They descended.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Levi's 「Fallen Wings」 flickered—shadow stitched with fractured light, each beat strained beneath the weight of two bodies. Mana currents thinned as they fell, the air growing dense and cold, heavy with the scent of stone that had never known lightning.
Never known the sky.
Aria's arms tightened around his neck. Her breath brushed his ear—warm, uneven, real.
They did not speak.
Words felt heavier than gravity.
Below them, the ruins opened like a wound.
Endless chasms split the dark. Obsidian platforms drifted like broken thoughts. Columns rose only to snap midway, their upper halves lost to the abyss.
Levi banked left.
His wings stuttered.
A collapsed hall yawned beneath them—its roof fallen centuries ago, its walls still standing like ancient sentinels that had refused to kneel.
He aimed for it.
They landed hard.
SFX: THUD—
Stone cracked beneath Levi's boots. His knees buckled. The wings unraveled, dissolving into smoke that bled into the dark.
Aria slid from his back. Levi caught himself on the spear as it struck the floor, its tip screeching across stone—
—throwing sparks of shadow.
They were deep now.
Deeper than death.
Deeper than where screams reached.
Deeper than where even the war's echoes dared to linger.
The hall stretched wide and hollow. Dust lay thick as ash, disturbed only by their breaths. Weak mana veins pulsed beneath the cracked floor, casting a dim, ancient glow.
Enough to see.
Enough to breathe.
Aria lowered herself against a fallen pillar. Her wings folded tight, ichor still seeping between feathers that refused to heal.
Levi sat opposite her.
Close enough to reach.
But not yet.
First—
Silence.
Then—
She produced a cracked mana crystal from her belt. Its surface crawled with fractures. She held it out.
Levi took it.
Their fingers brushed.
He crushed it between them.
Violet light spilled free, blooming softly between their palms. Warmth spread—not commanding, not consuming.
Shared.
Not master to Servant.
Just two shadows surviving in the dark.
Aria spoke first.
"My brother…"
Her voice was distant. Fragile.
"He sang with me. In the choir."
Levi listened. The spear rested across his knees, humming faintly.
"He questioned the purges. Like I did."
A pause.
"They purified him first."
Her good eye stared at nothing.
"Burned the doubt out."
"I watched."
Levi's chains stirred.
SFX: CREAK—
Pain lanced through him.
⊳ Protocol Strain: 97%
He forced it down.
Reached out.
His hand closed around hers.
She didn't pull away.
"Your turn," she whispered.
Levi closed his eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Not forced.
Chosen.
"A Knight once," he said quietly.
"Number… seventy-nine, maybe."
"He sang lullabies on quiet nights."
"Old shadow songs. About stars we'll never see."
The spear thrummed.
Runes ignited.
A melody echoed through the hall—soft, fractured, beautiful.
The Knight's voice.
Gentle.
"He died covering a retreat."
"For shadows who didn't deserve it."
Levi swallowed.
"I thanked him."
Aria's fingers tightened around his.
The mana light flickered.
Then—
A distant sound.
SFX: PING—
Faint.
Crystalline.
Administrator signals.
Searching.
Levi tensed.
Instinct screamed.
Scout alone.
Locate threat.
Report.
He stayed seated.
Refused.
The chains ignited.
SFX: SHRRIIIKK—
Pain tore through him—white, blinding. His breath shattered.
Aria squeezed his hand harder.
"Breathe through it."
He did.
The spear whispered.
Clearer now.
Voices spilled forth.
Kargan's gravelled rumble:
Hold the line, boy.
The choir:
Harmony in darkness.
The Knight's lullaby:
Rest now.
Comfort.
Guidance.
They come from above.
Wait.
Deeper paths—east.
Levi opened his eyes.
"The spear…"
Aria nodded.
"It remembers for you."
They rose.
Slowly.
Moved deeper into the hall.
The walls narrowed.
Then—
A mural.
Half-buried beneath dust and time.
Levi brushed it clean.
Figures emerged.
Shadows clad in regal armor. Wings vast and unbroken.
Not blackened.
Not chained.
Banners. Thrones. A unified empire.
One sovereign.
Before the fracture.
Before the ceiling pressed down.
Aria traced the faded lines.
"This was us," she said.
"Once."
Levi stared.
The chains shifted again—
—but softer this time.
The pursuit signals faded.
For now.
They were deeper than death.
Yet the past watched them.
Silent.
Waiting.
The spear sang its lullaby.
And Levi—
For the first time—
Felt the chains loosen.
Just a fraction.
Enough to dream.