"Miss Ophelia… tell him to wake up," Caster said with a serious look, his eyes cold and full of purpose.
Ophelia blinked, wiping sweat from Amon's forehead, her expression worried. "B-but… he's sick. He can't even stand up, and his condition..."
"I have money!" Caster shouted loudly enough for Amon to hear.
And indeed, Amon's motionless body twitched. Then, like a resurrected zombie, he lurched upright with a wide grin.
"Financial healing is real!" he declared with a laugh, snatching the document out of Caster's hand. Caster only sighed and shook his head with a helpless smile.
Luna's really the best, Amon thought happily. Of course my girl wouldn't leave me broke. And now I'm filthy rich again, hehehe. Life is good with money and lov-
"Oh, by the way. Luna said that if you don't visit her, she will murder you," Caster yelled from the hall before leaving and closing the door.
Amon trembled, his expression collapsing into a pained smile. Then, with a tiny spark of hope, he glanced at Ophelia and asked, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. He wasn't that happy now. "Uhmm… Ophelia, am I a good man?"
"Of course not. You're a thief who stole an entire region. You used lies, slander, and propaganda to gather people and destroy your competitors' reputations. You scammed companies, and the government as well. How many PTVs have you crushed? If memory serves, you hired a lot of people to play roles, like parking PTVs where gates would appear so the government's auto-insurance system would cover the damage instead of you. Then you sold those destroyed PTVs to make even more money without lifting a finger. I'm pretty sure you framed that vile woman, and while she deserved it, you also stole everything from her club, which contributed to her execution since no evidence was found to help her case. You were shameless enough to ask for rewards from the Song Clan, since you 'sacrificed yourself' so Lady Seishan and Luna could return. Not to mention, Lady Luna is your lover, which means you scammed your lover's mother. You deceived people, manipulated them, and caused conflicts so that while they fought, you could take everything for yourself."
Ophelia paused, glancing at his frozen face, then added with barely contained disgust,
"But what I find most repulsive is that you slept with Lady Luna, impregnated her, then disappeared for months, and now have the audacity to ask her for money. I can say with absolute confidence that you are… absolute garbage as a person, my Lord."
Amon stared at her blankly, then grimaced, his expression twisting into displeasure and pain. Wow… Am I Lanevus? And, she has no filter. Like, girl… I'm your boss. At least use the Dao of Bootlicking or something… Damn, I feel like a failure as a human being. Well, at least she doesn't know about...
"I know about those too. Mr. Jacob informed me about your 'adventures.' I just don't have the patience to list everything."
Fuck…
...
"Mr. Jacob… what are you doing?" Amon muttered in surprise as he spotted him at the entrance of the spire. What made it stranger was what Jacob was doing, he was emptying a bag filled with soul shards. And it wasn't even a normal bag; it was a storage memory, and the number of shards Jacob had gathered was astonishing. There were hundreds… perhaps even thousands.
Using Decryption, Amon managed to discern that most of the shards came from Awakened creatures. A few hundred were from Fallen, and dozens more were from Corrupted creatures.
Mr. Jacob himself was drenched in blood. His clothes were torn to shreds, his upper body bare except for a few lingering scratches, and he was completely barefoot, leaving thin trails of blood with every step he took. It was… an intimidating sight, Amon could admit.
Because of Mr. Jacob's goofy and casual personality, Amon often forgot that he was a Transcendent, and a frighteningly powerful one at that.
Noticing Amon's presence, Jacob lifted his head with an expressionless face. His eyes were dull and unfocused, empty and almost dead. But when he realized it was Amon, something flickered back into them. His expression softened, and a heartbeat later he was suddenly in front of him.
Before Amon even had time to blink, the world twisted. He and Jacob vanished, reappearing in the deepest pit of the spire.
This was the heart of the citadel, a place of dreadful, tenebrous blackness that swallowed all light, as if the shadows themselves were alive and hungry.
Jacob gestured toward the abyssal pit before them.
"Look at this." he said with an oddly bright smile. "I was exploring the spire and eventually found this… well of darkness.
What do you think, Amon?"
"Hm… It's where the Dark Sea was sealed," Amon murmured. Then a thought struck him, and he frowned. "Wait, now that I think about it, I've always wanted to ask you. How did you manage to destroy the seal and release the Dark Sea? And how did you even kill it? It was a Great Titan."
