Reborn as the Third Prince: To Build and Conquer my way to Royalty.

The world dissolved into a sickening blur of black and red. Sylus plummeted, the golden spear still impaled in his chest, a searing brand that stole his breath. The air screamed past him, a cold, indifferent rush that mirrored the emptiness in his lungs. He could feel the warmth of his blood, a stark contrast to the chilling void he was descending into. 'This is it again,' a detached part of his mind registered, 'another death.'

His mana, already stretched thin from shielding his men and maintaining his copied commands, was a flickering candle in a hurricane. Sophia remained dormant, a silent weight within him, her own reserves seemingly depleted. He was weak, vulnerable, a mere human falling into the abyss.

Then, a flash of desperate purple in the darkness above. Zani.

"Sylus!" Her voice, a ragged plea, tore through the rushing air. He saw her, a fleeting image of frantic determination, hands outstretched, trying to bridge the impossible distance between them. She was falling too, a loyal shadow plunging into the unknown alongside him.

He wanted to reach back, to tell her to stop, to save herself, but his limbs felt like lead. The burning in his chest intensified, his healing blessing a struggling ember against the torrent of blood. He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact.

You're not worth saving if you can't fight.

The chilling whisper, the same one from the hologram, echoed in his mind, sharp and clear. It was a cruel taunt, yet it ignited a spark of defiance within him. He wouldn't die like this. Not again. Not here.

With a desperate, guttural grunt, Sylus forced a sliver of mana from his depleted circuits, pushing it outwards, a desperate shield against the inevitable. The impact was still brutal, a jarring collision that sent a shockwave through his body. He tumbled, a broken ragdoll, until he finally splashed into frigid water.

The cold was a shock, stealing what little breath he had left. He lay submerged for a moment, the water a heavy blanket, before his body, driven by an instinct older than his current life, fought its way to the surface. He gasped, coughing, the taste of rust and something metallic coating his tongue.

The golden spear was gone, pulled free by the impact, leaving a gaping, burning hole in his chest. His Eternal Healing blessing pulsed, a slow, agonizing throb, working tirelessly to knit flesh and staunch the flow. It was enough to keep him alive, but not enough to truly heal him. He was still weak, dangerously so.

He looked up. A faint, distant light shimmered high above, a pinprick of the world he'd just left. He had fallen far.

Then, a splash nearby. Zani. She surfaced, gasping, her black hair plastered to her face, her purple eyes wide with terror and relief as they locked onto him.

"My lord! Sylus!" She thrashed towards him, ignoring her own discomfort, her face a mask of raw desperation. "Are you alright? You're bleeding!"

He tried to speak, but only a weak cough escaped him. He just nodded, trying to reassure her.

As Zani reached him, pulling him towards the edge of the small, murky pond, a strange sensation prickled at Sylus's skin. The air in this cavern was different – thick, heavy with mana, but also with something else, something ancient and unsettling.

His eyes, still tinged with the red glow from his ordeal, scanned their surroundings. The cave stretched out, a colossal maw of darkness, illuminated by the eerie, pulsating glow of countless Mana Crystals. They clung to the walls, sprouted from the floor, and even hung from the ceiling like grotesque, luminous fruit. Red, blue, green, purple – they pulsed with an inner light, casting long, dancing shadows that seemed to writhe and shift.

Then, he saw it. A flicker at the edge of his vision, a movement too fast, too silent. A tail, sleek and golden, disappearing behind a cluster of shimmering red crystals.

'Something is down here,' his mind screamed, the words from his Blessing of Information echoing: "Error: Home of the Dalins."

Before he could process the thought, the water in the pond rippled violently. A shape emerged, not from the depths, but from the very walls of the cave itself.

They were... crystalline. Not solid rock, but beings formed from the raw Mana Crystals, their bodies a shifting mosaic of glowing facets. They moved with an unnatural, fluid grace, their forms vaguely humanoid, but elongated, slender, with multiple limbs that ended in sharp, glowing talons. Their heads were smooth, featureless, except for two burning, golden eyes that pulsed with the same eerie light as the crystals around them. And from their backs, long, whip-like tails, golden and shimmering, lashed through the air.

Dalins.

They emerged from the crystalline growths, from the very rock, as if the cave itself was giving birth to them. One, two, then a dozen, their silent, fluid movements surrounding the small pond. They were drawn by the splash, by the sudden influx of foreign mana, by the scent of blood.

Zani saw them too. Her breath hitched, but her body, honed by years of training and the relentless drive of her "One That Watches" aspect, reacted instantly. She shoved Sylus further into the shallow water, positioning herself between him and the emerging threats. Her hand instinctively went to her blade, drawing it with a whisper of steel.

"My lord, stay back! They're... not like anything I've seen!" Her voice was tight with a fear she rarely showed, but her stance was defiant.

