Novel Full Chapter 516: Unanswered Questions, A New Path
Chapter 516: Unanswered Questions, A New Path
Ren tapped Yes.
[“Initializing decryption… Stand by…”]
The machine worked in silence, the hum of high-end data cores spinning up like a soft storm in the walls.
He leaned back into the chair, watching the process with a weary gaze.
A minute later, the message flashed:
[“Core integrity verified. No external tampering detected.”]
Ren’s eyes narrowed.
[“Playback ready. Access content?”]
He hovered over the prompt for just a second.
Then tapped it.
The lights in the room dimmed, and the projection began to play.
The face he saw first was undeniable.
Yuuto…
The Guildmaster.
And before the video had even hit the thirty-second mark—
Ren’s world would never be the same again.
…
…
[Video playback complete.]
The words flickered across the interface screen, then vanished, leaving only the dim ambient glow of Ren’s study.
He didn’t move.
He couldn’t.
Ren just stood there—frozen—like he’d just seen a ghost. No, worse than a ghost. Because ghosts didn’t shatter the world you thought you understood. Ghosts didn’t rewrite history with the calm ease of truth recorded on crystal.
His eyes were wide, unfocused. His lips parted slightly as if to say something, but no sound came out.
Then—slowly, softly—he started to murmur.
“Those particles of light… what were they…?”
He turned from the screen like he was sleepwalking, taking a step back, one hand dragging through his hair as if trying to ground himself.
“Every time he touched something—anything—it just… exploded into light. People, objects, even the air around him…”
Ren’s brows furrowed deeply, confusion lining his face.
“Since when did he have that kind of power? No one ever said anything… I thought… I thought his ability made him immortal. Absurdly strong.”
Ren sat still, elbows braced on his knees, fingers laced beneath his chin.
He sighed, removed his glasses, and placed his hand at the ridge of his nose. He wore them back, then opened his eyes.
It wasn’t the raw destructive power that disturbed him. Yuuto had always been strong—unnaturally so—but strength could be explained. Strength could be measured. Trained. Developed.
No, what gnawed at him now wasn’t what Yuuto had done.
It was the fact that he had hidden it.
All this time.
“Why conceal something like this?” Ren muttered under his breath, voice low and sharp with thought. “What kind of person hides that they can unravel matter with a touch?”
His gaze darkened as he leaned back in the chair, gears turning faster than ever.
“Hiding that kind of ability from the Guild… from me—even from the Union itself—that’s not just a secret. That’s a statement. It means something. Either he doesn’t trust us… or he has plans that require us not knowing.”
His fingers tapped against the desk, his breathing calm but taut.
“And if he’s willing to hide all this… what else has he hidden?”
A soft chime broke through his thoughts. The playback crystal pulsed once, displaying a simple alert:
➤ “One message left.”
Ren stiffened.
He reached out, fingers hesitating only a moment before activating it.
The hologram shimmered into being. No figure—just a pulsing symbol: an ouroboros swallowing a sun. The voice that followed was synthetic, heavily distorted, deliberately masked.
“If you truly wish to stop Alister from bringing ruin to this world, you must act. We cannot do it alone. He will not listen. He will not stop. He no longer sees the line between justice and conquest. But you? As a comrade… He won’t expect you. We’ve left a path. The first step is waiting.”
There was a long pause. Then:
“You may not trust us. But you’ve already seen the cost of standing idle.”
The message ended. No sender ID. No trace.
Ren didn’t move for a long moment.
Then, finally, he whispered to himself.
“…So this is the trap I’ve been walking toward.”
He rose to his feet, the fatigue slipping off his shoulders like a worn coat. His face was unreadable, composed—but beneath the surface, his mind roared.
“I’ve been boxed in,” he admitted aloud, jaw tightening. “Damn it.”
He walked to the window of his study and stared out into the misty dark of the manor’s courtyard.
“Who would have thought a day would come when I would go against the Guildmaster…”
He looked at his own reflection in the glass—older, more tired, but still standing.
“…I don’t have a choice anymore, do I?”
And then—
A subtle crack.
Too faint for most.
But Ren heard it.
His eyes narrowed, his body going still.
Outside the manor walls, several figures stood upright sideways to the stone like spiders—still, silent.
Abyss-Voids.
Dragons in their humanoid forms.
Their eyes glowed faintly like molten ink, and from beneath cloaks of shifting shadow, black scales glimmered.
A man among them—tall, handsome, with raven-black hair and eyes the color of dying embers—sighed as he observed Ren.
“Tch… what a fool,” he murmured.
Then he smiled.
“Still… I do love when the brave think they’re making choices.”
“It seems we must now report to Lady Mar’Garet.”
A younger-looking one, face hidden beneath a veil, shuddered.
“Will she be pleased?” it whispered.
The black-haired man gave a chuckle, dark and quiet. “Lady Mar’Garet is never pleased. She is, at best… less disappointed.”
With a soft twitch of his fingers, the air around them shimmered like heat waves.
“Prepare the relay. We have confirmation. The human has chosen to move.”
The air crackled faintly as the Abyss-Voids began to move, their forms rippling like shadows peeled from stone.
Inside the manor, Ren turned from the window, unaware of the watchers that had just disappeared. But his instincts stirred uneasily. Something had shifted. Not just within him—but around him.
He moved through the study, pulling a worn boom from one of the shelves. Inside were hand-drawn sigils and sealed coordinates—things he’d promised himself he’d never return to. But the old pacts were relevant again. He could feel it.
If Yuuto had betrayed them, if Alister had truly gone mad, then every safeguard, every contingency would have to be used.
The game had begun again.
But this time, he wasn’t just a piece.
He would play the board.