“He was like a big brother to all of us… before he became Master,” Dora said in a soft, nostalgic tone, as if recalling something precious.
“Big brother?” Aether raised an eyebrow.
“Indeed…” Dora nodded, a faint smile playing on her lips. “Since he was an apostle of our previous generation, he had a kind soul, just like Luna… though, unlike her, he wasn’t naive. He had wisdom and foresight, the kind that only experience can grant. But Luna… she trusted too easily.” She chuckled softly before shaking her head. “You know, it’s impossible to become a Sovereign while being naive. The world simply doesn’t allow it.”
Aether nodded in understanding.
Whether someone was good or bad… these Trials forced them to face reality.
They stripped away illusions, exposing the truth hidden in one’s heart. They dug deep into a person’s soul, pulling out their deepest desires, their rawest emotions, and the ugliness they tried to hide.
These Trials were nothing but torment!!
“So yeah, Master Snape—he was a good man,” Dora continued, her voice carrying a strange mix of admiration and sorrow.
“He always put others before himself. He treated us like his own little brother and sister, guiding us, teaching us… He didn’t just refine our fighting styles—he helped us grow. He encouraged us to explore, to learn, to adapt. It was like… like we had found someone who truly cared. A Master who wasn’t just a leader, but family,” Dora smiled wistfully, remembering how they used to fight among themselves, only for Master Snape to step in and calm them down like an older brother, never harsh, never unfair.
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“But when he acts Master… He was so serious… He carried himself differently. Some of us even started seeing him as a fatherly figure rather than a big brother.”
That was how much of an impact he had on the Chosen Ones!!
“That’s why,” she went on, her gaze darkening, “even though we Chosen Ones fought, hurt, and even hated each other, there was one thing we all agreed on—we could never disobey him.
His presence alone was enough to make even the most rebellious among us fall in line. Even Scarlet—who never listens to anyone—would shut her mouth in front of him.” Dora chuckled, a mischievous glint in her eyes. “You should’ve seen her face, struggling to hold back her temper whenever he was around…. It was priceless!!”
Aether frowned, a small crease forming on his forehead. He was glad to hear that someone had guided them, that there had been at least one person who truly cared for them. But still… something didn’t add up.
‘They don’t match up… Are we even talking about the same person?’ he wondered. The Master of Arcane Hunters he had met felt completely different, like a stranger wearing someone else’s skin.
Could it be… an imposter? Someone who had taken on his identity to spread chaos?
However, Dora’s next words made him realize the truth,
“Everything was going well…. Even though he was burdened by Noir’s death, he held himself together. He had already survived hell once—he knew death was inevitable.
But… there was one death he could never accept.” Dora’s voice lowered to a whisper, her expression tightening,
“The death of Luna.”
“The moment he learned of Luna’s death… everything shattered,” Dora continued, her voice laced with pain,
“No, he shattered. He became something none of us could recognize… The complete opposite of the big brother we once knew. His eyes, once filled with warmth, became empty. There was no kindness left, no emotion, nothing but an endless void. And then… he started killing us.”
He blinked, staring at Dora in disbelief.
Dora’s hands trembled slightly as she clenched her fists,
“The first to die… was the bastard, our generation apostle, who abandoned Luna. The one who lied, who turned his back on her when she needed him most. Master Snape didn’t hesitate—not even for a second. He slaughtered him before our very eyes, without a shred of mercy… And that was when the final trial began.” She exhaled sharply. “The Trial… to eliminate him.”
“The fight was beyond anything we had ever seen. The Academy was nearly destroyed. The Empires suffered. Thousands—no, millions—died in the chaos. It wasn’t just a battle; it was a calamity.” Her voice grew distant as if reliving the horrors of that day. “Our clash was something no one could have predicted… no one could have stopped.”
“And at last, after so much destruction, after countless deaths…” Dora took a slow, deep breath before finishing in a cruelly amused tone,
“He finally fell…. And whether it was fate… or something else entirely… It was I who took his life with my own hands.”
She lifted her trembling fingers, staring at them as if she could still feel his blood on them. Then, clenching them into a tight fist, she turned to Aether and said, “Because of that bloodbath, because of the sheer devastation we caused… we, the Chosen Ones, made a pact.
We agreed that no one could ever know the truth. We even went as far as erasing memories of the battle… No one knew the real truth! Now, all that remains is a fabricated story… one where we fought a monster from another realm… that’s all”
Aether swallowed hard as he tried to process everything. Slowly, he nodded, letting the weight of her words settle in.
