She lifted both arms. The black and white in her eyes bled together, leaving only ink-dark hollows. Her skin split and fell away, jade-white bone laid bare. She raised her arms and chanted:

"Restrictions lifted! Magic Armor, stack!"

"O gods of the starry sky, cast down your gaze. Let the star-river pave a road, let stars burn as lanterns, toward the unknown hall… In this very moment… Unseal!"

The star-river cloaked Yuan Dai again. Pure-white Magic Armor flared and, the instant it formed, began to crumble inch by inch. A call from the deep rose to an unheard peak. It slammed her spirit and rang through her skull.

Yuan Dai seized the Prince by the shoulders. She drove her forehead forward, then looked down at Moon Owl below. She didn’t waste words. Moon Owl knew. This was their last chance to end him.

"Wanderer of the vast cosmos, pause and show mercy. Tear the void from the real! Behold me, who crushes mountains, who sails the morning star… Τα αστέρια ρέουν και το κενό είναι ατελείωτο"

Space shattered as she swung. The Prince’s pupils blew wide. In his eyes, a deep void bloomed. From the far horizon, stars streamed and wove. Behind those shining rivers was endless dark. Fallen stars tugged and sank, drawn by an unseen hunger.

He struggled. Useless. He fought. His body was dragged, inch by inch, toward a void that devoured all. He tried to speak. His voice guttered like a candle in wind, and nothing came out.

Fear finally found him. He didn’t dare turn into blood mist. The void behind him would swallow it in a blink. Moon Owl’s blade closed. He snatched Yuan Dai by the neck and held her up as a shield.

Moon Owl’s dagger faltered. Then Yuan Dai’s last cry cut through:

"Kill me!"

Her body had fallen to bone. Her eyes were empty, and inside them slept a bottomless lure. All the dark of time flooded her, ready to spill from her frame.

Moon Owl bit down. The dagger fell. Space fractured, and with it, the bodies of the Prince and Yuan Dai.

Deep space stretched and pulled. It ground their flesh and blood to nothing. It swallowed them until not a trace remained.

The Magic Stone from the Prince’s heart hung behind, floating in the black. Moon Owl took it in her palm. Grief rose from the core of her chest. Yuan Dai was truly gone this time. She would never return. Moon Owl had killed her with her own hand.

The sea of Blood, freed from the Prince’s control, collapsed. It broke into a rain of scarlet that hammered down.

Moon Owl stood in that rain, quiet, and mourned for Yuan Dai.

Then she moved. Space bloomed from her palm. Caris’s locked form surfaced inside the pocket.

Moon Owl’s eyes couldn’t hide the hate. "I never wanted to hate you like this. But they all died by your hand."

Caris struggled. Futile. The dagger slit space and shredded all within the compressed pocket. Moon Owl waved. She sent Caris into the deepest fold of space, to rot alone.

It was over. Old grudges and new debts.

Moon Owl closed her eyes. For the first time, her heart felt light. With that lightness came endless fatigue. Her body wavered in the air, then fell, limp, into the blood sea.

"What a mess…"

The curtain of rain thickened, blinding Qianchun’s sight. The far scene vanished. She could only feel the Magic Stone in her palm. It no longer burned or cried to return to its master.

That wasn’t Qianchun’s fight. Even if Yuan Dai saved her, she couldn’t face a Cantata Three who could crush her like dust. If it were Blood Spawn, she could still hope to stand.

Maybe guilt. Maybe powerlessness. But that’s the law of survival. The weak get culled. It never changes.

The blood rain stopped.

Qianchun held the Magic Stone and followed the map toward the Twelfth District branch.

Because of the rain, the Blood Spawn made of pure blood had swelled larger. But they were weaker, slower. Two or three members could hold them back.

"You did well."

Blade had seen it all. With a racket that big, missing it would mean she was blind.

She felt the weight in Qianchun’s heart. Blade knew that feeling. Lately, it had been heavy.

Members of the Twelfth District branch had died one by one. In the end, only a few scraped by. The enemy grew stronger. They grew thin.

