——Do you recognize the signature?

Zen posed the question while Vanitas silently observed the scene unfolding before him.

Indeed, he recognized it.

How could he not?

It was the very bane of his existence.

"...Araxys."

The dark magic radiating from Melissa was undoubtedly Araxys’s signature. It was so profound and overwhelming that there was no possibility of mistaking it for anything else.

"It seems to me you made a mistake."

——Not really. Well... at the time, I guess you could call it one. Still, just keep watching.

"You make it sound like we’re watching a movie."

Zen let out a quiet laugh at that.

——A movie, huh? Haven’t heard that word in a long time. But I guess you could say it’s something like that.

* * *

The black flames continued spreading across Melissa’s body.

"Oppa... Noona..."

Melissa’s trembling voice caused Zen’s chest to tighten instantly.

"Hold still!" Jihyeon shouted as multiple magic circles rapidly formed around her. "If the mana destabilizes further, it’ll spread into your core!"

Dark mana surged the moment her spell touched the flames.

Crack——!

One of the magic circles shattered almost immediately.

"...!"

Jihyeon’s expression turned into shock. The flames were consuming her mana faster than she could stabilize them.

"Noona...!"

Melissa cried out again as black markings slowly began spreading along her arms like cracks.

Zen’s eyes widened.

"Jihyeon Noona!"

"I know!"

The artifact lying on the ground pulsed again.

Whoosh——!

The black flames suddenly erupted outward.

At that moment, Zen took a step forward. Wind mana burst around him to block the flames before they could engulf Jihyeon.

The moment his mana collided with the dark fire.

———!

Something incomprehensibly deep was lurking within the flames, as though an unseen consciousness was staring directly back at him through the curse itself.

"...!"

Zen immediately recoiled back.

"What the..."

And for just a brief instant, Vanitas saw it too.

A pair of massive purple eyes had opened within the darkness. Something malicious beyond comprehension.

Then they vanished.

"...That was..." Vanitas muttered. "Araxys... wasn’t it?"

Zen gave a faint smile that lacked any amusement.

——Yeah.

The scenery before them continued unfolding.

Jihyeon suddenly grabbed Melissa tightly while turning toward Zen.

"Listen carefully," she said urgently. "There’s a sealing ritual beneath the house. I need time to prepare it."

"And Melissa?!"

"I can suppress it temporarily!"

The dark flames lashed outward again as though reacting to her words.

"But if this spreads any further," Jihyeon continued, "this entire forest is going to disappear...!"

"What should I do?!" Zen asked immediately.

"I need you to buy me time!"

Boom——!

The walls of the hut shattered apart as dark fire swept across the surroundings like a tidal wave. Trees instantly withered the moment the flames touched them, their bark blackening before crumbling into ash.

Zen instinctively raised a barrier. Wind mana blew around him, desperately forcing the flames back. But the moment the black fire collided against his magic, his mana began getting consumed.

"...!"

Sweat instantly formed along Zen’s face.

The flames devoured mana at an absurd rate. Maintaining the barrier for even a few seconds already felt like his core was being hollowed out from the inside.

"Zen!" Jihyeon shouted. "Focus!"

He gritted his teeth.

The dark flames surged again.

The pressure behind them was monstrous, as though something on the other side was desperately trying to claw its way into reality through Melissa’s body.

"Fuck...!"

The ground beneath Zen’s feet cracked apart as he forcefully circulated more mana through his body. Wind spiraled around the forest clearing while debris and ash were swept into the air.

———!

And for the first time... Vanitas saw the beginning of the monster known as Archmage Zen.

This was power not even the current Archmage, Soliette, could hope to reach. Of that much, Vanitas was absolutely certain.

The frightening part was that Zen was far younger than even him, albeit physically.

Yet the amount of mana coming from him already bordered on absurdity. The atmosphere itself shook under the pressure while the forest around them bent beneath the storm he had created.

"Stay back!" Zen shouted.

The winds compressed inward before exploding outward once more.

Boom——!

An entire section of the forest was blown apart as the black flames were forcefully pushed back for several seconds. Trees were uprooted from the ground, while chunks of earth were torn into the sky.

But even then, the dark flames persisted.

"...It’s eating through it..."

No matter how much mana he poured into suppressing it, the flames simply devoured everything in their path. As though ordinary magic itself fundamentally could not overpower it.

Behind him, Jihyeon had already begun preparing the sealing ritual beneath the ruined hut. Layers upon layers of magic circles spread across the ground while ancient symbols illuminated one after another.

"Hurry..."

The pressure from the flames continued increasing.

And then... the black fire suddenly shifted its direction.

"Noona!"

Straight toward Jihyeon.

"...!"

Zen’s eyes widened instantly. At that moment, he forcefully redirected the entire storm.

The compressed winds collided directly against the dark flames midair, causing the surrounding atmosphere itself to rupture from the impact.

Crack——!

The sound resembled glass shattering.

The collision distorted the air itself.

"Zen!" Jihyeon shouted.

But Zen couldn’t answer.

Blood slowly trickled down the corner of his mouth as he continued forcing more mana into the storm. Veins bulged across his arms while the air around him screamed from the pressure of his magic.

The dark flames continued advancing as though they possessed a will of their own.

"How the hell do you kill this thing...?!" Zen growled.

Melissa’s screams gradually weakened as the black markings spread farther across her body. Her mana was being consumed from the inside out, little by little.

Jihyeon gritted her teeth while stabilizing the sealing formation beneath the hut.

