The stillness after the battle was haunting. Shattered fragments of The Imitator littered the obsidian floor, flickering with residual energy. The oppressive weight that had blanketed the chamber now lifted… but it wasn't relief that filled Noct's heart.
It was grief.
Grief that they'd come so far, nearly broken.
Grief that he'd almost lost Ellen and Mia.
Grief that he couldn't even recall what he'd left behind before all this.
He stepped forward.
In the crater where The Imitator had been defeated… something pulsed.
A black sword, jagged at the hilt and sheathed in a metal cocoon, hovered above a faint, glowing seal inscribed in forgotten runes.
It's alive, Noct thought. Not literally. But in a way only his instincts could understand.
Mia's eyes narrowed. "That's no ordinary weapon."
"No," Ellen whispered. "It was sealed."
The moment Noct reached for it, the runes snapped open like a mouth breathing in.
His fingers brushed the hilt—
—and a tidal wave of grief surged through him.
Not from the sword.
From himself.
Every moment of pain, confusion, loss, failure. Every cut he took for others. Every breath taken while feeling hollow. The sword devoured it. Drank it.
And then… it pulsed with power.
It reshaped.
The black sword duplicated—splitting cleanly into two identical blades, one slightly shimmering with faint grief auras.
Twice – The Sword of Grief
"A weapon that mirrors its wielder's sorrow. For each pain endured, a blade is born stronger. To wield it is to suffer—and to become stronger because of it."
Passive: Every strike imbues an echo of pain into the target, weakening mental and magical defenses.
Main Ability – Echo Replication: The sword creates new copies each time the user suffers emotional or physical grief. Each copy is stronger than the last.
Override Cycle: The strongest surviving copy replaces the original, inheriting all traits while keeping its form.
Adaptive Grief Counter: Against stronger foes, it creates grief-forged copies with tailored counters to enemy abilities.
Soul-Bound: Can be summoned from anywhere. Bound to Noct until the end of his life.
"What breaks you, remakes me."
Ellen stared. "Noct…"
Mia looked shaken. "What kind of sword is that?"
Noct tightened his grip. Not just a weapon. A part of him now.
"It's mine," he whispered. "And I think… it always was."
>Meanwhile…Somewhere Beyond the World
In a cold, sterile sanctuary carved into the bones of a fallen Nexus, Seraphon stood before a vast wall of floating data streams.
Holograms of various Venators flickered: S-rankers, guild leaders, rogue prodigies. Across each display, there were annotations, ather-type readings, tactical profiles.
Selene's face stood out—analyzed, dissected, highlighted in crimson.
Behind her, the data stream played a replay of her executing Starlight Judgment End—her Stellar Swords raining down like divine meteors. The devastation left in her wake spoke for itself.
"Promising," Seraphon mused. "Her weapon will be a priority for eventual reclamation."
Beside her file were others: A few unnamed Venators with unknown tablets.
But Noct's panel?
It was black.
Across the screen was a single stamp:
> [Status: DECEASED]
[Data: Incomplete. Tablet Ability: Unknown.]
Seraphon barely blinked. "Statistical ghosts."
Behind him, a figure approached—walking as if the walls themselves breathed around her.
Revya Tal.
"The Singularity Saint."
Her voice was calm, melodic. "Another raid was intercepted. A guardian lost."
"The Red nexus," Seraphon replied without emotion.
She tilted her head. "Should I recover the remnants?"
Seraphon turned to her, the lights casting his silhouette like that of a pale specter.
"No. Let them climb. Let the errors believe they've triumphed. Their grief will deepen the well."
He raised his hand—and a new simulation loaded:
"Project Obelisk."
A false world built to test… then erase.
"They still think the world is theirs," Seraphon whispered. "Let them believe. Until evolution breaks their spine."
>Back in the Labyrinth
The team sat in silence around a crackling flame built from shattered monster shells and scraps of glowing moss.
Mia leaned on Noct's shoulder—just a little.
Ellen cleaned her blade, silent.
Noct turned Twice in his hands, watching one copy melt into another as his thoughts stirred.
"We're going to get stronger," he said. "Not just to survive…"
"…but to change everything."
Ellen looked up. "Even if the world fights back?"
Mia smiled faintly. "Let it try."
And in the distant dark, something stirred above them—a path leading upward… to the next floor.
To the next war.