Clang… clang… clang…
The deafening toll of the great bell reverberated across every corner of the Royal Capital. From the five Magic Towers that stood guard at each cardinal edge of the city, sorcerers climbed to their highest battlements and began chanting in unison. Their voices rose like a single tidal breath, weaving a vast protective dome that slowly unfurled and draped itself over the entire Kingdom.
People scattered through the streets, swarming like frantic ants as they rushed back to their homes. A colossal round silhouette was emerging in the sky above — an immense sphere of pale, ghostly white, matching the size of the moon itself. From it radiated a dense, blinding white aura that drowned every color beneath its glow. Only one thing still retained its hue: spiraling vortices forming beyond the borders of the Kingdom. Spirals that tore open the air and released strange beings from realms unknown.
It was the arrival of the twin moon phenomenon — what the world had learned to fear as the Silver Sibling Moon. A phenomenon born from the surge of arcane energy erupting from the Altar of the Sky. That energy would burst upward, climbing the heavens until it condensed into the shape of a small celestial body—an imitation moon born from runaway magic.
The Silver Sibling Moon would linger for five to seven hours. No one was permitted to step outside during its reign. The overflowing energy destabilized every strand of magic across the planet; even the sky would lose its color, turning into an absolute, lightless black whether it was day or night. Space and time themselves warped under its influence, cracking the dimensional veil and opening rifts known as Spiral Gates.
During the Silver Sibling Moon, Spiral Gates bloomed across the surface of Planet Laurel Zero Five. Each one served as a bridge — no, a wound — connecting the world to countless other places in the universe. Like miniature black holes, they lured and devoured anything that wandered too close, dragging creatures into their depths.
This was why the Kingdom needed a barrier. Without it, Spiral Gates could manifest within the crowded city, bringing forth monstrous entities and wicked beings from far-flung worlds. The dome of protection was the only shield preventing chaos from spilling into the heart of the Kingdom.
"This is the third time I've witnessed this phenomenon, yet it never fails to send chills down my spine," said a middle-aged man seated near the window of the Gardisto Department building. His eyes never left the twin white orbs hanging in the sky—one of them pulsing with dense, overflowing energy. He could clearly see the waves of pale light rippling in and out of the heavens.
"But your face says you admire the sight, Commander." A young man with shoulder-length hair sitting beside him responded lightly, his gaze following the same haunting scene outside the glass.
"A-hahaha… well, how could I not? Seeing it with my own eyes — watching the moon split into two and the sky turn pitch-black — it gets my blood pumping. Don't you feel the same, Captain Revanio?" The Commander laughed without once averting his gaze. "This is your second time seeing it, isn't it?"
The young man in his early twenties only offered a faint smirk. "Mm. And it happens to fall on my birthday."
"Ohohoho… splendid, splendid. After this, let's celebrate by hunting monsters ou—"
THUD!
Silence. Absolute silence.
Everyone froze where they sat. All of them. A crushing pressure surged through the air, sudden and merciless. It was sharp, violent, and powerful enough to stab straight through their bones. The sensation lasted less than a minute, yet it drained all color from their faces. Their eyes trembled, washed over by a fear they could not hide.
"It seems… a Black Gate has appeared this time," the Commander whispered, voice low and grim.
No one replied. No one denied it. They all knew what it meant. This was no omen—this was a warning. A herald of catastrophe.
The Silver Sibling Moon phenomenon lasted six full hours that day. Even after it ended, not a single citizen was permitted to leave their homes until the royal authorities confirmed the Capital's safety. Outside the Kingdom's barrier, countless monsters would have already crossed through the Spiral Gates.
The Gardisto Force and the Kavalíro Battalion gathered outside the Glorious Kingdom's gates immediately after the phenomenon ended. Together, they rode out beyond the kingdom's borders to inspect every Spiral Gate that had appeared — and to eliminate any creature or monster dangerous enough to have slipped through.
It was exhausting work. Tracking Spiral Gate traces could only be done using a specialized detector crafted by the Magic Towers. That was why the units split into multiple teams, scattering across the landscape. Checking each Spiral Gate could take hours upon hours.
