Below the precipice of Starfall Cliff.
The valley lay in a suffocating hush, shrouded by a low-hanging mist. Above, the dying sun bled across the horizon like a fresh wound.
The Crystalline Monolith stood motionless among the jagged rocks. A malevolent, scarlet light burned deep within its ocular orbs. Inside its fractured chest cavity, the mana-core pulsed with a rhythmic, dark-red glow—a mechanical heartbeat that filled the air with an instinctive, primal dread.
Its right arm was severed; its translucent body was a roadmap of spiderweb cracks. Yet, its oppressive aura had not diminished by a single fraction. Even shattered and broken, it remained an invincible entity.
Lunethia stood before it.
Her spine was as straight as a spear. She was merely a girl with no combat training—no weapon, no magic, not even the simplest means of self-preservation. Yet she did not retreat. Not a single step.
The white rabbit scrambled from her arms, shivering as it hid in the nearby brush. Still, it couldn't help but peek out, its eyes wide with a frantic, trembling anxiety.
Rhine lay collapsed on the frozen earth, drifting in a deep, oblivious coma, unaware that death was standing just feet away.
There were no words spoken aloud. There was no sound.
But Lunethia heard them.
—"Run!"
—"Please, run!"
That was the rabbit's frantic, erratic thought-pulse. But another "voice" was cold, clinical, and utterly devoid of emotion—it seared itself directly into her consciousness:
—[TARGET SURVIVAL RATE: LOW.]
—[CAPTURE PROBABILITY: DECREASING.]
—[COMMAND OVERRIDE INITIATED—]
—[LETHAL ELIMINATION MODE: ACTIVE.]
Lunethia's fingertips twitched with a faint tremor. Still, she held her ground. She slowly spread her arms wide, shielding Rhine's body with her own. Her voice was low, yet etched with a terrifying resolve.
"If you wish to kill me... so be it. But you must let him go."
The Monolith offered no response. It simply raised its remaining arm. In its palm, shards of ice began to swirl and condense, sharpening into a lethal, crystalline spike.
Then—the cold, digital voice rang in her mind again:
—[REQUEST: DENIED.]
—[PRIMARY DIRECTIVE: ELIMINATE TARGET AND ALL COLLABORATORS.]
Lunethia reached down, her fingers closing around a fallen, withered branch. She gripped it tight.
It was a pathetic thing—a twig that would snap under the slightest pressure. It couldn't parry a blow; it couldn't draw blood. But she did not let go.
It was the only thing she had left to hold onto.
"Mr. Rabbit..."
Her voice was a mere breath, so soft it was almost lost to the wind. "Please... I'm begging you..."
"Take him away. As long as he lives... that's enough."
The white rabbit scrambled in a frantic, circular panic, its short forepaws flailing in a desperate, helpless gesture. It couldn't do it. It lacked the strength to even drag Rhine's dead weight an inch across the frost. Besides—it didn't care for the life or death of this human. To the rabbit, the universe began and ended with Lunethia.
It stared at her, its agitation turning into a profound, incomprehensible confusion. Why? Why don't you run?
"Please..." Lunethia's plea was a shattered whisper.
The only answer was a surge of killing intent.
SWISH—!
An ice spike shrieked through the air.
CRACK!
The withered branch in her hand disintegrated instantly. The spike veered slightly, grazing her arm with jagged force—crimson blood blossomed across her white sleeve in a heartbeat.
The rabbit let out a piercing shriek and lunged, throwing itself at the Monolith's crystalline feet, biting and scratching at the impenetrable surface. It was a futile gesture; its struggle didn't even qualify as a nuisance.
"Mr. Rabbit..." Lunethia spoke again, her voice trembling but unnervingly tender. "Go. Leave me."
"Tell the others for me..." A faint, heartbreaking smile touched her lips as tears shimmered in her eyes. "I'm sorry... I won't be coming back."
SWISH—!
Without a flicker of hesitation, a second ice spike tore into her abdomen.
"Ugh—!"
She let out a muffled groan, her body doubling over as her knees buckled. Blood began to seep from the corner of her mouth, staining her chin. Before she could even find her footing—
THUD!
A third spike struck with the force of a battering ram!
She was hurled backward, her body slamming violently against the trunk of a massive tree behind her. The entire tree shuddered under the impact. Like a puppet with its strings severed, she slid slowly to the frozen ground.
This time, she couldn't even manage a sound.
Agony tore through her nerves, shredding her consciousness. Her vision began to blur into a haze of grey, yet tears continued to track silently down her cheeks.
