Rain striking cobblestone and steel helmets muffled the soldiers' ragged, uneven breaths—and Kaishi's own, still tight, still measured.
Every second seemed to stretch unbearably long.
…seven, eight…
Kaishi's gaze drifted between the gathered figures.
More on the bridge.
…thirteen, fourteen…
And behind the larger windows of the building to the right.
…eighteen, nineteen.
"There's nowhere left to run," Satoshi broke the silence. "Nothing left to look for."
"We trusted you!" the lone man snarled. The tendons in his neck strained as though they might tear free.
"And I trusted Akari to make the right choice," Satoshi said, his eyes fixed on the fingers of his left hand brushing against one another inside a leather glove. Combined with the rain, the friction fascinated him far more than his current company. "Instead, she chose to take in a remnant."
She's the reason I'm still alive.
"A Progenitor who proved useless to his own clan," Satoshi continued, casting Kaishi a contemptuous look.
I was just a child.
"One who stood and watched as Vorloks slaughtered them one by one," he added mockingly.
There were no Vorloks. Only people.
"Whose Gift is so worthless I'd rather have been born a street sweeper than you."
Kaishi tightened his grip around the pistol's handle.
That's why I owe her everything.
Nero observed the spectacle with unwavering interest.
The soldiers did not move. Heavily armored, armed with rune-etched swords and shields, they resembled sculptures placed deliberately for some avant-garde interpretation. The musketeers stationed on bridges and rooftops could just as easily have been gargoyles.
"So that's why you're scheming behind the Consortium's back?" Kaishi asked through clenched teeth.
Satoshi's laughter seemed to rebound off the soldiers' helmets, forming a rolling cascade of thunder.
"No," he replied. "The Holy Scales are the future. Since the Miyabe vanished from the Empire, no one has been foolish enough to try maintaining harmony between the gods in their stead. Yuraz has been growing in power for years—and now the strength of him and his faithful is descending like an avalanche."
Satoshi turned toward Nero and continued.
"And since Akari is content to live on scraps, I allowed myself to find a woman of a higher caliber."
Nero's gaze settled directly on Satoshi and lingered there. It wasn't dreamy—it was analytical, almost puzzled.
Thornheaven wasn't lying. This is a publicly sanctioned cult.
"But I can hold a grudge for a very long time." One of the runes on Satoshi's leather gloves began to flicker. His arm drew back to gather momentum. "If she's still conscious, I'd love to see how she reacts when I bring her your head."
There were a good sixty meters between him and Kaishi.
Will he close the distance?
Satoshi's first step was meant to be instantaneous.
Instead, it ended in a spray of blood, a violent impact against stone—and a flash of violet.
The seeker's calf was sliced open, and Nero's purple eyes drilled into the fallen blond.
"Know your place," she said coolly, brush raised high. "You'll play when I allow it. Now get up—while you still can."
Kaishi's brow furrowed as his face tightened instantly. His eyes darted between the participants and the possible escape routes.
I'm running out of time. I have to reach Akari before they do.
Without turning his head or body, his eyes stretched to the limits of his vision, tracing the path he would have taken had he not turned into this street.
I'm practically at the intersection. I'll loop around.
He sprang toward the route he'd spotted and vanished around the corner of the building.
"We're starting," Nero said, a slow smile spreading as she followed at an unhurried pace.
As Kaishi rounded the corner, a lightly armored soldier dropped from the balcony directly above him, intent on driving a long dagger straight into his body.
The Progenitor's eyes caught the falling attacker instantly. In the same moment, he killed his momentum a step past the landing point and turned to face him.
The cobblestone cracked under the impact of the soldier's boots, bent legs coiling to unleash a thrust.
A kick sent him flying straight into the wall, his back slamming against the stone.
Kaishi closed the distance.
A desperate slash from a half-seated position was blocked low—despite the shimmer of kinetic runes—by the dagger Kaishi had just drawn.
Above their crossed arms, a barrel appeared and flared blue.
The remains of the man's head burst outward in a spray of blood and fragments.
Ding.
Turning, Kaishi caught the crystal in the hand holding the dagger—the same hand immediately loading the next, fully charged one.
His irises now blazed with intense blue light.
A moment too late, he noticed the musketeer firing at him with a thunderous crack.
There are more of them!
The bullet struck Kaishi's neck, jolting his entire body as it ricocheted off the close-to-skin aetheric reinforcement, which shuddered under the impact.
The next one could be fatal.
Spotting two more soldiers to his left, he returned the favor with a quick shot, taking the musketeer's head off at range.
He had barely reloaded when a rune-wrenched sword blade lunged straight for his throat.
