The Ledger of Nightmares manifested in Cel’s hands with familiar weight. Leather-bound pages that shouldn’t exist in physical space settled across his lap. Around him, the wounded area continued its rhythm - Sylvaine’s quiet instructions to her assistant, the soft groans of the injured, the distant sounds of combat beyond the defensive circle. But Cel’s attention had already turned inward, toward the book that catalogued every creature he encountered.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnm5dEpDN0
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiEi4jOjQAn
He opened it. The pages fell away beneath his fingers, revealing entries he’d seen before - the Ashlurker from the Ashlands, the crystal creatures from the maze, others whose names he’d already forgotten. He continued turning until new pages appeared.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe1wf9TWjwR
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNV0QtHGiZV
The first image resolved itself with disturbing clarity. The creature stood rendered in precise detail - burnt-leather skin stretched over a frame that bent in wrong places, limbs too long and jointed where they shouldn’t be. Its eyeless head tilted slightly in the illustration, mouth open to reveal those inward-curving teeth that had torn through villagers with savage efficiency.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCEyneYGEN
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Text materialized beneath the image:24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0SoCbyqrC
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1xlTjteKCe
<Anathema: Rakemouth>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJithjT3bX2
<Blight: Cursed>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2pfjQMCp5
<Legacy: Incomplete>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ18QynKs5ss
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ODU09xO7j
Cel stared at the designation. His jaw worked, grinding teeth together as understanding settled over him with uncomfortable weight.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1UdYpRh4Pi
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSSf79vK0rG
Cursed. The weakest rank a creature could carry. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUQW5NUV542
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5gn3HmFOQd
Yet many people had died to these things this night. Not just one or two caught unaware. Multiple villagers. Students who’d trained at the Academy, who’d been blessed by gods and given divine powers to wield. And they’d died anyway, torn apart by creatures that barely registered on the scale of threats that existed in this world.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7aKWu6nOE
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmGun0gDsYD
His hand moved to his side, where claws had torn through Cinderward during the earlier fight. The skin beneath had barely been marked, but that hardly mattered. What mattered was the armor itself. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbxycCnnH8X
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuzzwyJzUkW
Cinderward was blessed-grade. The lowest tier of divine artifact, equivalent in rank to the cursed blight creatures. He’d been grateful for it when the Moon Goddess granted him the armor. It had made him feel safer - protected.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4sQGckUUYN
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWugei7M1S
But now that gratitude curdled into something more complicated.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdKDf7i4hu7
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCaTkfOY7Nc
If even a creature of the absolute lowest rank could pierce it, then what good was the armor at all? Any creature he faced could do the same.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65ha7WuFkN
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUpw4OUDzL
Which meant he couldn't rely on Cinderward to keep him safe. The only real solution left was not getting hit at all, and that took a skill he didn’t possess. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCc41N3ykdy
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ0VBt0D7Va
Cel's grip tightened on the Ledger's edge. He forced himself to turn the page, seeking the other entry he knew must be there. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKkQmCUgxA
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqZ5ZCe367g
The second image appeared with the same disturbing precision as the first. The bulky creature stood rendered in full detail - massive frame built for raw physical power, armored skull that had absorbed every impact without yielding, bare skin over muscle so dense that normal blades would never pierce deep.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6gqg2gZGCP
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEkVzkLE9Bw
<Anathema: Skullcharger>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArZsggrqPJ
<Blight: Profaned>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59AKo71RBu
<Legacy: Incomplete>24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvles0dVDn
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIM5EnmkhBR
Profaned. One step above cursed.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMI3kp7shEI
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWelKv7rwC
Cel’s mood darkened as he read the designation. One rank higher than the Rakemouth. Just one. Yet the difference in capability had been staggering. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡso68R8GWnL
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHI9hhpTUSP
And it was the same rank as the Ashlurker - the creature he’d fought in the Ashlands. His first kill. The fight had nearly ended him, even though the creature had already been badly wounded. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJ4q2Ej7yS
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Without these injuries…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKIZDGBxa7
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He would have died. The Ashlurker would have torn him apart the same way the Skullcharger had nearly done tonight.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNboRUawkGA
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LpI8Q3iDB
…Tonight.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQAGClmztZE
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpggm7uLjWv
Cel stared at the page. At the blight classification that marked the Skullcharger as equivalent to Ashlurker.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4eVXygu2Jo
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1eU59TBbNH
He’d barely won against it. It had taken Lior driving Silent Moon through its throat to finally end the fight.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTf7WqVSOYS
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PXGmXlKHK
If it wasn’t for Lior…24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWo6PLGj5bK
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡULEEguJhMK
