The golden light of dawn greeted them as they crossed the mountain range’s final stone arch.
After days trapped amid the mold of the aqueducts, the marshland mist, and the gloom of the ruins, the sight before them was overwhelming: green valleys stretching to the horizon, dotted with crystal-clear rivers and the distant silhouette of the Great Border City of Valoria.
Aoi shielded her eyes with a hand against the sun, letting out a long sigh that seemed to sweep away all the built-up exhaustion of their escape.
“Real sunlight,” she said, stretching her arms upward until her joints popped.
“For a second, I thought we were going to live underground like moles forever.” “The Inquisition will take several days to reorganize after the defeat of the Third Division,” Haruto said, scanning the leather map they had taken from Gid.
“Valoria falls under the jurisdiction of the League of Independent Merchants.
There are no paladins at the gates and no draining altars in the plazas.
It’s the ideal place to set up base for a while.” “Set up base?” Aoi glanced at him with a slight smile.
“Don’t tell me the analyst is actually thinking of taking a vacation.” “We need to assimilate the manuscript,” Haruto explained, stepping forward as the mountain breeze tussled his hair.
“Breaking the System’s seal was only the first step.
The manuscript speaks of three stages of the Ancient Way: Disconnection, Primordial Resonance, and Domain of the Sphere.
We’ve barely unlocked the first.” Aoi looked down at the crimson runic marks on her arm, which glowed faintly in the sunlight.
“If Commander Gerald was Tier 5 and we took him down…
what’s waiting for us in the second stage?” “A mastery over matter and vitality that the Church would brand as ‘divine inheritance,'” Haruto answered, turning to meet her eyes.
“You’ll be able to compress your soul not just into your sword, but project it as an unyielding physical armor.
And I’ll be able to dismantle mass-scale spells before they even manifest.” Aoi took two steps toward him, closing the gap.
She reached up and brushed back a strand of hair covering his forehead, letting her fingers gently graze Haruto’s cheek with an easy warmth.
“Sounds like we’re going to turn into absolute monsters,” she murmured softly, keeping her eyes locked onto his.
“We’ll turn into whatever it takes to stay free,” Haruto replied, wrapping his arm smoothly around her waist and pulling her a little closer.
“Together.” Aoi smiled—a genuine, warm smile that brightened her tired face.
She rested her forehead against Haruto’s chest for a second, listening to the steady, firm beat of his heart, before taking a step back and tightening the strap of her greatsword with renewed energy.
“Alright.
Let’s get to that city, find some real food, a proper bed, and get to training.” “I still have some gold from Captain Vane,” Haruto smirked, taking her hand as they began their descent down the mountain path.
“It’ll buy us the best inn in town.” With the southern wind at their backs and the trail of the Inquisition fading behind them, Haruto and Aoi took their first steps toward solidifying their status as the true anomalies of this world.