Chapter 132: Caius Solmere (4)

Misha was difficult to understand at first because she actively disliked being understood. Caius discovered that quickly. Direct questions rarely worked but complaints did.

One night, Caius occupied a temporary humanoid vessel while Misha sat beside a dying campfire repairing one of her straps on her equipment. She had been complaining about Administrator interference for nearly ten minutes.

"He altered the reward table."

Caius sat opposite her with one knee raised. "Again?"

"Yes. Again."

"He sounds helpful."

Misha gave him a flat look. "..."

Caius waited. That was another thing he learned. Silence was often more effective than asking twice.

Eventually she pulled the strap tighter. "I dislike my brother because his definition of helping usually violates six regulations and gives me a headache later."

He restrained a smile. "So Master dislikes him because he helps you."

That was how information came. Bit by bit, enough that Caius eventually knew Misha had survived Genesis during the same wave of Settlement resets that destroyed Virelia. It was enough that he knew her early climb had been changed by administrative intervention.

Misha did not give tactical debriefings of her trauma. He respected that mostly because neat summaries of suffering tended to be lies. She remembered people, regrets, and the stupid things someone said before they died. So Caius learned those instead.

Months passed, then years. At some point, he stopped thinking of himself as the dead heir of House Solmere traveling beside a strange masked woman. He stopped measuring time by how long it had been since Virelia. He began measuring it by Floors.

By the time they reached Floor 61, four years had passed.

===

The battle was already lost before Caius admitted it. The ruined avenue was covered in shattered Soul Vessels.

Nyxie’s had broken first. She had charged the enemy with her usual complete absence of hesitation. Then a wave hit her halfway across the place. Her temporary body cracked from shoulder to hip. Then the vessel exploded into green-white fragments and her soul was dragged back into its chamber.

Olivia lasted longer. She and Gerbaut reached the enemy together, almost. She had blood across one cheek and looked delighted about it while Gerbaut said nothing. He never wasted words once combat became serious.

Another pulse moved through the avenue. Both vessels shattered.

Tobias raised an entire wall from beneath the street. Stone erupted upward in a grinding roar. "Behind me."

The barrier lasted three seconds then it fractured down the center. His vessel followed.

One by one, they were defeated and forced back into the Chambers.

Only Nameless remained standing. He stood in the middle of the ruined avenue with his back toward Misha, planted between her and the man at the opposite end of the street. Broken stone steamed beneath his boots. The manifested armor covering his chest had been split diagonally from shoulder to ribs, and one knee bled thin streams of golden light where the temporary vessel had started to destabilize.

Still, his posture had not changed. His simply stood there, waiting for the next attack.

The man across from them held an instrument made of blood. Caius never forgot that.

Years later, he would lose pieces of the face. Smoke had obscured too much of it. Firelight distorted the rest. Memory itself seemed unwilling to preserve certain details with the same merciless clarity it gave everything else.

"Move." The man’s voice carried easily through the ruined street.

Nameless raised his weapon. "No."

A soft laugh followed, although he seemed to find it less amusing. "You are the last one."

Nameless’ gaze did not leave him. "That is enough."

There was no arrogance in it. That was what made the sentence heavier. It was a fact, nothing more.

Behind him, Misha swayed. Caius caught the movement before she fell.. Not physically since he was already inside her body. Misha had transferred control to him several minutes earlier, after her hands began losing sensation and her left knee stopped obeying her consistently.

Possession had only solved one problem. Caius could force damaged muscles to respond slightly longer, he could tolerate pain that would have made Misha’s own movement hesitate. Her mana pathways felt flayed from repeated Soul Manifestation. The body was finished but it simply had not received permission to stop yet.

Nameless could have stabilized more if he possessed her himself. His possession would have reinforced her beyond anything Caius could manage. But if Nameless entered Misha–

Nobody would be left between them and the man with the crimson instrument. Worse, any injuries Nameless suffered while possessing her would remain on Misha’s body even after the possession ended. That alone made it impossible, especially when the enemy they faced this time was far stronger than any of them.