The Blood Spawn outside didn’t halt. The Cantata Two were still keeping them busy. Those boots drank the falling rain and grew fiercer.

The Blood Spawn the reserve squad had held wrenched free. They charged the branch, near-mad.

A storm of bullets did nothing. Mana slashes only slowed their steps. Then, far off, jeeps and motorcycles roared. They drifted in, blocking the charge.

The crew moved fast. They hauled liquid nitrogen from trunks and bikes. They rolled big drums to the Blood Spawn’s feet, chambered rounds, and shot the drums open. Pure-white cold rose like a weapon.

The killing frost sealed their legs. Not enough. The teams on the ground kept pitching small LN bottles, locking the brutes in ice.

"So how do we deal with him?"

Blade was ready. She rallied anyone who could move. With chainsaws and more, they cut and packed the frozen Blood Spawn into sealed containers in minutes. After, Blade would dispose of it by special means. Throw it in a furnace and steam it to nothing. She’d keep one can for research. Next time, they wouldn’t be so helpless.

"About Moon Owl—Lu Shi, once you finish, bring Moon Owl back. I’ve sent the coordinates."

Blade looked at the ruined street. Another week’s work, piled high. She just wanted a good rest. Was that so hard?

"And Qianchun—"

Click.

The office Key turned. Qianchun hobbled into Blade’s office. Wet shoes trailed mud and blood, a bitter, copper stink that hit Blade’s nose and snapped her awake.

Blade glanced at the Magic Stone Qianchun carried. She listened, and understood why Yuan Dai chose that road.

"That’s the price. The price of Unsealing. Moon Owl had me compile this. Some of it’s my guesswork, might be off. Read it as you can."

Blade set the file before Qianchun. She didn’t say more. She had a frontline to command. No time.

"First, shower."

Blade pinched her nose and shooed Qianchun out. She called a nurse to bandage her after.

Qianchun grabbed a tablet and changed clothes. Blood and rain had soaked her. The cling had outlined her shape. The heavy fabric stuck, and movement felt slow.

She left the showers. She used a towel from the locker to dry her hair. She sat on the bench outside the bath and read the tablet, line by line.

The price means trading part of yourself for power after an Unsealing. In the Twelfth’s logs and the records of Yuan Dai and prior Wardens, the price might be resolve. Might be leadership. Might be what you love. It varies by person.

The more you Unseal, the higher the price. In the end, they all settle on your back. You grow unlucky. You lose everything.

To gain great power, you must pay greatly. That’s truth.

Only the Twelfth, and a few districts, publish these prices. Headquarters and other Magic Maidens don’t. They bury the news and preach their creed instead.

Unsealing first came from early Seekers. For test reasons, that ability and Magic Spells weren’t spread.

The first Cantata Three didn’t have Unsealing. As Monsters kept growing, the strong Cantata Three learned it. They carried it onto the field.

"It’s not that Unsealing is handy. It’s that Magic Maidens need it."

Qianchun scrolled on. Blade had found one of the few solid cases: a Magic Maiden from District One Unsealed too many times. The moment she killed the Monster, her body collapsed.

She was a physique-type Maiden. Her price was her flesh. Estimates put her total Unsealings past twenty. District One was under a Monster tide then. In one day, she Unsealed six times at least. Her body blew past its limit and died.

People differ in constitution, but Blade drew a rough line. Unseal once a month, and the price stays small. Unsealing once or twice in a day is a normal ceiling for a Cantata Three. More than that, the price spikes.

No one knows how many times Yuan Dai Unsealed that day. By Moon Owl’s account, it had to be five or more. By Qianchun’s account, her surviving at all was a miracle.

Flesh collapsing. Mana rampaging. Sight gone dark. Memory torn. Madness rising. It all struck Yuan Dai. Maybe, in a brief clear window, she felt her time run short. So she gave Qianchun the Magic Stone, and burned her last strength to sweep the Twelfth clean.

She deserves respect. Qianchun cupped the Magic Stone. It glowed like a firefly.

"Right? You think so too?"