The Abyss received no one.

It swallowed.

And yet, there were those who chose to descend.

Sapphire walked as if that place had no right to resist her presence, her firm steps echoing across a surface that wasn’t exactly ground, but wasn’t empty either. The 80th floor stretched before her like a living distortion of reality, layers of darkness compressed into impossible structures, with fragments of rock suspended in the air and rivers of purple energy flowing like open veins of something that shouldn’t exist. The pressure there was constant, invisible, crushing for any ordinary being—but in her there was no effort, no tension. Only... movement.

She stopped for a brief moment.

She breathed.

And then she let out a low sigh, laden with slight frustration.

"I really thought I was going to descend at least twenty levels at once..." she murmured, bringing one hand to her neck, twisting it slightly as if testing her own mobility. Her eyes scanned the surrounding environment, analyzing the density of the energy, the resistance of the space, the invisible limits imposed by that floor. "It seems there’s still some draining happening..."

It wasn’t fatigue.

It wasn’t weakness.

It was... adjustment.

Her strength had returned, yes. The restriction that had previously limited her existence had been removed, releasing layers of power that had been sealed for too long. But the Abyss... the Abyss was not a neutral environment. It reacted. Consuming, pressing, slowly draining that which did not belong to its structure.

Sapphire tilted her head slightly.

And shrugged.

"Well... whatever~"

And she continued walking.

It took no more than a few steps for the environment to respond to her presence. The first creatures emerged from the dark fissures around her, deformed, distorted bodies, as if they had been molded by an energy that understood neither form nor purpose. Corrupted demons—their bodies covered in that disgusting purple substance that pulsed like living flesh, empty eyes gleaming with an artificial light, mouths gaping in shapes that shouldn’t be possible.

They advanced.

Without strategy.

Without consciousness.

Just impulse.

And they died.

There was no movement on her part.

There was no attack.

Her aura simply... expanded.

An invisible, yet absolute pressure swept through the surrounding space like a silent wave, crushing everything that tried to exist within that reach. The creatures’ bodies disintegrated instantly, dissolving into particles that didn’t even touch the nonexistent ground before disappearing completely.

Sapphire didn’t even look.

"Weaklings..." she commented, in a nonchalant, almost bored tone. "These corrupted ones don’t even come close to the beings of the deep void."

She continued walking, completely ignoring what remained around her. For her, this wasn’t combat. It was... automatic cleanup.

The path to the 81st floor wasn’t marked by real resistance, only repetition. More creatures appeared. More were effortlessly erased. The Abyss seemed to try to react, but the difference in scale was simply too absurd to generate any real challenge at that moment.

And then—

She arrived.

The 81st floor wasn’t just deeper.

It was... different.

The pressure there changed immediately, becoming denser, more present, as if the space itself were more aware of what existed within it. The structures were more stable, but also more oppressive, as if everything there had been compressed to its limit.

Sapphire took a step forward.

And then—

She stopped.

Her eyes focused on something specific.

Someone.

The figure stood before her, with its back to her, completely still. A heavy, black suit of armor, marked by details that weren’t ornamental, but functional—each line carrying history, each fissure indicating survival. There was no hesitation in that posture. No doubt.

He was someone who belonged in that kind of place.

Sapphire sighed.

"...seriously?" she murmured, bringing a hand to her forehead for a moment, as if it were more inconvenient than surprising. "Why are you here, Guerra?"

The Knight didn’t answer.

Nor did he move.

He simply stood still, looking ahead, as if her presence didn’t demand an immediate reaction.

Sapphire narrowed her eyes slightly.

And began to approach.

Her steps were now slower, not out of caution, but out of interest. If he was there... then there was a reason. And that, more than anything, was what truly mattered.

She stopped beside him.

And then followed his gaze.

What lay ahead was not just another layer of the Abyss.

It was... a mark.

A rupture.

Something that didn’t fit into the logic of that place.

The space seemed... torn. Not like a common opening, but as if something had traversed multiple layers of reality at once, leaving a trail that hadn’t yet stabilized. The energy there was different—denser, more aggressive, carrying a signature that didn’t belong to the natural flow of the Abyss.

Sapphire tilted her head slightly.

"...what is this?" she asked, her tone now less light, more focused.

The Knight finally answered.

His voice wasn’t loud.

Nor did it need to be.

"Hunger."

The word fell heavily.

Simple.

But laden with meaning.

He turned his head slightly, enough for his presence to become more active within that space.

"The Knight of Hunger descended into the Abyss," he continued, his tone firm, direct, leaving no room for interpretation. "And he didn’t come alone."

A brief pause.

"The Seven Deadly Sins... are here too."

The silence that followed wasn’t empty.

It was... dense.

Sapphire didn’t respond immediately.

But her face—

It tightened.

Slightly.

Almost imperceptibly.

But real.

"...thousands of years..." she murmured, more to herself than to him, her eyes still fixed on that rupture ahead. "They haven’t appeared for thousands of years..."

