In the dead of night, heavy thunder began to crack across the dark sky, briefly illuminating the windows of neighboring houses as rain pattered against them, prompting some people to shut their doors.
Amid the quiet and stillness, Vincent—with his black hair and green eyes—walked forward. He had just finished pacifying the once-agitated civilians.
Now, he continued on, heading toward Skywalker-knows-where.
Deep within a rain-soaked forest, a figure ran as if fleeing for its life—a being with the head of a lizard, the lower body of a human, and the wings of a bird.
...
Still running, his body suddenly split into two—one veering to the right, the other to the left.
A powerful gust of wind tore through the forest. Looking ahead, he saw a tornado rushing straight toward him.
He came to a stop, staring at it.
Damn f**k… why can't this person just let me escape… he thought.
Without hesitation, he began reciting a spell. Immediately, the tornado cracked, as though a bug had appeared in reality itself.
High above, Vincent floated in the sky, his green eyes calm and focused. A book hovered before him as he read from it, chanting in an ethereal voice.
At once, the surrounding trees burst into flames.
The atrocity chuckled, then snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the forest was engulfed by even stronger winds—and the flames froze over, along with the trees.
...
He smiled and said inwardly, It seems I might just escape today.
But in the very next moment, Vincent read from the book and slowly raised his hand, reciting a spell in an ethereal voice.
"The garden does not hurry.
It breathes in slow, green hours—
tomato vines counting sunlight,
one leaf at a time."
"The wind comes here to rest.
It sets its letters down
on the surface of the pond,
unfolds them into ripples,
then forgets what it meant to say."
...
Immediately, the howling wind began to change.
It started to chuckle.
A low, unnatural sound—repeating over and over again.
A thick fog rolled in, creeping closer and closer to the atrocity, swallowing everything in its path.
Then, just as suddenly, it dispersed.
Nothing remained.
Only a single bone lay on the ground.
...
After a few seconds, Vincent slowly descended. The book vanished as he looked at the remains of the atrocity.
He will return tomorrow… they'll all return tomorrow.
Thank Skywalker… before my father died, he told me about this land.
He had said that every night, precisely at 2 o'clock, the forsaken humans would be freed. The seal of the God of Beginnings weakened at that time, allowing them to attempt escape into the real world.
And the most troublesome part of all—
Even if they were killed, they would simply return the next day.
However, only one of them could escape every hour.
With that, Vincent reached into his pocket and brought out a charm, attempting to purify the area.
Just as quickly, a whisper brushed against his ears.
"But why are you killing us? We only want to escape. God has forsaken us by not creating us perfectly… and you are only adding to our misery."
Vincent didn't reply.
He already knew the truth—
If they escaped, their resentment would drive them to slaughter innocent humans.
...
He opened the bag and sprayed its contents, reciting an incantation:
"Let it begin with salt.
Not the kind that stings,
but the kind the sea uses
to keep itself honest."
"Lay your hands flat
against the day's surface.
Let the grime speak its name
once,
and then let it go."
"The wind knows how to erase.
It takes footprints from sand
without apology.
Be like that.
Unwrite yourself
until only the clean page remains."
"Pour light over the shadowed corners.
Not to fight them,
but to show them
they were never walls."
"Purifying isn't burning.
It's the moment after rain
when the earth exhales
and smells like it remembers
being new."
...
Rain ran down Vincent's face as he finished the incantation.
Then, without hesitation, his figure blurred—and he was gone.
...
Lamenti, Moonlight Watchers Faculty.
Lumian stared at the figure in a daze, standing completely motionless. He lifted his leg, about to run, when a feminine voice called out.
"Lumian, you're still around?"
The rain and wind had grown heavier, with lightning flashing across the sky.
Lumian let out a sigh of relief as he recognized it was Lury.
Hmm… but why is the rain falling so heavily today? he wondered inwardly.
At that moment, thunder cracked. He glanced toward the open window.
Lury, dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, hurried forward and shut it.
"Oh dear… thank Skywalker I hadn't left yet."
She turned to him.
"Lumian, you haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"
She closed the other windows and looked at him expectantly.
Lumian smiled. "Yes, Lury. I came to report something to the Captain."
"What was it?" she asked, stepping closer.
Lumian sighed. "There was an explosion."
"An explosion?" Lury echoed, covering her mouth.
Lumian nodded.
"Hope you're not hurt?" she asked.
Lumian smiled. "Not at all. However, I'm very, very tired."
