Darkness again.
But not the cold, watching kind of the Vault.
This was soft.
Golden.
Flickering.
Firelight.
Leo floated in a void surrounded by dancing embers. Time didn't exist here. Not in the normal sense. This wasn't the dungeon. Wasn't the real world.
This was inside him.
Or rather—inside the Fragment.
[Fragment Echo Engaged – Subject: Lysia, Seventh Born][Replay Memory Timestamp: Day 47 Post-Rebirth][Perspective Shift Initiated…]
The world spun.
Then color rushed in.
Light.
Sound.
Pain.
Leo gasped as he became her.
He opened his eyes—and saw through Lysia's.
The scent of ash. The weight of wings. The endless pressure of divine mana trying to escape her veins. She stood on a scorched cliff, her chimera body beautiful and terrifying—feathers, scales, glowing eyes, and radiant antlers like a god-beast from some long-lost scripture.
Below her: a battlefield. Smoldering corpses. Dozens.
Some were humans. Others… were not.
She fought something strong.
Lysia—his sister—breathed hard. Wounded. But alive.
Then a voice.
A calm one.
"You've adapted faster than the others."
Leo—Lysia—whirled around.
A figure stood at the edge of the cliff.
Not human. Not monster. Something in between.
Golden eyes. A halo of cracked metal floating above their head. Robes that flickered like they were woven from stars.
Leo had never seen them before.
And yet—
They feel like us. One of us.
"Who are you?" Lysia demanded.
Her voice echoed with divine resonance. Beautiful. Powerful. Tired.
The figure smiled.
"The Tenth. You may call me Naeros."
Leo's mind reeled.
Tenth Born. I never met them. Barely remembered them from Elara's meeting.
Why would they attack her?
"Why?" Lysia growled. "Why ambush me? I'm not your enemy!"
Naeros tilted their head, almost sympathetically.
"You're not mine. But Elara? She's everyone's."
Lightning cracked across the sky.
The vision flickered.
The scene shifted.
Now Lysia was underground—bleeding, limping through a cathedral carved into obsidian. Statues of Elara stood broken, defaced. Symbols smeared in ichor.
She looked weak.
Something had happened.
She lost.
A voice echoed in her mind—Elara's voice.
"Run. I can't shield you here. Something is inside them. It's not Naeros anymore."
Lysia screamed and stumbled.
Behind her, something chased her in the shadows. Crawling. Clicking. A shape stitched together from light and emptiness.
Leo saw it briefly.
It looked… wrong.
Twisted. Divine, but feral.
It had Naeros's eyes.
[Error Detected – Fragment Corruption][Memory Stream Severed][Forcing Exit...]
Leo gasped as he was yanked from the vision.
Back in his core. Back in the throne.
Sweat poured from his forehead, even though he didn't technically have a body that sweated anymore.
He sat silently.
Processing.
Lysia had been ambushed. Betrayed. Not by humans.
By another sibling.
Naeros. The Tenth.
And something inside them… wasn't Elara's.
Something had infiltrated the divine spark.
So one of us broke.
Or was broken.
Either way, Leo finally saw the shape of the storm ahead.
The Twelve weren't just scattered across worlds.
They were targets.
[System Update – Fragment Echo Analysis Complete][New Goal Added to Master Thread: "Unravel the Infection"][Track Remaining Eleven Fragments. Identify Contaminated Siblings.]
This isn't just a game anymore.
Something's hunting us.
Leo stood slowly, his phantom form shedding residual divine energy from the echo.
Then, he spoke to the air.
"Elara."
She answered immediately.
"You saw it."
"Naeros. He's compromised."
"Yes."A pause."I didn't want you to know this early."
Leo's voice was flat.
"Did you know what was inside him?"
"Not at first. But I've felt… whispers. Something old. Something from before me. It's using your siblings like keys."
"Why didn't you warn us?"
A pause.
"Because it wants me to tell you. It wants to lure you. So I made a mistake. I thought silence would protect you."
Leo closed his eyes.
Then opened them slowly.
"I'm not mad."
Elara said nothing.
"But from now on, I move on my terms."
He turned to his map crystal. The adventurers had survived—barely. They were retreating up through the sixth floor.
Bloodied. Scarred. Changed.
He didn't stop them.
Not yet.
He needed them to speak of this place. To spread fear. To draw attention. If he was going to draw out whatever that thing was, he needed noise. Movement.
Let the world notice the Vault.
Let it come.
He would be ready.
And next time, if another sibling screamed—
He would not be late.
"Let the infection come. I'll purge it myself."