The modified SUV surged forward through the dense white fog, its tires slicing across the snow-covered road like a shadow in a world that had forgotten sound.
Inside, the silence was suffocating.
Eira sat still, her eyes locked on Ron — slumped in his seat, face blank, breath shallow. Not asleep. Not awake. Just… empty.
She wasn't smiling anymore.
Leonard's hands gripped the wheel tighter. His knuckles were pale, his eyes fixed on the road ahead, but it was clear he wasn't really seeing it.
A thought broke the silence.
"Eira," Leonard said quietly, his hands gripping the wheel, eyes focused on the snowy road ahead.
"Do you think something's wrong with him?"
Eira glanced at Ron — slumped in the back seat, his body unnaturally still.
"I'm not entirely sure," she said, voice low. "But that shadow definitely entered his body. And now… I can't trace any of it. It's like it just disappeared."
Silence returned.
The SUV sped forward, cutting through thick fog and swirling snow. The only sounds left were the tires on ice and the distant howling of the storm.
The blizzard outside intensified — a white void consuming everything.
And then… like a mirage rising in the middle of a desert, a city appeared on the horizon.
Towering structures shimmered behind a translucent veil.
A glowing wall of light stretched across their path, pulsing softly — an illusion, a boundary between two worlds.
As the SUV neared the barrier, a circular gap opened — a ripple through space, a slit in reality.
The vehicle slipped through the breach…
And the world changed.
Inside, the storm was gone. The wind fell silent.
Buildings glowed with soft light, suspended between nature and technology.
This was no ordinary city — this was something otherworldly. Untouched by the chaos outside.
They drove a little further and came to a stop near a security checkpoint.
Several soldiers in advanced armour approached, weapons holstered but ready. Their helmets glinted in the city's light, scanning the faces inside.
Leonard stepped out of the SUV, withdrawing a sleek black card from inside his coat.
Without a word, he held it out.
The lead guard took it, scanned it briefly, then gave a short nod. The others stepped aside, though their gazes lingered just a moment longer on Ron.
Leonard walked forward in silence.
Eira followed.
Ron trailed behind them, his steps light — as if weightless — and his eyes still empty.
As they moved forward, a car stopped in front of them. The doors opened silently. They stepped inside, and the vehicle sped away as soon as the doors shut.
No one spoke. An unspoken tension filled the air.
Outside the windows, towering sky-piercing buildings passed by. People walked along clean streets, children played under sunlight — the city was vibrant, alive. It felt unreal.
A world apart.
Beyond the illusion of safety and order, the Cold Era still raged on.
Outside these walls, millions were dying — freezing in broken cities, starving in abandoned towns. Most of the world had already collapsed.
But here… this place felt untouched.
Almost like it wasn't part of the same reality.
The car moved through clean roads, passing tall buildings with bright glass and glowing signs. People were walking around like normal — heading to work, talking, shopping. Kids ran through open parks, laughing under warm lights.
It felt wrong.
Like this was all just a fake world built on top of something awful.
No one here looked like they knew what was really going on out there.
If someone saw this place without knowing the truth, they'd think the Cold Era never even started.
The car finally stopped in front of a massive building — one of the tallest in the city. Its surface shined silver under the artificial sky, reflecting the lights around it like a mirror.
It looked more like something out of a sci-fi movie than real life.
But this was the centre.
It was one of the major strongholds of the Stellar Institute.
"They've arrived," a young woman in a professional suit said, her voice crisp.
"I told him not to come back," said another woman standing near the window, her gaze fixed below.
The assistant remained silent.
"Something must've happened. Leonard wouldn't dare disobey… unless he had no choice," said the man beside her.
His sharp eyes locked onto the boy stepping out of the car.
Straight through the glass.
Straight at Ron.
Lenord walked ahead with Eira silently trailing behind, and Ron followed—expressionless, each step measured like a puppet pulled by unseen strings.
As they approached, the front gate slid open automatically with a faint hiss. Inside, the air was sterile and cold, filled with quiet footsteps and the soft hum of machinery. Workers in uniforms moved briskly through the corridors, each absorbed in their tasks.
They reached the central lift. The doors opened with a soft chime, and a few scientists in white lab coats stepped out. None of them acknowledged Lenord or even glanced in Ron's direction—but a few gave Eira a subtle, instinctive distance, as though her presence alone unsettled the air.
Lenord stepped inside, fists clenched tight behind his back, his face unreadable. Eira remained silent beside Ron, who stood unnaturally still. She looked weary—not physically, but like someone carrying a weight only she could feel.
The lift moved upward in silence.
When the doors finally opened, they stepped into a quieter corridor. After a few turns, they stopped before a reinforced door. Two guards stood on either side, clad in high-tech armour forged from a dark, unidentifiable metal. An oppressive aura radiated from them not threatening, but enough to remind any passerby that this place was off-limits to the ordinary.
But neither guard moved to stop them.
Eira moved ahead without hesitation, pushing open the door as if the guards didn't exist. They glanced at her but made no move to stop her — simply stepping aside in silence.
Inside, the room was vast and minimal, the cold air humming with subtle pressure. At the centre sat a woman in a pristine white suit, her presence effortlessly commanding. Her eyes locked onto Eira first, unreadable — then shifted slowly, towards Ron, before locking on Lenord.
"Why are you back?"
Her tone was calm, but beneath it simmered a quiet threat.