Sylus's mind raced, his "Assimilation" aspect fighting through the haze of pain and fatigue. He forced himself to analyze. 'Crystalline forms... born from mana... golden eyes... the spear...' The spear that had stabbed him – it was golden, just like their eyes, just like their tails. It must have been a Dalin weapon, or perhaps even a part of a Dalin itself.

He tried to send a telepathic command to Zani, but his mana was too low, too fractured. He was useless. 'No. Not useless. I have to fight.'

The Dalins moved, their talons scraping against the crystalline floor with a high-pitched, grating sound. They were fast, impossibly so, dissolving into the shimmering walls and reappearing in new positions, tightening their circle.

Zani roared, a primal sound of defiance. Her purple eyes flared, and the star-shaped ornament on her brow pulsed with an intense white light. Her Blazer activated, not just the usual thorned vines, but something more. A shimmering, ethereal shield of pure, condensed mana erupted around her, radiating outwards in a protective dome. It was raw, unrefined, and pulsed with the same chaotic energy as the cave itself.

"One That Watches... unquenchable thirst for victory..." Sylus's Blessing of Information flickered, identifying the surge. Zani was pushing her limits, tapping into a deeper well of power, driven by her absolute need to protect him.

The first Dalin struck, its golden talons slamming against Zani's mana shield. The impact sent a shockwave through the water, but the shield held, shimmering and crackling with raw energy. Zani retaliated, her blade a silver blur, but the Dalin dissolved, its form shifting into the crystal wall before reappearing behind her.

She was good, but they were too many, too fluid, too alien.

As Zani fought, pushing her body to its absolute limits, the very air around them began to distort. The colossal Mana Crystal formation Sylus had noticed earlier, the one pulsing with an unusual thrum, began to glow with an intense, chaotic light. The raw mana of Alhara, agitated by the battle and Zani's desperate power surge, reacted.

The surface of the giant crystal, and the misty air around it, shimmered violently. A fragmented, ghostly projection flickered into existence, not just for Sylus, but for Zani too, caught in the raw mana's embrace.

It was a terrifying, disorienting visual: a silhouette of a figure in a black mask, moving with impossible, almost glitching speed. The background was a blur of collapsing structures, stars shattering, a world being consumed by a dark, swirling energy. The image was unstable, breaking into static and strange, angular symbols before dissolving entirely.

A faint, chilling whisper, like wind through stone, echoed in Sylus's mind, and perhaps, faintly, in Zani's: "...Star... Killer..."

The vision was gone as quickly as it appeared, leaving Sylus with a profound sense of uncanny familiarity and a chilling dread. The black-masked figure... the "Great Star Killer"... it wasn't just a prophecy, it was a terrifying echo.

Zani, momentarily distracted by the vision, stumbled. A Dalin's talon raked across her arm, leaving a glowing, crystalline wound. She cried out, but pushed through the pain, her eyes blazing with renewed ferocity.

Sylus knew he had to act. His Eternal Healing was slowly working, but he needed more. He needed mana. He looked at the surrounding Mana Crystals, pulsing with raw energy. He remembered the hologram's words: "simple guidance and resources to help your journey." These crystals were the resources.

He extended his hand towards the nearest red crystal, focusing his will, trying to draw its raw mana into his depleted circuits. It was a dangerous gamble; unrefined mana could shatter his magic circuits. But he had no choice.

A searing pain lanced through his arm as the raw mana surged into him, a chaotic, untamed force. But his Catalyst Star, his unique connection to all forms of mana, bent it to his will. The red crystal dimmed, its light fading as its energy flowed into him.

It was enough. A small, precious surge.

"Zani!" Sylus roared, his voice still hoarse but now imbued with a desperate command. "Thorns! Create a wall! Now!"

Zani, hearing the authority in his voice, focused. Her Blazer responded, the star on her brow flaring. From the ground, thick, thorny vines of pure mana erupted, growing with impossible speed, weaving into a dense, impenetrable wall between them and the attacking Dalins. The Dalins recoiled, their crystalline bodies unable to pass through the raw, defensive mana.

"My lord, we need to move!" Zani yelled, turning to him, her face pale but resolute.

Sylus nodded, pushing himself to his feet, leaning heavily on Zani as she reached him. His chest still burned, but the bleeding had slowed. The vision of the Star Killer, the chilling whisper, the desperate plea to protect Zani – it all coalesced into a single, burning purpose.

"This way," he rasped, pointing towards a narrow, shadowed passage, almost invisible amongst the crystal growths. "We need to find a way out. And we need to understand what this place truly is."

They moved, Zani half-carrying Sylus, their footsteps echoing in the vast, silent cavern, leaving behind the pulsating crystals and the lurking threat of the Dalins. The secrets of Alhara, and of Sylus's own destiny, were just beginning to unravel.