The thought completed itself without his permission. He would have died. Again.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVqEDmpSem
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4IIHnYDiW
However, he hadn't fought for himself. Every dodge he'd refused, every blow he'd absorbed with his own body, had been for the three people standing behind him. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtg7azUuIlD
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Maybe alone it would have gone differently. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSGSMVH7OR8
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But that didn't erase the fact that he'd been unable to end it himself.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRAaSJaEl5S
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxAbNHaWcdO
So what had changed?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikoDMUeihO
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv4LHarOuTQ
The question sat in his mind with uncomfortable weight. What was different between the Ashlands and tonight? Between the wounded Ashlurker he’d barely survived and the Skullcharger that had nearly killed him?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO61d0NqNUZ
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmXJM5jrt8x
He’d spent months at the Academy learning to fight. Spent hours drilling techniques with instructors who knew their craft. Spent night after night at the Reckoning's manor, Silas correcting his footwork, his distance, his timing, until his reconstructed body understood.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡREidIKegNO
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But when it mattered - when actual combat arrived instead of controlled sparring - he’d struggled just as badly as before.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguvnqYrBtn
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Maybe worse. Because at least in the Ashlands, desperation had carried him through on pure survival instinct. Tonight he’d had training to draw on, technique drilled into muscle memory, experience from previous fights.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywNvVruKob
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And it hadn’t been enough.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaWkkeYaGn6
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Cel's fingers curled slowly against his knee. He’d learned to control the body the Moon Goddess had given him, yes. Had mastered the enhanced strength and speed that divine reconstruction provided. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRL98yX6b82
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But beyond that?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4lqvzActlr
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Nothing.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnzMUW3bPin
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWvs4XAXFr
He was still the same person who’d fumbled through the Ashlands on borrowed time and divine favor. Still someone who survived through luck and the intervention of others rather than genuine competence.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxSkfqgNJj
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlhWPIIdYIC
Hestia had been right in her assessment - raw capability without technique to direct it. A strong body moving through space with force but no finesse, no understanding of how to actually use what he’d been given.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ApaaKPdY5
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He was stuck.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeSiLS3RyBw
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDCJOglqG1S
Not in the sense of lacking opportunity or resources. The opposite. He had everything - divine blessings, enhanced body, artifacts, training, even a Divine Oracle guiding him. More advantages than most Chosen could dream of possessing.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKNY2RnW3Bk
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhm0uM5h1y
But none of it translated into actual growth. Into becoming someone who could face a profaned-rank creature and win rather than barely survive. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqoDDXDUos
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbHdVCIn5u
The thought felt like standing at the base of a mountain, staring up at a peak that never seemed to grow closer no matter how long you climbed. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcev8CE81N
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9WT1srgas5
And the worst part - the thing that made his chest tighten with something beyond simple frustration - was not knowing what to do about it.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtMrqD1mStZ
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCC49ox0fIT
Selina had told him to discover who he was before worrying about fighting styles. But how was that supposed to help? How did knowing yourself translate into not dying when creatures attacked?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVsnOoXqr3
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIAGyJJfTZB
Maybe it didn’t. Maybe this was just who he was - someone with tremendous gifts and no ability to use them properly. Someone who’d always need others to save him at the critical moment.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Rb1VZWxc9
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHodJgPMSVC
Cel let out a short, humorless breath and stared down at his empty hands. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGem1QR0s0
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVXdOz4PiY
Footsteps approached. Cel’s attention snapped upward, the Ledger dissolving from his lap before conscious thought registered the decision.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjEv7IwSKqs
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjNdeLciCzY
Sylvaine knelt before him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXxOOvMXO5q
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGDRnNqUjD
Her armor still carried blood spatters from earlier fighting - dark stains across the shield-shaped breastplate, streaks along the ivory leather of her legs. But what drew Cel’s attention was her face.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnG8WfiOaJ
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRg0hUx6U54
She looked pale. Too pale. Her skin had taken on an ashen quality that made the blood on her skin stand out in sharp contrast. Dark circles shadowed her light green eyes, and her posture - normally perfect even in combat - carried the particular exhaustion of someone operating on nothing but will.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD3jJOLosIz
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Though he couldn’t find any wounds on her. No visible injuries. No cuts or bruises that would explain why she looked like she’d been drained of something essential.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsKjVy0SwMB
