The bunker was small enough that every footstep echoed.
Ophiuchus paced slowly, the tip of his serpent-staff tapping against the concrete in a steady, deliberate rhythm. Click. Pause. Click. The sound felt like a countdown.The three former Agency followers stood opposite him — Nile, Celince, and Nahore — no longer kneeling, but not yet free.
"The Twelve Agencies," Ophiuchus rasped, his pale eyes reflecting the dim emergency lights, "treat their followers like batteries."He stopped.
"They ignite you with a spark… then drain you until you are
hollow." The air felt heavier.
"They call it blessing. They call it destiny." His lips curved faintly. "But power that is taken always demands repayment."
He turned toward Xylo.
"The Thirteenth does not take."
A pause.
"We divide."
The word lingered like venom in water.
"When power is shared, the bond cuts deeper than chains. Betrayal becomes… unthinkable."
For a brief second, Xylo wondered— Was that freedom?
Or something far more permanent?
The Ritual of Fragments
The words burned behind Xylo's eyes.
His heart pounded so violently he could feel it in his throat. The Ophiuchus core stirred within him — not clawing for authority as it once had… but waiting.
Warm.
Patient.
Expectant.
He stepped forward.
If he did this… they would be bound to him.
If they died…
Would he feel it?
Would their fragments rip back through him like hooks?
His hands trembled.
He raised them anyway.
The moment he summoned the core, something inside his chest split — not flesh, not bone — something deeper. As if a page had been torn from the book of his existence.
The bunker lights flickered.
The temperature dropped.
The air smelled faintly of iron and ozone.
Time slowed.
[Target 1: Nile (Leo) → Rank: Solar Serpent]
Nile stepped forward first, jaw clenched.
"Do it," he muttered.
Xylo pressed his palm against Nile's chest.
Pain lanced through him as a shard of violet-green crystal forced itself from his skin. It slid forward like living glass and sank into Nile's body.
Nile gasped.
Golden lion-fire erupted around him — blazing, proud, furious.
Then it changed.
The flames darkened.
Gold became black edged in solar crimson. The fire no longer roared wildly — it burned with terrifying focus.
A Dark Solar Blaze.
The lion's silhouette flickered behind Nile…
Then bowed.
Not in submission.
In recognition.
Nile opened his eyes.
They burned like collapsing stars.
[Target 2: Celince (Aquarius) → Rank: Tidal Serpent]
Celince did not hesitate.
She stepped into Xylo's reach as if stepping into a tide.
When his palm met her chest, the second fragment tore free.
This time Xylo tasted blood.
Her water-mana surged violently — blue torrents crashing against invisible walls.
Then the water stilled.
It began to coil.
Mist rose from her skin — thick, shimmering, venomous.
Corrosive Mist.
It hissed as it touched the concrete, melting faint grooves into the floor.
Yet when it brushed Nile's arm, the burn on his skin vanished.
Healing and destruction.
Two currents in the same sea.
Celince's eyes opened slowly.
They were no longer clear blue.
They were deep ocean green — and something ancient moved within them.
[Target 3: Nahore (Gemini) → Rank: Phantom Serpent]
Nahore smiled faintly.
"Guess I don't get a choice anymore."
Xylo almost pulled back.
But it was too late to retreat.
The third fragment tore from him.
This one hurt the most.
For a split second, Xylo couldn't breathe.
The world went silent.
Nahore's black fog spilled outward — thick and absolute.
It swallowed the light.
Then—
Nahore stepped forward.
Through the wall.
Not breaking it.
Passing through it.
His body flickered like a reflection on disturbed water.
When he returned, his shadow lagged behind him by half a second.
And it was smiling.
Phantom Serpent.
Xylo staggered.
Pain radiated through his chest like fractures spreading through glass.
[System Notification: First Constellation Established]
The words pulsed.
[Warning: Core Stability Reduced to 86%]
He dropped to one knee.
The fragments had not weakened him physically.
They had made him… thinner.
As if his existence now extended into three other bodies.
He could feel them.
Their heat.
Their pulse.
Their power.
Ophiuchus watched with quiet satisfaction.
"The First Constellation," the old man whispered.
Above the bunker—Something howled.Not an animal, Not human.
A sound like metal scraping across bone.The lights shattered.
Dust fell from the ceiling.Far beyond the concrete walls, in the darkness of the ruined city, golden eye
s opened one by one.
The Hounds had felt it.They had felt the birth of a new star.
And they were coming.