral behind them…
Something breathed.
Something watching.Something the battle had awakened.
The two stepped onto the roof.
The seal pulsed scarlet on Rintal's arm.
The night was black.The moon was blood-red.
And the peak… still rose above them.
The roof tiles were half-missing, the stones damp with sea mist and blood.Below, the sea roared between the rocks like cracking bones.
The final tower loomed above — the highest point of the castle, its sides split with deep, gaping fractures like the veins of a dying god.
— "From up there… we'll see the gate for sure…" Rintal rasped.
The seal throbbed weakly, tiny sparks of red flickering from beneath his skin. His wounds closed slowly, unevenly — not healing, but tightening.
He gritted his teeth:"This won't work… I need to pull myself together…"
At the far end of the roof, an arched, half-collapsed doorway led into the upper wing.
Areday signaled:
— "Brother… this way."
Rintal followed.Even though the seal kept whispering:"Go alone. Leave him. He slows you."He still followed Areday.His best friend.His twin.
They crossed the threshold.
Inside stretched a long, wide corridor.Tattered banners hung on the walls, once royal colors — now only faded stains.Claw marks and streaks of blood ran across the stone.
Then — the first sound split the silence:
The Pack Leader's howl.
From deep within the castle.Closer now.Much closer than on the shore.
A low, broken, twisted sound — part beast, part human, part… something else.
The air trembled.
Areday froze.
— "It's closer…" he whispered. "And… angrier than before."
A chill crawled up Rintal's spine.But the seal… rejoiced.Its pulse quickened like war drums beating under his skin.
As they walked, they passed dead phantoms everywhere.
"Be careful, Areday.""Whoever killed these phantoms can fight — and they probably know why we're here."
The corridor widened until they reached a massive black gate, its wings torn from their hinges.
Beyond it… emptiness waited.
They stepped through.
THE THRONE ROOM was a place where kings, nobles and priests might once have ruled — now only ruin and a strange, oppressive presence remained.
Half-collapsed stone pillars lined the walls, chains hung from the ceiling, some with broken cages.On the raised platform, a cracked stone throne stood, a crowned skull carved into its back — as if death had been the intention from the very beginning.
And everywhere…
dead phantoms.
Slashed apart, torn to pieces.Not fading like the others they had killed — these corpses were blasted into the stone, as if something too powerful had ripped them apart to allow even a proper dissolution.
Areday stepped closer to one.The phantom was split clean in half, slammed into the wall with such force the stone fissured around it.
— "What the hell happened here…?" he whispered."I can't imagine," Rintal murmured.
Then Rintal heard it first:
Footsteps.
Not a phantom's whisper.Not armor clanking.
But someone's heavy, exhausted, determined footsteps.
— "Brother…" he hissed. "Someone's coming."
Instinct took over — they pressed their backs against each other.Rintal raised his blade.Areday drew his two daggers.
The shadows between the pillars stretched, shifted, as if something swept through them.
Then an outline stepped forward from the half-light.
He emerged like someone returning from a long-cursed battlefield.Tall, brutal, draped in dark, blackened wolf fur.Twisting scars webbed his skin, some still faintly glowing with old magic.
Long blond hair fell wildly across his shoulders, his beard the same color, braided with bone rings.He carried two broad axes, their blades lined with icy blue runes casting a cold glow across his face.
His eyes were dark — not insane, just merciless.The eyes of a warrior who had seen enough blood to become half-shadow himself.
— "Pretty scary… greeting someone with your backs together like that," he rasped.
Rintal and Areday immediately jumped apart, standing side by side.
"Last time someone looked at me like that was at the slave market."
Rintal lowered his weapon slightly.
The seal pulsed — wary.
Areday's eyes widened.
— "This is…" he whispered. "Geremisz…?"