Kai looked up at the night sky and smiled inwardly.

It was the perfect temperature to induce relaxation—a good mixture of the cold night air and the moonlight’s warmth. After working tirelessly throughout the day, watching the night sky was almost like its own reward.

His trance was broken when he heard a rough grunt and the sound of the door opening.

"Old Man Danu!" Kai jogged quickly to the rear of the truck, spotting the frail old man already wrestling with a cardboard box nearly the size of his entire torso. "I will handle that. Just head inside and open the garage for me."

"Aiyaa... I may be old, but I’m still as strong as a stud!" the old man argued, though his arms were trembling violently as he placed the cardboard down on the ground. He wanted to rise again, but his back cracked with a loud pop. "Eughh... My back..."

Kai shook his head and helped the old man sit down on the curb.

From how old Danu was, it was heartbreaking for him to work as a courier like this.

It was his idea to partner up with Danu.

After all, being a Supernal made physical labour like this easy. Not to mention, he doesn’t feel sleepy at all, which makes him the perfect person to do the night shift like this. Like a superhuman, Kai took out multiple cardboards at once and placed them inside the storage building.

Danu stood to the side, his thin hand pointed where each cardboard should go.

Even after putting down dozens of cardboards, Kai wasn’t even sweating.

"If only I had a granddaughter," Old Danu rubbed his unkempt beard, smiling at the thought. "I’d certainly encourage her to be with you. Marrying early is a good thing, you know—like I did back in the day."

"I don’t think I’d want to marry your granddaughter even if you have one—since that would mean meeting you often, and that’ll make me grow old faster."

"You brat, I’m eighty-one years old! Do you know how impressive that is?"

"Alright, old man. Whatever you say."

Kai laughed and went ahead to park the truck before clocking out.

It was nearing midnight, and it was Friday, so he had to come home quickly.

"Planning to do something on the weekend?" Old Danu took out a cigarette and lit it up. It had been months since Kai worked with him, and he had always smoked—whenever he had the chance. Surprising for him to live this long.

"Yeah," Kai nodded and drank from the bottle of water. "A date with Bella."

"Right... I forgot you always take good care of your sister."

"Who doesn’t?"

"You know that’s not what I meant. In any case, you have to live life a little," Old Danu placed a hand on Kai’s shoulder, needing to tiptoe a little to do that. "Care for your sister, but go out a little. At least do something for yourself."

"I’ll do that when she recovers," Kai smiled and then bid goodbye.

He needed to reach the last bus.

Normally, he’d take his time going home as he wouldn’t sleep anyway—and being under the night sky is really comforting. But tonight, he has to get home quickly since tonight is the time for him to watch a series with Bella. And she will get grumpy if he doesn’t arrive home before midnight."

Kai took the bus home.

His eyes stayed on the night sky along the entire way.

Once he arrived at his bus stop, he got off, and his eyes instantly caught the familiar food stall on the corner. A glance at his watch made his stomach drop. He was already late. Right now, he was still ten minutes away from his apartment, and midnight was already five more minutes away.

Kai reached for his pocket and saw that he had enough money.

"I’ll buy her snacks," He went to the stall.

At least that way, he would have a genuine excuse for being late.

Kai bought a box of pizza, but as it turns out, he doesn’t have enough to pay. Fortunately, the stall owner waved it off with a tired smile. It was late. He was closing up anyway, so Kai got his discount through sheer luck and someone else’s kindness.

Beaming with a smile, Kai returned to his apartment and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, the door swung open, revealing a familiar face.

Kai stared at Bella, and his mind instantly flashed with every good memory he had ever had since he was aware. That cascade of molten gold that framed her features had always been flawless. Her eyes... Zeus, her eyes... They had regained their clarity.

Hinting that the grim Chapter of their lives was already nearing its ending.

Her skin, pale and a doll, was pleasing to the eye. And when she looked up at him, the frailty in her body vanished. Despite everything that had happened to her, she was still home. She was the one place his heart had ever learned to rest.

Like always, Kai expected her to show him that beautiful smile of hers.

The one she always wore whenever she saw him.

But it didn’t come. Even when he raised the pizza box, the smile didn’t bloom on her lips.

"What’s wrong...?" Kai asked, his smile faltering. "I know that I’m late, but I brought food!"

"What are you doing here?" Bella tilted her head, and her eyes narrowed. Something in her voice made Kai frown. It wasn’t the same as the usual cheerful voice that he had grown far accustomed to hearing. Her voice was now cold and flat. Like something dead. "I said, what are you doing here?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing here?"

