A funerary silence settled over the Lower City. Breaths were audible, and the tension was stretched tight like a string on the verge of snapping.
Kyle looked at his arm—Rio's hand still gripping his shoulder. That hand, which once felt like a lifeline, now seemed like an invisible shackle… just as Aria had warned:
"Do not trust the hand that breaks your chains"
The strange thing is… this is the second warning about Rio—after the one from my future self.
Who are you, really… Rio?
Kyle slowly raised his head. His gaze was no longer unsettled—it had become sharp as a blade, cold as Neil's frost.
"I'll go up…" he said quietly, yet his voice carried a weight that made Wan unconsciously tighten his grip on his chains. "I'm heading to the Upper City. I'm going to face Arkan."
Neil stepped back, the ice along the walls trembling in response to his agitation.
"You've lost your mind, Kyle!" Neil shouted. "We almost killed you to stop you from throwing your life away, and now you choose to go back on your own? The Upper City is the hell you both escaped from… going back means death!"
Wan stepped forward, studying Kyle intently. "Neil is right. We belong to the Lower City now. And you and Rio were part of that attack. Why return to the wolf that tore you apart?"
Kyle looked at Albert, who had been watching in complete silence. Then his gaze slowly shifted toward Rio.
"Because I'm not a guest there…" Kyle said, locking eyes with him. "I carry its name. 'Arkan' isn't just an enemy—he's the identity I don't understand. And I won't be free from this pulse unless I confront the engineer who designed it."
A heavy silence fell when Kyle spoke the word engineer. Rio reached for his shoulder again, but Kyle brushed his hand away with calculated coldness.
Albert finally spoke, sheathing his sword with a sharp metallic scrape. "Then this is where our paths part. We fought to keep you free in the shadows, but you choose slavery in the light. If you go up, we won't follow. The Upper City doesn't open its gates to people like us—and we won't be the bait Arkan uses to break you."
Kyle turned to the three fallen heroes: anxious Neil, steadfast Wan, and resolute Albert.
"Thank you…"
Then he turned to Rio. Aria's words clawed at his mind:
"A guide who knows the path this well… is often the one who drew it."
"Will you come with me, Rio?" Kyle asked, his tone carrying a subtle test. "Or does your role as a 'guide' end at the elevator?"
Rio smiled that enigmatic smile, his eyes gleaming with something Kyle couldn't decipher.
"I'm always with you, Kyle," Rio said softly. "The threads that bind us to the Upper City are too strong to be cut by a single decision. I'll take you to the gates—but what lies beyond them… is your destiny alone."
Kyle turned toward the worn iron elevator that connected the depths to the heights.
He and Rio stepped inside. As the doors began to close, Kyle watched Neil, Wan, and Albert fade into the darkness.
The elevator shuddered, then began its ascent toward the Upper City.
In that narrow, confined space, Kyle didn't look at Rio. Instead, he stared at his own hands, wondering:
Was Rio truly breaking my chains… or leading me to my greatest prison?
The elevator pierced through layers of earth as it rose—while Arkan waited above, and the Council of Eight watched the arrival of their grand prize.