Before it was even six o'clock, Gala City's sky had gone completely dark. The sudden sleet had caused several traffic accidents, thunder and lightning rolled without pause, and black clouds seemed ready to crush the city. Brightly lit skyscrapers stood on the earth like lanterns. In weather so extreme that doors and windows should have been shut tight, many people instead ran to their doorways and opened their windows, raising their heads to gaze at the Cross Starlight that pierced through black clouds, torrential rain, heavy snow, and even thunder.
The world was clearly sunk in gloom, the stars hidden from sight, yet that Cross Starlight remained plainly visible, like a sharp sword piercing a wicked age. Though it could not change anything, its mere existence was enough to dispel the oppression and unease in people's hearts... because it was proof that the Star Law Master was still sheltering all living beings.
In Voslotda Manor, Dimi sat in what had once been his father's study, though now it was his study. He looked at the Starlight outside the window, like a sharp sword piercing the firmament, and the thought of painting suddenly rose in his heart... every painting in the studio had been painted by the next duke's own hand.
There was no time limit, but a painting could take as little as a year or as long as over a decade. When he had first entered the secret chamber back then, his father still had not finished Grandfather's posthumous portrait.
Come to think of it, ever since he had specialized in Sword Art at ten years old, his painting lessons had stopped, but Felix's painting lessons had continued until she went to university at eighteen... He had seen his younger brother's work too. Whether in fundamentals or talent, Felix