The house was in chaos.

They both moved around it with sharp, efficient motions, grabbing only what mattered, and ignoring everything else—no matter how tempting they might be.

Jay shouldered his pack with a grunt.

"Tell me we didn't wait too long."

Ryn didn't answer.

He was already moving for the door.

They burst back outside.

The wind hit them first, stronger than before. The Hero's Isle was still shifting, its course no longer subtle. Stone groaned beneath their feet as the landmass adjusted.

Ryn skidded to a stop at the edge of the terrace.

Jay followed—and cursed.

The clouds below had torn wide open.

Lumen lay exposed beneath them, closer now, the bright skyline stark against the morning sun. But Ryn's eyes locked onto something else immediately.

The platform.

It was already halfway up.

Ryn's jaw tightened.

"It should have been lower," he said. "We lost time."

Jay looked toward the distant green canopy of the Forest Isles.

"If we run—"

"We won't make it," Ryn cut in.

The distance was obvious now. Even at full sprint, even without stopping, they couldn't reach the Forest Isles before the platform descended again.

Jay clenched his fists. "Then what—?"

Ryn stepped closer to the edge, eyes tracking the motion below with unnerving calm.

"There's a moment," he said. "When the Forest Isle crosses paths with this one."

Jay turned slowly. "…Ryn. Don't tell me."

The wind howled louder, clouds spiraling violently beneath them as the gap between the Hero's Isle and the Forest Isles narrowed.

Ryn exhaled slowly.

"If we don't act now," he said, "we don't leave."

Jay swallowed hard, staring down at the rising stone far below.

The platform kept climbing.

And the window was already closing.

"Snow," he said.

The air beside him ruptured in a rush of cold.

Frost spiraled outward as Snow emerged in a burst of compressed ice and swirling mist, its massive form coalescing mid-step. The temperature dropped sharply, breath fogging instantly in the wind.

"We'll jump if it's the last resort." Ryn continued.

Jay nodded.

Snow didn't need further instruction.

The moment Ryn mounted, the beast lunged forward, claws biting into stone as it tore across the Hero's Isle at full speed. Jay scrambled up behind him, gripping tight as the world blurred into wind and motion.

Ice crystallized instantly, jagged sheets forming where nothing had existed a heartbeat earlier. The path groaned as it extended, locking itself in place just long enough to bear weight.

Snow thundered forward.

Each leap forged another section of frozen ground, the beast tearing across the void as ice bloomed beneath its stride.

The Hero's Isle fell away behind them as Snow carried them onto the Desert Isles, ice cracking and steaming as heat fought against frost.

The path began to melt almost immediately, fractures racing through it as the beast pushed onward.

They didn't stop.

Ryn risked a glance back.

The platform had already arrived. It was waiting there, and Ryn didn't know how much patience it had left.

"Change of plan," Ryn said.

Jay barely had time to react. "What—?"

Ryn leaned forward.

"We're not taking the long way."

Snow responded instantly.

The beast veered hard, abandoning the careful sequence of Isle-to-Isle crossings. Frost exploded outward as it charged straight toward open air, ice erupting beneath its claws in violent bursts rather than careful paths.

Wind screamed past them as the void opened below, clouds churning violently as Snow forced ground into existence only long enough to push off it. Each step shattered almost as soon as it formed.

Jay's grip tightened. "Ryn—!"

"I see it," Ryn snapped.

The platform loomed larger now, its surface clearly visible. But even at Snow's pace, the math was brutal.

They weren't going to reach it cleanly.

Snow launched forward, claws scraping against the last fragment of conjured ice before it disintegrated beneath them.

The tiger had exhausted itself…and the platform's patience had finally snapped, as it started to descend again.

The ground vanished, and gravity seized them both.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" Jay yelled as they fell through the open sky.

Ryn didn't shout. He didn't hesitate.

His eyes locked onto the platform.

Not close enough to reach.

But close enough to throw.

The calculation finished in an instant.

Ryn twisted midair, planting his feet against Snow's fading form as the tiger began to turn into frost. Essence surged through his arms as he let it out in a single, violent burst.

[Essence Burst].

The Technique detonated in a controlled release, a violent pulse of force exploding outward from his body.

Jay was gone.

Ryn hurled him forward with everything the Burst could give, the shockwave ripping the air apart as Jay's body was launched toward the platform in a booming arc. Wind tore past him, the force flinging him faster than gravity ever could.

