“Before that, you need to meet your final Companion.”

Final—? The others… have I met them?

Aerin’s heart snagged like a kite in crosswind; a small silver-white silhouette flashed in her mind, then rippled away. Before she could ask, the boat shuddered.

She lifted her head—sand gleamed, rock rusted red, and far off the coast a deep band of green sprawled.

The boat had reached shore.

…

…

They crossed the sand. Step by step they climbed the gentle rise of red-brown stone, toward a forest that stretched along the coastline like a dark river with no end. Night wind stroked them; tree shadows swayed and whispered, a soughing like secrets at a grave, pricking unease.

“Master Bai, where is this?” The girl’s gaze clung to that ink-black wood, a heaviness tugging at her spirit.

“By your words, that forest is—Alberia Woods,” the black-clad Demon King said, voice calm.

Aerin froze. Alberia Woods… the one also called Witchwood Forest, famed across the continent, said to seal the Azure Witch Alberia—taboo ground of the Church of the Divine?!

Her breath caught, then rushed out. “Alberia Woods is in the Crescent Empire, isn’t it?! How long did I sleep?”

The Crescent Empire bordered her homeland; neighbor or not, crossing a whole country from the capital to that forbidden forest wasn’t a single night’s sail.

“Finally caught up.” Ye Weibai gave her an are-you-dumb look. “It’s already the second night.”

“Ah.” Aerin clutched her head; the world swayed like tidewater. “No wonder I woke up dizzy.”

“My Companion… is there?” She pointed beyond the forest, where the shadow of a city crouched like a sleeping beast.

Behind Alberia Woods lay a major bastion of the Church in the Crescent Empire—Beschet Holy City—tasked with guarding Witchwood Forest.

She didn’t think the Hero King’s Companion would be inside that murk. By Church telling, the forest sealed the one closest to the Demon King—the Azure Witch. Ordinary folk, not even daring to approach, would be lured by the Witch’s whispers and sink into becoming her thralls.

Only those baptized in the Church’s sacred light could resist the Witch’s erosion; even then, even Knights of the Sacred Light avoided that sinister wood like frostbite.

So her first Companion must be in the Holy City. Who would it be? One of the Four Knights of the Apocalypse? A Hierophant of the Sacred Word?

Or… could it be… the Sky Saintess?

The one renowned across the continent, who drew countless hearts—men and women alike—into awed devotion: the Church’s foremost Saintess—Sky Saintess Astraea.

Her thoughts ballooned and tangled, but for some reason the thrill didn’t rise. She had thought the “first” Companion would set her blood dancing; instead, the word “first” left her chest hollow, like something had been bitten out of her heart.

The feeling struck like a cold draft; she wanted to tell Master Bai, but his voice cut in.

“No.” Ye Weibai shook his head. “Not there, but there.”

Aerin followed his hand—he was pointing into the forest.

“She lives inside the forest,” he said, and the words fell like stones through still water.

Not “is”—but “lives”?

Someone lives in that knot of evil and chaos?

The golden-haired girl couldn’t believe it, but she never doubted Master Bai. No matter what, Master Bai would never harm her. In this World, he was the only family she had left.

She nodded. “Then… do we go in?”

Her gaze brushed the hush-dark depths; the longer she stared, the more it tugged, like her sight was being pulled in, her soul loosening from its shell. Ye Weibai reached out, flicked her forehead, a crisp snap that brought her back.

“Don’t stare. Idiot,” Ye Weibai said, irritated like wind against thorns.

“Ah.” Aerin covered her brow. It didn’t hurt; warmth pooled in her chest like dawn light.

“We do go in,” he answered her earlier question, voice steady as a drawn blade.

“Mm! Got it.” Her soul had almost been hooked, yet she nodded hard, no hesitating. She didn’t know if a Hero King could withstand a Witch’s erosion, but she knew—Master Bai would shield her.

“Don’t rush.” Ye Weibai shook his head. “Before that, there’s a trial you must face.”

“A trial?” Her thoughts stilled like a lake under frost.

“Yes. Your trial.” He lifted his head, looking right; in eyes black as ink, a white blaze gathered.

Aerin followed his gaze. On the black river, points of white light drifted, floating from the far current toward shore, like lanterns born of ice.

A sea of stars spilled across Nightfall, glittering bright in the dark.

As the glow drew close, shapes sharpened. Not starlight—but holy radiance. The radiance of Sanctum Knights.

Under the Church of the Divine, the Sanctum Knights were war machines built for slaughter and judgment. Their mark: bodies sealed in heavy white sacred armor, the plates breathing silver-white light; thus people called them Radiant Knights.

They served the Church, yet their hands bore more blood than any condemned murderer. Across the continent, none were ignorant of them… and none were unafraid.

They rarely deployed; when they did, nothing grew in their wake.

Even if demonry touched one soul in a village, their arrival often ended with the entire place—every villager—slaughtered and burned to ash.

Seeing those knights, Aerin’s first thought flashed like steel— they were here to hunt the Azure Witch.

But Master Bai’s next words washed color from her face.

“They,” Ye Weibai said softly, calm as falling snow, “are your trial.”

…

…