A cold wind rolled over the broken coast as Kaien Veish stood alone at the edge of the pier.
The sky above him churned unnaturally—
a faint red glow pulsing in the clouds like a heartbeat returning to life.
He didn't flinch.
He didn't shiver.
He simply waited.
And then…
A ripple of shadow unfolded beside him.
Kurotsuki stepped out first, elegant and impossibly silent.
Orivun followed—more unstable, radiating molten cracks from his humanoid form.
Kaien stared at them with hollow anticipation.
Kaien:
"…You came back."
Kurotsuki kneeled to meet his eyes, voice calm like a whispered nightmare.
Kurotsuki:
"We keep our promises.
And you, Kaien… you are ready."
Kaien's fingers dug into the pier wood, dark energy spreading beneath his skin.
Kaien:
"I want strength.
Enough to make them regret leaving me."
Orivun stepped closer, his hollow voice rumbling:
Orivun:
"And you will have it.
Akagetsu's essence drifts without a vessel.
Call to it.
Let it enter you."
Kurotsuki's eyes glowed moonless black.
Kurotsuki:
"Let the Crimson Cataclysm be reborn through your rage."
Kaien looked down at his own reflection in the water.
For the first time…
the reflection looked back with red eyes.
He whispered:
"Take me."
The sky snapped open.
A colossal wave of crimson dust spiraled from the heavens, swirling downward like a dying star collapsing.
It rushed into Kaien's body with violent force.
He screamed—
not in pain,
but in awakening.
The air cracked.
The pier shattered.
Crimson lightning erupted from his spine, carving scars into the beach.
When the light finally dimmed, the boy's aura shimmered like molten blood.
Kaien rose slowly, eyes burning with Akagetsu's fragmented consciousness.
His voice trembled—not with fear, but with hunger:
Kaien / Akagetsu (overlapping):
"…I remember.
I remember dying."
Kurotsuki smirked.
Kurotsuki:
"You did."
Orivun added:
Orivun:
"And now you get to live again… stronger.
More focused."
Kaien tilted his head, crimson mist trailing from his fingers.
Kaien:
"I'll kill Rokuro.
I'll destroy his group.
But the moonborn boy—Rin…"
A smile cracked across his pale face.
Kaien:
"…I want him for myself."
Kurotsuki and Orivun exchanged a pleased look.
Kurotsuki:
"Then prepare, Kaien.
The Crimson Moon rises, and so will you."
Rokuro, Rin, Nahara, and Elion walked through the silent clearing, the air still carrying the death of a calamity.
But something new crept into the atmosphere.
A cold shiver.
A distant rumble.
A faint red glow bleeding into the horizon.
Elion paused mid-step.
Elion:
"…Does anyone else feel that?"
Nahara nodded, scales flickering faint blue.
Nahara:
"It's like… pressure. But wrong.
Heavy."
Rin adjusted his grip on his bag, eyes narrowing.
Rin:
"No… it's more than that.
Something's moving. Breathing."
Rokuro had said little since the Reversal ended.
But now—
he stopped completely.
His eyes drifted upward.
The other three followed.
Above them—
the moon's edge carried a faint smear of red.
Not natural red.
Not atmospheric.
A crimson imprint.
Elion inhaled sharply.
Elion:
"That looks like Akagetsu's aura."
Rokuro's voice cut through the air, low and grim.
Rokuro:
"It is."
Nahara turned to him.
"But you killed him. We saw it."
Rokuro closed his eyes.
Rokuro:
"Akagetsu was always too slippery for a clean death.
Part of him survived… a fragment of consciousness, drifting."
Rin clenched his fists.
Rin:
"So someone else found it."
Rokuro nodded once.
Rokuro:
"Not someone.
Some thing."
Silence.
Then—
Rokuro:
"Kurotsuki and Orivun are preparing a vessel."
Elion's golden eyes widened with dread.
Elion:
"A—A vessel?
Like… a host?"
Rokuro's expression grew dark.
Rokuro:
"A child.
A powerful one.
Someone whose soul was already fractured enough for Akagetsu to slip in."
Rin stepped closer.
"Do we know who?"
Rokuro only stared deeper into the crimson streak spreading across the sky.
His voice came out quiet.
Too quiet.
Rokuro:
"…You'll meet him soon."
Kaien stood at the shore, now radiating a crimson aura that bent the waves around him.
Kurotsuki placed a hand on the boy's head.
Kurotsuki:
"Your new name… is Akaien.
Crimson Flame."
Akaien smiled—
a smile that didn't belong on a child's face.
He whispered:
Akaien:
"Rokuro…
Rin…
don't die until I get there."
The tide pulled back unnaturally as Akaien stepped forward, the very sea fleeing before him.
A new calamity had been born.
And this time…
the evil had a face.
A young one.