When the boys returned to the Sylvan Heaven Hotel, they found it mostly intact. Aside from the outer fence being knocked down, there wasn’t much real damage.

  The owner, a tall elf woman with golden hair flowing to her ankles, was working with a few staff members as they cleaned up the remaining mess in front of the building. She smiled, gave a small nod, and went back to directing repairs.

  The boys nodded politely in return and headed upstairs to their room.

  Acher hopped onto the table and eyed the bone shard with open interest. “Hmm… bone of an archdemon. This is actually worth something. Don’t just stand there, use the cloak and seal it.”

  Luther nodded and spread his wings. Dark feathers drifted down one by one, settling over the bone shard. They spread into twisting black markings that crawled across its surface, smothering the faint sable glow until it all faded.

  Aaron had been holding himself back the entire way, but now he couldn’t anymore.

  “So, what was that back there?” he blurted out. “On your chest, that was an Ascended Moon, right? I saw it before, when I was trapped in Thymos.”

  Luther froze for a second. He glanced at Acher, bit his lips then began to tell Aaron everything:

  “Uh… well… about it, that Halloween night…”

  Acher didn’t interrupt. He just observed Aaron the whole time, sharp eyes studying every small shift in his expression.

  “…and after that, with the Amber One’s help,” Luther said, “I completed my Moon Ascension.”

  He threw a nervous glance toward the brown-haired boy. His chest felt so tight that he forgot to breathe, while his heart pounded like frantic drums inside his ribs.

  Aaron released a long, drawn-out sigh.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. Don’t be mad,” Luther murmured.

  His face had lost some of its color, anxiety weighing on every word, and the wings on his back drooped as well.

  “Why are you even apologizing? Don’t be stupid. Do you realize you’ve already saved me twice?” Aaron reached out and ruffled Luther’s hair like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “Huh?” Luther blinked, caught off guard.

  “I could only figure out where Orpheus’s heart was hidden because of your Moon Ascension. How am I supposed to repay you?” Aaron let out a long, dramatic sigh.

  “Drink lemonade three times a day?” Luther asked, trying to take advantage of the situation.

  “Absolutely not!! Are you trying to burn a hole in your stomach or what??!”

  Luther pouted. “Then study at least three hours a day. Starting tomorrow.”

  “Hey! We’re on vacation, remember? I’m not serving a prison sentence!!”

  Acher snorted.

  This boy… no greed, no envy. Meeting him might be one of the best strokes of luck Luther ever had. Let’s hope he stays this way.

  Out loud, he said, “And you three little ones, get over here and sign the slave, I mean, the secrecy contract.”

  “Squeak squeak!!”

  The pumpkins bounced forward, proudly showing a glowing contract appearing in front of them.

  Luther shook his head. “There’s no need.”

  “Don’t be naive,” Acher said. “This will protect them from mind probes and forced interrogation. And the bond also gives them huge benefits. Every time you advance, they’ll receive feedback power through the contract. “For them, this is practically the luckiest thing imaginable. Many, many people would kill to become your followers so early on.”

  Hearing that, Luther adjusted the contract a little bit before signing it.

  “Luther is so cool!” Jack-O shouted, jumping straight onto his head.

  “You might be the first creature in history to ride on the head of an Ascended One,” Acher gave him a side glance.

  “I’m cool too!” Jack-O said, even more excited.

  Squashy and Pompo immediately joined in, hopping onto Luther as well until he looked like a walking pumpkin stand.

  Aaron watched them, then let out a quiet breath, his expression turning serious.

  “What’s wrong?” Luther asked.

  “I just… I feel useless. You’ve saved me many times already,” Aaron said, his voice low. “And, oh the Flow! It means you’re Lord of Thymos now, and you’re even a living Ascended One!!!”

  Luther shook his head. “I just got lucky. You are a Sunkindler. That’s super cool too. We’re always going to be best brothers.”

  “Yes, you’ll always be my best brother, my little Ascended One, my precious moonlight, guiding me through this lifetime~~~” Aaron said, stretching out his words in a playful and cheesy tone.

