It was cold. The stone floor clung to her cheek, bitterly cold. Mira slowly opened her eyelids. Her vision was dark. As her eyes adjusted, outlines gradually became visible—rocky surfaces, stone tiles, black mist seeping down from the ceiling. She was deep inside a cave. The sensation of the man's grip around her neck still lingered in her throat. Those cold fingers. That voice. "A guardian of light? A mere girl like this?"—those words had sunk into her chest like stone. Mira tried to push herself up. She placed her right hand on the floor. No strength came. Her elbow trembled and immediately gave way. She gritted her teeth and tried again, forcing herself upright. Her head throbbed with pain. Her eyes were adjusting now. The first thing she saw was Solis. Lying some distance away. His long silver hair was disheveled, scattered across the stone tiles. That body which always carried a quiet, oppressive presence was now terrifyingly still—its very outline blurred and wrapped in black mist. The crescent-shaped mark on his forehead glowed only faintly, so faintly it was almost imperceptible. Like a candle flickering just before it burned out, that light wavered. (He's fading.) Something inside Mira's chest grew cold. Solis was a Celestial Guardian—an existence that maintained the balance between light and shadow, with a lifespan spanning centuries. If Solis continued to be eroded by this black mist. If the ritual continued. He would disappear. That reality spread through her like seeping water. Rian was against the wall. His back pressed against the rock face, his right arm cradled in his left hand. A broken arm—that dull sound from when the man had slammed him against the stone wall echoed in her mind. Rian's short black hair with red streaks was disheveled, his face pale. She could tell from his expression alone that he was enduring pain. But his eyes were open. Those bright green eyes still shone even in the darkness of the cave. Elara sat on the floor hugging her knees. Her light blue ponytail was in disarray, her vivid purple eyes trembling. Her fingertips moved faintly—trying to weave a spell formula, only to have it unravel midway. She tried again. It collapsed again. The black mist filling the cave tangled around the magic formula before it could take shape, scattering it into nothing. Elara's hands were shaking finely. And in the center of the cave—the man in the black robe continued his ritual. A black-purple magic circle spread across the floor. A low, groaning sound echoed off the stone walls and transmitted through her body as vibration. Black mist erupted from cracks in the walls, gradually compressing the space where Mira and the others were. It felt as though the room itself was shrinking. The air was heavy. With each breath, something pressed down on her chest— The power of the Void was filling this cave. Mira tried to stand. She put strength into her legs. Her knees lifted—but immediately fell again. Her legs wouldn't obey. The damage from when the man had gripped her neck, combined with the pressure of the mist saturating the cave, made her body feel as heavy as stone. She extended her right hand forward. She concentrated light. She focused her consciousness on her palm—the Lumen Shot technique, that skill of compressing Lumen into a single point and releasing it. That sensation she had practiced countless times before. Nothing came out. Her palm was just cold. She tried again. She concentrated. She called Lumen to her hand. She drew it in. She compressed it— Nothing came out. She tried again. And again. And again. No matter how many times she tried, her palm remained just a palm, not a single particle of light born from it. Mira collapsed where she knelt. (Why) Tears came. She tried to stop them, but they wouldn't stop. A sob forced its way up her throat. Solis was fading. Rian's arm was broken. Elara couldn't use magic and was trembling. The man continued his ritual. The Shards were being used to weaken the Void's seal. And yet. "...Why am I the guardian of light?" The words came out. Mixed with her sobs, they tumbled out in pieces. "[crying] I can't do this. This is impossible. I can't—I'm not good enough." She placed her hands on the floor and looked down. Tears fell onto the stone tiles. She had learned to fire Lumen Shot. She had purified Crepsula. But now, in this moment, she could do nothing. Not a single particle of light. Hearing Mira's sobs, Elara curled up even more. Her purple eyes trembled. The cave was dark and cold, with only the low sound of the man's ritual echoing through it. —A sound came. A scraping sound across the stone tiles. Mira didn't lift her face. But the sound continued. Scrape, scrape—the sound of something crawling across the floor. It was Rian. Protecting his broken right arm with his left hand, he pushed himself away from the wall, placed his hands on the floor, and crawled toward Mira. His face was ashen. Cold sweat glistened on his forehead. With each movement, his face twisted slightly—enduring the pain, his gaze never leaving Mira as he drew closer. Rian stopped beside Mira. He was breathing heavily through his mouth. For a moment, he said nothing. He was simply there. Then, in a low voice, he spoke. "...Mira." It wasn't his usual casual tone. There was no hint of jokes. No trace of teasing. Just a straightforward voice. "[serious] It's not over yet." Mira didn't lift her face. Still hugging her knees, still looking down, feeling tears fall onto the stone tiles—Rian's voice reached her ears, but it felt distant somehow. It wasn't getting through. It wasn't reaching her. Something like mist was packed deep inside her body, and nothing could penetrate it. "[serious] It's not over." Rian said it again. But it didn't reach Mira. Rian gritted his teeth. He was searching for more words—but couldn't find them. No matter how hard he searched, they wouldn't come. Rian simply sat beside