In the middle of the underground hall was a man with medium-length, tousled hair that was predominantly white with faint pinkish tones near the ends.

His bangs fell loosely, revealing his light facial hair. He was dressed in dark clothing, including a high-neck black shirt and a long, dark coat.

This man suspended slightly above ground with an ethereal sword piercing through him.

The sword was about four feet long, its blade was slender and radiant with a glowing golden line running straight down the middle, creating the impression of an inner beam of light rather than a physical edge.

The blade's coloration seemed as though it had shifted from deep midnight blues to bright cosmic light. The crossguard expanded outward in a luminous horizontal streak.

Despite having the sword pierce through him, the man's eyes were closed with a relaxed and confident expression.

"It can be Fade of Bridle, can it?"

Liam asked with his voice tinged with confusion.

The man was oddly familiar, resembling one of the paintings in the castle, but that person had blond hair, not white. Still, this body was in perfect condition for a corpse. It couldn't be Fade of Bridle, who should have been dead for decades.

"It was said he lived for centuries, right? We shouldn't expect his death to be a normal one…"

Seraph said as her eyes failed to miss the sight before them.

"No, something is off."

Halo said and began approaching the man.

He'd committed his share of murders and watched life drain from bodies, the eyes silently screaming for help. But this man was different.

Halo edged closer to the hovering body. After a moment's hesitation, he reached out and pinched the man's pale skin. Nothing moved.

Liam and Seraph acted a little wary but Halo's mind was beyond their reach.

He began massaging the man's face, feeling his shaved facial hair and cold temples. Everything felt off somehow.

With his heart stopped, the body should've been cold and stiff. But beneath the cold skin, Halo felt warm blood flowing through the veins. The facial hair baffled him most. If blood were moving without a heartbeat, shouldn't the hair be growing?

He gulped bile and took a step backward.

Nothing made sense. The man's relaxed expression proved he wasn't ordinary. He was dead, his heart wasn't beating, but how was this possible? It was as though his body had frozen in time.

Liam closed in on him and tapped him on the shoulder, snapping him out of his daze.

Halo sighed.

"For what it's worth, this man isn't normal…"

Seraph walked past Halo toward the body.

"That much is obvious."

She began analyzing the sword which was roughly a foot and a half nearly her height. She did everything she had to but refrained from touching it.

"It pierced directly into his heart…"

Seraph said and took a few steps away from the body.

"What do you think? Doesn't it look like Kysa killed him? I mean the sword is long enough for a giant."

Liam said, his eyes darting into Halo and Seraphim's.

This was Fade of Bridle. He matched the painting in every way except the white hair. The rumors could be true, Kysa had killed him. Even though his body seemed caught between life and death, the stopped heart told Halo enough.

Still, they couldn't fully commit to this theory. They had no idea how many other legends matched Kysa's power. But one thing was certain: they needed to decide what to do with the body.

"It doesn't matter… we just have to figure out what to do with this body."

The moment Seraph spoke, Halo's eyes swept across the hall. He had no idea such a room existed beneath them, but the slabs on the statues' shoulders revealed their purpose. They were sculptures made in the image of the dead.

He exhaled.

"I'd suggest we take some time out and consider our alternatives… this seems strange enough."

Liam met his gaze with a firm nod. But Seraph seemed lost, her eyes darting frantically around the room in tense silence, as if something had unsettled her.

"But wait… how will we get out?"

Liam's anxious words made their situation dawn on them.

They sealed the hatch behind them. Just from its weight alone, getting back out would be harder than getting in. The moat had likely refilled above them, adding even more weight. Opening it from below wouldn't be ideal.

"What if there's another way out?"

Liam asked, his eyes scanning frantically, but the daunting conclusion came quickly. Their only way out was back through the hatch.

Halo sneered and began considering their options.

After a while, he smirked and gestured for them to follow him.

His blade, the Magnus Blade, could transform into any blade, and though what he had in mind wasn't necessarily a blade, it was a weapon in its own right. This also gave him a chance to test the limitations of his sword.

They climbed the stairs. Halo summoned his daggers and steadied himself, white blade gripped in his right hand, black in his left.

'Cudgel.'

The instant the words echoed in his mind, a long, solid metal staff with white and black hoops along its length appeared. It was as though it were torn directly from his memories.

Though heavy-looking, it gleamed with a mythical aura and seemed almost alive. One end plunged into the ground below and the other struck the hatch above, its size increasing with Halo's thoughts.

The force was enough to push the hatch open wide enough and Liam and Seraph combined their strength to push it wide open as water poured over them.

They didn't hesitate to leave the tunnel behind. Halo barely thought about the corpse anymore. He'd discovered his blade could become more than just a blade but any weapon at all. The cudgel looked heavy, yet he'd wielded it effortlessly. The image had come from a mythical figure back in his world.

His thoughts drifted to a handgun. That's how he'd finished most jobs in his old life, after all.

However, his expression darkened the moment he attempted it. The cudgel shifted into his usual daggers instead.

He sighed. "What a disappointment…"

This still perplexed him. If it was true that the Magnus Blade stored weapons its previous wielders used, did that mean someone had used the golden cudgel too?

Before his mind could dwell further, their predicament dawned on him.

He needed to prepare himself for what truly mattered.

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