But one question still lingered. “Why? Why go through all that trouble? Why hide it from the world? Why not just tell people the truth? That the Sovereign they revered had lost his mind and—”
Dora cut him off with a dry, mocking laugh, “What? That your so-called Sovereign, the one meant to guide and protect, went insane and butchered millions?” She tilted her head, her voice dripping with sarcasm,
“You think the world could handle that truth?”
“Well…” Aether muttered, rubbing his neck as realization dawned on him. “Yeah… that would be a problem for you, wouldn’t it? Being Sovereign and all.”
Dora chuckled wryly, shaking her head. “It’s not about me, Aether… It’s about the title of Sovereign itself.
They are meant to protect the Empires, to bring stability and peace. People look up to them, almost as if they were gods. They trust them, revere them… But if the truth about what Master Snape did ever got out…”
“The entire Empire would fall into chaos,” Aether muttered, his brows furrowing, “People would lose faith in the Sovereigns… and they might even start hunting the Chosen Ones, believing them to be just as dangerous, just as unpredictable.”
Dora nodded, “That’s why we made a pact—this truth can never be revealed. No matter what happens, no matter who asks, this secret has to remain buried. It’s just politics, simple as that.” She shrugged, though her expression betrayed how much she truly despised the very idea of it.
Aether exhaled slowly, nodding in understanding. But then something clicked in his mind, a nagging suspicion that refused to be ignored. “So, the head of the Arcane Hunters must be…”
“Someone disguised as him,” Dora finished, her jaw tightening, her hands balling into fists. Just saying it out loud made her blood boil.
Someone dared to take her big brother’s name?
To use his legacy and soil everything they had built?
The mere thought of it was enough to make her want to rip that person apart with her own hands, to make them suffer for even daring to imitate him.
Still, Aether wasn’t convinced. His gut told him something else was at play, something far more sinister. ‘Could both of them actually be the same person?’ Then a memory surfaced in his mind, a detail he couldn’t overlook. ‘Didn’t Nyx Shadowfall manage to recover Jack’s body?’
He turned to Dora, his voice filled with curiosity, with suspicion. “What about Necromancy?”
But Dora immediately shook her head, dismissing the thought outright. “That’s not possible.”
Aether scoffed, narrowing his eyes. “Oh, come on! And why exactly is that impossible? I’ve literally seen someone bring the dead back to life—not fully, sure, but still! What if someone had a higher level of Necromancy? What if they were able to br—”
“You haven’t seen my Origin Weapon yet, have you?” Dora interrupted, cutting him off with a sudden smirk.
Aether frowned at her change in tone. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Dora didn’t answer right away. Instead, she took a slow, deliberate breath before muttering, “Arcane.”
Her eyes flashed with an eerie pink glow, a strange energy crackling around her.
Sssshhh!
The air around them trembled, humming with unseen power. Aether immediately tensed, sensing a shift in energy. But… nothing happened.
No weapon appeared, no visible change in the surroundings.
“Nothing?” Aether raised an eyebrow, scanning his surroundings in confusion, expecting something dramatic to unfold.
Dora chuckled, holding her hand up as if she were gripping something invisible. “It’s here, Aether.”
Aether’s frown deepened. He stared at her empty palm. “Where? I don’t see anything.”
Dora’s grin widened, her amusement growing. “Here I thought you were ‘built differently’,” she teased, her tone playfully mocking, enjoying the moment far too much.
Aether’s lips twitched in irritation. ‘Oh, you’re going to regret that, woman. I’ll show you just how ‘built’ I am later… and you’ll love every second of it,’ he thought darkly, already imagining ways to wipe that smug look off her face.
Dora paused for a second, her expression shifting ever so slightly as if she had sensed something… but then she shook her head and dismissed it just as quickly. “My weapon can’t be seen with normal eyes,” she finally said, as if that explained everything.
“Huh? Why?” Aether asked, still staring at her empty hand, feeling as if he was being played with.
Dora tilted her head slightly, her smirk never fading. “Can you see fate?”
“…Come again?”
“I asked—can you see fate?”
Aether blinked, “Well… no?”
Dora’s smirk deepened, but this time, there was something chilling about it, “That’s what my Origin Weapon is,” she whispered,
“I can sever fate itself.”