"120825 times… I died?" Aether muttered as a shiver ran down his spine.

He blankly looked at Grace.

"Indeed…" Grace said. "Why don't you look at yourself first?" she added, pointing at his body with a slight tremble she tried to hide.

Since the black smoke was illuminating enough, Aether looked at his body for the second time after coming to this strange, suffocating place… his clothes were old and tattered… as if they had spent years rotting on his frame, some parts even shedding away like dust at the slightest movement.

And even more… his skin… his muscles were shrunk to the point… he freaking looked like a mummy.

His ribs pressed tightly against his skin, his arms thin like dried twigs.

"W-What the…" Aether muttered in a horrified tone.

Grace sighed, dragging. "As much as I wanted to inform you about this… each time you died, you kept forgetting things, and even more… your body started to break down in each cycle of death. To the point that now I'm almost worried if you die again… we might not make it back."

Aether again was shocked to hear that… he forgot all those?

How come?

Aether grabbed his hair, fingers digging into his scalp as panic clawed up his throat. "Wait… I-I don't remember those deaths? I-It's impossible—" Before he could finish his words, Arcane intercepted, saying,

"Possible, Darling!" Arcane's voice echoed from the drifting black haze, playful yet carrying an unsettling tremor.

"Don't mistake this prison like other prisons in your world… this is meant to hold the gods." The smoke thickened around her words.

"There were three things locking us down… one… the chains," as the black smoke fluttered… a chain fluttering sound echoed in the dark, "Second, those Watchers… if the gods managed to break the chains… they were forced to break down by those Watchers… slowly they lose their sanity by those watchers and their body slowly lose it's strength and... they kept killing them until the prisoner break down!!!"

Aether gulped his throat in fear, voice thinning. "Third…?"

"Uh? Third?"

"Yeah, you said three things that are locking us down, right?"

"Haha… my bad… There are only two things. Anyway…" Arcane's tone shifted, "To think you were caught by the chains. Hm… the only law there to break was… increasing your powers beyond what was locked in your world." Her voice grew lower, as if speaking a forbidden truth. Then she asked,

"Say, Darling? Did you get powered up and… immediately powered down?"

Aether blinked, confused. "No, I don't think I—" His voice stopped.

His mind replayed the moment—his Trinity rising… then decreasing.

Sensing his sudden silence, Arcane hummed, "I see… looks like you almost broke through beyond Sovereign Level and… caught by the Eternal Chains. But somehow reverted back to normal, which made the Eternal Chains stop… that makes sense… hm… right."

"Make sense?" Grace frowned, her face turning horrified. "The fuck you mean that makes sense? He just increased his level beyond Sovereign and reverted it back? How is that even possible?"

However, Arcane ignored Grace and said with a serious tone, "But you only reverted back after you arrived here… which is why you're stuck here… hmm."

Aether nodded… he kind of understood what happened to him, "Since it was just a mistake… why don't they just let me out? Should I talk to the Watchers?"

"No, you cannot talk to them… they just break you down no matter what… until you are chained back by those Eternal Chains." Arcane sighed heavily.

Aether bit his lips hard, "Is there really no way? I cannot even use my powers anymore." He looked at his trembling hands... wrapped in metallic chains.

For a second… Arcane turned silent… the black smoke swirled slightly faster, almost restless, before muttering,

"There is another way… but…"

Aether sensed the hope immediately, "Please tell me… I will do anything. Please, Arcane…" He stepped forward, voice trembling with urgency.

He had not finished his talk with Delphine… he had not taken care of the situation in the Empires.

So many faces.

So many promises.

So many lives tethered to him—waiting.

Arcane turned silent again.

"Come on, Arcane… One last time," Aether whispered.

"... Fine, I will tell you," she said with a serious tone.

Aether's face relaxed slightly, relief cracking through his fear—but then she added, "In exchange… You need to save me."

Aether blinked. "If you have a way out, of course, let's leave all of us together!" he said, stepping closer to the smoke, his hand extending—when—

"NO!!" she shouted furiously.

The void shook.

The chains groaned.

Even Grace jolted.

Aether flinched back in mild surprise.

"I… I am sorry, Darling… I didn't mean to… shout… forgive me," Arcane said with a tired and… shy tone. The smoke curled inward like a creature hiding its face. "I… I am not ready to be seen by you yet… so forgive me, Darling… I don't want you to see my unruly side. Our first meeting would be filled with love and flowers where you feel me every inch… ah~"

"…" Grace's face twisted into disgust, eyes narrowing sharply at Aether—like he was somehow the cause of Arcane's fantasies.

Aether quickly looked away… ears turning red as if he had been caught doing something indecent, though he had done nothing but stand there.

Arcane coughed her throat lightly, pulling herself together. "Anyway, unfortunately, I cannot leave this place as of now… so you have to find me again and get me out of here… can you do that for me?" Her voice wavered... fear buried beneath longing.

