– The House of Spectra’s Perspective –

“We’ve been walking here for quite a while now, but… why do I feel like we’ve made no progress at all?” A female knight asked, eyeing the surrounding trees warily.

“… Keep your head steady,” a young male knight said, walking in front as the leader of the group. “Perhaps this is just a very long road. We don’t even know if we’ve entered the Temple yet.”

Then, turning to an incredibly short boy, he continued.

“Giant, how are the radar readings?”

The tiny boy—whose alias was somehow ironically ‘Giant’—saluted formally as best as he could.

“Yes, sir! Nothing as of yet!”

“Hm…” The leader fell into silence and turned away from him as they continued walking, deeper inside.

But really, were they heading deeper at all? It just seemed like an endless path to them.

“And Phoenix has not returned either…” A short-haired girl murmured, a grim expression on her face. She was Thera, the Healer of the group.

Phoenix—an auburn-haired girl who had been ordered to scout from the air not too long ago. She was supposed to come right back down after getting a good look at the area, but…

“Do you think… something maybe happened to he-” The female knight began, but the male knight cut her off with a sharp glare before she could finish the sentence.

“… Do you remember the commander’s teachings? Answer me.”

The female knight hurriedly nodded, then gulped in nervousness and repeated one of the five rules she had been forced to memorize like the back of her palm. “Leal’s Third Maxim—Believe in your comrades, and do not assume they are dead until you see their corpse!”

“Hmph. If you know, then do not make remarks like that, Athena. Live up to your alias.”

The girl—aliased Athena—frantically nodded once again and saluted. “Y-Yes, sir!”

Just like that, the four of them carried on walking, placing full faith in their companion’s return.

But… it would be a lie if the male knight leading them claimed he didn’t have any doubts of his own.

– Meanwhile –

Finn and Iris began walking on the path, surrounded by trees on either side of them. Luckily, the bright moon overhead provided some good light, and it wasn’t took dark. That is, so long as they didn’t venture into the trees.

It is said that Finn and Iris were walking, but really, only Finn was. Iris was riding on his back, as her legs were crippled. This was a natural maneuver for the two.

“… Hey, Ace,” she suddenly said, narrowing her eyes.

“What is it?”

“This place… something feels off about it.”

Finn stopped walking.

“… How so?”

“I can’t quite place my finger on it, but…” Iris glanced around, biting her lip. “It feels… strange. When we passed the first trees, I felt as if we entered a barrier of some sort. And yet… when I used my Oculus Angelica to check for any traps, nothing came up.”

“Hm…” Finn fell into thought, then tilted his head upwards. “… Let’s take a look from above.”

Iris nodded, and the two soared into the air together with their wings, flapping gently side by side. Once they reached a good height, they flew forward, following the path down below—just in the air. But after a while, Iris stopped.

“Wait… what is that?”

Ahead of them, levitating in the air, was something that looked like a humanoid body. But there was something more. Something far more than just a body.

A massive X-shaped pike skewered it.

It was shaped like two crystals conjoined into one X-shape, glowing white and radiating underneath the moonlight. The body hung limply at its center, stained with blood, having been completely punctured by the device’s sharp vertices. It was a gruesome sight, but that could only make them wonder…

How had they not spotted this from down below?

The two steadily flew closer, keeping an eye out for any traps or enemies.

“Just what happened…” Iris murmured, eyes widened in shock and disgust. Slowly, carefully, she reached out and touched the glowing crystalline X.

It shattered.

The dead body landed inside Finn’s arms, and Iris backed away, surprised at how fragile it was and how easily it broke, just like that. Then, turning to the body, she gasped.

“T-That’s… one of the five House of Spectra Ghost Hunters from earlier…”

She recognized the armor. Only the House of Light would have such things.

“But… where are the other four?” Finn muttered.

“More importantly… how did this happen to her…?”

As if on cue, a strong headache suddenly struck her, and she clasped her head in pain.

“Mmngh…!”

Finn immediately spun to her. “Ivy?”

“Ngh… my head… it hurts…” She groaned, her wings beginning to spiral and go out of control. Without any hesitation, Finn dumped the body in his arms and caught Iris instead.

“Tch…”

This clearly was the work of an enemy… but Finn could not detect them. Even with his exceptional senses—minus sight—he was unable to track a thing. But then… how was he unaffected?

He had no time to consider such things, however, as the top priority was getting out of here. He flapped his wings as hard as he could, devoting all his mana into them, and propelled himself out of the forest region and back to the beginn-

“…” Finn stopped. This was not the beginning.

When they first entered this place, there was a rock solid mountain behind their spawn. Finn had been counting the distance they had traveled from there. By now, he was 100 meters past where the mountain should’ve been. And yet… he didn’t crash into it.

Did he go off course? No. Of course not—he was not the type to make a rookie mistake as simple as that, being the exceptionally careful man he was.

There was something far more evil, more tricking at play here.

This was the work of their enemies, the vile creatures who formed this Temple.

This, was the power of the Specters.