[Soul Manifestation] would have been the safer choice. It lasted considerably longer than [Possession], giving the summoned soul more time to fight at full capacity. So in the end, Caius took control of Misha’s body while Nameless fought and held the road.

"Master," Caius muttered through her mouth, forcing her body upright.

Her soul floated nearby, tensed. "How bad?"

"I’ve had better bodies."

"That’s mine."

"I’m aware."

"Try sounding more respectful about it."

Then a low chord rang out. Every remaining pane of glass shattered.

The pressure hit Nameless but he remained unmoved. Fire exploded from beneath his feet and the wave split around him. Buildings on either side cracked but the road behind him remained untouched.

The man’s hand stopped and for the first time since the battle began, his posture shifted.

"He blocked it," she whispered.

Caius watched the fire crawling up Nameless’ arms, then it gathered around his weapon. His gaze changed into something colder. He had seen that expression only twice before. Both times, Misha had nearly died.

"Regulus."

The avenue went silent. Even the residual hum from the blood instrument disappeared. Then something roared. The sound came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

Nameless one hand, then placed it against the lion’s head. "Misha."

Her soul looked toward him and he did not turn.

"Leave."

Her jaw tightened. "We’re trying."

"Try faster."

Then Regulus moved, not forward but inward. The lion collapsed into flame and rushed toward Nameless. Gold-red fire swallowed him and for a half a heartbeat, he vanished inside the inferno.

Then he stepped out, different. The fire around Nameless no longer behaved like ordinary flame since Regulus had merged with him. It clung in layers shaped like armor and fur. A burning mane spread from his shoulders and down his back. Golden claws formed over his hands. His eyes burned the same molten gold as Regulus’.

Caius felt the pressure from where he stood. It rolled off around them in dense waves, heavy enough to make the air itself seem tighter around them.

Then the road cratered beneath his boot as Nameless took one step.

The other man smiled. Then another low chord tore through the avenue and Nameless met it head-on. The sound wave broke and the impact exploded between them.

Caius threw Misha’s arm over her face. A storm of dust ripped past.

Then three overlapping resonance waves crossed the plaza and golden fire burst outward in the shape of an enormous lion’s head. Wave met flame. The first resonance shattered, the second split, and the third reached Nameless and tore a strip of burning armor from his shoulder. But he did not slow down, his fist reached the man and the man blocked with the instrument made of blood.

BOOM.

The entire intersection collapsed and for the first time, the enemy flew. His body punched through the remains of a wall while Nameless stood in the center of the crater.

Caius watched the ruined building then something moved inside. Blood rose from the road, from corpses, and from cracks between stones. Thin streams crawled toward the shattered wall and the instrument rebuilt itself first.

Then the man stepped through the dust, one side of his clothing had burned away. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it with his thumb then looked at Nameless with a smirk. "Not bad."

Nameless mouth curved. It was not a smile but more like a recognition.

Neither was winning. They simply had finally found an equal.

As they attacked once more, the avenue stopped resembling a battlefield. It became the space between two disasters. Neither gained more than several meters and neither could afford to look anywhere else.

That was the only reason Caius and Misha still had an escape route.

"Now," Misha said, her gaze remained fixed on the two.

Forcing her left foot forward, pain exploded through nerves that did not belong to him. Possession increased tolerance, it did not make damaged anatomy functional.

Behind them, the route was barely open. Collapsed buildings narrowed the avenue into a single passage. If they could reach the gap, the structures might block the direct line between them and the battle.

Nameless only needed to hold the man, and he was holding him. That was what made Caius believe they might actually escape.

Misha floated beside him. "How much longer can you keep moving?"

Caius swallowed blood that had gathered beneath her tongue. "I’m trying not to calculate it."

"Cai."

"I know."

"MOVE!" Nameless shouted behind them.

Caius turned and saw the air compressed visibly. Every standing building along the avenue groaned simultaneously.

Nameless’ head snapped toward Misha. "CAIUS!"

Misha’s body did not move fast enough. The wave passed through the fire, through everything. Then the resonance entered Misha’s body all at once.

