Sezel stared out the cracked window, his breathing beginning to steady. Each inhale came easier than the last. The...the rain had stopped.

He didn't waste another heartbeat. Striding across the room, he shook Shiki awake first, then Vesta. They didn't believe him at first, not until their eyes followed his pointing hand. Out beyond the shattered glass, they saw it themselves; the streets no longer dimpled with falling drops. The venomous rain had stopped. Completely.

Even the dark clouds had started to recced back slowly, their bloated bodies slowly retreating. Through those widening gaps came fractured beams of gold-edged sunlight, piercing the gloom like lances. Shafts of filtered light illuminated the dead city below, igniting the ruins in patches that almost seemed sacred.

The moment's awe passed, replaced by urgency. Minutes were precious in the Spirit Realm. They could not afford to waste any.

Within moments, they were climbing up to the roof of the school.

The wind met them as soon as they pushed open the rooftop access. The breeze was soft and cool, carrying with it the faint, coppery tang left behind by the poisoned rain. Every stone, every patch of moss still glistened with wetness, the remnants of the rain that had lashed for the last fifteen days.

Mari had woken as well and now stood beside them, her small hands brushing hair from her eyes as she squinted against the thin morning glare. The four of them stood together on the high roof, eyes sweeping across the horizon.

From here almost all of the city was visible, to their east was the humongous castle, the place where Sezel had started his journey inside the Spirit Realm, its sheer size was staggering. The structure rose like a mountain out of the ruins.

At some distance from the castle was the entrance of the ruined city and to their surprise that part was not engulfed by the flood waters.

The flood had only just begun where the mall stood, the water stood, but didn't move beyond an invisible line, emphasizing that it was just contained within the area marked by the beast, so they will be safe as long as they could get out of here.

But instead of turning back toward where they'd started, their eyes were drawn to the opposite side. Not out of curiosity, no, that would have been too gentle a word. It was something heavier. The other side wasn't simply intriguing. It was magnetic in the way a cliff edge is to someone afraid of heights. It pulled them in with the promise of answers.

The wall stood exactly level with the school building's own height, so from the roof the view was as surreal as it could get.

It was stretching away in both directions until it curved gently from sight. It was not a fence, not a district partition. But rather, it was a circular wall, and the area inside was isolated from the outside world.

At one point in its length stood a rusted iron gate, massive and dark. If there was a way through, that was it.

There was a thin sheet of mist covering the surroundings, but everything was unnatural accept that. Where their side was drenched and waterlogged, the territory beyond the wall was bone-dry. There was not a single drop of the venomous water beyond the wall. The other side was as dry as it could get.

The ground there was covered in tall, straw-colored wilderness, brittle stalks whispering and swaying together in the soft wind. The sound was disturbingly gentle. Here and there, the skeletal remains of buildings poked up through the grass.

And further in lay the real focus: a cluster of enormous old factories, their shapes crumbling but still daunting. Three of them stood facing in different directions like sentries, and between them was a massive cylindrical structure. It was made of metal, though streaked with dirt, and marked here and there with spots of rust. Compared to the other metal ruins they'd seen in the Spirit Realm, it was strangely intact.

They were no doubt the biggest pieces of architecture they had seen after the giant's castle.

It was made up of metal, or something close as it had a few rust patterns on it, but it wasn't completely rusted like the other metallic objects.

The factories were buried under a thick mesh of blackened vines that crawled over the walls and swallowed all detail. Beyond them, scattered debris hinted at other smaller structures, but it was difficult to make out from here.

One last strange detail caught their eyes. Near the centre of the complex was a body of water — not a natural lake, but a man‑made basin lined with brick and tiles, more like a giant pool. Even stranger, the land immediately around it was barren, without so much as a blade of grass.

"What is this place supposed to be?" Shiki asked, frowning.

"I have no idea," Sezel said after a moment. "It looks like something humans built."

Vesta stepped closer to the edge of the roof, eyes scanning the view. "Everything around here is human‑made," she said. "Or made by something as intelligent as humans. Or…" she hesitated, taking in a slow breath, "…all of it could be a fabrication. Shaped by Spirit Energy. We still have no idea what it really is, or how it works."

Sezel processed the information for a second and then nodded, it was indeed the most logical argument, it might all be, just a fabrication of reality. As the spirit energy was connected to humans so this might be a place built up from their worst imaginations.

Still, something about the sight made him uneasy, like the truth was there but just out of reach.

For now, there was no time to dwell on it. They had to move and get out of the Cecaelia's territory before it reappeared.

He dropped to a crouch and unslung the sniper rifle he'd made the puppet scavenge it for exactly

this reason. It was not so much helpful to him because he doesn't know how to infuse a bullet with Spirit Energy, nor does a gun fits the use of his fable.

What it did have was one advantage: the scope.

Sezel set the rifle down, adjusted the scope to its full 50x magnification, and peered through, which was impressive for even a sniper rifle to have.

The cylinder between the three factories snapped into sharp detail. Up close, it wasn't rusted after all — just layered with filth.

He slowly panned the scope across the dry grassland… and froze.

Through the swaying grass that hid the ground, something moved, slow and predatory towards the cylinder.

From the shadow of one of the factory buildings came another ripple of movement — then another.

Some dark figures stirred through the endless expanse of the golden wilderness.