After announcing all those things with a tone of finality, the High Priests silently left the meeting room, their faces filled with reverence and disbelief. Each of them wore a solemn expression, clearly shaken and awestruck by Victor’s words. The room, once heavy with political tension, now echoed with the lingering weight of prophecy and uncertainty.
Inside the vast chamber, only Helena, Sera, and Victor remained.
Sera sat leisurely on one of the ornate chairs, her legs crossed, arms folded, and a playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. There was an amused glint in her eyes as she looked at Victor.
“I still can’t believe you went and played your little schemes here too,” she muttered, shaking her head slowly, voice low with disapproval but edged with admiration.
Victor leaned against the table, arms folded, a faint smirk dancing on his lips. “What? You expected me to just hand it over to them like a gift?” His tone turned serious, sharper. “I’m not a saint, Sera. And I sure as hell don’t owe them charity. Besides… giving it away freely—does that sound like something the Emperor would do?”
Of course not. Victor was no fool. As Emperor, every move he made had to be calculated, strategic. He couldn’t simply offer power without cost. That would be weakness—and weakness had no place on the throne.
What about the Zephyra Empire?
Well, that’s already his!
He shook his head slowly and exhaled. “Anyway… mind telling me what the hell is really going on now? Did they finally accept Aether, or are they still hesitating behind their masks?”
Sera sighed, the amusement fading from her face. Her posture straightened, and her tone grew sombre.
“After the collapse of the Main Temple… everything changed. People began to whisper that it was divine punishment—that God had descended in wrath. It stirred chaos and devotion in equal measure. But I stood up and told them the truth. I told them it wasn’t some distant god… it was Aether. Blessed by Mother herself.”
She paused, watching his face carefully, then added, “I proposed the idea of making him an Archpriest… and after some back and forth, they accepted it. Not willingly at first, but in the end… they bowed.”
A slow, crooked smile spread across her lips as she looked him in the eyes. “So, Mr. Archpriest… welcome to our Empire.”
Victor’s eyes widened for a moment. His lips parted slightly in disbelief, and he let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. Once again… he was Archpriest.
The same role he once held, now returned to him.
“Sure is a damn miracle…” Victor muttered softly, as if trying to convince himself it was real. Then he shook his head, composing himself. “Anyway, I won’t waste any more time. We’re behind schedule. I’ll begin the construction of the Thrusters immediately. We don’t have the luxury of delay anymore.”
Sera nodded with a grim expression, “Also, about that place you asked me to dig into… we found something. And it’s… interesting,” she added, her voice quiet, serious, and almost wary.
Victor’s brows furrowed. His body tensed instinctively, sensing the shift in her demeanour. He gave a short nod, and Sera led him away, back toward the ruined remains of the Main Temple.
The once-magnificent sacred structure now lay in shattered silence.
The stone pillars were fractured, the ceiling collapsed inward, and sunlight poured through the gaping wounds in the roof. The Ebon Stone floated slowly in the centre of the destruction, spinning in eerie, unnatural calm as if untouched by the devastation around it.
Helena followed silently behind them, her steps light, almost ghost-like.
“Go on! What are you waiting for?” came a soft, impatient whisper from her cleavage. Snowflake was curled tightly against her chest, hidden in the warmth between her breasts.
Helena bit her lip, nervous energy buzzing under her skin. She glanced at Sera and Victor, whose faces had turned sharp and focused.
“…Later,” she murmured softly to the fairy.
They stepped over the rubble, careful not to trip on broken stone and shattered relics. Dust floated through the air, sparkling like ash under the sun. The scent of scorched magic still lingered in the ruins.
Sera led them to a section of the ground that had been freshly unearthed. She pointed to the pit—a deep, hollow gash in the ground where Aether had once punched through with divine strength.
“You told me to dig here… to see what was hidden beneath,” she said quietly.
Now, the secret lay exposed before them.
A long, rusted spear was embedded in the soil. It was dark and dull, yet something about it radiated a pure presence.
Victor narrowed his eyes.
