Aji sat atop the roof of the Sky Squad headquarters, leaning comfortably near the warm chimney exhaust. Resting against the masonry, he observed his surroundings while casually twirling a small piece of wood in his right hand.

Below in the courtyard, Warrior Jiro was overseeing a conditioning session for the remaining squad members. Not everyone was present; several operatives had been dispatched to regional branch offices across the other continents to assist with local security and build public trust among both martial sects and ordinary citizens.

Nagada participated in today's drill due to his assignment within the Orpris continent, while Lao, Arion, Domar, and Aria had each departed for their respective posts, accompanied by a partner.

Only twelve members participated in today's session alongside Warrior Jiro—excluding Aji, of course. Aji never joined the group exercises. As Warrior Jiro had previously explained to the others, Aji underwent a specialized training regimen during his prolonged seclusion inside Dompai.

The Sky Squad had established itself as a vanguard dedicated to upholding justice and preserving continental peace—a noble mission that carried a monumental weight. Servicing as senior advisors to the squad were Commander Dasatama and Commander Yarko, two of the most revered martial figures in the world.

When the training session concluded at noon, the operatives dispersed to rest. Taking a moment to regulate her internal energy through brief meditation, Alicia glanced up and spotted Aji still lounging on the roof, seeking shade beside the chimney pipe away from the midday sun.

Alicia vaulted up to the roof tiles. From a distance across the courtyard, both Barsha and Gayatri watched her ascend. Gayatri, in particular, had harbored a deep fascination with Aji from the very beginning—drawn to his strength and the veil of mystery surrounding his power.

Landing gracefully beside the chimney, Alicia stepped out of the direct sunlight.

"What happened to the commander of the dark forces?" she asked, studying Aji's profile. The youth continued to idly spin the wooden stick between his fingers, his expression unreadable.

Aji turned his gaze toward her. "You mean Gultron?"

Alicia sat down beside him on the tiles. "Yes. He was one of the Five Gates. How did you plan that move—dragging him through the portal—and what happened after you both vanished?"

Alicia remained thoroughly intrigued by the vanishing act. She had only known the exact spatial coordinates because Aji had transmitted them directly into her mind via subconscious resonance. Spatial portal magic was exceptionally intricate. Yet, thanks to the sealed scroll Aji had provided, she had gained the necessary capability—an inherited technique originating directly from her grandfather, Saint Yonan.

Still, endless questions lingered in her mind. Aji's sudden emergence in the world was shrouded in enigma, and he seemed to operate several steps ahead of everyone else—almost as if he had orchestrated the entire exposure of the Golden Crane Academy's treason.

The crisis had conveniently unfolded during their visit to the academy forge to commission custom weapons.

Even his maneuver to extract Gultron suggested prior calculation. Then came the next puzzle occupying Alicia's thoughts: How had Aji returned from such a distant coordinate when the portal she maintained possessed no return vector?

Was Aji capable of opening spatial teleportation portals himself? If so, why had he required her assistance to anchor and hold the rift behind his back during the battle?

"You can rest easy," Aji replied softly, his voice utterly devoid of deceit. "Gultron is dead."

As usual, Aji's concise answer sounded almost absurd—the kind of statement most people would dismiss as outright fabrication. Defeating a high commander of the Five Gates single-handedly was widely considered an impossible feat, yet the youth sitting beside her claimed to have eliminated Gultron and returned without a single scratch.

Is this even normal? Alicia hesitated briefly before pressing further.

"Are you curious about how I killed him?"

Aji's counter-question caught Alicia off guard, addressing the exact thought lingering in her mind. She remained silent, letting him continue.

"Saint Yonan's martial capabilities alone were insufficient to permanently destroy the Demon Lord or the Five Gates," Aji explained. "However, he conducted extensive research into methods for countering them, eventually discovering a way to severely delay their Black Blood regeneration."

Black Blood was a term well-known throughout the martial world, referring to an advanced dark art practiced by high-tier dark cultivators. Upon sustaining physical trauma or losing limbs, dark strands of blood would rapidly knit their flesh back together, granting the dark army near-immortality in combat.

So long as their brain could transmit neural signals, their physical wounds would regenerate seamlessly. Consequently, the most effective method to neutralize them was destroying the head—which led dark cultivators to protect their skulls with heavy wards and enchanted forehead artifacts.

As long as their brain remained intact, black, worm-like tendrils would flood their circulatory system, achieving cellular regeneration that reattached severed limbs.

Aji had just stated that her grandfather, Yonan, had formulated a compound explicitly designed to neutralize and slow down their Black Blood regeneration.

When could Aji have possibly met my grandfather? Alicia wondered. Twenty years ago...

"Alicia, believe me when I say your grandfather loved you deeply," Aji said softly. "Twenty years ago, just before the grand war broke out, he visited your bedside and kissed you while you were still a small child."

Alicia gasped in surprise. That was a story her mother had repeated throughout her childhood—how her grandfather had visited her privately right before departing for the final battle, leaving behind a heirloom bracelet that she still wore on her wrist to this day.

The bracelet was an anti-darkness artifact capable of mitigating incoming dark elemental damage by thirty percent.

"Who are you really, Aji?" Alicia asked, abandoning all indirect probing. "How could my grandfather trust you so completely as to entrust his legacy to me through your hands?"

"I am the heir to the Three Legends," Aji replied calmly. "My duty is to eradicate the Demon Lord from this world once and for all. So train yourself to the absolute limit—you will need that strength to face the remaining members of the Five Gates."

The heir to the Three Legends... Was it truly possible that the Three Legends had passed down their combined martial legacy following the great war twenty years ago?

Though it defied common sense, the evidence stood right before her eyes. Aji's overwhelming combat capability served as living proof. He had personally neutralized Gultron's devastating aerial blasts twice before dragging the dark general off the battlefield entirely.

He had recognized the threat Gultron posed; left unchecked, the dark general would have inflicted catastrophic casualties upon the Sky Squad.

"Then... why did you need me to construct the portal?" Alicia pressed, still puzzled. "Couldn't you have cast it yourself?"

"Do you not know the fundamentals of spatial magic?" Aji countered smoothly. "Maintaining a stable portal requires absolute focus and high-density energy concentration. I could not sustain the portal's anchor while simultaneously repelling Gultron's attack. Furthermore, I never formally specialized in spatial energy arts."

Alicia found herself nodding in agreement. It made logical sense—holding a spatial portal open required intense concentration that could not be maintained while actively engaging an elite opponent in combat. At that moment, Aji had been busy neutralizing Gultron's dark blast, preventing him from focusing on spatial casting. Thus, he had needed her to anchor the designated coordinates behind his back while he made his move.

Though part of her still struggled to grasp the full scale of the truth, Alicia could no longer deny the facts before her: Aji was the genuine disciple of the Three Legends—and the final martial successor to her grandfather, Saint Yonan.