The dawn over the Solstice Citadel was a faint gray shimmer veiled by drifting clouds, thick with the scent of ash and steel. Training grounds echoed with the clash of blades, Aether bursts, and the barks of instructors. In the lower courtyard, Kai, Lysander, and Rhea stood before the towering mission board, its surface littered with scrolls and wax-sealed directives from across the fractured world.
Kai, now with a confident aura and a calmness that belied the storm within him, stared at a specific mission that bore a red crescent seal—a high-risk scouting assignment to the Blightlands.
Rhea's eyes narrowed. "This isn't a normal scouting mission. The Blightlands are unstable… riddled with Hollow Aether."
Lysander crossed his arms, his katana humming lightly against his hip. "Exactly why we should be the ones to go. We've all faced worse."
Kai smirked. "Besides, we need real-world experience. I'm tired of beating training dummies."
Rhea gave him a hard glance. "Those 'training dummies' nearly killed you twice, genius."
Still, after a brief silence, she snatched the scroll off the board.
"Fine," she said. "We leave at dusk."
---
Later that night, under a pale moon, the trio traversed the scarred lands east of the Citadel. The trees here had long since rotted into twisted, skeletal things, and the soil pulsed with corrupted veins of Hollow Aether.
The Blightlands were once part of the Eclipse Sanctuary—a sacred region that shattered during the Fracture War. Now, it was a cursed zone where reality itself felt thin.
As the group descended into a crevice lit by eerie blue fungus, Lysander stopped and unsheathed his blade.
"Feel that?" he muttered.
Kai's hand went instinctively to his sword. "Yeah… like we're being watched."
Rhea stepped forward and placed a hand on the ground. Her eyes flashed with violet Aether. "Multiple presences. Fast-moving. Not human."
Suddenly, shrieks echoed from the cliffs as Blightborns—creatures birthed from Hollow Aether and failed experiments—poured down from the walls, their limbs jagged and twisted, eyes glowing with sick green light.
Kai drew his blade, Raw Aether flickering red along the edge. "About time we had some fun."
The battle erupted.
Rhea was a blur of graceful strikes, her Aether forming elegant ribbons of light that carved through the enemy. Lysander's katana howled with pure Aether as he moved like a storm, every slash clean and decisive. Kai moved differently—less refined, more instinctive—but his attacks were raw power, each swing sending shockwaves through the enemy lines.
Midway through the fight, a towering Blightborn emerged—twice the size of the others, plated in bone armor, with a face that resembled a cracked porcelain mask.
"That one's special," Rhea said. "It's been infused… maybe even trained."
The creature raised a malformed staff and slammed it into the ground. Aether pulsed outward like a quake, knocking all three Eclipsers back.
Lysander hit the stone wall hard and winced. "Alright, time to get serious."
Kai stepped forward, blood trailing down his lip but eyes burning. "You take left. I'll take center. Rhea?"
"I've got the brain."
They charged.
As the trio engaged the beast, the fight turned almost artistic—each member syncing perfectly, blending their talents. Rhea distracted with precision strikes, Lysander severed its limbs, and Kai—his Raw Aether flaring into the air like a phoenix's wings—delivered a brutal, final blow that split the monster in half.
Panting, bruised, and bleeding, the trio stood amid the silence.
Kai fell to one knee, gripping his chest. "I'm fine," he said before Rhea could scold him. "Just… tired."
She didn't respond with a lecture. Instead, she kneeled beside him and gave a rare smile.
"You're improving."
Lysander chuckled. "We might survive your recklessness yet, Sol."
Just as they caught their breath, a distant hum rippled through the air.
Rhea's face hardened. "That's not Blightborn."
From the ridge above, a figure emerged. Cloaked in wind and bearing the mark of a crescent moon on his back, he hovered slightly above the ground.
"Kai Sol," the figure said, voice echoing unnaturally. "You've been summoned."
Kai narrowed his eyes. "By who?"
The figure's cloak flared, revealing the sigil of the Eclipse Syndicate—and Jin Loeui, the Number 2 of the World 5.
"You have attracted… interest."
The figure vanished in a blink, leaving only the burning imprint of the sigil in the air.
Rhea looked at the symbol and cursed. "We're not just fighting corrupted beasts anymore."
Lysander nodded grimly. "Now the giants are watching."
Kai stood, wiping blood from his chin, his eyes locked on the sigil.
"Let them watch."