The room was immersed in absolute silence, but the weight in the air made the atmosphere feel heavy, as if an invisible, almost oppressive presence lihe dles, whice flickered softly, now trembled weakly, casting distorted shadows that danced along the walls. The sound of everyone’s breathing became sharp and reverberant, a refle of the tension that filled every er of that space. The frantic beating of their hearts spread like an incurable disease.

  Elyndra, her gaze fixed on the faintly glowing mark on Tekime’s chest, stepped forward with unyielding seriousness. She knew she was dealing with something beyond what any human or divine magic could prehend. The mark, pulsing with a silent energy, seemed almost alive. Elyndra hesitated, the weight of a terrible fate hanging over her.

  — “May I touch here?” — Elyndra’s voice echoed softly yet clearly, breaking the silence around them.

  Tekime, fused aless, simply nodded. A shiver ran down her spine as Elyndra’s hands met her skin. The sensation was indescribable, like aric current rushing through her body, makiremble. Elyndra closed her eyes, feeling the energy of the mark as she began to t a prayer, her voice soft but carrying a weight that seemed to pull at the very soul of those who listened.

  — “Oh Lunaria, Lady of the Moon and Souls,In your serene light, we find fort and strength…”

  As she recited, the glow of Tekime’s mark intensified, being a blinding silver fme. Elyndra, eyes widened, watched with both fasation and apprehension as something began to ma. Behind Tekime, ahereal figure slowly took shape. It was a woman with long silver hair, ed in a mantle of light so intehat it seemed to e the very reality arouhe presence of Lunaria was there, both as a refle and a silent threat.

  — “I’ve found an answer…” — Elyndra murmured, her voiow filled with reverence, yet tinged with a dark skepticism. She pulled back from Tekime, adjusting her clothes almost meically, before turning toward Hitory.

  — “May I touch your scar?” — Elyndra asked, curiosity mixed with apprehension.

  Hitory, visibly tense, swallowed hard. Elyndra’s question echoed distantly in his mind, sounding both like an offer and a warning. He khat by granting permission, he was surrendering himself to the unknown.

  — “Go ahead…” — his voice was barely above a whisper, more to himself than to Elyndra.

  With artificial calm, Elyndra reached out to touch the scar that ran across Hitory’s chest. The moment her fingers made tact with his skin, a shiver ran through both of them. The air around them shifted, as if the very room was transf into something else. The dles were snuffed out abruptly, and the windows and doors smmed shut with a thunderous crash that echoed through the entire house. A suffog weight settled in the air, and the temperature plummeted. Hitory’s breathing became the only audible sound, heavy and unsteady.

  — “Alright…” — Elyndra murmured, her voice growing lower, more distant, as if she were losing her e to reality.

  Tekime, sitting in the er of the room, watched the se with wide eyes, a growing terror overtaking her. She felt as if she were being watched by something far greater and older than any known magiething surrounding them, judging them. Something that did not belong to this world.

  Elyndra, without breaking eye tact with Hitory, began to t a dark prayer, heavy with a force that seemed to overflow beyond the limits of life ah.

  — “Oh édros, Being of Shadows and Strength,You who exist beyond the limits of magic…”

  Each word tore through the air with an overwhelming force. Hitory, who had remaiill until now, slowly turned his gaze toward the ceiling, his eyes empty, lost in a distant dimension. Then, a horrifying transformation began.

  Hitory’s eyes, once deep and vat, started to fill with blood. The thick, dark liquid flowed like an untrolble torrent, flooding his fad dripping onto the floor with an unstoppable force. His scar widened rapidly, splitting apart as if his very flesh were being ripped open. From the depths of the wound, more blood poured, f an ever-growing pool beh him.

  — “Someone… someone, help me…” — Hitory’s voice came out weak, barely audible, like a desperate cry smothered by his own agony.

  Elyndra and Tekime remained frozen, uo react. The blood tio flow endlessly, and then, the figure of édros, the Demon Lord of Sins, appeared before them. His presence was crushing—a force so dense and purely malevolent that it seemed to devour the very light around him. He materialized slowly, a t figure ed in pulsating shadows, his crimson eyes burning like fmes that reflected the horrors of the abyss.

  édros’ ughter echoed through the room—low, guttural, a sound that cut through the soul. The two women colpsed to their kheir strength evaporating uhe sheer magnitude of the entity standing before them. Tekime, in absolute panic, lost trol of her body. Her nails scraped against the floor, leaving marks as her body trembled, utterly ed by despair.

  Elyndra, though struggling to maintain her posure, felt the unbearable weight of édros’ presence, as if her very soul was being torn apart just by standing before him.

  Hitory, his expression vat and unfocused, slowly turned his gaze to édros. His breathing grew ragged, as though he were suffog under an invisible force. The blood still poured from his open wound, but he no longer seemed to notice it untrolbly, the sensation of terror paralyzed her pletely. Her eyes were fixed on what Hitory carried within him, on the force of darkhat now domihe room.

  Voices began to echhout the space—whispers of lost souls, desperately begging to be saved. The words were distorted, inprehensible, yet they carried a plea for help that cut deep into Elyndra and Tekime’s hearts. “Help me! Help me!” they screamed, but édros' voice drowned out everything.

  Wheity vanished into the shadows, the room fell into absolute silence. Hitory, exhausted and ed by suffering, colpsed onto the floor. Inexplicably, the blood began to disappear as if it had never existed, and the dles reignited, casting a flickering glow over the now desote chamber.

  Elyndra, her face pale and eyes wide with shock, quickly stood up without hesitation. She took Hitory into her arms and carried him to her table, knog over books and scattered papers. As she id him down, something even more horrifying caught her attention.

  The scar on his chest had transformed into a cursed mark—a grotesque mutation. The cra his flesh oozed a dark, viscous substance, something eerily simir to “Aether’s Blood,” ing him from within.

  Elyndra stared at the mark, horrified. “What have I done… What have I done…” she whispered, her voice filled with guilt. Her heart pounded wildly as she felt the crushi of the choice she had made. She knew she had pushed Hitory to the brink, and if he died, she would never five herself.

  With the strength of desperation, Elyndra gathered all the mana she could trol, trating it into a sphere of pure energy around her. Without a sed thought, she pressed her hand against Hitory’s chest, invoking a power she herself did not fully uand.

  A burst of pure, blinding light filled the room. Elyndra was thrown backward, her body battered by the overwhelming force of the unleashed magic. When the light finally faded, she slowly pushed herself up, exhausted, her body in ruins.

  The mark on Hitory’s chest was intace more, as if nothing had happened. But as she looked at him, Elyndra knew something had ged. Something dark and irreversible.

  She carried him back to his room, ying him carefully on the bed. Searg for Tekime, she found nothing. The bathroom door was locked, and a growing unease seized Elyndra.

  Something was wrong.

  What would happen now? What fate awaited them both, now that they had touched the limits of magic, of life, ah? A error loomed over them—darker and more unfathomable than anything they had ever faced.

  Nothing would ever be the same again.

  End of EP 9: "In the Name of the Gods"