Chapter 181 — Asteria
Brook had been awake for four days when Crowley finally said it.
"We should leave."
Nobody asked where.
They already knew.
Brook sat near the fire, his back against a tree. The others were spread around the small camp.
Rick sharpened his weapon.
Shoyo sat with her legs crossed, quietly watching the flames.
Sera practiced under her breath, testing words against the air.
Henry sat nearby.
Charon rested on top of his head.
Brook looked toward Crowley.
"Asteria."
Crowley nodded.
Silence followed.
Brook leaned forward.
"So we're just going to walk into a Shinokuni none of us have ever been to because Silvet might be interested in it?"
Crowley smiled.
"When you say it like that, it sounds stupid."
"It is stupid."
Crowley shrugged.
"Still going."
Brook looked toward the others.
Nobody disagreed.
Of course.
Brook sighed.
"Fine."
Charon slowly rose from Henry's head.
"Fine."
Brook looked at him.
Charon immediately disappeared.
Henry covered his face.
"Please don't start."
Brook smiled.
"I'm getting used to him."
"Charon isn't getting used to you."
"Fair."
They left the following morning.
There was no celebration.
No farewell.
No ceremony.
Xcution simply began walking.
Brook stayed near the center of the group.
Not because he needed protection.
At least, not entirely.
His body was still recovering.
Six months unconscious had changed him.
His muscles were weaker.
His movements felt slightly delayed.
But the pain was gone.
Almost.
Every now and then, something inside his body reminded him of the fight.
A sharp pressure.
A sudden tightening in his chest.
A phantom pain.
Brook knew where it came from.
Inside his mind.
Michael.
Lucifer.
Death.
The three crystals.
The final fight.
Brook touched his chest.
Nothing happened.
He could still feel them.
Somewhere.
But Michael had remained silent.
Lucifer had remained silent.
Death—
Brook wasn't sure.
Sometimes he felt Death watching.
Sometimes he didn't.
That bothered him more.
The first week was quiet.
Too quiet.
They crossed forests.
Fields.
Old roads that had been destroyed long before any of them arrived.
Brook spent most of the journey walking.
He needed to.
Henry had tried to convince him to rest more.
Brook refused.
"You slept for six months."
Henry walked beside him.
"That's not how sleep works."
Brook smiled.
"Still counts."
Henry shook his head.
Charon appeared from Henry's shoulder.
"Six months."
Brook glanced toward him.
"Yeah."
Charon stared.
"Sleep."
Brook frowned.
"Yeah?"
Charon tilted his head.
"Why?"
Brook looked toward Henry.
Henry immediately looked away.
"Don't involve me."
Brook looked back at Charon.
"I don't know."
Charon thought about it.
"Bad sleep."
Brook's smile disappeared.
Henry noticed.
The group continued walking.
Charon slowly disappeared.
That night—
Brook dreamed.
He stood inside the white world again.
The crystals were gone.
Michael wasn't there.
Lucifer wasn't there.
Death wasn't there.
Brook stood alone.
Or so he thought.
He turned.
Nothing.
Brook walked.
The world had no end.
Then—
he heard breathing.
Brook stopped.
"Michael?"
Nothing.
"Lucifer?"
Silence.
"Death?"
The breathing stopped.
Brook waited.
Then a voice whispered:
"Three weeks."
Brook opened his eyes.
He sat up immediately.
The camp was still dark.
Everyone slept.
Brook looked around.
Nothing.
Three weeks.
He didn't understand.
Then he looked toward the fire.
The flames moved.
Brook stared.
The fire had begun dying.
He slowly lay back down.
The second week was harder.
The land changed.
The roads became worse.
Abominations appeared more frequently.
The first fight happened on the ninth day.
They were surrounded.
Not by anything they hadn't seen before.
But Brook noticed something.
His instincts returned.
A creature lunged toward him.
Brook moved.
Too quickly.
His body reacted before his mind.
He appeared beside the creature.
His weapon moved.
One strike.
The Abomination fell.
Brook froze.
He looked at his hands.
Rick stared.
"Okay."
Brook looked toward him.
"What?"
"You're faster."
Brook frowned.
"I was always fast."
"No."
Rick pointed.
"That wasn't normal fast."
Brook looked toward Crowley.
Crowley remained silent.
Brook immediately understood.
"You know."
Crowley looked at him.
"I know things."
Brook narrowed his eyes.
"What changed?"
Crowley smiled.
"A lot."
Brook stepped toward him.
Crowley held up a hand.
"Later."
Brook stopped.
"You always say later."
"Yes."
Crowley looked toward the dead Abomination.
"And eventually, I'm usually right."
Brook stared at him.
Sera stepped between them.
"Stop."
Neither listened.
Brook looked at Crowley.
Crowley looked back.
Then Charon appeared.
Behind Henry.
"Fight."
Henry grabbed him.
"No."
Charon disappeared.
Brook laughed.
Crowley sighed.
During the journey, they spoke more than they had in months.
That was the strange thing about traveling.
There was nowhere to go except forward.
Brook learned about the six months.