Why... why is she still alive?
A momentary glitch rippled through the Monolith's cold calculations. It looked down at its target, its sensors struggling to process the anomaly.
—[FATAL BLOW: INCOMPLETE.]
—[TARGET ELIMINATION: FAILED.]
The Monolith ignored the white rabbit's frantic, futile clawing at its heels. It stepped forward.
One stride. Two. It loomed over her like a mountain of cold death.
Lunethia's vision had dissolved into a blurred haze of grey and shadow. Yet, with the final flicker of her strength, she strained to turn her gaze toward Rhine, lying motionless in the distance. Her lips parted, though no sound escaped her throat. The shape of her breath formed a silent, heartbreaking confession:
"...I'm dying.""If only... I could have stayed with you just a little longer..."
Her eyes, glazed with the approach of the end, softened with an aching tenderness.
"I was... truly happy..."
The Crystalline Monolith slowly raised its massive arm. This time, there were no ice spikes. Deep within its crystalline structure, a malevolent, scarlet radiance began to pulse with terrifying intensity. The entire limb began to glow with white-hot heat, like iron forged in the bowels of a sun. A monstrous surge of mana erupted, causing the very air to scream and vibrate.
That single strike carried enough raw power to level a fortress.
It descended.
BOOM—!!!
In the exact heartbeat before annihilation could claim her, a curtain of cerulean light shimmered into existence. There was no warning, no ripple of displacement—it simply birthed itself from the void. It looked as fragile as a thin layer of winter ice, yet it stood as an absolute wall between her and the end.
CRACK-BOOM!
The shockwave detonated against the barrier. The shield did not even flicker. Lunethia froze, her breath hitching in her chest.
BOOM!BOOM!!WH-BOOM—!!!
Strike after strike fell like thunder from the heavens. Yet that layer of light remained—still, silent, and absolute. It was like an invisible hand reaching out from another world, cradling her, refusing to let even a shadow of harm touch her.
And in that moment—a wisp of spectral blue light rose slowly from her wounded abdomen.
Like a dream. Like a shadow. It began to coalesce.
At first, it was merely a sphere of pale azure light, pulsing with the rhythm of a slow, steady breath. Then, bit by bit, the light gathered, tightening and solidifying, its silhouette awakening from the nothingness.
The radiance wove itself into a human form, floating silently just inches above the frozen earth.
It was a woman.
Her hair cascaded down her shoulders like a silken waterfall, shimmering with a soft, internal luster. Her skin was as flawless as white porcelain. Her eyes were deep as the midnight sea—calm, yet harboring an unspeakable blend of tenderness and absolute authority. Her features were gentle, yet they carried the unmistakable weight of divine nobility.
She was draped in a high-collared robe of deep crimson, the hem drifting as if stirred by an unseen wind. Upon her chest, a heart-shaped insignia of obsidian set in gold flickered in the spectral light—an ancient, regal mark of a forgotten age.
And her visage—
It was almost an exact mirror of the Queen within the Palace of Lunaris.
Only... younger.
Softer.
What was truly arresting was the uncanny resemblance between her brow and Lunethia's—a ninety-percent match. Had the three of them stood side-by-side, a bystander would not have bothered to distinguish one from the other. They would only have stood in a daze, wondering if these three women were, in fact, born from the same primordial source.
Perhaps they were merely mirrors of a shared destiny, scattered across time.
The woman slowly inclined her head, her gaze falling upon the broken, blood-stained girl on the frozen earth. In that heartbeat, her expression softened with an impossible tenderness.
She offered a faint, ethereal smile. Her voice was like a spring breeze brushing over winter frost—so gentle it beckoned tears.
"Lunethia... my darling..."
"Don't be afraid. Mommy is here."
Lunethia's throat constricted; she forced down the metallic tang of blood welling up in her chest. Her voice was a frayed silken thread, trembling and barely coherent.
"Ma... Mama?"
The phantom flickered for a fraction of a second, her smile widening. It was a radiance as warm as morning light striking the first snow.
"Mm-hmm... Mommy is here."
Yet, in the very next breath—
She suddenly planted her hands on her hips, puffed out her chest, and her entire aura underwent a jarring, electric transformation.
The veil of divine nobility and soft grace was tossed aside like an old cloak. In its place emerged an unshielded, boisterous protectiveness. She raised a defiant fist and pointed it straight at the snarling Crystalline Monolith, her tone loud and brash.
"Hey! You're the broken piece of junk that dared to bully my precious Lunethia?"
