Dark Sonata

Inside the stone chamber, the surging music gradually came to a stop.

What followed was the sound of strings snapping one after another.

The pitch-black strings broke in succession before Saff's eyes.

When the final string snapped and flew apart, the stone chamber fell silent.

At the same time, the dark Nen aura around the harp slowly drew inward until it vanished without a trace.

Saff—or rather, by her real name, Eve.

Her eyes were filled with deep confusion. She seemed unable to make sense of why she had appeared here, yet she vaguely remembered the death that had once befallen her.

In silence, she looked at the harp with all its strings broken. Set into its column was a sheet of music, filthy and grimy on the surface, forming a stark contrast with the jade-white body of the harp.

Dark Sonata—the solo harp score.

As if it had emerged from a mind shrouded in fog, those words appeared for no reason.

Eve stared blankly at the score on the harp's column. Fragments of blurred memories, like sunlight piercing the fog, suddenly surfaced.

"I'm still alive."

Her murmured voice echoed through the stone chamber.

The confusion in Eve's eyes faded, gradually replaced by calm.

She raised a hand and gently stroked the harp. A starlike radiance flickered between her fingers—the manifestation of Nen.

Returning to the world by shaping a body through harp music, the Third Princess of the Gugan Jade Great Country, a nation with a long heritage, naturally awakened the power of Nen.

The memories concerning the harp and the score, which should have remained sealed away, also reappeared in her mind.

But before returning to the world...

Eve had not actually known the harp's and score's specific abilities, so she had naturally never imagined such a scenario.

She held no reverence for death, so she would not care about death's arrival.

In her view, anyone walking the path of opposing something was bound to face the risks brought by death.

That was normal, and only natural.

Ironically, the passengers who had likewise faced death without Nen abilities—the ones most unwilling to die—had perished like dust.

Yet Eve, the one least afraid of death and most able to face it calmly, could still breathe the air.

"So this is the power of Nen..."

Eve's fingers slid over the harp's column and reached beneath the string holder. The starlike glow seeping from her fingertips drew a string in the empty air.

Just like that, she fitted a new string onto the harp.

Perhaps because of the manifestation of her Nen ability, a trace of excitement appeared in her eyes, which were usually as calm as still water.

A lush, dense forest.

This place lay on the border of the Minbo Republic, facing the continent where the Gugan Jade Kingdom was located across the sea.

Moro fell from high above.

When he saw the dense forest below, the heart he had been holding in his throat finally settled.

A free fall of several thousand meters...

Although the versatility of Nen abilities could be used to preserve one's life, there were still many risks from uncontrollable factors before one landed safely.

Fortunately, the airship was still above the Minbo Republic's territory at that point, rather than over the sea.

Moro looked down at the ground and saw an endless forest bleached white by the bright moonlight.

As the ground drew closer, Moro used a returning flying star to cancel out the force of his descent.

Even so, he still dropped straight down from a height of a hundred meters.

In an instant, Moro was like a cannonball, smashing heavily into the forest and producing a massive sound in the quiet night.

Crash—

Flocks of birds took flight in all directions, startled by the sudden noise, while nocturnal beasts on the ground fled in panic as well.

Thud.

A great tree that had stood for several centuries unfortunately became Moro's precise landing point and crashed to the ground under the tremendous impact.

A moment later.

Moro crawled out from the dense canopy and looked around.

Towering trees stood everywhere. Bright moonlight filtered through gaps in the forest, illuminating the faint mist.

Beneath the drifting mist were shrubs scattered throughout the area, along with moss-covered broken stones and decaying wood.

Farther away was a twisting stream that passed through a field of jagged rocks.

Moro followed the stream with his gaze all the way to its end, where he could see nothing but darkness.

After briefly surveying his surroundings, Moro withdrew his gaze. Thinking that he should check on Kangzai, he immediately took out his phone, only to discover that it had been crushed with several cracks and had shut down long ago.

"Kangzai should be all right, shouldn't he?"

Putting away the damaged phone, Moro figured that since he had landed safely, Kangzai should be fine too.

Unless Kangzai had unbelievably bad luck and had fallen straight into terrain like a swamp or sinkhole.

"This place... should still be within the Minbo Republic, right?"

Moro walked toward the nearby stream.

The Minbo Republic was one of the Five Great Nations. Two countries lay between it and Heaven's Arena.

Based on the airship's route, Moro guessed that he had likely landed somewhere within the vast territory of the Minbo Republic, though he had no idea of his more precise location.

Under these circumstances, getting out of this unfamiliar forest would be no easy task.

It would have been a different matter if his phone had not been damaged.

Moro sighed softly and continued along the stream.

After a long while, Moro emerged from the forest onto a stretch of open ground. Before him was a lake shrouded in thin mist, with specks of starlight faintly reflected on its surface.

Various wild animals gathered by the lakeshore.

Moro swept his gaze over them from afar. Of all the animals, the most eye-catching were several white deer with enormous antlers.

Their antlers resembled crisscrossing coral branches, and their bodies were snow-white, gleaming brilliantly beneath the moonlight.

Moro had no intention of disturbing the animals drinking by the lake. He simply examined the nearby area for a suitable place to rest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just as Moro was searching for a place to rest, gunshots suddenly rang out from the other side of the lake.

Startled by the gunfire, the animals by the lake scattered in every direction.

Moro looked toward the gunshots and saw the Great Horned White Deer from earlier lying on the ground. Immediately afterward, several people carrying guns emerged from the forest.

Seeing this, Moro retreated behind a large tree. He could vaguely hear the excited laughter of those people, as well as their discussion about the enormous sound.

Moro realized that the sound they were talking about was the commotion he had caused when he landed.

Then he heard them say something that sounded like they had struck it rich. Those Great Horned White Deer were apparently quite valuable, enough to leave the group unable to hide their excitement.

After giving it some thought, Moro stepped out. He decided to ask those people about the situation.

Meanwhile.

More than ten kilometers away, on the other side of the forest.

A spherical mass formed from over a dozen tangled human bodies slammed heavily into a lake, instantly throwing up towering waves.

As the spray fell, human bodies gradually surfaced across the lake.

Splash—

Another burst of water exploded from the lake's surface.

Kawahara emerged from the water, breathing slightly hard as he looked toward the dense forest on the shore.