Lenord stepped forward. His voice was steady, but the tightness in his jaw betrayed his nerves.
"A Crimson Shadow attacked my family. Not just any — one nearing the threshold of domain manifestation. A Nightmare-class."
The woman's fingers froze mid-motion. Even the air felt colder.
"It had already implanted a seed in Ron by the time I arrived," Lenord continued. "Eira tried to suppress it, but it escaped… and entered his body."
A heavy silence followed.
The woman didn't blink. Her gaze shifted to Ron.
Then her gaze shifted to Eira.
"Even if it was a Nightmare-grade," she said coldly, "as long as it hadn't manifested its true self or broken the wall between reality and illusion, you should have dealt with it."
Eira's expression darkened slightly, her voice steady but more serious than before.
"I tried. But the moment it entered his body… it vanished. Completely. There wasn't even a fragment of the seed left. Not a single trace remains in his mind."
A silence followed — brief, but heavy. Then, a new voice echoed from the side of the room.
"How interesting…"
A man stepped out from the shadows, clad in a long black coat. His presence was sharp, his tone calm — but his eyes were locked on Ron with unsettling interest.
"Perhaps that Crimson Shadow has already transcended… and now exists beyond the veil. If it can erase its presence entirely, even from Eira, then maybe it's begun to tamper with reality itself."
The woman in white stood up slowly, her voice sharp.
"Do you even understand what you're saying?" she asked, glaring at the man.
Eira remained calm, her eyes steady — as if she had already considered the same possibility long ago.
The man said nothing in return. Instead, he stepped forward, placing a hand gently on Ron's forehead. His gaze locked onto Ron's blank; hollow eyes as faint traces of black fog began to fade from them.
"…Where… am I…"
The words escaped Ron's lips in a faint whisper — almost like a forgotten memory surfacing.
But before anyone could respond, his eyes closed again, falling into sleep.
This time, however, a soft white light slowly wrapped around his body — warm, calm, nothing like the lifeless puppet he had been moments ago.
Eira let out a long breath, her shoulders dropping as if a great weight had finally lifted. She quietly sat down in the nearest chair, her exhaustion plain on her face.
The woman in white step forward her voice being gentle for the first time.
"…Are you alright?"
"I am," Eira replied softly.
"She's been controlling Ron's body this whole time," the man in black said, his voice calm. "Even if the shadow was hiding, it wouldn't be able to escape. To mend itself and manifest fully, a shadow still needs a medium."
"Can't you sense it too?" the woman in white asked, her voice low.
"I can't," he admitted. "But we can't ignore the possibility that it's deceiving us. Its true strength may already be approaching the level of the Four Kings."
"The Four Otherworldly Demon Kings? Do you even hear yourself?"
He didn't flinch. "You underestimate these things. Have you forgotten what happened in the ancient ruins? The price we paid? And even then… the Four Otherworldly aren't the pinnacle."
Her eyes narrowed. "Are you implying this demon is beyond them?"
"Hmm." A faint sound of agreement escaped him.
She stared at him in disbelief. "What makes you give it such a high evaluation?"
The man in black fell silent for a moment, then exhaled slowly. "I tried peering into him — looking for traces of the shadow. But I found nothing. Everything was… too normal. Unnaturally so. Even if we ignore the shadow, he's still been under Eira's control. Soul magic, no matter how precise, always leaves a scar. Some mark. But his soul..."
He paused, as if the words tasted wrong.
"There wasn't a single trace. It was completely untouched. Like he was never controlled at all."
The room fell quiet.
"You understand what that implies?" he asked, voice low.
Everyone's face darkened—except for Eira, who looked away, already suspecting the truth.
Leonard didn't move. His body trembled slightly, fists clenched at his sides. His eyes shimmered with unshed tears.
"What are you saying?" the woman in white asked.
"That it may have already replaced his soul completely," he said. "Merged with the boy… Or more precisely—he's already dead. What's inside his body might be the shadow now."
A heavy silence fell.
"Do you even realize how insane that sounds?" she snapped.
He smiled faintly—tired, bitter. "After what I saw in the ruins… you don't know what real insanity looks like."
The woman in white didn't ask what he saw. She just remained silent.
Finally, Leonard spoke. Or rather, broke.
He no longer cared about appearances. His body gave out as he dropped to his knees, gripping the man's coat with trembling hands. "Can't… please… can't you do something?" His voice cracked, choked by the weight of despair. "Please… help him…"
The man looked down at him, expression unchanged — cold, almost mechanical. He had likely seen countless parents cry. Tears no longer moved him.
"You should accept it," he said. "What's happened is already done. It can't be changed. At least by eliminating the threat, we'll be saving thousands."
Leonard's eyes were bloodshot. Tears streamed down his cheeks, but he didn't sob — the silence in his grief was louder than any scream.
No one in the room spoke.
Eira didn't look at him. She had already guessed the truth but had chosen not to tell him.
The woman in white didn't comfort him either — her gaze was locked on Ron.
The other man stood still, silently observing Ron's body, hoping to find the traces of crimson shadow.
The man in black finally spoke again, his tone even but unyielding. "We've all given something for the sake of humanity. Now it's your turn. And whether you like it or not… you don't have a choice."
His voice turning cold at the end, "Even if you wanted to save him… you don't have the power."
The room seemed to drop a few degrees colder.