"You've gone way too far, you heap of scrap!"
She let out a huff, a fierce battle-light igniting in her eyes. She grinned now—not like a queen, but like an ordinary mother about to throw down for her child.
"Today—Mommy is going to give you the thrashing of a lifetime!"
Lunethia stared up at her, dazed.
The warmth in those eyes, the unashamed favoritism, the fierce shield of a mother's love—
Bit by bit, they sent ripples through the frozen depths of her heart.
It was a feeling she had long forgotten, yet one that had never truly vanished. In a trance, she felt herself pulled back to a time long, long ago. Back to the countless nights of unease, when a gentle voice in the depths of her dreams would softly call to her—
"Darling." Lunethia's vision blurred.
She could only watch the phantom's every gesture, every fleeting smile.
It was as if she were witnessing a fragment of tenderness, buried by the years, yet never once faded.
"Don't be afraid, darling."
The woman turned back, offering a soft, reassuring smile. Her eyes remained a well of tenderness and absolute certainty. "Mommy is going to break this thing into pieces for you right now."
Her tone was light, as if she were coaxing a child to sleep, yet beneath the surface lay an unshielded, razor-sharp protectiveness. "Daring to bully my Lunethia... well, there's a price to be paid for that."
Before the words had even fully drifted away—
She flicked a finger.
The earth groaned, a sudden, violent tremor radiating from beneath her feet. In the next heartbeat, massive, thick vines erupted from the fissures in the stone, tearing through the bedrock with the force of rising titans. Like living serpents, they surged upward, entwining the Crystalline Monolith in a crushing embrace—a cage of verdant wrath reaching down from the heavens to bind the transgressor.
The Monolith let out a low, mechanical roar, its frame convulsing in a frantic attempt to break free. Its joints groaned, its crystals vibrated with chaotic energy, yet it couldn't shift a single vine by even an inch.
The phantom woman drifted into the air, her crimson robes billowing like a dream in the wind. She came to a halt directly above the Monolith, looking down with a faint, playful tilt of her lips.
That smile was still gentle.
But now, it carried a cold, inescapable undercurrent of dread.
"I wonder if a metal lump like you even has a brain..." She tilted her head, her voice laced with mockery. "But—"
Her eyes turned wintry. "Since you dared to hurt my Lunethia, don't expect a quick or easy end."
SNAP—
The sharp sound of her fingers snapping echoed through the clearing.
Instantly, the vines constricted with the force of a mountain collapsing inward. Jagged thorns tore through the crystalline hull, burrowing deep into the Monolith's core like parasitic vipers.
CRACK—CRUNCH!
The ear-piercing sound of shattering crystal filled the air. Spiderweb fractures raced across its body, and for a moment, it looked as though the entity would simply disintegrate. Then, from within the jagged gaps, a torrent of crimson fire erupted—violent, raging, and red as fresh blood.
"Oh?"
The woman arched an eyebrow, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing her face. "So you were hiding something in your belly after all."
She raised her hand, her fingers dancing through the air.
One by one, intricate and exquisite magic circles unfurled in the void, blooming like flowers of light. They overlapped, stacked, and then suddenly contracted—all of them shooting toward the Monolith in unison.
With a thunderous roar, the shattered pieces of the crystalline shell were pulled by an invisible tide. They tore away from the main body, spiraling and coalescing in mid-air around the raging core of fire.
Compression.
Meltdown.
Reconstruction.
The flames were forced into a smaller and smaller space, their volume shrinking even as their brilliance became blindingly concentrated. Under the intense heat, the crystals rearranged themselves, refracting a light so piercing it defied the eye.
Until—
Everything fell into a sudden, absolute silence.
The Monolith's towering form had vanished completely.
Where the titan once stood, only a single, crystalline ring remained.
It was as pure as a diamond, yet deep within its core, a spark of fire pulsed with rhythmic intensity, as if a miniature sun had been shackled within its facets. The woman reached out, catching the ring effortlessly in her palm.
She drifted back down, landing softly beside Lunethia.
Leaning over, she pressed the ring into the girl's trembling palm. Her smile was as soothing as a spring breeze. "Here, darling."
"A little toy for you."
Her tone was light, playful even, yet it carried an edge of maternal mischief. "Whenever you're in trouble, just toss this at those nasty people and yell—'Explode!'"
She gave a knowing wink. "There will be a... rather sizable surprise."
Reaching out, she gently tapped Lunethia's forehead, her voice softening into a whisper. "But first, you must learn to protect yourself, okay?"