It stopped on Kaishi's dagger, mere centimeters from his face.
Raindrops and steam from his ragged breath distorted his reflection in the steel.
While he was bound like this, a second attacker on his right launched an upward slash.
The barrel flared with a thunderous blast.
The bound soldier's shield formed an invisible barrier, which the shot pierced and shattered, driving straight into the helmet's visor.
The crystal leapt upward.
At the same time, Kaishi dipped low into a spinning evasion, avoiding the cut and following through with a sweeping heel kick.
Struck in the head, the soldier collapsed onto his falling companion. Maintaining the momentum of the spin, Kaishi drove the dagger deep into his throat, forcing him down.
As he pulled it free, he caught the falling crystal and reloaded.
The clatter of armor and the multitude of hurried footsteps around the corner—some toward him, some away—immediately drew his attention.
With that glance, a familiar brush-born slash shattered part of the building's corner.
A warning…
Before he could resume his escape, he heard a heavy, rapidly approaching run from the adjacent building, right where he'd been standing near the doorway.
Instinctively, he leapt closer to the intersection.
And narrowly avoided the doorframe hurled at him by a steel pillar.
The doors smashed completely into the building across the street with a cannon-like crash.
From the corridor burst the owner of the pillar—a massive soldier gripping a rectangular slab of steel by its handles.
He swung at Kaishi immediately, but Kaishi ducked and spun aside, retreating just enough to avoid a potential follow-up strike.
The corner of the building was completely shattered.
Now exposed to the musketeers' line of sight, Kaishi became the target of another shot.
This time, only his jacket suffered.
That's bad.
He avoided the returning pillar by springing upward into a sideways flip, landing atop it.
The pillar slammed into the spot where the Progenitor had stood only moments before, crushing a wide section of the surrounding cobblestone.
Two quick steps closed the distance before the soldier could raise his weapon.
A close-range shot to the head.
Ding.
And Kaishi slid down into the building along with the corpse.
He broke into a sprint through the corridor, searching for a clean angle to fire at Nero.
His steps were urgent—but light.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Some attackers he dodged, others he cut down, and still others he shot without slowing.
Through the enormous windows on his left, he clearly saw Nero walking at an unhurried pace, Satoshi at her side.
Nero, her glass canvas already aimed at Kaishi.
Now!
His chance to shoot was severed by a low, sweeping horizontal slash racing toward him from Nero.
He dropped instantly into a slide along his right side, narrowly avoiding being torn apart.
Reaching behind his head, he drove his dagger into the hard floor.
Sparks flew as he pivoted, hauling himself just high enough to fire mid-slide.
A blue lance erupted with a thunderous crack, shattering the remains of the window and streaking straight toward Nero.
But Satoshi's barrier stood in its path once more.
It fractured under the impact, halting the projectile.
Nero lowered her canvas slightly, a playful smile spreading across her face.
She can defend herself just fine—she just doesn't want to exert herself.
Kaishi continued sprinting to the end of the corridor, where the elevator platform awaited him.
He leapt inside, ricocheting instantly between the walls.
Landing on the next floor, he fired at a legionary mid-swing.
He slid past a second soldier, using him as a living shield against musket fire from a nearby bridge—now level with the corridor and connected just beside the elevator.
Kaishi stopped and reloaded. He drew a deep breath, granting himself a fleeting moment of reprieve.
The barrel was already scorching hot. For a moment, its warmth reminded him of a campfire brushing against hands soaked in rain, blood, and sweat.
"Aether doesn't leak from an object once you fill it? That's incredible!"
It had been useless when I needed it most.
A group of soldiers ahead launched a coordinated assault.
"If you give me exclusive access to your rune, I can build something that'll help you fight. What do you say?"
He alternated between blocking and evading the strikes of two attackers.
That unpleasant sensation crept up on him again—from below.
He leaned back just enough to avoid another slash from Nero.
The wall beside him had been cleanly cut at an angle, and the enemy on his left was now missing part of his head.
Kaishi jumped deeper into the corridor, avoiding a downward strike from the soldier on his right.
He drove his dagger into the man's visor and shoved forward, exposing a musketeer on the opposite rooftop.
Ding.
The musketeer fell, and Kaishi pressed on.
His hands were trembling now, the blue in his irises pulsing like something possessed.
He rolled to avoid fire from the remaining two musketeers.
I'm slowly running out of aether.
Aside from the bridge, only one legionary remained on this floor.
Kaishi maneuvered around his attacks.
When he spotted an opening, he kicked the opponent—back to the window—launching him into the air and following suit.