Aether nodded without hesitation, "Of course, I will save you no matter what it takes!"

"Oh~ Darling~ I am so fucking in love with you… look at you so determined… if only I were not unruly I would have fucked you here and now~!!" she moaned, voice smoky, dripping heat.

"…" Grace slowly turned her head toward Aether… staring at him like he had personally offended every bit of her thoughts!!

Aether lifted his hands defensively, whispering, "Don't look at me like that… I didn't say anything…"

"Here…"

Something from the smoke slid down toward Aether.

Aether crouched down and picked up a pure transparent crystal, almost the size of two fingers and six inches tall… inside that crystal, a white energy swirled along with small black particles, shifting like trapped storms.

When Grace saw it… Her eyes widened in mild surprise, "How did you—"

Arcane said with a proud tone, "I saved those minute drops of energy all this time to form this." The smoke puffed slightly, almost smug!

Aether blankly stared at the crystal front and back… the weight of it felt strange… unsettling. This felt weird for some reason… as if he knew what it was… and yet he couldn't even sense it.

"Just break the crystal and think of the place you wanted to go back to, and voila… You will be there in a matter of seconds, but… I am sorry, Darling… but there is only one for two of you," Arcane said with a defeated tone.

Grace smirked, her lips curling with wicked delight. She flew forward, arms folded proudly.

"Oh? You thought this was my real form? Haha… I cannot believe I tricked the so mighty Arcane~" Her face turned haughty and unbearably smug, chin lifting with theatrical arrogance.

However, Arcane said,

"No, not you… I am talking about his other woman… what's her name again? The woman who sees the future?"

Aether stiffened!

Aether's eyes widened in pure horror. "D-Delphine?" he whispered, barely breathing.

"Yeah… that girl… yup, I can sense she is somewhere here."

Aether's heart skipped a beat…

Delphine was here?

In this void?

In this prison?

Trapped with the Watchers?

How?

How did he not see her?

Why couldn't he sense her?

What happened to her?

Aether's hands trembled violently.

"Oh god, I need to get her… before she breaks down…" His voice cracked. His eyes trembled. The image of Delphine alone—frightened, surrounded by darkness—shoved a knife through his chest.

He turned immediately, ready to sprint into the endless void—

"Wait, Darling!" Arcane stopped Aether, her smoky tendrils whipping out like restraints. "If you go… You will only get in the way of those Watchers, and it would be impossible to find her."

The black smoke swirled furiously as if stirred by a giant's breath before—

Clang~

A chain yanked up from the unseen depths beneath them, the ground fracturing like brittle glass.

Sand-like grains shot upward, then rained softly around their feet.

Aether stepped back instinctively as the massive stainless steel chain emerged—thick as his arm. It stretched endlessly into the darkness, rattling softly.

"This chain will guide you to her… but do not part from this, otherwise you won't be able to find her ever again!" Arcane's tone turned cold.

Aether nodded furiously before stepping toward the chain.

He clenched the chain again tightly.

"Also, do not look up," Arcane warned, voice heavier, darker, more frightened than before… as if looking up meant seeing something that erased sanity itself.

Aether nodded. "Okay," he muttered—and curiosity tugged at him again, stupid, instinctive—

He tilted his head up—

Slap!!

Grace slapped his forehead hard, "The fuck you looking up, idiot? She freaking warned you not!"

Aether staggered, rubbing his forehead in pain.

"Hahaha… my Darling so childish sometimes," Arcane mumbled softly.

Face burning, Aether lowered his gaze and looked back at the black smoke.

"Thank you, Arcane. If you were not here, I wouldn't have known my Del is here and…" His voice wavered. His eyes trembled.

He imagined Delphine crying alone, wandering blindly, calling for him in this cold abyss.

Just the idea of her suffering made his blood boil... rage turned inward at his incompetence.

He clenched his fist before speaking in a low, serious tone, "I promise in the name of Aether and my beloveds… I will come and save you no matter what it takes!"

He turned and walked along the chain while gripping it tightly, each metallic clink echoing into the void as he disappeared into the oppressive darkness.

The black smoke stared after him, swirling slowly, strangely—as if watching something precious leave.

Wait a second!

"Does that mean he wasn't serious before?" Arcane's voice carried genuine surprise. Then, suddenly, her tone shifted to breathy mischief.

"Oh, Darling, you so~ sly bastard~ playing games with me too… ahh~ but I like it~ hehe~"

Her laugh echoed, soft and eerie, as the smoke fluttered violently for a few seconds... like something enormous within it had moved.

Then—

A bony toe… thin, skeletal… pale as ash… slipped out from the black smoke, curling slightly like an instinctive stretch—before the smoke rushed forward and hid it again.

"Hehehe~"

The laughter floated in the darkness long after the toe vanished.

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