The Sky Within - End

The Argent Sanctum trembled under the weight of chaos. Gladiators clustered in murmuring huddles, their voices a low, anxious hum. Dawn's light painted the training yard in blood-red hues, but the usual clang of steel was absent—replaced by the crackle of residual energy seeping from a shattered cellblock. 

Ed Vasco stormed through the gates, his black cloak billowing like a storm cloud. The letter crumpled in his fist bore the Sanctum's seal, its contents brief of content that made Ed Vasco brust into a fury of rage and at the same time awe.

His boots echoed like war drums as he marched toward the barracks, Black Knights scattering like startled crows. Four Gladiators stood guard outside Aden's cell, their faces pale beneath their visors. They stiffened as Ed approached, fists clenched at their sides. 

"Move," Ed snarled. 

They obeyed. 

The air reeked of ozone and burnt stone. Ed stepped into the cell, his sharp eyes sweeping the carnage.

The moment his eyes fell sharp on the cell, his mind raced and his eyes widened in shock.

The mana-reinforced wall—carved with centuries-old suppression runes—had been obliterated. A gaping hole, large enough to drive a siege engine through, yawned into the mountains beyond. The edges of the stone still smoldered, glowing faintly crimson, as if the rock itself had been melted by hellfire. 

Varek materialized at his side, voice uncharacteristically subdued. "The suppression runes… they're gone." 

Ed crouched, gauntleted fingers brushing the hole's jagged rim. The residual energy pricked his skin—a familiar, venomous chill. 

"Vasco Eclipse," he muttered. 

The Gladiators exchanged glances. 

Ed's gaze fell to the pallet. A single sheet of parchment lay atop the threadbare blanket, weighted by a shard of smoldering stone. He snatched it up, the Vasco crest embossed at the top—Aden's handwriting, sharp and unflinching: 

To Ed Vasco, 

Don't try to look for me. I'll be back. 

Thanks you for Everything. 

The parchment crinkled in his grip. 

Footsteps pounded down the corridor. The Sanctum's librarian—a skeletal man with ink-stained fingers—skidded into the cell, clutching a ledger to his chest. 

"L-Lord Vasco!" he stammered. "The restricted vault… it's been breached! The Eclipse, the Bloodmoon Waltz, the Chains of the Abyss—they're all gone!" 

Ed didn't look up. His thumb traced the edge of the letter, the paper whispering like a blade being drawn. 

Varek stepped forward. "We'll dispatch trackers. The boy can't have gone far—" 

"No." Ed's voice silenced the room. He straightened, the crimson light from the hole casting his face in sharp relief. 

A smile—thin, mirthless—twisted his lips. 

"That fool," he murmured.