Luna sighed and leaned back. Her eyes didn’t steer away from the golden flame. They were reflecting it as if they were a pair of delicate mirrors. The atmosphere inside now felt vigilant.

  “Some things are better left unsaid,” she answered calmly.

  “Bullshit,” Len scowled. She didn’t like this version of her sister. “Who the hell is Storm Rider? I don’t feel any zenshi coming from her. How is she so powerful?”

  Luna’s face turned serious as she said, “That’s for her to tell you. It’s not my place to explain what’s going on. But you should know that she’s on our side and I owe her a lot.”

  Len gritted her teeth then forced a sigh to calm herself . She wanted to think her sister was trying to repay her for taking her off the subjugation, but Luna wasn’t that immature.

  Plus, Len noticed that Luna had also changed in ways she couldn't quite define. She might have done her best to hide it. The changes were very hard to see. But Lena had known Luna for seventeen years. She knew her expressions all too well.

  ‘Her eyes....there’s something very different about her. The limiter is off so she has some control over her superhuman strength. But how did she succeed with that?’

  Lena was not the type to be nosy. But this…this is something she had to know.

  She then turned her sharp gaze to the exit. Outside, she could feel the white expanse of the snow spreading far wide across the landscape.

  By extending her senses through the ice, Len managed to find Storm Rider. She was standing not so far away from the shelter, undisturbed by the harsh weather of this place.

  Indeed, this ascender had no zenshi. However, she was far more than just an ascender. There was more about her than met the eye and that alone bothered Len.

  “She will sense your gaze. I advise you to stop doing that.” Luna warned when she noticed what her sister was doing.

  Immediately, Len cut off her other senses and turned back to her sister. She frowned. “How else am I supposed to find answers?”

  Luna turned her eyes away from the flames and heaved out a sigh which sounded more like a groan. After giving it some thought, she opened her mouth and decided to share a little bit of what she had learned while in this Tower.

  “I had an interaction with Oblivion after his death and learned that the Divine Realm is slowly merging with ours.”

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  Until now, Luna hadn’t told anyone aside from Storm Rider of her interaction with the corrupted deity.

  Why?

  Because she wanted to separate what was fact and what was not. Oblivion’s hate for Everlight might have affected his judgment at some point and ended up twisting what he told her.

  But it appears she no longer had time for such.

  Len on the other hand, her expression was sullen with a ting of pure shock. “Wha…what are you meaning?” she scowled.

  Luna huffed and bit her lips as if fighting against herself from talking about that day. Much as she wanted to keep it to herself, Luna needed to tell someone who would feel the same level of concern she did—even though they couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Oblivion pulled me into his mind and shared with me some important information about our realm exactly. The gates dropping cursed creatures, the structures from the divine realm, the black ether…all of it is happening because both realms are slowly colliding. Soon, a huge wave of energies will merge with our world and create a true end.”

  “What do you mean by ‘True end’?” Len jolted. Her voice mirrored the confusion and disbelief she suddenly felt.

  ‘Yes, that’s the reasonable reaction. I always knew I was too calm that day.’

  Luna thought back on when she first got the fateful news. Her reaction was…inhumane.

  Luna then drew in a deep breath, steadying herself. “I mean that the End is coming. At first, I thought he was lying but it seems our world is doomed. Ascenders are just slowing down the inevitable. More gates are going to appear, more cursed creatures…”

  Luna watched as Len slowly tried to make sense of the small pieces of information she had been given. The news of their realm collapsing was indeed dire. And the solution was close to impossible because one needed first to become a god and then find the heart of the divine realm to power the flame that keeps the realms separate.

  At least that’s what Luna assumed. There was also the mystery of the gods, their servants who were likely still alive, and the Devils who were still wreaking havoc whenever they felt like it.

  Lena started pacing left and right. Her breaths came out in short, panicked breaths. “Oh, gods! Why didn’t you tell any of us?”

  “And what would you have done? Do you think becoming a god is that easy?”

  Len stopped and creased her eyebrows. “Wait…Becoming a god is the solution?”

  Luna’s face turned grave. She nodded. “Yes, it appears that there are more gates after the fourth. But those gates are inaccessible for someone like you unless something drastic happens.”

  As soon as those words left her mouth, Len appeared in front of her sister. Her movement could’ve been mistaken for teleportation.

  “I already assumed there were other gates. It's the path of ascension and I believe Sorcery isn’t the peak of ascension. And what do you mean by inaccessible?”

  “The path of ascension for you may stop at sorcery. Even though you cultivate your mind and body to a peak point…you may not go beyond the fourth gate. I can’t tell you more.”

  Len saw the sincere look in Luna’s dark eyes. She was about to say something, but Luna continued.

  “Call me a Lair if you want to Len. I have no reason to lie to the people I genuinely care about. The path of ascension the heroes of our realm follow is a false one. We are incapable of becoming gods because of this. Whoever blessed us with zenshi wanted us to survive but not save our realm.”

  “I see.”

  The two sisters remained silent for a while. They used each other’s company as a consolation for the exchange they had just had. Luna had of course managed to hide everything connected to the true path. As of now, there were still too many things she didn’t understand. Especially the unknown forces that are still at play.

  ‘I hope I’m making the right choice.’ Luna thought to herself. She felt a whirlwind of emotions and maybe that’s why she felt so confused right now.

  Len was the first to break the silence. She was calm again.

  “Sigh. Let’s first conquer this Dungeon and then see how to move forward. Right now, our goal is to destroy the tower. And even though I have questions, I will choose to keep them to myself until the subjugation is done. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Okay?”

  Luna nodded in response. Honestly, it was amazing how easily handled her emotions. In just a few minutes, Luna had seen about three versions of her sister.

  “Let’s first save humanity then figure the rest out together. Also, I’m sorry if I made you feel less the last time. That wasn’t very responsible of me, Captain.”

  Luna smiled, her gaze not moving away from the beautiful flames.

  “I will tell you everything I know after all this. I promise.”

  “Good.”