Afterward, we see Tris riding a train. Now transformed into a stunning woman, she draws everyone’s attention. Even when she lights a cigarette, multiple men rush over to offer their help.
Meanwhile, elsewhere, someone begins painting on a wall using their own blood. As the drawing takes shape, something sinister awakens—the person transforms into a strange, otherworldly creature.
Back with Klein, Dan, and Frye, the trio heads to Lamode Castle after a warning from Elizabeth. She had visited Klein earlier and told him about her recurring nightmares after returning from Lamode City. In her dreams, she saw a huge castle and a ghostly knight—visions so vivid they drove Klein to investigate.
As they arrive, Frye senses something ominous and points out a shadow hovering above the castle. To deal with it, they brought along a Third-Degree Sealed Artifact called the Silent Holy Sun Emblem. This artifact can obliterate any spiritual entity within 15 meters in under a minute—but it also drives intruders insane if they stay near it for longer than six hours. They had just 28 hours left before that insanity effect kicked in, so time was short.
Upon entering the castle, Klein uses his spiritual powers, and black smoke appears. Suddenly, a sword emerges from the smoke and attacks them. They dodge the strike as the sword returns to its master—a ghostly knight.
Klein tries calming the knight with a Lamentation Spell, but it quickly breaks free and resumes its attack. Dan calls out to Frye to find the knight’s weakness. The knight strikes Dan, knocking him down and causing him to drop the sealed artifact.
Frye identifies the knight’s weak spot—the gauntlet on its hand—but they’re unable to land a blow. Klein, realizing he feels no pain, understands they’re inside a dream. The knight charges again, attacking Dan, who then activates the mutated Holy Sun Emblem. The artifact completely obliterates the ghost, leaving behind only the gauntlet, which Dan picks up.
Frye then notes something odd: the ghost was too powerful to just be haunting this old castle—it must have arrived recently. Then, Klein finds a 1,000-year-old portrait of the castle’s owner, who had mysteriously vanished. To his shock, the man looks exactly like Azik Eggers, Klein’s mentor. This raises his suspicions about Azik’s true nature, though he pushes the thought aside… for now.
To be thorough, the group decides to stay longer and rotate guard duty every two hours. Dan, after handing the artifact to Klein, goes off to rest with Frye.
Alone, Klein studies the artifact. He reflects that it’s highly effective against spiritual monsters and is connected to the Sun Path, though its origins remain unknown. Deciding to investigate deeper, Klein brings it to the Gray Fog.
Using his divination ability, he traces the artifact’s origin. He witnesses a figure pouring a golden liquid into the artifact. The figure then vanishes in a mysterious way. Curious, Klein replays the vision and this time reaches for the golden material. Suddenly, he’s transported to a strange, fiery realm—there’s nothing but flame… until the Sun appears directly in front of him.
His body and surroundings begin to burn—he’s dying—until the Gray Fog rushes in and pulls him out just in time. Klein realizes in horror: the prophecy took him directly to the sun.
“I was completely burned… If not for the Gray Fog, I’d be ashes,” he thinks. “I have to be far more careful during prophecies—this nearly killed me.”
Yet miraculously, his wounds heal instantly, and he begins to see visions of the Sun Path’s sequences, unlocking more hidden knowledge about this powerful Beyonder path.
Because Klein endured the sun’s flame for one full minute, he received an unexpected reward: the formula for the fourth sequence of the Sun Path. This shocked him, as it was a much higher sequence than he expected. Along with the reward, however, came a warning—never to view the sun’s flame this way again.
Still, Klein was thrilled by the discovery and considered repeating the experience to gain even more insights. But after fixing everything with the help of the Gray Fog, he safely returned to reality before the others noticed. He decided not to take such risks again—for now.
With their mission complete, the group returned. Captain Dunn praised Klein and told him to get some well-earned rest.
Later, Klein received a message: Isaac had information about Hornacis. Although he was eager, Klein couldn’t stop thinking about the bloody painting he had seen in the castle. He wondered whether Isaac had any connection to it.
When Klein arrived at Isaac’s room, he found it empty. But on the wall was a painting made of blood—of the same castle they’d just investigated. This alarmed him. Moments later, Isaac entered and explained he’d been having strange dreams. When he woke up, the painting was already on the wall—he had unconsciously painted it.
Isaac asked Klein to read a book on Hornacis, which belonged to the university and couldn’t leave the premises. As Klein read, he saw the same castle from his dreams, located in the Hornacis Mountain Range—a region separating the Kingdom of Loen and the Republic of Intis. The book described an ancient nation that once existed there.
This made Klein wonder if the book referred to the Nation of Eternal Night, a place mentioned in the Antigonus family notebook. He read about the ancient people’s belief that death wasn’t the end—they preserved the dead to protect them from darkness. However, oddly, no graves or remains were ever found, as if those people never existed.
