The mansion doors opened just as the sun was lowering itself behind the distant cliffs. Adelasta and Elyonari walked side by side, their silhouettes cast behind them accompanied by Farrynelle and Xander, who trailed silently a step or two behind.
None of them were speaking. Not a single word passed between the four. Farrynelle had her head lowered, her arms crossed tightly over her stomach. She refused to look at Adelasta. Xander, with a jaw clenched so tightly it looked like it could crack, just walked beside her protectively, but even he didn't know what to say. Adelasta didn't glance back once. Elyonari kept close to her. Neither of them were in the mood for conversation, especially not after the events of the training ground.
As they entered the courtyard garden and ascended the short steps leading back into the mansion's lounge, a strange sound met their ears.
"One... two... three... four..."
Adelasta and Elyonari paused just outside the door. In the center was a massive Mystic Circle glowing with intense golden patterns. And right beneath it, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with identical expressions of deep anticipation, were Vastarael, Denisia and Natalis.
"Five... six... seven..."
They said in unison, completely oblivious to their audience.
"What are they doing?" Adelasta asked under her breath.
Elyonari tilted her head, her eyes narrowing in recognition.
"Oh that's Circlecraft. It's the countdown protocol. If a Mystic Circle lasts twenty seconds without fading, it's considered stable. If it fades before then it's a failure."
Adelasta's lips tightened. They both stood frozen as the countdown continued.
"Thirteen... fourteen..."
Farrynelle peeked from behind them and blinked, the golden light reflected in her eyes. Xander stared too. There was something almost sacred about the way the three stood together.
"Nineteen..."
Vastarael's voice trembled slightly now, a mix of anticipation and adrenaline making his eyes shine.
"Twenty!"
The three shouted in perfect harmony. Suddenly, the circle flared. A huge pulse of golden light exploded outward from the circle. The entire room was filled with warmth and radiance. The Mystic Circle didn't fade. It stabilized.
The three froze in stunned silence before Natalis screamed.
"We did it! We did it!"
She shouted, grabbing Denisia and yanking her into a spinning hug. Denisia shrieked with joy, her arms wrapping around her twin as she bounced up and down like an excited child.
"Veneri, we did it!"
She cried again, throwing herself at Vastarael. And the way he smiled...
His usual calm demeanor shattered. It was replaced by the widest grin either Elyonari or Adelasta had ever seen for a while. His arms went around the twins without hesitation, laughing, shouting and spinning with them in celebration.
They hugged him like their lives depended on it, clutching at his arms, his back, one even crying into his shoulder.
"You helped us. You taught us! You stayed up with us every day and night just to train... thank you, Veneri!"
Natalis sobbed, squeezing him so hard he had to steady himself.
"We passed our Sacred Trial because of you," Denisia whispered, her voice cracking. "We felt the light... and then it told us. We've reached 98% toward the Second Enlightenment."
The moment she said it, a column of golden light surrounded both twins. Adelasta blinked. Elyonari's lips parted slightly. The three of them looked like they had just conquered the world.
Vastarael's laughter, the way he clutched the twins so tightly, how his head leaned against theirs, even the way he whispered "I'm so proud of you" with his voice breaking did not sit well with the two women standing by the door. Adelasta's hand slowly clenched into a fist at her side. Her gaze was razor-sharp, locked onto the way Denisia hugged Vastarael's cheek in pure gratitude.
Elyonari bit the inside of her cheek. The corners of her lips pulled downward and her eyes flicked from twin to twin before settling on Vastarael. She had seen him smile before of course, but not like that. There was a closeness there that was impossible to deny. Jealousy crawled into their chests like slow-burning acid.
And it didn't matter how much sense it made, or how selfless Vastarael was for guiding the twins. At that moment, both Adelasta and Elyonari felt the sting of something sour settle in their hearts. He hadn't smiled like that.and worst of all, he hadn't even noticed they were standing there.
Vastarael sighed, his shoulders trembling not from failure, but from a kind of soul-deep exhaustion. He reached into his inventory back, pulled out a long, curved case, and slowly unlatched it.
