Arlen stepped back, fingers trembling around the hilt.

  Aura froze mid-flight, disbelief carved into her face. —the boy who ripped off his own arm without blinking, who charged through death like it was a puddle—was hesitating.

  Nyx didn’t even look at him anymore.

  Her silence was louder than any accusation.

  Her broken trust hung in the air like smoke.

  Arlen’s breath hitched.

  His mind screamed one thing—.

  But his heart, the last stubborn shard of humanity left inside him, was roaring the opposite.

  Just one strike.

  One clean strike and the goddess of nature would fall.

  No more eyes watching him from every forest.

  Another sacred relic unlocked.

  Another god removed from his path.

  Just. One. Swing.

  And yet—

  His hands refused to move.

  Dryas lay curled over the paralysed animals, shielding them with her own body—no hatred, no arrogance, no mockery.

  Just… protection.

  The same kind he once reached for on that day before angels tore everything away.

  His grip tightened. His chest burned. His mind spiralled.

  If I kill someone protecting life…

  If I kill someone who looks nothing like Chronos…

  With a sharp exhale, he made his choice.

  Arlen let Soul Eater fall to his side.

  With his other hand, he pulled out Oath Binder—the collar of absolute submission.

  A heartbeat of focus.

  A whisper of power.

  The collar snapped around Dryas’s neck.

  She gasped as divine light constricted her movements—but instead of screaming, pleading, or cursing…

  …she smiled

  A soft, motherly, unbearably gentle smile.

  “You still have a human heart,” she whispered, struggling against the enchantment. “Good. I worried that it was long lost.”

  The words hit him like a hammer.

  He flinched and turned away instantly, unable to look into her eyes.

  “Nyx. Aura.”

  His voice was low, strained, almost ashamed.

  “We’re done here.

  We’re taking her with us.”

  They returned to Cornea’s castle in silence.

  Dryas walked behind them, bound by the Oath Binder’s invisible chains, yet her expression wasn’t fearful—it was calm, almost sorrowful.

  But Cornea… Cornea was a storm waiting to crack open.

  The moment they stepped into her throne hall, her smile vanished.

  Her obsidian aura darkened the entire room.

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  “What happened, self-proclaimed God Slayer

  “You hesitate before a kill… and yet you dare declare you’ll slaughter the heavens?”

  Her tone wasn’t mockery.

  It was judgment.

  Arlen lowered his gaze.

  For the first time since his resurrection, shame burned deeper than any wound.

  Cornea stepped closer, heels echoing like execution bells.

  “So tell me,” she hissed, “what will you do with her? Keep her like some ? Display her like a trophy in the underworld? You dared to show your face after bringing a goddess in MY Underworld?”

  Her wrath seeped like smoke, suffocating him.

  Arlen finally forced words out.

  “I… I’ll kill all the gods. That hasn’t changed.”

  His voice cracked.

  “But I won’t kill her now. And yes— I hesitated. I’m confused. I don’t know why. I don’t even know what’s missing inside me, but… something is.”

  The admission tasted like black poison on his tongue.

  For a moment, Cornea’s aura flickered.

  Then she exhaled softly and reached out, her cold fingers brushing his cheek.

  A rare softness — the kind only shown once before in her entire life.

  “I understand.”

  Arlen blinked.

  Cornea’s tone shifted back to regal steel, but the fury was gone.

  “I’ll let you decide what to do with her. But listen well, Arlen.”

  Her eyes narrowed, burning with a warning only a demon queen could give.

  “Do not lose your way.

  If you fall, everything I’ve placed my trust in will fall with you.”

  She turned away, cape sweeping like a curtain of night.

  “I will not allow a goddess to remain in my underworld.

  If you need time, take it — outside.”

  Her command cut through the hall:

  “Leave tomorrow before dawn.

  Travel the human world.

  Study your enemies.

  Learn which god controls which land.

  Grow stronger.

  Learn what your heart is trying to tell you.”

  She didn’t look back.

  “And do not return to me,” she finished, “until you can face me with clarity… and answer my question properly.”

  Arlen lowered his head.

  “Understood.”

  It was unusual for him to bow to , especially an immortal.

  But for him, Cornea wasn’t just the demon queen anymore.

  She was the one being who understood him deeper than even he understood himself.

  Arlen stepped out of Cornea’s room with a heavy breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.

  There was one thing left undone.

  One thing he .

  He walked through the obsidian halls of the underworld until he reached a familiar door — Nyx’s.

  It was deep in the night.

  He knocked.

  The door opened… but Nyx didn’t even at him.

  Her eyes were fixed somewhere far beyond the window, swallowed by darkness.

  Her voice came out cold, brittle.

  “…What do you want? Another order?”

  A small pause.

  “Or do you want to force that damn Oath Binder on me again?”

  There was no venom.

  No anger.

  Just exhaustion.

  Arlen swallowed hard.

  “I… I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

  Nyx didn’t react.

  Didn’t blink.

  “You helped me get stronger,” he continued.

  “You healed me after Solon’s trial… protected me… and I didn’t care. I didn’t even at you before trying to enslave you. I didn’t realize how wrong I was until today.”

  Silence.

  “But I’m confused,” he admitted. “Are all gods my enemy? Am I losing my resolve? Am I becoming like Chronos? I don’t have answers. So… I’m leaving the underworld to find them.”

  His voice dropped to almost a whisper.

  “…I don’t know when I’ll return. But if… if you can forgive me by then… maybe we can train together again. Like comrades. Like friends.”

  He turned to leave.

  But something tugged on his sleeve.

  He froze.

  Nyx was looking up at him — finally — tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes, her lips trembling with a rare vulnerability.

  “Don’t… flatter yourself,” she muttered, though her voice cracked.

  “I’m still angry you used that relic on me. But…”

  She clenched the fabric tighter.

  “…you beat me fair and square. And… I’ll forgive you if you promise to come back soon. We can’t make our queen wait forever.”

  Arlen let out a breath , a breadth of relief and nodded softly.

  “I promise. And when I return, I’ll apologize properly to Grom and Aura as well.”

  Next morning, before dawn…

  He left the underworld without saying goodbye to Cornea — he didn’t trust himself to face her again yet.

  Dryas waited, still wearing the Oath Binder collar at her throat.

  Arlen’s tone was ice-cold, controlled.

  “Let’s go.”

  Dryas stepped beside him gently.

  “You’re coming with me on my journey,” he said. “And when it ends, I’ll decide whether you live… or die.”

  Dryas didn’t flinch.

  Didn’t glare.

  Didn’t curse him.

  She simply smiled softly, eyes full of something painfully gentle.

  “…I hope,” she whispered, “that on this journey, we come to understand one another.”

  And together — the God Slayer and the Goddess of Nature — they vanished into the waking world.