Before David could answer, Veylith's voice crackled urgently through the crystal: "More guards closing in from the east wing. You need to move faster!"

Another patrol appeared ahead, and again the maid's inhuman efficiency dispatched them with surgical precision. Her eyes never blinked, her movements never hesitated, like watching a machine wearing human skin.

"This feels too convenient," Salomonis murmured, though he continued following. "How are we avoiding so many patrols?"

David's headache spiked again, forcing him to pause and steady himself against the stone wall. The power suppression was growing worse with each passing minute, his carefully maintained control fraying at the edges.

Focus, he told himself. Almost there.

****

The crossroads came suddenly, Veylith's puppet standing at a junction where passages diverged. One led toward freedom, toward the palace exit and safety. The other led deeper into the palace's inner sanctum.

David stopped dead, staring down the corridor that led to his impossible quest.

"Master?" Luna's voice carried confusion through their bond. "The exit is this way."

The mandatory quest burned in David's mind like molten metal. He needed royal sun bloodline to open that door. The princess had that bloodline. The elixir that could end his suffering lay beyond those golden barriers.

Something I need to do. Something that could change everything.

"Luna, Vespera, take Salomonis and the others out of the castle," David said, his voice steady despite the chaos in his mind. "I need to do something else."

The reaction was immediate and unanimous.

"David, what are you talking about?" Salomonis demanded. "We need to stick together!"

"Are you insane?" Aria added, sparks literally flying from her hair. "We just broke out!"

"This is tactically unsound," Kairos stated flatly, though his exhaustion was obvious.

Veylith's voice exploded through the communication crystal: "What the hell has gotten into you? We have a clear extraction route!"

"I need to see the Empress," David said, knowing how it sounded but unable to explain the system's ultimatum. "There's something I have to do."

"See the Empress?" Veylith's disbelief was palpable. "Have you lost your mind? She'll kill you on sight!"

David found a hidden alcove, pulling the group inside for rapid planning. His hands trembled more noticeably now, the power suppression reaching critical levels.

"Look, I can't explain everything, but this is important," he insisted. "More important than you know."

"This is suicide, David. Pure suicide," Veylith replied through the crystal.

The system reminder flashed in his vision, invisible to everyone else but burning like a brand in his consciousness. He was trapped between impossible choices, abandon the quest and face permanent foundation damage, or pursue what seemed like certain death.

After a tense moment, Veylith sighed. "Fine. But you're not going alone. I'm lending you my maid puppet." Her voice carried grudging acceptance. "The Sun Empress's chambers are sealed with royal bloodline locks. But the princess... she has the same signature."

David's mind raced. "The blind princess. She can open the door."

"My puppet can get you to the princess's chambers," Veylith continued. "What about getting her to cooperate?"

"That's my problem," David replied. "But if this goes wrong..."

Luna's reluctance was obvious through their bond, but she eventually agreed to escort the rescued prisoners to safety. "Be careful, Master. Something about this feels... significant."

Vespera materialized beside him. "I'm staying with you, Master. This feels too dangerous for you to face alone."

David adjusted his Umbra Veil, his appearance shifting completely into a palace maid, female form, appropriate servant attire, even his mannerisms adapting to match. The transformation required more energy than before, leaving him momentarily dizzy.

Almost there, he told himself. Just a little further.

****

The corridors leading to Princess Solaria's chambers felt different, older, somehow, as if this section of the palace existed slightly out of phase with the rest. David's maid disguise moved with practiced efficiency, following Veylith's puppet through servant passages that avoided the remaining guard patrols.

"Master," Vespera whispered, her ethereal form flickering with unease. "There's something strange about the magical atmosphere here. It feels... werid."

David nodded, sensing it too. The air itself seemed to hum with potential, as if reality was thinner here, more malleable. His suppressed power responded to the strange energy, sending fresh spikes of pain through his skull.

They reached the entrance to the princess's chambers, ornate doors carved with sun motifs, but also with symbols David didn't recognize. Ancient runes that seemed to shift when viewed directly.

Veylith's final warning came through the crystal: "David, whatever happens in there, remember, she's been isolated her entire life. Blind, alone, possibly unstable. Tread carefully."

David approached the chamber doors, his heart pounding. The mandatory quest burned in his mind, the promise of the elixir driving him forward despite every rational instinct screaming danger. His hand reached for the door handle...

"You may enter, David De Gror. I have been waiting for you."

The voice came from within the chamber, young, feminine, but carrying an otherworldly quality that made his skin crawl. The words seemed to echo from a different time, phrases that referenced things that hadn't happened yet.

David froze, hand hovering over the handle. How did she know his real name? How did she know he was coming?

The voice continued, carrying that same temporal displacement: "The one who walks between worlds, the one who carries the weight of forbidden knowledge. I have seen your approach in the fragments of tomorrow."

Vespera's form flickered with alarm. "Master, she knows. She knows who you are."

David stood frozen before the unopened door, realizing that the blind princess wasn't just royalty, she was something far more dangerous and mysterious. The system quest still burned in his mind, but now it carried new implications.

Suddenly, text materialized in his vision, different from the usual system interface, more elaborate, more significant:

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION - ARC COMPLETION]

Congratulations! You have located the Last Seer blessed by the [Sovereign of the Stellar Expanse] Princess Elyssira Aurealis - Oracle of the Distant Stars

Final Arc Status: INITIATED All previous quests and objectives have led to this moment

David's blood ran cold as the implications hit him.

The final arc, he thought grimly. Of course it couldn't be simple.