Lunethia stared at the ring cradled in her hands, her fingertips shivering. She looked up at the face that was both achingly familiar and hauntingly strange. Her throat felt constricted, her voice barely a ghost of a sound.
"Are you... are you really my Mama?"
The woman froze for a heartbeat. Then, her expression melted into a profound, aching tenderness.
She leaned down further, her spectral fingers reaching out to brush away the streaks of blood from Lunethia's cheek. Her touch was so light, so careful, as if she were handling the rarest of treasures. In her eyes was a raw, unshielded sorrow.
"Oh, dear..." she sighed, her voice tinged with self-reproach. "Mommy was so busy dealing with that heap of junk that I almost forgot—you're still hurt."
She offered a small, apologetic smile and flicked her fingers through the air. "Let's take care of that first, shall we?"
"Heigh-ho—!"
With a gentle tap of her fingertip, a bloom of radiance erupted. It was like the first light of dawn breaking across the horizon—soft, clear, and liquid. The light flowed over Lunethia like water over stone, like a sunbeam kissing a scar.
In the next breath—the wounds, both shallow and deep, began to knit back together before her very eyes. Torn flesh sealed shut, crimson stains faded into nothingness, and even the lingering, throbbing agony was washed away as if it had never existed.
In a mere blink, she was whole again.
Lunethia sat there, stunned, as if the nightmare of the last hour had been erased by a single, loving touch.
Then—the emotions she had suppressed for so long finally broke their levees.
Lunethia lunged forward with a desperate cry.
"Mama—!"
She flung her arms wide, grasping for that singular tether of warmth. But her body passed through the spectral figure without the slightest resistance—as if she were embracing a stray breeze.
There was nothing. Only empty air.
Lunethia froze, her fingers trembling in the void.
The woman watched her, a faint, apologetic smile softening her features. "Ah... I'm sorry, sweetheart."
"Mommy's current form is only a lingering wisp of mana I left inside you." Her voice was as light as a whisper of wind. "Because of that, I can't truly hold you."
She reached out, as if to touch the girl's hair, but her hand stopped short, hovering in the air. "However—" Her gaze grew infinitely tender. "Mommy is always by your side."
"Mama..." Lunethia pressed a hand to her heart, as if something there were truly pulsing in response to the call.
She looked up, her voice thick with frantic urgency. "Then... can you help me save Rhine? He—"
The woman followed her gaze. Not far away, the youth lay silent on the frozen earth, his breath shallow and thin. She gave him a cursory glance, then gave a casual, dismissive little shrug.
"A descendant of the Sun God, is he?"
Her tone was offhand, almost teasingly indifferent. "Relax, he won't die. For those of his bloodline, a scratch like that doesn't even qualify as 'danger'."
She shrugged again, her smile easy and unbothered. "Those lot... they're stubborn. They have lives like weeds; they're hard to kill."
"But—"
"Shh."
Suddenly, she reached out, pressing a ghostly fingertip against Lunethia's lips. The gesture was gentle, yet it carried an air of absolute authority that brooked no interruption.
Her gaze settled into a quiet, somber stillness.
"My time... is running out."
The words were soft, yet they carried the heavy, irreversible weight of a final end. "If there is anything else you wish to know—ask me now."
Lunethia stiffened. She stared at the woman, her heart racing against the ticking clock as a thousand questions surged within her.
Finally, she bit her lip, her voice trembling. "...The Queen in the castle. Is that you?"
The woman watched her in silence. Then, she slowly shook her head.
"I don't know," she admitted. Her voice was calm, yet undeniably honest. "I am merely a wisp of mana... a fragment of myself that I placed within you when you were only three years old."
She lifted a spectral hand, as if trying to grasp a distant, fading memory. "Therefore, every memory I possess... it all stops before your third birthday."
Lunethia's breath hitched. The rims of her eyes grew a painful, burning red. Her voice strained, clinging to the final thread of her curiosity: "Then... are you... are you the Crimson Witch?"
The woman blinked, startled. Then—she laughed.
It was a playful, almost mischievous sound, tinged with a hint of secret pride.
"Witch?" She shook her head gently. She leaned in closer, as if sharing a grand conspiracy. "Evan always said... that I was a Goddess."
Lunethia froze. The words died in her throat. At that moment, the boundary between dream and reality dissolved. It was absurd—yet it felt so profoundly true that she couldn't bring herself to deny it.
However, the woman's silhouette was beginning to fray. Her edges blurred like mist caught in a sudden breeze, the azure light dissolving into the thin mountain air. She was fading.
