Supreme Hunter of Beautiful Souls

Kael managed to rest for four hours.

Not because everyone around him had finally believed he would remain in his quarters without trying to begin another operation, but because Sylphie sealed the door with roots, Umbra occupied every shadow in the room, and Amelia took his sword to another floor.

Kael considered that excessive.

No one agreed.

When he woke, the pain in his body had lessened. His fingers remained immobilized, his shoulder was covered by a fresh bandage, and his right ankle still could not endure a long sequence of Celestial Steps, but his mana channels had regained some stability.

He remained lying down for several minutes, staring at the ceiling.

His sleep had not been peaceful.

Kael had seen Seraphine’s crystal coffin again.

This time, however, the memory had not ended when the man with the hidden face placed his hand over the lid. He had remained there, watching the woman trapped inside while other people removed the coffin from a ruined room.

The man wore a ring bearing the divided crown.

Kael had been unable to see his face, but he had heard his voice.

"A body can die. A name can be lost. A record, never."

Then the man had opened a book.

The page was blank.

Even so, something had been taken from Seraphine and written onto the paper.

Kael sat up.

Umbra appeared on the wall.

"You are awake."

"I noticed."

"You dreamed."

"You entered?"

"No."

Kael looked at her.

Umbra shrugged.

"You talked in your sleep."

"What did I say?"

"Record."

He pushed the blanket aside.

"I need to speak with Seraphine."

The roots over the door tightened.

Sylphie entered from the opposite side carrying a tray.

"Eat first."

"This may be important."

"And this is food."

"Seraphine may recognize—"

Sylphie placed the tray on his lap.

"Eat while you explain."

Kael examined the plate. Meat, bread, fruit, and a hot drink he did not recognize. He placed a piece of meat in his mouth.

"I saw another memory. The Archivist took something from her and wrote it inside a blank book."

Sylphie sat on the edge of the bed.

"A piece of her consciousness?"

"Perhaps. He said records do not die."

Umbra descended along the wall and assumed form beside them.

"Books burn."

"Probably not his."

Kael finished half the meal before Sylphie allowed him to leave. When he reached the analysis room, Amelia was already waiting with a stack of documents and his sword resting far enough away that he could not reach it without effort.

Kael looked at the weapon.

"That is childish."

"That is prevention."

Eleonor and Elion stood before the Cradle’s first creation. The body remained unconscious inside the capsule, but the inscription of the divided crown had been enlarged over a crystal plate.

Irelia organized records from different realms around the table.

Kael entered.

"I found something."

Amelia did not raise her eyes.

"So did we."

"I speak first."

"Why?"

"Because I just arrived."

"That is not a reason."

Kael ignored her and described the dream. Elion interrupted only twice to ask about the book’s position and the way the energy had been taken from Seraphine. When he finished, Irelia placed a document in front of him.

It was a copy of an imperial inventory.

The same symbol appeared in the margin.

"We found the divided crown in one hundred and nineteen documents," Irelia explained. "All of them connected to materials confiscated by the old Human Empire during its first years of expansion."

"What kind of materials?"

"Lineage records, grimoires, memory artifacts, blood contracts, and documents belonging to exterminated families."

Kael examined the inventory.

"Where were they taken?"

Amelia pointed toward an almost erased line.

"The Crown’s Black Archive."

The name seemed familiar, but Kael could not remember ever visiting the place.

"Where is the archive?"

"Beneath the imperial palace," Irelia replied. "It was closed before Hadriam took the throne. Officially, no one has entered for forty-three years."

Kael looked at the symbol.

"Officially."

"I already contacted the emperor."

Amelia activated the crystal on the table.

Hadriam’s image appeared within the light. The emperor wore no ceremonial clothing. He had on a dark shirt, his hair was disorganized, and a sword hung from his waist. Hela stood behind him, accompanied by soldiers from the imperial guard.

"Kael," Hadriam said. "They told me you finally slept."

"Betrayal spreads quickly."