Not everything.
But enough.
Sera told him about her magic.
Her attempts to redesign the Devil Trap.
Lower demons.
The door Crowley had shown her.
The creature that had called itself a Demon General.
Brook listened.
"You fought a Demon General?"
Sera smiled.
"A weak one."
Crowley looked toward her.
"Still proud of yourself?"
"Yes."
Crowley nodded.
"Good."
Brook looked toward Sera.
"You've changed."
Sera looked away.
"So have you."
Brook didn't answer.
She wasn't wrong.
Rick told him about Shinokuni-01.
The rebuilding.
King Aldric.
The fight.
Brook listened.
Then looked toward Rick.
"You fought Henry's father?"
Rick shrugged.
"Technically."
Shoyo smiled.
Rick looked at her.
"Don't."
Brook raised an eyebrow.
"What happened?"
Shoyo smiled wider.
"Nothing."
Rick sighed.
Brook immediately looked at her.
"What did you do?"
Shoyo shrugged.
"Talked."
Rick stared.
Brook started laughing.
"That's what you're calling it?"
Shoyo smiled.
Brook looked at Rick.
Rick looked away.
Brook shook his head.
"Six months and all of you became weird."
Crowley immediately answered.
"We were always weird."
Nobody argued.
Henry spoke the least.
Brook noticed.
He walked beside Brook one afternoon.
Charon rested quietly around his shoulders.
Brook glanced toward him.
"What?"
Henry looked forward.
"Nothing."
Brook waited.
Henry sighed.
"You really don't remember?"
Brook's expression changed.
"The fight?"
Henry nodded.
Brook looked down.
He remembered pieces.
Blood.
Pain.
Screaming.
Something inside him laughing.
He remembered Henry.
Brook's jaw tightened.
"Some."
Henry remained silent.
Brook looked at him.
"Enough."
Henry nodded.
Charon slowly disappeared behind Henry's back.
Brook noticed.
He looked toward the black substance.
"Still scared?"
Charon's voice came quietly.
"Yes."
Brook didn't know what to say.
So he said:
"Sorry."
Charon appeared.
Brook waited.
Charon stared.
Then—
"Sorry."
Brook smiled.
Henry laughed.
"That's progress."
Brook looked at Henry.
"Don't push it."
The journey continued.
Three weeks.
Day after day.
The group became familiar with the road.
Brook began recovering.
His strength returned.
Then more than his strength.
One morning, Brook woke before everyone else.
He stood outside the camp.
The sky was dark.
He looked toward his hand.
Crowley's words had stayed with him.
The Earth Source.
Brook looked down.
Nothing.
He closed his hand.
Still nothing.
Brook pushed.
The air changed.
The ground beneath him cracked.
Brook immediately released the power.
The crack stopped.
Grass slowly moved over it.
Brook stared.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
The grass grew.
Slowly.
Then stopped.
Brook stepped back.
He didn't mention it.
Not yet.
On the nineteenth day—
they saw the stars.
Not unusual.
Except these stars seemed closer.
Brook stood at the edge of a hill.
The others stopped behind him.
The night sky stretched endlessly above them.
Sera walked beside him.
"Beautiful."
Brook nodded.
"Yeah."
Crowley looked toward the sky.
Then away.
Brook noticed.
"What?"
Crowley shrugged.
"Nothing."
Brook looked toward him.
Crowley sighed.
"Just thinking about the name."
"Asteria."
Crowley nodded.
Brook looked toward the stars again.
"Asteria."
Sera frowned.
"You know something?"
Crowley looked at her.
"I know the name."
Brook waited.
Crowley didn't continue.
Brook smiled.
"You're impossible."
"Yes."
On the twenty-first day—
they arrived.
The journey ended without warning.
One moment, they were walking through empty land.
The next—
Brook stopped.
Everyone stopped behind him.
The road ahead had changed.
Stone.
Ancient stone.
Massive walls could be seen in the distance.
But that wasn't what made Brook stop.
It was the structure.
A massive stone formation stood beside the road.
It looked older than the walls behind it.
Older than the Shinokuni itself.
Vines crawled across its surface.
But the words remained visible.
Brook walked closer.
Nobody spoke.
He raised his head.
The letters had been carved deeply into the stone.
WELCOME TO ASTERIA
The wind moved through the grass.
Behind the structure—
a new Shinokuni waited.
Brook stared at it.
For some reason—
he remembered his dream.
The voice.
Three weeks.
Brook slowly turned toward the others.
They had arrived exactly three weeks later.
Brook looked back at the stone.
Something inside him shifted.
Not Michael.
Not Lucifer.
Not Death.
Something else.
The ground beneath his feet trembled.
Just once.
Brook froze.
Then—
it stopped.
Nobody else appeared to notice.
Brook looked toward the walls of Asteria.
A new Shinokuni.
A new mystery.
And somewhere inside—
Silvet was waiting.
Brook didn't know that yet.
But he felt something.
Like the world had been expecting them.
He stepped past the stone.
Xcution followed.
And together—
they entered Asteria.
End of Chapter 181