Jacob nodded slowly, acknowledging the weight of the question. "First of all… I destroyed the seal after killing it. I didn't need to release that pathetic remnant of a Nephilim to annihilate it." His voice was calm, almost bored, really. "As for how… I have my ways. It's mostly related to the soul damage."
He chuckled quietly, then turned his gaze on Amon, eyes sharpening with curiosity.
"And how would you know it was a Great Titan?" Jacob asked. "From my understanding, there's no way a mere Awakened could discern the rank and class of a creature of that magnitude."
He tilted his head slightly, studying him.
"You know a lot of things, Amon… I'm really curious."
Amon swallowed hard, his heartbeat thundering beneath Jacob's piercing gaze. He couldn't exactly tell him the truth, that he'd literally been spoiled and had seen the edit about Sunless [Supreme Titan] vs. The Dark Sea [Great Titan]… those damned spoilers! And the powerscalers, too!
So he exhaled slowly and offered the safest lie he could muster.
"I unlocked my Aspect Legacy." Amon rubbed the back of his neck, then sank onto a chunk of broken stone. "It gives me knowledge tied to divinations and rituals instead of memories or echoes that normal Awakeneds get. That's how I can figure out things like ranks. It's… kinda similar to Song of the Fallen's ability, if you think about it."
His voice trailed off as he looked around the ruined heart of the spire. Even untouched, it felt ancient, like the bones of a forgotten world... Heh, it's called Forgotten Shore for reason, I guess.
"I see…" Jacob murmured, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "That's a really convenient excuse, I admit."
He gave Amon's shoulder a firm pat. But as soon as his hand fell away, the humor drained from his face. Jacob stared at him for a long moment, his expression cold and unyielding, so piercing that Amon instinctively took a step back, feeling the weight of the terror his lie had just invited.
Then his voice softened, goofy smile appearing on his face. "I know you're hiding a lot, Amon," Jacob said. "Your answers are half-truths and half-lies. I can tell."
He stepped in front of him, meeting his eyes with a solemn intensity.
"But I hope… that one day, you'll be comfortable enough to tell me what's really weighing you down..."
Amon's eyes widened before he could stop himself. For a heartbeat, he simply stared, caught between being touched and completely thrown off balance by Jacob's sincerity. He finally managed a small, awkward nod.
"I… will. When I'm ready," he murmured.
Jacob's warm smile widened into a laugh as he waved a hand dismissively. "Don't stress it. Everyone's got secrets. Useless ones, stupid ones, world-ending ones... whatever."
He shrugged casually. "Hell, when I was a kid, my biggest secret was that I was sleeping with my combat instructor. So trust me, it's fine."
His grin turned lazy, eyes drifting as he slipped into a nostalgic daze, clearly pleased with himself.
Amon just stared at him, utterly speechless this time. Words failed him, he didn't know what to say. The only thought that formed in his mind was simple, yet resounding:
Respect!
"Wait… what was I talking about?" Jacob blinked, finally remembering that the reason he brought Amon here had nothing to do with his childhood sexual adventures.
"About the pool of darkness," Amon reminded him lazily. He yawned, looking bored out of his mind.
"Heh. You won't be bored when you figure out what's hiding here." Jacob's lips curled into a sharp grin as he lifted his hand and summoned a torch.
Amon's intuition sharpened instantly. The moment the torch appeared, he could tell that it was a Memory of the Transcendent rank. Intrigued despite himself, he activated Decryption, trying to discern Memory's enchantments and tier.
Gazing into the inner workings of the torch, Amon studied the silver strings with keen curiosity. The Spellweave wasn't complex, and there was only a single nexus. This indicated that the creature's class was Beast, possessing just one core. Since no Weavers existed in this world yet, and only slain creatures granted Memories to Awakeneds, Amon could easily deduce the creature's class.
What he still didn't understand was how killing a creature resulted in Memories forming for Awakened. He knew the Spell was involved, obviously, but the mechanism behind it remained mysterious. Corrupted creatures had been banished from the Spell, severed from its influence, so it made no sense that the Spell could still transform their soul cores into Memories after death.
Perhaps… Awakened themselves, carrying the Nightmare Spell within them, acted as catalysts that allowed such phenomena to occur.
But that was only a theory. In truth, Amon had no idea how it really worked.
