"Northern Ridges. Cold. Not much to do."
Victor remembered Ramien saying it so casually, on their very first day at the academy.
At the time, it had meant nothing.
Now, it was the only place left to begin.
Ramien had vanished after the battle.
And the place he called home was the first trail Victor could follow.
With the speed of Vampires, with no need for sleep and footsteps that made no sound, an army could cross kingdoms within a single month.
They would search every ridge, every valley and every shadow.
Unbeknownst to either of them,
Hunter and hunted were moving toward the same horizon.
Toward the same fate.
Ramien knew the path to his home as well as he knew his own breath.
So he arrived first within a few days.
With Damien at his side, he crossed the silent corridors of their ancestral hall, searching for any mention of the Underworld, any hint of a path that might lead to the dead.
They found it sooner than he expected.
But it was not a spell, not a map.
It was a diary.
Their father's.
The pages were old, the ink faded—but the words were clear.
And they shattered everything Ramien thought he knew.
I, Hanny of the Ashen Line, have sworn to revive the pride of my Line.
Hundreds of years have passed. Our name has been forgotten. Our glory stolen by the Golden Bloodline.
Today marks the beginning of a new era.
My power lies in mastery over all spells. But I do not possess the Tyrant Dragon.
So I have chosen to use my unborn son to finish what I cannot.
Today, I cast the Opposite Reforming Twin spell.
Damien now has a twin.
I shall name him Ramien.
Damien has the Tyrant body and a peaceful Dragon.
So Ramien shall inherit a peaceful body and the Tyrant Dragon.
They are polar opposites and Ramien is a spare.
He will bear the blame for the collapse of the Dragon Empire.
Damien shall be seen as a victim and he shall rebuild what is lost.
The glory of the Ashen Line will return through him.
Today, I will descend into the Underworld to seek Queen Hades.
I will ask her to help Ramien in the future—when he comes to beg for a soul.
The diary slipped from Ramien's fingers.
He lifted his head slowly.
Damien was standing in front of him.
His vision blurred.
If this was true…then he had never been a son.
Only a spell.
A tool.
A sacrifice prepared before he was even born.
His father had known, he had planned everything.
He had been created to fall.
And Damien—
Damien had always been the real heir.
"Ramien… are you alright?" Damien asked gently.
"Is the path to the Underworld that dangerous?"
He had no idea.
Ramien forced himself to swallow the lump in his throat as another memory surfaced.
I'm worried about Damien, his mother had said.
And his father had answered quietly that he had already spoken to Hades about it.
Ramien lowered his gaze back to the diary, picked it up and continued to read.
I have spoken to Queen Hades.
She was not pleased because she does not yet know what unique gifts Fate will grant the twins.
But she has accepted my request.
Today, I will seal Ramien's dragon for ten years.
Not to weaken him, but to grow his conscience, and his guilt.
These two will keep him walking the path I have chosen.
Ramien closed the book slowly.
Behind the final page, the way to the Underworld was written.
The path was there.
Clear and simple.
He had come to ask for Reinna's soul.
But his father had planned for him to beg for Damien's.
There was no escaping it.
Because he did have a conscience.
And he did feel guilt.
With what was written in this diary, the world would one day hate him.
They would blame him for the fall of the Dragon Empire.
And perhaps…
Perhaps they would not be wrong.
If not for Xyldrak, the Dragon King would not have come to his death.
The Princess would not have died.
The academy would not have collapsed.
This was all his fault.
A broken laugh escaped his lips, thin and bitter, as tears blurred his vision.
Without a word to Damien,
Ramien turned away
and began to search for the artifacts he would need.
And surely, later in the evening, he found them.
They had already been prepared.
Laid out with cruel precision by the hands of his own father.
The Coin of Passing.
The Lantern of Bound Souls.
The Blood Sigil of Hades.
The Veil-Parting Incantation.
The Life-Exchange Oath.
And the Gate-Sealing Reversal spell.
Ramien stood in silence, breath shallow, eyes fixed on the relics.
The father he had loved.
The father who had loved him in return.
Had planned the ruin of his life long before he was ever born.
Without realizing it, he gathered the artifacts with numb hands and returned to where Damien waited.
That was when Xyldrak's voice came again.
"I told you she would be useful to you."
Ramien paused.
"What do you mean?"
"If you had revived her back then, you would never have found any of this out," Xyldrak said calmly.
A chill ran through him.
