Edgar slowly finished the final line of the rune before placing the quill on the table.
He stared at the complicated pattern in front of him for several seconds, his expression becoming increasingly uncertain.
’...Should I really test this?’
The rune looked harmless, but Edgar knew better than to trust appearances.
’What if I accidentally created a bomb?’
His eyes narrowed as another possibility entered his mind.
’What if this thing creates some kind of miniature black hole?’
Edgar immediately shook his head. "No, that’s ridiculous."
There simply wasn’t enough energy contained within the rune to create something on that scale.
More importantly, Edgar had no intention of feeding it enough energy to produce such an outcome.
’I’ll start with a very small amount.’
He carefully picked up the parchment and summoned his Heavenly Spirit Body.
Golden, translucent armor immediately covered his body like a second skin.
Edgar held the parchment at arm’s length before slowly sending a tiny amount of Solar Energy into the rune.
For a moment, absolutely nothing happened, but quickly, the first line began glowing.
One symbol after another illuminated the parchment until the entire rune was covered in golden light.
Edgar’s eyes widened. "...Oh."
BOOM!
The parchment suddenly exploded in his hand.
The blast threw smoke across the room while Edgar remained standing behind his golden armor.
The wooden table shook violently, and several sheets of parchment flew into the air.
Edgar stared at the smoking parchment for several seconds.
Then he let out a small chuckle. "I was at least half right."
He dropped the ruined parchment onto the table and sat down again.
The explosion hadn’t been particularly powerful, but it had confirmed something important.
The rune was reacting to the energy.
The problem was that its reaction was completely different from what Edgar wanted.
’The energy is being compressed instead of distributed.’
Edgar walked over and collected all the parchments that had flown all over the room before placing them down on the table.
He then picked up another piece of parchment.
He began drawing the rune again, but this time he changed several of the connecting lines.
"If I change this part..." He carefully added another symbol near the center.
"...and redirect the energy through here."
Edgar finished the second version and immediately tested it.
The rune glowed as the parchment trembled.
Then the light disappeared without producing anything significant.
Edgar stared at it. "...Nothing."
He wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. Edgar thought there would at least be some reaction.
Another parchment appeared in front of him, and he changed the structure again.
Edgar’s expression slowly became frustrated as more and more failed runes accumulated around him.
"Come on..." He rubbed his forehead before staring at the latest design.
’I’m missing something.’
He continued experimenting while the Eternal Night outside slowly deepened.
Minutes turned into hours without him noticing.
Eventually, Edgar leaned back in his chair and looked toward the window.
The sky outside was completely black as he glanced toward the clock on the wall.
"...Already?"
The night was nearly halfway over, but before he could return to his work, a soft knock came from the door.
Knock. Knock.
Edgar looked toward the entrance with a look of confusion plastered all over his face.
"Who is it?"
There was a brief silence before a familiar voice answered.
"It’s me."
Edgar immediately recognized it.
"...Hera?"
He stood from his chair and walked toward the door while fixing his messy clothes.
’What happened to her?’
Edgar feared that she might get another panic attack because of her memories.
But the moment he opened it, he froze in his place.
Hera stood quietly outside.
She was wearing the white dress that Semele had given her.
The gown flowed gently around her body, its soft fabric reaching almost to the floor.
Thin silver patterns were embroidered across the white material, forming delicate shapes that reflected whenever they caught the light.
Her silver-white hair fell freely over her shoulders, contrasting beautifully against the pale dress.
For several seconds, Edgar simply stared at her.
Hera noticed his silence and tilted her head slightly. "...Can I come inside?"
Edgar finally returned to his senses. "Ah... yeah."
He stepped aside and allowed her to enter before looking out to find no one around them.
Hera walked into the room while Edgar quietly closed the door behind her.
He turned toward her again. "Did you need something?"
Hera didn’t immediately answer.
Instead, she slowly walked toward the bed and sat down.
Her hands rested quietly in her lap as she looked toward the floor.
Edgar remained standing nearby, waiting patiently. After several seconds, Hera finally spoke.
"I wanted to thank you."
Edgar raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"For everything."
Her voice was soft as she looked at him.
"You saved me when I had nowhere to go, protected me when powerful people came after me, and even brought me back here."
She paused before looking toward the room. "I wanted to do something for you in return."
Edgar became slightly confused. "You don’t have to do anything."
Hera slowly shook her head. "I want to."
She stood from the bed and turned around, presenting her back to him.
Edgar noticed the zipper running down the back of her dress.
His expression immediately became awkward.
Hera lowered her voice. "Could you... unzip it for me?"
Edgar didn’t move. "...Hera."
She remained facing away from him.
Edgar let out a sigh as he rubbed his temples.
He wasn’t disappointed by her move, but he didn’t want to take advantage of her unstable state of mind.
"You don’t have to."
There was a brief silence before Hera quietly spoke again.
"Please."
The simple request left Edgar unsure of what to say.
He hesitated for another moment before slowly walking toward her.
Hera remained completely still as Edgar reached toward the zipper.
His fingers carefully grasped it, and with a slow movement, he began pulling it downward.
The zipper quietly opened through the white fabric, and the room fell silent.
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