Chapter 333: The Ones Who Know
Kai remained standing in the middle of Mythal, nothing moving around him, dust suspended in the air, broken rubble hanging exactly where it had been. Lily. Mira. Raze. Elden. Gabriel. Mayor Ko. Every one of them frozen precisely as they’d been.
He’d just escaped the hardest thing he’d ever survived, and the city looked exactly as it had before it started.
He turned to Bahamut. "You said the final test was complete."
The dragon’s massive eyes stayed fixed on him. "It is."
He looked around again. "Then why hasn’t time resumed?"
"Because there are matters that must be discussed before it does."
Kai’s expression sobered. Whatever came next clearly wasn’t part of the trial anymore.
Bahamut spoke first. "The System continues to conceal itself."
Kai’s eyes narrowed. Tiamat stayed quiet beside him, listening.
"It has allowed you to grow," Bahamut continued. "It has given you power. It has presented you with opportunities." He thought back through everything since the day he’d awakened, the strange rewards, the increasingly overwhelming abilities, Distortion, the Calamities, the System’s odd reactions along the way.
"But it also controls what you are allowed to know," Bahamut said, voice heavier now.
Kai’s expression shifted. He thought of every time Tiamat had stopped herself mid-explanation, every careful word Bahamut had chosen.
That’s why you can’t simply tell me everything, he thought.
"Correct," Bahamut confirmed.
"So the System is watching what I learn?" Kai asked.
Bahamut didn’t answer right away. "It watches more than that."
His eyes narrowed further.
"The more you learn, the more attention you may attract."
Silence. Tiamat finally spoke. "That’s why we’ve been careful."
He nodded, already having suspected something close to this. The System wasn’t only giving him power. It was managing what he could understand, and maybe it didn’t want him understanding too much of the world behind it at all.
"Can you tell me what the System really is?" he asked.
Silence answered him. Bahamut said nothing. Tiamat said nothing either.
He understood instantly. "...Right." He didn’t push. If neither of them would answer even now, there was a reason for it.
Bahamut looked toward the distant horizon. "If you wish to understand what comes next, travel to the continent of Nexus."
"Nexus?"
The dragon nodded. "There are ruins there." A pause. "The Ruins of Aegis."
Kai repeated the name silently. Aegis. "What’s there?"
"Something that can help you understand what comes next."
"The next event?"
"What is coming." That was all he offered.
Kai waited for more. Nothing followed. He realized Bahamut wasn’t going to explain further, the same restrictions probably at play again.
"So I have to find it myself."
"Yes."
He committed the names to memory. Nexus. Ruins of Aegis. Both felt important in a way he couldn’t yet explain.
He studied Bahamut for a long moment, a different question sitting in the back of his mind.
"Are you like Tiamat?"
Bahamut went silent. Tiamat looked toward him too.
Eventually the dragon answered. "No."
Kai raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"I am not the same as her."
He looked between them. Something more complicated clearly sat underneath that answer.
"Then what are you?"
Bahamut’s eyes narrowed slightly. "That is something you should not learn yet."
Kai’s expression sharpened.
"Knowing too much about me may cause the System to look more closely at you." A pause. "That would not be ideal."
Understanding settled over him. The System wasn’t only limiting information. It might actively respond to whatever Kai learned.
"Understood," he said, and didn’t ask again.
Bahamut’s eyes suddenly began to glow, and Kai’s instincts flared. "...What are you doing?"
A strange golden light gathered around his vision, something entering his eyes, not painful, but deep, deliberate. A faint mark began forming within them.
His eyes widened. "What is this?"
"A method to summon me."
He blinked. "...Summon you?"
"Yes."
The implications hit him fast, the ability to call Bahamut into a desperate moment sounding almost too good to be true.
"There is a price."
Kai’s expression turned cautious. "Of course there is."
"After summoning me, your body will be unable to move for one hour."
His eyes widened. "One hour?"
"You will also be unable to use magic or your powers during that period."
He went quiet, running through the implications. An entire hour, immobile, powerless, completely defenseless.
"...That’s a pretty serious drawback."
"It is meant to be."
"So I shouldn’t use it casually."
"Correct."
He nodded, understanding settling in. This wasn’t a normal skill. It was a trump card reserved for something dire enough to make an hour of total vulnerability worth the risk.
A quiet moment passed, and he caught Bahamut looking toward Tiamat. She looked back. Neither said anything, but the silence between them carried weight, something old and unfinished that Kai still didn’t have access to.
He didn’t ask. Not now.
Bahamut finally turned back to him. "We will meet again."
"I’ll remember Nexus."
The dragon’s gaze sharpened. "Find Aegis."
"I will."
Kai turned toward Tiamat, and her spectral form had already begun growing faint.
You’re leaving?
She gave him a small smile. "For now."
Her body kept fading.
Will I be able to talk to you after time resumes?
"Of course."
He nodded. She looked at him one last time.
"Remember what you learned."
I will, he thought back.
Her spectral form disappeared entirely, leaving only him and Bahamut standing in the frozen city.
The enormous dragon began fading into the sky, his voice reaching Kai’s mind one final time.
"Find Aegis."
Then he was gone.
Kai remained alone in the stillness, the city silent around him.
Then—
WHOOSH!
Sound crashed back all at once. Wind tore through the streets. Dust fell. Rubble that had been suspended in midair crashed to the ground. Clothing rippled back into motion.
Lily blinked, disoriented. Mira looked around sharply. Raze scanned the surroundings on instinct. Elden checked the mana in the air. Gabriel looked up at the sky. Mayor Ko turned in confusion.
Nobody realized time had stopped at all. From their perspective, nothing had happened.
Kai stayed where he stood, expression carefully neutral. Nobody knew about Bahamut. Nobody knew about Tiamat.
He looked toward the sky, and blue light spread across it a heartbeat later, drawing every eye in the plaza upward.
[Third Disaster Appeared.]
The hunters froze all over again. Lily’s eyes went wide. Mira scanned the horizon. Raze’s hand snapped to his weapon.
"What?"
"The third disaster?!" someone shouted.
"Where is it?!" another called.
Nobody saw anything. No monster. No storm. No flood. No attack of any kind. Nothing at all.
Then another notification bloomed.
[Third Disaster Passed.]
Silence swept through the crowd.
"...What?"
"Passed?"
"How?"
"We didn’t do anything!"