Chapter 181 Hydra - Balaphona - Fractiluna

Night fell.

The rooftop of Laviana’s building in the commercial district was bathed in dim golden light. The eastern wall was covered by a row of magic screens, each frame showing a different corner of Silver Moon: a smoking intersection, a guard post, a hospital corridor, a district clearing away rubble.

And a small room, where the petite maid lay sleeping, her hands neatly placed over her stomach, motionless as though someone had arranged her.

Laviana sat in a red velvet armchair, her long legs crossed. On the table before her sat an open wooden box lined with black velvet. Inside, small glass bottles were arranged in a neat row, each one bearing a slip of paper marked with a date in flowing handwriting.

She ran a finger over each bottle like a collector admiring her most precious collection, then chose one.

Click.

The stopper came off. Several drops of cloudy white liquid fell into the red wine, spiraling into thin strands before dissolving.

Laviana gently swirled the wineglass, watching the liquid turn beneath the light.

Click. Click.

The sound of heels echoed from the darkest corner of the room, though the main door had never opened.

"Does Captain still have such peculiar tastes?"

A woman stepped out of the shadows. She wore a gray attendant’s uniform, her black hair cut at chin length, her face white and expressionless like a porcelain doll.

The attendant standing beside Zeka.

Laviana did not turn around. "Viper. You are three minutes late."

"That old man had another heart attack. I had to stay behind and give him medicine." Viper stopped several steps away from the armchair. Her gaze fell upon the wineglass in Laviana’s hand and remained there.

Her pitch-black pupils slowly narrowed, stretching into diamond-shaped slits.

A thin tongue, forked at the tip, slipped from her pale lips and licked across her lower lip once. Beneath her gray collar, tiny scales flashed emerald green, deep violet, and bronze gold before sinking back beneath white skin as though they had never appeared.

"That scent..." Viper’s voice dragged out, with a faint hiss at the end. "It smells wonderful."

"It is mine." Laviana took a sip and smiled. "Talk business."

Viper withdrew her tongue and laughed softly.

"Zeka has begun taking notice of that outfit. Last night in the prison, Winter went mad and Dark Mist spilled out. If not for that suit, both the old man and Captain’s former husband would have become prey. Now, the old man keeps staring at it and asking again and again where it came from."

"And that fool bragged that I gave it to him."

"Just as Captain predicted."

Laviana put down her wineglass, her fingers lightly tapping the armrest.

"Erik wants to meet the Council. But a man in a wheelchair knocking on their door himself would be far too disadvantageous." She tilted her head, her red hair sliding over her shoulder. "So I will show them the way. Let them seek him out themselves. The stage is almost ready."

Viper silently watched her for a moment. Then the corner of her mouth rose.

"Hydra has always looked down on men. Hydra’s Captain once said that men were merely walking food." Her voice was slow, as though she were savoring every word. "Yet now, Captain is trying to live with one of them. You even moved into his house."

She took another step forward.

"A man who makes Succubi want to kneel without needing a device. A man who keeps an entire city awake just to see whether he is still alive." Her snake tongue slipped out again. "Captain... could he be that one? The one the old women in Fractiluna have been waiting for, for hundreds of years?"

The air in the room seemed to freeze.

Laviana did not answer immediately. She slowly crossed her legs the other way, her silk dress sliding up to reveal a smooth white thigh. Her eyes swept across the row of screens, stopping at the corner where the black velvet wooden box remained open.

"I do not know."

She smiled, and this time there was not the slightest hint of teasing.

"I only know that beside him, I feel at ease. It has been a long time since I slept through the night without having to open the Serpent Eye to keep watch."

Viper raised an eyebrow, as though she had just heard a joke.

Laviana’s smile gradually faded. Her voice lowered, cold as a blade freshly drawn from its sheath.

"Besides, what Hydra does is not for Balaphona to comment on."

On the row of screens, the snake eyes in every frame blinked at the same time.

Viper looked at them, then laughed quietly. The corners of her mouth stretched farther and farther, beyond the limits of a human face, tearing all the way to her ears and revealing two rows of tiny, sharp fangs like those of a venomous snake.

"Captain is still as frightening as ever." She stepped back toward the darkness, her voice sweet yet chilling. "What about the little maid in his house? There is a very strange scent in that home."

Laviana glanced at the screen where Runi lay sleeping. She did not answer.

Viper did not ask further. Half of her body had already sunk into the shadows, leaving only her shining diamond-shaped eyes.

"If Fractiluna finds out about this..." She drew out each word. "They may find it very interesting."

Then she vanished.

No footsteps. No sound of a door opening. Only the lamp in the corner flickered once, as though something had just slithered past.

...

At the same time, inside an abandoned warehouse on the western edge of Silver Moon.

The only light in the room came from a glass sphere resting on a rotten wooden table. Inside, violet mist churned, growing increasingly violent like the sea before a storm.

Karin sat with one leg crossed over the other atop a wooden crate, her arms folded before her chest, the black wings behind her fluffed up. Velyss stood beside her, a black-covered book tucked beneath one arm, her violet-pink eyes calmly fixed on the sphere.

Behind them, several members stood pressed against the wall. Beneath each collar, a crescent-shaped metal insignia flickered softly in time with the swirling violet mist.

"ARE YOU ALL INSANE?!"

A woman’s voice exploded from the sphere, powerful enough to shake dust loose from the rafters. The Crescent Moon members all shrank their necks.

