William’s body floated several miles above the ground beneath the vast night sky. The full moon hung directly above him, enormous and radiant, as though the heavens themselves had fixed their gaze upon the dead boy.

Silver moonlight poured over his motionless body.

Under that strange celestial radiance, the torn flesh around William’s heart slowly began to stitch itself back together. The damage to the organ healed gradually, thread by thread, as though invisible hands were mending it carefully.

However, the rest of the wounds across his body remained. The massive injuries around his abdomen and chest showed little change for the moment.

Then suddenly, the full moon in the sky trembled.

For several brief moments, the glowing celestial body in the sky shook violently.

And then something the entire world of Aris would remember forever.

From another edge of the horizon, sunlight suddenly emerged even though the moon had not yet set. Dawn appeared in the middle of the night itself.

The sun slowly rose into the sky while the full moon continued hanging opposite it.

The light of both celestial bodies mixed across the heavens.

The sun was dim compared to its usual brilliance, as though it had risen before its proper time, yet its golden radiance was still impossible to ignore.

Moonlight and sunlight intertwined around William’s floating body, bathing him in two opposite energies simultaneously.

Under the influence of the moonlight and sunlight working together, the rest of his shattered body slowly began regenerating.

His muscles reformed and bones repaired themselves. Torn veins and flesh stitched together with miraculous speed.

Gradually, a cocoon of radiant energy formed around William. Silver and gold lights wrapped around him together until his entire body disappeared within the glowing shell.

Far below, Tamasya floated several miles upward until she finally arrived close enough to witness the phenomenon clearly.

She stared at William’s figure in complete silence.

To her, it looked as though the heavens themselves were baptizing him beneath the combined light of the sun and moon.

The sight was so surreal and divine that even breathing felt difficult.

Never in her life had she imagined she would witness something so otherworldly with her own eyes.

And she was not the only one.

Across the entire continent, people awakened from their sleep.

Whether emperor or beggar, noble or commoner, cultivator or ordinary mortal, everyone looked toward the impossible sight unfolding in the sky.

The entire world had come alive.

In the distant No Man’s Land, Ethan and his companions had set up camp and fallen asleep inside their tents after a long day of travel.

Suddenly, Ethan’s eyes opened.

The cloth ceiling of the tent glowed brightly as though morning had arrived.

Frowning slightly, he stepped outside. The moment he looked upward, he froze.

The sun had risen halfway into the sky despite the night still existing. Meanwhile, the moon appeared far larger than normal, dominating the sky with an overwhelming presence.

Ethan stared at the phenomenon quietly before murmuring to himself, "It’s the second time I have seen the sun rising during the night."

"Can you tell me about the first instance?" A sudden familiar voice of a boy came from nearby.

Ethan turned and saw Alfred standing beside the camp while holding a sword in his hand. His upper body was bare, and sweat covered his skin as though he had been training throughout the night instead of sleeping.

Ethan observed him silently for a moment before giving a faint nod.

Meanwhile, far away in the Babylonian Empire, a massive palace carved directly into the peak of a mountain overlooked the sleeping lands below.

Sara Babylon stepped outside onto one of the stone balconies and silently watched the impossible sky.

The young lionkin’s golden eyes reflected both the moonlight and sunlight at once, making her think she was dreaming.

Behind her, another figure emerged quietly.

It was Inari Mistborn.

The nine-tailed foxkin stood with her hands behind her back while staring toward the heavens with widened eyes. Even someone like her could not remain unaffected by the phenomenon occurring tonight.

Slowly, Inari rested one hand on Sara’s shoulder.

"Times are about to change, Sara; we need to be prepared."

After speaking, she guided Sara back inside the palace.

Meanwhile, at the center of the phenomenon, Annasthasia, Yue, and Andrea arrived beside Tamasya and stared at the cocoon of energy surrounding William.

The aura radiating from it was overwhelming. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

It felt sacred and untouchable.

Inside the cocoon, William’s unconscious body floated peacefully while countless invisible changes occurred within him.

Deep inside his unconscious mind, several notifications rang one after another.

[Ding!! The Celestial Moon Consort’s physique has awakened.]

[Ding!! Physique is detected to be the result of forced intervention, incompatible and unjustifiable to the host’s existence.]

[resolving incompatibility...]

[Ding!! The lunar goddess has observed the host.]

[Ding!! The lunar goddess has taken an interest in the host. Intervention has been detected.]

[Ding!! The lunar goddess’s touch has been blocked.]

[Ding!! Absolute adaptation is activating...]