"You look less dead."

"I am better."

"That was not a compliment."

Kael showed him the symbol.

"Do you recognize it?"

Hadriam became serious.

"It is carved into the door of the Black Archive."

"Who has access?"

"Me. Hela. The archive’s guardian."

"Name."

The emperor hesitated.

"There is no current guardian."

Kael narrowed his eyes.

"Who was the last one?"

"Oren Valerius. He died fifty-six years ago."

"And no one replaced him?"

"After his death, the archive was sealed by order of my grandfather. The position ceased to exist."

Kael pointed toward the copy of the inventory.

"We have a man using the title of Archivist and authorizing the organization’s projects. He preserved a consciousness decades ago, registered the Cradle, and uses the same symbol as the door beneath your palace."

Hadriam turned toward Hela.

"Check the seal."

She left immediately.

Kael continued:

"Are there records of it being opened?"

"No."

"Check those too."

The crystal remained silent while they waited. Amelia used the time to hand Kael another document.

"Elion analyzed the inscription on the first creation. It is not merely an authorization."

"What is it?"

"A return reference," Elion replied. "If the Cradle failed, the materials were supposed to return to the archive that supplied them."

Kael looked toward the creature inside the capsule.

"Memories, blood, techniques."

"And the incomplete name," Elion confirmed. "When we separated Seraphine from the stolen parts, we interrupted the return. But the structure still tried to recognize its destination."

The crystal shone.

Hela returned to the image.

Her expression had changed.

"Your Majesty, the door remains sealed."

Hadriam exhaled.

"Then—"

"But the seal is on the inside."

Kael stood.

The room became silent.

Hadriam looked toward Hela.

"Repeat that."

"The door was opened at some point, then closed by someone who remained inside the archive."

"How long ago?"

"I do not know. The external enchantment was preserved. We will need to break it to enter."

Kael picked up the sword.

Amelia did not try to stop him.

"Prepare a passage to the palace."

Sylphie caught his arm.

"You are not using Celestial Step."

"I do not need to."

Hadriam spoke through the crystal.

"I will open the door."

"No."

The emperor raised an eyebrow.

"It is my palace."

"And the interior may be connected to the same structure that tried to steal my name. Wait."

"Kael."

"If you open it and the archive disappears, we lose everything. Isolate the corridor, remove the guards, and do not let anyone touch the symbol."

Hadriam did not like receiving orders inside his own palace, but he did not argue.

"Five minutes."

Amelia opened the passage in four.

Kael crossed accompanied by Sylphie, Umbra, Eleonor, Elion, and Violet. The portal left them in a stone corridor beneath the imperial palace. Hadriam waited before a black door large enough for a carriage to pass through.

The divided crown was carved at its center.

Kael felt something when he saw it.

It was not the old mark of the Well. It did not come from his channels either. It was pressure over his memory, as though the door were trying to confirm whether he had already been registered somewhere.

"It recognizes me."

Hadriam looked toward him.

"You have been here before?"

"No."

Eleonor brought her hand close to the symbol without touching it.

"The archive does not recognize people. It recognizes information about them."

Kael observed the black surface.

"Then perhaps it has a record of me."

Elion installed instruments around the frame. The door was physically closed, but there was a small difference between the corridor’s space and the space behind it.

The interior was larger than it should have been.

Much larger.

"Someone expanded the archive," Elion said.

"Recently?" Hadriam asked.

"For decades."

Kael approached the symbol.

"Can you open it without destroying it?"

"Yes. But the mechanism requires imperial authority or internal authorization."

Hadriam extended his hand.

"I will do it."

Kael caught his wrist before he could touch it.

"If the authority is recorded, it may copy you."

The emperor looked at the hand holding his arm.

"How do you intend to open it?"

Kael removed from his pocket the small plate torn from the first creation. The authorization inscription remained active, though weak.

"With a return."

He pressed the symbol of the divided crown against the door.

The reaction was immediate.

