The gentle movement of the waves betrayed the true nature of the waters. Although the sea was calm, hundreds of horrors stalked its surface, waiting for an opportunity to sink the vessel… and yet, the people remained calm.

  This could be attributed to exhaustion, ignorance of their situation, or simply humanity's adaptation to the horrors of this world, but the truth was, the response was far more fantastical than one could imagine.

  In the eyes of both children and adults, there was only one emotion: hope. Hope for a better day, hope for safety, for a savior.

  That was the terrifying effect that Changing Star could have on people's hearts with a single movement.

  Even miles away, the light of its fire could warm the hearts of observers. Even Saint, with his heart of stone, couldn't help but feel a flicker of longing at that sight. But soon, that feeling was repced by curiosity.

  Transcendent… That human had truly taken a step toward the divine in just over a year. A feeling of inferiority settled in her chest before turning into fury, then calm, and finally joy.

  So, what if she had been surpassed? So, what if she couldn't produce such an effect? ??So, what if she wasn't the one who dispyed the spark her father so desired?

  She would overcome all of that and achieve divinity just as her creator had.

  Her thoughts were cut short when the ship finally stopped two weeks ter. The humans around her shifted restlessly, as if finally awakening from a trance. Outside, groups of uniformed humans were already working at full speed to receive the refugees.

  Without waiting any longer, Saint, who had been hiding among the shadows, disappeared, venturing deeper and deeper into the continent. She crossed kilometers in minutes and an entire desert in hours. Following the train tracks, she advanced without difficulty until she reached the pce where the rgest number of living shadows gathered. A city, a human city in the realm of the god of war.

  She sensed a touch of irony from her master's shadow. A strange and morbid amusement, though the reason eluded her. Was it because she was finally returning to her home city? Why would a shadow tread on War's domain? Or because of the ease with which a creature with the power to destroy the city slipped through its walls?

  She didn't know, nor did she bother to try. For all that mattered was that she had arrived in a human city.

  …

  The weeks passed like a bad dream for the human popution. In just a few hours, the government, the unity that led them, was destroyed. With their leader dead, the cns began a battle for the power and resources they represented.

  Typically, this should have been a silent exchange to avoid further weakening the already fragile society; instead, it was a race to see who could plunder first. The battles ignited like a fuse soaked in gunpowder.

  The very streets where civilians walked became engulfed in conflict as the awakened members of the cns and the organized remnants fought for a victory that would end the hostility. It was only when the Changing Star itself appeared to put an end to the madness.

  The rise of humanity's new gods and four powerful pilrs was like a tidal wave for everyone. Their hope, already extinguished by terror, was revitalized; a feeling of longing for the st daughter of Immortal Fme was ignited.

  Even so, things never returned to normal; instead, everything seemed to become a tidal wave of change.

  The bance of power shifted between Valor and Song. The House of Night, once a major contender, had been relegated to the background, fearful of being eliminated to secure a rger power base.

  Saint Jet took the reins of the few remaining vestiges of government and imposed a ruthless order. Supported by Chaging Star, her mandate was immediate, which managed to quell the panic. Despite this, the damage occurred at the worst possible time.

  Waves of nightmarish creatures increased as if guided by a command. The combatants were overwhelmed, and the obel scale, a method meant to provide protection, was now unworkable. Deaths skyrocketed, and the society that had been forced to adapt grew even more hardened.

  Footsteps echoed on the sidewalks, while a transcendent monster walked among the streets littered with corpses. Its pack and its leader had been eliminated in a fraction of a minute, but in its case, it managed to slip through the streets before it could be hunted. Now, anyone who crossed its path ended up in its jaws.

  Suddenly, terror gripped every part of his body. It cws dug into the shattered concrete as its nose scrambled to catch the slightest trace of the monster stalking it.

  The creature, driven mad by terror, turned, only for a guttural rasp to pierce its skull from its own shadow.

  The creature crashed down, raising a cloud of dust. For a long moment, the pce was completely silent. Until the footsteps of three armored awakened beings reached the area.

  "No way, we're te again!" the first one compined.

  The second, an older man, stared at the corpse for a moment before clicking his tongue and turning away. “Perhaps this is better, less work. Now we can move on to the next location.”

  “What if everyone’s dead by the time we get there?! Two promoted soldiers shouldn’t be wasting time!”

  “It shouldn’t happen again… her hunting grounds are further east. This one probably escaped her… he, or whatever that thing is.”

  The younger soldier just wearily passed by. “Everything was easier when there weren’t demonic shadows pying at hunting. Especially when two great cns are on the hunt. It’s a real pain in the ass.”

