"You left, and the house got so dark, big brother... Not even my light could defeat the suffocating darkness."

Kaiden swallowed.

This conversation was no longer about jealousy.

It was about abandonment.

Loneliness.

Trauma disguised as obsession.

And he knew… He had to handle it carefully.

Kaiden didn't answer her with words.

He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Alice let out a startled, squeaky little "Eep!" as her face was smushed against his chest. Her hands clutched at his shirt, instincts warring between melting, hiding, and exploding into delighted fireworks.

It was a tender moment, far too tender for someone being so incredibly cruelly disciplined.

One could argue, quite reasonably, that Kaiden had been far too lenient with Alice up until now.

He had scolded her.

He had lectured her.

He had warned her.

He had even once threatened separation.

Yet he never followed through with anything. She kept spouting nonsense, got scolded, and then things went on.

The punishments always dissolved into mild admonishment, head pats, or an affectionate sigh and dismissal. He never enforced consequences.

And the reason was painfully simple:

Deep down, Kaiden always felt guilty.

Another argument could be made, once again, rather sensibly, that as siblings, Alice had never been his responsibility. It was their parents' job to raise, protect, and nurture her. Kaiden had not brought her into the world. He had not chosen her existence. He owed her nothing, from that perspective.

For a brief moment, that line of reasoning brushed through his thoughts.

And then his arms tightened around her, firm and protective, rejecting it so thoroughly that his teeth clenched in utter disgust that the notion even popped up in his head.

Screw that responsibility game.

Screw the cold logic.

Screw the attempt to absolve himself.

He refused to be that kind of spineless bastard any longer. That useless guy died when he slipped and cracked his neck. The current Kaiden refused to continue living such a sorry life.

Alice loved him.

Alice depended on him.

Alice clung to him because he was her only warm light in the house of freezing darkness.

And he had still left her behind.

Like a coward.

Like someone running without a care for who he left behind.

The Kaiden of today, the Paragon, the leader, the man with women who adored him, power, purpose, and confidence, would never walk away from that situation should time be reversed, yes.

But the past couldn't be rewritten.

What was done was done.

And now he had to deal with the consequences. Her trauma, her attachment, her instability, her possessiveness.

He rested his chin lightly atop her head and his voice came low with remorse threaded through it:

"I'm here now."

He didn't apologize.

Not because he thought he was blameless. Quite the opposite.

He didn't apologize because he did not believe he deserved forgiveness.

Alice would have pardoned him instantly; he knew it. She would say he is his own person who doesn't owe her his life. But whether Alice forgave Kaiden or not, or if she even thought him to be responsible for her current state, which she most certainly did not, wasn't the point.

In his mind, he was guilty.

He had left.

He had abandoned her.

So he didn't offer an apology that felt like a plea to be absolved.

He only reaffirmed the one thing that mattered:

Her nightmares were over.

Alice froze for a heartbeat.

Then she trembled and, slowly, carefully, her arms curled around him too, as though afraid he might vanish if she held too tightly.

The moment stretched for a whole dozen seconds, quiet and raw.

Then something strange happened.

Held tenderly in her beloved big brother's arms, Alice's aura began to glow. It was subtle at first, then brighter, as though someone turned up a lightbulb inside her body. Her skin took on a soft internal shine, like sunlight caught beneath the surface, spreading through her limbs and up her throat.

Her eyes widened.

"I… I feel like the shadows backed away," she whispered. "Like they can't reach me anymore…"

She didn't understand it enough to put into words, but deep down, she knew that it was because her light, him, had returned to her in full force, finally, full of conviction.

Except… the lights didn't stop.

The glow continued building, brighter and brighter, spilling outward in expanding rings. The air hummed, the temperature shifted, and tiny sparks of golden motes drifted free from her skin, swirling like dust caught in a sunbeam.

Kaiden leaned back a fraction, still holding her.

Her eyes were glowing now.

The ground beneath them gave a strong vibration.

"Alice? Is everything okay?" he asked carefully. "I think your class is having a reaction…"

Alice, as the S-tier light-element-based awakened, fought by utilizing light. But this was not an intended effect; she didn't even cast a spell. Something deeper, more primal was going on here.

Her breath hitched.

"I don't know what's happening!" she gasped, voice trembling, light pouring from her palms, her hair lifting as though weightless.

A soft hum grew into a thrumming pressure.

Somewhere in the house, alarms began to beep.

Mana sensors flickered.

And then…

A shockwave of light burst outward from Alice's body, flooding the room, swallowing everything in white as if the sun had erupted from within her small frame.

The blinding flare shifted.

The light concentrated, folding inward, wrapping Alice in a cocoon of radiance that outlined her delicate, feminine frame. Kaiden shielded his eyes not to go blind, but he didn't let go of her. Not even for a second.

Then her hair began to change.

The ink-black strands, an unmistakable Ashborn trait, shimmered, then bled into white, as though every thread was being rewritten. It wasn't pale, or silver, or washed out. It was vivid like fresh snow under a rising sun.

Her blood-red eyes flew open next, glowing fiercely as she took in her beloved brother's face before the crimson drained out completely. The irises didn't just turn white; they shifted into shape.

A ring of sun-rays, sharp and delicate, formed around each pupil like a halo trapped inside her gaze.

Then her feet lifted off the floor, rising gently until she was high enough to be face-to-face with Kaiden.

Kaiden's hands followed automatically, keeping hold of her waist as she floated, weightless and small in his grasp, yet radiating enough power to rattle the entire damned abyssal cathedral.

A rush of force burst from behind her, and with it came…

Feathers.

Brilliant, pristine feathers, unfurling like pages from a divine book. Wings formed in an instant, becoming wide, sweeping, far larger than her frame should have ever supported. They spread out with such force that a nearby shelf toppled and decorative trinkets clattered to the floor.

Her hair billowed upward.

Her eyes blazed like miniature suns.

The wings beat once, sending another pulse through the room.

Kaiden stared up at her, heart hammering, awe mixing with alarm.

This wasn't a spell.

This wasn't a skill activation.

This wasn't any ability she had ever displayed.

This was…

Something had awakened.

Something new.

Something powerful.

Then came a loud [Ding!] in his mind.

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