The night had barely shifted when the others came down from the Sanctum Nova.
The ramp extended again, steel groaning faint as it lowered. One by one, the rest of Class Zero stepped into the open air.
Reia was first, blades crossed on her back, her eyes sharp as they swept over the towering walls ahead. She didn’t speak at first. She just stood there, the barren wind pulling at her hair, her gaze locked on the fortress that hadn’t been there hours ago.
Vyn followed slower. Dark robes brushing along the dust, black eyes unreadable. She looked at the walls, the towers, the sheer size of it all, and for once, her expression shifted. Not much. Just the faintest crease of her brow.
Silas came behind her, his coat snapping in the wind, arms folded. He gave a low whistle, head tilting back as he scanned the spires climbing into the sky. The faint red and gold runes glowing along the ribs reflected in his eyes.
And then Lucy stepped out last. Her hood was pulled up, her steps quieter, but she stopped as soon as she cleared the ramp. Her lips parted slightly, as though the words she meant to say had been stolen from her. She simply looked, long and hard, at the citadel that now filled the horizon.
Lucian stood a little ways ahead of them, cloak brushing against the dust. He didn’t turn to watch their faces. He knew what they were seeing.
Reia finally broke the silence.
"...This wasn’t here yesterday."
"No," Evelyn answered quietly. She stood off to the side, still trying to believe it herself. "It wasn’t."
Silas stepped forward, boots crunching, his grin sharp in the dim light. "Hell, it doesn’t even look like it belongs here. More like someone carved it straight out of a nightmare and dropped it in the middle of the plains."
"Or out of a dream," Vyn said softly.
Her voice was faint, but the others heard. Reia glanced at her, but didn’t press.
They walked closer together, toward the walls. The gates that had once been unstable rifts now glowed steady inside their cages, chained pillars locking their light in place. The spires themselves stretched like knives, but the stone was smooth, blacksteel and obsidian woven together, lined with veins of faint crimson.
Evelyn moved alongside them, pointing. "That tower—see the top platforms? Those are lookouts. And that hall along the east side—he shaped it to link directly with the gates’ cages."
"You’re saying it’s a fortress built around weapons," Silas muttered.
Evelyn nodded once. "Exactly."
As they came under the shadow of the first wall, the sheer size of it pressed down. Reia tilted her head back until her neck strained, staring at the battlements lined with jagged spikes. The faint glow of runes traced the stone edges, pulsing like veins of light.
Inside, the citadel stretched wider. Bridges arched above them, stairs twisted into towers, walkways looped around cages that held the shimmering rifts.
Reia’s hand brushed the hilt at her side. "Feels strange," she muttered. "Like walking through the skeleton of something bigger than us."
"It’s just stone and steel," Lucian’s voice cut in, calm as ever. He walked ahead of them, steps steady. "Nothing more."
They followed him deeper. The halls echoed with their movements, empty but vast, built for more than just a handful of people. At the center of it all stood a wide platform, open to the night sky, with the rift cages surrounding it like pillars.
Lucian came to a stop. His eyes swept the place once, then he turned back toward them.
"This is ours now," he said simply.
Evelyn crossed her arms, her gaze roaming over the space. "...What are we calling it?"
Silas smirked. "I vote Fortress Lucian. Has a nice ring."
Reia rolled her eyes. "That’s not happening."
Vyn’s voice came quiet, even. "It doesn’t need to sound grand. It only needs to mark what we are."
Lucian looked at her, then at the others. His voice was steady.
The name sank into the air like it belonged there all along.
Reia said it under her breath, testing it. "Citadel Zero..." Then she gave a small nod. "Fits."
Lucy pulled her hood back at last. Her silver hair caught the faint red glow from the runes. Her eyes lingered on Lucian. "Zero for what? Nothing? Or the start?"
Lucian’s lips curved faintly. "Both."
Silas chuckled. "Of course. Always cryptic."
But no one argued. The name stuck.
They spent the next hour walking the grounds, seeing what he had created.
The eastern spire stretched high with platforms wide enough to land smaller ships. The southern walls wound thick and jagged, designed to funnel anything that breached them into a kill zone. The halls inside were built with training fields, resting quarters, even chambers that seemed almost ceremonial.
And always, the rifts glowed at the heart of it all—unstable gates caged in iron and rune, each one feeding into the fortress.
Reia tested the steps with her blades still strapped, her movements careful but sharp. Silas touched the walls as though trying to feel what they were made of. Vyn walked silently, her eyes scanning, her lips barely moving as though she was counting every path and every corner. Lucy said little, though her gaze kept flicking toward the gates.
Finally, Lucian led them to the central platform again. The largest rift pulsed there, wide as a house, its surface shifting between blue and red.
He stopped before it. His eyes fixed on its light. "This one."
Evelyn frowned. "What about it?"
"It leads to the monster world."
The words drew silence. The others turned to him.
Reia’s brow knit. "You’re sure?"
Silas whistled low again, a grin tugging at his mouth. "Straight to the heart of trouble, huh? Figures."
Lucian’s gaze didn’t move from the gate. He only said, calm as stone, "It’s time."
He stepped forward, his cloak brushing the ground, and stopped just before the edge of the swirling light.
Without another word, he stepped into the glow. The surface of the gate rippled, swallowing him in an instant.
Lucy took one last breath, glanced once at the others, then followed him in.
And then they were gone.
The others stood in the silence that followed, the hum of the citadel filling the air. Evelyn’s grip tightened on her blade, Reia’s jaw clenched, Silas smirked faintly as if daring the next fight to come, and Vyn only lowered her head, her black eyes unreadable.
Above them, the fortress loomed, its spires sharp against the night sky.
And Lucian had just stepped into the monster world.