Cold, cold air stroked Claud’s face as he entered the building, and mana danced around him in response. Only after looking around the place a few times did he loosen up — clearly, the owners of this building didn’t share the same shameless sense as him.

If he had free reign over this building, the entrance would be blocked off with tens and hundreds of traps. Also, it wouldn’t be lit up by impossibly bright lights; those bright lights would instead be directed at the entrance, blinding anyone who dared to enter.

“Doesn’t seem like a fortress.”

“This seems to be the administrative centre of the city, rather than its main defensive fortress,” Lily observed. “I don’t think there’ll be any traps here.”

“But if you look at Nightfall Palace and that nameless building the Nightfall couple work in, you can see all kinds of defences too, right?” Claud replied. “And besides, there are many warnings about this place. It’s quite the phenomena-ridden building. Given its importance, there might be mechanical traps here too.”

“Maybe in the restricted area,” replied Lily, tilting her head. “I don’t think we’ll see any such things here, at least. There weren’t any records of such traps either.”

Claud thought back to the records, and then shook his head. “We can’t be certain that there aren’t traps here, just because no records about dangerous traps, remember? Best to keep a look out. You know what they say, right?”

“Alright.” Lily smiled. “But I want a backrub when we go back.”

“Ambitious, aren’t you?” Claud rolled his eyes. “A backrub, fine. Would you like me to rub anywhere else?”

“My soles!”

The two fooled around for a bit, before returning to their serious, cautious stance once more. Making sure to follow the described route to the Second Shadow, Claud readied himself to strike at any moment. Other than a sword, he also had multiple daggers that could be tossed out, but his best weapon was now his mana.

However, since there was a non-zero possibility that some trap which forbade the use of mana existed, Claud had also prepared for a physical fight. If it came down to it, he would toss out a bunch of expendable artefacts, pick Lily up and flee with all his might.

Of course, this would mean that their first expedition had come to an end. Claud hoped that this scenario would only pop up after they attained the Second Shadow, since the two of them would then get their shadowy avatars to explore the place risk-free, but anything could happen.

“Ready?” Claud asked.

“That’s my line!”

“Okay, okay. I’m ready,” Claud replied. “Let’s go up and see if we can nab some of those babies. I swear, those machines seem to be made for the likes of you and me.”

“If you think about it, though, a city administrator would love to have Second Shadows too. They’ll be able to inspect multiple places at once, depending on their mana control proficiency, all in the safety of their home,” Lily replied. “What’s not to love?”

“Only their mana expenditure?” Claud asked.

“We’ll have to test it out to know. And even if it’s high for me, you’re a tri-folder!” Lily beamed. “We’ll at most take turns to operate the shadow.”

“Is that how it works?” Claud cupped his chin.

“Yeah, that’s how it works. We create an avatar with the artefact, and then control it with our mana and our mind,” said Lily. “It’s really useful! I can make explosives without having them blow up in my face, for instance, and I can also experience their power firsthand without fear of injury.”

Claud nodded as they climbed up the stairs. “Imagine stealing something as a shadow. Sure, I can’t use my usual tricks, but it’s also good training. Plus, it’s a hundred percent safe.”

As they arrived on the second floor, the world wobbled, and Claud felt his heartbeat speed up. “Sea-Queller, now!”

“On it!” Lily aimed her wrist at the black rift, and with a mighty groan, the rift collapsed on itself and vanished. “Hurry, third floor!”

Picking her up, Claud made a break for the third floor, before the artefact on Lily’s wrist beeped once. The Sea-Queller could stabilise space for around ten seconds, forcing an artificial calm in the local area. It drained quite a bit of mana, but the Sea-Queller was better than trying to force the rift to close with mana alone, which was apparently an impossible feat.

“My turn,” Claud muttered. “Pass it over to me.”

“Here you go,” said Lily. “Phew. It really happens, huh.”

“Yeah. The presence of people foreign to the ruins can trigger rifts like this. And since I’m hugging you all the time, it’s probably going to happen more…wait, I’m just kidding. Hugging has nothing to do with it.”

