Zilean stood motionless in front of Elsie's painting. The only sound was the soft scraping of his massive swords against the wooden floor, trailing deep grooves from the street into the room. The marks left behind seemed symbolic, like an indelible path carved by power so immense it hardly knew its own strength.

Ivan looked away, unable to bear the painted expression of his fallen comrade. His face twisted in a knot of guilt, eyes filled with shame that burned hot enough to color his ears red. His jaw tightened, fists clenched. He had not been there; he could have done something, perhaps. Elsie—naive, brave, annoyingly cheerful Elsie—she didn't deserve this.

Kaiser, on the other hand, showed no such guilt or distress. He gazed calmly, analytically, crimson eyes scanning every brushstroke. He was not uncaring, but practical. What interested him was not the fate of Elsie herself, but whether Zilean, this lord of unimaginable might, could restore her. The man had shredded through an army of Sol-formed beasts without breaking a sweat, so if anyone could undo this strange magic, it had to be him. Kaiser stood still, observant, almost eager to see the limits or possibilities of Zilean's strength.

After Celestine recounted what happened, how the creature had pinned Elsie, melted into her body, and left this grim portrait behind, Zilean simply nodded solemnly. Without a word, his armored fingers clicked on one of the many invisible crosses etched upon his helmet.

Instantly, both enormous swords vanished in a shimmer of faint, silvery-blue light, as if drawn into an unseen sheath somewhere else entirely. Aria's eyes widened in astonishment, while Ivan nearly jumped from the sudden disappearance.

Zilean clicked another cross, and a tiny sphere, glittering with a soft golden light, emerged before him, floating gently toward Elsie's haunting portrait. Its light bathed the painting, carefully tracing its edges, analyzing each stroke of paint with meticulous precision. Silence reigned, heavy with the tension of hope.

Then, with a low hum, the visor of Zilean's helmet lit up, a faint blue glow emanating from the slits. His massive shoulders sagged almost imperceptibly as his voice echoed solemnly through the room:

"I had feared this."

Celestine's breath caught painfully in her chest, her voice thin, desperate. "What do you mean? Is she dead? Please, Uncle, can we help her?"

Aria echoed Celestine's sentiment, voice cracking as she took a half-step toward Zilean. "There must be something we can do! Elsie can't just end like this. She...she did this for me. She—"

Aria's voice broke entirely, grief and guilt thickening her words. Ivan shifted uncomfortably, staring at the floorboards, swallowing hard as guilt squeezed his heart further.

Zilean's armored head turned slowly toward them, sympathetic yet unwavering. "She lives, but this…this is a curse," he explained gravely, voice deepening with urgency. "One utterly alien to me. A technique so intricate and unfamiliar it might as well come from beyond our understanding of Sol."

Celestine visibly deflated, eyes shimmering as hope wavered within them. Kaiser, silent until now, finally spoke, voice cold and sharply analytical.

"Can you break it?"

Zilean hesitated for a fraction of a second, a hesitation that told Kaiser more than any words could. Kaiser had faced countless opponents whose abilities imprisoned or tortured their victims: dream-like illusions, infinite mazes of the mind, the cruel tricks of shadow and deception. But… Always, his raw strength had shattered them, overwhelming even the cleverest sorcery.

But this was not such a simple thing. Zilean shook his head slowly, regret heavy in his tone.

"No," he admitted quietly. "Not now, at least. The analysis is clear enough, Elsie has been made into a source of Sol. Her energy is fueling something else, something greater. Until we stop whatever is draining her, this curse cannot be broken by mere strength alone. It is too unique, and too precise."

Ivan's brows furrowed, visibly surprised. "She's a Sol battery? Then what happens when all of her Sol is drained?"

Zilean's armored shoulders squared, his voice hardening. "I suspect she'll become like those creatures, transformed completely into another of those beasts."

Ivan blanched, his voice trembling slightly. "Are you serious? She could become one of those…things?"

Aria shook her head violently, hands balling into fists, anger reigniting in her eyes. "No. No, we can't let that happen. We have to do something now!"

Celestine turned sharply toward Zilean, urgency thickening her voice. "Then we must find whoever's behind this immediately. We can't let Elsie or anyone else end like this."

Kaiser's crimson gaze narrowed further, cutting through the growing panic. "If they're draining Sol, where is it going?"

At that, Zilean hesitated again, the silence deafening. Slowly, reluctantly, he answered.

"I cannot know that," he said gravely, "For I am Soulless."

Kaiser's eyes widened fractionally, a flicker of surprise dancing briefly through his expression. Yet, as much as Kaiser might have wished to extract more information, he knew instantly it would be futile. This man, this armored being, was beyond his current reach in both strength and status. He was, at least for now, superior.

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Ivan, confused, murmured quietly, "Soulless? Does that mean you have no idea what it feels like when Sol moves around us?"

"Correct," Zilean confirmed calmly, his voice holding no shame, only honesty. "I rely on tools, weapons, and the knowledge of others to perceive Sol clearly. The finer intricacies, such as emotions, sensations, and the subtle flows and patterns are hidden from me."

A thoughtful silence fell over the room. Kaiser refocused his thoughts quickly. Soulless or not, this man was beyond a monster in strength. Information was critical, but strength was indispensable.

His attention returned to Elsie's painted visage, eyes tracing the girl's defiant expression, even trapped in ink and canvas. Quietly, coldly, Kaiser made his decision. His voice cut the heavy silence like a blade.