She looked down at her translucent hands and let out a soft, wistful sigh. "Ah..."
A trace of regret colored her tone. "It seems—"
She looked back at Lunethia, her smile remaining as warm and constant as a hearth fire. "It is time to say goodbye."
Lunethia raised her arm, using her sleeve to frantically brush away the tears at the corners of her eyes. She took a sharp, jagged breath, gathering every ounce of courage left in her trembling soul.
"Mama..." she whispered. "I love you."
The fading phantom paused. She turned back one last time. In that instant, her smile was like a burst of pure radiance—bright enough to illuminate the darkest corners of the world.
"And Mommy loves you, too..."
Her voice was as light as a dying zephyr, yet it settled with absolute clarity deep within Lunethia's heart.
"Always."
In the next heartbeat—the light shattered.
It dissolved into countless tiny motes of crystalline dust, drifting and melting into the void until every trace of her had vanished. It was as if she had never been there at all. Only the lingering warmth of her final word remained, anchored forever in Lunethia's soul.
Squeak.
The white rabbit suddenly scurried over. It used its tiny forepaws to gently nudge Lunethia's ankle, moving with a tentative, cautious care—as if trying to confirm that she was still whole, and still here.
Lunethia lowered her head, pulling the white rabbit into a gentle embrace. Her fingertips brushed through its soft fur as a faint, steady smile touched her lips.
"I'm alright now."
Her voice was soft, yet it carried an underlying iron resolve that had never been there before. She stood up, her movements fluid and unburdened, and walked to Rhine's side.
The youth lay in the frost, his crimson hair a tangled mess, his breathing shallow but rhythmic. She knelt beside him, her fingers tracing the line of his brow to brush away a stray lock of hair. Her touch was as light as a falling leaf.
"Rhine..." she murmured, her voice barely a breath. "Please... wake up soon."
Meanwhile—The Royal Palace of Lunaris.
Within the Queen's private chambers, the night wind whispered through billowing silk drapes. At the center of the room, two magical orbs of water hovered in the air, glowing with an internal light.
Suddenly, one of them lost its luster. Cracks spread across its surface like a spiderweb until—with a sharp, crystalline snap—it shattered completely. Shards of magic-glass rained down, dissolving into the air.
"How... how is this possible?" the Queen breathed. Her pupils constricted as she stared at the empty space where the orb had been. "Celesta... destroyed!?"
In the large mirror nearby, the surface began to ripple like a disturbed pond. Another face—nearly identical to her own—slowly drifted into view. The "Other" wore a smirk of unshielded mockery.
"Heh..." the reflection chuckled. "What's the matter? Did another one of your toys break?"
The Queen's gaze turned frigid. She offered no retort, merely staring at her own reflection with murderous intensity. The air in the room seemed to turn to ice.
Just then, a frantic voice called out from beyond the heavy doors: "Your Majesty! The Grand General requests an immediate audience!"
The Queen slowly withdrew her gaze, her face settling back into a mask of cold indifference.
"Have him wait for me in the Throne Room."
She stood, donning her regal robes with practiced grace. Her stride was steady and composed, as if the shock of the last few moments had never occurred.
The Throne Room.
Flickering torchlight danced across the stone walls. The Grand General was already on one knee, his head bowed in a heavy, uneasy silence. When the Queen entered and ascended her throne, she looked down at him with a gaze that could wither stone.
"Speak," she commanded. Her voice was flat, devoid of warmth.
The Grand General shivered slightly before speaking. "Your Majesty... we encountered five suspicious individuals at Starfall Cliff."
"Mm." The Queen's fingers traced the ornate carving of her armrest. "And?"
"They... they managed to draw out a massive pack of wolves and a highly powerful magical entity," the General's voice dropped lower. "They offered fierce resistance to our pursuit."
The Queen's brow arched. Her eyes grew colder. "Is that so?"
"However, please rest assured, Your Majesty—though they were savage, the wolves and the entity were eventually driven back by our forces."
The Queen's expression did not soften. Instead, a dark shadow seemed to fall across her features.
"And the five fugitives?"
The General's head dipped even lower, his voice practically scraping the floor. "They... they managed to escape in the chaos."
Silence. Dead, suffocating silence.
CRACK!
The Queen's hand tightened on the armrest, the ancient wood groaning and splintering under her grip. She rose abruptly, her fury sweeping through the hall like a sudden, freezing gale.
"Are you telling me—" Her voice was low and lethal, vibrating with suppressed rage. "That you let them go with your own hands?"