The crimson envelope in Kaelya's hand trembled, as if reacting to the very air between them.
Her eyes were sharp, voice barely above a whisper.
"This seal… it belonged to Azerion. The First Wielder of the Sin System."
Jiwoon narrowed his eyes. "You've heard of him?"
Kaelya nodded slowly. "Barely. Even in restricted archives, his name is erased. Not sealed. Erased. It's like the gods wanted to pretend he never existed."
Jiwoon said nothing.
Because he knew that name.
Not from a book.
But from the Trial.
The voice that whispered from the mirror… the throne of corpses… the madness in the dragon's roar—it was all Azerion. A shadow of the man he once was, engraved into the Sinbound core.
Flashback – within the Trial
"You who bear my armor… why do you hold back?"
"Devour… and become me."
Back in the present, Kaelya folded the letter.
"If he sent this to you, it means something was left behind. A message. A curse. Or… an invitation to finish what he started."
Jiwoon turned his back to the tower, eyes locked on the rising sun.
"I don't care who he was," he said quietly.
"All I know is this—whatever he became, I won't follow that path."
Kaelya studied him for a moment, then asked:
"Do you believe that?"
"That you can resist the same power he couldn't?"
Jiwoon didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he raised his hand—and summoned a piece of the Sinbound Core, the fragment he had claimed.
It hovered above his palm—glowing faintly like a flicker of guilt that refused to die.
"I don't believe," he said.
"I carry."
Elsewhere…
Deep within a vault sealed by gods long gone, something stirred.
A chained figure surrounded by broken mirrors opened its eyes—black and glowing.
"He touched the first fragment…"
The chains cracked.
"Finally… a successor with teeth."
[System Notification: Hidden Quest Line Unlocked]
Quest Name: Echoes of Azerion
Objective: Locate the four Sinbound Fragments scattered across realms.
Completion: Unlock the true form of the Black Dragon Emperor.