Chapter 152: The Memory of Blood

"Come closer."

The voice echoed through the darkness.

Noah remained still.

Every instinct told him to run.

Yet his feet refused to move.

The enormous crimson eyes watched him from the distance.

No body.

No face.

Only those eyes.

"What are you?" Noah asked.

The presence remained silent.

Noah took a cautious step forward.

The darkness beneath his feet rippled.

Another step.

The pressure increased.

His lungs tightened.

His heartbeat became painfully loud.

BOOM.

A third step.

The crimson eyes brightened.

BOOM.

Something moved behind them.

Noah stopped.

"I don’t think I should get any closer."

The presence finally responded.

"You inherited what belongs to you."

Noah frowned.

"I didn’t choose it."

"Inheritance does not require permission."

The words struck him harder than they should have.

Noah looked at his hands.

"So you’re the real Ragnarok?"

A pause.

"You have met my shadow."

Noah’s expression changed.

"The Dead Zone?"

The crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

"It is not me."

A chill traveled down Noah’s spine.

Then what is it?

The presence didn’t answer.

Instead, something appeared in the darkness.

A hand.

Massive.

Covered in black markings.

It reached toward Noah.

He instinctively stepped backward.

The Dead Zone suddenly appeared beside him.

Its crimson eyes were fixed on the hand.

"Don’t touch it."

Noah looked at it.

"You know what that is."

"Enough."

"Tell me."

"No."

Noah’s irritation rose.

"You’ve been hiding things from me since I awakened."

The Dead Zone looked at him.

"Because knowing too much too early gets people killed."

The hand moved closer.

The Dead Zone stepped between Noah and it.

"Especially you."

Outside, Noah’s body suddenly went completely still.

Laura shook his shoulder.

"Noah?"

Nothing.

His eyes were open.

But there was no response.

Sophia approached.

"His mana disappeared."

Eric looked alarmed.

"Disappeared?"

"He’s still breathing."

Luna placed her hand near Noah.

Her expression immediately changed.

"There are two signatures."

Damien frowned.

"Two?"

"One is Noah."

She hesitated.

"The other..."

A faint crimson glow appeared beneath Noah’s skin.

"...is something I’ve never felt before."

Laura’s eyes widened.

"Noah!"

His body suddenly released a pulse of energy.

BOOM!

Everyone was thrown backward.

Noah remained standing.

His head slowly lifted.

His eyes were completely crimson.

But his expression was calm.

Too calm.

Laura stared at him.

"Noah?"

He looked at her.

For several seconds, there was no response.

Finally, he spoke.

"I’m here."

Laura’s shoulders relaxed.

But Eric didn’t lower his weapon.

Something felt wrong.

Noah turned toward the academy entrance.

"It’s calling me."

"Who?" Sophia asked.

Noah hesitated.

"Ragnarok."

Deep beneath Hildgard, Irus suddenly looked upward.

Her expression became serious.

"The signal has intensified."

Alcris struggled to stand.

"Where is it coming from?"

She answered without looking at him.

"Noah."

Daniella frowned.

"Then stop it."

"I can’t."

"Why?"

Irus’s fingers tightened around her staff.

"Because he has answered."

Alcris stared at her.

"What happens now?"

Irus finally turned.

"He will begin seeing things."

"Like what?"

"The memories of Ragnarok."

Silence.

Alcris’s face paled.

"And if he keeps listening?"

Irus looked toward the ancient heart.

Her golden eyes dimmed.

"Eventually, Ragnarok will stop speaking."

Daniella frowned.

"What does that mean?"

Irus answered quietly.

"It will start showing him."

Inside the darkness, Noah stared at the enormous hand.

The Dead Zone remained between them.

The hand stopped.

A single crimson eye opened in its palm.

Noah’s blood ran cold.

The Dead Zone’s voice became almost a whisper.

"Now you understand why I told you to run."

The eye looked directly at Noah.

And suddenly...

the darkness disappeared.

Noah saw a battlefield.

Thousands of corpses.

A crimson sky.

A black sword embedded in the earth.

And a lone figure standing among the dead.

He couldn’t see the figure’s face.

But Noah recognized the aura.

Ragnarok.

The figure slowly turned.

And looked directly at him.

The vision ended.

Noah’s eyes snapped open.

He was back in the academy.

Everyone was staring at him.

Laura stepped forward.

"What did you see?"

Noah looked at her.

His face had gone pale.

"A battlefield."

He swallowed.

"And someone was standing in the middle of it."

