The stone steps were long and damp. Every step upward tugged at the pain still lingering in my body and the fresh wounds on my soul. The cold, chaos, and stench of blood in the underground chamber gradually fell away behind me, but the feeling of an unseen gaze followed me like a disease rooted in my bones.
[Shackles... will crack eventually...]
[I... wait...]
The Ancient God's whispers drove deep into the cracks in my thoughts like spikes of ice. They were not a threat, but a statement-a cold prediction founded on eternal time. The Ancient God saw how fragile the balance purchased with the Chapter of Binding was, saw that the notebook's hunger and my "sacrifice" had merely delayed the end rather than prevented it.
Waiting. What was the Ancient God waiting for? For the notebook to break free of its restraints completely? For me to lose myself entirely? Or for the moment to step in and reap the harvest?
I couldn't let that moment come.
Before this fragile balance broke, I had to find a more fundamental solution, or... acquire bargaining chips powerful enough to contend with the Ancient God.
I stepped through the iron door, which closed on its own and became covered in rust once more, and returned to Vienna's crumbling streets. Evening had fallen. The setting sun washed the old buildings in a bleakly beautiful orange-red, an eerie contrast to the chill of the underground chamber.
The air smelled of gunpowder. It was not left over from the battle, but came from farther away, along with faint sirens and the commotion of a crowd. The disturbance at the Cemetery of the Nameless had indeed drawn the attention of the secular authorities. I could not stay here any longer.
I pulled my hat brim lower and