A Few Moments Later

  Still at the Former Gangnam Building

  Rooftop

  After all of the Count's allies there had finished administering first aid to the young Nabi Yu and begun her departure from human reality — now heading toward the Oculi reality — everyone looked upon the Count standing before them with deep admiration and respect.

  He was gradually lowering his gaze, which moments before had been directed toward the night sky of that dawn, high above the entire capital of South Korea.

  The Count looked at his elite group: all of them so young, no older than eighteen, while he himself, in the present moment, was nearly thirty years old.

  Yet despite their youth, each one of them carried within their hearts a latent strength of will and a desire for a better future.

  This was clearly visible to the Count, who, being more experienced in Oculi abilities, could easily see beyond the hearts of everyone there on his team.

  He could perceive the essences behind their existences — genuinely malleable, yet at the same time intense in their movements.

  This vision was something even more beautiful to the proud eyes of the Count, for in each of them he saw smiles and gazes directed at him in that moment, wishing to make him feel proud for having trained them so well in the past.

  For a brief instant, this carried him back into the past with a single blink of his eyes, visualizing the young Lilian being dressed in her most formal garments by her friends and allies.

  Lilian herself, only five years old at the time, appeared deeply fearful and apprehensive, for she was on her way to her own coronation after her mother's death, becoming the first to inherit the Oculi throne.

  After finishing the preparation of her clothes, hair, and makeup in her room, Lilian now walked toward the place where she would address her people in the great capital of the Oculi.

  As she walked beside her two older sisters, Urius and Nox, Lilian searched for her best friend, the Count, out of fear of doing something wrong during the coronation and the speech that the two of them had practiced together for many days.

  But when she spotted the Count walking behind her among the many guards, she felt the world slow down and seem to regain its colors once more — now more saturated.

  For Lilian, merely having the Count's presence by her side, close to her during the coronation before all who were present, made her feel confident and calm in a completely natural way.

  He did not need to say anything; he only needed to look at her and smile, showing that he was there if she needed him, and that she would do well even if she feared making mistakes during the coronation and the Oculi throne's inaugural speech.

  For he knew that despite her outwardly serious expression as she walked, inside the young Lilian's heart was turbulent and stormy. That attentive and comforting smile and gaze from the Count were enough.

  What easily made her heart — which had been beating so fiercely under the pressure of everything around her — begin to calm, making her feel stronger.

  Even though she herself did not yet realize how strong she truly was for facing her fears and apprehensions head-on.

  Thus, before the Count's eyes, unfolded what would become the most beautiful scene of his entire life: Lilian looking at him and smiling in such a gentle and happy way, conveying a sense of hope and a desire for a future of peace.

  A sight he would not witness only once from that day onward, but many times in the young Lilian — from the day of her coronation to the throne until the present moment — that same smile being surprisingly replicated by the younger Oculi.

  Those who joined the Reginae faction seeking peace among the Oculi and now also with humans, after all the wrongs humans had done to Queen Luna before she was ultimately killed by their hands.

  All of them knew that even if Luna had survived the human atrocities, she would never have desired vengeance, despite having suffered so much.

  For her greatest wish after becoming Queen of the Oculi at the end of the great war in their reality was to grant even evil itself the free will to be what it longed to be in its own corrupted essence.

  Thus returning to the present moment as the count reopened his eyes, shaping upon his slightly trembling lips a nostalgic smile.

  Acting almost automatically, the count did nothing less than turn his back, hiding his face from his teammates who were now standing behind him, watching him in silence.

  [Count — Confident & Grateful Voice] I am grateful to each and every one of you for still trusting me as the leader of this incredible team in my eyes, and... —

  They understood that the expression they had briefly glimpsed — a mixture of pain and a genuine desire for all of this to end for the sake of future human and Oculi generations — carried a weight far deeper than words.

  [Count — Motivated & Grateful Voice] ...And I am honored to have all of you. Those to whom I can entrust my life without a second thought. —

  [A Gentle Sigh, Joyful & Proud, From The Count's Allies]

  Everyone there bowed their heads in respect to the count, while one of them held in their arms the young Nabi Yu, now asleep, her condition stabilized yet still requiring prolonged care.

