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Ragnar led them through a series of winding corridors to a secluded meditation chamber tucked away in the back of the tournament complex. The room was simple but peaceful, with soft cushions arranged around a low table and gentle light filtering through stained glass windows.

"No one will disturb us here," Ragnar assured them as he closed the door behind them.

Queen Hania and Hanan sat beside each other, their hands intertwined as if afraid to let go. The others arranged themselves in a circle, everyone sensing the gravity of what was to come.

"Now," Queen Hania said, her voice steady despite the tears still glistening in her eyes, "there's something you all need to know. About your sister, Hanan. About what's really happening." She paused, her gaze shifting to Krad. "And about why you were truly brought here, young Vessel."

Krad's amber eyes widened. "You know about that?"

"I've been watching from the shadows for months now," Queen Hania explained. "Even while cursed, some part of me was drawn to places where my daughters might be, and to the awakening of ancient powers. I've seen Bruwa. And I've felt the stirring of the Bakunawa's essence."

"Then you know she's changed," Hanan said quietly. "She's not the little girl I used to protect anymore. She's become something else entirely."

"She's become a weapon," Queen Hania said grimly. "But not by choice. And Krad, your transformation, it's no coincidence. The Gods knew this day would come. They've been preparing for the Moon Eater's return."

Krad felt that familiar surge of power in his veins, the same heat that had transformed him from human to elf. "What do you mean?"

"Hanan, your sister isn't working with Liyab willingly. And Krad, you weren't selected randomly for their 'game.' You're both pieces in a much larger conflict, one that's been building for centuries."

Queen Hania's expression darkened. "Liyab isn't just a powerful player. He's a servant of the Red God, one of the Thirteen who transformed your world."

The room fell silent. Even Krad's usually chatty system seemed to pause at the revelation.

"The Red God?" Miss Vice whispered. "But that's just a myth. A cautionary tale."

"I wish it were," Queen Hania said. "But I've seen his influence firsthand. The corruption that twisted me for fifteen years? It was just a taste of his power. The Red God exists in the spaces between worlds, feeding on suffering and chaos. And he's been trying to break through to our realm for centuries."

DING!

System Alert!

CRITICAL LORE UNLOCKED: The Red God

Warning: You have encountered information about the primary antagonist

Threat Level: CATASTROPHIC

Connection Detected: Moon Eater awakening linked to divine conflict

Recommendation: Run. Run very far away.

Secondary Recommendation: If running isn't possible, find bigger weapons

"Well, that's encouraging," Mist muttered.

"The Thirteen Gods didn't just transform Earth on a whim," Queen Hania continued, her voice heavy with ancient knowledge. "They were preparing for war. The Red God has been the most aggressive among them, seeking to dominate not just our world, but all realms. When the Moon Eater Bakunawa first challenged the Gods eons ago, it disrupted their plans. They thought they had contained that threat by sealing its essence."

Krad's throat tightened. "But the seal is breaking."

"More than that," Queen Hania said. "The seal was designed to break when the Gods' hold on the world grew too strong. The Moon Eater's power isn't just chaos, it's balance. It awakens when the divine influence threatens to consume everything mortal."

"So I'm what, some kind of cosmic failsafe?" Krad asked, his voice cracking.

"You're hope," Queen Hania replied simply. "The Moon Eater chose you because you have something the Gods fear, a mortal heart that refuses to submit. Your anger at being trapped in their game, your determination to break free, that's not just rebellion. That's the very essence of what the Moon Eater represents."

Hanan's eyes widened with understanding. "That's why the power felt familiar to you. Why it didn't feel like your own but still responded to your will."

"The Red God has been using Liyab as his agent," Queen Hania continued, "and three years ago, they found the perfect vessel for their corruption... a young elf princess, devastated by grief and anger over her parents' death."

Hanan's breath caught. "Bruwa."

"But here's what makes it truly insidious," Queen Hania said, her voice filled with pain. "They didn't just corrupt her, they connected her transformation to the same cosmic forces that awakened the Moon Eater. She's no longer just an elf... she's become something new. An Archer Elf, enhanced with divine corruption that mirrors and opposes your own power, Krad."

