Moonlight was a region near the Western Magic Academy on the western edge of the human world. Though spanning only a few hundred square miles, it held immense significance.
Both the Royal City and the Mercenary Guild had issued strict orders: no one was to privately destroy or occupy this place. Yet with no obvious treasures to plunder, it gradually faded from public attention. Why did the two greatest powers of humanity guard it so carefully?
Because Moonlight was the sole Spirit Eye in the human realm—a place even the highest authorities dared not disturb, for their understanding of Spirit Eyes was perilously shallow.
A Spirit Eye, as the name suggested, was a place where Spirits were born. Spirits emerged from the deceased—ghosts, specters, vengeful wraiths, souls; entities with subtly shifting definitions.
Theoretically, existence ended at death. Yet the world granted the departed one chance: if bound by an intense obsession at the moment of passing, a soul might transform into a Spirit, emerging from a Spirit Eye somewhere in the world.
But becoming a Spirit came at a cost. First, Spirits retained no memories, nor even physical forms. Only the strongest regained their original appearance swiftly; weaker ones required decades. Second, even after regaining form, a Spirit could never grasp its own obsession—knowing it sought to kill or wait for someone, yet never recalling who that person was. Third, and cruelest of all: if a Spirit encountered something that clarified its obsession, all memories of its past life would flood back—but its lifespan would shrink to a single day.
Spirits were a new form of life, destined to linger for centuries before fading.
Thus, this could be seen as the world’s mercy—or its cruel amusement. It forced the living to cling to the dead, ensuring that even if two lovers reunited against impossible odds, they’d be parted again within a day. Revenge? Impossible in mere hours.
Yet the world never lacked Heaven Defying souls. Once, a being of immense power refused to accept his wife’s death. For decades, he scoured every Spirit Eye nearby, chasing a near-zero probability. Against all odds, he found her Spirit.
He altered his appearance with magic to approach her. The memory-less Spirit, knowing only that she longed for someone, quickly grew dependent on him.
He settled near the Spirit Eye. For years, he abandoned his pursuit of Mana, dedicating himself to one spell: Life Transference. He dreamed of revealing his true self and sharing his life with her.
Ten years. Twenty... A century. Two centuries...
Even near the Spirit Eye, both their lifespans dwindled.
The Spirit felt profound gratitude. Though she remembered whom she awaited, two centuries passed without her uttering a word to him. She simply stayed by his side.
Finally, as his formidable life force neared its end, he perfected Life Transference—a spell effective only on Spirits, and only when the living willingly consented.
Before her, he shed his disguise. The Spirit beheld his aged, achingly familiar face. Her mind thundered. Memories of her past life—and two centuries beside him—rushed back. She understood everything.
Tears streamed down her face, vanishing into spirit light before they could touch the ground. Her mortal strength had been weak; as a Spirit, she couldn’t solidify her form. An embrace was impossible.
He smiled, truly happy. Hadn’t he endured all this for this single moment? He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her insubstantial form. She wept, her translucent arms encircling him in return. They held each other tightly, feeling nothing yet knowing the other was there.
*Life Transference: Activated...*
Six months later, hand in hand, they walked toward the Spirit Eye and faded away.
...
After Xiamu, the green-haired girl, finished the tale of Moonlight and Spirits, the two girls and two boys before her were visibly moved.
One girl—short-haired like Xiamu, radiating a bold, spirited air—sighed.
“How wonderful... I wish someone would love me for over two hundred years.”
She sat hugging her knees by the campfire. The flickering light caught the dampness at her eyes. Suddenly, she turned to Xiamu.
“Sister Xiamu, help me! I’ve confessed to your brother twice already! He won’t accept me—and it’s not just me! Half our academy’s chasing him!”