  “Stop. That’s so cringe!” Luther’s face went bright red as goosebumps ran down his arms.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Hahahahahaha.” Aaron burst out laughing.

  Acher narrowed his eyes at the two of them. I’ve never seen this kind of ‘brotherhood’ before… actually, no, I’ve seen it plenty of times. People just don’t call it brotherhood.

  “The longer one lives, the more I realize that feelings are the most precious thing in existence. Whether it’s love or hatred, joy or sorrow, generosity or selfishness, each has its own unique flavor that cannot be replaced,” the words of that one echoed in his mind.

  “You two forgot something, didn’t you?” Acher reminded.

  “What is it?”

  “The reward, fools!”

  “Oh, right! Hooray!”

  For completing this task, they received a total of fifty-three purewhite etherstones and a seed shaped like a droplet of water. It was green, about the size of a thumb, and resembled a sunflower seed.

  “Huh? Isn’t this the…” Aaron recognized it at once, “…Gift of Peace??!!”

  “This is…” Acher frowned. “… a moonflower seed. I can sense an extraordinarily strong and unpredictable life force pulsing inside it. Strange, why would the Flow give out something like this as a reward?”

  “What’s a moonflower?” Luther asked.

  “It’s a kind of plant that only grows in the layers of Hell where Ascended Ones exist. And, like sunflowers, they always turn their faces toward the moonlight.”

  Aaron pulled up some information on the Ethernet and began to explain:

  “Oh, when it blooms, it really does look beautiful. And its meaning is something like ‘an unrequited love’ and ‘a longing so deep it lingers through endless nights.’ Eww, that sounds so cheesy!”

  “I’ll try planting it in my garden,” Luther replied, his face brightening at once. He liked anything that could be planted.

  Aaron’s focus drifted back to the original subject. “Wait, but if your ancestor was an Ascended One and disappeared nine thousand years ago, then it means he is...”

  Luther said:

  “Lord of the Cerulean Moon.”

  Acher raised his brow. He asked:

  “You already knew? Since when?”

  “After we came back from Mariana Market. I looked it up online,” Luther admitted.

  “Why didn’t you just ask?” Acher asked again.

  “Waiting for you to tell me yourself,” Luther answered.

  He was afraid of hurting Acher’s feelings. Aaron blinked.

  “Lord of the Cerulean Moon! One of the great Ascended Ones of the Abyss! And he was…” he exclaimed, “… the embodiment of gentle death, Thana…”

  “Don’t say that name out loud!” Acher cut him off with a sharp shout.

  “Ah, I’m sorry! I totally forgot we shouldn’t call out the true names of beings at that level.” Aaron smiled in embarrassment. “I still can’t believe you’re his descendant, Luther. That’s seriously amazing! Because of Serenity, he was honored as one of the greatest divine beings in the entire history of the cosmos.”

  “Any of you kids got questions?” Acher asked, glancing around.

  “So… wait, he’s dead? I thought divine beings were basically immortal. And he was the Death himself; if he died, wouldn’t death disappear too?” Aaron asked.

  “No, he’s not dead,” Acher said with a sigh. “But the Will of Ascension made him merge with the Flow for eternity. He became an unchanging, eternal law of existence, the judgment upon the tyrants. At the same time, he lost all sense of self. That’s not much different from dying.”

  “Why did he do it?” Luther asked in a low voice.

  Acher gave a faint laugh, tinged with mockery and bitterness.

  “That kid always tried to act cold and aloof, but deep down, he cared so much for the lesser creatures. He even tried to ease their pain at the moment of death, which is how he ended up with the title of embodiment of painless death. Idiot, death is death, what difference does it make?”

  He let out a soft sigh before continuing:

  “During the entire Era of Weeping, too many living beings were dragged into endless wars. Countless sorrowful souls flooded the Flow with their cries.”

  “Even after Minos headed to Longing Sea and was reincarnated twice more as Rhadamanthus and Aeacus, and later gathered the three forms into one, becoming the Amber One, to sort and stabilize the weight of sin, the Flow only remained steady for a while. Eventually, signs of another catastrophic Tide of Sin began to surface.”