Lury smiled back. "Then why aren't you going home?"
Lumian sighed. "I wanted to, but now it's raining. And normally, taxis don't come around when it's like this—it spoils their vehicles."
Lury nodded and walked over to her table. "That's fine, we can still go. I have an umbrella."
As she searched under the desk, she muttered, "It should be somewhere around here…"
Reaching toward the edge, she suddenly smiled. "Yes, found it~"
She turned and walked back to Lumian. "Alright, let's get going. Wouldn't want you fainting in our faculty."
Lumian chuckled as they headed toward the door. Just before she opened it, he couldn't help but ask, "Lury, I forgot to ask, what are you doing here?"
Lury opened the door, and the loud sound of pouring rain and thunder rushed in.
"Oh, normally every Saturday I come for inspections, checking the walls, equipment, and other things. You get it, right?" she said with a smile.
She opened the umbrella, and the two of them stepped out together, walking under the heavy rain.
...
Harbor City, another district within the town of Betyl.
Amid the rumbling thunder and howling winds brushing past the windows, Judfar Moses sat leisurely on a chair, writing something in his notebook.
He belonged to the Moses family and had once served in the navy. Over time, he became a sorcerer, reaching Phase 7.
Despite the wrinkles on his face, his well-kept hairline made him appear younger than his age. He also had a rigid, well-built frame.
Suddenly, the door opened, and a slim man with tall hair walked in, holding two cups of tea.
"Good evening, brother," the young man said as he approached and placed the tray of tea on the table.
Judfar smiled and looked up. "Good evening, Euphor."
Euphor nodded and stood beside him. After a moment, he spoke again. "Brother, I recently heard that the Prides visited Betyl."
Judfar nodded. "They did. But I'd advise you not to have any dealings with them. They're from the Holy Communion."
Euphor nodded, then asked solemnly, "But I heard the Prides are more like embodiments of the sins described by the Goddess in her works."
Judfar hummed and nodded. "Yes, they are."
"But why are they called Prides? Isn't pride one of the sins mentioned in the Bible?" Euphor asked as he took some sugar and poured it into the tea.
After a moment, Judfar replied, "According to the Goddess's Bible and other religions, the primary sins do not include pride, they are only six. As you remember, it was the Primordial Lord of Chaos who began spreading corruption. So what 'pride' refers to in this context is something different… it is the foundation they need in order to embody those sins."
Euphor nodded. Using his Order abilities, he created the illusion that he was pouring more hot water. In reality, he was adding something else into the tea.
He then looked up at his brother, deliberately letting the kettle slip slightly as he asked,
"But brother, what about the issue of Pride Fragments?"
"Ah, Pride Fragments," Judfar said. "They are fragments granted to individuals who have embodied their sin to a considerable extent, and there are six in total. However, those who belong to the Prides are only five."
He continued, "A Pride Fragment can even aid in sorcery. They can act as properties of a sin within an Order, allowing someone to use abilities from that Order, even if they don't truly belong to it."
...
"So how many are there?" Euphor asked as he set the tea down on the table.
Judfar replied with a genuine smile. "There are six, as I said. Boy, are you even listening to me? Hehe."
"They are Envy, Lust, Greed, Gluttony, Wrath, and Sloth. And as I've said before, they each have properties reflected in certain Orders. But thinking about it… I'm not entirely sure what Pride Fragments can truly do beyond that. These are only the things I know so far."
Euphor raised the cup which was by his left, with his left hand and offered it with a smile. "But at least you have one Pride Fragment, from defeating another Pride, so you have time to make more discoveries about it."
Judfar smiled and nodded as he took the tea from him.
Seeing him, Euphor smiled as he took his own drink.
Finally… I can kill him.
With this perfect plan, I can obtain the Pride Fragment of Wrath, gain the ability to use multiple Orders, and finally become one of the Arbiters.
At that moment, Judfar drank the tea.
For a brief moment, nothing seemed wrong.
Then, after a few seconds, he began coughing violently.
Judfar's vision blurred and scattered as he looked at his brother, only to see a wide, smug grin plastered across Euphor's face.
In the next instant, a spiderweb-like thread appeared around Euphor's neck.
...
It seemed Judfar had already anticipated Euphor's betrayal against the Moses family and had prepared a countermeasure in advance.
At that moment, Euphor felt unbearable pain as he clutched his throat.
However, in the next instant, his body suddenly split apart.