[Ding!! The Celestial Moon Consort’s physique has turned into the Divine Lunar Sovereign’s physique.]

[Ding!! The lunar goddess has intervened again... Intervention has been allowed by Administrator Orion.]

[Ding!! The lunar goddess has placed the mark of the apostle on the host.]

[The host’s soul is being summoned to the Lunar realm.]

Almost immediately after the final notification sounded, the cocoon surrounding William shattered apart.

The radiant energy dispersed into the night sky.

William’s body suddenly began falling freely from the sky.

Tamasya reacted instantly.

She flashed upward and caught him before he could descend any further.

Holding him carefully in her arms, she immediately examined his condition.

The wounds across his body had healed completely.

Even the massive hole in his abdomen was gone without a trace.

His appearance somehow looked even more radiant and refined than before, as though the combined energies of the sun and moon had reshaped him entirely.

However, one noticeable difference remained.

A strange mark had appeared upon his forehead.

Tamasya frowned and rubbed the symbol repeatedly, attempting to wipe it away or at least understand what it was, but the mark remained completely unmoved.

Soon, Annasthasia arrived beside them.

The moment she saw William’s healed body, hope immediately filled her eyes again. She quickly moved closer and tried sensing his breathing.

Nothing.

Not even the faintest breath escaped his lips.

He was not breathing.

Tamasya realized it at the same moment.

Slowly, she turned toward Anna with widened eyes.

No words needed to be spoken anymore.

The crushing despair returned once again.

Tamasya stared blankly at William’s peaceful face, trying desperately to understand what she was seeing. Then her gaze slowly drifted upward toward the sky, where the sun and moon still faced one another silently.

The four women remained there for several long minutes.

Clouds drifted around them quietly while an unbearable silence filled the air.

Then suddenly, Yue’s eyes widened faintly.

A vision had struck her unexpectedly.

It was not something she consciously attempted to see. The revelation simply arrived inside her mind without warning.

"He will not die."

Yue spoke softly.

But nobody paid attention to her words.

She looked toward Annasthasia’s grief-stricken expression and Tamasya’s hollow eyes before deciding not to explain further.

William was fateless.

Only now it hit her that a fateless would not die so easily if he were being treated so specially by that mysterious woman who is the master of her master.

That conviction had appeared within her the moment the vision ended.

The vision had been brief. She had only seen William opening his eyes.

She did not know the time, location, or date of this happening.

Only the sight of him waking up.

Eventually, Tamasya slowly descended back toward the highest spire of the Moon Clan’s castle together with Annasthasia and Andrea.

Meanwhile, Yue remained floating beneath the sky for several moments longer, silently staring at the sun and moon confronting one another before finally following behind them.

Twenty hours later...

William’s body lay motionless upon the crystal platform once again.

Tamasya sat beside it with her head resting near the edge of the platform while staring blankly at his face. Her eyes had long since become hollow from grief and exhaustion.

Annasthasia sat nearby while gently holding William’s head in her lap.

For nearly twenty hours, she had remained there continuously stroking his hair and face without moving away even once.

Occasionally, tears would fall from her eyes onto William’s calm face.

Those tears carried endless regret, grief, and helplessness.

Andrea and Yue stood farther away in silence.

Both women were heartbroken as well, but the pain inside Annasthasia and Tamasya was so overwhelming that neither of them even dared make unnecessary noise.

After all, both women had lost an irreplaceable part of their lives.

Andrea silently pursed her lips while Yue repeatedly attempted to divine William’s future over and over again.

Every attempt of hers failed.

It was as though fate itself refused to show her anything regarding him.

Then, finally, the heavenly phenomenon in the sky began to end.

The moon disappeared along with the remaining night.

A fresh morning sun rose naturally into the heavens, almost as though the celestial bodies had finally corrected their paths.

Yet despite the beautiful sunrise outside, the atmosphere inside the Moon Castle remained unbearably gloomy.

Another tear slipped from Annasthasia’s eyes and landed softly upon William’s face.

This time, however, something changed as William’s face twitched slightly under the hot drops of tears.

Anne immediately froze.

Before she could even process what she had seen, a deep sound emerged from William’s chest.

Then suddenly, he inhaled a large, deep breath that entered his lungs automatically.

The sound echoed clearly through the silent chamber.

Tamasya instantly stood up in shock and stared toward William’s body.

He was alive.

Yet completely unaware of the chaos he had caused, William merely shifted slightly on the crystal platform before turning comfortably to the other side.

Then, with an utterly peaceful expression, he buried himself deeper into sleep.

After all...

His mother’s lap was the most comfortable pillow he could ever have.