From within, he drew an instrument unlike any ordinary violin... no, a violex. It was white with starry like strings. He lifted the bow, drew it across the strings and produced a single note.
It rang through the courtyard. All eyes turned toward him. He exhaled and then finally spoke.
"It cost me almost everything I had left... but we did it. Forty-nine days. But we made it. The Six Heavenly Circles. The Array of Purification. And..."
His eyes dimmed with the weight of everything he'd held back.
"...my Array of Sapphire."
There was a moment where no one responded. And then Adelasta spoke with fear in her voice.
"What do you mean by forty-nine days, Veneri?"
Vastarael blinked. He looked up slowly.
He turned so did Denisia and Natalis, toward the direction of her voice. Behind them stood Adelasta, Elyonari, Farrynelle and Xander, all with expressions caught between confusion, disbelief and dawning dread.
Vastarael straightened slowly, holding the violex in both hands.
"I didn't want to say anything until it was over but… I created a time loop."
All four of them froze.
"Using my Time Divinity, I wrapped the entire mansion in a looped temporal sequence. Every time we failed the countdown protocol, I triggered the loop, resetting everything back to the morning Elyonari left the mansion. That morning... was the anchor point."
Elyonari's eyes widened. "What?"
"That morning was the last time before anything irreversible began. So every time we failed, I played this."
He held up the violex.
"This instrument is a Primordial Rank Artifact. When I play a specific string formation, it triggers the loop. Of course it only works for those with the Time Divinity and who is a Divine. But it costs a hundred perfect of my Divine Energy and available Soul Energy..."
Adelasta's body moved before her mind could even catch up. She was already crossing the lounge, Elyonari not far behind her. They stopped just in front of him. Adelasta's hands gripped his shoulders. Elyonari raised a hand to his cheek.
"What are you doing?"
"We're checking you," Adelasta said flatly.
"You always collapse when you do something like this," Elyonari said, pressing the back of her hand against his forehead. "Every time you push a divine limit, you either end up unconscious, or coughing up blood. Don't lie."
"I'm fine—"
"No." Adelasta's tone was firmer now. "You looped time. Time, Veneri. Even with a Time Divinity, that's not normal. That's near-Omniscient-level manipulation!"
"I didn't do it raw. I told you, I used the violex. It's a stabilizer and has a looping enchantment. It channels the burden of temporal backlash away from my soul and into it. It's not perfect and I can't make a large field. I only looped the mansion to a perfect sphere, locked down to the inch. No one outside noticed."
He took a small step back, his shoulders slumping.
"I'm okay. Omniphage is still running in the background. It's compensating. I only had to loop forty seven times."
"Forty seven times?" Elyonari nearly shouted. "You did it forty seven times and didn't tell us?!"
"We couldn't pass the timer. Something always went wrong. A line was off. A rune didn't land its sequence in time. A Heavenly Circle cracked. I couldn't keep letting us blame themselves so I just looped until we got it right. And in the process we made the Six Heavenly Circles and my Sapphire Array."
He finally looked at the twins behind him.
"But we actually did it."
They were smiling again. He turned back to the others but Elyonari had stepped back, visibly shaking.
"No," she said, voice trembling. "No, you don't get to do this again."
Vastarael's eyes widened. "Elyonari—"
"You don't get to torture yourself behind a wall of silence and pretty words, and then act like it's noble! You looped time, Vastarael! Forty seven times! Do you know how much divine energy that burns? Do you know what would have happened if you collapsed in one of the loops? You could have erased yourself!"
"Elyonari—"
Her voice broke, her fists trembling.
"Stop it. Stop acting like this was okay. Stop looking at me like this is some heroic thing you did. You didn't even let us help. You didn't trust us enough."
And with that she turned and walked away. No one stopped her, not even Adelasta. Vastarael didn't move for a long moment. His hands tightened on the violex, the wood creaking slightly in his grip.
"I'll talk to her."
Adelasta didn't stop him.
He looked at her and sighed.
"I'll explain everything later."
He turned, vanishing down the path after Elyonari.