It seemed Euphor had also prepared for this outcome. Both of them had, in fact, been extremely cautious.
Quickly—almost as if carried by the wind—his particles reformed behind Judfar.
But in the next instant, Judfar spoke two words.
"The Best Day!"
He activated the spell without reciting the full incantation. This was possible because he had already reached a level of understanding—once a spell is fully comprehended, a single phrase can be enough to trigger it.
He turned just as Euphor's body began to shatter, blood splashing across the air.
However, immediately after, something unnatural occurred.
As if time itself was reversing, the blood and broken body suspended in mid-air and reassembled.
Euphor had already used one of his Spirit Bodies.
Now only two remained.
...
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Wind tore through the room, as Euphor suddenly began tracing strange shapes in the air.
Sensing danger, Judfar leapt back from the table just as invisible blades sliced toward him.
"Full Ravings!"
A violent gust surged through the room, the wind twisting into human-like forms that intercepted the attacks, shrieking as they were struck.
At that moment, Euphor realized something—if this fight continued in the main family house, the noise would draw the others.
Without hesitation, his body began to distort, compressing inward as it twisted unnaturally, until he condensed into a flowing mass of wind.
He was trying to escape.
But Judfar had no intention of letting him go.
Drawing on the power of his Pride Fragment, he suppressed Euphor's ability to use his Order. It was a secret he had kept hidden—one of the fragment's abilities allowed him to temporarily seal a sorcerer's powers, depending on their phase.
In the next instant, Euphor's figure was forced back into form, his tall frame reappearing behind Judfar.
Stripped of his abilities—but not unprepared.
Euphor had anticipated this.
In that brief moment, he pulled out a charm, crushed it, and hurled its contents forward as he shouted:
"Devour!"
...
At that moment, more wind gathered, and lightning struck intermittently. The atmosphere grew heavier, turning the entire space into a raging storm.
A gigantic figure clad in black armor suddenly appeared above Judfar, a massive sword gripped in its hand.
It was Hamenis—the former general of the previous King of Betyl.
Euphor had obtained his ashes and could now summon him at will.
The towering spirit raised its sword and brought it crashing down.
However, Judfar slid backward and quickly used his Order abilities, dispersing the general just as it was about to strike with full force.
Using that same momentum, he switched to his Pride Fragment.
Immediately, a bolt of crimson spiritual lightning shot down from above, striking toward Euphor.
But Euphor reacted just as quickly.
He crushed another charm, and in an instant, the giant soldier reappeared, shielding him. At the same time, it unleashed a wave of flames toward Judfar.
...
Swoo! Swoo!
Still composed, Judfar recited another spell.
"Rekindle!"
The flames cracked apart as they approached him, melting away on the spot.
He shifted his focus to Euphor. Suddenly, his eyes—both pupils and irises—turned crimson.
Immediately, Euphor felt as though the room itself was swallowing him.
Faint whispers echoed in his ears.
We hate you.
We will kill you.
He let out a scream as his body began to compress inward, as if crushed by an invisible force.
But at that moment, the soldier above him straightened and swung its blade toward Judfar.
The murmuring vanished instantly.
At the same time, Euphor began to hear footsteps approaching.
Oh no… is that Sister Evelyn… and Sunshine?
Those two are Phase 6… already at the level of Saints. This isn't good. I have to leave now.
Without hesitation, he dismissed the soldier and slipped the charm back into his pocket, quickly pulling out another.
Just then, the door burst open.
Two girls with blue hair stepped in, their voices ringing out in unison—
"Starlight!"
...
Euphor couldn't use his Order abilities as two massive blue spheres shot toward him, crackling with energy—a mix of lightning, explosion, frost, and sleep woven into a single attack.
He quickly sprayed the contents around himself just as another bolt of thunder struck downward.
However, both attacks—from the sisters and Judfar—were blocked by an invisible veil of dense spirituality.
Without hesitation, Euphor's body suddenly split apart, collapsing to the floor as if lifeless.
But in the very next instant, he appeared outside.
He had planned this.
The spiritual barrier had also disrupted Judfar's suppression ability. Taking advantage of that brief window, Euphor restored one of his destroyed Spirit Bodies and secretly positioned it outside, abandoning the one inside.
Now standing in the rain, he exhaled sharply.
Damn… I've wasted too many precious charms.
He glanced back at the window.
Inside, Judfar moved to pursue—but Euphor's figure blurred, leaving faint afterimages before vanishing completely, as if carried away by the wind.