Lily eyed Claud. “Are you sure?”

“Would I lie about dangerous things?” Claud asked back.

“True.” Lily looked down. “Then hug me more. Or a piggyback ride! I haven’t had one for a long time.”

“You really treat this as a honeymoon, huh?” Claud patted her head. “Sorry, but it’s too dangerous to give you a piggyback ride while we’re climbing the stairs, nor to mention in Celestia.”

“Oh. Later, then?”

“But I don’t want to have one while flying. That doesn’t count. I was sitting on you back then.”

Claud racked his memories for instances in which she just sat on him and nothing else happened, and then recalled the time when they went to Julan Barony. A smile appeared on his face.

“Back then, we were just going there together because it was convenient, weren’t we?” Claud asked. “And now…”

“We’re on what seems to be a honeymoon,” Lily completed. “Thank you, Claud. For everything.”

“The same goes for me,” Claud replied. “It’s…nice to have someone with me, someone I can give my heart to. I thought I would be alone when I made that choice that night, but…”

“If I let you have your way, I might have never seen you again,” Lily replied. “I’ve had enough of final partings.”

Claud took a deep breath. “Thank you, Lily.”

“Mhm. Right, we should continue on upwards.”

The next few levels were uneventful, with nothing much happening. Claud, however, didn’t really care about that particular fact for two reasons. First, nothing uneventful meant that everything was safe and danger-free, and secondly, having Lily around was more than enough for him.

The two of them looked around the building as they climbed up. The cylindrical building, on the outside, looked like a palace that could probably rival that of a duke, but the insides were even more exquisite. Every level had twelve doors facing towards the centre of the building, in an exact, impossible symmetry. In the middle of every level, there was an exquisite, symmetrical pattern that looked like a twelve-pointed star on the tiles, each end pointing at a door.

Simply looking at it revealed the fact that the architects behind this divine piece of work surpassed any craftsmen Claud knew, and…

“Wow.” A word slipped out of Claud’s mouth as the two of them stopped at the highest floor. A crystalline dome occupied the central plaza, taking the place of the usual twelve-pointed star, glimmering faintly in the artificial lights.

Where did those lights come from anyway?

After pondering on that question with Lily, the two decided to set that aside.

“We’ll need to be very, very careful now,” said Claud. “There’s an unavoidable phenomenon at the door. Quite a lot of people have died here.”

“I know,” Lily replied, her voice tense.

Claud clenched his fist. The phenomenon that they were just about to view was suspected to be the last moments of the city itself. It would display the city ruler’s point of view as the world came to an end, as well as the three silhouettes that brought it down.

His hand trembled slightly. This was indelible proof that beings capable of destroying an entire world existed, if nothing else, and…

“I’m scared,” Claud muttered.

“We just need to face that phenomenon head on,” said Lily.

“No, not that,” Claud replied. “I’m scared of acknowledging the fact that there are beings that can essentially turn my home into molten rock. I…should such a being exist?”

“I don’t know, but…” Lily looked at him and held his hand tightly. “But we can’t avert our eyes to such a danger, right? The Moons. The great Dark. The gods. The Emperor. Each of them can lay waste to vast swathes of land. We can only grow stronger if we want to stop them from doing that. If, for some reason, they turn insane…”

She took a deep breath. “People need to step up and stop it.”

“Would one of these people be me?” Claud asked quietly.

“You can call up power that might just rival the Coloured Gods,” said Lily. “Let’s not speak about the world. It’s abstract. Would you use your immense power to protect me?”

Claud froze, and then relaxed. “Yes. And I see what you mean now. If these people try to destroy the world, they’ll probably kill you. And the others. I…”

“Right?” Lily smiled. “So you’ll interfere anyway. So why are you scared? People like them exist. It’s a fact of life. Don’t go shying away from it.”

Claud closed his eyes for a moment, and then nodded firmly. “Thank you, Lily. Let’s go and witness the end of Celestia.”