  Each of them present was a member of one of the five greatest elite teams serving in the field for the Reginae faction.

  [Count — Serious & Confident Voice] My older sister, Yuna, died searching for a place without wars, where she could live alongside her daughter, Nabi Yu... —

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  All of them looked at the count's back and smiled in a way that clearly showed they knew he was crying, struggling to contain his emotions and feelings.

  [Count — Serious & Confident Voice] And I will not allow my niece to be the next to die while searching for a place to live in peace, far away from this bloody war among the Oculi. —

  He was doing everything he could not to show weakness before those young members of his team, yet his tears did not represent weakness in the eyes of the allies standing behind him.

  Instead, they revealed an almost indestructible inner strength, one that made each of his allies feel even more motivated to become as strong as the count himself did not yet realize he already was in the present moment.

  So that together, alongside the Reginae faction and all of its active members — and the people who only wished to live outside the conflict beneath their "wings".

  They could put an end to the despicable actions and vile experiments carried out against humans by the members of the Inanis faction.

  Each of the Oculi who followed the ideals of Queen Luna, and who were not corrupted by the Begeneri twins, sought to grow stronger and stronger so that.

  If necessary in the battles yet to come, they would not be corrupted as they now faced Inanis in the present.

  [Echoing, Slightly Trembling & Emotional Crying From The Past — The Young Lilian]

  Thus the voice of the past — of the young Lilian, and of the count himself from a not-so-distant time — echoed within the count's mind.

  As he looked toward the horizon of the city of Seoul, they all stood atop the completely destroyed Gangnam Ex building, in the aftermath of the battle between Nabi Yu and Taesuk just minutes earlier.

  [Echoing Voice Of Young Lilian (8 Years Old)] I don't feel like I'm as strong as you yet, my great friend, Count... [Deep, sorrowful sigh] —

  [Echoing Voice Of The Count] ...Little Lilian, I sense in you the same "spark" your mother once showed while standing before all of us, guiding us toward peace and no longer toward war. [Understanding & attentive breath] —

  [Echoing Voice Of Young Lilian (8 Years Old)] ...But I'm still afraid that this "spark" you keep telling me about since I was younger won't be enough in these times so bloody and dark... [Deep, fearful breath] —

  [Echoing Voice Of The Count] Lilian, before your mother assumed the throne of our entire people at the end of the Great War, she too feared failure. [Comforting sigh] —

  [Echoing Whisper Of Young Lilian (8 Years Old)] Count... [Deep, grateful sigh] —

  [Echoing Voice Of The Count] But your mother, Luna, chose to use fear to become stronger than any of us could ever be — facing not only the fear of yet another war among us, the Oculi, but also one against humans in their own reality, little Lilian. [Motivating sigh] —

  [Echoing Voice Of Young Lilian (8 Years Old)] Thank you so much, my dear friend... [Gentle, grateful laugh] —

  Simultaneously with all of this in the present moment, all of the count's allies who were there began to bid farewell to one another and, shortly after, calmly started to disappear, departing from that place toward their respective residences.

  After so much time spent on a mission alongside the count — not only within human reality but also within the reality of the Oculi — they had realized that the building was on the verge of collapsing.

  Thus, they would not need to manually erase their Oculi existences from that place. With the building collapsing and turning into a pile of rubble, the matter would resolve itself.

  The existence of the Oculi, whether from the Reginae or Inanis factions, would remain hidden from any humans unaware of them.

  Most humans would believe that the Gangnam Ex building had collapsed solely due to a severe internal structural failure.

  [(Count — Thought, Emotional & Remorseful) Forgive me, little Nabi Yu... I... I took far too long to reach my sister Yuna, after she fled — still pregnant with you — without my knowledge, into human reality. (Angry sigh)]

  At the same time, one could see his ally, the young Sork, bringing into the count's arms his young niece, Nabi Yu, still asleep, after they had finally managed to reach her at the end of their important mission in the Oculi reality.

