The broken arches of the Temple of Lyseria smoldered behind her as Lila raced through the hidden valley's narrow corridors—her bare feet touching the pulse-laced ground as if guided by something ancient and alive.

Mana roared behind her.

The Hybrids—those bred through the fusion of divine essence and mortal flesh—had descended like an execution squad, intent on erasing her from existence.

But the temple, the last fragment of Lyseria's soul, had not betrayed its heir.

The golden threads of her bloodline glowed through her skin as she ran. Her Seer eyes, now shining with layers of sapphire and ivory, mapped the exit routes in flickers of foresight, and her breath kept a steady rhythm even as the air behind her trembled with the chasing hounds of the capital's inner guard.

A sharp voice from behind echoed.

"There she is!"

Five elite hybrids lunged from the rooftops above—clad in celestial-forged armor, their movements graceful as wind, cruel as thunder.

Lila's face remained calm.

But her blood burned.

She twisted and leapt, mana surging like a geyser beneath her feet. Her cloak shredded off, revealing the glowing tattoos that had formed across her collarbone and back—the crest of Lyseria in full bloom.

They tried to strike.

But the moment their blades reached her—

She vanished.

Reappearing thirty feet away, her Seer bloodline having momentarily warped space to avoid death.

The five hybrids were stunned.

She raised a hand—and the ground quaked.

Not from power she cast.

But from what awoke in response to her bloodline as she muttered cooly.

"Stay here for me, would you?"

From beneath the jungle floor, the hidden creatures once loyal to Lyseria slithered from hiding—ancient reptiles and sacred beasts long thought extinct. They hissed and snarled at the hybrids, stalling them as Lila used the moment to flee deeper into the foliage.

She leapt into a flowing river, flowing upstream with impossible speed—her mana forming a mist cloak that deflected light and sound. As she reached the opposite side, drenched and breathless, she felt it.

A rift—a tear between the Hybrid domain and the neutral lands beyond.

A final chance.

Her mind spun with fragments of Lyseria's legacy—words and faces not hers, memories not hers—but she let it flow.

"This world will never let you live in peace... unless you are strong enough to claim that peace."

With one final surge, Lila ripped open the veil, drawing on the Seer's legacy buried deep in her soul—and crossed.

Just as the capital bells began to toll.

---

Meanwhile, at the elusive and the Divine Hybrids capital at the centre of their territory, lays the courtroom of the High-class Hybrids which went to go see Kaelen at the Hollow in Deadroot forest not too long ago.

The throne room was unlike any other— pillars of polished obsidian lined the walls, inscribed with mana glyphs only those of divine heritage could read. High above, a floating dais suspended itself midair, on which sat twelve figures—the High-Class Hybrids.

This time, they looked more divine than humanoid nor beast.

Their bodies were draped in robes of starfire silk, skin etched with golden lines, and their eyes glowed with fragments of Celestial essence. Unlike the common hybrids, these were born from direct bloodlines—descendants of Fallen Celestials and ancient monarchs.

One of them, a man with moonstone hair, broke the silence.

"She has awakened."

Another—a woman with crimson eyes and serpent-scale tattoos down her arm—nodded grimly. "Confirmed. She's not only a Seer. She's the last bearer of Lyseria's line."

Shock coursed through the council.

The eldest among them, known only as Prime Venerant Nahlos, stood from his elevated throne. His voice was low, vibrating through every bone in the chamber.

"Lyseria was exiled by the Celestials themselves. Her legacy was never meant to return. This… is heresy incarnate."

"What do we do?" one asked. "She's fled the capital. We've lost her signal."

Nahlos's eyes burned.

"We will bring this matter to the Celestials. They will not ignore this. If the Seers have truly returned, they will act."

The room went still.

Then the woman with crimson eyes stepped forward. "And what of the girl?"

Nahlos's expression darkened. "We capture her. Dead or alive. Before her existence ignites a war we cannot control."

A final pause.

Then the bell tolled again—three deep chimes—signaling the dispatch of the Obsidian Cloaks, the Hybrids' highest hunters.

---

Back far beyond the Vein Crossing, high in the clouds far beyond the mountain, Lila soared unseen, her mana carefully cloaked. Her Seer blood burned with new purpose.

She whispered beneath her breath, her voice trembling but strong.

"Whatever they're hiding… whatever my mother tried to protect… I'll find it."

But unbeknownst to her, far, far away, in the celestial planes above Aetheris…

A single pair of golden eyes were now on her.

–––––

The silence within the chamber Kaelen and the others stumbled into were unnerving.

The air was still—too still. Mana didn't flow naturally in this part of the Vein Crossing, it clotted, like blood thickening in an open wound.