"Wait…" Ramien whispered. "Did you know about all this?"
"Where do you think I was for the first ten years of your life?"
Ramien was about to answer when Damien suddenly turned.
"Ramien. There's someone here."
They moved to the gates of the castle just as a red blur of light sped through the air.
It stopped a few steps before them.
Victor.
"Victor!" Ramien's eyes lit up as he ran forward and pulled him into a sudden embrace, unaware of the fate hanging between them.
"Thank goodness you're alive. What of Ace and Alpha—did they… did they make it?"
"They're recuperating," Victor replied.
Ramien exhaled in relief. "That's a relief. How did you know where I was?"
Victor searched his pockets as he answered casually, "You disappeared after the battle. Where else could you be?"
He glanced up. "How have you been these past few weeks?"
Ramien gave a faint, hollow smile.
"I just realized… I was barely living at all."
He gestured toward the castle.
"Come inside."
And without knowing it, he welcomed his hunter into his home.
Victor's face tightened for a brief second.
The sight of Damien standing there struck him harder than he expected.
He had watched this boy die.
Yet the message had said Ramien possessed necromancy.
So he forced his expression into calm confusion.
"How… is Damien alive?" he asked.
"Well," Ramien replied quietly, "I possess the powers of necromancy. I revived him."
Victor nodded slowly, as though accepting an answer he had already feared.
His eyes drifted to the artifacts laid out across the hall.
Ancient but not forbidden.
He tilted his head.
"Are you planning to go to the Underworld?"
"It seems," Ramien said softly, "that going there was part of my fate all along."
Victor hesitated, then reached into his cloak.
"I brought something for you."
He placed a small relic into Ramien's palm.
"What's this?" Ramien asked.
"A relic of my Coven. The Heart Calming Pendant," Victor explained.
"I thought… you might need it more than any of us."
Ramien's eyes softened.
He placed it around his neck at once.
"Thank you. I'll treasure it."
Victor nodded.
How can you be a general if you cannot control your heart?
We will give you exactly one day to tell him you are going to betray him.
A faint sound snapped him out of his thoughts.
His expression hardened.
"Ramien…" he began, then stopped.
"What would you do," Victor asked slowly, "if the whole world came after you?"
"The world?" Ramien frowned slightly.
"Yes."
"In that case… would I have any help?"
Victor shook his head.
"Then," Ramien sighed, "I would simply… accept it."
Victor stared at him.
"You wouldn't try to escape?"
"No," Ramien said quietly. "Escaping is not an option for me."
Then he looked up.
"But I need your help with one last thing."
"If it is within my power," Victor said, "I'll help you."
"Help me guard the tear until I return from the Underworld."
Victor's brows creased.
"You know time flows differently there," he said.
"A few days for you could be months… even years here."
"I know," Ramien replied.
"I promise I won't stay long."
Victor said nothing.
Because he already knew.
Ramien was asking him to guard the very place where he would soon lead an army.
They waited until the clock struck midnight.
Not a word was spoken.
Victor stood in silence as Ramien began the ritual.
The Blood Sigil of Hades burned into his palm, searing flesh and soul alike.
Ramien placed the Coin of Passing beneath his tongue.
He lifted the Lantern of Bound Souls.
And whispered the Veil Parting Incantation.
The air trembled.
Darkness folded inward.
Before stepping forward, Ramien looked back once.
He met Victor's eyes.
A single nod.
Victor returned it.
Then Ramien turned to Damien, gave him a faint, unreadable smile—
and walked into the opening of the Underworld.
The rift closed behind him and Victor exhaled slowly.
He turned to Damien.
"Find somewhere hidden. Somewhere safe."
Without a word, Damien obeyed.
Only then did Victor leave the castle.
Beyond the forest, the warriors of the Southeast Coven lay in wait.
"You are back, General," the second-in-command said, bowing slightly.
"We await your orders."
"He has entered the Underworld," Victor said flatly.
"We wait until he returns."
"The Underworld?" the third-in-command frowned.
"Why would you allow that?"
"That is none of your concern," Victor replied coldly.
"The point is—we have him.
Once he returns, he will be at our mercy."
He turned away.
But he did not miss the whispers behind him.
"Hmph," the second murmured. "He really is useless."
"Yes," the third replied quietly, then paused… and smiled.
"And if he helps the bounty escape…"
He chuckled softly.
"That will end his chances of ever becoming War General."
"No one," he finished, "will stand in our way."