  [(Count — Serious & Resolute Voice) After spending so many years believing that your mother, Yuna, had been murdered by the Inanis faction... But I promise you, my incredible niece... (Deep breath)]

  Yet he struggled with his words, for Nabi Yu had disappeared for several months following the destruction of her home, which had suffered an Oculi terrorist attack that resulted in the death of the young Oculi boy, Adrian.

  [Count — Serious & Resolute Voice] I will protect you at any cost, so that Yuna may rest in peace for all eternity, after having given her life for your safety, far from this conflict. [Deep, motivated breath] —

  He was the one to whom Yuna had entrusted the safety of her daughter, Nabi Yu, until Yuna's brother — the count himself — could reach her home and protect his child.

  And it is at this moment that the count finally holds his unconscious fourteen-year-old niece in his arms.

  The count begins to realize how this bloody war among the Oculi — once confined to their own reality in the past, and now bleeding into human reality after decades spent in the shadows following Luna's death in the 1960s —

  is now affecting the younger generation of the Oculi, no longer only the elders who had witnessed its beginning and its intensification after Queen Luna's death in the sixties. The remaining tears slipping from the closed eyes of young Nabi Yu

  were, to the count, nothing less than the embodiment of the pain that the younger ones would be forced to shed more and more in the future, should this conflict continue.

  After a few moments, the young Sork is the next to depart from that place, returning to the Oculi reality as his entire body dissipates into a light yet dense black smoke.

  [Count — Whispering, Confident & Vengeful] I will not take a single step back, even if I am forced to take the lives of those cursed beings who are my own kind — and even if that must happen in the future... [Deep breath] —

  Left alone in that place, with only his niece Nabi Yu in his arms, the count exhales deeply, filled with regret as he struggles to restrain his thirst for vengeance.

  He directs his gaze — consumed by hatred — toward the night horizon, with its many buildings illuminating his vision, as well as the now-dark sky, finishing his whisper:

  — ...I will never corrupt my own essence by descending into the darkness where those cursed members of the Inanis Faction dwell, staining their hands with their victims. [Deep, vengeful breath] —

  Knowing precisely that all members of the Inanis faction bore their share of guilt for the many human and Oculi deaths over the past decades — both in human reality and in Oculi reality.

  The count also knew that the true culprits of this bloodstained war, which cast so many lives into the void after death,

  [Echoing, Motivated Screams Of The Inanis Faction's Forces Killing Their Victims In The Past]

  while much of this war still remained hidden in the shadows of most of human society, were the four individuals who stood at the very top of the Oculi hierarchy, leading and commanding all the forces and future plans of the Inanis faction.

  [Echoing, Tearful & Terrified Screams Of The Innocent Victims Of The Inanis Faction From The Past]

  Occupying first place simultaneously were two of these figures: the Begeneri twins themselves, founders of the faction after the death of Queen Luna.

  Beneath the Begeneri, holding second place in the hierarchy, stood the young Lax.

  [Echoing, Deeply Amused & Hollow Breathing Of The Begeneri Twins From The Past]

  She was the current left arm and the most rational commander of the entirety of the Inanis rear forces.

  Meanwhile, in third place within the hierarchy stood none other than the right arm: the young Astaroth.

  [Echoing, Deeply Merciless & Serene Sigh Of Lax From The Past]

  He embodied the obsessive and bloodthirsty side commanding the faction's vanguard, and was also the younger brother of the young Lax by one year — a brother who was jealous and extremely obsessive toward her.

  [Echoing, Bloodthirsty & Vengeful Laughter Of Astaroth From The Past]

  Even though, in the eyes of all, he appeared to be a hollow and unpleasant individual in his words and personality.

  Behind that fa?ade he wished only to see his sister Lax happy at any cost, while she served the Begeneri twins alongside Astaroth himself at the summit of the Inanis faction.

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  (Act 14 — A Tale Already Forgotten)