The ruins did not quiet down.

Princess Lainsa and the remaining treasure hunters advanced without pattern or restraint, moving through broken terrain stained by repeated slaughter. Whatever emerged before them was cut down–beasts, variants, malformed species the Association had never catalogued. Blood soaked the land indiscriminately, pooling between shattered stone and twisted roots.

Above them, the sky changed.

A Blood Moon surfaced without warning, violent and unnatural, washing the battlefield in a crimson glaze that clung to armor and skin alike. Some slowed. Some looked up. No formation reacted. No guidance followed.

Then it vanished.

With no signal to stop and no authority to obey, the killing continued. Momentum replaced judgment, and survival became the only rule still obeyed.

–

Inside the anthill, that momentum fractured.

Not by force, nor by confrontation, but by a question that cut cleanly through the layered authority filling the chamber. It did not come from the King, nor the Queen, nor the army standing in perfect, disciplined order.

It came from a small mouth.

"Lady Hylisi," Diala asked quietly, her voice steady despite the pressure around them. "Why are you here?"

The question slipped through the hierarchy without resistance.

"You should be in the Association by now… shouldn't you?"

Hylisi blinked, her gaze unfocused for a moment.

"Association…" she repeated.

The word did not settle properly. She exhaled slowly, as if grounding herself through the sound.

"That was where I was meant to be," she said. "Instead… I became the examiner."

She paused, brows tightening–not in confusion, but in recollection forced back too quickly to remain comfortable.

"I uncovered your identities," she continued. "Both."Her voice lowered."But I did not anticipate the origin behind them."

Silence followed her words.

"The examination hall reacted first," Hylisi said after a moment. "Then it panicked."

She pressed her fingers lightly to her temple.

"I remember the Patron," she said slowly."Killing lakhs in an instant.""An anomaly triggering.""The Queen's momentum descending."

Her voice faltered.

"…After that, I remember nothing."

No one interrupted her.

When she looked up again, her gaze settled on Kiaria.

"Anyway," she said, composure returning not through calm but necessity, "your twin brother is terrifying."

A faint crease formed between her brows.

"Too powerful," she added."And inconsistent."

Her eyes lingered briefly.

"His methods change constantly."

The anthill remained silent. Only the question she had not asked yet lingered in the air.

–

"Your words are misleading, Lady Hylisi."

Kiaria spoke without raising his voice.

He widened his senses–not inward, but outward, beyond the layered stone and crystal of the anthill. Through the eyes of nature itself, he pried into the Borderland.

What he saw made his breath catch.

Everything was the same.

The terrain.The movement.The blood.

Only deaths.

Illusory. Endless.

Pain lanced through his skull, sharp and immediate. Blood slipped from the corners of his eyes as the backlash struck without warning. He shut them at once, the white healing mist surging instinctively to seal flesh and nerves before the damage could deepen.

Footsteps approached.

The Yaksha Queen stopped before him, her presence steady and unhurried. She raised her hand, and a shard of black crystal broke free from the ground, floating into her palm. It softened, melting into dark liquid before stretching and folding into cloth–thin, flexible, alive with faint spiritual weight.

"Do not open your eyes, Master," she said quietly.

"This land does not permit pure-hearted souls to wander it through vision."

She lifted the cloth slightly.

"These crystals are the shells of my children," she continued. "Forged from obsidial diamonds. With this covering, sight is no longer physical."

Her tone softened.

"It will allow you to see spiritually."

She hesitated briefly.

"May I tie it for you?"

"I will," Diala said at once.

The Queen paused, then inclined her head and offered the cloth without argument.

Kiaria remained still, eyes closed. The bleeding had already stopped.

As Diala tied the blindfold gently across his eyes, something shifted. Even without opening them, Kiaria's perception sharpened, unfolding outward in layered clarity. The world reformed–not brighter, but truer.

He pried again.

This time, the illusion vanished.

The bodies he saw were real.

Death remained, but it was no longer false.

His awareness stretched farther, wider, yet the region where the other treasure hunters fought still lay beyond his reach. He turned his head slightly.

"Queen," he asked, "how did you bring Diala here?"

"Teleportation," the Yaksha Queen replied. "Through a shared anchor."

"Can you do the same," Kiaria asked, "for the others?"

"Yes," she said. "But only if there is something common between you and them."

"Common…" Kiaria repeated.

"Yes, Master."She glanced briefly at Diala."You and my lady are bound–heart to heart. That bond allowed me to sense her location."

"Oh," Kiaria said softly.

Diala reached into her storage ring and withdrew her trial token, holding it out.

"Will this work?"

The Queen studied it in silence.

"I will try."

Diala placed her trial token into the Yaksha Queen's palm. The black crystal beneath their feet responded instantly, lines of dull crimson light spreading outward like veins awakening under stone. The token vibrated once, then fell silent.

Space folded.

Six rifts opened inside the anthill, tearing through crystal and shadow alike. Each one aligned precisely with a bearer elsewhere in the ruins, responding not to distance, but to shared authority embedded in the tokens themselves.