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcAsLlE4heg
Was this what spending too much divine energy looked like? The cost of using authorities beyond safe limits?24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8ajxiBvXd
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsLAJu5ECHz
Cel wouldn’t know. Couldn’t know. Because he had no divine energy to spend in the first place, no baseline to judge what normal depletion felt like versus dangerous overextension.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCod8kXxTju
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcitpy7SCP
Green light bloomed in Sylvaine’s palm. Soft and warm, like spring growth after a long winter. She raised her hand, positioned it over his chest with careful precision.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMFr5zRLAv
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Then her palm touched him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuUtg9v65hu
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vnRKCcrXe
The sensation hit immediately. Pleasant warmth spread from his chest outward, following channels he couldn't name but somehow felt anyway. Like liquid light was being poured into him, filling spaces he hadn't realized were empty. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0XXLMV0mza
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQSUCU7QFjD
It felt different from before.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNQKlLO5Fo
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMQGzoatOzE
In the Reckoning's manor, when Iris - the blond woman they called Veiled Crag - had healed him at his arrival, the power had felt like it came from within. Like something dormant inside him was being activated, called forth and directed toward repair. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMVKh1N6uY
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5MHjqBrqQ
This was external. Foreign. Energy that didn’t belong to him entering his body to become his, transforming as it spread until the distinction between Sylvaine’s power and his own blurred into irrelevance.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvrMCY1nD8I
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnAMxbbkvoT
The pain receded. Gradual but undeniable, the throbbing in his skull easing degree by degree. The dizziness that had plagued him since headbutting the Skullcharger faded like fog burning off under morning light. His thoughts sharpened, vision stabilizing until the world held still instead of tilting at unpredictable angles.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt3C4pWQm31
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The green light faded. Sylvaine withdrew her hand, the connection severing cleanly.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUifMeXp26l
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1owvPsgDuE
“Thank you.” Cel's voice came out clear.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78Cps9ksPa
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLsyDUittXI
Sylvaine’s expression tightened. “I apologize that I couldn’t heal you completely.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6PjgzJAiI
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFNXMU0v7iA
“It’s fine.” Cel shifted slightly, testing his body’s response. No pain. No dizziness. Just the familiar weight of exhaustion that came after extended combat. “I feel as good as new.”24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz15IDK0cWY
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9wfFQmUAlh
And he did. Whatever lingering damage remained, it didn’t bother him. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkXIW48EQPU
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ59gWWizVRO
Sylvaine studied him for a moment longer, something uncertain flickering through her exhausted features. Then she turned her attention to Lior, still unconscious beside them, lost in whatever his soul-space contained.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8DlJoU0hx
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh12XGPxRzZ
The green light bloomed again. Sylvaine positioned her hands over Lior’s torso, where bruises had darkened his skin in patterns that mapped the Skullcharger’s strikes. The light intensified, and wounds began to close.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDj8wzsypME
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcbd7tpIFN
Not instantly. The process took time - flesh knitting together in visible stages, bruises fading from deep purple to yellow to nothing, cuts sealing themselves with new skin that looked pink and fresh. Lior’s breathing deepened, the shallow careful pulls giving way to something more natural as whatever internal damage he’d sustained repaired itself.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFNahSyLFi
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPznTJMfAR1
Sylvaine finished and the light faded again. She pushed herself upright with visible effort, swaying slightly before her balance caught. Then she moved toward the next wounded person, her assistant rising to follow.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjE1d45rXye
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Cel remained where he was, watching them go.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAgWWBhb4u3
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnASieg6mF
Suddenly, light erupted beside him.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcyp7UUF6Ei
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaka4oiNX9f
Bright. Impossibly bright. White moonlight that had no business existing with such intensity, flooding the wounded area with radiance that painted everything in silver tones.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUzEZYPnZr8
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMjW5YzK64e
Heads turned. Conversations died. Even the sounds of combat beyond the defensive circle seemed to pause as every eye fixed on the source.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYVV5zcq9WU
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgN2n1D13P
On Lior.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBExUIf6ZEZ
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Or more precisely, on the space above Lior’s unconscious form, where moonlight had begun to coalesce into something solid. 24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp6UzGPK4uS
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMLcD9ErSJ
Cel recognized the glow immediately. He had seen this exact phenomenon twice before - once when Silent Moon first manifested in his own hands, once when Cinderward had formed around his body.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NuS23jyqr
24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRPizNbJUPB
It was the first manifestation of an artifact granted by the Moon Goddess.24Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYniPDJjfZ
1234 copyright protection20ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWL3veIjLd 尼

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