[Extraction complete]

[Your echo is experiencing a qualitative change]

[Poison medallion has been fitted with divine blood tainted with a divine poison]

[Poison medallion has been elevated to the divine rank]

Outside the small cottage, Enzo stood beneath the overhanging eaves, the scent of damp earth clinging to the air. In his palm rested a green medallion, cool and heavy, its surface faintly slick as though it breathed on its own. He turned it slowly, eyes narrowed, every sense drawn toward the thing as if it might suddenly bite back.

Days ago, after using the medallion as a new shell for the poison buried within Victoria's body, it had changed. Not cracked or shattered, but grown. The shift had been silent, almost polite, which unsettled him more than any violent reaction ever could.

He had never seen an echo evolve. Not like this.

The medallion no longer held a single color. Veins of deep crimson threaded through its emerald body, pulsing softly, as though carrying a heartbeat that was not meant for mortal ears. A suffocating pressure leaked from it, subtle yet undeniable, warping the air around his fingers and making his skin prickle.

Enzo closed his grip slightly, then relaxed it just as fast.

I have to be careful with this one. Pulling it out with people around might just instantly kill them. I'm afraid this might cause more harm than good.

The thought sat heavy in his mind. The medallion did not discriminate. It did not choose targets or show mercy. Organs failed simply because life existed nearby, because breath was drawn too close to its influence. With its newfound strength, releasing it carelessly could erase someone before they even understood they were dying.

That alone made it dangerous.

That made it unforgivable.

This was obviously not a great idea.

"Hm?"

The sound came from within the cottage.

Victoria suddenly groaned, her body jerking upright as though dragged from a nightmare. Cold sweat soaked her skin, her breath sharp and uneven. Her eyes snapped open, darting wildly across the room, searching for threats both seen and unseen.

Then they found him.

Through the open doorway, her gaze locked onto Enzo where he sat outside, the medallion still resting in his hand. In that instant, the air thickened. An invisible weight surged outward, raw and instinctive, a warning rather than an attack.

A prelude.

For a heartbeat, neither moved, as though the next second might decide whether the world stayed intact or shattered between them.

Fortunately, she did not attack. Instead, her gaze drifted to the massive coffin beside her bed, drawn by its familiar glow and quiet grandeur. Power slept within it, old and absolute, the kind that did not need to announce itself. Recognition softened the sharp edge in her eyes.

"Enzo?" Victoria whispered, the name tasting unreal on her tongue. For a brief moment, she stood frozen as memories collided and overlapped, each one demanding to be acknowledged.

Shadow Step.Spinning Dagger.Void Coffin.

The fragments aligned with terrifying clarity.

After Enzo's body had disintegrated before her eyes in Galafray, she had seized what little essence remained and studied it obsessively. There had been answers, but not enough. One of her brothers had divined a single truth from the void, a sentence spoken with certainty rather than hope.

Bound by the night of void.

She had waited. Centuries passed like restless breaths. She gathered tribes of night creatures beneath her banner, expanding her dominion, always watching, always searching. Every shadow carried a question. Every silence mocked her patience.

Who would have thought it would end like this.

[Correct. This is the one called Enzo Malvaran. Nice to see you again, Lady Victoria.]

The Void Coffin responded before Enzo could speak. Its voice was calm, almost fond. She had been its original owner, and though it now answered to blood and legacy beyond her, it still acknowledged her presence without hesitation.

"Ahh…" Victoria exhaled, momentarily stunned.

She rose from the bed and stepped outside, bare feet touching the ground as though the world itself bent to receive her. Her aura spilled outward, heavy and ancient, pressing down on everything in its reach.

Enzo stood as well, mirroring her movement. They faced one another in silence, the space between them trembling with restrained force.

Then she moved suddenly and without restraint .

In a blink, warmth surrounded him. Her arms wrapped around him, tight and desperate, her body pressing against his as though afraid he might vanish again. Her breath shook against his neck, and the air filled with something raw and aching.

Longing.

For Enzo, barely two years had passed since their parting. The memory still felt close, still sharp. But for her, it had been thousands of years spent waiting beneath an unchanging sky.

The difference crushed her.

The longing was unbearable.

Enzo stood frozen within the embrace, his eyes widening as warmth and weight settled against him. For a moment, the world narrowed to the sound of her breath and the steady pressure of her arms, as though time itself had chosen to pause out of respect.

He could not pretend he had not missed her. Victoria was etched too deeply into his life for that. She was dear to him in a way words rarely captured, and a part of him had longed for this presence even when he refused to acknowledge it.

Five minutes later.

"Uh…" Enzo spoke awkwardly, his voice breaking the stillness.

Victoria seemed to realize herself then. She slowly pulled away, her expression shifting as awareness returned, a faint red coloring her face. Leaves rustled around them, the forest watching in quiet patience.

"How are you here?" she asked, then hesitated. "And what happened to Kilgar?"

Enzo scratched his forehead, glancing aside. "Oh. That. I guess you don't know yet."

There had been no immediate sense of danger. No hidden hostility. And his journey was far removed from what most voyagers experienced. The rules that bound others did not seem to apply cleanly to him.

Before, he had kept silent because he believed those he met during the voyage were echoes or remnants of the dead. Yet Galafray had changed that belief. Too much remained. Too much endured.

Against his better judgment, he chose to speak.

Everything.

...

When he finished, silence stretched between them.

Victoria could only sigh.

"The future seems bleak…" She sat at the forest's edge, the light filtering through the canopy catching in her hair. Her gaze drifted to Enzo from the corner of her eye, heavy with thought.

His world was not so different from the one she had ruled. The universe was still expanding, still growing. She had expected renewal. Instead, what he described sounded far worse.

Corruption.

The word lingered unpleasantly in her mind. A thing unseen yet spreading, patient and invasive. If left unchecked, it would not merely threaten the world. It would consume it.

"It's not that bleak," Enzo replied softly, offering a small smile. "For now, we're pushing it back. Though I can't say how much that really matters since I'm not part of the gods' conversations."

Even as he spoke, doubt stirred beneath the surface. Perhaps knowing about corruption early was a blessing. Or perhaps it was a burden better left untouched.

Only time would decide.

For now, there were far more urgent things demanding attention.

"I'm assuming the people following you are from your brother Razz?" Enzo asked, a smile touching his lips that carried no warmth at all.

The system's words echoed faintly in his mind. Razz was the focal point of this voyage. The axis everything revolved around. Whether killing a god was something that could truly be accomplished was another matter entirely.

"How did you know?" Victoria asked, momentarily caught off guard.

Then memory caught up to her. The stories she had told Enzo long ago surfaced, pieces clicking into place. Razz had always been there, lurking behind every misfortune, every cage built around her existence.

For thousands of years, he had been the driving force behind her struggle. Trapping her on Galafray had only been one of his lesser crimes.

Still, she was no helpless victim. She had drawn blood as well, carving her defiance into the ages.

"It's quite obvious," Enzo replied, his tone calm, almost detached.

"You reek of the same energy that burned Kilgar's family to ash."

His gaze shifted toward the graves not too far away, the earth still heavy with memory. Something dangerous flickered in his eyes, restrained yet unmistakable.

Razz had crossed too many lines.

Now even heaven wanted him dead.

"I see" Victoria sighed.

It seemed that her brother had targeted Kilgar and his family because of their relationship with her. She felt guilty and resigned.

Maybe it was finally time to consider a permanent solution to this problem. But was it something she could do? After all Razz wasn't a push over either.

Killing a sibling was also a massive crime one that would be prosecuted by the her father himself.

The life monarch

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