  “As the embodiment of death, that boy couldn’t stay untouched by it. The grief, the rage, the endless dying, it seeped into him. Little by little, he became more restless, more irritable, more impulsive. He could feel himself changing. He didn’t want to lose who he was, and he also didn’t want the mortal creatures to keep suffering either, so he chose to carry out the Will of Ascension. That’s really all there was to it.”

  “The Cerulean One really was something else,” Aaron said, full of respect. “It’s kind of ironic, isn’t it? Death himself ended up being the one who saved the cosmos from the madness of those who were meant to rule it.”

  “That’s enough for tonight. Go to sleep,” Acher said.

  The raven fluttered over to the pumpkin trio’s bed, tucked his head under his wing, and fell asleep almost right away, didn’t even scroll on his phone like he usually did.

  “Is he upset? It’s my fault. I kept asking questions I probably shouldn’t have.” Guilt was written all over Aaron’s face.

  “It’s okay. Sometimes saying things out loud makes it easier,” Luther said. “Tomorrow we’ll put on some cartoons for him, take him out for good food. He’ll feel better.”

  Acher:

  “…”

  “Sleep. Now!!!” he snapped.

  “Okayyy!!!”

  That night, Luther drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep. He held on tightly to Aaron, cheek pressed against his chest. His brows were smooth, the corners of his lips slightly curved, like he was having a soft, gentle dream.

  Outside the window, the moon carried the faintest hint of blue.

  …

  The Realm of the Delusionals

  Inside a grand cathedral, a half-spider young man and a priestess in black robes stood among rows of turkey-headed devotees praying in silence, blending in as if they belonged there.

  Up on the pulpit, a toddler wearing nothing but a diaper spread his shark fins wide and delivered a passionate sermon.

  “What a joke. Completely fucking pathetic,” Carlios cursed. “So this is all the Eclipse Cult amounts to, huh?”

  The priestess ignored his mock and whispered to herself: “Power of Death and light? How could it be such a coincidence? Sable Moon above… maybe it’s not what it looks like. Maybe…”

  “Maybe what?” the spider youth cut in sharply. “Stop playing dumb and hand over what you promised in the name of the Flow.”

  “We keep our promises.”

  She tossed Carlios a small chest. He caught it, opened it carefully, and inspected its contents. After a long moment, he let out a slow breath, a mix of relief and sadness. More than a third of his tribe had fallen in this battle, but this was not the time to grieve. With this, the remaining members of his tribe could survive a few more centuries. Maybe, just maybe, one day a Grand Being would rise from their bloodline. And perhaps then, they would finally secure even the smallest foothold in this cursed realm.

  “Being born in this damned place is nothing but punishment,” he said. “Those lowly creatures in the Origin get to feast and celebrate, while my tribe can be wiped out by some random Grand nightmare at any time. Fate is disgustingly unfair.”

  “Fate sometimes may be cruel,” the priestess replied calmly, “but it is like that to everyone.”

  “And there’s one more thing.” Carlios’s gaze slid over her body, shameless and unapologetic. “You didn’t forget, did you?”

  “I never agreed to that,” she said.

  “Agreed?” He laughed. “Do I look like I’m asking for your agreement? Nicolas is dead. You really think you still have a choice?”

  Several worshipers nearby turned their heads toward her. Their bodies began to twist and contort, feathers tearing apart as grotesque spider limbs burst through flesh. One by one, they transformed into longnight spiders.

  The priestess didn’t even look at them. Instead, she lowered her head and began to pray.

  “My Lady… I have sinned.”

  A tear slipped down her cheek, then she made her choice.

  A faint gray spread across her skin, creeping over her body and even staining her black robes. The color drained into pale white. Her flesh began to crumble, not from an outside force, but from within. Her body was dissolving and turning into ash. She was killing herself.

  Carlios's eyes went wide. “No! You fool, stop!!!”

  He lunged forward, but his hands grasped nothing but drifting ash. The last traces of her scattered into the air, carried away by an unseen wind.