The skies over the outer kingdom of Aelthorn were still cracked from the Leo Gate's aftermath. Where flame and stinger had once clashed, now stood scorched stone, scattered divine embers, and silence. But beyond the Gate's sealed threshold, a different storm began to brew—in the courts of power.
⭓ Dominion Council: The War Room
In a chamber suspended above the stars—a place hidden in the folds between constellations—the Council of Celestial Dominion had gathered.
Nine thrones stood, each marked by the sigil of a great house: Virgo, Aries, Gemini, Capricorn, Pisces, and others. But only eight were filled. The Leo throne remained vacant—its golden crest blackened, dust-lined.
An elderly woman in viridian robes with the mark of Virgo leaned forward.
"So... the boy lives."
A man of towering presence—House Aries—grunted. "More than lives. He shattered an Inverted Gate and forced Velgron to retreat. That makes him a mythic threat... or an asset."
From across the table, the shrouded figure of Pisces's Seer waved their hand. Stars shimmered, forming a holographic image of Erza atop the scorched battlefield. Leo's sigil burned bright on his chest.
"We must decide. Do we recognize the Lost Prince... or eliminate him before he upsets the equilibrium?"
A silence rippled.
Then came the voice of General Virell of House Capricorn, grim and direct.
"We do neither. Let the next Gate decide. If he survives again... then we intervene."
⭓ Erza's Camp – Between the Ashes
Erza sat at the edge of a cliff where the Gate once roared. His fists were bandaged, and his armor cracked—but the Leo mark glowed faintly, no longer dormant.
Seris approached, carrying a map.
"Word's spreading. Some call you a savior. Others call you... a false heir."
Erza didn't answer at first.
"Let them. We're not done yet."
Auren set down beside him. "Scouts spotted sky fractures forming in the East Astral Verge. The Archer's Gate."
Erza stood slowly. "Sagittarius…"
Lysra joined, visor flickering. "If Sagittarius is Inverted, the next Gate will spawn a long-range killer or a mythic hunter. One who doesn't wait. One who stalks."
Korr leaned against a broken stone pillar, arms crossed. "Then we go before it hatches. Track the Gate. Cut off the corruption at its roots."
Erza nodded, eyes sharp.
"The next Gate won't catch us unprepared."
⭓ Elsewhere – A Hunter Awakens
Deep in the Veiled Wilds, under fractured constellations, a silver light shimmered from a dying tree. A gate—not forged of flame but of time-slowed space—pulsed like a bleeding wound.
From within it stepped a figure.
Cloaked in myth-hide and bearing a bow etched with star-bone, the figure knelt.
His face was calm. Eyes like twin eclipses. Arrows floated around him—each one humming with spatial coordinates and future positions.
A whisper echoed:
"Kaerax, the Void-Chained Archer. Your constellation is unbound. Hunt the Lion."
He stood.
Drew an arrow.
And fired—into the stars.
⭓ Closing: Fate Collides
Night fell again.
Erza gazed at the sky—Leo shining once more, but distant. Other stars pulsed now: Sagittarius twisted, Cancer dimmed, Orion fractured.
"Eight left," he whispered.
Seris placed a hand on his shoulder.
"We're with you, Erza. But the next Gate... might cost more than fire and blood."
He nodded.
"Then I'll pay in flame, until the stars are clean again."
As the wind shifted, an arrow of light struck the ground beside them—glowing with a hunter's mark.
No signature.
No sound.
Just a message burned into the dirt:
"The Archer Sees. Run."
End of Chapter 18