Who are you?

The woman continued walking at a brisk pace, the echo of her heels resounding against the tiles. Her black hooded cloak, which concealed almost her entire body, swayed slightly, as if caressed by an invisible breeze. Only her thick, jet-black hair remained visible.

She walked past without a second glance, ignoring the bodies as if they were insignificant. Her steps grew more anxious, and as soon as she spotted the blue door, she seemed determined to reach it as quickly as possible.

At the very least, the sight of the corpses managed to snap Noah out of his daze. He looked around, brought a hand to his mouth, and frowned, struggling to hold back tears.

How could he be moved so easily? Kiyen wondered as he watched him.

Kiyen was used to seeing bodies in truly deplorable conditions. At least these were intact, well-dressed… more like people asleep than victims of an attack. It was strange… Were they really dead?

Kiyen observed the woman, who didn't slow her pace, and Noah, who seemed shattered by the scene. He scratched his head and, breaking the silence, asked:

"What happened here?"

The woman stopped. He saw her pale hands clench into fists, but she remained with her back to them.

"I don't know. I don't know them. Unfortunately, they were already like this when I arrived," she said after a brief pause. "There was nothing I could do."

Her tone was not that of someone mourning another's death. It sounded empty, even indifferent. Though he didn't blame her for that; Kiyen couldn't bring himself to feel sympathy for people who, despite all their privileges, had met their end simply by throwing themselves into what was nothing more than a game to them.

Still, there was something unsettling about those bodies. How could they all have died the same way? They didn't seem injured—it was as if they were merely asleep. Were there creatures capable of causing such harm?

Intrigued, Kiyen approached the body of a nearby woman and checked her pulse.

Nothing.

She was truly dead.

He started searching through her clothes, examining them for wounds, traces of blood… any clue.

"What are you doing, Mauri?" Noah's unsteady voice suddenly interrupted him. When Kiyen looked up, he found him watching with a deeply moved expression. "Can't you see the crosses floating above their heads? They're already dead… We didn't make it in time to help them. I… I couldn't do anything," he murmured, biting his lower lip.

Crosses floating above their heads? Kiyen wondered. It had to be something from the System, which meant he couldn't see it. But what truly unsettled him was how much Noah seemed to care about other people's problems. Did he really just want to be a hero? Or was there something more?

"Noah," Kiyen pressed, "doesn't it seem strange to you how they died?"

"Strange? What do you mean?"

Is he stupid? Kiyen thought, watching as Noah gave him that familiar dumbfounded expression.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kiyen noticed the woman had now turned to face them, observing them with a certain anxiousness. Her foot tapped restlessly against the floor, the sound of her heel echoing.

This is weird, Kiyen thought. Noah seems like an idiot, but this is different. It's as if, ever since that woman—Talis—showed up, he's become even dumber.

"Noah," Kiyen repeated, "can you check their bodies with the System? See who they were?"

Noah blinked, as if snapping out of a daze.

"Ah, right… that's the proper thing to do in these situations. You're right, I'll do it now…"

Kiyen was relieved that whatever stupidity seemed to be consuming Noah at that moment at least wasn't making him question why Kiyen wasn't checking them himself with his own System.

"I already took their Systems," the woman abruptly interrupted before Noah could do it. "I stored them and will return them to their families. You don't have to worry about that."

"Oh, thank you! That's really kind of you!" Noah exclaimed with a smile.

Returning Systems? Who would do something so stupid? Kiyen thought. But even dumber was the fact that Noah actually believed her.

"Come on, Mauri! See? There's the exit up ahead," Noah insisted, pointing to a bluish door in front of them. "Blue doors are the exit—they only appear when the boss is defeated."

"Yes, let's go," the woman urged.

"No," Kiyen said suddenly. "Wait… wait a moment."

He brought a hand to his head.

No… something was telling him no. Ahh, he needed more information.

Frustration gnawed at him. He couldn't just leave like this. There was something in his chest, an alarm ringing of imminent danger, but without answers, he couldn't make a decision.

"Please… just a clue, something…" he murmured, looking around.

His eyes locked onto another body. Without thinking, he approached. It was a young woman with a beautiful face who, in death, looked like a porcelain statue. However, what caught his attention was her jacket. It had an emblem.

He leaned in to get a better look and confirmed what it said.

Well… he had to admit that learning to read hadn't been so useless after all.

"Mauri, what are you doing…? Just let them rest already…" Noah insisted.

"This," Kiyen cut him off, holding up an emblem with the inscription: Talis Argentas. "You said there was only one heir… so why does this woman have this emblem on her clothes?"

Noah stepped closer and took the emblem in both hands, examining it carefully.

"It's genuine," he confirmed, looking at the young woman lying dead before him.

"And she said she didn't know them. So why would she have an emblem that's supposed to belong to her? Go on, explain yourself!" Kiyen demanded, pointing his dagger at the black-haired woman.

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Noah's head. He pressed a hand to his forehead, shutting his eyes tightly, shaking his head as if trying to drive something out of his mind.

The woman took advantage of the moment.

A pained grunt escaped Kiyen's lips as he barely managed to move his arm in time to block the curved knife launched by the supposed Talis Argentas, preventing it from piercing his skull.

He grimaced, but kept himself composed as he saw the blade embedded in his skin, just above his forehead. Better his arm than between his eyes.

When he looked up, he found the woman still holding her hand out toward him.

"It's not… I am…! I'm like you! I'm like you!" she began to cry out desperately.

Noah shook his head and, with a determined gaze, hesitated no more. That attack on Kiyen was enough for him to act.

He lunged forward, sword raised high, leaped into the air, and brought it down toward the woman. But without moving from her spot, she caught the blade with her bare hands.

"What…? Impossible!" Noah exclaimed as he was thrown backward by the woman's push.

"This can't be… She shouldn't be able to touch this sword with her bare hands… This blade is charged with mana… and it's B-rank…" His voice trembled between disbelief and confusion. "Unless… she's not a player."

Noah kept his eyes fixed on the woman, searching for answers.

"But that's impossible…" Noah repeated, completely bewildered. "The system… the system shows me that she's Talis Argentas…"

"And can't the system be wrong?" Kiyen questioned, yanking the blade out of his arm. He bit his lip, suppressing the pain, silently cursing that it was his right arm. That would slow him down with his daggers.

"Mistaken? No. But… Oh, by the gods, it can't be. This person stole Talis' System! How could someone do something so cruel?" Noah cried out, horrified. "And worse… maybe she even manipulated it to display her name. That's awful."

The fact that Noah found such an obvious action so horrifying said a lot about the nobles of today. Perhaps they truly were ignorant of what happened to those without a System.

The clearest conclusion was that this woman was after stealing Systems… Could that be why she attacked them too?

Still, Kiyen didn't believe that was the whole answer. Her inhuman strength, her desperation to leave, and that strange sensation stirring inside him told him there was something more.

But he had no proof. Only instincts.

"At least we know now she's not a friend," Kiyen said.

"I am like you! I will be like you! Let me go with you!" the woman kept repeating, her face growing more and more distorted. And it wasn't just anger—her very features seemed to be shifting, as if receiving countless cuts. It looked as if, at any moment, her face might fall apart… literally.

Face… Kiyen whispered, recalling for a moment the gaze of the ice statue he had seen at the entrance, how it had shattered, and how he had felt watched by the fragment that held those eyes.

Now that he looked at her closely, she bore a certain resemblance…

He remembered the words of the mission…

From ice to flesh.

Return the soul fragment.

A step back…

"We have to go back, Noah! We need to return to the entrance!" Kiyen shouted as Noah swung his sword in vain against the woman.