Mira in silence. Protecting his broken arm, he didn't move from that spot. The frustration of being unable to do anything showed through in Rian's expression. Mira kept her knees hugged, her eyes closed. Darkness. Her body was cold. The coldness of the stone floor seeped from her knees to her waist, gradually spreading through her entire body. The sound of the ritual continued echoing. Low and groaning. It's over, she thought somewhere in her mind. —In that moment, her consciousness grew hazy. In the darkness, something pulled at her. From the depths of her memory, something slowly rose to the surface. A memory from her childhood in Harmonia. That day, the ground had shaken—the aftershocks of the Great Rift had reached the southern edge of the Lumen Plains. The sky was smoky and gray. People were fleeing in panic. Someone was screaming. A child's crying could be heard from somewhere. Mira was holding her mother's hand. In the crowd, gripping tightly. So they wouldn't be separated. But the wave of people was too large, too violent—and before she knew it, their hands had come apart. She was swallowed by the crowd. All around her were the bodies of strangers, and she couldn't see her mother. She called out her name. No answer. She called again. And again. She called while crying. And then—from far away, a voice reached her. Her mother's voice. She couldn't hear it clearly. From beyond the wave of people, it came faintly, but she heard it for certain. "Mira—light never goes out. It's inside you." That was all. After that, the voice was gone. Young Mira didn't understand the meaning of those words. She was just scared, and dark, and alone, and crying. —Now, at the bottom of this cave. Those words slowly came back to her. Light never goes out. It's inside you. Mira, still looking down, repeated those words in her mind. She still didn't fully understand their meaning. But—the warmth of that voice remained in her chest. Then, a hoarse sound came. "...Shard resonance...inside you...another..." It was Solis. The faint light that was almost gone wavered slightly with that voice. His eyes weren't open. It was unclear if he was even conscious. But it was definitely Solis's voice. After saying just that—he fell silent again. Another. Something moved deep in Mira's chest. Slightly deeper than her heart. In a place like the core of her body. It grew warm. It was a sensation she had never felt before. Different from when she used Lumen magic. Different from when she gathered light in her palm. Something deeper—as if something at the very center of her body was awakening. Mira was drawn by that sensation and slowly lifted her face. —The next instant. Her body glowed from within. It started from her fingertips. At first it was barely perceptible—just the tips of her nails taking on a faint golden hue. But it spread quickly. Her palms, her wrists, her arms—her chest, her abdomen, her back—all the way to her toes. Her entire body began to shine with golden light. It was incomparable to the light she had produced through practice. Different from the white light of Lumen Shot, different from the pale light she had created with Lumen Veil—this was denser, stronger, the kind of light that pushed back the cave's darkness head-on. The shadows on the stone walls vanished. The ceiling was dyed gold. The black mist—began to retreat away from Mira. Slowly, pressed back by the light, it withdrew toward the walls. "[surprised] Eh...?" Elara instinctively covered her eyes. The golden light was blinding. Rian, cradling his broken arm, went still. He narrowed his eyes, watching Mira. The man—stopped his ritual movements for the first time. Slowly, he turned to face her. Mira looked at her own hands. They shone with golden light. Her entire body was glowing. But even Mira herself didn't understand what was happening. She only felt—the sensation of her body shining of its own accord. She wasn't trying to stop it or expand it. The light overflowing from deep within her body was beyond her control. Her deep green hair swayed, catching the golden light. —That's right. Solis had said it before. "That deep green color is not found in normal humans." She hadn't understood what he meant then. But now—she felt like she might understand. There was a night when she had wandered into the Celestial Grove as a child. That sensation of touching the light particles deep in the forest. That was—perhaps something had begun from that moment. A fragment of a Lumen Shard might have fused into Mira's body without her knowing, lying dormant all this time. A fragment of a Lumen Shard—one of the seven pieces shattered by the Void's power, had been here all along, inside Mira's body. The man's mouth opened slightly. The cold, expressionless face he had worn until now—wavered for the first time. "[surprised] Two Shards!?" His voice echoed off the stone walls of the cave. Rian let out a low breath. Feeling the pain of his broken arm, yet—his eyes watching Mira had changed. The words that hadn't reached her before came back to her ears now. "It's not over yet," that voice had said. That's right. It wasn't over. Elara, still covering her eyes, watched Mira through the gaps between her fingers. The figure of Mira standing in the golden light—it didn't seem like the same person who had been on her knees crying moments before. Solis remained motionless. Still unconscious, lying there. The black mist that had covered his body was pushed back slightly by the golden light—but it hadn't disappeared. The light from Solis's mark still glowed only faintly. The man hadn't stopped his ritual. The black-purple magic circle remained spread across the floor, continuing to emit its low sound. Mira looked at her own hands. The light was overflowing. From her entire body, beyond her control. But—she didn't know how to use it, how to stop it, where to direct it, or anything else. The being called the guardian o