  The older soldier smiled as he walked away. “Half-blood must be pretty infamous among the elite, right?”

  “I’m sure of it, old man. Tell me, what do you think? An illegitimate daughter of Song seeking a political marriage? Or a reincarnation in the body of a nightmarish creature?” “I think you should stop reading manga. That stuff is filling your head with pure nonsense.”

  The young man just chuckled. No matter what it was, for several weeks, that strange figure had been moving from city to city like a ghost, single-handedly defeating portal guardians and clearing areas with chilling efficiency.

  It had many names, given its mysterious nature. Demon, cursed knight, phantom shadow, but the one that resonated most was one that arose in Antarctica, a nd of demons: Half-Blood. A fusion of the corrupt and the divine. Not a nightmare creature, but not a human either, just the greatest demon born in the jaws of the frozen earth.

  …

  Saint opened her eyes, sensing the disturbance of a nightmare gate tearing through War's domain. She moved with precise, almost mechanical movements, just as she had done time and time again in the past few days.

  Shadows accompanied her, enveloping her figure and making her one of them. Around her, the streets stretched out, lined with cold stone buildings whose structures bore the scars of ancient conflicts.

  The humans around her continued their activities with an unsettling normalcy, even though death could strike at any moment. Perhaps that was the reason for such peace. She could understand it, on a superficial level, and the idea intrigued her.

  Her mind wandered between the world around her and the anticipation of the battle. With her shadow sense spanning nearly ten kilometers, the flow of information had been incomprehensible in the first few days, but now it was a source of constant intrigue.

  Humans were so different from the stone warriors, weaker, but also more alive. With a will to survive that shouldn't be underestimated. That was a characteristic she had especially appreciated in her former master.

  Her arrival at the Nightmare Gate was silent; some defenders were already forming a perimeter, though with her strength, the battle would be fierce.

  Despite this, she paid no special attention to the awakened warriors and instead stepped silently through the portal. There, she glimpsed long mountain ranges of bck stone, with snow and ash falling in the distance.

  An oppressive yet familiar presence unsettled her in the heart of those mountains. A sovereign ruled that region, and it was best not to take any chances.

  With a single movement, the shadows sprang to life, sying several dozen awakened beasts. That would buy the defenders some extra time.

  Leaving again for the waking world, she cautiously made her way through the streets. She could still sense the presence of several groups of ascended beings and two transcendent ones watching over the area. Not because of a nightmarish creature, but because of her.

  She didn't fully understand the reason for such a dispy of force, which would seem exaggerated to anyone, but she wouldn't underestimate her situation.

  She paced the streets back and forth, moving further and further from the city center, considering whether it was time to change location. But then, a new tear ripped through reality. Not within the walls, but outside, in that lifeless wastend beyond them.

  Repeating the process, she entered the passageway, immediately glimpsing a strange ndscape. Before her, floating isnds, linked by chains, swayed slowly in the air, leaving an abyss with no apparent end beneath them.

  The pce was a ndscape that would leave ordinary people frozen in their tracks, but what caught Saint's attention wasn't that impossible image, but rather the scene of a golden-haired woman sitting on a tree branch. Calm, beautiful, pure, as if a small army of nightmarish creatures weren't stalking around the tree trunk. But of course, you had to have confidence when you were a transcendent.

  Saint didn't move, but her mind prepared for battle. It couldn't be a coincidence that a transcendent had received her at a random portal, but also, there was something strange about that girl. It was as if the world itself was trying to ignore her, to hide her. That feeling of disconnection felt more unsettling than that of any other transcendent.

  The girl then spoke, with a soft voice that seemed to address the air itself. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" she began, holding up a blue flower. "That tranquility, that fragility, that beauty that hides something more mortal."

  She didn't answer.

  The transcendent, whose eyes were hidden beneath a half-mask of a demon, bowed her head. “Some say there’s no point in admiring these things, that valuing something born of corruption is merely an insult. But, given the chance, I believe it can exceed our expectations.”

  The pce fell into an eerie silence, broken only by the grunts of the creatures still marching around. Finally, the transcendent spoke for the st time, her voice so low that if not for her powerful senses, he might have missed it.

  “I wish you luck, and please take care of it.”

  With those words, she stood up and turned away. Saint didn’t stop her, nor did he move until her silhouette disappeared over the horizon.

  The guard had long since crossed the threshold, leaving her trapped on that isnd, but it didn’t matter, because he had found what he was looking for… and perhaps something even more interesting.

  Her gaze shifted from that woman… to the abyss that surrounded her, far, far below in the shadows. He could feel it. A shadow, an ancient one, brimming with will.