"We can fill empty crystals with aether and use them as portable power sources! We'll be rich!"
The warmth of that embrace…
Suspended above the center of the street, Kaishi aimed at one of the shooters on the bridge.
He also saw Nero, already preparing another brush stroke.
At the moment of firing, he kicked off the falling soldier beneath him, giving Nero's slash enough space to reach the chimneys on the far side of the intersection.
He did not reload that crystal.
Just before he began to fall, he reached into the pouch at his belt, grabbed a handful of charged crystals, and scattered them toward the group of legionaries below.
He landed ahead of the crystals, at the center of the enemy circle—and gave them no time to react.
The crystals fell one after another.
Catch. Load. Fire. Ding. Turn.
In the blink of an eye, he repeated the sequence on every soldier surrounding him.
After the final shot, the barrel—now glowing red—swung toward the bridge.
Just a little more!
With a heavy stomp that sent water splashing from nearby puddles, he broke out of the rhythm and fired through the bridge's understructure, straight into the last musketeer.
The musket began falling toward him.
Two more attackers charged.
He reached the first before the man could strike.
A slash across the throat flowed perfectly into a block against the second attacker.
Spinning backward, he broke the bind and drove his dagger into the face of the man whose throat he'd already cut.
I'll be there soon, Akari.
He caught the falling musket, braced it against his elbow, and aimed directly at the second.
A thunderous blast—and two more bodies fell.
The last one.
He sidestepped a rushing thrust, grabbing the attacker high on the back while sweeping his right leg out from under him.
Following through with the momentum, Kaishi completed a half-turn and squared his body toward the legionary sprawled face-down on the ground.
A shot to the back of the head sealed his fate, blood splashing outward.
Ding.
Kaishi's heart hammered like a war drum, its pounding ringing in his ears.
He turned toward the remaining two.
Satoshi—determination carved into his face.
Nero—with a smeared line and a grin stretching ear to ear.
"Well then," Nero began, as her irises rapidly filled with violet light.
The air around them began to vibrate.
Damn it. Resonance is coming.
As he advanced toward the pair, Kaishi fired shot after shot—each one blocked by Satoshi's barriers as Nero spread her arms wide.
Fuck. The barriers have to have a weak point!
Kaishi's breathing grew erratic, like he was struggling not to drown.
The atmosphere grew heavier. The vibrations intensified.
"Welcome to my—" Nero raised her arms and tilted her head back.
Kaishi aimed for the nearest point between the barrier and the duo—Satoshi's hand.
For a fleeting moment, it felt as though he had synchronized, just for a fraction of a second, with the melody of aether itself.
The shot tore through the air with a shriek he had never heard before, ripping the atmosphere apart as it flew.
The barrier shattered with a colossal roar, and Satoshi's hand vanished along with it.
His scream was piercing—animal, raw with agony and helplessness.
Every muscle in Kaishi's body screamed in pain as he hurried to load the next crystal.
Only a dozen or so meters remained between them.
Now you die.
Nero's eyes flickered—and briefly fell silent—as she bowed, never once breaking eye contact with Kaishi.
"…Domus Aurea."
With that flicker, a violet mist burst outward from the lieutenant, rushing in every direction—muting all sound for a heartbeat, including Satoshi's screams.
It settled instantly, and around them a spherical hall began to rise, partially gilded, entirely covered in mirrors set at countless angles.
Even the cobblestone vanished beneath Kaishi's feet, replaced by a glass floor beneath which more mirrors waited.
Fuck.
He fired straight at Nero.
She cut the shot apart in a single, continuous motion of her brush—and more than that, she was no longer using the glass canvas.
Ding.
The projectile split in two, curving past her and shattering two mirrors behind her.
As the glass fragments fell to the floor, Kaishi felt cuts open on his body.
Not one.
Many.
Each came from a different angle, his blood spilling across the transparent floor.
"In a place where I can experience you from every angle," Nero added.
Fuck. Fuck!
He reloaded and fired again—only for the same fate to meet the shot.
He didn't stop moving forward, even as his pace slowed noticeably.
With every shot the Progenitor fired and every brushstroke the lieutenant answered with, more mirrors behind her cracked—and more cuts bloomed across Kaishi's body.
Not like this.
When he tried to reload again, his sliced fingers let the unfilled crystal slip free, and he dropped to his knees. He caught himself with both hands before he could collapse completely.
The dampness clinging to his clothes came solely from his wounds now.
Nero stilled, watching him with a wide smile—and the faintest hint of concern.
"Get up. We're not finished yet," she said, her voice hungry.