However, the single enchantment woven into the torch was tied to light. Simple, but powerful. It illuminated the surroundings and forced back the darkness, anathema to the tenebrous void gathering beneath them.
As Amon deciphered this, Jacob activated the enchantment. A surge of pale brilliance erupted from the torch, washing over the chamber. The oppressive darkness recoiled, peeling away like ink dissolving in water, revealing what had been hiding in the depths of the liquid blackness.
Amon's mind stalled. What the hell…? He stared at the well in disbelief.
Are those…
"Yes," Jacob said, answering before Amon could finish. "They're the shadows of the people who were sacrificed to fuel the artificial sun."
Amon exhaled sharply. "I mean… that's a reasonable deduction, but still." His brows furrowed deeper as he studied the writhing silhouettes drifting within the black pool. "What I can't figure out is why their shadows are here. Why didn't they return to the Shadow Realm like normal?"
Jacob shrugged, lowering the torch beside the well. Shadows writhed below, clawing silently at the faint ring of light as he pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and inhaled deeply.
"It's a component." he said flatly.
Amon blinked. Then the understanding hit him like a brick. His expression drained of color, eyes widening with dawning horror.
"Light and the-"
"Darkness." Jacob finished, smirking. "The citadel isn't complete yet. Killing the Dark Sea pushed it closer to maturity, but there's still one last thing before the Crimson Spire becomes the real deal."
Amon looked at him sharply. "And what's that?"
Jacob wagged a finger. "Patience, my fucked up student."
Then he turned toward the well, face twisting into a grimace as the shadows below slithered and curled in the liquid void.
"First, let me explain what this place is really made of." He exhaled smoke, letting the torch's light dimly reflect off the black surface. "The artificial sun... It emits soul-annihilating light. It wasn't just built to give us daytime."
Amon frowned. "And the Dark Sea was meant to drown the region. I already-"
"No." Jacob cut him off with a quiet laugh. "You only know the surface of it."
He tapped ash into the dark air.
"It's natural for a sea to swallow land. Natural for the sun to bring day. But these two weren't natural. They were engineered pieces of a system. The artificial sun warms the region but it can also destroy souls completely."
He gestured toward the well.
"And the Dark Sea? Yes, it could flood everything. Yes, it brought night and cold. But its real aspect… was consumption. Not of land. Of souls. Anything that died within it was swallowed... And digested."
He pointed at the shifting silhouettes in the black water.
"Like those shadows..."
Amon's tilted his head, staring into the well, both fascinated and bit horrified. "So when the citadel is completely finished… the ruler of the spire will be able to-"
"Unleash them." Jacob said brightly, giving a casual thumbs-up. "All of them. Every soul the Dark Sea ever devoured. A tide of shadows answering only to the master of the Crimson Spire."
He exhaled softly, lowering his head.
"The true core of this citadel is Yin and Yang, light and darkness. One brings warmth; the other cold. One nurtures life; the other steals it. One gives day; the other gives night. Together, they form perfect balance."
He tapped the side of the well.
"That's the power of the Crimson Spire. A throne over day and night. Over life… and death..."
"Wait a second!" Amon's eyes went wide, his face pale as the realization crashed down on him. "The Seven Heroes didn't just create light… Yes, they built the spire, offering the Priestess to become a conduit for all the souls sacrificed to create the man-made, artificial sun. At the same time, in doing so, they sealed the darkness. But then, the Priestess… she became corrupted, turning into the Crimson Terror and shattered the balance. That darkness… it transformed into the Dark Sea. A Great Titan. But there was another factor at play, which-"
"Exactly." Jacob interjected, chuckling softly. "It was the Spell. The Spell turned the spire into a citadel and gave it its component. Because it was so unique… yet incomplete, flawed even… it pushed the evolution, improving the dormant qualities of the spire. In a sense, the Seven Heroes, with the help of Spell, managed to replicate the realms of the Shadow and Sun Gods themselves."
Jacob remained silent for a moment, then looked at Amon with a serious expression.
"Listen… what I'm about to tell you is a great secret, Amon," Jacob said, his voice cold and steady.
Amon nodded, gulping as a chill ran down his spine. He could feel the weight of Jacob's words even before they came.
Seeing Amon's seriousness, Jacob exhaled slowly and closed his eyes.
