The ruins of Capriha stretched endlessly, the broken city breathing with embers of a world trying to stand again. Neon wires sparked across fractured walls, and cranes hovered in the distance, lifting slabs of rubble where families mourned quietly.
Through the fractured streets, Gendai stormed forward, her breath unsteady. Tears blurred her vision, but she didn't care if the shards of glass beneath her boots cut deeper than her wounds.
"Gendai!" Raijin's voice carried through the skeletal alleys. He sprinted after her, the weight of their years pressing into every desperate step.
She whirled, her eyes burning emerald fire. "You're wrong, Raijin! If Kazimir truly wanted me to become better, he wouldn't have told me he's done with me. Do you know what that feels like? To be cast aside as if I was nothing?!"
Her voice cracked, echoing against ruined steel.
"All I ever was to him was a knight in his and Riah's story. A sword at their side… never a crown, never someone who mattered." Her fists trembled, aura quivering around her like a storm barely held at bay. "Don't you get it? I DON'T MEAN ANYTHING TO THEM!"
Raijin's jaw clenched. He stepped closer, sparks of faint lightning dancing across his shoulders."You know that's not true. Kazimir didn't commit the crimes you accuse him of. He held back extinction itself! If he had let Barrack unleash that atomic wave, there'd be nothing left—no Capriha, no Earth, no us."
His voice cracked with raw fury."He sacrificed everything so people like you could still stand here and scream at statues!"
Gendai's nails dug into her palms until blood ran. Her scream split the street:"WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ME, RAIJIN?! WHAT DO YOU—KNOW?!"
Raijin's lightning flared. His glare seared her like thunder before it strikes."I know you're just lashing out because a man rejected you. And right now? All you're proving is why he was right to give up. Fraud ass bitch."
Her breath stopped. The world froze."…Now I'm a bitch?" Her laugh cracked like glass breaking, hollow and venomous. "Coming from you?"
He smirked bitterly, his eyes like knives."Yeah. Sometimes I wonder why Tojo even risked his life for you. You've been nothing but a waste."
Her aura erupted—bright emerald flame twisting around her, no longer scarlet, no longer frenzied. Raijin narrowed his eyes."It's green now. Not rage. Resolution." He exhaled heavily, his hands dropping. "So you meant every word."
Her lips trembled, but her words were sharp."Shut up, Raijin. Leave me alone."
She turned, boots crunching on broken stone, walking deeper into Capriha's wreckage. Raijin stood there, silent, watching her back fade into shadow. His fist clenched—then slowly released. He turned away, whistling faintly to mask the ache in his chest as his phone buzzed.
"…I'm on my way," he muttered, forcing calm into his voice.
Gendai's steps slowed. Ten minutes of walking through the scarred veins of the city left her trembling. Ahead, a toppled statue of Karah, chipped and burned, loomed against the moonlight.
She collapsed to her knees before it, palms pressed against fractured stone."Why?" Her voice cracked, each word a dagger of grief."WHY DID YOU ALLOW A MONSTER LIKE HIM TO EXIST?! Why create something so dangerous… to my heart?"
Her screams shook in the cold night air. Tears spilled freely, striking dust and ash."All I wanted… was to be at his side. But his heart… it was already taken. Why did Riah have to exist? Why couldn't it be me?"
Her sobs echoed, lonely in the ruins—until soft footsteps approached from behind.
She turned sharply.
A man stood in the shadows, cloaked in white and black, his cape flowing like light itself. His hair shone gold beneath the fractured moon, and his golden eyes gleamed like molten sun. At his side, a blade gleamed, radiant and unmistakable.
Gendai froze, her tears catching in her throat. "That sword… Azoth's Sword. Sealed in Jahard for centuries…"
The man smiled kindly, stepping forward with regal calm."Yes. But I am not of Jahard. I am not of its bloodline." His voice resonated with quiet strength. "And yet, I was chosen."
He bowed his head, polite yet reverent."My name is Sando, the Vandor of Ostrava. After two thousand years, Azoth's blade found its new wielder. Solaris blessed me with the light. And now… I will be the dawn of this broken world."
Her lips trembled. "You… were chosen?"
He knelt before her, brushing tears from her cheeks with disarming gentleness. "You are succubus-born, yet I see it in your eyes. A soul struggling to be more. Kazimir hurt you… abandoned you. I heard your cries. That is why I came."
Her eyes widened. The warmth of his hand on her cheek, the serenity of his gaze—it was a hero's touch, the kind she once dreamed of.
"…This planet found its hope?" she whispered.
"Yes." He smiled, radiant and calm. "But only after Kazimir's battle with Ingress. Had I been there, I would have stood against him."
Her breath caught. "You… would have helped Ingress?"
"Without hesitation." His golden eyes burned with conviction. "Now, with Solaris' blessing, I will erase all fear—the parasites, Nebula, her disciples… all of them will fall. My blade will carve the peace this world deserves."
She swallowed hard, her body trembling. "…But Kazimir. Could you defeat him?"
He laughed softly, rising to his feet, the sword glowing like a fragment of the sun itself."Yes. Azoth's sword was forged to end the Nullity. I will not fail as my predecessor did. I will rewrite history for this world."
Her heart twisted as his words wrapped around her like light—yet behind the corner of a ruined wall, unseen, Raijin stood still. His eyes narrowed as every word branded itself into his chest.
And he realized: this was no savior. This was the spark of something far more dangerous.