"But wait," Miss Vice interjected, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Bruwa was just a newborn when you and my brother King Niro... when the attack happened fifteen years ago, how could she be devastated by grief over your deaths? She wouldn't have any memories of you at all."

Queen Hania's expression grew even more pained, if that were possible. "That's exactly what makes it so cruel," she said quietly. "Bruwa never knew us. She never had the chance to love us or be loved by us. But the Red God... he didn't need real memories to corrupt her. He needed a vessel that could match the Moon Eater's power."

"What do you mean?" Hanan asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"He created false memories," Queen Hania explained, her hands trembling. "But more than that, he infused those memories with divine energy, making them not just psychological wounds, but spiritual ones. Her artificial grief became a conduit for his corruption."

"That's monstrous," Kira said, her voice filled with disgust.

"It's strategic," Queen Hania continued, her voice growing heavier. "The Red God has created perfect opposites, champions designed to mirror and destroy each other." She looked directly at Hanan. "My daughter, Bruwa was corrupted specifically to be your opposite, Hanan. Where you represent protective love and healing, she represents destructive vengeance and pain."

Hanan's face went pale. "You're saying I have to fight her?"

"The Red God made her your perfect counter," Queen Hania said sadly. "Her corruption feeds on the very love you carry for her. The more you care, the more her artificial pain grows. You are destined to clash, it's written into the very fabric of her corruption."

"I can't," Hanan whispered, shaking her head frantically. "I can't fight my own sister. I won't."

"Your elf power hasn't even awakened yet," Queen Hania said gently. "But it will... when you face her, when your love for her is tested to its absolute limit, your true power will emerge. The question is whether it will be strong enough to save her."

"And Krad," Queen Hania continued, turning to him, "you are the opposite of someone else entirely. Liyab, the Red God's human puppet. Where you are the Moon Eater's vessel fighting for freedom, he is the Red God's vessel fighting for control. Where you transformed from human to elf through genuine defiance, he transformed from human to something else entirely through willing submission."

Miss Vice's face paled. "So she's been suffering for nothing. All these years, she's been consumed by grief over a fabricated past."

"More than that," Queen Hania said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He made her believe that we abandoned her. That we chose to die rather than protect her. That we were weak, selfish parents who left her alone in the world. Every arrow she fires carries that artificial betrayal, just as every transformation you undergo, Krad, carries your genuine defiance."

Hanan's hands clenched into fists. "How could anyone be so cruel?"

"Because that's what the Red God does," Queen Hania said. "He takes the deepest, most fundamental need, the need for love, for family, for belonging, and he weaponizes it. But he did it for a specific purpose... to create a being who could match the Moon Eater's power while serving his will."

"So when we face her," Hanan said slowly, her voice trembling, "she's not just going to see us as enemies. She's going to see me as the sister who abandoned her, and I'm going to have to..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

"You're going to have to fight her," Queen Hania said softly. "And Krad, you're going to face Liyab, the Red God's human champion. He's everything you could have become if you had submitted instead of rebelled."

"I can't fight my own sister," Hanan said desperately. "There has to be another way."

"If there were another way, don't you think I would have found it?" Queen Hania asked, her voice breaking. "I've been trapped for fifteen years, watching from the shadows, searching for any solution that didn't require this. But the Red God designed this conflict specifically. Bruwa can only be saved by someone who loves her enough to fight her, and that someone is you."

"But my power," Hanan protested, "it hasn't even awakened yet. I'm not strong enough---"

"Your power will awaken when you need it most," Queen Hania interrupted. "When you're faced with the impossible choice between letting your sister remain corrupted or doing whatever it takes to save her. That's when your true strength will emerge."

"And what if I'm not strong enough even then?" Hanan asked, tears streaming down her face.

"Then you'll have to trust in the love that binds this family together," Queen Hania said, looking around the group. "Because you won't be fighting alone."