"The price?"
Before Nero sliced through the chaotic void left by Mephistopheles, the demon responded to Hernan's question with a sly grin. "You're making a deal with a devil. You already know what the cost is, don't you?"
"My soul."
Hernan, receiving the demon's nod, paused for a moment before demanding, "Spell it out. Every detail."
"Simple," Mephistopheles said. "I'll grant your wishes. All of them, no matter how many, no matter what they are."
The terms were so generous that Hernan could hardly believe it. "But the moment your every desire is fulfilled, the instant you think, 'This is enough, I want for nothing more'—that's when you, the Servant Hernan, and your soul belong to me."
The demon added a chilling clause: "Don't think you'll just waltz back to the Throne of Heroes after that. Once that thought crosses your mind, your soul, your Spirit Origin—everything you are—becomes mine."
It was straight out of the opera Faust, a deal so lavish it felt like a cosmic giveaway. Humans are prisoners of their desires, insatiable beasts who conquer empires and amass fortunes yet still crave more. For Mephistopheles to win this bet was like trying to fill the endless abyss at the world's edge with pebbles.
But Hernan could feel it—the venomous cunning hidden deep within the terms. Because in her heart burned a single wish, an obsession so consuming she'd trade her soul to see it through.
"Well?" Mephistopheles asked, smirking as if it had already won.
Hernan's breathing grew ragged. With a trembling hand, she removed her monocle and tucked it into her coat. Her head bowed, her palm pressed against her heaving chest, struggling to contain the fire within.
"I…" She steeled herself, clutching the golden Quetzalcoatl ring on her right hand, and looked up at Mephistopheles. "I accept."
"The wager is set."
Mephistopheles rose with a flourish, its tailcoat billowing in an unseen wind. In the next moment, the ring in Hernan's hand erupted in a dazzling glow—
"Come on!" the demon bellowed, arms raised. "Tell me your true wish!"
Without hesitation, Hernan lifted the ring and cried out, "Let the undying sun shine upon this land! Let the eternal Golden Kingdom descend!"
Aboard the stranded warship, a golden spark shot skyward, piercing the clouds. It was Hernan's ring, El Dorado, soaring into the dawn sky like the morning star.
But as it reached its zenith, it transformed, becoming a blazing solar orb.
This sun burned fiercely, turning the pre-dawn darkness into a pale azure, swallowing the faint glow of the approaching sunrise. With the sun already blazing at its peak, no new dawn could rise. As long as the ring-turned-sun kept burning, the moment of "sunrise" would never come.
Hernan's wish was halfway fulfilled.
The other half began now.
Beneath the radiance of the solar orb, countless golden structures rose from the emerald forest. The grandest among them was a towering pyramid, erupting from the collapsed cave. A ferocious evil dragon coiled around it, spewing black venomous flames that ignited the pyramid's peak, making it look like a golden torch tower from afar.
Hernan stood at the edge of the warship, gazing out like an unyielding mast.
She had seen this sight once in life, deep in the jungles of the New World—the final glimmer of the legendary Golden Kingdom. Her lifelong pursuit, her obsession, her dream, was to chase that fallen sun.
And now, that sun blazed in the sky above.
Brilliant sunlight poured from the heavens, bathing the ancient structures below. Mana surged, and dazzling light refracted between the buildings, making them gleam as if forged from pure gold. The reflected rays shimmered in the void, golden specks gathering, slowly solidifying. Hernan's gaze burned brighter with every moment.
Mephistopheles tipped its hat, knowing the wager was already won. It chuckled softly. "There you go. That's the wish you sought."
Before Hernan's eyes, the golden specks danced and collided, until at last—
They merged into a radiant lake of gold.
This was the sacrificial ground of the Aztecs. Countless kings had sailed boats laden with gold to the lake's center, offering their treasures to the gods. But when the Age of Gods ended and the deities vanished, this lake, reflecting the brilliance of endless gold, was lost, hidden away in the underside of the world.
Just as the legends described, its waters shimmered with the glow of countless golden treasures, every ripple sparkling with auric splendor.
Exactly the legend Hernan had chased her entire life.
As she gazed upon it, tears streamed down her face.
What had started it all? How had Hernan come to possess that golden ring? Why had she set out to find the Golden Kingdom? Was it for wealth? Glory? Curiosity? Or simply the thrill of sailing the open seas?
Right now, she didn't care to ponder those questions. They no longer mattered.
What mattered was that her life, her everything, her very soul, was here, in this moment.
"This is… the Golden Kingdom," Hernan whispered, tears falling as a smile curved her lips. A sigh drifted into the wind. "My one true wish."
In an instant, a raucous laugh shattered the poignant moment.
Mephistopheles doubled over, cackling uncontrollably, its voice dripping with mockery. "Humans! Hahaha… humans!
"You never cease to amaze me, to make me howl with laughter! To think you'd give up everything for a wish like this!
"How utterly ridiculous, how utterly terrifying!"
Hernan's gaze tore away from the golden lake, and her vision blurred. Her body suddenly began to disintegrate, her mana scattering into golden motes of light. Yet her soul remained trapped within her Spirit Core, helplessly drawn toward Mephistopheles' grasp.
Panic flickered in her heart, but there was also a strange sense of peace. The moment she'd agreed to the demon's deal, she'd known this might be her fate. And so, Hernan fell into Mephistopheles' clutches.
"Now, you're mine," the demon said, swallowing the Spirit Origin that embodied an entire Heroic Spirit in one gulp, letting out a mocking laugh. "What a pity, hero—you failed the trial."
With that, Mephistopheles turned its attention to a certain chaotic void in the distance.