"Oi. Wake up."

  I blinked. Haze. Cold stone against my back. The throne — right, I was still on the throne.

  "What... how long was I out?"

  Jane was asleep across my lap, breathing steadily. Peter had collapsed to his knees beside me, arms loose, head resting against the seat.

  Both of them looked like they'd fought through actual hell.

  [Do you want a replay?] Trynda's voice, smug as ever.

  "Sure, Great Sage. Show me what I missed."

  [Great Sage. I mean, come on.]

  But they conjured a blue screen into the air anyway, shimmering faintly.

  I watched it play out. A month of it — brutal fights, relentless training, that final showdown with the Darkness Incarnate. Both of them, pushing past every limit I'd thrown at them. Neither of them giving up.

  That wasn't exactly what I'd planned.

  "A whole month?!"

  [You didn't just doze off. Your body was shutting down from exhaustion. Miracle you stayed upright as long as you did.]

  "A whole month..." I watched the replay continue. Strange sense of pride crawling up my chest that I absolutely did not ask for. "My disciples are doing well, huh."

  Curiosity got the better of me.

  "Status — Jane."

  < Name: Jane >

  STR: A(+) AGI: EX VIT: A(+) MANA: B(+)

  < CLASS: > 「The Lady's Blade」9th Tier

  < SKILLS: > 「Silent Step」 「Twin Fang」 「Veil」 「Last Stand」 「Killing Edge」「Impeccable Service」 「Eyes of the Household」 「A Maid's Intuition」 「Perfect Preparation」

  < TRAITS: > 「Undying Loyalty」 「The One Who Stayed」

  I stared at it for a moment.

  The One Who Stayed. Of course that's a trait.

  "Status — Peter."

  < Name: Peter Edencrown >

  STR: EX(+) AGI: EX VIT: EX MANA: A(+) KI: EX(++)

  < CLASS: > 「Sovereign Blade」10th Tier

  < SKILLS: > 「Dead Calm」 「Sovereign's Edge」 「Ki: Release」 「Aura Blade」 「Iron Will」

  < TRAITS: > 「Blood of the Reaper」 「The Bastard Who Rose」

  The Bastard Who Rose. I didn't know whether to laugh or feel something about that.

  [Your soul synchronization with Josephine is still unstable. Until it stabilizes, your full power can't manifest.]

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  "What? I remember all her memories. Her skills, her feelings — shouldn't that be enough?"

  [Remembering isn't the same as understanding. You know what she did. Not always why. You're still viewing everything from Kim Yoo-ra's perspective. To fully wield her power, you need to understand her motives. Feel them. Not just know them.]

  I frowned. "So I'm not actually seeing through her eyes yet."

  [Correct.]

  I looked at the two of them — Jane still out cold, Peter barely upright — and pulled Peter up onto the throne beside Jane.

  "You've both done enough. Rest."

  I patted their heads. Jane's hair had fallen across her face. I brushed it aside.

  It isn't easy to find loyalty like this.

  The barrier I'd set up was still holding. Through it I could see the remaining hordes pressing against the edges, clawing, desperate — and dissolving before they touched the light. None of them were getting through.

  This was only supposed to be a loyalty test.

  I hadn't expected them to take it this seriously.

  I bit my lip.

  "Alright, Trynda." I looked at the bird. "Show me your human form. I know you have one."

  [A human ordering me. How presumptuous.] A pause. [How did you even know?]

  "Dessert buffet when we get back. Full spread. Now get to it."

  Trynda's form condensed into a point of blinding light and then spread outward into something humanoid. Their palms opened and light shot through the sky in waves, burning through the remaining dark spawns — every last one, reduced to dust across the old capital.

  When the light settled, Trynda was standing there looking like they'd rather be anywhere else.

  Stunning, in the specific way that was almost painful to look at directly. Features too flawless to belong to any particular gender, both and neither at once. Eyes like violet that caught light from somewhere inside them. Skin with that faint otherworldly sheen. White hair so long it moved on its own. The presence of something that was usually being extremely patient about being stuck in a bird.

  "You owe me thousands of desserts," they announced, settling onto the edge of the throne. "I'll watch the brats. You go do whatever it is you need to do."

  "Got it. But you're helping me cast something first."

  They rolled their eyes. Extended their hand.

  Our hands met. The magic circle formed beneath us — expanding, blazing, filling the entire capital with holy light. The miasma peeled back from it like shadows retreating from a sunrise. Whatever was weak enough dissolved. Whatever remained retreated.

  "It's the palace," Trynda said, scanning the dissipating dark. "I can feel a rift. Another realm. Faint, but there."

  [QUEST UPDATED!]

  [Investigate the Inner Chambers of the Palace of the Mausoleum!]

  Of course.

  I looked up at the palace looming ahead and thought of Cassian and thought of however many things were probably waiting in there that I wasn't prepared for.

  Something else struck me — my notification panel had gone quiet. Even the gods felt distant.

  [That's because their influence is weaker here.] Trynda's voice. [The energy is in conflict with another plane's power. It compresses. Cuts them off.]

  I thought of Hecatia. Immediately:

  [Hecatia: Oho! Does my child miss me?!!?]

  [Xipe: My child! Why is it always Hecatia and never me?!]

  [Hecatia: Simple. I'm better. ~]

  [Xipe: You — you old hag—!]

  [Trynda: Both of you. Stop. You're embarrassing yourselves.]

  [Hecatia: It's as Trynda-chan says. We don't have much reach here. The energy conflicts with another plane's power and we get compressed. Cut off a bit.]

  [Xipe: Always knew you were sharp, kid.]

  I absorbed that. Another plane. A rift. Gods cut off.

  This was going to be worse than Cassian.

  "We need to move quickly," I said. "But something in there isn't going to be simple."

  Trynda's violet eyes narrowed slightly.

  I leaned back and let myself think about it honestly for a second.

  I had power. I had more power than I'd earned, honestly — every tier absorbed through items and divine intervention and accidents, not through years of real work. I could cast nearly anything. I'd beaten Cassian and Bephelgor and a Grim Reaper and a city full of mind-controlled people in one night.

  And the more I trained Peter, the more I realized that in pure swordsmanship, he was going to surpass me. Probably soon.

  Understanding was different from power. Experience was different from potential. I'd skipped a lot of pages.

  It was the only way I was going to grow.

  And more than that — I'd felt something during the Cassian fight. Something I hadn't expected.

  [...Love?] Trynda ventured.

  I smacked them on the head.

  "The thrill," I said. "The thrill of the fight."

  [Are you a masochist?]

  "No." The memory of it came back — Kim Yoo-ra, the grey life, the Nobel Prize and the hollow praise and the novels being the only color in any of it. And then here. All of this. Here.

  "I just love fighting."

  I looked up at the sky through the holy light still fading across the old capital.

  "Problem is," I said, "I'm too strong to enjoy it now."