For the moment, there was someone I had to contact first: Perugius. If Hitogami had uttered that title with such intent, it couldn't be a simple provocation. Besides, I remembered that Nanahoshi had already had contact with him in the past.
I looked up at her; "Perhaps he has the answer."
However, I stopped myself before speaking. "Better not to rush into this," I thought. If I made the request now and Perugius decided to receive me immediately, I wouldn't even have time to rest from the trip. In fact, I think I need a couple of days of rest to get my plans in order, and also to ensure that Hitogami can't harm them while I'm away.
"I'm heading out ahead of you, Rudeus," I said, raising my hand in farewell as I walked toward the exit.
"Ah, by the way," Rudeus stopped me, "tell Sylphie that I'll be busy here with Nanahoshi for a while."
"Got it," I replied with a vague gesture.
As I left, I walked through the university hallways under the constant observation of the other students. Whispering gazes followed me, but I was too tired to care—until a sweet, melodic voice broke through the ambient murmur behind my back.
"Well, it seems everything turned out well for the 'Prince of the Dawn'."
I turned around with a sigh and found Princess Ariel, who was giving me a radiant smile. Right behind her, Luke maintained his guard position, though his expression was much more relaxed than usual.
"Good to see you, friend," Luke said, stepping forward to greet me sincerely.
"Same here," I replied, nodding. "Also, thank you very much for helping Aisha and Norn with that problem while I was away. I owe you one."
"Hey, you know I'm here too, right?" Ariel intervened, crossing her arms with a mock indignation that didn't hide her amusement.
"You are still the same as ever, Princess," I retorted, letting out a small laugh. "And please, stop calling me by that nickname... it's a bit embarrassing."
"Oh, I'm afraid that's a pity," she laughed, her smile widening. "Because in your absence, someone has taken it upon themselves to form a fan club with that name."
A nervous twitch appeared in my eyebrow. It wasn't necessary to ask who was responsible; the image of Aisha sticking her tongue out at me and laughing at my misfortune appeared clearly in my mind. "Heaven knows what she's plotting with that."
Anyway, leaving that aside... I shook my head to brush the thought away. The last thing I needed now was a "fan club" getting me into unnecessary trouble.
"In any case," I said, looking at Ariel, "I'm glad to see everything is quiet around here."
"Quiet is a dangerous word lately," she replied with a half-smile. "But yes, for now, everything is in order."
Luke nodded. "If you need anything, you know where to find us."
"I'll keep that in mind," I replied.
I said goodbye to them with a slight gesture and resumed my way.
The sky was already brightening; people were opening their stalls, and there were already more people walking about.
Following the path toward the mansion...
...
Roxy's Point of View
I woke up feeling a bit worried; my mind would not allow me to rest completely. I dressed in my usual clothes and, while adjusting my hat in front of the mirror, I took a moment to remember what had happened the day before.
I didn't know exactly why, but ever since Aisha took him aside yesterday, Arthur felt different. There was a shadow in his gaze, a sort of contained annoyance. I wanted to ask him at the time, but seeing him so absorbed in his thoughts, I decided it was best not to disturb him.
"I wonder if he'll be calm enough today to tell me what's troubling him so much..." I murmured to myself.
I stood up, adjusting my tunic with a sigh. As I left the room and walked down the hallway, the sound of voices coming from the kitchen made me stop.
It was Lilia and Sylphie. I could see Sylphie with her belly notably swollen; she was trying to help with the chores, though Lilia barely let her touch a utensil to prevent her from overexerting herself. It seemed they were talking quietly about how things were going with Rudeus and the progress of her pregnancy.
I decided not to interrupt them. I continued toward the living room and instinctively searched for Arthur with my eyes, but he wasn't there. "Perhaps he's still sleeping," I thought.
I sat on one of the sofas to wait, letting the silence of the morning surround me. Now that I think about it calmly, a doubt began to grow in my chest: I don't know if I can keep staying here for much longer. Although Rudeus and Sylphie insisted there was no problem and that I was welcome, I can't help but feel like I'm taking advantage of their hospitality... and their kindness.
Deep down, I know that a large part of my desire to stay is simply to be near him.
"Perhaps... perhaps I should declare my feelings to him directly," I thought, and the mere thought made my heart skip a beat. But then, I looked down and observed myself. My small hands, my stature...
"Would he really want someone who looks, practically, like a child?"
Although Arthur is still young and will soon reach adulthood, he seems to have lived much more than anyone else. He carries himself like a grown man, bearing the weight of the world without complaining. He is a man, after all, with desires and needs that someone with my appearance perhaps cannot satisfy.
I sighed, hiding my face in my hands, feeling the cold of my own fingers against my burning cheeks.
