Neo did not head straight for the tower.

He followed Snot first, and the two of them drifted through the camp with no clear destination, as if they were only stretching their legs after the talk with Byron. A few people greeted Snot on the way.

Neo let the camp pass around him and asked the question once there was no one close enough to overhear.

"Did you notice anything strange in Byron’s blood? Anything that would suggest he lied to us or plans to betray us?"

Snot turned his head toward him, caught off guard by the question.

"No," he answered without playing around. "Nothing like that. He didn’t lie. He reacted when you said we were probably the last ones to make it here, but that felt normal to me." He exhaled through his nose and scratched the back of his neck. "If you’re right, it means around three quarters of the people who entered this Breach are dead."

Neo kept walking. "That’s how it looks."

Snot fell quiet, so Neo continued.

"We’re down to a quarter of the original number. That’s ugly, but nobody entered a Breach without knowing death was one of the outcomes."

"Yeah," Snot said. "That’s true."

The answer came out flat enough for Neo to notice it.

He studied him for a short stretch while they walked past one of the fires. "You’re quieter than usual. What are you thinking about?"

Snot let out a faint breath, almost amused at being caught. "So you did notice." He rolled one shoulder. "I was thinking it’s strange. The tower, I mean. And the camp. And the fact that nobody’s forced the issue yet." He glanced toward the white stone rising beyond the shelters. "I’m curious too, but I don’t feel like causing trouble on the first day by marching up there and kicking the whole place apart."

Neo said nothing at first.

That part had been scratching at him as well.

A group of five was keeping people away from the entrance. That was ridiculous on its face. There were forty-eight others here besides them, and now Neo’s group had pushed that number even higher. If enough people truly wanted to enter, five should never have been enough to stop them.

Which meant there was a reason they had not tried.

Neo spoke without slowing. "Doesn’t it bother you? They could have formed one large group and gone in anyway. Almost everyone here is recently awakened. Most are Ember. A few made it to Vein in this Breach. That’s it. There shouldn’t be such a huge gap between five people and the rest of the camp."

Snot’s expression thinned a little. "You think there’s another reason nobody’s acted."

"Yes." Neo kept his attention ahead. "Fear."

Snot looked at him more directly now.

Neo continued. "Byron says they’re waiting for more people before challenging the tower properly. That sounds reasonable until you turn it over once. Reaching the top clearly isn’t the difficult part. What waits there is."

Snot gave a low hum. "So your version is simple. They’re scared of going in and dying."

"Do you see a better explanation?" Neo asked. "Nearly fifty people in one place, and they’d rather sit outside than push past five strangers guarding a door."

Snot had no quick answer for that.

He understood it. Neo could tell from the way the thought settled on him. Once it did, it changed the camp a little. The people around them no longer looked merely tired. Many of them looked like they had already accepted something they didn’t want to say aloud.

The tower was not a challenge anymore. It was a threat they had started organizing their days around.

Snot finally said, "Are you planning to do something stupid, Neo?"

"Yes."

Snot blinked. "That answer came out much faster than I wanted."

Neo’s mouth moved slightly. "I’m going to the tower."

Snot stopped walking. "What?"

Neo kept going, forcing Snot to catch up. "You heard me."

"Neo, wait. That’s a bad idea." Snot moved in front of him for half a step, enough to try blocking his path without fully committing to it. "We just got here. Starting a fight with the people controlling the entrance on the first day is idiotic."

Neo angled around him. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"Yes." Neo’s tone stayed calm. "But I’m not going to obey someone just because they stood near a door before I did. They don’t own the tower."

Snot stared at him, already halfway into the expression of a man watching a problem take shape in real time.

’This is going to be annoying,’ he thought.

Neo was already moving.

The entrance stood ahead, a white door half-consumed by green growth, old stone wrapped in jungle and time. From a distance it had looked ancient. Up close, it felt stranger than that.

Neo placed his hand on the door and pushed.

