The view of the luxurious Black Keep dining hall faded for a moment, replaced by a sharp memory. The cold northern mountain wind gave way to a valley breeze smelling of incense and ozone.

  Arka stood there. In the stone courtyard of Sagara Temple.

  In front of him, important figures lined up.

  Lenn Dyora with her stiff face. Wang Leiyin—along with several of their elite squad captains.

  Their faces were tense. Their hands trembled as they dipped fingers into a golden chalice.

  It was the ash of Kala-Ra Tushka.

  Ash residue from the largest sacrificial festival in the rituals of the Kingdom of Carta. Sacred ash reputed to open the "Inner Eye" for those blind to the spirit world.

  Solemnly and desperately, they smeared the gray ash onto their foreheads. Making a vertical line between their eyebrows.

  Swipe.

  Instantly, their eyes widened. Their breath hitched.

  They looked up at the sky. Stifled screams escaped Wang Leiyin's mouth.

  They finally saw it.

  Shade Walkers.

  Those shadow creatures didn't walk on the ground, but fell from the sky like silent black meteor rain. Thousands. Millions. Slamming into the earth with pure killing intent.

  Arka looked up too, staring at the heavens which to commoners looked empty, but to them now looked like an apocalyptic battlefield.

  The sky up there wasn't blue. It was covered by the Giant Chessboard Array.

  Lines of light crisscrossed, forming a vast silver spider web—the Thousand Constellations.

  And within that giant web, there were three brightest points of light. Three "Great Knots" serving as anchors holding reality and attractors of disaster.

  Ironseat. Center of politics and throne.

  House Sanjaya. Military hellfire.

  House Sagara. Spiritual gatekeepers.

  These three knots worked like cosmic magnets. They pulled Shade Walkers in massive numbers from the Void, snared them, and "dropped" them into the physical world for extermination.

  It was a sacred duty. It was eternal punishment.

  Arka turned his head sideways.

  There stood a tall figure in a simple robe fluttering gently. His hair long and white, his back straight as a spear.

  His grandfather. Rajendra Sagara.

  The old man stood calm with hands behind his back. His face peaceful, but his eyes stared sharply at the silver spider web in the sky harvesting monsters.

  Rajendra’s forehead was clean.

  No ash smear. No ritual. No eye-opening spell.

  Arka touched his own forehead. Clean.

  Amidst the panic of Lenn Dyora and the captains busy smearing ash to see the enemy, Arka and Rajendra just stood silent.

  A bitter yet proud reality crept into Arka’s heart.

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  An Aksesa Sagara—pureblood heir of Sagara—did not need a smear of corpse ash on the forehead just to see death.

  They didn't need to "open" their eyes.

  Because for the Sagara Family, their eyes could never be closed to that darkness.

  "Beautiful, isn't it?" Grandpa’s voice sounded faint in Arka’s memory. "The way this world drops its filth right on our roof."

  The following is the continuation of the scene from Arka Sagara's POV (in flashback/vision).

  Amidst the chaos of the collapsing sky, a voice was heard. Not a shout, but a command possessing the weight of a mountain.

  "Stay calm."

  Rajendra Sagara’s voice sliced through the panic. Flat. Absolute.

  "Do not let fear control your heart rhythm. They smell fear."

  Grandpa raised his hand, then jerked it down.

  "Draw your weapons!"

  Shing! Shing! Shing!

  The sound of metal drawn from scabbards rang in unison, creating a nerve-wracking harmony of death.

  It wasn't ordinary steel. Its color wasn't shiny silver, but dark gray absorbing light, as if forged from the shadow itself.

  Karpharah Metal.

  Cold metal dug from the deepest mines of Mount Rhagas. The only earth mineral capable of touching and wounding Void entities.

  Arka saw Wang Leiyin and Lenn Dyora’s hands gripping their Karpharah weapon hilts tightly. Veins in their hands bulged.

  Their ash-smeared foreheads contrasted with their faces flushing red holding back adrenaline. Their eyes—forced open by that ash magic—stared in horror and hatred at the creatures falling from the sky.

  However, behind them, there were thousands of other soldiers. Ordinary soldiers.

