At first, Seamus was just stunned. He didn't even know how to respond to X's bullshit. This wasn't some grand novel with a chosen one blessed by fate.

Even a chosen one at least found something in the end: a family, loyal friends, a lover who adored them beyond reason.

Look at him. Did he look like he had any of that?

No one could be a parent figure, no friends who would stand by him, no lover who would walk the same bloodstained road he did. He was alone. Always had been.

He was miserable.

So he grabbed X by the collar and snarled through his teeth, "Fuck you, X! I won't be the one responsible for this mess, not for hundreds and thousands of children dying in agony!"

"Not for your incompetence or the pile of corpses you want me to carry for you!"

His voice cracked, his chest heaving with anger that bordered on despair. "You have failed as the Emblem of Enigma!"

"You failed this world, those children, the vampire society, even your so-called False God!"

His eyes blazed with disgust. "Don't you dare push your failure onto me. I've had enough!"

X blinked once, then chuckled softly. "Ouch. That's painful."

He pushed Seamus backward, almost making him stumble to the ground. His tone turned calm again.

"Careful now. Don't fall. I won't be there to help you up again."

He tilted his head, watching Seamus as if examining a broken object. "Believe me or don't, it doesn't matter. Sometimes the truth is simply painful. And reality?"

He gave a thin smile. "Reality is crueler to those who are weak and those who stay silent when they're being stepped on."

Then, with mock sympathy, he added, "Oh no, don't worry, I'm not talking about you."

He let out a short laugh, cold and humorless. "But I understand now. I finally see what Isolde felt, and why she did what she did."

X began to circle him slowly, the sound of his footsteps echoing across the empty void. He looked like a vulture waiting for the body to stop breathing.

"You and your father are the same," he said quietly. "Honestly, if I were Isolde, I'd have had enough too."

Seamus gritted his teeth so hard his jaw hurt. "Shut up! I don't want to hear another word!"

"And what do you mean about my father? He was never involved with Isolde, he only married her to protect me!"

X stopped and exhaled, a faint sigh that carried disappointment more than pity. He was silent for a moment, as if deciding whether to speak.

When he finally looked up, his eyes were colder than before. That gaze alone told Seamus everything, his father knew Isolde far better than he ever imagined.

"What did my father do?" Seamus asked, his voice trembling. "What kind of relationship did he have with her?"

"It's not what he is," X said quietly. "It's what he did. And you'll see it soon enough. Fate will make sure of it."

He crossed his arms and looked away. "It isn't my place to tell you."

He turned back with a faint smile, almost fatherly. "For now, you just need to accept it. Accept your fate. Accept that everything you touch falls into chaos and destruction."

His tone darkened. "It's the price of the power you hold."

He stepped closer, voice soft but sharp enough to cut. "Once you accept that, everything else becomes easier."

Seamus closed his eyes. Deep down, he knew X was right. Because of his blood, his mother died.

Because of him, his father wasted away, drowning himself in drink and shame.

Because of him, Viviane—the woman he loved—took her own life. Because of him, Bork nearly fell to ruin.

Now he understood why the Crimson Nectar never lasted long. Some of them were killed, yes.

But others likely killed themselves. Maybe they reached the same answer he was reaching now.

Maybe this was the only way to end his and everyone else's misery.

However, Seamus did not want to die. Even after everything he still wanted to be alive, and if that meant he had to become stronger, he was ready to do it.

"Give me the right to punish Corvane," he said. "That is the least you can do."

"Least?" X smiled, amusement in his voice.

"That sounds demeaning, but I do not mind giving you that right. There is one condition. Find my crest."

"It does not have to be you who does it. Your father can search for it."

X lifted his hand and a screen flickered into life in front of Seamus. On it, his father moved in panic, shaking his son's body, trying to take him up.

"Andrew thought you were already in hell. Well, Roanna has scared him to death, that's why."

Seamus nodded. "I will find it. And about hell, are those children in there too?"

He waited for an answer. If those souls were what made this manor an endless illusion, then they were more than forgotten. They had been turned into vampires.

X's smile softened for a breath. "Do not worry. The False God is cruel, but they are also fair and they respect consent."

That answer loosened the knot in Seamus's chest and he let out a small, shaky breath.

X reached for his hand. Seamus reacted first. He kicked the Emblem in the groin so hard that the man folded.

"This is for insulting me," Seamus said. "Do not ever do it again."

X crumpled to the ground and hissed, "Fuck, you are strong."

Seamus grinned in satisfaction. "I will do worse if you keep pressing me."

"Fine, I won't! Damn, Isolde should be the one getting this treatment."

He rose again and something slipped from his chest. A black feather drifted out and landed in Seamus's palm. It felt cold and oddly heavy.

"From now on," X said as if reciting an old law, "the act of punishment will fall to you. I want you to be a wise executioner."

Seamus felt nothing magical in that moment. The feather was simply a feather that suddenly went into the back of his palm.

Then X disappeared with the faint echo of a voice ringing in Seamus's head.

"I will stay here for a while," X said in his mind. "Let go! Let us punish Roanna!"

Seamus rolled his eyes at the sound of it. "What the hell?"

When he opened his eyes again, his father was there. Andrew looked like a man who had seen his worst fear and survived it.

Tears streaked his face and the shock loosened into relief as he grabbed Seamus and hugged him hard.

"Oh God. I thought you were dead. Thank God," Andrew said, holding him tighter.

"Dad, I am fine. Let go," Seamus said, tone flat.

He could not help a small smile, but it vanished when he remembered who had sent him away, who had thrown him into Velstrath and set this chain of ruin in motion.

Andrew let go and stammered, "I'm sorry, Seamus. I am sorry for what I—"

The ground trembled under both of them. Seamus narrowed his eyes and felt a pressure in his chest.

It was X, speaking in his head. 'Roanna and Isolde were fighting. You need to finish her before Isolde kills her,' X said.

'Or do you want that woman to steal your thunder?'

Seamus looked at his father for a moment. He did not care whose hands closed the final chapter.

"I do not care who kills whom," Seamus said finally. "I just need to say something to Roanna."

…

"Now I know the true nature of your power, Roanna. It is indeed impressive. You are my antithesis."

Roanna's face paled at those words, though she masked it quickly with a laugh full of mockery.

"So what? Does that change anything in this fight?" she grinned.

"Yes, my power is to devour the very fabric of thought: dreams, illusions, delusions, all of it. Everything born from the mind belongs to me."

"I am your antithesis because you can only make nightmares upon nightmares. And I will make sure you remain beneath me, just like you used to."

Roanna moved swiftly. From her back, ribs burst outward and twisted into swords that flew toward Isolde.

But Isolde vanished in an instant. Before Roanna could even realize it, she was already trapped inside Isolde's dream realm.

With a flick of her hand, Roanna tried to counter by lifting her palm and absorbing the dream itself.

The realm shattered like broken glass, and yet nothing changed, they were still standing in her throne room.

That was the most infuriating part of Isolde's power. Sometimes, her enemies never even realized when the dream began.

"I can only make nightmares? That's absurd. Ask Seamus, I gave him plenty of romantic dreams with Viviane," Isolde's voice drifted from behind her.

Roanna turned sharply and slashed her bone sword toward the sound, but Isolde was gone again.

"But Roanna," her voice whispered, echoing all around, "the absorption of negative emotion isn't your only gift."

"There is another, the skill that allows you to wield so many blood styles."

Roanna's eyes widened slightly as the dream realm began to crumble even faster. She raised her hand and tore through the illusion again, desperate to regain control.

Isolde appeared before her at last, smiling faintly.

"Your realm, Roanna. That is your true power."

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