The moment I touched Duke’s shoulder again—the world shifted. I was pulled back into his memories once more.But this time… the scene was different.The capital was alive.Humans and merfolk moved together through the bustling marketplace. Vendors shouted from their stalls, their voices rising over one another as customers bargained loudly. The air was filled with movement, noise, and life.Mermaids with shimmering tails glided along specially carved water channels, trading goods with human merchants as if this coexistence had always existed.For a moment… it felt real.The Peace.Then suddenly…a knight in a silver chestplate rushed toward me, waving his hand urgently.“Commander! His Majesty has summoned you!”He stopped right in front of me and stood straight, his breath slightly uneven from the rush.Commander?Me?Confusion flickered through my mind. Before I could react, a familiar voice came from behind.“Oh? Then let’s not keep His Majesty waiting.”I turned quickly. Duke stood

The memory shattered. And the world snapped back as Naturia returned. Night had fallen. The forest lay bathed in silver under the moonlight, like a crowned green expanse resting beneath the sky.I was still sitting in front of Duke.Neither of us spoke.Our eyes remained locked on each other as if words had abandoned us. The silence stretched long…heavy…until even breathing felt like an effort.Then finally—A sharp breath escaped my throat.“You were betrayed by your own brother… and your own people…”My voice trembled slightly.“Then why did you say… it was your fault?”Duke didn’t answer immediately. A faint smile formed on his lips. But it wasn’t a happy one.“Dargon…” he began slowly,“…was never as strong as me.”His gaze drifted upward.“But he was never rotten.&rdquo

Inside the habitat, around the time the skirmish report reached the palace“So… I heard you mention something called Negative Helis.”I stepped in with a sharp right chop aimed at Duke’s neck.He answered instantly.A right hook came slicing toward my face.Helis Step.My body vanished.The afterimage of Helis shattered as his punch passed straight through it as I reappeared above him mid-air, my arm already descending toward his neck.“What’s that about, Duke?”He didn’t panic.Instead, he used the momentum of his missed hook—twisting his body, stepping forward, and catching my wrist mid-swing. His hips rotated sharply as the world flipped in my eyes.I was thrown forward with a clean shoulder throw, my body dragged by the torque of his movement.“Negative Helis…” he shouted, already moving.“…are particles of destruction!”He swept low toward my grounded body.“But Helis and Negative Helis—both belong to the Lost Age!”I pressed my palm into the ground and launched upward, barely do

I focused on the CCP. Inside the screen, a small window appeared on the left side of the trap menu. The window was blank at first, and then it hummed in a green hue as the floor beneath us became visible within it.Duke was standing just in front of the stairs he had descended moments ago, and the same carvings of unknown dialect flickered across that floor—this time glowing green instead of the blue of the throne chamber.“Wow… a video feed…”My ears perked up as my eyes stretched wide. Who would have expected a live feed in a medieval fantasy world of Helis?But this floor was not empty like the throne floor.At the center of the circular chamber, a huge square podium rose from the stone ground. Along the borders of that podium, multiple bundled torches burned with green flames, illuminating the otherwise empty structure. Along the vertical surface of the podium, ancient dialects were carved deep into the stone, glowing faintly as green particles flickered out of them.Duke stepped