> Location: Edge of the Unknown Labyrinth – Coalition Retrieval Team
The Coalition transport skimmer hovered just above the fractured terrain. The retrieval squad spread in formation, weapons at the ready, scanning the area for anomalies. All they expected to find were corpses or corrupted aether remains.
Instead, they found life.
Noct stood quietly in front of the exit gate with Mia and Ellen flanking him. His body bore the scars of the abyss, his eyes sharper and colder than before. Yet, the most dangerous thing he carried wasn't visible.
The subspace was undetectable by Standard Scanning devices making it the safest place for the concealment of items.
The unknowable item, concealed deep within the fold of his personal storage—crafted by combining Gravity Equation and Division Blink—remained hidden. The Coalition's scans passed over it like light over glass.
A silent victory.
> Coalition Outpost – Recovery Bay
Noct lay on the sterile medical bed, arms crossed, flinching at the needles and scans. Ellen was already up and moving, snapping at doctors. Mia leaned near a vent, watching the monitors like a hawk.
A Coalition doctor approached Noct.
"You've been through hell. But you're stable—physically."
Noct's voice was low. "Then I have a request, don't report anything. Not my return, not my survival, not anything at all."
The doctor hesitated. "Protocol requires—"
"No." His gaze was like steel. "Don't leak this to anyone. Not even internally. I need time."
Reluctantly, the doctor nodded.
But Vern—once a high-ranking Venator of the Coalition—had access beyond protocol.
At that very moment, in his office within the academy, as he sat across from Selene, a ping struck his secure console.
> [REDACTED FILE ACCESS – CODE V: OBSERVER LEVEL] [Subject: Noct Valen – Status: ALIVE]
Selene noticed the way Vern froze.
"...What is it?"
His voice was hoarse. "Selene. You need to go home."
> Lumen Residence – Sector 4, North City
The door creaked open. Noct's mother stood in the hallway, blinking at the silhouette on her porch. A heartbeat passed before she recognized him.
Then her scream cut through the air, raw with disbelief and joy. "NOCT—!"
She ran to him, pulling him into a tight embrace, shaking with sobs.
"I thought— I thought you were gone..."
Noct hugged her tightly, whispering, "I'm here now. I'm home."
Moments later, another figure approached.
Selene, arriving with her own burden to deliver—only to find it no longer needed.
She froze when she saw him.
"Noct…"
Tears spilled down her cheeks. Her legs trembled.
And then she sprinted toward him, embracing him in a collision of sorrow and relief.
"I'm so sorry… I couldn't save you… I thought you were gone…"
Noct held her back, silent. He didn't know what to say.
But the embrace was enough. For now.
> Location: Creed of Evolution base
Deep within enemy territory, Rael moved like a shadow. Her Silken Veil shimmered faintly as she slipped through encrypted firewalls, connecting neural threads to the data console.
Lines of code poured onto her embedded screen—files on the Inner Spire, Seraphon's master plan, and something worse: a growing list of targets marked for elimination.
She transferred the files, fingers trembling.
Then the air grew cold.
A slow clap echoed behind her.
Seraphon.
"You're quite clever, little webspinner. But you've tugged the wrong thread."
His metallic voice filled the room.
Rael spun around. "You're too late."
He smiled faintly. "Am I?"
Aether pressure flooded the room. Rael's body blurred as she activated her final failsafe.
Clone Relay: Body Swap.
A silken double emerged from the wall behind Seraphon, and in a flash of charged strings—
She was gone.
Only her clone remained, twitching as it unraveled into dust.
Rael landed on a rooftop miles away, panting.
"Got it," she whispered.
Now she just had to get it home.