Xiamu could only smile wryly. She recalled her brother’s plea: *Don’t you dare set me up. If anything, stop them for me. I only want to confess to one person.*
Complicating matters, the blue-haired girl he admired had also approached Xiamu: *Sister Xiamu, please talk him out of it. I don’t want to hold him back.*
What could Xiamu do? Sit back and watch the drama unfold.
Another girl and one boy—already a couple—had been swept by tender feelings after the story, ready to show affection. But the short-haired girl’s outburst dissolved their mood into awkward smiles.
The last boy seethed inwardly. *Could you just pick someone already? You’re crushing us single guys’ chances!*
“Sigh... He’s probably already left,” Xiamu murmured. “While we’re stuck doing missions during this three-month break.”
She knew exactly where her brother had gone. Tossing a bone-like fragment into the fire, she watched the flames dance.
The five often teamed up. Now, deep within the Bone Forest at the heart of Moonlight Forest, they camped for the night. The forest earned its name from trees that eerily resembled bones—though otherwise ordinary, even flammable.
Their mission: investigate the disappearances of Spirits. Moonlight Village, bordering the forest, was a rare place where Spirits and humans coexisted. Recently, Spirit villagers had been vanishing—a bizarre event for beings with centuries-long lifespans.
So, on this holiday night, the five took turns keeping watch.
The Bone Forest held no Magical Beasts, only newly formed Spirits with hazy consciousness—entities hostile to the living. Conversely, Moonlight Forest teemed with Magical Beasts but no such Spirits. This created a safe zone at their border.
Twenty miles from the Bone Forest’s center, they decided to rest and scout at dawn. Night offered no disadvantage to enraged Spirits, but severely hampered humans.
As Xiamu pondered how to help her brother, she drifted into sleep.
The next morning, after a breakfast of dry rations, they advanced cautiously toward the center. Any attacking Spirits were swiftly subdued.
Reaching the midpoint, all five froze. No one expected a crater over a hundred meters wide at the forest’s heart! Though its depths were hidden from afar, instinct screamed this was the source of the anomaly.
Exchanging grim glances, they crept forward. Nothing threatened them until the crater’s edge—a deceptive calm before the storm.
Five meters from the rim, chaos erupted. A torrent of Spirits surged from the pit, surrounding a colossal bone claw.
The claw—and the arm it belonged to—stretched seven meters long. Pure bone, yet undeniably inhuman.
Amid the Spirits’ shrieks, the claw slammed down!
The seasoned team retreated instantly, barely dodging the crushing blow. But the impact shattered the earth, hurling them airborne. Countless Spirits swarmed toward them.
Xiamu’s scalp prickled—not from the Spirits, but the claw’s aura. She’d felt such power only on the Academy Headmaster. Which meant...
“Demon Ascension...”
A Demon Ascended being! On par with the Five Academy Heads!
“Sister Xiamu!”
The short-haired girl unleashed a wind spell, blasting Xiamu backward just as Spirits overwhelmed the other four. Bone cages erupted from the earth, trapping them.
“Don’t worry about us! Run, Xiamu!”
“Get back to the Academy! Bring the Headmaster!”
“Sister Xiamu, go!”
The others roared at her. They might die—but if Xiamu was captured too, all hope died. Though unfamiliar with Demon Ascension, they knew this entity belonged to the Realm of Magic. Five Class B adventurers stood no chance.
Sensing Xiamu escaping, the Spirits swarmed after her. She gritted her teeth, casting Wind Guard. *This isn’t the time for ‘I won’t abandon you.’ Only I can save them by getting help.*
Landing, she sprinted in the opposite direction. A tidal wave of Spirits pursued her—including Spirits with distinct forms. Villagers. But their auras radiated unnatural fury, as if controlled.
“Hold on!” the trapped four prayed silently. Xiamu was their only hope.
The bone claw seized the four cages. Before they could cry out, they were yanked into the pit and lost consciousness...
Deep within the hundred-meter crater, two points of crimson light flickered. Sensing the Spirits receding, the lights dimmed slowly—until they vanished completely.