Her damaged ribs vibrated, one fractured edge drove deeper. Caius felt tissue tear inside her chest and her lungs spasmed before blood surged into her mouth. He coughed and lost control of one leg. "Misha–"

Her soul jerked toward him. "Cai, look out!"

Another vibration passed through the ground, smaller. But that did not matter. The first wave had ruptured something major, the second finished what remained. Her heart lost its rhythm.

He tried to breathe, one lung responded while the other collapsed halfway through the attempt. Something inside her chest was filling rapidly.

Behind them, Nameless attacked harder. If he abandoned the duel now, the next direct attack would reach Misha. So he remained there, fighting someone who could genuinely match him while knowing the person behind him was dying from the shockwaves of their equality.

Five meters... the passage was five meters away. Caius took one step and the world tilted, her body fell, hitting the ground.

"Caius!" Her voice sounded farther away. "Get out!"

He understood what she meant. She wanted him to terminate the possession and let her body die inside her own body.

"No... I can restart it." He pressed her palm against her chest and pushed mana toward the heart with a spark of lightning.

Then gray windows appeared across his fading vision.

Caius had never seen interfaces like them. Lines of text flickered too quickly to read. Then one snapped into focus.

「 〔!ERROR!〕

VESSEL-SOUL PRIORITY CONFLICT.

Causal Subject: Caius Solmere

Registered Vessel: Misha Apocalypse

Temporal restoration requires Subject-Vessel equivalence.

Requirement not satisfied. 」

『 Attempting dual-record synchronization...』

"Cai!"

He tried to terminate possession but something rejected it.

「〔WARNING〕

Current Vessel is physiologically incompatible with causal restoration 」

"Caius, get out!" That was the first time he heard fear enter her voice without being disguised as anger.

"I... I’m trying..."

『 Full restoration failed. 』

『 Searching permissible alternative... 』

『... 』

『 Creating Regression Protocol... 』

Caius froze when those words became clear.

So this was her brother... the brother she complained about beside campfires. He was trying to save her.

Misha looked at the window then at him. "T-this..."

「 〔!ERROR!〕

REQUEST DENIED!」

『 Overwriting Protocol... 』

『 Searching for Origin Point... 』

The avenue distorted, the fire bent sideways.

Nameless shouted something but Caius could not hear him anymore.

『 Establishing Regression Coordinate... 』

"No." Misha’s soul reached for him. Her fingers passed through the edge of the body he occupied.

"M-Master–"

"Don’t–"

「 〔CRITICAL WARNING〕

Temporal Reversion detected.

This action violates chronological continuity.

Current Timeline Authority has issued a rejection. 」

The world trembled. Then one final line appeared.

『 Rejection ignored. 』

『 Historical Destination Acquired. 』

Then darkness swallowed everything. Caius fell through something that had no direction.

Memories rushed past him in fragments. Virelia, rain, Misha beside a campfire, Nyxie laughing, Olivia smiling with blood on her cheek, Gerbaut standing silently at a cliff edge, Tobias correcting someone’s stance, Nameless placing a hand on Misha’s head. Then–

Air slammed into his lungs and Caius woke with a violent gasp. He lurched upright and for several seconds, he could only breathe. His chest hurt, not from broken ribs but from lungs suddenly existing.

"No." His voice sounded wrong, higher and younger.

He looked down and saw his hands were small. There were no burns, no scars, and no split palms. He stared at them until the room blurred.

Beyond the curtains, bells rang over Virelia. He heard the sound of a city that had no idea it was going to die.

Caius climbed out of bed too quickly that his knees buckled, making him hit the floor. Pain shot through both legs. It was real pain. He remained there on his hands and knees for a while until a laugh escaped him, small and broken. He covered his mouth as another one came. It almost became a sob.

Outside, bells continued ringing over the harbor. Virelia was alive, and somewhere out there, Misha was alive.

He had been given years back. He did not know whether the System had chosen him, whether the Administrator’s interference had accidentally pulled him backward instead of his sister, or whether causality itself had made the catastrophic mistake of allowing Caius Solmere another attempt.

He only knew one thing. This time, Floor 31 would not take Virelia without a fight. And... Floor 61 would not take Misha at all.

***END OF FLASHBACK***