  "RETREAT!" Shouted one of the captains.

  "Those without inner sight, RETREAT TO EVACUATION ZONE! NOW!"

  The command was loud and undeniable.

  Thousands of regular soldiers ran back in a formation nearly breaking. They couldn't see the enemy, they only felt the suffocating chill and air pressure crushing their chests.

  They ran toward the temple's rear perimeter, a safe boundary isolated with Sagara protective spells. Leaving the battle arena only for the elites "chosen" by ash and blood.

  Now, in the temple's front yard, only a handful of knights remained.

  Silence for a moment. Just a second. Before the storm of spirit was ignited.

  Wang Leiyin, with a Karpharah greatsword on his shoulder, stepped forward. His eyes burned wild.

  "DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH THIS GROUND EASILY!" he roared, his voice booming like thunder. "BURN THEM WITH THE SPIRIT FIRE OF BLACK KEEP! FOR THE NORTH!!"

  On the other side, Lenn Dyora unsheathed twin rapiers with pitch-black blades.

  "Show them the sharpness of Fort Rivermarsh currents!" she shouted sharply. "For the honor of the fortress!"

  "HRAAAAGHHHHH!!!"

  Knights and captains cheered. Ear-splitting war cries, a desperate human effort to reject the destiny of destruction.

  They didn't wait.

  When the first Shade Walker slammed into the ground with an explosion of black dust...

  They ran to meet it.

  Karpharah swords raised high, ready to welcome guests from hell.

  Arka didn't wait for command.

  He gripped both hilts of his twin swords tightly.

  Shing!

  The Karpharah metal blades were fully unsheathed. The coldness from the deepest mine metal wasn't just temperature, but a piercing sensation freezing the blood on the back of his hands, creeping up to his elbows. The weapon was hungry.

  "Let's play," he whispered.

  His legs exploded with power.

  Whoosh!

  Arka ran forward. He wasn't part of the neat formation. He was a loose cannon.

  His body shot fast, breaking through the defense perimeter just formed by Black Keep and Fort Rivermarsh knights. He overtook Wang Leiyin just raising his greatsword. He passed Lenn Dyora still adjusting her stance.

  "MOVE!"

  Arka shouted long, a roar of pure adrenaline breaking everyone's concentration.

  He became the center of gravity. Hundreds of eyes—friend and foe alike—locked onto the reckless figure running alone toward the first Shade Walker just landed.

  Distance eroded completely.

  Arka stomped his foot on the stone ground, launching his body into the air.

  He jumped high, soaring over the shadow monster's head. His body spun in the air, both swords crossed ready to execute.

  "Hiaaaat!"

  CRASSSHHH!

  He slashed.

  Not just a physical slash. Arka’s spiritual energy rubbed against the monster's void matter through the medium of Karpharah metal.

  The reaction was explosive.

  BOOOOM!

  An explosion like fireworks erupted at the impact point. Bright purple flame—the signature color of Sagara energy—spewed out, illuminating the gloomy temple yard with eye-painful neon flashes.

  The light was so bright it blinded the knights behind him for a moment. Arka’s silhouette looked pitch black amidst that purple explosion, tearing the shadow body into dust particles.

  Gravity pulled him back.

  Tap.

  Arka landed smoothly. He crouched with one knee touching the ground, both swords extended sideways, tips still sputtering remnants of purple fire.

  In front of him, the Shade Walker that looked terrifying earlier was now gone. Destroyed completely.

  Arka looked up slowly, grinning wide amidst thin smoke.

  "Hehehehe..."

  His laughter was crisp, heard clearly in that momentary silence.

  "Crunchy..." he mumbled, flicking his glowing sword. "...like chips."

  That sight—one strike, one absolute death, and mesmerizing arrogance—lit the dynamite fuse in the troops' hearts.

  Their fear vanished, replaced by battle euphoria.

  "DIE ALL OF YOU!"

  "CHAAARGE!!!"

  Wang Leiyin and Lenn Dyora roared, leading their troops now burning with mad enthusiasm.

  Hundreds of knights ran past Arka, shouting attacks together, crashing into the wave of monsters with courage just ignited by a crazy Sagara and his two purple swords.