The Northern Mist's castle commanded attention, even the blind could sense its presence. It stood among the fallen trees of Wood Fringe, crowning a hill above a village. The sun rose directly behind it, creating a dramatic silhouette against the dawn.

However, in about a dozen buildings scattered around the hill, there wasn't a soul to be found apart from the Northern Mist themselves.

The buildings looked lived-in, freshly abandoned. Led by Nava, roughly sixty people emerged from the hill to face NeverLight. That told Halo everything.

They were expected to attack today.

Delilah remained uneasy, and having Leto lead them promised even more unwelcome complications.

"Halo… it's time. Call your clones." Leto called out.

Halo exhaled in exhaustion and summoned his clones.

Spineless's surprising resilience caused a moment of panic among Northern Mist, but Nava recovered quickly, smiling wickedly as he ordered most of his forces toward the clones.

"You bastard! You are mine!" With those aggressive words, Brave established the battle's tempo immediately.

Brave rushed Nava, who accepted his aggression with obvious delight. A woman almost as striking as Omega herself moved to face her. White's opponent looked like she'd walked out of a goth concert, with dark clothes and a satanic book in hand.

"Stay safe, Halo," Delilah said, stepping toward her opponent: a suited man wearing glasses.

In the next moment, though, Roji's presence registered, the Northern Mist's leader. He came down the hill radiating authority, but that just made Leto laugh as he rushed him.

But something was wrong. No one came for Halo.

He looked around frantically, taking it all in. Brave's single strike leveled a building while Nava just laughed, Leto's blows making the whole castle tremble, and driving Roji back from close quarters.

A few fights stood out as odd… White was almost therapeutic with her opponent, talking to them like a concerned friend, while Delilah faced someone who only blocked and dodged, refusing to attack.

But nothing was more concerning than his own fight.

His body pulsed defensively just in time to shield against a brutal kick that sent him slamming into the ground.

His hand was broken. Actually broken. He couldn't use it to push himself up. He struggled to his feet and found himself facing the small blonde kid, Holly, the one Light had just described.

A silent groan escaped him. The pain was overwhelming, and he knew another strike would pulverize his hand.

His hand shook uselessly, he couldn't even lift it. Calling Magnus wasn't an option. He just needed to buy himself some time.

He approached Holly, who was casually leaning against a wall, clearly expecting him to come.

"I was under the impression no one under sixteen could enter this world. You seem… twelve."

Halo steadily began adjusting his hands.

"I am thirteen, duh." Holly didn't even spare Halo a glance as he spoke.

Halo furrowed his brow.

"Thirteen? How?"

He felt a spike of real concern. The summoning window was sixteen to nineteen years old. Was Holly another glitch like him?

"What do you think, stupid?"

Halo's eyes widened. Was Holly born here? Native to this world? The question overrode his caution, drawing him closer despite the danger.

He frowned.

Holly wasn't human. Unless his True Ability involved animal transformation, those were definitely horns sprouting from his forehead, small ones, barely formed.

"Figures. One of your parents slept with a Sinner, and this is the result."

Holly's sneer turned into an irritated strike, but Halo reacted just fast enough to evade.

Holly began laughing.

"I now understand why you can stand before me. You know nothing."

Halo gave him a skeptical look.

"I'm not human. Humans can't give birth in this world. I'm a Beast Sinner."

Before the words fully left him, Holly attacked again, fingers aimed at Halo's eyes. Shadow of Death moved at the last second, barely avoiding the strike.

"Wait, how? Aren't all Beast Sinners… you know, Sinners? You look human to me."

Holly rained down attacks, one landing squarely on Halo's chin and almost breaking his neck. Halo used the momentum to his advantage, turning with the blow to soften the fatal impact.

"How naive are you? I am not telling you a thing!"

Holly rushed him instantly, moving faster than before. Now every attack carried lethal intent.

Shadow of Death had no choice but to use his broken hand, evading by inches while his clothes got ripped apart, regenerating moments later, at least.

"So this is all you've got? My first attack might as well have crippled you. They said you'd be fun, what a joke."

Holly stood before Halo and began chuckling like a twisted clown.

"Brace yourself. Let's see if you can survive this."

A dark cube materialized above his palm, hovering there. It looked like a concentrated void, a darkness so absolute that it swallowed even the sunlight around it.

"This belongs to my master, but I don't think he'd complain if I borrowed it."

The size of the cube began widening.

Halo gulped.

The same feeling Tough and Light described washed over him. It seemed harmless, almost like an interesting trinket, but every fiber of his being was telling him to flee.

Just before the box expanded completely, Delilah's opponent interrupted.

"Stop, Holly. You know this isn't why the master gave it to us."

His tone was deep and left no room for argument. Holly dismissed it immediately.

Holly looked disappointed for a moment.

"This is why I always work alone."

Relief flooded through Halo. But now he understood: this was the real leader of Northern Mist, the one who'd sent them all. The person Nava had betrayed NeverLight for. But what did he want?

Halo assumed his stance.

His hand could function again, well enough to fight. And everyone else was already in the thick of it. Leto had leveled the castle using Roji as his instrument of destruction and was now cockily sitting on his tower seat, where he'd been enjoying the carnage.

Brave's destruction of Nava's blade had elevated the fight to something serious. Omega and her opponent had abandoned their composed facades, now they fought with wild fury.

And though Delilah's opponent maintained a purely defensive stance, the battle's intensity hadn't diminished.

White's situation barely warranted attention; she was still having a conversation with her opponent.

"Are you ready to fight now?"

Holly asked with a warped grin, the thought itself seeming to send a thrill through him.

Halo sneered.

"You're smiling at the wrong moment. Talk, what does your master want from us, before I kill you?"

Laughter.

"Defeat me first, and I will tell you."

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