"So, when do we start?" asked Sunny, looking at Nephis, who shrugged.
"Now," Nephis responded.
"We'll start with some words. That will be enough for today."
"Cassia, Ash, you two listen as well."
Ash looked at Nephis without moving from the edge of the platform, observing the gigantic corpse in the distance being slowly consumed.
Ash only half-listened to Changing Star's lengthy explanation about the essence of combat and what combat truly was. About how it was the result of training the mind and body.
After her long explanation, she paused.
"What do you think that essence is?"
"Victory," said Cassie after a minute of silence.
"Survival," Sunny said shortly after.
"It's murder," said Ash, making Nephis nod.
"Exactly."
Sunny looked at Ash with a frown, and Cassia shuddered a little where she stood.
"Why do you think it's murder?" asked Nephis.
Ash didn't respond immediately, thinking about the answer he could give. In the long history of humanity, murder had always been present—to survive, to win, to eat.
"It's simple. Your opponent wants to kill you, and you want to kill them. In the end, one will die and the other will be the murderer. Everything else—victory, survival, convenience, peace, and anything else—is just noise."
Nephis took that moment to resume her lesson.
"Style doesn't matter. Weapons don't matter. Reason and intention don't matter. The only thing that matters is being the last one standing. In this way, anything you do in combat should be considered as serving only one of two purposes: either you kill your enemy, or you prevent the enemy from killing you."
Nephis lowered her gaze, a shadow covering her face.
"If you can understand that, you'll have enough clarity to master the mind."
After that, night arrived, and with it, the return of the dark sea.
Ash was sitting on the cold stone, looking into the darkness, sensing that far to the west were the crimson spire and the dark city, as well as the soul tree.
After a few hours, Ash decided to sleep.
In the early morning, a heart-wrenching scream woke him.
Opening his eyes, he stood up, watching as Sunny summoned his blue sword, and Nephis likewise called her sword, ready for combat with their senses on high alert, searching for signs of threats.
Ash walked toward Cassia, who was at the edge of the platform with an expression of horror on her face. Her blonde hair was disheveled, her hands lost in space.
Immediately, Ash grabbed the blind girl before she got too close to the platform's edge.
"Cassie, calm down, you're safe now. Breathe calmly," he said in a soothing voice.
Cassie trembled for a few moments before finally beginning to calm down. At that moment, Sunny and Nephis approached.
"Do you see anything?" asked Nephis, looking at Ash.
"No. She's not hurt, so it must have been a nightmare. This is the first time this has happened to her," he said, helping Cassie sit on the ground.
Ash could see a bit of nervousness on Nephis's face. Then she tried to gather her calmest voice possible and asked:
"Cassia, what happened?"
Cassie trembled a little.
Ash looked at Sunny, who returned his gaze.
"Let me handle this," he said, making them both look at each other before nodding.
Nephis nodded, moving with Sunny to the other edge of the platform to begin their training.
Ash slowly began to stroke Cassie's head. He remembered that his mother sometimes did that with him when he was scared or had a nightmare.
While making this gesture, he felt the girl slowly begin to calm down from her harrowing vision from moments ago.
After an hour of silence, Cassia was calm enough to speak.
Nephis had her eyes closed, meditating in silence, while Sunny swung his sword a thousand times.
The sun was still rising, causing the dark sea to begin receding.
"Are you okay now?"
"Y-yes," said the girl, still a bit pale.
"Good, drink some water."
Summoning the unlimited water bottle, she drank a little. Shortly after, Ash did the same, leaving the bottle aside.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
"I-I don't know... everything is fragmented, but I think it was a vision. Everything is confusing."
Ash said nothing, waiting for Cassie to continue.
After a minute, Cassie finally spoke again, this time in a low voice.
"At first I saw... an infinite darkness sealed behind seven seals. Something immense stirred in the darkness. I felt that if I looked at it directly, I would lose my mind. While I watched in terror, the seals broke one after another, until only one remained... and that one also broke."
"After that... I saw the human castle again. Only this time it was night. A solitary star shone in the black sky. And under its light, the castle was suddenly consumed by fire, with rivers of blood flowing through its halls. I saw a corpse in golden armor sitting on a throne; a woman with a spear drowning in a tide of monsters; an archer trying to pierce the sky with his arrows; A great Mist swallowing the monsters, leaving nothing but corpses in its wake."
Cassie trembled slightly. Ash's eyes opened a little upon noticing that the vision had included him too.
"At the end, I saw a colossal and terrifying crimson tower. At its base, seven severed heads guarded seven locks. And at the top, I don't know, it was strange. A radiant angel and a hungry shadow fighting against the same mist. When I saw the mist bleed, I felt as if something so precious was being torn from me that it can't be described with words. Then I felt so much pain, and rage, that the little sanity I had left seemed to disappear. That's when I woke up, I think..." she finished recounting.
Ash observed Sunny again, who remained focused on his exercise, and Nephis didn't react in the slightest—though her skin slightly emitted white flames as she accustomed herself to the pain of her flames.
"W-what do you think?"
"That was a vision, Cassia," Ash responded.
"Although I'm not sure, from what I can assume, we'll reach the city you saw in your dream, something will happen, then we'll reach the crimson tower. It's better if you tell Sunny and Nephis. But don't mention the last part. Can you do that?"
Cassie frowned slightly, her adorable face scrunching up.
"Why not the last part?"
"I don't know, but I feel that if you do, we'll all suffer."
"I'll do it," said Cassia, trusting Ash's words.
After their chat, and after a few minutes, Sunny finished his training. Ash passed him the unlimited water bottle, which the boy thanked him for, refreshing his tired body.
"Everything seems fine now. Uh... did you have a vision? You can tell us about it if you want."
"Yes. I had a vision, but it's strange and fuzzy," said Cassie.
At that moment, Nephis approached them to listen to Cassie's vision. The girl repeated the same thing, only up to the part about the seven heads at the tower's base, avoiding mentioning the fight between the angel and the shadow against the Mist.
An hour later, when they were discussing whether to leave now or wait longer, two nightmare creatures arrived—Awakened Monsters that took Transcendent soul fragments from the corpse and moved away. This made them decide to postpone leaving until the next day.
During the rest of the day, Ash summoned his bow, examining it, and did the same with his sword, noting that despite all the use he gave it, the sword remained very sharp without a single crack in its blade.
During the night, nothing else happened except Sunny performing another thousand strikes.
When morning arrived and the dark sea receded, they prepared to descend from the statue.
"Today will be different from before. There will be many more scavengers roaming the labyrinth. It's possible we won't be able to set up an ambush or avoid fighting several of them at the same time."
Nephis looked at Sunny.
"If something happens, your job is to take Cassia far away. We can retreat through passages too narrow for the scavengers. If we get separated, head to the highest point you can find on your own. Don't wait for me. Understood?"
"Wait, Nephis," said Ash, making Nephis look at him.
"Do you have something to say?" she asked with a stoic voice.
"Yes. This Memory has an ability that can generate a mist field about five to ten meters around. If we're surrounded, I can use it to confuse the scavengers and escape without separating."
Nephis nodded.
"Agreed. Time is pressing, so let's go."
After that, Ash was the first to descend about forty meters, while Nephis only descended twenty meters—this to help lower Cassia. Fortunately, getting the girl down was easier than getting her up.
When the three reached the ground, they began walking toward the labyrinth. Ash guiding the way to lead them to the highest point. He knew that within a few hours or days, there would be a strong storm.