"Have you recovered?" Blaine asks Nik as the Dark Knight examines a few potions.

Ordinarily, it would take several weeks to recover from the Curse of the Fallen. Nik, however, was not like ordinary Adventurers. His Class of Dark One indicated that he had achieved at least Total Level 81, as well as that he had managed to obtain a coveted Rank 2 Class.

While reaching Total Level 81 or above was not uncommon in older Adventurers, there were only twenty-six in the Boundary who had achieved Total Level 150 currently alive, and only six who had achieved Total Level 200 currently alive.

Nik fell into the latter group, sitting at Level 50 Champion of Darkness, Level 50 Archpriest of Blood, Level 50 Shadow Assassin, Level 50 Arch Elementalist, and Level 28 Dark One.

He was not just an Adventurer, but the fourth-strongest to have ever existed in the Boundary. He could take on another Class, since all of his were above Level 25, but with it taking him two decades to bring Dark One from Level 25 to Level 28, the same amount of time it took him to bring Shadow Assassin and Arch Elementalist from nil to max, he knows that it would take him a long time to manage anything else. It would likely take him longer than he has left in his life to gain another twenty-five Levels in another Class.

It would be best if he focused on his strongest Class, to unlock the Skills that he can acquire through it that far surpass the Stat Bonuses from taking on another Class and Leveling it a few times.

As a result of his long life, immense Vitality, and the amount of his elements merged into his Sacred Crystal, there was little outside of the permanent or supposedly incurable things that would phase him for long. The Curse of the Fallen was the closest he had come in decades to any form of real danger, and it had worked out in the end.

So it was not unreasonable for the Level 217 Adventurer to assume the Dark Knight had recovered, despite only a day having passed since the latter had consumed the sole cure.

"I have," Nik answers the alchemists question. "Once my new equipment is ready and others have recovered enough to work on clearing other the mines, we'll be returning."

Blaine nods, then leaves Nik to look for what he wants. The two of them adventured together for a long time and learned Alchemy together, so the old Dark Knight knew what he was looking for and needed no help. If something wasn't available on the floor, then he would simply ask the Druid if he had any of it.

Nik turns to face Blaine, ready to ask a question, when three figures enter the shop in a hurry.

The first is a man in silver and gold armor, with a shock of blond hair and dark brown eyes. Travis, the Paladin from their party, from when they used to adventure as a team. At Level 203, he was the weakest of the quintet, yet his abilities and speed were among the most feared of all in the Boundary. Many Adventurers who served the Shadow of Life had fallen to his blade, and much like the Dark Knight, he was one of the rare few who had ever slain a Fallen Adventurer.

Then, an Adventurer who seemed to be only ten, with platinum-blond hair and electric-blue eyes, dressed in an outfit entirely white, a golden staff strapped to his back with white leather. Nathan Normar, the most powerful healer in the Boundary, and the fifth-most powerful Adventurer to ever exist within the Boundary, standing at Total Level 225, currently undecided on what he wants his next Class to be.

The presence of the final newcomer tells Nik and Blaine that their rush was not without cause. It was not often that the Level 219 Shadow Dancer changed into his black leather pants and boots, his dark blue tunic worn under a black vest, nor took out and equipped his bow, knives, and pouch-covered belt.

"Zack and Bryce," Jesse says. "Left the City a few hours ago to go hunting. They told me they were going to hunt for a little while, so Bryce could get some experience against real Goblins. They haven't returned."

The Dark Knight and the magician look out the window, at the dark sky. Sunset began an hour before, and Zack always made sure they had returned by then. He had never intended on fighting Monsters at night, apart from when he fought the Slimes in the field on Bryce's first night and when he went after the Spook Master.

Even though those were recent events, the Adventurers knew that Zack would not want to stay out past dark right now, not without good cause.

"I was taking the long way back," Travis steps forward. "When I noticed the presence of Goblins – far more than we've seen in months. I took out some, but discovered as I did the presence of a nearby horde, and they were on the move."

