Kai took Noxian’s words—that the Nightborns within the Andromeda Constellation are much more docile with a grain of salt. And since he was now in possession of two Primordial Locks, enhancing his presence within the House of Night, he decided to be confident.

He used the night to probe the Nightborns around him.

Filtering the stronger ones from the weaker ones.

Another reason that he dared to probe random Nightborns like this was that he didn’t feel any hostility from them. Unlike the hostile Nightborn that he encountered before, the ones here have a more controlled presence.

So, he decided to be bold.

It wasn’t his first time using the night to probe a Nightborn; he had tried it on Perion, but this was the first time he had used it on ordinary Nightborns. Kai watched the darkness envelop them one by one, at least three at a time within his reach, as faint glowing stars—slowly began to emerge from their bodies.

Glowing stars that hovered right above their heads.

Kai was expecting this already.

But what he didn’t expect was that their true appearances were revealed.

One is shaped like an animal, another bears the shape of a person, and the third has the gnarly appearance of something dragged straight out of a nightmare. With so many Nightborns that kept on manifesting around him, Kai found it difficult to decide where to focus his attention.

Slowly, he filtered out those with dimmer stars, narrowing his options.

By this point, he had already sunk into the ground to his waist, so there’s not much time left.

Kai fizzled out his thoughts as he decided to let Bella pick for him again.

Her decision didn’t come as a voice inside his mind—but a tug that forced his attention to fix on one peculiar Nightborn. It was humanoid and hulking. Above it, there are two glowing red stars that were held by the talons of a dark bird statue.

"That one!"

Desperately, Kai pulled himself towards it with his hands.

Since the shallow water swallowed half his body, Kai could do little more than use his hands to approach the Nightborrn. He dragged himself toward it and grabbed its hand right before he could sink.

And the moment he grabbed its hand, the Nightborn stopped and glanced down at him.

"I want to get to know you!" He confessed loudly.

The Nightborn tilts his head, and suddenly, it melted and splashed into the shallow water.

Kai didn’t know what had happened exactly as he sank into the shallow water, once there was nothing to hold onto, choking within its oppressive darkness. He could see the night sky from the water-blur, twinkling with its stars.

And then, without warning, the suffocating pressure vanished.

A sudden pull from below spooked him before the world gave way beneath him.

He began free-falling as though he had been dropped from the sky.

It took him almost a full minute of falling before his body slammed against the shallow water again. Had this been the real world, he would no doubt be splattered into meat paste from the freefall, but here, he got up like it was nothing.

Kai grabbed his neck with both hands and coughed severely as he gasped for air.

Saliva trickled down the corner of his mouth as the feeling of suffocation still lingered.

A phantom suffocation that paralyzed his body for a good moment.

Once he caught his breath, he pushed himself up and shook his head, "What happened?"

Kai raised his gaze and found himself in front of a massive, fractured structure.

It was broken and abandoned, but he could still tell that it was once a respected and prominent cathedral. Its front side had collapsed completely into an uneven mass of shattered marble as well as broken pillars, while enormous cracks split the towering walls and glass windows.

In the front yard where Kai was, debris and ruined statues littered the ground.

But there were more than that.

Corpses lay on their fresh pool of blood; their remains were being eaten by stray crows.

Banners of kingdoms lay on the ground or tilted toward where the wind blows.

Kai realized soon enough that he was standing on the aftermath of a battlefield.

Even then, the cathedral remained awe-striking. Scarred by the battle, but the grandeur still remained unbroken. And at the center of it, kneeling on the torn and bloodied red carpet and surrounded by pews, is a figure.

A Nightborn.

His entire body was ink-black, like a living shadow, and he seemed to be cradling something from how his shoulders and spine hunched forward. Glowing white cuts with varying lengths marred his back, along with arrows and swords stabbing into him.

Considering the level of damage his body endured, it was hard to believe he survived.

Or perhaps, he would’ve died had his power not been recognized by the House of Night.

Kai rose to his feet and approached the Nightborn with slow steps.

As he drew closer to the Nightborn, Kai realized its skin wasn’t black as he initially thought. It was a deep crimson, darkened by the shadows until it merely appeared black. Draped over the Nightborn’s back was the hide of a wolf; its fur hung loosely around the shoulders, while the wolf’s glowing red eyes still remained fixed upon the Nightborn’s head.

Back when he first met Noxian, he only attained a greeting.

It was more of a dismissal, but at least Noxian acknowledged him.

Perion already waited for Kai when he entered the domain.