Princess Lainsa vanished mid-step as the ground beneath her softened into a spiraling void, her momentum breaking without resistance. Ru was taken while hauling the corpse of a beast aside, his grip snapping empty as space swallowed him whole.

Yi disappeared while sealing soil samples into storage, his knees still bent when the world collapsed beneath him. Mu Long fell backward as a swarm of subterranean rats surged forward, his defensive stance dissolving into nothing.

Azriel vanished a breath before his blade reached a half-blood bat's throat, the strike unfinished. Aizrel was torn from the air between branches, her leap arrested mid-motion as gravity lost meaning.

They arrived together.

Six figures landed across the chamber in fractured positions–combat-ready, defensive, mid-motion–each reacting instinctively before the pressure of the anthill settled over them. Black crystal walls loomed in all directions, the depth beneath their feet vast and silent.

Their gazes met.

"Did we fail?" Ru asked, his voice low.

"Yes," Kiaria replied evenly. "We all did."

No one argued.

Princess Lainsa moved first, crossing the chamber toward Diala without hesitation. Her eyes scanned the surroundings quickly, noting the absence of immediate threats–and the deliberate order of the space.

The Yaksha Ant Army was gone.

Not scattered.Not retreating.Withdrawn with intent.

Only one presence remained.

The Yaksha Queen stood near the chamber's center, her form steady, her gaze unreadable. She did not radiate hostility, yet the weight of her existence pressed subtly against every breath.

"Who is she?" Princess Lainsa asked.

"She brought you here–A God" Diala answered quietly. "She saved all of you. I'll explain later."

Princess Lainsa studied the Queen for a long moment, then inclined her head slightly.

"Goddess…Thank you," she said. "For intervening."

The Queen regarded her calmly.

"I am not a goddess," she said. "Nor do I seek reverence."

A pause.

"I am Yaksha."

No further explanation followed.

An uneasy silence settled over the chamber.

Kiaria stepped forward, breaking it.

"Can you take us to the Association?" he asked.

The Queen turned her gaze toward him.

"Which one?"

"The Mainland Guardian Association," Hylisi replied.

Recognition passed through the Queen's eyes.

"Ah," she said softly. "That place."

She did not act immediately.

"I can take you there," she continued, "but you should understand what you are walking into."

Hylisi frowned. "Explain."

"Months ago," the Queen said, "reports reached us of irregular movements within that Association. An outsider appeared–one they began calling a Formation Master."

Her gaze lifted slightly, as if tracing something unseen.

"Instability followed him."

Silence deepened.

"The rest," the Queen added, "you will need to uncover yourselves."

Her eyes returned to Kiaria.

"If you still wish to go, I will deliver you to its entrance."

No one spoke.

The decision had already been made.

"Very well," the Yaksha Queen said at last."If this is your decision, I have nothing more to add."

She stepped forward.

The space above the chamber screamed open as her hand tore through it, crystal and sky splitting apart like brittle glass. A rift formed high above them, distant and unstable, its other side layered with unfamiliar formations and guarded light.

"The Association is far," she said evenly.

She snapped her fingers.

Black crystals rose from the anthill floor one after another, aligning themselves into a narrow ascending path. Each step solidified as it formed–dark, faceted, cut with precision–obsidial diamonds shaped into a staircase leading toward the rift.

"Fall," the Queen instructed."Do not jump."

No explanation followed.

They did not understand the reason, but none questioned her words. In this place, instruction carried more weight than logic.

As the others prepared to move, the Queen lifted a small shard of black crystal into her palm. It softened, reshaping itself into a simple ring etched with Yaksha sigils. Without pause, it shot outward, passing through the anthill's chambers like a living thing.

Ore veins vanished.Stored provisions collapsed into light.Water sources emptied.

Even the remaining Yaksha Ant Army dissolved into motionless shadows, drawn into the ring one by one. When the ring returned, it hovered briefly before the Queen, silent and complete.

Only three remained.

Kiaria.Diala.Princess Lainsa.

The Queen turned and extended the ring toward Kiaria.

"Wear it," she said. "It will acknowledge its master."

Kiaria studied it for a moment, then nodded.

He slipped the ring onto his thumb.

The crystal darkened, its surface smoothing as a faint pulse passed through it–brief, decisive, absolute.

No words were exchanged.

They stepped onto the crystal path.

As they ascended, Kiaria glanced back.

The Yaksha Queen was already gone.

No distortion marked her departure. No ripple followed. One moment she was there–then the chamber stood empty, the weight she carried removed as cleanly as it had arrived.

The steps beneath their feet began to fracture.

Hairline cracks raced across the obsidial surface, spreading faster with each step. Crystal dust fell away into the depth below, the path collapsing behind them without pause.

Kiaria understood.

He reached out, grasping Diala and Princess Lainsa by the waist, pulling them close in a single motion. Without hesitation, he pushed them forward together.

They fell.

The rift swallowed them whole.

As space folded shut behind them, Kiaria's thoughts aligned.

The warning.The steps.The delay.

The Queen had never intended for the others to linger. The instructions were not meant to protect them–but to occupy them. To buy time. To create distance.

Not from danger.

From him.

By the time the rift sealed completely, the anthill no longer existed behind them.

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