Sophia asked quietly:

"Who?"

Noah looked toward the three moons.

"I don’t know."

Inside his mind, the Dead Zone whispered:

"You will."

Noah couldn’t forget the battlefield.

Even after the vision ended, the smell of blood seemed to linger in his mind.

Thousands of bodies.

A crimson sky.

A black sword buried in the earth.

And that figure.

He didn’t know who it was.

Yet something about it felt terrifyingly familiar.

Laura watched him carefully.

"You’re still thinking about it."

Noah nodded.

"I saw something I wasn’t supposed to see."

Sophia crossed her arms.

"Another vision?"

"Yeah."

"What was different?"

Noah hesitated.

"This one felt real."

Eric glanced toward the damaged windows.

"More real than the golden moon?"

"No."

Noah looked down at his hands.

"More real than me."

Nobody understood what he meant.

Neither did Noah.

The system suddenly appeared.

[MEMORY FRAGMENT DETECTED.]

Noah’s eyes widened.

[SOURCE: UNKNOWN.]

[ORIGIN: RAGNAROK.]

He stared at the notification.

"So that was a memory?"

The system flickered.

[CONFIRMED.]

Another message appeared.

[MEMORY ACCESS: 1%]

Noah frowned.

"One percent?"

The Dead Zone spoke.

"That’s enough."

Noah looked around.

The others couldn’t hear it.

Enough for what?

"Enough to understand that Ragnarok existed before you."

Noah’s expression hardened.

I already knew that.

"You didn’t understand it."

The system vanished.

Noah stared at the floor.

Ragnarok wasn’t simply a power.

It had a history.

A history the system itself couldn’t fully access.

And somehow, he had inherited it.

Far beneath Hildgard, Alcris sat against the ancient heart.

Daniella had wrapped his wounds.

His breathing had stabilized, but his mana remained almost empty.

Irus stood several meters away.

She hadn’t moved for several minutes.

Alcris finally broke the silence.

"You knew."

Irus looked at him.

"Knew what?"

"That Noah would see the memories."

Irus didn’t answer.

Alcris laughed bitterly.

"You knew."

"Yes."

"Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Would you have listened?"

He stared at her.

"No."

"Exactly."

Alcris lowered his head.

He remembered the black book.

The medallions.

The ritual.

The promises he’d made to himself.

He had believed Ragnarok was the ultimate power.

Something he could steal.

Something that would make him stronger.

But now he understood how small his ambition had been.

"Why does Noah have it?"

Irus looked toward the ceiling.

"Because someone chose him."

"Who?"

Irus’s golden eyes became distant.

"That answer isn’t yours to have."

Daniella frowned.

"You keep saying things like that."

Irus looked at her.

"Because there are truths that become dangerous when spoken too early."

Daniella didn’t look away.

"Then when is the right time?"

Irus’s expression softened slightly.

"When he is strong enough to survive them."

Noah suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest.

He grabbed his shirt.

[RAGNAROK DEAD ZONE RESONANCE: 27.2%]

Laura immediately noticed.

"Again?"

Noah nodded.

The crimson aura returned.

But this time, it didn’t spread violently.

It formed around him like a controlled layer.

The Dead Zone appeared in his mind.

It stood beside the battlefield from Noah’s vision.

The dead stretched into the distance.

The black sword remained buried in the earth.

Noah looked at it.

"Was that your memory?"

The Dead Zone shook its head.

"No."

"Ragnarok’s?"

"A memory connected to it."

Noah frowned.

"That doesn’t make sense."

The Dead Zone walked toward the sword.

"It will."

It pulled the black sword from the ground.

The moment its hand touched the weapon, the entire battlefield changed.

The corpses disappeared.

The sky darkened.

A massive shadow appeared behind the horizon.

Noah’s breath caught.

"What is that?"

The Dead Zone looked at him.

For once, it didn’t joke.

"The reason Ragnarok was feared."

The shadow began approaching.

Each step shook the battlefield.

Noah felt the pressure even through the memory.

Then the vision abruptly shattered.

He returned to the academy.

His knees buckled.

Laura caught him.

"What happened?"

Noah stared forward.

His voice was barely audible.

"I saw something behind Ragnarok."

Sophia’s expression tightened.

"What?"

Noah looked toward the dark sky.

"I don’t know."

Inside his mind, the Dead Zone whispered:

"Not yet."

Far beneath Hildgard, Irus suddenly opened her golden eyes.

She had felt it too.

Something had stirred beyond the memory.

And this time...

it wasn’t Ragnarok.