The excavation team waiting outside tried to enter the cave, but the overwhelming wind prevented anyone from approaching.

No one could keep their eyes open.

The halo of light that had persisted for several seconds began to fade.

The light engulfing Sel’s body shimmered like stardust and sank to the ground.

It circled around Sel for a moment before disappearing into the depths of the cave.

Huff, huff. The people remaining inside the cave gasped for breath.

It was as if their blocked lungs had suddenly been freed.

As the light waned, Sel emerged.

Sel stood upright, holding the fragment of the moon with both hands.

Her face was drenched in cold sweat.

During the few seconds she had been trapped in the light, her blood seemed to flow backward, and alternating sensations of searing heat and freezing pain numbed her entire body.

Sel slowly opened her eyes. Though her entire body ached, making her instinctively furrow her brows, her vision was strikingly clear.

“This is strange.”

Everything Sel saw felt unfamiliar compared to before.

The cave, which had been pitch black moments ago, now appeared in full color.

From the tiny rocks scattered on the ground to the gusts of wind sweeping through, she could feel the power they emanated.

“Why can I see these things? And why does it feel like a massive river is flowing inside my body?”

Sel sensed the flow of magic within her.

She instinctively knew that she had gained the ability to wield magic.

The energy resembled that of the moon fragment she was holding.

The pale, white stone emitted a magical aura that was as beautiful as rippling waves.

“But what is that disgusting barrier?”

Deep within the cave, she saw an eerie barrier that looked like intertwined animal entrails.

It was entirely out of place in a cave imbued with a serene atmosphere.

Something urged her to approach the barrier immediately.

Just as Sel was about to take a step forward, a voice called out from behind her.

“Sel, are you… alright?”

She turned toward Eric, who had gone pale despite already being quite fair-skinned.

“Yes, I am alrigh—!”

Sel abruptly covered her mouth before finishing her sentence.

The voice that emerged was high-pitched and melodious, completely different from her usual tone, which had lowered due to consuming Clotherus.

Her damaged vocal cords had healed, and her voice now sounded fully feminine.

Eric, equally stunned, was momentarily speechless.

“Something about me has changed.”

Wide-eyed, Sel finally looked down at herself.

Golden hair cascaded down her shoulders, nearly brushing the ground.

Her rough hands had transformed, now soft as whipped cream, and the small scars from old allergies had completely disappeared.

As she turned her head side to side, the long strands of her hair flowed like waves with her movements.

Graham, the priests, and even the excavation team peeking from outside the cave all stared at Sel in shock.

The long hair and her voice made it unmistakably clear that Sel was now a woman.

If there were ever a moment worthy of becoming legend, it was now.

As if on cue, a heavy silence filled the cave.

Everyone was at a loss for words. Their mouths hung open as they blinked in stunned disbelief.

Sel herself was no different, unable to grasp the reality of the situation.

Disoriented, she slowly scanned her surroundings.

Every time she moved her head, soft exclamations of astonishment escaped from the onlookers.

In the midst of this, her gaze fell upon Lavi, who was currently possessed. Something seemed off.

Overlaid on Lavi’s face was the image of a stranger. Black hair streaked with white, sharp blue eyes, and a downward-turned mouth.

There was no resemblance to Lavi at all.

Even after blinking several times to clear her vision, the unfamiliar figure remained.

“So that’s the true form of the ghost.”

Though she didn’t fully understand, it was clear that she had gained the ability to see spirits.

The ghost possessing Lavi repeatedly muttered the words etched on Sel’s side, “To my canary beneath the full moon.”

As if it were a death spell, the ghost wept uncontrollably, tears streaming down its face.

“That can’t be… This can’t be…!”

The ghost stared directly at Sel, its eyes wide with disbelief.

For the first time, it felt a soul within Sel’s once-empty body.

And in that soul, the ghost saw the image of its beloved, Creta.

Memories of a young Sel, resembling Creta, surfaced from the ghost’s mind.

It was truly unbelievable.

“This can’t be. How is this possible… How could I not see it, even with you right in front of me…?”

Tears welled up in the ghost’s eyes as it reached out a trembling hand toward Sel.

“You… Could you really be…?”

The hands, outstretched and shaking, faltered and retreated without touching her.

“Right now…”

The unfamiliar voice coming from her own mouth was jarring.

Unable to form a coherent sentence, Sel spoke haltingly, her voice barely audible.

“Right now… I don’t understand… a single word you’re saying.”

“Creta… Did Creta inscribe that mark on you?”

“Who are you?”

Startled by the mention of her mother’s name, Sel regarded the ghost warily.

The ghost smiled sorrowfully and nodded.

“Yes. I no longer have the right to call that name.”

“…”

“That mark imprisoned your soul, concealing your energy from spiritual beings.”

“…What?”

“That’s why I didn’t know. Even with you right in front of me, I couldn’t recognize you. Your very existence seemed faint and unnoticeable.”

The ghost’s weeping face appeared even more distorted under the shadows.

“To my canary beneath the full moon, to my Creta…”

“Who are you?” Sel asked again.

“So your name is Sel.”

The ghost whispered softly, as if savoring the name.

“Selestia… The Moon Queen of the Igor clan’s legends.”

“It suits you so well.”

The ghost raised its hand to wipe its eyes. As it looked down at its damp palm, it let out a bitter laugh, declaring itself unworthy of even shedding tears.

Sel glared fiercely, biting down on her lip.

Tangled thoughts swirled in her mind like a jumbled ball of yarn, rolling about endlessly.

“I never even considered it. That Creta was alive, or that you were inside her.”

