"If this is what you want, then so be it. But if you survive... remember, the Gambit will always welcome you."
Raiden’s mind drifted back to Dainty’s parting words before she invoked the Southern Leviathan for their cause. Its colossal form and ethereal power echoed the Eastern Leviathan’s dominating presence.
Yet Raiden felt a chill down to his bones, his thoughts racing wildly as his hands shook. Dainty clearly knew something about Luci, who ruled the absolute domain called Tragical, and despite Raiden’s reluctance to believe her warnings, he found himself wondering what terrors awaited him in that realm.
He needed the pages. This wasn’t a quest he would abandon. But Dainty’s measured words awakened something in him, a detail he may have overlooked.
"Hope you haven’t forgotten... the promise we made." Levi’s words cut through Raiden’s daze, prompting him to turn in his direction. "Chrono dies by my hand. No one else." Official source is novelFɪre.net
Raiden regarded him silently. His yellow aura blazed with fierce intensity, betraying the satisfaction he felt in his words. But Raiden was indifferent to Chrono’s killer at that moment; his sole focus was on the pages. Those ten pages must belong to him, and afterward, he would hunt down the other eighteen.
After minutes of silence stretched between them, Raiden offered a nod of consent.
His eyes found Noelle next, standing with her arms folded, violet gaze fixed on some far-off point as she remained trapped in her thoughts.
Finally, he looked to MK, their designated amplifier, feeding his mana into the creature’s horn-like extensions that drove them forward.
As he pondered further, he realized they all harbored reasons to eliminate Chrono. Actually, his pact with Chrono was the only thing that had preserved his life. But his bewilderment remained.
What was Chrono’s purpose in bringing up both Tragical Isle and Solace Isle? The deeper he considered it, the more violently his anxiety grew.
Chrono kept the names of all their visited absolute domains hidden from him, which made sense. But then he recklessly mentioned Tragical and described exactly what had occurred there. He could have stayed silent about it completely and could have just vanished with the pages. What was his motive?
"Why did Chrono bring up Luci’s absolute domain?"
Levi spoke up, and Raiden faced him once more, puzzled by how he seemed to read his thoughts before his gaze swept over the rest of the group.
His throat tightened as it dawned on him that they might all be experiencing similar turmoil. The same questions plagued them all.
"I told you before... he was using us." Levi wore a cocky smile. "But you really thought you stood a chance against him? Naive."
Raiden’s eyes focused with sudden insight, weighing Levi’s observation. Levi’s crude honesty didn’t wound him; if anything, it helped him see their predicament more clearly.
Their respective motivations to kill each other had been evident from the start of their journey. While Raiden bore the responsibility of honoring his dead comrades and their sacrifices, Chrono seemed unburdened by any comparable duty.
The way this matched Dainty’s implications disturbed him, if he’d interpreted her correctly.
"We have to be ready." Raiden’s voice rang out within the leviathan’s mouth, capturing everyone’s attention.
"I’ve got a bad feeling Chrono has an army waiting for us."
"Wait... what? Where did that even come from?" Levi asked with his tone etched with confusion.
"I think so..." Noelle’s words came after the bioluminescent mucus lining the leviathan’s mouth bathed her left cheek in an eerie glow.
"Truth is, I suspected it the moment Freya died."
Raiden frowned. Has it been obvious for that long?
Noelle looked down at the creature’s tongue beneath their feet, her tone becoming grave. "No wonder you didn’t realize... with everything happening around us."
"We need the pages. End of story."
Raiden’s features relaxed in response to what she’d said. Only yesterday, he’d been convinced that Noelle harbored some resentment toward him, even doubting the bond they shared. Could it be that she didn’t hate him?
"My lady isn’t a monster. Get that thought out of your head." MK spoke sharply with a grimace, responding to the emotions he saw written across Raiden’s features.
Raiden offered a wry smile before sighing deeply. The weight of confusion still burdened his shoulders, making every word from his companions significant.
Whether it was MK, who undoubtedly hated his guts for causing Noelle’s tears, or Levi, who wished him dead for his own dark motivations—they were bound together in this mess.
"We should be ready for the worst..."
No sooner had he spoken than tremors ran through the leviathan’s interior, compelling them to seize its dagger-like teeth to maintain their footing. They had finally arrived.
Yet in that moment, Raiden’s pulse faltered. His chest tightened as his body reflexively moved backward. Every instinct within him howled with dread and anger as he witnessed the creature’s maw slowly opening.
It was a sensation he recognized, one he couldn’t simply fight against.
Nauseating air heavy with blood and the reek of death seeped through the widening gaps in the creature’s teeth. The vile atmosphere flooded Raiden with boundless wrath, his heart racing between dread and savage anticipation, his mind reduced to one driving imperative: KILL.
The others stared in confusion as violent tremors wracked his body, the force of his shaking making the creature’s tongue quiver below them. His gaze was fixed on the expansive wasteland before them, cloaked in shadow beneath a low-hanging moon, its terrain painted red and carpeted with bones.
As the creature’s tongue set them down in the death arena, the sensation clicked into perfect clarity for Raiden. He could detect every fragment of that dark presence, and he was sure it was equally aware of him. That savage thirst, that corrupting influence, that searing vanity and desire, he was absolutely certain. It was Deathsight.
Pure elation surged through him, his features slowly twisting into something sinister as the leviathan’s tongue deposited them onto the cursed terrain below.
"There’s a dragon..." he muttered through his shaking throat. "Chrono blessed us with the FIRMO... or cursed us with it."
He barely had to explain before Noelle’s golden aura flared with fury. Her mother could have been saved, after all.