Chapter 30 — The Thread Snaps
The throne room was silent.
No more echoing cheers. No loyal shouts of Deadly Six. Just rubble. Flickering torches. And a trail of blood drying beneath Cainen's trembling boots.
Rekka's body lay still, head turned awkwardly, one eye open—frozen in betrayal. Cainen's fist still dripped.
"I didn't mean it," he muttered, voice shaking.
But the walls didn't answer. No one did.
The kingdom had collapsed before his eyes. The people left. The soldiers gone. The banners torn down, stomped out like useless dreams. He had built an empire out of scraps and spit—and it had turned on him.
Because he was afraid. Because he couldn't trust anyone. Because...
Because he had no RAC.
He wandered through the broken halls alone. Each step heavier than the last. His voice echoed off cold stone.
"I ain't meant to be king..."
He reached the courtyard. Rain fell in sheets. Wind howled through the empty streets.
"Kaito's gone... just vanished like a ghost."
He looked down and saw Kaito's last bag of shrimp chips—crushed under mud. The bag read: 'Lemon-Pepper Blast Flavor'.
Lilith's bat was stabbed into a stone bench nearby. A blood-drenched red ribbon tied around it.
A note hung from the handle. Scribbled, jagged letters:
"Don't look for me. Or I'll find you first."
He dropped it. Couldn't even hold the paper.
Cainen stood in the center of the old kingdom—now a graveyard. His fists clenched. Breath unsteady. Eyes wide.
"Everyone left..."
His voice rose. A broken scream tearing out of his chest.
"EVERYONE FUCKING LEFT ME!!"
He punched the nearest wall—CRACK!
Stone shattered. He punched again. BOOM! The ground quaked.
"I AIN'T GOT A RAC!"
Another punch. Cracks split down the road.
"I'M USELESS!"
Boom. Boom. BOOM!
"I'M NOTHING—NOTHING—NOTHING—"
Suddenly—
KRA-KOOOOM!!!
A bolt of red lightning burst from the sky. No thunder. No rain. Just light. Pure rage.
It slammed directly into Cainen's chest.
His scream cut off.
He stood frozen—lightning coursing through him. Black flames surged up his arms. His veins glowed like magma. Red light pulsed from his eyes.
Then—
Silence.
For forty whole seconds, nothing moved.
Even the wind stopped.
Then...
From the smoke, a shadow stepped forward.
A 15-year-old boy. Black spider hoodie. Same frame. Same face.
But those eyes...
They weren't Cainen's.
They were hollow. Black and red webs threading through the whites.
He looked at his own hands. Flexed his fingers like testing a new weapon.
Then he smiled.
"My vessel... is complete."
And somewhere—deep in the void—Cainen's voice screamed.
But no one could hear it anymore.
Not even himself.