"Why are you doubting now, Roxy?" I reproached myself in a barely audible whisper.
After everything we went through in Begaritt, after how he rescued me from the clutches of death in that labyrinth... I shouldn't be afraid. But this is the first time I have felt something this intense—something I cannot control with logic or books. I'm afraid that, by confessing, he might reject me and everything we have now will end forever.
"Is something wrong, Roxy?"
In that moment, a deep and familiar voice sounded right in front of me. When I took my hands away from my eyes, I lost my breath.
It was him. His green eyes looked at me with concern, and they were dangerously close. Arthur had leaned toward me, breaking my personal space to try and decipher what was happening to me.
I couldn't help but stare at him, trapped in his gaze. His face, the lines of his jaw, the serenity he emanated despite his own exhaustion... he was the same boy who saved me in the labyrinth, but at the same time, he felt like someone much more imposing. My heart began to beat so hard that I feared he might hear it in the silence of the room.
"Arthur..." I managed to articulate, but my voice cracked. No matter how hard I tried, I was unable to maintain the lie that "everything was fine" while he was this close.
He didn't move an inch away. On the contrary, he frowned slightly, scrutinizing my face with that intensity that disarmed me.
"Are you sure? Do you feel ill?" he asked in a soft voice. Before I could react, he placed his hand on my forehead naturally, as if trying to check if I had a fever.
Feeling the contact of his palm—warm, firm, and protective—my heart couldn't help but throb even harder, as if it wanted to escape my chest. I felt my cheeks ignite, turning a crimson red that was surely visible for miles. I was on the verge of collapsing from nerves when, providentially, Sylphie appeared in the room.
"Is something wrong with Roxy, Arthur?" she asked, approaching with curiosity and a small smile.
I jumped off the sofa, almost losing my balance from the speed of the movement.
"Ah! No, no! I was just... just thinking about something very important!" I exclaimed, waving my hands erratically in front of me. Arthur looked at me confused, his hand still in the air where my forehead had been. "I just remembered what I had to do! I'm going to... I'm going to register as a teacher at the university right now. See you later!"
Without waiting for a response and without daring to look Arthur in the eye one more time, I turned around and left the room at a quick pace, almost running. My feet hit the floor with urgency while my mind screamed in embarrassment. "It seems it's going to be harder than I thought...."
.......
Arthur's Point of View
I stood in the middle of the living room, watching the door Roxy had just walked through. I blinked a few times, confused.
"Why does this kind of situation feel so familiar?" I muttered to myself, recalling those shows I watched in my previous life.
"Hey, Arthur, do you know where Rudy is?" Sylphie's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I turned toward her. She looked radiant despite the morning fatigue; her presence always brought a necessary calm to this house.
"Ah, yes. He told me he'd be staying a while to help Nanahoshi with her magic circles," I replied. "It seems they're close to a breakthrough and he didn't want to interrupt."
"Ah... I see, how typical of him," Sylphie nodded with an understanding smile.
"Hey, and how is everything going with the pregnancy?" I asked, lowering my tone slightly. "Everything has been going well, right?"
"Yes, everything has been very good," she replied, stroking her belly sweetly. "Aisha and Norn wouldn't let me move a finger, so everything is perfect. They take too much care of me."
"I'm very glad to hear that. Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to rest for a bit."
I dismissed myself with a gesture and took a few steps toward the stairs, seeking the solitude of my room. However, barely had I set foot on the first step when a feminine, mechanical voice resonated directly in my consciousness.
"Arthur, it is ready."
I stopped dead in my tracks, and my heart skipped a beat.
"After analyzing the mana fluctuations and the soul structure of Zenith Greyrat, I have found the solution. The spell capable of restoring her consciousness... I have finished it."
I stood frozen on the step. A wave of emotion surged through my body instantly; the possibility of giving Paul his wife back and Rudy his mother was finally within my reach.
"Then let's do it,"I thought with urgency.
"However, there is something I must warn you about," Great Sage added. "It is not that simple."
I frowned. I knew nothing in this world came for free. "What is the price?"
"Exactly. This spell will require the entirety of your mana; furthermore, you run the risk of falling into a state similar to hers. It is a magic that completely breaks the laws of this world; a direct intervention in the fabric of the soul."
"I thought you were going to tell me something actually problematic.." I replied mentally with a bitter half-smile. "My mana? My consciousness? Don't worry. I still have to finish someone off; I don't intend to leave this world without dealing with that walking sperm. Besides, bringing back Norn's smile is already a great reward."
While maintaining communication with the Great Sage, I changed direction and headed toward Zenith's room. I opened the door softly. Inside were Norn and Aisha, moving in silence so as not to disturb the peace of the room. Sitting in a chair, like a hollow porcelain doll, was Zenith.