But this Nightborn didn’t move from his spot. He remained kneeling with his back turned, as though Kai’s presence did not exist to him at all. Yet as the Son of the Final Night, Kai refused to retreat. He took a bold step forward, "I am the First Son of the Primordial Night, and I wish to know your name. Will you give it?"

Silence stretched chokingly after Kai threw the question.

However, the Nightborn soon moved.

He raised his gaze and straightened up his spine.

In the next instant, Kai saw a pair of crimson eyes streaking through the darkness, leaving red trails behind as the Nightborn spun and swung its arm backward. Already on edge, Kai barely managed to raise both arms in time to block the blow.

He was hurled out of the broken cathedral from the sheer force of the impact.

As if his presence was tainting the cathedral’s holiness.

Kai slid back, his feet and hands creating trenches in the soil as he tried to stop the momentum.

As soon as Kai lifted his gaze, the Nightborn was already in front of him. It repeatedly swung its massive arms with terrifying force, leaving Kai no choice but to evade desperately. Every strike that missed him crashed into the surroundings with explosive force, reducing whatever it touched to rubble.

"I came searching for no trouble!" Kai roared as he ducked over a swing.

"Do not step into the holy shrine!" the Nightborn roared back; its voice was filled with anger and hate. "Leave!"

Crash—!

Like a gorilla, the Nightborn slammed both hands down with power, cracking the ground.

Kai was able to avoid it in time as a frown crept to his face.

It’s not a cathedral but a shrine? I didn’t know.

Before Kai could even apologize, not knowing that it turned out to be a shrine, the Nightborn had already launched towards him again. This time, Kai didn’t back down. He held the Blood-phantom scimitar tightly and charged.

His Perfect Slash fueled his body as his senses picked up the weak point of the Nightborn.

The stomach area.

Kai dodged another strike by ducking beneath it, the massive arm sweeping past just above his head. In the same motion, he swung with all his might, his body bursting forward like a blur before coming to a stop several meters behind the Nightborn.

Just like him, the Nightborn froze mid-motion.

On its stomach, there was a big, glowing cut that the Blood-phantom scimitar left behind.

"Do you have enough now?" Kai straightened his posture and turned. "Have you calme—"

Before he could finish what he was saying, the Nightborn was already upon him again.

But this time, the Nightborn was faster and struck with far greater force than before. Even with the wound across its stomach, one that should’ve caused enough pain to drag him back to reality, even for a moment, so he could hear Kai’s words, the Nightborn never stopped.

Instead, it became even more motivated.

Bam—!

Kai was backhanded across the face hard, almost breaking his jaw.

He was sent flying like a broken doll, tearing through several hanging banners before crashing into a pile of corpses in the distance. A groan escaped his lips—as the world spun violently around him, the blow rattling his brain within his skull.

Once he pushed the corpses away and rose, the Nightborn was on him again.

But he would be a donkey not to expect this.

"That’s enough!"

Swoosh—!

Kai invoked the night and blocked the Nightborn’s massive fist moments before it connected with his face. His eyes had already transformed into bottomless pits of darkness—and upon his forehead appeared the mark of the First Son of the Primordial Night.

A sight that finally snapped the Nightborn out of his berserk trance.

"I don’t know that it was a shrine," Kai said firmly. "I’m sorry."

Once the Nightborn heard those words, he blinked and finally stood down again.

"I don’t tolerate others entering my place..." the Nightborn whispered.

"I get that," Kai let out a sigh.

Considering how he got instantly attacked for even setting foot into the shrine, it was quite obvious that this Nightborn is possessive about the shrine. Kai didn’t know what this shrine’s importance was, but he would know soon enough.

He’ll probably learn about it if he wants to complete this Nightborn’s ending.

Now that he stood before the Nightborn, he realized the creature was completely humanoid—muscular, imposing, and nearly as tall as Noxian. "I came because I wanted to know you. Will you tell me your name and ending?"

"Why... would I want that?"

"Isn’t this shrine important to you? Don’t you want someone to remember it? I may be your one and only chance to keep both you and this shrine alive in the annals of history."

"I don’t... remember this place, but it’s important to me."

"In that case, I can also help you remember."

For a moment, the Nightborn paused. Contemplated.

It was deliberating whether that was what he wanted.

And it didn’t take long before he finally decided that it sounded nice for another to remember him and the shrine. "My name is Kaelmorath," the Nightborn, Kaelmorath, introduced. "And I am the Ending of Reckless Fray."

"Ending of Reckless Fray?" Kai recounted the ending—and a smile crept to his lips. "That... That might really pass as the Hate Ending. You’ve helped me greatly again, sister."