The world moved, but Rei did not belong to it.
He left the village before dawn, cloak drawn tight, Blade of Resolve strapped across his back. The kind woman who had given him bread called after him, but he did not turn. He couldn't stay. Not when the Elders could descend at any moment.
So he walked.
Through forests where the birds refused to sing. Across plains that stretched too wide, too empty. Past rivers that mocked him with their stillness. He walked until the skin on his feet split, until the ache in his chest became more familiar than breath itself.
Three nights. That was all.
Three nights until the Black Sun.
His hands trembled as he stared down at them. They were scarred, blistered, unsteady. How am I supposed to fight three of them? The thought dug like rust through his ribs. I couldn't even kill one without him.
His teeth clenched. Rage burned behind his eyes.
"No," he whispered to the wind. "This is mine. My fight. Not his."
The memory of the Elder's grip still haunted him, his skull crushed against stone, his blade rendered useless. And behind that memory, Raga's laughter. The way death itself had stepped in, made everything look effortless.
Rei spat into the dirt.
"I don't need you."
But silence answered. Raga didn't speak. He hadn't since the void. It was worse this way, no taunting, no threats, no mocking laughter. Just silence, like a shadow waiting for him to fail again.
Rei hated it more than the voice itself.
At night, he lit no fire. He ate nothing. He sat with the Blade of Resolve across his knees, staring into the dark until his eyes burned. He imagined the three Elders, their forms clearer with every blink. He replayed the last battle over and over, breaking it apart, forcing himself to see every weakness, every mistake.
Fragments of God Enso pulsed faintly in his chest. They were sharp, violent, uncontrollable, like trying to wield lightning with bare hands. He pressed his palm against his sternum, feeling the flickers spark and vanish.
"Fragments aren't enough," he muttered. "I need all of it. Every drop."
But how? His father's training hadn't prepared him for this. Shira's lessons hadn't reached this far. And his own body, his cursed body, kept breaking every time he pushed past the edge.
Still, he clenched his fists until his nails dug blood into his palms.
"I'll find a way. I have to."
The road stretched on, silent but heavy with unseen eyes. The Black Sun was coming, and Rei knew one truth as clearly as the blade on his back.
If he couldn't master himself before that day, he would die.
And Raga would be the only thing left standing.