Darkness pulled at him like a tide.
Ryn couldn't even tell what he just witnessed was reality or not. What were those stars, and who was talking to him?
Somewhere close, he could hear Amelia fumbling around for something.
Then she got closer, her voice cracked and frantic.
"Ryn… stay with me—please—stay with me—"
He tried to answer, but only blood filled his mouth.
Something warm caught his cheek.
"Don't you dare close your eyes."
Ryn blinked, vision swimming. A faint blue glow flickered beside Amelia's hand. At first, he thought it was the venom distorting his sight, another hallucination clawing its way into his nerves.
But no.
He'd seen it only once in his past life.
His heart lurched weakly.
"…Amelia… don't… not that…"
She didn't listen.
A cool liquid touched his lips and slid down his throat. It was tangy, sharp, almost like drinking a cocktail mixed with broth, comforting and violent at the same time.
"You're dying," she whispered, voice trembling. "And I am not letting you"
Even in his fading state, the recognition struck him like lightning.
The Elixir of Grandal.
A potion brewed once every generation, using ingredients the kingdom no longer had the power or audacity to acquire.
Legends said it was invented by the first Duke Grandal for his ailing daughter. It healed her completely.
Since then, each heir received one vial.
Just one. To be used only in a moment of life and death.
In Ryn's past life, this was the reason Amelia Grandal survived an early assassination by the Cult and her talents were allowed to bloom.
But this time…she used it on someone else.
The moment the elixir touched his stomach, something ignited.
[HP: 10 → 50]
[MP: 10 → 50]
He sucked in a sharp breath. The world snapped back.
Which was why he saw the attack coming.
This wasn't a fairy tale where the villain waited for the hero's almighty comeback. No, the attack came instantly.
The instant Ryn's focus returned, the monster's tail whipped forward in a blur, aimed straight for Ryn's chest.
He barely managed to move his body, shoving both himself and Amelia aside as the tail struck into the stone wall where he had been prior.
Amelia dropped the vial, glass shattering into a thousand pieces.
"Ryn!"
He staggered to stand, his body was still weak but it was manageable. Scorpio ripped his tail free, chitin grinding against stone.
"…You're still alive?" he snarled.
The amusement was gone, replaced by a cold killer instinct.
"No matter. I'll just have to kill you again," his voice came out distorted.
Scorpio unleashed a barrage of tail attacks, Ryn couldn't even get a chance to fight back, as it all went into barely evading his lethal attacks. He couldn't afford to get scratched even once.
Then, a blinding column of golden white fire roared past his shoulder.
"[Solar Lance]!" Amelia yelled.
Ryn threw himself left just in time for the spell to detonate like a cannon blast. It engulfed Scorpio in searing light, ripping him off his feet and hurling him backwards.
His body smashed through a wooden stall, then another, before skidding across the stone and leaving a scorched trail.
Amelia staggered forward, both hands still raised, the glow fading from her fingertips.
Ryn's stomach dropped.
"Amelia—"
Her legs buckled.
The girl who had stood her ground against a Seat of the Cult, who had poured everything she had into saving him twice in the same minute—collapsed into his arms.
Her head fell against his shoulder, her body limp. Her eyelashes fluttered once, then didn't move again.
Ryn caught her desperately, lowering her gently to the ground.
Her breaths were shallow but steady, a sign of MP exhaustion. Good at least it meant she wasn't dying. But she wouldn't wake up anytime soon.
Ryn swallowed hard and gently brushed her hair from her face.
"I'm here," he whispered. "You can rest now."
A low, furious growl rose from the wreckage.
Scorpio dragged himself to his feet, smoke curling off his armor-like plates. His left arm hung limply. Part of his shoulder was missing, burned clean through.
His eyes conveyed the message clearly. Killing intent.
Ryn didn't move yet.
He breathed once, steadying himself.
[Status Panel — Open]
A faint blue window flickered before his eyes.
[Blessings: Aquila (S-Rank), Orion (S-Rank), Enhanced Senses (B-Rank), Poison Resistance (C-Rank)]
[Orion — Hunter's Shot]
- Conjure a bow of moonlight. Arrows shot use MP. The more MP channeled, the more devastating the shot becomes.
It was real. The Blessing was actually there—not a hallucination, desperation, or wishful thinking.
A new calm settled in his chest.
He closed the panel.
Scorpio charged out of the smoke, claws prepared to rip him to shreds.
"You two… HAVE TESTED MY PATIENCE FOR THE LAST TIME!"
Ryn didn't blink.
With a calm voice, he uttered.
"Activate, [Hunter's Shot]"
Light gathered at his hand.
A spectral bow took shape, like starlight had etched it into existence. He concentrated, letting his MP flow.
A single arrow formed, pale as the moon. It didn't look dangerous, it looked…serene, like the calm end to a storm.
Scorpio froze mid-step.
"No… what are you—?"
The arrow hung against the bowstring like a shard of moonlight, trembling with barely contained purpose. Its glow bled softly across the ruined alley, over Ryn's blood-streaked cheek, over Amelia's unconscious form behind him.
His voice came quiet, the kind of tone that came only when the decision was already made:
"…Not in this life."
His fingers loosened. His breath stilled.
And the world felt impossibly quiet.
The arrow flew through the air as gracefully as the moon itself, pulled forward by a force older than space. And for the fraction of a moment, all things in the world existed only to witness its passing.
Scorpio saw it. His instincts burned and screamed in pure, primal terror. He twisted his body sideways, tail whipping up as a shield, legs coiling to run away.
…as every preservation instinct he possessed screamed to flee.
But fate had already chosen.
Ryn stood still, watching the scene. A perfect hunter does not chase.
The world simply moves to let the kill happen.
Scorpio's eyes widened, a soundless gasp tearing from his throat.
"No—no—NO—!"
The arrow reached him.
It struck dead-center in his chest, not with an explosion, but with a soft, almost tender sound—
—thmp.
A heartbeat.
For an instant, nothing happened.
Then the arrow expanded.
Light bloomed outward like a star going nova inside his chest. Cracks appeared in Scorpio's carapace, sand leaked out like a contained sandstorm.
"Wh—what… are you—" Scorpio choked, voice breaking into static and blood.
Lines of silver raced across his body like constellations being drawn across a night sky. The monster staggered backward, limbs trembling violently as the light inside him grew too bright and hungry to be contained.
The monster screamed, a high, horror-stricken keening that shook the air—
And then he shattered.
Breaking into a million pieces, until they all eventually…dissolved into the dawn sky…
When the light faded, there was nothing left of the Twelfth Seat but drifting motes of starlight dissolving into the morning air.
A true, sacred silence fell.
Ryn lowered his hand. The spectral bow unraveled into soft sparks, fading into the breeze as though Orion himself witnessed the kill and left.
He turned and slowly knelt by Amelia.
His knees finally buckled, consumed by exhaustion and the looming threat of MP running out.
But his voice, when it left him, was steady.
"…It's over."
He exhaled, long and trembling, as the first rays of dawn broke over the alley.