It moved.

Snot came up behind him. "Neo—"

A shout cut across the space before he could finish.

"Hey! Stop! Leave the door!"

Two boys their age were already coming toward them. One had been nearer the entrance than the other, probably watching it from the side. The second moved faster, gray-haired, gray-eyed, one hand already lifting with the instinct of someone who preferred to attack first and talk after.

Neo turned his head and answered the first one with complete indifference.

"Do you own it?"

The boy slowed, thrown off by the question more than he should have been. "No."

"Then I don’t see why I should listen to you."

That was enough to trigger one of them. A flash of force slammed into the door beside Neo’s arm, hard enough to throw dust and splinters of old growth across the stone.

Neo pivoted at once.

His sword manifested in his hand in a line of light. Behind him, two daggers appeared in Snot’s grip just as quickly.

The gray-haired boy was closer now, jaw tight, one hand crackling faintly with the remains of whatever spell he had just thrown. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"We told you to step away from the door!"

That shout drew people fast. Campfires were forgotten. Conversations cut off. Awakeneds began moving toward the commotion, hungry for distraction, danger, or both.

And before the whole thing could tip over the edge, Byron arrived.

He forced himself between both sides with surprising speed, his voice coming down like a hammer.

"Enough! Nobody’s fighting here."

The force of it did more than the words.

Snot desummoned his daggers first and shot a look toward Neo. Neo caught it, gave the gray-haired boy one last measuring glance, and dismissed his sword as well.

Byron let out a breath that sounded like it had been dragged through broken stone.

"Please," he said, looking at Neo now, "give me a little time. When I make the announcement, we’ll deal with the tower properly."

Neo stepped back from the door without a word.

That, at least, eased the worst of the pressure.

The gray-haired boy looked like he wanted to say more. Byron didn’t give him the room. He turned just enough to cut him off with posture alone. It worked.

Neo walked away from the entrance.

Snot did not follow immediately. He stayed with Byron while the crowd started dispersing, disappointment and relief mixing badly across more than one face.

"It doesn’t feel like they’re going to keep waiting forever," Snot said quietly.

Byron rubbed at his forehead. "I know."

"I’m serious."

"So am I." Byron lowered his hand. He looked older than before, or maybe simply more tired. "I tried speaking with the girl again. Nothing. Not even a useful fragment." He exhaled. "Your two huts are ready. For you and the girls. Go rest. Tomorrow I’ll gather everyone and make the announcement."

Snot nodded once and went after Neo.

Neo had already moved ahead, but not quickly. His thoughts had gotten hold of him again.

He had opened the door just enough to glimpse the interior. That bothered him now more than being stopped. He had not seen any Soul Beast waiting at the entrance. No obvious guardian nor immediate sign of danger.

He had seen a statue.

Large, white and around five meters high.

And he had seen a line of light cutting down inside the tower from somewhere above.

’So there’s another opening.’

The thought sharpened immediately.

’If the front is watched, I’ll go in another way.’

The church came back to him at once.

’Climbing won’t be pleasant, but it’s possible.’

Because he was following that thread instead of the path ahead, he walked straight into someone.

The impact was light, little more than a shoulder brushing another. Neo stopped and turned.

A girl with black hair stood there, her expression distant in a way that made the rest of the camp feel louder around her. Not absent exactly but more like most of her had never fully returned from somewhere else.

"Sorry," Neo said.

She gave no sign she had heard him.

She passed by him and kept walking.

Neo watched her go for a short stretch.

’What’s wrong with her?’

Byron’s voice answered the question before Neo could ask it aloud.

"That’s the girl."

He had caught up with Snot behind him and now stood a few steps away, following the black-haired girl with something between concern and helplessness in his face.

"The one I told you about," Byron said. "She still refuses to speak."

Neo kept his eyes on her retreating back.

For the first time since leaving the hut, his curiosity shifted.

Away from the tower.

Toward her.

’Hm.’