Isaac then mentioned that this ancient civilization worshipped a mysterious being they called the Ruler of Eternal Night. When Klein heard that name, he began to suspect a connection between this ancient civilization and the modern Church of the Eternal Night.
While they spoke, Isaac asked Klein why he hadn’t touched his coffee. Klein took a sip but found it too bitter, so he added more sugar than usual. Isaac noted that Klein had always taken just one sugar cube before, subtly signaling his growing suspicion. He then told Klein that he’d recently been studying a new science that allowed him to perceive spiritual fluctuations—and he had noticed strange changes in Klein’s fate.
Isaac confessed that Klein’s fear upon seeing both the castle and Isaac himself suggested that Klein knew some hidden truth about him. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “I just want to know something about my past.”
Eventually, Klein agreed to return to the castle with Isaac, though he was anxious. His divination showed that bringing Isaac was safe—and that Isaac would even save him, as long as Klein didn’t reveal his secrets to the Nighthawks.
When they reached the ancient castle, Isaac froze at the gates. He remembered the place clearly from his dreams and described seeing his child playing with a huge sword in the courtyard. Hearing this, Klein realized the ghostly knight they had fought earlier might have been Isaac’s son.
Isaac wandered through the castle and eventually found the old sword. The moment he touched it, a strong wind blew, and the place began restoring itself. Klein saw visions of Isaac’s memories—his son playing joyfully with the sword. But soon, Isaac’s health began to deteriorate, snapping the vision.
As Klein rushed to help, a secret corridor opened in the wall, releasing a foul stench. Despite the horror, Klein and Isaac entered the dark passage. They walked deeper into the ancient corridor until they reached an old grave, where Klein realized someone had tampered with it.
Isaac opened the grave with trembling hands—and inside was the corpse of the ghost that the Nighthawks had previously destroyed. When he saw his son’s lifeless body, a surge of rage overtook him. He knocked Klein aside as all the spirits in the castle began gathering into the room. Klein was shocked—hadn’t the place already been cleansed? Why were the spirits returning?
It soon became clear: all these spirits now belonged to Isaac.
Suddenly, Klein was pulled into a vision of the past. He saw soldiers stacking bodies and preparing to burn them. But then chaos erupted—Isaac’s charred corpse suddenly rose from the flames. In that moment, an old woman’s prophecy echoed: this kind of unnatural resurrection would bring suffering, disaster, and death.
The soldiers tried to kill Isaac again, but he fought back with superhuman strength, cutting them down mercilessly. Just as he was overwhelmed, a giant skeleton appeared, having formed a pact with him. Isaac, who had reached Sequence Two on the Death Pathway, joined forces with the monster and slaughtered all enemies. He kept winning battles and eventually became their commander, earning the title Baron of Lemur City.
For a while, Isaac lived peacefully with his family. But the curse began to take hold—his soldiers became undead, and his wife’s health deteriorated. One day, his son approached, but Isaac, overcome by the curse, lost control and struck the boy.
Horrified, Isaac left everything behind. He wandered into the forest, leaving his wife and son, not wanting to hurt them again. His son called after him, but Isaac never looked back.
Back in the present, Klein eventually woke Isaac from his trance. Calm returned for a moment. But as Klein looked at the ghost’s body, he realized—the skull was missing. Isaac was horrified. His son’s head had been missing for three months. Vowing vengeance, he swore that whoever took it would die painfully.
He used blood magic to track the skull, but the ritual backfired—his blood struck Klein, confusing his senses. Eventually, they reached a mysterious place behind a massive door, where piles of skulls poured out. Isaac searched desperately but couldn’t find his son’s.
At that moment, Klein noticed the invisible feather again—another omen. Isaac admitted he also felt that fate was shifting.
They buried his son’s remains together. As Isaac laid the body to rest, Klein asked, “Do you remember your life now?”
Isaac replied, “No… just fragments. Every few decades, I fall into a deep sleep. When I awaken, I remember nothing—but I still have my name, my basic knowledge, my identity papers. I used to think I was dreaming when I saw all the lives I’d lived, but now I know… it was real. Maybe it’s because I’m connected to death. Maybe this loneliness is the curse of a long life.”
He looked at Klein, thankful, and said, “You don’t know what it’s like to have no past. It’s like a ship lost at sea with no direction. But thanks to you, I’ve finally found my way.”
That moment resonated deeply with Klein, who thought to himself, “I’m also alone in this world.”
But when he returned home, he remembered—he now had Benson and Melissa. Even if he wasn’t the real Klein, he still wanted to create happy memories with them. Because, in the end… he knew he would eventually have to leave them.
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