[MP: 113/173]

Jay didn't even have time to shout.

He slammed onto stone hard, rolling violently before skidding to a stop near the platform's edge, breath torn from his lungs in a ragged gasp.

Ryn was already falling past the point of recovery.

Snow fully collapsed.

The massive body condensed midair, frost imploding inward as steel spun into existence.

The sword.

Ryn caught it by the hilt as he dropped.

"I hope this works," he muttered.

[MP: 103 / 173]

Jay.

Snow.

Two anchors burned in his awareness as he threw Snow upward as hard as he could.

Ryn had to take the gamble, letting himself fall just enough so that the blade could hit its apex, the tug thinning to an absolute thread before he finally used it.

[Star's Path]

The world snapped.

Space folded violently as Ryn was ripped out of freefall, dragged through the Path in a blink that detonated the air around him.

He appeared mid-motion, hand snapping shut around Snow's hilt as his vision tore toward the platform.

THWOOOP.

He slammed onto the platform beside Jay, stone cracking beneath the impact as he rolled once, twice, before coming to a stop.

The wind vanished.

For a long moment, neither of them moved.

Jay was the first to stir.

He rolled onto his side, coughing hard as he dragged air back into his lungs, fingers clawing against the cold stone.

"—that," he wheezed, "was the worst idea you've ever had."

Ryn didn't answer.

He was still on his back, staring up at the sky as the clouds sealed shut above them. His chest rose and fell in slow, measured breaths.

Every muscle screamed in protest now that the danger had passed, the delayed ache settling deep into bone.

But he was alive.

Ryn pushed himself up onto an elbow, then sat, resting Snow across his knees.

They sat there together for a moment longer. Only now, with the danger behind them, did the weight of the Isles truly settle in.

After everything they had gone through, the thought was… bittersweet.

They had almost died more times than Ryn cared to count. Every step had been taken under pressure. Constant danger, paired with the revelation of an unexpected legacy, had struck them like a storm.

And yet—

Somewhere along the way, that endurance had become something else.

Strength.

The Isles had taken their toll.

But they had given him something in return.

Something he would desperately need for what came next.

***

The cathedral was quiet again.

Sunlight filtered through stained glass, painting the marble floor in muted reds and golds as the last of the morning congregation dispersed. A cardinal stood near the entrance, exchanging a few polite words with a junior priest before turning toward the inner halls.

His smile vanished the moment the doors closed behind him.

The sound came first.

A low, broken chuckle, dragged from deep in his throat.

"KE… ke… ke…"

The cardinal staggered.

His hands clutched at his chest as his skin rippled, veins bulging unnaturally beneath the surface. The flesh along his neck softened, sagging like wax held too close to a flame. Bone shifted with a wet crack, his face losing definition as if it had never truly been fixed in place.

"KEKEKEKEKEKE—!"

The laughter echoed through the empty hall, shrill and unrestrained.

Robed figures rushed in from adjoining chambers, freezing at the sight before them.

"M-my lord—!"

The thing that had been the cardinal snapped its head toward them.

"WHY," it shrieked, voice warping mid-word, "has Cardinal Leon still not been captured?!"

One of the subordinates swallowed hard. "W-we have confirmation that he's under the protection of the Grandal family. Any direct move would risk—"

The sentence never finished.

The speaker collapsed as their chest imploded inward, body crumpling bonelessly to the floor. Blood splattered across the marble in a thin, careless arc.

Silence followed.

The creature stared at the corpse for a moment… then laughed again, softer this time, the sound bubbling with delight.

"HEhehe… no matter."

It turned away, form finally stabilizing into something vaguely human as it moved deeper into the cathedral's restricted wing. Stone doors sealed shut behind it with a heavy thrum.

Inside, the air was colder.

A long table dominated the chamber, its surface cluttered with ritual tools. A body laid on the long table, dressed in the colors of Rhea…unconscious.

Beside it, an artifact, a small brooch…

The creature's gaze lingered there, eyes gleaming with interest.

"Plan A was always fragile," it murmured, voice finally settling into a mockery of calm. "But this…"

A hand brushed against the relic.

"…this will do nicely."

The laughter returned as the creature shoved a knife down on the body, its skin started molting…transforming until it was one with what it had killed.

Far above, the bells rang.

Preparations for the Hero's Ceremony had begun.

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