The spiral hill was quiet at this hour.
Villa 3 sat one tier below the summit. Even from the path, Ryuken could feel the ambient pressure of an SSS-rank Authority that never fully switched off. The Blessed by Mana thrummed like a hearth in the walls, steady, warm, and constant. He had felt stronger presences in his long life. He had not, however, felt many with such pristine discipline radiating from someone so painfully young.
He knocked. He tapped his foot in a restless rhythm. He knocked again.
Anastasia opened the door herself. She was dressed and flawlessly composed, her golden hair swept back. It was the practiced surface of someone who had been awake for hours, meticulously preparing for whatever the morning might spring upon her. She looked at him the way people looked at things they could not immediately categorize.
"Ryuken Razar," he announced, a sudden grin pulling at the corner of his mouth.