"Coming towards the City?" Nik asks. "Do you know where Zack and Bryce are?"

"Yes, and maybe," Travis says. "And while the horde was headed towards they City… it wasn't this one. They were charging towards Kaelmar, as if chasing something, from what my familiar could say. Unfortunately, my range was too far, and she couldn't make it out. She said there were two figures at the head of it, but that's as much as she could see."

In an instant, Nik and Blaine are at the door, the rest of the team following behind.

The five Adventurers make quick time reaching the West Gate, the Dark Knight and Holy One both extending wings from their backs, not caring that their shirts are destroyed in the process as they take off flying. They have no time to strip them off, and can easily replace them later. Blaine manipulates the air around the other two, lifting them into the air as he uses his magic to fly.

Now airborne, the party soars towards Kaelmar. Just as they reach the forest, something forms in the sky in the distance. At first, it's barely-discernible to their powerful senses, yet it quickly grows, expanding high in the sky.

"Is that a fucking Meteor?" Nik asks.

"What kind of Monster is summoning that?" Blaine asks. "That thing is almost as large as the ones I can make, and it's still growing!"

By this point, the meteor was already thirty feet across, and as the team flies closer, they determine it's just above the gate to the Fallen City. It continues to grow at a rapid pace, hitting one hundred yards across in under three seconds from the moment of its formation.

Then, it drops straight down, the party having only a few moments to see the horde of Monsters before it lands.

Blaine immediately reacts, throwing up a Bubble Barrier around the group as they continue to fly closer, the Meteor's impact cratering the ground, throwing dirt and other debris up into the air, forming a cloud of dust. The impact range destroys many of the trees at the end of the forest, adding to the debris slamming into the magician's barrier.

"I don't think any of the Monsters there survived that," Jesse comments.

"Unlikely," Blaine responds. "My barrier's reflected parts from over three hundred Goblin, Rats, and Slimes, among other Monsters and animals that were in the woods but not the horde."

"Do you think," Travis says. "That that was whatever kills anyone who enters Kaelmar? The thing pretending to be a Dark Knight that Zack told you about, Nik?"

Zack had mentioned this vision to Nik the last time they spoke before Nik left for the trip, commenting how disturbing it was that the Shadow of Life would imitate such a noble Class.

"Perhaps," Nik responds. "If so, that was overkill to take out two boys."

"It must have wanted to completely erase their bodies," Blaine says. "That meteor would have ensured that even if they'd managed to run, they would die. He'd lose out on their Fallen Adventurer forms, but also eliminate any chances of Zack defying the odds and somehow not becoming one, but rather, waking back up."

"You know how impossible that is, right?" Travis asks.

"Maybe," Nik answers. "But this is Zack we're talking about. He does the impossible."

It only took them a few seconds to reach the edge of the forest – the former edge of the forest – and to have that conversation. When they arrive, the dust cloud still expanding, the five of them make out the dark form of the meteor.

"By the Crystals," Travis comments. "Just how powerful is that thing in there?"

Blaine spreads his arms out, and the dust around them blasts away, clearing the air for them to see. The ground around the meteor is nothing more than a crater, with bodies and debris starting just outside the edge of it.

The Meteor, the party notices, doesn't rest directly on the ground, but seems to hover five feet above it. As with all high-level items manifested through raw magic at a rapid pace without proper effort, its presence fades after several more seconds.

"Why would it have faded?" Travis asks. "Wouldn't whatever it is have taken the effort to do it right?"

"Maybe," Nik comments, staring at something at the center of the impact. "But I don't think it was them. The one who created it did it quickly and rapidly, going for size and power over efficiency. In addition, it's likely to have been the one who can do the impossible, the one who makes the impossible possible."

"What do you mean?" Travis asks, before spotting the object Nik's gaze is fixed on. "What in the Boundary?"

Resting on the ground at the center of the crater is an object ten feet long and five feet at its thickest, tapering down to the ends, forming a version of the Crystal of Dark of Fire, manifested within their Boundary and laying on its side on the ground.

Floating within the center of it is the form an unconscious boy.

