Frozen winds howled outside the jagged walls of the Draco Kingdom's capital, biting into the stone like a starved beast.
Inside the throne hall, the air wasn't any warmer. Rows of heavily armored Draco Knights stood in absolute, suffocating silence. They didn't move. They barely seemed to breathe.
At the center of the chamber, standing right beside the empty royal throne, was General Raizen.
The man was massive. Unmoving. A towering monolith of muscle and iron that felt less like a person and more like a battlefield incarnate. Even standing completely still, the sheer pressure radiating from him made the ambient air heavy enough to crush a weaker soul.
A royal messenger remained kneeling before him, his forehead pressed so hard against the cold stone floor that it was a miracle his neck hadn't snapped yet.
Raizen's sharp, predatory eyes stared ahead coldly, cutting through the shadows of the hall.
"Still no sign of Captain Blizzfall?" Raizen's voice rumbled, low and dangerous.
The messenger swallowed hard, his voice trembling under the weight of the General's gaze. "Yes, General. We have received no reports or communication from Captain Blizzfall for the past three months." He took a nervous, ragged breath. "It is as if she vanished completely."
Silence reclaimed the throne hall, heavy and ominous.
Raizen slowly closed his eyes, processing the words. "Vanished…"
A faint, mocking scoff escaped his lips.
"No."
His gaze snapped open, sharper than before.
"More likely…" Raizen took a slow, deliberate breath. "She found something."
The temperature inside the massive hall didn't just drop—it plummeted. Several elite knights instinctively straightened their backs, their iron armor clinking in the dark. They didn't need an explanation. They understood exactly what the General meant.
Raizen slowly turned away, his gaze sweeping over the massive glass window that overlooked the frozen wastes of the kingdom. Then, for the first time in what felt like centuries, a faint, terrifying smile appeared on his face.
"Looks like we are finally close to finding Her Majesty."
The Core of the Abyss
Far away—far beyond the borders of human maps, beyond the last remnants of civilization, and far beyond the reach of light itself—lay a realm swallowed by eternal darkness.
The sky above didn't possess blue or white; it burned with a deep, sickening crimson. Black, bloated clouds twisted endlessly overhead, and jagged veins of lightning crackled silently between them like veins of fire.
In the distance, a colossal palace loomed beneath the blood-red heavens. It was ancient. Malformed. It didn't look like it had been built from stone; it looked like it was alive, breathing in the dark.
Inside its titanic royal hall, countless monstrous figures had gathered.
Distorted creatures slithered through the shadows. Ghastly humanoids whispered to themselves. Shapeless, terrifying horrors with burning, colored eyes watched from the dark. A low, continuous cacophony of whispers echoed throughout the chamber, sounding like millions of insects crawling through dead, rotting flesh.
At the absolute center of the hall, trembling so violently that its form was blurring, was the spirit that had encountered Eunha in the forest.
Its ethereal body was still visibly twisted from pure, unadulterated fear. The entire hall of monsters watched it with silent, judgmental intensity.
Then, a massive cloaked figure stepped forward from the dark. Its very presence was a physical weight, instantly silencing the ocean of whispers. Two burning eyes glowed with terrifying malice beneath the depths of its hood.
"Explain yourself," the figure demanded.
The trembling spirit immediately collapsed even lower, its face scraping the dirt as it began to retell the tale. It spoke of the festival. The brightly lit village. The innocent-looking child. The tiger cub.
And finally, it spoke of the moment it had looked into her eyes.
As the spirit described the encounter, a suffocating wave of unease slowly spread through the massive hall. The silent monsters began to murmur, their voices rising into a panicked frenzy.
* "Impossible…"
* "A child?"
* "No… no…"
* "That presence…"
The spirit screamed desperately, its voice cracking with residual terror.
"IT WAS HER!!"
The hall fell dead silent instantly. Not a single monster dared to breathe. The spirit continued to tremble uncontrollably, its mind entirely broken by the memory.
"The same terror… The same abyss… The same overwhelming darkness…"
Silence. Cold and absolute.
The massive cloaked figure slowly turned its head toward the far end of the hall, where a colossal throne sat buried in the deepest shadows of the abyss. For a brief, terrifying moment, an ancient memory surfaced in its mind.
A woman seated upon that very throne. Her form was almost impossible to see clearly, shrouded in darkness. Only her eyes were visible—glowing with a terrifying mixture of red, purple, and black within the abyss. Beside her throne sat a legendary beast, a creature powerful enough to crush entire human armies under its paws. And gently, casually, the woman had caressed its head.
The cloaked figure began to tremble. Then, suddenly, it dropped heavily to one knee.
"OUR MAJESTY…" Its voice shook violently, a mixture of fanatical devotion and primal dread. "THE DARK EMPRESS HAS BEEN REBORN!!"
For one second, absolute silence filled the hall.
Then, pure chaos erupted.
