The world was gray.
The dome rose high overhead.
The entire room was an oval pool.
Flesh and terrifying energy gathered in the pool, taking shape—
Taking the form of a little girl.
She was born.
From the moment of her Creation, she knew what her Mission was.
She had visited her master's Heart Core and seen that fatal blow;
She had visited her master's Myriad-Void Demon Eye and seen the sights beyond Chaos;
Because she had earned countless Merits, she had even been allowed a glimpse of the thing on which her master had staked everything.
Everything was clear.
There was no room for doubt.
The only problem was—
Ever since her Creation, one or two low whispers would occasionally sound beside her ear.
When she spoke, moved, or fought,
Those whispers came a little more often.
When she rested, the whispers seemed afraid to wake her and grew faint and rare.
She pondered them for a long time and tried many methods, but found no sign that the whispers could attack her or bore any malice.
Perhaps this was simply the "noise" she had been born with?
Day after day passed.
The girl continued to grow.
Gradually, she grew used to those barely perceptible whispers.
With them in her ears, she weathered countless storms, witnessed the ugliness of perilous situations, and gained a wealth of knowledge and power.
But one day,
She sensed the Dark Crown Ritual beginning—
Not a false Dark Crown meant to fool people, nor a tampered-with ritual, but the genuine Dark Crown.
The Crown's power lay beyond her understanding.
So she decided to fight for it.
Up to that point, everything had been normal.
Even when she was trapped in Nibelung, everything had remained normal: the battles and contests of wits she knew so