"Is that… Zack?" Jesse asks.

A moment later, the Crystal shatters, its shards fading away.

I was able to shield his body from the blast of his spell, Big Flame's voice echoes through the air. Unfortunately…

Before he can finish, Normar was turning Zack over, examining the four long gashes in his back. The Holy One turns to look at Nik, who has recognized the gashes for what they truly are. A glance at the figure standing where the gate once stood, Bryce's body at its feet, confirms the use of the Skill.

Not even a Holy One, Big Flame continues as the team turns their gaze back to Zack's body. Nor any form of alchemy can cure the Blood Curse. It would take an Angel – a Rank III Class – to cure it.

The Blood Curse, a Skill only available to Dark Ones. Those affected by it would remain in pain for several hours before finally passing away. A guaranteed death sentence to any who managed to be afflicted by it. Nik himself had nearly inflicted it upon the Demonic Kobold King, only to be stopped by the arrival of the Fallen Adventurers, the only physical things known to be immune to it.

"A Rank III Class?" Nik lands beside his fallen student. "Those exist?"

Indeed, Big Flame answers. But it requires reaching your First Ascension to acquire access to them.

The Dark Knight looks to the Avatar of the Shadow of Life, wondering why it hadn't attacked them yet.

Do not worry of it, Big Flame tells the party. An Avatar of the Shadow of Life cannot leave the City of its spawning, whose boundaries are defined, even without the wall. Zack has entered Zero Down, so his suffering will be silent.

"So it was him who summoned the Meteor?" Blaine asks.

Indeed, Big Flame answers. Had the System not informed me of Zack's imminent death, he would likely have been destroyed by that as well, leaving nothing for you to find.

"At least he wouldn't have to be cremated," Nik picks up his student, holding him gently in his arms. "Do you know how long before he dies?"

Bring him to my Altar of Darkness within the Dark Temple in Maelnor, Big Flame instructs. Lay him on it. Even in Zero Down, where he isn't aware of anything, he actively fights the curse. How long he lives depends on how long he fights. I will use my flames to mend his body, even if I cannot affect the curse. With how impossible he is, he may, somehow, manage to heal himself of the curse, if he is supported long enough. With my energies, he will manage it.

Nik nods, turning and flapping his wings once, twice, then lifting into the air. His team looks to the Avatar of the Shadow of Life, knowing they will not be able to retrieve the body of the other boy. It was able to shield against a Meteor of that caliber and had killed dozens of Adventurers. The four of them would not manage to survive, of that, they were certain.

The team returns to Maelnor in silence, the Adventurers watching solemnly as Nik carries his student through the streets, no one daring to say a word.

It was not until Nik and Jesse enter the Dark Temple that either show a reaction beyond what they had already. Tears begin to leak down Nik's face as he carries the boy he saw as a son to the Sanctuary of Flames.

The Dark Knight places Zack on the Altar of Darkness, spreading the boy out and resting his hands on his stomach. Nik pulls his arms away, watching as the crimson flames grow and surround Zack, forming a sort of cocoon around the boy.

"He'll survive," Jesse speaks.

"Maybe," Nik says. "You heard the patron – it takes a Rank III Class to cure this. Zack might be an impossible child, but even our patron was unsure of his survival."

Their patron was, in fact, quite sure of his survival, for unlike Adventurers other than Zack and his half-brother, the childish deity could see within people and their own Sacred Crystals. He can see the four long gouges in it, each one bleeding a blood of shadows that fade as they leave the form.

He can see the fire blazing within the Sacred Crystal as well, burning at the gouges, slowly burning away at the curse.

So the Crystal of Dark of Fire, now known as Big Flame, was quite sure that Zack would survive, because even though the boy could sense nothing and was aware of nothing, and would wake unaware of anything since he lost consciousness…

Unlike his half-brother, Zack had awakened his Divine Heritage already. This allowed him to fight on an impossible level – the kind that only a Child of Existence could ever manage.

So yes, Big Flame was quite sure that old one's child would survive.