And this time… they knew a Black Gate had emerged.
It stirred dread in the hearts of every resident of Planet Laurel Zero Five. For decades — long, fearful decades — not a single Black Gate had appeared. And now, with its sudden return, terror gripped them all.
The last terrifying monster ever recorded to emerge from a Black Gate was the Batsquatch. That happened fifty years ago — yet the memory still clung to the planet like a scar that could not heal. A creature towering nine feet tall, massive enough to rival the mountains of Planet Laurel Zero Five, had ravaged the plains with unstoppable force. More than ten thousand lives were claimed that day, leaving behind a deep, collective trauma carried silently by all who survived.
Considering the overwhelming pressure emitted by this Black Gate's appearance, whatever had crossed over this time was surely a calamity-class monster. Yet after nearly two hours of searching, no one found anything. Not even the faintest trace of an anomaly — no energy residue, no scorched marks, no spatial ripples. It was as though the Black Gate had never existed at all.
That alone was enough to raise grave suspicion, prompting the units to widen their search to the farthest outskirts. Revanio happened to choose the Vitojoraz Forest — a remote woodland lying far from any settlement, perched at the very edge of the Kingdom's territory. If any creature had escaped and hidden itself here, Revanio intended to find it. His grip tightened around his bow as he moved through the dense foliage.
"Krrr… Krrr… Zzzz…"
Revanio's right hand swiftly reached for an arrow the moment he heard the sound. His hazelnut eyes snapped toward the source. There, dangling from a tree branch, hung a strange figure.
Narrowing his eyes, he realized the creature was… asleep. It might be a Strzyga, he thought — a humanoid monster with the head of a ghostly bird. Like a vampire, it lived by drinking blood. Strzygas commonly slipped through Spiral Gates and often hid in forests and caves.
It was the perfect opportunity. The creature was unguarded, completely vulnerable. Revanio could finish it in one strike.
He moved silently, each step calculated, approaching the hanging figure until only fifteen meters separated him from his target. He raised his bow—
But instead of releasing the arrow, Revanio froze.
His eyes widened. He blinked once. Twice.
In sheer disbelief, he even dropped the arrow from his hand. "What… what is this? I thought it was a monster, but it's actually…."
Revanio couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.
The creature he thought was a monster… was actually a young girl. She had long black hair spilling downward like a shimmering waterfall of night. She slept soundly, completely unaware, wrapped in thick, vine-like tendrils — as though nature itself had spun a cocoon around her. She dangled upside down from a tree, breathing softly.
The sight was beyond anything he could have imagined.
Wait… this was strange. A young girl — alone in the depths of this forest? And the Silver Sibling Moon had only ended two hours ago. Civilians were forbidden from leaving their homes until the royal authorities confirmed the Capital's safety. So how could she possibly be here?
There was another detail — her hair. Black. A color so rare it was almost mythical on Planet Laurel Zero Five.
That alone stirred suspicion in Revanio's mind. He studied the girl carefully, watching her for a long, cautious moment before glancing around the area, searching for any trace of a Spiral Gate.
A mark.
A spark.
A distortion.
But there was nothing.
The forest was silent. Still. Utterly untouched.
All right. I'll report this to the Commander first. Let the higher-ups decide what comes next. That was Revanio's conclusion as he pulled a dagger from the pocket of his coat. With a swift motion, he sliced through the main vine suspending the girl from the tree and lowered her — still tightly wrapped like a cocoon. "If she turns out to be dangerous, this could get bad."
The girl remained fast asleep even as Revanio dragged her along like a sack of supplies. The two moved through the darkness of the forest in an eerie silence — broken only by hooting owls and the girl's soft, oddly rhythmic snores. Revanio wiped at his forehead as sweat nearly dripped into his eyes. The girl was surprisingly heavy.
Yet for some reason, his heart eased when his hazelnut eyes caught the sky returning to its natural shade — vivid violet. The normal night sky of Planet Laurel Zero Five.
"Black Gate… a herald of disaster," Revanio muttered. Reflexively, he glanced behind him toward the cocooned girl he was dragging. "I really hope it isn't you."
