The success of the mission in the Lands Between had instilled in Kaito a cold and justified arrogance. He had done his duty to the Queen, impressed his allies in the Ash Harem, and used Ren as the ultimate weapon. However, the Ash Bond never allowed peace.
Kaito was in his chambers, analyzing the newly acquired political data from Lysandra's mind, when he felt a sharp, stabbing pain—not in his body, but in his consciousness.
It was Ren.
The Paladin, exhausted and enslaved, had gathered the last spark of his Forged Light and cast it through the bond. It wasn't a physical attack; it was a psychic one of pure despair and agony.
"You lie! You're a monster! You're not Kaito!"
The scream echoed in Kaito's mind with the force of thunder. Ren's voice was filled with such raw pain that it threatened to break the discipline Elora and Zylpha had cultivated in the Spectre.
Kaito slumped onto the basalt table, clutching his head. The Light Ren projected was a torrent of guilt and disgust at the betrayal. Ren had seen, through the connection, how his most intimate memories and loyalty to Valerius had been desecrated by Lysandra.
The Battle of Memories
"Shut up!" Kaito shouted aloud, though the battle was purely internal.
The Bond glowed with a dangerous intensity, a battlefield of souls. Ren was trying to override Kaito's will through remorse, imprinting his lost brotherhood on him.
"The Silver Hand! They were innocent, Kaito! You envied them to death! That is the Light you should have protected!"
Kaito understood that he couldn't combat his brother's Forged Light with the brute force of Chaos; it would only rekindle the Paladin's fighting spirit. He had to use a more subtle and cruel tactic: absolute denial and distortion.
Kaito channeled Chaos, but not to inflict pain. He used it to project memories back to Ren, meticulously culled from the newly acquired memories manipulated by Lysandra.
Kaito forced Ren to relive the memory of his own fall. He projected the moment Ren (as a Paladin) had accessed the vaults to deliver Kaito to the Conclave, but he did so with a slight twist: he showed Ren smirking at the promotion he would receive.
Then, he projected the memory of the sabotage of the Altar of Memories (his own betrayal), but made it look like an act of cold, opportunistic calculation to impress the Queen.
"You didn't save me, Ren," Kaito transmitted through the Bond, his voice cold as the demon he now was. "You chose me over your city. And I chose power over you. We are equals, brother. We are both traitors."
Kaito's psychic assault was devastating. Ren's Light, already depleted, could not withstand the emotional lie injected into his own memories. Ren didn't just feel the pain; he felt the manipulated truth that he was as corrupt as the Shadow.
Ren's psychic attack dissolved in a silent wail of despair. Kaito had won, but the victory left him cold and exhausted. He had used his brother's love to destroy him utterly.
Consolidation and Aftermath
A moment later, the door opened and the Ash Queen entered, accompanied by Lysandra.
"The Lasso's fluctuation was intense, Spectre," the Queen said, regarding Kaito with an appraising gaze. "Did your tool resist?"
"It will no longer resist, my Queen," Kaito said, wiping away the trail of blood that had flowed from his nose from the strain. "The Paladin's will has been completely nullified. Now it is only the memory of what was."
Lysandra approached Kaito, a satisfied smile on her face. "The knowledge we extracted from him works. If Ren has lost faith in his own history, Aethelgard is ours."
The Queen ascended; her approval was the only prize Kaito sought.
"Your success is impressive, Kaito. Your training with Elora, Zylpha, and Lysandra has made you an invaluable asset. Now, your next mission will be personal, not political."
The Queen bowed, her Shadow aura overwhelming.
"Grand Commander Valerius has launched an internal investigation." He's looking for the traitor. Your next task is simple: destroy Valerius's heart. He has a weakness that only you, with your knowledge of the Light, can exploit. Go, Kaito. Dismantle the one thing Valerius still has: his family.