As I entered, she turned her head and looked at me for a brief second. Her eyes, though beautiful, still lacked that spark of recognition. After that moment, she turned her gaze back to Norn, losing herself in her own world again.
Norn and Aisha stopped when they saw me, surprised by my sudden appearance and the expression of absolute determination I was surely wearing on my face.
"Arthur? Is something wrong?" Aisha asked, setting aside what she was doing.
I raised a hand gently, asking for silence before they said anything else.
"Nothing bad," I replied in a low voice. "On the contrary… I think I finally found a way to help your mother."
The words hung in the air.
Norn was the first to react. Her eyes widened with incredulity, and she took a step toward me, as if fearing this was just an illusion.
"R-really...?" she whispered. "It's not a joke...?"
I shook my head slowly.
"I'm serious. But I need you to take care of me for a while after this."
Aisha, who was always the quickest to grasp the gravity of things, saw her look of excitement mix with one of deep concern.
"Arthur... what do you mean we have to take care of you?" she asked, stepping forward. "What is the risk?"
"I'm going to use every last drop of my mana," I replied with total frankness. "I'll probably collapse as soon as I'm finished."
Norn tensed immediately.
"Then don't do it!" she said, clutching the edge of the bed. "I don't want you to end up the same way."
I walked over and knelt in front of her, meeting her at eye level.
"Norn," I said softly, "don't worry. I'm going to be fine, just like your mother. Trust me.
I stood up and walked toward Zenith. Aisha followed me with her gaze, her lips pressed into a thin line. She knew there was something more I wasn't telling, but she respected my decision and stood by Norn, wrapping an arm around her to hold her.
"Great Sage," I thought. "Do it."
"Good luck. Initiating soul restoration spell."
I reached out and rested my hand gently on Zenith's forehead. The contact was cold... unnatural.
The mana began to move immediately.
A constant pressure, as if my entire interior were being drained drop by drop. I felt the magic circuits of my body fly wide open, forced beyond any safe limit.
"Arthur..." Aisha whispered behind me, but her voice already felt miles away.
I didn't answer. The world began to lose definition; the walls of the room blurred, and sounds grew distant and distorted, as if I were hearing them underwater. Then it happened. I felt a brutal tug, a force that ripped me from the inside, and suddenly... I was no longer standing.
The room vanished completely.
I found myself in an infinite void, a place perfectly divided: absolute black on the left and a blinding white on the right. Floating in this space, thousands of fragments of light pulsed like dying stars.
I approached one of them, and as I touched it, the image came to life like a video projected in the air. I saw Zenith's perspective: she was holding a young Rudeus, singing him a lullaby in the old house in Buena. Every fragment was a memory, a piece of the puzzle that had crumbled after the teleportation incident.
"Well... what am I supposed to do now?" I asked, feeling my own voice resonate strangely in this place.
"Find Zenith," responded the Great Sage's voice, which sounded clearer than ever here. "Her consciousness should be trapped in something similar to a magic crystal."
I walked along the exact line that divided the white from the black. To my left, the dark side held fragments of pain; to my right, the white side glowed with the laughter of her children and Paul's warmth.
Suddenly, in the distance, I saw it: a colossal crystal that seemed to absorb light from both sides. Inside, a small figure sat huddled, her back to me. It was Zenith's consciousness.
In front of her floated an enormous, translucent screen showing a real-time image. I froze as I recognized the scene: it was her room in the mansion. I could see my own physical body, rigid and glowing with an emerald aura, and Aisha and Norn by my side, watching me with a mix of worry and hope.
"So... all this time she's been watching this..." I murmured.
Zenith wasn't "gone"; she was trapped in a one-way window, watching her family suffer for her without being able to scream, speak, or show any expression—an observer chained to her own tragedy.
I slowly approached the crystal.
"Zenith..." I spoke her name carefully, as if fearing that even here, she might break.
The figure inside the crystal shuddered slightly. She didn't turn around, but I felt it. Her consciousness had reacted.
"Pleased to meet you, I am Arthur," I said, stretching a hand toward the cold surface of the crystal. "I've come to get you out of here."
In that moment, the figure began to turn with painful slowness. When she finally looked at me, I caught my breath. Her eyes in this plane were not empty; they were filled with infinite sadness and tears that could not fall in the physical world. She placed her hand on the crystal, exactly where mine was, but the barrier prevented us from touching.
"Ar... thur...?" her voice didn't sound in my ears but directly in my mind, weak. "How is it that...?"
She already knew more or less who I was, as she had seen me during the journey from Begaritt back home.
"I don't have much time to explain," I said. I balled my fist and, with a shout that tore through the silence of that black and white space, I struck the crystal.
