The air at the palace gate was thick with goodbyes left unsaid.
Saturu stood with Kayon. The weight of the journey pressed down on him, real and heavy.
The elven sorcerer broke the quiet. His voice was calm, but it carried a hard edge. "Remember the moon. Your window is exact."
Saturu gave a single nod. He turned and walked into the forest. He did not look back.
He stopped at the edge of a misty glade. His body was tense, every sense alert. The trip here had been long, but this place felt different. The air buzzed, alive with hidden power.
A sound came on the wind. A voice he never thought he'd hear again.
"Saturu…"
A figure stepped from the fog. Sunlight touched blue hair and eyes that looked just like his own.
He froze. His chest felt tight.
It's you, he thought.
The memory surfaced clearly she was the one who had saved him. She was the one who summoned Kayon.
"Lysera?" The name was rough in his throat, filled with disbelief.
She looked the same, yet older. Stronger. Her lips trembled as she whispered his name again. "Saturu…"
He stepped forward, his hands unsteady. The past crashed into the present.
Lysera stopped a few steps away, her eyes locked on his.
"I thought I lost you," she said, a sob breaking her words. Her gaze softened. "Brother… you survived."
She took a small step and hugged him.
Saturu went rigid. He had never been hugged. In his first life, he was alone. Survival did not include gentle touch.
After a moment, he gave in. He wrapped his arms around her, returning the embrace.
Tears shone in her eyes. For the first time since waking up in this new life, he felt a fragile sense of relief. Someone had waited.
"Thank you for saving me," he said. "I'm sorry I worried you."
Lysera nodded, determination cutting through her fear. "No worries. That's what sisters do."
She pulled him into another hug, tighter this time. Her arms shook with the force of her worry. In that touch, he felt a fierce hope.
Over her shoulder, Kayon watched them, his face unreadable. When she let go, the sorcerer cleared his throat.
"Can I get a hug too?"
Saturu stared at him flatly. He made a quick, sharp gesture across his own neck.
"I hope this will do for the journey instead," Kayon said. He held out a sheathed sword.
Saturu took it. He drew the blade. The edge caught the light, sharp and clean.
"Thanks," he said, sliding it back into the sheath.
"Take care," Lysera whispered. Her voice was breaking. "Come back safely."
---
The Mountain of Fallen Swordmasters only appeared under a crescent moon. As he walked the final path, doubts whispered in his mind.
'It's only been a few months. I'm not as strong as I was. What are my chances?'
A stronger thought silenced them. 'If the Divine Blade can help my condition, then the journey is worth it.'
"It has to be."
He watched the sun set. Shadows grew long and deep. He reached the torii gate, the entrance.
The air in front of it shimmered. A crack in the world appeared within the gate, rippling like hot air.
"This looks like the place."
He stepped through.
---
Saturu's teleportation deposited him not at the foot of Skull Mountain, but in a mist-shrouded wasteland that swallowed sound and light.
The sky was a dull, permanent dark purple and light crimson gradient. The wasteland floor was a graveyard of ambition, littered with bones and shattered weapons.
A low, guttural growl rumbled through the silence from the mountain area.Not from one throat, but many.
From the mist and dust, shapes resolved.
Monstrous wolfs with glowing red eyes, devoid of pupils, burned with mindless bloodlust.
Heavily encased in jagged, midnight-colored plate armor, the beast bristled with cruel spikes that guarded its spine and shoulders like the walls of a dark fortress.
Saturu drew the sword Kayon gave him. It was simple and sturdy.
"Kayon plans ahead. Let's see how this holds."
The first beast charged without sound. It was a blur of metal and rage, jaws snapping for his throat.
Saturu moved. He sidestepped and his sword flashed.
Slice-
The blade cut a deep line across the wolf's armored side. It howled in anger and spun with shocking speed.
"Bring it on!"
He charged into the pack. They attacked as one, a coordinated wave of fang and claw.
Saturu flowed through them, his movements carrying the ruthless discipline of a forgotten age where battles ended in moments, not mercy.
He blitzed past them with incredible speed and precision leaving trails of dark blood in the air.
" Slash."
"The first wave is always the easiest," he muttered, breathing steadily as the first three wolves collapsed.
A deeper, more resonant growl echoed. From the swirling dust, more emerged. Bigger. Their armor was thicker, spiked at the joints. They moved with a predatory intelligence, fanning out to surround him.
With a collective, ground-shaking roar, they leaped, converging from all sides.
Saturu didn't retreat. He exploded forward with extreme speed leaving behind purple streaks as slashed through the wolfs.
As the first monster descended, he leapt onto its back, seized the armored plate at its neck, and twisted sharply.
"CRACK"
Bone snapped. The beast collapsed beneath him. Using its falling body as a springboard, he launched himself forward.
A sword blast erupted from his blade, annihilating every wolf charging toward him.
Another wolf appeared behind ready to bit off his head, Saturu leap backwards as slammed his foot down on the wolf.
The impact dented its side-plating. before it could recover, he slammed its armored head against a jagged rock.
"SPLURT!"
The third was on him instantly, claws flashing. Saturu dropped low. Then with sword arc he sliced the wolf's head off.
Silence fell, broken only by his steady breath and the fading glow of dying red eyes.
Then, the air changed. The wasteland began to tremble. A pressure descended, dense and primal, silencing even the whispers of the dead.
From the heart of the mist, a shadow far larger than the rest emerged.
The Alpha wolf wasn't just armored it stood nearly twice a man's height.
It's red predatory eyes gazed at saturu radiating unambiguous intent of ruthless dominance and distruction.
It did not growl. It stared, intelligent and hateful, and took its first earth-shaking step toward him.