“We couldn’t even move it,” Sera said with a hint of frustration in her voice. “Not even an inch. I tried everything—my full strength, spells, artifacts… nothing worked. It’s like it doesn’t want to be touched.”
The spear lay still, half-buried in sand and dust, like it were waiting.
Victor stared at the spear in stunned silence… He knew this weapon. There was no doubt in his mind—this was the same spear once wielded by Iteration No. 25.
However, what truly disturbed him wasn’t just the weapon’s presence… but what it was embedded in.
The rusted spear wasn’t simply lying on the ground. It was driven straight through the ribcage of a human skeleton—its blade impaled deeply into bone.
Victor’s eyes narrowed. “Whose is this?” he asked, his voice low, tinged with unease as a slight frown crept across his face.
Sera shook her head slowly, her brows furrowed in confusion. “We don’t know… This is the first time any of us are seeing this. There was never any record or mention of someone being killed inside the Main Temple. Nothing. Not even a whisper.”
Helena stood still, her gaze locked onto the bones. Her body was stiff, frozen, as though her very breath was caught in her throat. Her eyes itched as they refused to turn away from the skull lying half-buried in the dirt. Her heart was pounding harder with every second, faster, faster… as if something unseen was calling to her.
Sera glanced at her before adding, “What if someone was murdered and buried here long ago? Hidden beneath the Temple without anyone knowing?”
It was a possibility. But Victor’s mind was already racing to something else.
‘How is that spear even here?’ he thought darkly, his eyes narrowing further. He knew this weapon. It belonged to Iteration No. 25, and that was two full resets ago. Two entire lifecycles had passed since then… yet here it was.
Lying before him… real.
It didn’t make sense.
If worlds had been reset completely, then this spear should have vanished like everything else.
And yet…
Victor crouched without hesitation and leapt into the pit. His boots landed with a soft thud on the disturbed grave soil, right beside the bones.
“Be careful,” Sera said sharply, even before Helena could react.
Victor simply stared at the ancient, rusted weapon. Slowly, cautiously, he reached forward. His fingers brushed against the corroded shaft of the spear and tried to pull.
It didn’t move.
Not even slightly.
Victor exhaled heavily, frustration building inside his chest. Mother’s last words still echoed in his thoughts.
This spear, however… he was certain of one thing.
It was his.
His weapon.
And the body… Victor’s eyes lingered on the skeleton.
Whose was it?
What kind of person had died here, pierced by his spear?
He didn’t know.
“Whatever…” Victor murmured under his breath, shaking his head as he straightened. “It’s not like I need it, anyway.”
With that, he turned and began walking back across the surface of the ruined temple.
Helena, who had remained frozen this whole time, suddenly spoke in a hushed, dreamy voice.
“He looks sad…”
Victor and Sera both turned sharply.
“He?” Victor repeated, blinking.
Helena flinched, snapping back into herself as if shaken from a trance. Her face contorted in confusion. “W-What did I just say?” she asked, blinking rapidly, clearly unsettled.
Sera narrowed her eyes. “You tell us. Do you know something? And what do you mean, he looks sad? Who’s ‘he’?”
Victor was watching her now too, expression grim, thoughtful.
Helena shook her head quickly. “I-I don’t know… I didn’t mean to say that… I just… I felt it, I guess. Like something was… there. Like he was sad. That’s all.”
She bit her lip, clearly shaken. Her own words didn’t even make sense to her.
Victor hummed lowly, his eyes fixed on her, not speaking right away. He then turned his gaze toward the skull resting in the dirt. ‘Was she connected to these bones somehow?’ he wondered silently, his mind spinning with possibilities.
Was it intuition? A memory? Or something more?
[…]
“Anyway,” Victor finally said, brushing the thoughts aside and turning his back on the grave. “I’ll be heading out. Since Aether is the only one officially allowed here now, I’ll let him handle the rest of this mess.”
Helena tilted her head slightly, her brows furrowed in confusion. ‘Wasn’t he… Aether too?’ she thought silently.
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