Kaelen stood with arms folded, his sharp gaze sweeping the massive cavern chamber they had stumbled into. Right in front of them, towering well above a two-story house, stood a monolithic statue of obsidian—humanoid, yet beyond human. Its head was bowed, arms crossed, and ancient sigils ran down its robe-like body.

It wasn't just a carving.

It radiated pressure. Like a thousand dead gods were trapped inside it.

Morris narrowed his eyes, stepping closer to it, his mana domain simmering slightly as if reacting to something familiar. His fingers trembled—not with fear, but with understanding.

"This…" he said, voice breaking the heavy silence. "This isn't just a statue. I am completely sure of this."

Everyone turned.

Morris took a deep breath. "I've seen drawings of this. Not just in the old scrolls—but at the restricted vault in Pacesetters Academy. This posture, these glyphs… this is an Eternal."

The group froze.

Kelvin stepped up beside him, scythe on his back glowing faintly from residual energy of the earlier battle. "An Eternal? One of the ancient beings the Celestials couldn't control?"

Guinevere's eyes flared with her Amaterasu flame for just a moment. "That can't be true. What would an Eternal be doing sealed in a place like this?"

Eirana tilted her head. "Maybe this place was never just a crossing… maybe it's a tomb."

Kaelen didn't say anything. But his gaze had sharpened. "Then we need to understand what this place is before it wakes up. Or worse… before someone else does."

They began splitting up, cautiously scanning the cavern's massive perimeter. Runes were etched into the walls, some glowing faintly with mana from an age long gone. Cracks formed a spiral around the Eternal statue's base—none of them had noticed it before.

"There's no visible exit," Ethan murmured as he ran a hand along the rough cavern wall, his mist-like mana flickering with unease. "And no way forward."

"Unless…" Morris suddenly said.

They turned.

Morris was now standing on a small platform near the Eternal's feet, his eyes wide with comprehension. "Unless this thing was meant to be the seal and the gate."

Kaelen joined him. "What do you mean?"

"These runes," Morris gestured. "They're not just Celestial. There are Nullcarver elements here. And… Human. Old Human."

"Wait!" Eirana exclaimed in worry when she saw Morris was about to touch anything.

But it was too late.

He pressed his palm to one of the glowing glyphs.

And that was the trigger.

The ground beneath them rumbled.

The statue trembled once—slow, but unmistakable.

Then again.

A surge of mana rippled through the chamber so fiercely it knocked Guinevere back into the wall. The Amaterasu flames around her erupted defensively.

"The hell did you just do, Morris?!" she barked.

"I didn't activate anything!" Morris defended, backing off quickly. "I just… touched it!"

Cracks spiderwebbed up the legs of the statue, glowing golden and red, as if blood and fire were coursing through once-dead veins. A horrid, celestial chime echoed—neither scream nor song, but both.

Then a deep breath filled the room.

The statue moved.

A slow, grinding creak echoed as the Eternal's head lifted, revealing hollow eye sockets that began glowing a dim violet.

"No. No. No!" Ethan hissed, pulling his twin blades out as he backed toward the group. "We need to leave—NOW!"

"I don't think we can!" Kelvin snapped, his Blood Void domain beginning to shimmer around him.

The Eternal's voice—if it could be called that—slithered out in a language older than time. It wasn't speech, it was truth spoken directly into their souls.

"Why... do you wake what should sleep?"

Kaelen's eyes narrowed. "We didn't mean to."

"Yet here you stand… six lights in the dark… and one of them is missing."

They froze.

Lila.

Guinevere's breath hitched. "It… knows her?"

The Eternal tilted its head. Its movement was sluggish, as if only a fragment of its true self had awakened.

"The Seer walks the path of Revelation… and the Blade walks the path of Remembrance. You are not ready. But you have opened the door…"

Suddenly, a powerful shockwave pulsed outward from the Eternal, hurling them all off their feet. Rock crumbled from the ceiling, and mana boiled into the air, suffocating and erratic.

Kaelen, on one knee, growled through gritted teeth. "What… is it doing?"

Morris's eyes widened in realization. "It's not fully awake… but it's calling something… summoning something!"

Then the chamber began shifting.

Massive stone slabs slid open in the walls around them, revealing dozens of long-sealed passageways—each pulsing with corrupted mana.

Eirana shouted, "It's turned this entire place into a maze!"

Kaelen pulled himself up. "Everyone together. We find the exit—now!"

And behind them, the Eternal's hollow gaze watched them go. Silent.

And waiting.

But as the last of them disappeared into the shifting labyrinth, the Eternal whispered to no one—

"The seals are weakening… the blood has returned… and the cycle will begin anew."