"Khiiiiiek!"
Revanio startled. A suffocating killing intent surged from ahead, thick enough to make the air tremble. For several seconds he stood frozen — staring into a pair of glowing red eyes overflowing with malice. Fortunately, his reflexes were sharp; he leapt upward onto a thick branch just as a monster lunged forward, claws slicing the air where he had stood.
He exhaled shakily, but his relief vanished instantly. The cocooned girl was now gripped firmly in the monster's claws. He had failed to protect her.
From where he perched, Revanio could only watch in stunned silence as the girl was carried into the sky by the winged creature — one he recognized immediately. A Mothman. A moth-like humanoid the size of a man, crimson-eyed with gray feathers dusting its wings.
Mothman was a native monster of Planet Laurel Zero Five, but their numbers had plummeted drastically after a mass extermination nearly two centuries ago due to their extreme danger. They were believed to be almost extinct. Revanio never imagined he would witness one with his own eyes.
According to ancient lore passed down for generations, the scream of a Mothman always signaled the arrival of catastrophe.
That thought left Revanio frozen.
Two ominous signs in one day — a Black Gate… and now a Mothman. How could both appear back to back? Did this truly mean that a great calamity was destined to fall upon Planet Laurel Zero Five?
Steeling himself against what was to come, Revanio regained his composure. He mounted his horse, nocked an arrow onto his bow, and took aim. His eyes sharpened, locking onto the Mothman's wings. His right hand pulled back the arrow; with one breath, he prepared to release.
But before he could fire, his eyes widened farther than ever before.
A surge of disbelief shattered his thoughts as he watched — clearly — how the cocooned girl let out a frustrated shout, eyes still closed, wriggling like a furious caterpillar in the monster's grasp. In seconds, one hand slipped free of the entangling vines.
Then Revanio was struck speechless.
The girl — still half-asleep — drove a clean, powerful punch directly into the Mothman's abdomen. The impact launched the monstrous creature so far, so violently, that it shot across the sky like a blazing star, leaving behind a trail of scorched air.
After striking the Mothman, the girl tore herself free from the vines cocooning her entire body using nothing but her own strength. She then leapt effortlessly through the air and landed smoothly on the ground — posing in a bizarre, almost theatrical stance. All of this… she did with her eyes still closed.
Upon landing, she mumbled something in a foreign tongue — sounding oddly like irritated grumbling — before lying down comfortably on the timberland and falling back into a deep sleep as if absolutely nothing had happened.
Revanio exhaled sharply, his heart pounding. His feelings twisted into something strange, something difficult to describe. He stared at the girl in awe.
"What in the world… is she?"
It was the first time Revanio had ever witnessed a single person — let alone a teenage girl — defeat a monster the size of a grown man by herself. How could a mere girl overpower a Mothman with her bare hands? And worse — do it while unconscious.
Both of Revanio's palms, still gripping his bow and arrow, broke into a cold sweat. He could clearly sense an overwhelming foreign aura radiating from the black-haired girl. He couldn't tell whether it was good or evil, but one thing was certain — she was not from Planet Laurel Zero Five.
Most likely, she was one of the creatures that had crossed through the Spiral Gate.
That possibility alone made Revanio lift his arrow, aiming it at the sleeping girl. He steadied his breathing, preparing to shoot.
But as he looked at her face — peaceful, childlike, mumbling softly in her sleep — his resolve faltered. His hands trembled violently, unable to hold the bow steady.
Why? Why did the thought of killing her feel so wrong?
It made no sense. She clearly wasn't human. No normal human could defeat a Mothman with a single blow like that.
And yet… there was something about her. Something he couldn't explain or understand. Especially her hair — black as the void, a color almost never seen on Planet Laurel Zero Five.
Revanio let out a long sigh.
There seemed to be no other choice but to take her with him. Besides, Morgana would scold him senseless if she found out he had abandoned a wandering girl alone in the forest.
"All right… I'll help you. So please, don't cause trouble, okay?"
A faint gust rustled the leaves as though answering him.
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