"Have you gotten stronger?"

"Stronger...?"

"Where is your wife? Your kids?" Her face contorted grimly. "Where’s the head of that man?"

"Wha—?" Kai’s mouth hung open, not knowing what she was talking about. Not a clue.

But then, his eyes flew wide as strange sensations returned to him like an endless torrent.

Pain detonated through his body—an excruciating, suffocating wave that came from nowhere and everywhere at once. But the worst of it was the extreme pressure in his chest—a terrible fullness that forced his hands to clutch at it.

As though he could keep himself from bursting apart.

Bella then stepped closer, closing the distance until her face hovered an inch away from his.

"It’s not the time for you," Her voice was steel. "Wake up!"

Splash—!

Kai sank downward as the floor had turned into black water. He tried reaching for Bella, for anything that could stop him from being pulled, but his hands couldn’t find anything. He was swallowed by the darkness.

Inside the blackness, he was drowning.

Something kept pulling him downward, and before long, he lost consciousness.

Kai’s eyes flew open, and he sucked in a breath so deep it tore at his lungs. Cold sweat trickled down his face and body as pain lanced through him, snapping his mind into raw awareness. He blinked rapidly; the world swam rapidly into focus.

Stone walls. Awakened Monsters. The open chamber.

He was back.

Still pinned on the wall by the steel-tusked boar. Blood still wet. And the fight is still going.

But the world was fundamentally wrong in his eyes.

Below, water began to seep out from the stone—slowly at first, then faster, spreading across the chamber floor until it lapped below his shins. Mist rose from the water, manifesting from nothing, blanketing everything beneath the knee in a cold, shifting shroud.

This wasn’t the senior’s work.

He doesn’t have this kind of imprint.

Around, the darkness was thicker than it should be, and it moved. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Shadowy forms climbed out of those dark spots.

Nightborns.

Only then did Kai realize reality and the House of Night were merging together. Threats from both sides are now before him, and staring at him with killing intent. Steel-tusked boars and Nightborns were his enemies.

Both sides crowded the chamber, but they didn’t collide.

Even when a steel-tusked boar ran around, it simply phased through the Nightborns.

This can’t be real.

Kai gritted his teeth, desperately believing that the House of Night couldn’t bleed into reality like this. Not so easily. And certainly not so completely. That belief was immediately tested as a Nightborn spread its wings and shot toward him.

As time slowed down, Kai’s pupils dilated as his mind was placed in a struggle.

A war raged in the space between heartbeats—his heart was convincing him that this couldn’t be real, while his mind was screaming that it was. The talon curved toward his face, and Kai’s body chose before he could.

He wrenched himself aside, siding with his mind over his heart.

It happened a fraction of a second before impact, thus, he was a little bit too late.

His cheek was grazed by the talon, and the pain showed that he had made the right decision.

That this was real.

And at that moment, he realized this was the Night Elevation.

Kai grabbed the talon hard, locking the Nightborn in place while his other hand clamped over his own face. "Everyone wants to kill, how is that fair...?" He complained as his face darkened. A small self-pitying chuckle slipped free. "I’ve been constantly threatened with death since the day I was branded a Lesser Angel. Strangers hunt me down just for trying to survive. And now, the Nightborns, too."

Crack—!

He crushed the talon in his grip, and it snapped with a sickening, bone-splintering crack.

The Nightborn shrieked, trashing wildly, but Kai’s hold was unyielding like cold iron.

"Okay." His eyes bled into pools of abyssal black, devoured by the night, as he stared at the enemies before him. Mana erupted from his body in a violent surge. "If you want my life, then come and take it! But don’t think for a second I’ll go down easy!"

Meanwhile, right outside the cave.

The senior strolled at a leisurely pace, fishing his phone from his pocket.

He dialed and pressed it to his ear. It rang, and rang, but no answer.

"What is she doing...? I told her to always pick up." His gaze drifted aside, thoughts clicking into place. Kai had entered the Fire Swamp with someone, with Matilda. "Is she tangled up with that Supernal of Athena?"

Rumble—!

Just then, the ground quaked.

The senior frowned, gaze dropping to the ground—then a thunderous crash echoed from the cave, and his head snapped back. Shock flickered across his face. He quickly sprinted toward the entrance, confusion churning into alarm.

And when he burst back into the chamber, the sight stole the breath straight from his lungs.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

"What...? What is this?"