"We have to move. Lord Zilean, is there anyone, anyone at all in the Liberatoriums who can undo this? Someone with the authority or skill to break a curse like this?" His words were brisk, already organizing his thoughts and assessing every option, even as a hundred doubts warred inside him. Killing the source might work. It might not. If this was the work of a true master, there was always the chance that simply destroying the one behind it would only damn Elsie forever.

At the mention of Zilean, Celestine drew a sharp breath. "Kaiser—" There was warning and rebuke in her voice, as if his directness risked offending someone far beyond his station.

But Lord Zilean only gave a soft, metallic chuckle, the sound echoing oddly through his helmet. With a small, deliberate motion, he lowered Celestine's hand. "No need, niece. I'm not so easily insulted by questions of practicality. I barely know a soul in the Liberatoriums; I have my own business, and it rarely involves such matters. No, there's no one I know of who could undo something this foreign."

Kaiser nodded, eyes narrowing in brief, thoughtful confusion. The admission itself seemed off, a man of Zilean's rank and power, yet so little connection to the world's supposed greatest problem-solvers? Odd, but not the most pressing concern. He filed the thought away, adding it to the endless ledger of mysteries he'd tally later.

He turned his mind to the task at hand, letting leadership flow naturally from him. There was no time for courtly etiquette or hesitation. "Then here's what we do. Listen."

His tone left no room for argument, he sounded like a general, not a peer, and certainly not an equal to anyone in the room. Ivan blinked, Celestine's brows shot up in shocked disapproval, and even Zilean, if he took offense, gave no sign of it.

"Ivan, you're heading back to the teleporter platform. You'll escort any and all survivors we found, and once you're there, you'll help get them ready for transport the moment that portal's charged again. Since our Albuses aren't working, I want Aria to go with them. She can explain everything to the Liberatorium when she gets through, she's quick on her feet, and if something happens to you, she can get help."

Ivan's mouth dropped open, eyes wide with surprise and something close to panic. Aria's own eyes darted from Kaiser to Celestine and back again, as if waiting for someone to step in and overturn the plan. But Kaiser was relentless.

"The rest of us will split up, and search for the source. We go in three teams." He paused, almost reconsidering, but pride would not let him. "Celestine, you'll go alone. If you're ambushed, send up the same light as before—I'll see it, Ivan will see it, and Lord Zilean will see it. We'll converge on your position immediately."

Celestine's lips parted in protest, but she forced them shut, shooting Kaiser a look that could have melted steel. She opened her mouth again to retort, but before she could speak, he pressed on.

"I'll go alone as well, searching for the origin of this curse. If I find it, or if I'm attacked, I'll pour as much Sol as I can into my blade and shoot it into the sky, same principle. You'll know."

He turned, facing Zilean and Ivan. "Lord Zilean, Ivan will travel with you. Ivan, send out as many clones as you can, have them comb the village. If something happens, regroup with Zilean. You two will be the main search party. Zilean, with your strength, nothing here should pose a threat."

There was a heartbeat of silence, an awkward, hanging beat. For a moment, Kaiser considered if perhaps he'd gone too far. Perhaps. But backing down wasn't an option, not for him.

He eyed Aria for a second, considering a more complicated plan, leaving her "eyes" in the area for recon, but quickly dismissed it. The connection with the Albus was cut, and if something went wrong, explaining why one of their team was suddenly blind in the middle of a Tale would be more trouble than it was worth. He would not risk Aria, not when there were other options.

The silence stretched. Only now did Kaiser realize, fully, what he'd just done—he'd given orders to the princess of the Liberatoriums, to the younger brother of the king, a lord of unthinkable power. He, a foreigner, a nobody, a man with nothing but his sword and wits. And not only that, he'd done it instinctively, because he could see the path forward, and because he was too proud to apologize for speaking sense.

Celestine, for her part, recovered quickly. Her expression was icy, every line of her body tight with restrained fury. She seized her uncle's arm with almost childish petulance, shaking it a little. "He didn't mean to command you, Uncle. Elsie's a dear friend of his, right!? He is just grieving" She turned to Kaiser, glaring with a look that was daggers and acid at once.

Kaiser, face a mask of indifference, nodded curtly. "Of course. A dear friend." His tone was so flat, so perfunctory, that it was impossible to tell if he was mocking her, agreeing, or simply refusing to dignify the subject with further comment.

Ivan swallowed, looking as if he desperately wished to disappear. "Uh… should I, uh, get going then? Or—do we wait for a signal?"

Aria, too, seemed stunned into silence. For the first time, perhaps, she looked truly uncertain of her place in the group. She stared at Kaiser as if searching his face for some sign that this was a joke, or a test, or a mistake.

Lord Zilean stood stock-still, utterly unreadable. His helmet gave nothing away, his stance unchanged. The tension was a physical thing, crawling along the walls and ceiling like a second, invisible skin on everyone there.

Then, just as the air seemed to freeze entirely, Lord Zilean moved. It was almost nothing, a single, deliberate shift of weight, the gentle tap of metal on wood as he adjusted his stance. But it was enough. The authority in the room snapped back into its proper shape, like iron returning to a mold.

He inclined his head, only a degree, but it felt as if the entire world bent with him.

"A sound plan," he intoned. "You act as a soldier should: efficiently, decisively, with no regard for pride or station. That is rare. And commendable." He let the words hang there.

Celestine relaxed, just a fraction, letting out a breath she'd been holding. She shot Kaiser another glare, less deadly this time, more exasperated, almost amused in its resignation.

"However—"

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