Black lines spread across the surface, recognized the Archivist’s authorization, and began opening the mechanism from the inside out. The door did not swing open. The stone separated into thousands of thin sheets, like pages being turned at the same time.

A corridor appeared.

Shelves occupied both sides, extending far beyond the space permitted by the palace’s structure. Books, boxes, crystal containers, and objects covered in cloth were organized into numbered sections.

There was no dust.

Candles still burned.

"Someone is here," Umbra said.

Kael entered first.

Sylphie remained so close that her arm touched his. Umbra passed through the shelves’ shadows. Eleonor held the door in place, while Violet and Hadriam followed behind.

They found the first employee after twenty meters.

A man sat before a desk, a quill between his fingers and an open book in front of him. His eyes moved. His chest breathed. But when Kael touched his shoulder, there was no reaction.

"Alive," Sylphie said.

"Without a name," Umbra replied.

Kael looked toward the book.

The page contained a complete description of the employee. Appearance, age, family, habits, fears, and duties. At the end, where a name should have existed, there was only a blank space.

"He removed the identity and left the record," Kael said.

Other employees were scattered through the following sections. All alive. All empty. The books on their desks carried their entire lives, reduced to information.

Hadriam closed his fist.

"How many?"

Violet checked the corridors.

"More than fifty presences."

"Remove everyone," Kael ordered. "Do not close the books. Mark the exact position of every person and every record."

Hadriam looked toward him.

"Why?"

"If we mix them, we may not know which name belongs to which body."

The agents began entering.

Kael continued advancing with Sylphie and Umbra. The farther they went, the older the objects became. There were crowns from extinct kingdoms, weapons without inscriptions, portraits of people whose faces had been covered in ink, and containers smaller than those found in the Well.

A bell rang somewhere in the distance.

Then another.

Every candle in the corridor went out.

The voice came from between the shelves.

"Return refused."

Kael drew his sword.

"Then come fill in the reason."

The lights returned one by one, revealing a figure at the end of the corridor.

A tall man wore a long gray coat covered in pockets. Small books were attached to his waist, and silver chains connected his fingers to several floating pages. His face seemed too ordinary to remember. Every time Kael looked away, he lost one detail.

The man raised his hand.

The divided-crown ring glowed on his finger.

"Kael Scarlet," he said. "King of Witches. Heavenly Sun. Imperial Executor. Destroyer of Aster, Nemet, and Orla."

Kael steadied his sword.

"You know quite a lot."

"Your titles occupy too many pages."

"Yours occupies only one line."

The man smiled.

"Archivist is sufficient."

Kael observed the shelves, the empty employees, and the pages connected to his fingers.

"You authorized the Cradle."

"I authorized Seraphine’s restoration."

"Using hundreds of people."

"Already cataloged resources."

Scarlet mana began running through Kael’s sword.

"People."

"Incomplete records."

Kael took one step.

The Archivist turned a page.

The distance between them increased.

Not like Mariel’s power. The corridor did not change size. Kael simply lost the memory of the meters he had advanced and found himself standing in the same place again.

"Do not move," Sylphie warned.

Kael looked toward his own feet.

"He erased the movement."

The Archivist turned another page.

Kael forgot why he was holding the sword.

The confusion lasted less than a second. Sylphie squeezed his hand, and the connection between them restored his intent.

"He is removing parts of the sequence," she said.

"Memory between decision and action."

The Archivist raised the book.

"You are a fascinating problem, Kael. Every time I try to record your conclusion, you create a continuation."

"That sounds like your problem."

"It is."

The pages connected to his fingers began moving.

"The organization has lost too many projects because you remain outside any stable classification."

Kael felt the pressure reach his mind.

The Archivist did not intend to kill him.

He wanted to record everything.

Every memory.

Every relationship.

Every choice.

Kael pointed the sword.

"Did you come to catalog me?"

The man smiled.

"No."

The shelves around them began closing the corridor.

"I came to end your volume."

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