“Who are you!?”

“…I just thought Creta was dead. She could never know how much I regretted dying before her.”

Thud. The ghost leaning against the cave wall muttered as though making excuses, then collapsed to the ground like a crumbling sandcastle.

Sel shut her eyes in anguish.

The ghost’s words all pointed to one undeniable truth.

****

“Touching a fragment of the moon turns a man into a woman?”

“That’s not the issue right now. Doesn’t it seem like the Captain and Sel know the ghost?”

“This is the bigger issue! If someone mishandles that thing, even His Majesty could end up as a woman!”

As the excavation team, watching the scene from a distance, spewed nonsense, Eric drove them out of the area.

While Eric tidied up the surroundings, Sel kept her lips tightly sealed.

“Could it be… Are you saying you’re my father?”

Sel’s mind moved sluggishly, like a rusty gear.

Come to think of it, the ghost’s blue eyes were the same color as his own.

Sel knew well that such a hue was rare.

Compared to the grieving ghost, Sel remained relatively calm.

The situation was so absurd that it went beyond bewilderment and bordered on comedy.

Out of nowhere, a father had fallen from the heavens—a being he had never once laid eyes on since birth.

Someone who had never existed in his life was neither precious nor missed.

Sel found it difficult even to feel resentment toward a presence so insubstantial.

“I’m… sorry. I’m so sorry.”

The one who had been that presence was now clutching his chest and wailing.

Neither alive nor human, but as a ghost.

And borrowing the body of someone Sel had no wish to harm, he grieved so deeply.

Sel couldn’t comprehend the depth of the ghost’s sorrow.

If Sel were to define what he was feeling, it would lean closer to anger.

“What gives you the right to cry?”

If you truly are my father, you don’t deserve to shed tears.

Whatever the reason, you abandoned my mother and me. You have no right.

“Get up. Now’s not the time to sit around like this.”

Sel spoke to her unfamiliar father in an unfamiliar woman’s voice.

The ghost, who had been sobbing, slowly raised his head and stared at Sel.

Avoiding the ghost’s gaze, Sel pointed beyond the lake at the strange barrier.

The ghost turned his head in the direction Sel indicated.

“Priest, do you see that?”

Sel asked a nearby priest.

Startled out of his daze, the priest checked the area Sel had pointed to.

It was an empty clearing shrouded in darkness. The priest shook his head.

“I see nothing as well,” the ghost replied in a muted voice, scanning the area ahead.

Even as he did, the ghost seemed to reflect on Sel’s pitiful past. His once-calm face crumbled again, tears streaming down.

Seeing this, Sel’s heart wavered repeatedly, just as the ghost’s did.

Lowering her trembling gaze, Sel spoke cautiously.

“Over there… I feel Mother’s presence. We have to go now.”

Mother’s presence.

Sel, who had never felt such a thing before, could only describe it that way.

Something warm and comforting, like what had embraced her as a child, seemed to call to her from within.

Could this be another effect of the awakening just moments ago?

Sel glanced down at the moon fragment he held.

The magic stone, which typically lost its light with use, continued to shine brilliantly even after Sel’s awakening.

“Captain Graham.”

Sel placed the moon fragment into a sealing box and handed it to Graham.

Graham, one side of his face heavily swollen, glanced back and forth between Sel and the fragment.

“Please take care of this. I plan to head beyond that lake for a while. Take care of this place in the Commander’s stead.”

“Just who are you, really?”

Graham, who had been watching the situation from earlier, struggled to form the words before falling silent again.

Whatever thought had struck him brought a shimmer of tears to his eyes.

Irritated by the sight, the ghost scooped Sel up in his arms.

Then, as though Sel were a small child, he hoisted her onto one shoulder.

“I don’t have much time left. Let’s head to where Creta’s presence lingers, Sel.”

The ghost’s tone, unlike before, was endlessly gentle.

He splashed through the lake, its shallow waters reaching his waist.

Eric followed behind them.

“Why are you tagging along, brat?”

“The body you’re using also asked me for a favor.”

Clicking his tongue at Eric’s blunt reply, the ghost paused mid-step.

“Fine, but don’t get in the way.”

“…Understood.”

Eric’s emotionless eyes briefly landed on Sel before looking away.

Reaching the other side of the lake, they faced a dead-end wall.

The ghost examined the stone wall closely.

“It seems you were right. There’s something faint here. How did I not notice it before?”

The ghost muttered as he studied the pitch-black cave’s rear wall.

Sel quietly retrieved a manual pistol from her holster.

“I’m not sure this will work…”

Muttering under her breath, Sel focused her energy into the pistol.

“It really works?!”

Just as Lavi could sheath his blade in energy, Sel imbued the pistol with white magic.

It was an instinctive decision, a gut reaction.

Sel pulled the trigger toward the empty space.

Bang!

When the magic-infused bullet struck the black void, it rippled like a curtain.

The ghost’s eyes gleamed sharply.

“A double barrier?”

One layer of the barrier would have been challenging enough, but someone had painstakingly woven two layers together.

Drawing the massive sword from her back, the ghost surrounded it with a brilliant blue aura.

The sword sliced through the void.

Clang!

An unseen force blocked the blade’s path.

The ghost twisted his lips into a grimace.

He swung the sword dozens of times at the empty space.

With every strike, something fractured and broke, filling the air with an increasingly loud cacophony.

Crash!

With a resounding clatter, the dark curtain collapsed.

“What the…!?”

Sel and the others gasped, staring ahead in shock.

A blood-soaked altar for necromantic rituals stood revealed before them.