"The realms… they are the bodies of the gods. More accurately… the corpses of the gods. And the Dream Realm… it swallowed all the other realms. This is something no one knows. Our realm, Earth, is called the War Realm. Right now… these gates, the seeds of nightmares, the nightmare creatures… everything else…"
Jacob's words hung in the air like a shadow over a grave. This was the terrible truth, yet Amon remained silent. For the first time since this conversation started, no emotions were visible on his face.
"Is to devour our realm too… The Dream Realm is trying to swallow the Earth…" Amon muttered, his expression darkening.
Jacob let out a slow sigh, his gaze lingering on Amon's expressionless face. "Indeed… our world is slowly being destroyed," he said calmly, though the weight of his words pressed down like a physical force. "But we cannot tell anyone about this."
"May I ask why?" Amon asked softly.
"Because…" Jacob's tone darkened, his expression twisting into displeasure. "The Great Clans will come after us. And they won't stop, they won't be satisfied until they've slaughtered us, should we reveal this knowledge. Even if we remain silent, even if we never speak of it… if they find out, they will kill us. They won't risk it; they'd rather destroy us than face the consequences of this forbidden knowledge reaching the world. I'm sure you're aware of how vile the Great Clans are. Especially Anvil… he's an empty monster who won't hesitate to do whatever he wants."
Amon sank to the cold stone, staring into the darkness with an unreadable expression as he exhaled. "I understand…"
Then he paused, glancing at Jacob with curiosity. "But how is that related to the Citadel?"
Jacob laughed, walking to the pool and letting it swallow his arm. He smiled as he felt the darkness trying to pull him in, as if dragging him into a personal hell, then calmly pulled his arm back. "Everything, really. Because there's a region called the Godgrave. There, anyone touched by the light of the sun is reduced to ash, and I mean anyone, even lesser deities. That cruel Heaven... is the Sun God's Realm. And here, in the Forgotten Shore… anyone touched by the light of the artificial sun will have their soul destroyed. Do you understand what I'm talking about now?" Jacob grinned, a clear fascination lighting his features.
Amon paused, he wasn't even acting at this point. He really was surprised, shocked even. Now that he thought about it, Mr. Jacob was right. While not completely same, two suns had similar characteristics.
"Does that mean... Shadow God... Was swallowing everyone's shadows after they died? And than digesting it... But the dark sea is made from darkness, not shadows. But than again, it's not exactly same thing. But what they do is similar. The Shadow Realm is swallowing the shadows which probably Shadow God was using for their own needs. And, the dark sea in similar fashion is swallowing everything that dies Inside it. And after citadel is completed, ruler will be able to use those shadows as they see a fit. So entire citadel is replicating authorities of the two god."
"Exactly." Jacob said with the amused smile, tilting his head. "But to use both light and the darkness. We need to complete the citadel."
"And how are we going to do that?" Amon raised the eyebrow in confusion.
"I won't... But you will do it, Amon." He grinned and dropped the torch into well of darkness. When Amon looked down to see what torch would reveal, his expression went blank. For a moment, he remained motionless, not uttering the word.
And than, he smiled pleasantly, his expression growing curious and filled with mischief as he adjusted the monocle.
"This is intriguing... The Nightmare Seed, huh?"
Jacob nodded, dismissing the torch, and the light vanished, leaving everything submerged in darkness once again.
"Yes… to complete the Citadel, you need to challenge the second nightmare… and survive. Any questions?"
Amon smiled faintly and nodded. "I have one."
"What is it?" Jacob asked.
"Was that combat instructor you hooked up with… hot?"
"Hmm… indeed, a wise question. Come, my disciple. I will enlighten you."
"Yes, Master!"
They glanced at each other, remaining still for a moment. Then their shoulders trembled, and soon they both burst into laughter.
"Kekeke, funny shit, right?"
"Yeah… fuck it, let's go get wasted."
Amon paused for a moment, his expression thoughtful. "By the way… Mr. Jacob, why do you need so many shards?"
"Huh? To pay our debt, of course," Jacob laughed and strode ahead.
Meanwhile, Amon pulled out documents from Fraud's bag. Luna had indeed given him plenty of money, but Mr. Jacob had also slain a countless number of nightmare creatures, collecting enough soul shards to probably cover all their debts.
Hmm… question is… scam or not scam? Meh... Let Mr. Jacob handle it. I'll keep this for… uh… emergency situations. Yes. Indeed.
It wasn't like he was stealing, right?