"Who gave you permission to go to Silver Moon on your own?! The sky dome has weakened to the point of cracking by itself, the entire city is counting its days, and yet you dared to open that gate and let Dark Mist pour in?!"

Karin pursed her lips. "We only loosened the seal on the deepest level a little. Who knew that old man Zeka was hiding something down there-"

"A LITTLE?!"

The violet mist within the sphere surged violently.

"Six female prison guards were controlled like puppets! If that thing escaped from the basement, do you know how many Succubi in this city would become like that?!" The voice trembled with fury. "Have you forgotten Crescent Moon’s first rule?"

The room fell silent.

Velyss lowered her eyes slightly. "Do not harm other Succubi."

"At least one person still remembers."

Karin pressed her lips together. She wanted to argue, but the image of ambulances lining up one after another along the streets the night before surfaced in her mind. The black wings behind her slowly drooped.

"...We did not know it would turn out like this."

"Not knowing is not an excuse." The voice in the sphere softened, but became colder. "From now on, Crescent Moon will cease all operations. Do not approach the Council. Do not approach Winter. Do not do anything until new orders arrive."

"Stop?!" Karin shot to her feet. "This is when the Council is at its most chaotic! If we-"

"This is also when Balaphona and Hydra are beginning to stir."

Karin froze.

Velyss raised her head. For the first time that night, a crack appeared in her calm expression.

"Hydra?" she asked softly. "Hydra has been silent for far too long."

"And now it is no longer silent. Balaphona has placed someone beside Zeka. Hydra is beside the man the entire city is watching." The violet mist slowed, spinning in steady circles like a massive eye. "Do you think all of this is merely coincidence?"

No one answered.

"Remember this well." The voice lowered, each word heavy as stone. "Crescent Moon, Balaphona, Hydra... all bear the mark of Fractiluna. But every broken piece of the moon has its own path. Sharing the same sky does not mean walking the same road."

The light within the sphere flickered.

"Do not become prey to your own family."

Poof.

The sphere went dark.

Darkness descended over the warehouse. Only after a long while did Karin let out a breath and drop back onto the wooden crate.

"She always talks like she is reciting poetry."

Velyss did not answer. She looked at the sphere that had gone cold, her fingers lightly stroking the cover of the black book.

"Karin."

"What?"

"The man Hydra is beside," Velyss said slowly. "It is Erik, isn’t it?"

Karin stiffened. The black wings behind her twitched once.

"...So what?" She turned her face away, her voice rigid. "What does that have to do with me?"

Velyss glanced at her, the corner of her lips lifting slightly.

"I never said it had anything to do with you."

...

Several days later.

Chirp... chirp...

Birdsong drifted in from somewhere very close. The curtains stirred softly, and a thin ray of sunlight slid across her eyelids.

Saraya opened her eyes.

An ivory-white ceiling adorned with vine patterns. A small crystal chandelier quietly reflected the morning light. The air carried a faint scent of herbs, cool and pleasant, completely different from the hospital’s disinfectant smell.

Where was she?

She tried to sit up, but her whole body felt heavy, as though she had slept so long that she had forgotten how to move. Her head throbbed faintly. Her shoulder was tightly bandaged.

Then the memories came rushing back.

A roar that tore through the sky. The ground shaking. The light across the sky dome shattering into fragments. The kitchen shelf tilting over, porcelain jars clattering to the floor. Vylana standing directly beneath it, staring upward in shock.

She remembered rushing forward.

She remembered shoving Vylana hard in the shoulder, the girl’s scream, then a heavy impact crashing down across her back.

Then darkness.

"Vylana..."

Saraya abruptly sat upright. Dizziness washed over her, forcing her to brace a hand against the mattress. Her panicked eyes swept around the room before stopping at the bedside table.

A small vase held several red roses that had begun to wilt. Beside it lay a folded note, written in familiar slanted handwriting:

"Idiot. If you risk your life like that again, I will not forgive you. Wake up already. - Vylana."

At the bottom was another line that had been crossed out many times, leaving only a few readable words: "...thank you..."

Saraya tightened her grip around the note. Her shoulder trembled, but this time it was not from pain.

She was still safe.

Saraya lowered her gaze to the back of her hand. A few faded IV needle marks remained there, arranged in a neat line. Not one day, nor two. She had slept longer than that, long enough for those roses to wilt, and long enough for someone to write and rewrite a thank-you she still did not dare leave behind in full.

She sat like that for a long time, until her breathing gradually steadied. Then she slowly put her feet on the floor. The thick carpet was so soft that her feet seemed to sink into it. Saraya held onto the bedframe and walked toward the door, one step at a time.

The corridor outside was wide and bright. Landscape paintings hung on the walls, interspersed with a large framed photograph: a tall blonde woman in a Healer’s robe, beside a silver-haired girl with pointed ears, her face slightly pouty as though she had been forced to pose for the picture.

Saraya recognized them immediately.

Director Meira. And Elowen.

"This is... the Director’s house?"

Before she could think further, laughter rose from the floor below.

Felyn’s clear laughter. Elowen’s high voice, as though she were protesting something. Laviana’s soft chuckle, then Meira saying something that made the entire room burst into laughter again.

Then a man’s voice rang out, deep and warm, carrying a trace of amusement.

"All right, all right. I can eat by myself."

Saraya froze in the middle of the hallway.

The hand bracing against the wall tightened.

She knew that voice. No matter how much time had passed, no matter how many times she had told herself to forget it, she still recognized it after only one sentence.

Erik.