Monsters screamed into the crimson sky. Creatures panicked, tearing at the stone. Ancient horrors began whispering frantically to one another. Because something impossible—something that should have stayed buried in history, something that should never return—had appeared in the mortal world once more.
And it wore the face of a smiling little girl.
Reflections in the Glass
Night had quietly settled over the peaceful human village. The world felt calm again, a stark contrast to the nightmares brewing in the dark.
Moonlight illuminated a stone balcony softly, while a cool, gentle wind drifted through the night air, carrying the faint, sweet scent of blossoms from distant trees.
Da-li sat alone beside the balcony table. A thick book rested in front of her, its pages filled with neat, elegant handwriting. Slowly, carefully, she continued to write.
Then, her hand paused.
Her golden eyes drifted upward, watching the infinite expanse of the night sky.
"Over these years…" Da-li murmured to herself. A soft, rare smile appeared on her lips. "A lot has happened."
The wind gently moved strands of her hair. As she stared into the dark, memories slowly began to resurface, one after another, like turning the pages of an old ledger.
She saw the image of Andrew kneeling emotionally before her, his armor scuffed, tears in his eyes after years of being apart.
"I reunited with my old student… Andrew," she whispered.
The memories shifted. She saw Yuna standing proudly before her, adjusting her brand-new adventurer gear for the very first time, her eyes bright with determination.
"Yuna became an adventurer…" Da-li's smile grew a fraction softer. "And went on her first journey."
The mental images continued to play out. Andrew's party traveling through dangerous, untamed lands. The eerie fog of Lin Fu Village. The terrifying appearance of the Slasher, and its horrifying, rapid evolution into the Executioner—a monster that should have slaughtered them all.
And then, the turning point. Yuna awakening her dormant, terrifying power. Destroying the creature in a storm of overwhelming frost and pure, unbridled fury.
Da-li quietly closed her eyes for a brief moment, the pride evident in her chest.
"My daughter has grown stronger."
Then, another memory surfaced. Princess Iyo smiling warmly beside Yuna under the palace lights. The two of them exchanging shy, hesitant glances. The way they both held their letters so close to their hearts, as if protecting a fragile treasure.
Da-li's smile became gentler, laced with a hint of quiet amusement.
"And it seems…" She let out a quiet, amused breath. "My daughter may have found love as well."
The carousel of memories continued to turn. She saw Captain Blizzfall kneeling before her beneath the moonlight, a loyal soldier finding her long-lost ruler. Then, she saw the same woman—now just Bliss—awkwardly trying to live a mundane life beside the family, learning what warmth felt like after a lifetime spent as a weapon.
"Captain Blizzfall eventually found me," Da-li noted softly. She paused, her fingers tracing the edge of her book. "But thankfully… I was able to convince her to keep my secret."
Another soft breath escaped her, her golden eyes softening completely.
"And in return… I got an old companion back."
The Turning Wheels of Fate
The pages of the open book fluttered gently in the night wind. Then, slowly, Da-li's gaze drifted farther into the endless sky, looking past the horizon.
"I wonder…"
Silence fell over the balcony.
"What happens next."
And suddenly, as if responding to her words, the wheels of the world itself seemed to grind forward, shifting into a dangerous new gear.
In the Dark Realm, countless monsters screamed, howled, and celebrated beneath a burning crimson sky. The horrific news was spreading like wildfire through the shadows: "The Dark Empress has returned."
Elsewhere, General Raizen walked with heavy, echoing steps through the grand palace halls of the Draco Kingdom, flanking ministers and royal guards. His cold eyes were fixed straight ahead. Purposeful. Relentless.
Meanwhile, far away in the human wilderness, Andrew and his party rested around a crackling campfire beneath a canopy of stars, laughing quietly together after another long, exhausting journey.
Inside the royal capital of Strauss, Princess Iyo sat proudly within the grand royal court. She was handling disputes, learning the brutal game of politics, and growing steadily steadier beneath King Joseph's proud, watchful gaze.
And back in the peaceful, quiet village, little Eunha ran through the tall grass, laughing hysterically while Raijin, the tiger cub, chased after her wildly like a tiny, striped blur.
Nearby, beneath a sudden flurry of falling frost and silver moonlight, Bliss continued to swing her blade, training Yuna with relentless, unyielding discipline. Master and student. The future moving forward, one brutal step at a time.
Back on the balcony, Da-li slowly closed her book with a soft thud.
She leaned back slightly in her chair, perfectly content, peacefully watching the clear night sky above her. The cool wind gently blew a few stray strands of hair across her face.
Quietly, she brushed them aside, a calm, unbothered smile resting on her lips.
Far above them all, the blue night sky stretched endlessly into the void. Flower blossoms drifted softly through the wind, dancing through the moonlight.
It was beautiful. Calm. Peaceful.
For now.
Chapter 25 End
"Until Next Time…"