The bells didn't ring anymore.
They couldn't.
The ropes had snapped.
The towers stood silent—
while the city screamed on its own.
It began all at once.
Not gradually.
Not in waves.
At the same moment—
across Solmire—
bodies moved.
In the merchant district, five collapsed figures rose together.
In the northern blocks, shadows tore free from sleeping forms.
In the western road, something massive crawled out of a man's spine—
stretching into a beast that scraped rooftops.
Different forms.
Same origin.
Same hunger.
Screams overlapped.
Orders collided.
Steel met something that did not behave like flesh.
For the first time—
the kingdom was not responding.
It was reacting.
Flames spiraled upward, swallowing entire rows of buildings.
Leonhart stood at the center of it—
his golden aura roaring like a living sun.
"MOVE BACK!"
He swung his arm—
and a massive arc of fire carved through three nightmare forms at once.
They dissolved.
But behind them—
more moved.
Mira landed beside him, breath uneven.
"…They're not slowing down."
Leonhart clicked his tongue.
"Then we burn faster."
But even as he said it—
a second explosion erupted two streets away.
Then a third.
They were being stretched.
Too far.
Darius ran through an alley that no longer made sense.
He had taken this route hundreds of times.
Now—
it looped.
Selene landed beside him.
"…We've passed this wall already."
Darius didn't stop.
"Illusion."
A whisper drifted through the air.
Soft.
Close.
You're late.
Selene's blade flashed toward the sound.
Nothing.
Another voice.
Closer.
Turn around.
Darius slammed his fist into the wall.
The impact shattered the illusion.
The alley snapped back into place.
But the targets—
were gone.
The western district groaned under invisible pressure.
Buildings leaned.
Stone cracked.
The ground itself sank inches deeper.
Brakus planted both feet into the earth.
Armor locking.
Muscles straining.
"HOLD—!"
A force slammed downward.
He dropped to one knee.
The street buckled around him.
Talia roared and struck the ground with her hammer.
A shockwave pushed back against the pressure—
but only barely.
"…This isn't a creature."
"No," Brakus growled.
"…This is someone."
The pressure lifted.
Suddenly.
Too suddenly.
Leaving only silence—
and a deeper crack in the world.
Inside the central clinic—
the air changed.
Every sleeping patient inhaled at once.
Heads turned.
Eyes remained closed.
Then—
they smiled.
Seraphine froze.
"…No…"
Noel's barrier lines flared violently—
as shadows pushed against them from within the patients' own bodies.
The room filled with whispers.
Layered.
Endless.
Let us out.
Let us move.
Let us break.
The barriers trembled.
In the palace—
the map shattered.
Cards flickered.
Connections broke.
New markers appeared faster than Rein could place them.
He clenched his fist.
The aether around him surged—
then steadied.
Too many.
Too fast.
Too coordinated.
The ring from before—
was no longer forming.
It was complete.
The palace—
stood at the center.
And for the first time—
Rein understood the truth without doubt.
"…We're already inside it."
Rose fell to one knee.
Pain ripped through her chest like something trying to claw its way out.
Her breath hitched.
Her vision fractured.
The hallway stretched—
walls bending into impossible angles.
Light dimming into something colder.
Her reflection appeared again—
not in a mirror.
In the air itself.
This time—
it stepped forward.
Open it.
Her hands trembled violently.
The curse surged—
dark veins spreading past her elbows now.
"…No…"
Her voice broke.
The floor beneath her feet cracked.
A pulse of black aether burst outward—
shattering glass—
splitting marble—
extinguishing every light in the corridor.
Servants screamed in the distance.
Rose gripped her chest.
Fighting.
Forcing it back.
For now.
Above the chaos—
across rooftops lit by fire and fading sun—
a figure moved.
Fast.
Precise.
Silent.
A creature lunged from below—
mid-leap—
A single slash of flame.
A phoenix-shaped arc tore through the air—
erasing the creature instantly.
The figure didn't stop.
Didn't look back.
Only moved closer—
toward the palace.
In darkness—
the two figures stood once more.
This time—
the space around them distorted.
The taller one stepped forward.
The ground beneath him bent inward—
cracking without contact.
The other tilted her head—
air rippling like a dream half-remembered.
"…The board is empty."
A pause.
"…Then we take the king."
Back in the palace—
Rein ran toward Rose.
"Rose—!"
She looked up—
eyes trembling—
barely herself.
Then—
the sky changed.
Not clouds.
Not light.
Reality itself—
flickered.
For a single second—
everything stilled.
Across Solmire—
every voice—
every thought—
every breath—
paused.
And something spoke.
Not loud.
Not soft.
Everywhere.
"Sleep."
The world shuddered.
And something deeper—
began to answer.