The energy around her shifted.

Subtly.

Not because she lost control.

But because... something inside her reacted.

It wasn’t fear.

It wasn’t hesitation.

It was... recognition.

The presence of those names wasn’t common.

It wasn’t something to be ignored.

The Horseman of Hunger.

The Seven Deadly Sins.

That wasn’t a coincidence.

It was... movement.

Something was happening.

Something grand enough to rouse entities of that level from the silence in which they had remained for ages.

Sapphire crossed her arms slowly, still gazing at that impossible mark in space.

"...perfect timing," she murmured, a slight smile beginning to appear, but without any trace of real lightness. "Just when I decide to take a walk."

The Knight did not answer.

But his presence remained firm.

Ready.

Because they both knew.

This was not just an encounter.

It was the beginning of something.

And the Abyss—

The Abyss was watching.

The silence between them was not empty—it was dense, laden with an implicit understanding that dispensed with lengthy explanations. The mark before them still pulsed slowly on the Abyss’s ground, like a wound that breathed, and the air around them seemed heavier, more viscous, as if reality itself were reacting to what had been awakened. The Knight of War showed no hurry, but neither did he hesitate; he had already interpreted the scenario, fitted each variable within a larger context, and now all that remained was to act.

Without saying anything more for a few seconds, he took a step back, the metallic sound of his armor echoing low in that deep space, and then raised one hand. The answer came immediately.

From nowhere—or rather, from a point where space seemed to fold in on itself—something emerged.

It wasn’t summoned like ordinary magic, nor materialized like a creation.

It was... called.

The horse appeared as a direct extension of his presence, traversing reality as if it weren’t a relevant barrier. It was an immense creature, clad in a black, seemingly alive, armor, with fissures through which a red light pulsed like exposed blood. His eyes were empty, yet still carried a predatory awareness, and each step he took as he grounded himself on the Abyss floor made the surrounding structure vibrate slightly, as if that place recognized something... ancient.

Sapphire watched without surprise.

But attentively.

Because it never ceased to be... impressive.

The Knight of War placed his hand on the creature’s neck for a brief moment, not as a gesture of affection, but as confirmation. And then, with a fluid and precise movement, he mounted. No effort. No hesitation. As if that action had been repeated countless times throughout ages that no longer mattered.

He gently pulled the reins.

The horse responded.

Turning towards what lay below.

What came next.

Before advancing, however—

He spoke.

The voice came out muffled by the armor, but still clear, carrying a weight that didn’t come from volume, but from the absolute certainty that underpinned each word.

"Return."

It wasn’t a request.

Nor advice.

It was an instruction.

"Warn the others," he continued, without looking directly at Sapphire, his eyes still fixed on the darkness ahead, as if he could already see beyond it. "A war is coming."

Sapphire tilted her head slightly, her arms crossed, her body relaxed despite the scene.

"Lilith has awakened," she replied, as if it were just a detail... but it wasn’t.

The effect was immediate.

Not external.

But perceptible.

The Knight of War stopped.

Completely.

The horse too.

As if the information itself had enough weight to halt movement.

Slowly—

He turned his face.

The armor didn’t allow him to see his expression.

But it didn’t need to.

"You have awakened... Mother?"

The question came without emotion.

Without apparent surprise.

But there was something there.

Something minimal.

Almost imperceptible.

Sapphire shrugged, as if commenting on something trivial.

"Sepphirothy expedited her plan."

The silence that followed was short.

But significant.

The Knight of War remained motionless for another second, processing not the information itself—because he already understood the implications—but the moment in which it had happened.

And then—

He nodded.

Once.

"Better awake to the end... than useless in death."

There was no judgment.

No approval.

Just... realization.

And with that—

He pulled the reins again.

The horse responded with a heavy movement, turning its body completely in the direction of descent, its hooves pressing the ground with enough force to create small fissures that were quickly swallowed by the very structure of the Abyss.

And then—

He left.

Not like someone fleeing.

But like someone advancing.

The speed increased in a few seconds, the sound of hooves echoing like battle drums through the lower levels, each step pushing that immense presence away until only the echo remained... and then, not even that.

Sapphire stood still.

Watching.

Until he disappeared completely.

And then—

She sighed.

A low sound.

Almost bored.

"...always so cold."

Her eyes were still fixed on where he had gone, but her focus was no longer there.

It was... in the past.

"He doesn’t even seem like his mama’s boy," she murmured, a slight crooked smile appearing on her lips, as if she were remembering something that didn’t match what she had just witnessed at all.

The memory didn’t last long.

Because the Abyss didn’t allow that kind of distraction for long.

The presence around her shifted again.

Subtle.

But growing.

Sapphire slowly uncrossed her arms, turning her neck from side to side, like someone preparing to continue.

"War, Famine... Sins..."

She let out a small, nasal laugh.

Low.

Without real humor.

"Now it’s gotten interesting~" Her eyes gleamed slightly, not with childish excitement, but with something more dangerous.