2023-07-29 00:35:27
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4-40
The ruined street stretched before them like a battlefield carved from molten glass, illuminated by the distant glow of burning buildings and shards of fractured streetlamps buzzing weakly with dying electricity. The city still trembled under the aftershock of Noir’s meteor storm, and every echo of collapsing metal rang like a warning bell that refused to be silenced. But the greatest tension did not come from the destruction around them. It came from the two figures standing in the very center of the street, facing each other with expressions caught somewhere between dread and inevitability.Andrew stood with both feet planted firmly despite his trembling knees, his breathing rapid yet determined as faint traces of Sapphire Reborn shimmered unwillingly beneath his skin. Noir stood nearly ten meters away, his posture hunched but dangerous, shadowfire slithering around his arms like restless serpents seeking anything to burn. They were close enough to see each other’s pain, yet far eno
4-39
Smoke still curled upward from the shattered skyline, rising in thin spirals that looked almost delicate against the ruined concrete. The city below was a bleeding mosaic of collapsed structures and smoldering rooftops, the aftermath of Noir’s near-eruption painted across every ruined silhouette. Even the air felt exhausted, hanging heavy and metallic as if unsure whether the world had just survived disaster or narrowly postponed it.Andrew stood on the fractured rooftop with his knees barely holding steady, every breath burning like frost slicing through his lungs. The remnants of Sapphire Reborn dimmed along his skin in faint blue-white patches, flickering unevenly like a dying constellation. Yuki kept one hand braced against his back to steady him, while Jiro hovered nearby with a strained expression, torn between protecting Andrew and scanning the shadows for lingering threats.Behind them, Noir lay unconscious on a slab of broken cement. Mika and Rayan had dragged him away from t
4-38
The world reassembled violently after the forbidden merging, hurling Andrew and Noir out of the Gate like two mismatched pieces attempting to fuse before the ritual was complete. They crashed into solid ground—real ground this time—hard enough to crack stone and send dust exploding upward. The smell of fire and iron hit Andrew instantly, along with the distant sound of panic echoing through streets he didn’t yet recognize.Mika landed nearby, coughing. “Where the hell did it throw us?”Rayan pushed himself upright. “Somewhere… awful. I can feel the rent price already.”Yuki helped Sahara steady herself as the trembling child whispered, “This realm is not a Gate. This is… a city.”The dust settled.And it was clear.They were on a cliff overlooking a sprawling metropolis below—its buildings sleek and modern, its roads glimmering with neon, its skyline painted with colors that should have signified safety.But the sky above the city was wrong.Very wrong.Black fire bled across the clou
4-37
The chamber dimmed slowly after Noir’s outburst, as though the walls themselves feared provoking him any further. Golden embers receded into cracks along the ceiling, while the shadowed floor pulsed with residual heat from Noir’s flames. Andrew lay unconscious against Noir’s chest, his breaths shallow but steady, though each inhale seemed painfully reluctant, as if his mortal lungs resisted the divine pressure suffocating the air.Miriam—helm removed, braid disheveled, eyes glowing faintly with the peculiar shimmer of her arcane lineage—ran to Andrew’s side immediately. She wasn’t supposed to be here yet. She wasn’t part of this Gate. But Sahara had opened a path, pulling Miriam in from another section of the ritual labyrinth when the instability threatened to kill Andrew outright.Jiro helped steady her. “You made it in one piece. Good. Because we need you.”Miriam knelt beside Noir, trying not to tense as his flames flared instinctively to protect Andrew. “Noir,” she whispered softl
4-36
For a moment, after the constructs crumbled into dust, the chamber stilled.The dual energies—gold and shadow—receded into the walls like retreating tides, leaving the air eerily quiet. Too quiet. A silence so absolute it felt sharpened, like the edge of a blade pressed lightly against the back of every heir’s neck.Andrew leaned against Noir, breath trembling, body still weakened from the prior trials. Noir held him cautiously, not out of fragility but fear—the fear that one wrong grip, one wrong heartbeat, one wrong resonance might harm Andrew through their new bond.“Are you okay?” Noir murmured, his voice low and rough.Andrew nodded slowly. “Yeah… just tired. But I can move.”Noir didn’t let go.Jiro wiped sweat from his brow. “We need to keep moving before Solus tries anything again.”Yuki’s head snapped toward him. “Don’t say that name so casually. The Gate reacts to him.”Rayan pointed nervously at the air. “Uh… speaking of reactions… does anyone else hear that rattling noise?
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The next realm opened like a lung inhaling light, drawing the team into a vast chamber suspended between two conflicting realities—one half drenched in searing gold fire, the other drowned in suffocating shadow. The line dividing the halves ran straight through the floor like a scar across creation, pulsing rhythmically with dissonant energies that collided like two hearts beating out of sync.Andrew stepped in first, Noir at his side, the others forming a protective circle around them as they walked cautiously across the unstable surface. Each footstep sent ripples of distorted gravity across the two-toned ground, bending the air like heated glass. The dual energies vibrated heavily, forcing even the strongest among them to grit their teeth against the unnatural pressure.Yuki held Sahara’s hand as the child trembled, her blind eyes glowing in frantic pulses. “The Gate is trying to merge energies,” Sahara whispered shakily. “It’s aligning something… something important… something dan
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