The sun warmed Geliona Beach as Kael, Lirael, Delina, and the kids walked along the shore.
Kael looked around. "This is the same beach from my dream."
Lirael nodded. "It feels real."
Delina ran past, tall and proud with a curvy, plus-sized figure.
Kael noticed her glances. She was attracted to his tall, muscular build and bad-boy vibe.
The crowd whispered, then openly stared.
One foreign woman stepped forward boldly. "Can I have your contact?"
One by one, dozens of women asked Kael for his number and where he stayed.
Lirael laughed softly. "Do people think you're a model?"
Kael smirked. "Maybe."
After the crowd thinned, Kael, Lirael, and Delina walked, talking for hours.
Delina shared, "I'm alone—an orphan. I work as a lifeguard and guide."
Kael listened.
As evening fell, the group moved toward the yacht. The sun was setting, and dinner time was near. Everyone was preparing to say goodbye.
Breaking the silence, Kael said, "If you want a job, we'd like to hire you."
He handed her a card: Vitalis Lab.
Delina's eyes widened. "That company is famous!"
Suddenly, a shimmering figure appeared behind Kael—the Veilwalker.
Delina blinked, nearly screamed, but stayed calm. She was used to spirits.
This ghost was special, bound to Kael and even spoke to her.
Kael thought, She can see Seris. That's rare.
Inside his mind, Seris whispered, "Delina has the rare gift of dual cultivation. She is a virgin."
"If you take her first," Seris continued, "your luck and descendants will be blessed with a king's destiny."
"Your sacred Essence Cycle—your spiritual practice of retention and calm—will soon reach its peak. Your body will restructure, and your descendants will inherit this change."
"No one else sees me but those with spiritual eyes," Seris said.
Delina silently took the card and went for a shower.
Later, she whispered to herself, "Who are Kael and Lirael?"
She searched for Kael on her phone.
Only company info and videos of Vitalis Lab's medical launches showed up.
Her mind raced. "What's the link between Kael and that ghost?"
She lost herself in adult videos, warming her skin as she did.
On the yacht, Kael heard Seris again.
"She has the best kundali nakshatra," Seris said.
"If you marry her, your defeat will become impossible within the 100-year destiny."
Kael smiled. "Good enough."
That night, they sailed into the deep sea.
Kael pointed ahead. "There."
They dove quite deep, all powerful enough to swim. Kael felt surprisingly comfortable despite never having swum before—so natural that he even forgot to breathe. Strangely, he didn't need to—unlike Lirael, who as a serpent could breathe underwater, or the turtle demon, perfectly suited for the deep. Kael was human, but something had changed after his rebirth: meditation, ritual, and the divine palace in his mind granted him new control.
The demon ship lay dark below.
At the entrance, a scanner took blood drops from all three—Kael, Lirael, and the turtle demon.
The ship's AI analyzed them.
"Bloodline recognized," a voice echoed.
"You are the one who captured and bound Demon Vitra's descendant's soul as a beast."
The great ship spirit rose—a tall, female phantom.
Skin pale ash-gray with glowing crimson veins.
Her face sharp and beautiful, uncannily perfect.
Left eye a spinning black-silver spiral.
Right eye a hollow shifting pool, causing hallucinations to those who gazed into it.
Third eye burned on her forehead, blinking slowly once per hour.
Her black hair floated like raven feathers, silver wires entwined in the strands.
She wore a black mist gown fused with thin bone plates.
Her spine gleamed with runed obsidian shards.
She didn't walk but phased, leaving shadow butterflies in her wake.
She looked at Lirael. "You, special human—Nagin descendant of the great Nirīśvara Jīvana, 'Lifeforce Without Lord.' After so many years, someone has such pure blood. Looks like chaos will return... even you, boy!"
She turned to Kael and screamed, a holographic vision swirling. "Your blood is so special, such incredible energy. You carry so much precious royal blood. I thought royal blood was extinct; hunted by all, hidden and sealed away. What a clever move. Nobody guessed the ancient serpent's blood survived this way."
"One by one, every king and ancient bloodline flickers within you."
"You—perhaps—are from that exiled race, those who once worked the land steeped in primordial blood and Amrit, a people forgotten by time."
She listed the legacies:
Tamogarbha Nāgas — Womb-born of Darkness (0.0000010%)
Kālānāga – The Black Spiral. Dweller of the 9th layer of Pātāla.
Tamsira – The Night-Venom Matron.
Shunyākha – The Void-Fanged One.
Vṛttashūnya – The Cycle-Eater.
Anantanāga-Aniḥsvara – The Infinite Who Has No Lord, older than Vishnu's dream.
"Myths say their coils encircle the pre-void—not the cosmos itself."
She continued, revealing the secrets of each ancient Nāga lord—masters of time, karma, and self-erasing silence.
"You also carry ancient pure Sun-Moon lineage blood, 0.009%—protector of Earth. I believed this line perished after the ancient empire's fall. Now, your blood also holds the mark of Jalandhar—the Chakravarti emperor, 0.3%."
"But none of this is awakened," she declared coldly. "You do not know the Kuldevi nor the mantras to unlock these gifts. This is why humans are truly special—they can bear many divine fusions without their powers clashing."
Shambhrājiṇī's heart thundered.
"Demon Kalia fell before two united bloodlines."
"I am Shambhrājiṇī. Born from the ashes of demon Shambara."
"You claim to command me... prove your worth. Or be cast into my collection."
Kael's fists clenched tight, suddenly feeling the weight of every ancient and serpentine lineage.
Lirael stood ready.
The turtle demon hissed low.