"Zen!" she shouted again. "I need thirty more seconds!"

"I’m trying!"

Another explosion erupted throughout the forest.

Boom——!

The dark flames suddenly broke through part of the storm barrier, brushing past Zen’s shoulder.

Instantly, his sleeve disintegrated.

The flesh underneath it blackened unnaturally as the corruption immediately began spreading upward through his arm.

"...!"

Even Vanitas frowned at the sight.

That was not ordinary dark magic.

It resembled something far closer to annihilation itself.

Wherever the darkness passed, mana vanished first, followed by flesh itself, leaving behind a hollow blackness that looked fundamentally wrong to exist within reality.

Zen’s breathing grew heavy.

"Zen!" Jihyeon shouted immediately after noticing his arm.

"I’m fine!"

"Ten more seconds!"

At her words, Zen forcibly continued maintaining the storm barrier.

Vanitas narrowed his eyes.

Even while being corrupted, Zen’s mana output had not weakened in the slightest.

If anything, it was increasing.

The atmosphere itself trembled under the sheer amount of mana pouring out from him. The sky darkened unnaturally while clouds began shifting overhead as though the environment itself was reacting to his emotional state.

"...What a monster."

From what Vanitas could gather, Zen possessed no special cheat, no divine blessing, nor any convenient power gifted to him by fate.

This was simply his own talent and willpower.

And even so, his magic had already grown powerful enough to form a typhoon that would’ve thrown even modern-day South Korea into complete panic.

The winds continued compressing around Zen at terrifying speeds.

The surrounding pressure became so dense that Vanitas could visibly see the atmosphere warping around him.

"It’s ready!" Jihyeon screamed.

The moment those words rang out, Zen immediately moved.

The storm surrounding the forest shifted direction as he forcefully redirected the dark flames away from Jihyeon and Melissa.

Winds compressed around the black fire from every angle, dragging it toward the massive sealing formation beneath the ruined hut.

"Yuna!" Zen shouted.

Jihyeon tightened her grip around the trembling girl before slamming her hand directly onto the center of the formation.

Boom——!

Light exploded outward.

Ancient symbols illuminated across the ground one after another while chains of golden mana flashed upward from the magic circle, wrapping themselves around the dark flames restraining Melissa’s body.

Immediately, the black fire retaliated.

An inhuman shriek echoed throughout the entire forest as the dark flames lashed against the sealing ritual, causing the ground to rupture beneath them.

"...What the hell..."

The dark flames surged upward again, momentarily forming the outline of something massive behind Melissa’s body.

A silhouette.

Something resembling wings.

Then, those same massive purple eyes opened once more within the darkness.

The moment they appeared, Zen froze.

Because for the first time, he understood something.

"...."

That thing looking back at him.

"...."

It was alive.

"Zen!" Jihyeon shouted desperately.

The voice immediately snapped him out of it, prompting him to raise both hands at once.

The typhoon surrounding the forest collapsed inward all at once.

Boom———!

The compressed storm slammed directly into the dark flames and forcibly drove them into the sealing formation below.

The impact alone split the earth apart while the surrounding forest bent nearly sideways beneath the pressure.

"Oppa...!"

Melissa screamed.

The black flames struggled.

Then, all of a sudden, golden chains appeared, immediately locking onto Melissa.

Crack——!

One by one, the dark flames began fracturing like shattered glass before being dragged screaming into the sealing formation beneath the earth.

"Eunah...!"

In the next instant, silence.

The storm disappeared.

Zen staggered forward before collapsing onto one knee, coughing blood onto the shattered ground.

"Cough! Cough...!"

His entire body trembled from mana exhaustion. The corruption spreading along his arm had slowed, but the flesh remained blackened and damaged beyond recognition.

But still, he managed to force himself back up.

"Melissa!"

The sealing formation continued glowing while Jihyeon held the unconscious girl tightly in her arms.

For several agonizing seconds, neither of them moved.

"...She’s breathing," Jihyeon said through shaky breaths.

The moment those words left her mouth, Zen felt the strength leave his body entirely.

He collapsed onto the ground.

The skies above gradually cleared while the remnants of the storm dispersed into the distance.

Around them, the forest had been utterly devastated. Traces of dark corruption still remained across parts of the surroundings.

Yet despite all of that, Melissa was alive.

Zen let out a shaky breath while staring blankly toward the sky, relief finally reaching his face.

And standing beside the memory, Vanitas quietly observed him.

"...So this was where it started."

——Yeah. Funny, isn’t it? Back then, we genuinely thought it was over. Turns out, this was only the beginning.

"So basically..."

——All we really did was help Araxys.

The scenery around them remained frozen on the aftermath of the battle.

——It was trying to enter our realm, and by sealing it improperly, we unknowingly gave it time to assimilate itself instead.

Vanitas’s expression darkened slightly.

"...And Melissa became the vessel."

——Yeah.

Vanitas remained silent for a moment before speaking again.

"So this was how Melissa became trapped in that everlasting cycle of becoming the Saintess..."

The very concept of the Saintess had never been holy to begin with.

It was merely a glorified title given to Araxys’s vessel.

And as the Saintess, Melissa became trapped within an endless cycle of death and rebirth.

No matter how many times history repeated itself, no matter how many eras passed, the Saintess would always be Melissa.

"But Zen, what exactly is Araxys?"

Zen remained silent for a moment before finally turning to look at him.

——Would you believe me if I told you its intentions actually aligned with humanity’s well-being?