The crystal began to crack, releasing a blinding light that started to devour the darkness on the left side.
"Tell the girls not to worry. I'll likely sleep for a couple of days."
I felt my consciousness being sucked into a whirlpool. The last thing I saw before everything turned white was Zenith reaching her hand out toward me, her fingers finally piercing the barrier and brushing against mine.
......
Return to Reality
In the room of the Greyrat mansion.
I felt a sharp pain, as if thousands of needles were piercing my body. My hands slipped from Zenith's forehead. My body, which no longer had a single drop of energy to sustain itself, fell backward.
The last thing I perceived before total darkness claimed me was the sensation of my knees hitting the floor and Aisha's muffled scream.
"ARTHUR!!"
Point of View: External
Arthur's body lay on the floor, pale and cold, with an expression of absolute exhaustion. Aisha threw herself over him, cradling his head in her arms while calling his name over and over, her voice breaking with panic. Norn, on the other hand, stood frozen in front of the chair.
Then, the miracle occurred.
Zenith Greyrat, whose gaze had been an eternal void for months, blinked hard. Her pupils dilated, focusing on the real world. She took a deep breath—a breath that seemed to bring life to every corner of her being.
Slowly, her hands—now warm—rose to her face. Her fingers brushed the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"Norn..." Zenith whispered. Her voice was barely a thread, but it had the warmth of the mother she used to be. "My little... Norn..."
"MOM!!" Norn threw herself into her arms, breaking into a heartbreaking sob—a cry that mixed months of anguish with impossible relief.
Zenith hugged her, clinging to her with a strength no one expected. But over her daughter's shoulder, Zenith's eyes fixed on the motionless figure of Arthur. She remembered. She remembered the boy who had crossed the black and white void to rescue her.
The door burst open with a crash. Paul entered first, his face distorted and his hand on the hilt of his sword, expecting to find an enemy. Behind him, Sylphie and Lilia rushed in, breathless.
Time seemed to stop for Paul. His eyes widened with a mix of shock and hope as he saw Norn sobbing, not in pain, but in pure relief, in the arms of a woman who was finally hugging her back.
"Zenith...?" Paul's voice trembled like never before. He took a hesitant step, dropping his sword to the floor.
Zenith looked up. Seeing her husband, a spark of tenderness and total recognition lit up her blue eyes.
"Paul..." she whispered, reaching a trembling hand toward him.
"ZENITH!!" Paul lunged toward them, wrapping his wife and daughter in a desperate embrace, weeping with a pain that was transforming into pure joy. Lilia, seeing this, fell to her knees covering her mouth with her hands, tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks at the sight of her friend.
Paul did not let go of Zenith or Norn, as if fearing that if he did, everything might vanish like a cruel dream.
"I'm here..." Zenith murmured, her voice still fragile but firm. "It's over now... it's over."
Lilia rose slowly and approached them. Her hands shook as she touched Zenith's shoulder, as if needing physical proof that this was real.
"Welcome back..." she said through tears. "We missed you so much..."
Zenith nodded, unable to speak for a moment. Her gaze, however, returned again and again to the floor. Toward the unconscious boy who lay there pale, barely breathing.
"Arthur..." she whispered.
Aisha, who was still kneeling beside him, looked up upon hearing his name. Her eyes were red, her face soaked with tears.
"He won't wake up..." she said with a broken voice. "But... but he's breathing, right? That's good, isn't it?"
Sylphie reacted instantly. She moved quickly, kneeling on the other side of Arthur. She placed two fingers on his neck, then rested her head against his chest.
"His pulse is weak, but stable," she affirmed, holding back the tremor in her voice. "He is completely empty of mana... he will recover."
Those words were the final balm. The air in the room, previously heavy with tragedy, turned light. The good news began to spread on that day of hope: Zenith had returned.
...
However, in the abyss of Arthur's unconsciousness, something was stirring.
Within his body, in his deepest depths, an ancestral magic seal—which had remained intact and silent until now—could no longer withstand the pressure of the absolute mana vacuum. With a sound of shattering, the seal cracked.
From those fissures, an unknown power began to leak slowly... an unknown energy that started to stain Arthur's essence.
In an unknown place, hidden beyond the layers of the known world, an island drifted in an infinite ocean of clouds. In the center of a great marble hall, a man sat upon a throne, surrounded by eleven imposing figures standing in absolute silence, like guardians.
Suddenly, the man on the throne straightened his back. His eyes snapped open, glowing with a supernatural intensity.
The man frowned slightly.
He had felt something.
A weak power... but unmistakable. An energy he recognized all too well.
It wasn't just similar to the power of his race.
It was familiar.
It felt like that of his...
"...Uther?" he murmured.
End of Chapter