[Scene 1: Present Day – Planet Nexus] The training chamber of the Citadel was a hell of artificial physics. Riha stood at the center of a localized gravity field set to 5.0x Earth Standard. Every breath felt like inhaling liquid lead, and her bones groaned under the invisible pressure.
She wasn't just standing; she was moving. With the Soul-Sucking Staff in hand, she executed a series of strikes taught by the Crystal City scrolls. Her First Chakra (Muladhara) was a burning sun at the base of her spine, radiating heat that allowed her muscles to sustain the impossible load.
"Evolution is a choice," she grunted, sweat stinging her eyes. On Nexus, she was an anomaly—a human girl training to fight like a Shadow Goddess.
[Scene 2: The Diary – Month Three: The Betrayal of Alaric] The Earth Album glows, projecting a memory of a cold, sterile office in the Roy Estate. Alaric, Riha's older brother, is looking at the same financial wreckage Julian saw in the previous month.
Riha (Voiceover): "Direction Two: Family. Alaric didn't sell me because he was poor; he sold me because he was weak. He wanted a seat at Julian's table. I decided to show him that the table was built on a trapdoor."
Action: In the video, Riha appears behind Alaric. She doesn't use the staff. She uses a Mental Weapon obtained from the Antarctica ruins: The Mirror of Regret.
As Alaric turns, he doesn't see his sister. He sees a shadow version of himself, rotting from the inside out. Riha whispers a command, and the mirror's energy infects his mind.
Riha (In the memory): "You thought you were a kingmaker, Alaric. But kings don't sell their blood. Only cowards do."
[Scene 3: The Hallucination] Alaric collapses, his eyes rolling back. In his mind, he is back at the auction, but this time, he is the one being sold. He feels the cold chains, the leering eyes of the buyers, and the absolute powerlessness he forced onto Riha. This is his new reality—a permanent mental loop of the trauma he caused.
[Scene 4: The Treasure Acquisition] While Alaric is trapped in his mind, Riha walks to the family vault. She uses her Void Ring to absorb every historical scroll and ancestral heirloom the Roy family owned.
"I am the only one left who deserves this legacy," she says, her voice cold. Before she teleports away, she leaves a single white flower on Alaric's desk—the same kind she placed on their parents' grave.
[Scene 5: Present Day – Planet Nexus] Riha deactivates the gravity field. The sudden lightness makes her feel like she could fly. She looks at her Sovereign's Spine staff; it has grown darker, its thirst for blood seemingly satisfied by her progress.
"The second bind is complete," she whispers.