The pressure in the sky did not descend immediately.
It lingered.
Heavy. Watchful.
Kael stood frozen, every instinct screaming at once—not to run, not to fight, but to decide. The hunger inside him tightened subtly, compressing space around his core like a coiled muscle waiting for direction.
Serah Veyne didn't move.
That alone made her dangerous.
The wind shifted, carrying the distant echo of displaced clouds, and Kael felt the pull of something vast sliding across the upper layers of reality—too slow to be a strike, too deliberate to be natural.
"You feel it too," Kael said quietly.
Serah nodded once. "Yes."
Her eyes lifted briefly toward the darkened sky, then returned to him. Calm. Focused.
"That presence isn't aligned with Heaven's correction forces," she said. "Which means it wasn't summoned. It followed."
Kael swallowed. "Followed what?"
Serah's gaze flicked again—this time to Kael's chest.
"You."
The word settled like a blade.
Behind them, the mountain groaned faintly as if adjusting its weight. Somewhere to the east, stone cracked—far away, but not far enough.
The other hunters remained hidden. Kael could feel them now, faint distortions around the perimeter. They weren't advancing.
They were waiting.
"What happens if I refuse you?" Kael asked.
Serah studied him for a long moment before answering.
"Then I let the other thing arrive first," she said honestly.
Kael laughed under his breath. "That's not much of a choice."
"It is," she replied. "You just don't like either outcome."
The hunger pulsed once—sharp, irritated.
Kael clenched his fists.
"Say I go with you," he said. "What happens next?"
Serah exhaled slowly.
"You disappear from public records," she said. "Your name is buried. Your movements are masked. Heaven receives incomplete data."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "And the cost?"
Serah met his gaze directly.
"You will be watched," she said. "Not chained. Not sealed. But never alone."
Kael turned slightly, glancing toward the twisted forest behind him. He could run. He might even escape—for now.
But the pressure above was growing.
Slowly.
Patiently.
"You're not telling me everything," Kael said.
Serah's lips curved faintly. "No. I'm telling you what you need to decide."
Another tremor rippled through the ground.
Closer.
Kael's jaw tightened.
"…If I say yes," he said, "you don't touch her."
Serah stilled.
"You sensed that," she said softly.
Kael didn't answer.
Serah considered him carefully, then nodded.
"Agreed," she said. "For now."
Kael laughed sharply. "You say that like it expires."
"Everything does," she replied.
The shadow above the clouds shifted again—larger now, its outline just beginning to form against the dim sky.
Kael made his decision.
"Fine," he said. "But I don't submit."
Serah smiled—not in triumph, but approval.
"Good," she said. "Submission is useless."
She raised her hand.
The world twisted.
---
Kael felt space compress—not violently, not painfully, but decisively. The hunger reacted instantly, resisting the movement, testing the fold before allowing it to pass.
For a heartbeat, Kael existed between places.
Then—
They were gone.
The mountain reappeared, but not the same slope. The air was thinner here, colder, carrying the scent of iron and old stone. Kael staggered slightly as his senses recalibrated.
They stood atop a narrow plateau overlooking a vast ravine. Below, mist curled endlessly, obscuring whatever lay at the bottom.
Serah lowered her hand.
"You adapted to the displacement faster than expected," she said.
Kael exhaled slowly. "I didn't fight it."
"That was wise," she replied. "If you had, the jump would've torn you apart."
Kael glanced back toward the direction they'd come from.
The pressure in the sky was gone.
For now.
"What was that thing?" he asked.
Serah leaned against a stone outcrop, folding her arms.
"An independent hunter," she said. "Not a person. Not a sect. A phenomenon."
Kael frowned. "That's vague."
Serah's eyes sharpened. "So is it."
She paused, then continued.
"There are beings that don't obey Heaven's hierarchy," she said. "They hunt changes in law itself. When something destabilizes the framework, they investigate."
Kael felt a chill.
"And they found me."
"Yes," she replied. "And they're faster than Heaven."
Kael looked down at his hands.
The hunger stirred faintly, almost… curious.
"That's not comforting," he said.
Serah smiled thinly. "No. It's accurate."
She stepped closer.
"Now," she said, "we talk."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "About dissecting me?"
"About surviving long enough that no one can," she corrected.
---
Far away, deep beneath layers of ancient sealing arrays, Lirien opened her eyes.
The remaining restraints around her body glowed erratically, responding to distant distortions rippling through the world.
"…So," she murmured.
She smiled slowly.
"He chose neither obedience nor isolation."
The seals trembled.
"That will complicate things."
She closed her eyes again.
And whispered a name.
---
Back on the plateau, Serah activated a small formation between her palms. Light unfolded, revealing symbols Kael didn't recognize—older, sharper, stripped of ornament.
"This is a neutral ground marker," she said. "No sect jurisdiction. No Heaven-aligned observers."
Kael watched the symbols carefully.
"Why help me?" he asked.
Serah met his gaze.
"Because anomalies like you don't destroy systems," she said. "They replace them."
Kael's breath caught.
"And you want to be on the winning side."
Serah didn't deny it.
Another presence stirred far away.
Not above.
Below.
Kael felt it immediately—something vast shifting beneath layers of earth, responding faintly to his anchored core.
His vision blurred for a moment.
"Do you feel that?" Serah asked quietly.
"Yes," Kael replied.
Her expression tightened.
"That's bad," she said.
Kael laughed weakly. "You say that a lot."
"This time," she continued, "it's not watching."
Kael's heart skipped.
"…Then what is it doing?"
Serah looked toward the ravine.
"It's waking up," she said.
The mist below churned violently.
Something moved beneath it—massive, ancient, and very much aware.
Kael felt the hunger tense.
Not fear.
Recognition.
And far below, something answered.