At those words, Satoshi's pain became nothing but background noise to the resentment pushing itself to the forefront.
Forgive me, Akari. I really was useless.
Kaishi stared at the crystal lying inches from his hand, slowly slicking with blood as drops fell from his face and body.
The seeker yanked a coagulant from inside his coat and drove it into his wrist.
"Give him to me!" he screamed. Spit ran from his mouth, flying with every word. "I'll gut him like a dog!"
Even Nero's gaze didn't seem capable of silencing the rage that came with the humiliation. Half of the seeker's arsenal had dissolved along with his hand and glove.
Kaishi's breathing grew heavier, and the glow in his eyes dimmed for a moment.
Resonance will destroy what you gave me. And I don't know if this will be enough.
"Let me kill him! He won't get up!" Satoshi roared, staring at Kaishi like a predator sizing up prey.
"Don't overfill the crystals with aether or the gun won't survive. Later, I'll think about how to tie it into your Resonance."
That later never came. I didn't have the heart to pull you away from your experiments when I saw how much joy they gave you.
"If that's all you wanted to show me," Nero said, studying him closely, "I'll leave you to your colleague from the Consortium."
Kaishi's fingers crept toward the crystal.
Even if I die, they'll still come for you.
I'll fail the only person I wanted to protect.
"Come on," the lieutenant coaxed, "get up. Let's dance some more."
Satoshi stood there with his mouth hanging open, drool stringing, as Kaishi's hand closed around the crystal.
But I won't die knowing I didn't do everything I could.
"He's yours," Nero said, disappointment written plainly into her face and voice.
These mirrors can be shattered.
The seeker launched himself toward the kneeling Progenitor. The rune on his remaining hand flared with color, and the thirst for murder in his eyes was unmistakable.
In the same instant, Kaishi's irises flooded with a shining wave of blue—flashing once.
A faint vibration ran through the mirrors all around him as a blue mist spread rapidly across the hall. Everything around his eyes seemed to lose a little saturation, as if the world had dulled to make room for the aether.
Nero snapped toward him immediately, grinning like a madwoman.
When the mist settled, the crystal filled in an instant—glowing so intensely its color could have been mistaken for white.
He loaded it and clamped his hand over the lock, refusing to let it spring free.
Then, rising on one leg, he fired at Satoshi—already within striking distance.
The shot was so powerful it shook blood off Kaishi's clothes and tore his hair back as if a storm had struck him head-on.
The beam was so wide that when Satoshi's head vanished, half of his torso went with it.
And the sound of the crystal ejecting was muffled beneath Kaishi's palm—because he was feeding it aether continuously, in real time.
Nero's laughter rattled the mirrors as violently as Kaishi's Resonance wave.
Still half-kneeling, Kaishi fired again—far faster than he ever had before.
Nero cut that shot apart, too.
But the next ones came faster.
And faster.
Mirrors shattered behind her.
Falling glass caught and reflected streaks of blue and violet.
Kaishi, now on both feet, advanced in heavy steps—every few shots dragging him closer.
The hand on the lock began to melt into the overheated barrel, whose muzzle was bleaching toward white.
The shots grew less precise.
But he didn't stop.
And Nero's brush couldn't keep up with the Progenitor's new rate of fire.
The first curved shot that finally reached her tore her left shoulder apart completely.
Nero's smile widened further, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets so she wouldn't miss a single moment of the performance—her new favorite actor.
"More!" she screamed. "Give me more!"
Despite the pain, the exhaustion, the cuts decorating his body like a map of failure, Kaishi kept firing. Kept moving forward.
Another hit—grazing her hip.
Another hit—her left arm vanished.
Another hit—the hand holding the brush evaporated.
"MORE!" Nero shrieked. Her vocal cords nearly tore themselves from her throat.
Before he ran out of strength, Kaishi fired one last shot.
The barrel sent it over her head.
But it was enough.
The lower edge of the projectile clipped up into her forehead, snapping her head back and burning away the top of her skull in an instant.
Her head fell forward again—and her eyes, before she finally collapsed, though now empty, still seemed to hold Kaishi's gaze.
She crumpled forward just as the wheezing Progenitor dropped to his knees.
The ruined pistol slipped from his hand. He couldn't draw breath.
In that same moment, all the remaining mirrors shattered at once, raining down a storm of glass filings, as if it were snow.
The golden dome vanished—and with it, the glass became ordinary rain again, which couldn't wash Kaishi's blood away fast enough.
The whole area was saturated with aether. The air itself felt charged.
The Progenitor reached inside his coat for the coagulant, barely able to keep it in his hand.
Before he could apply it, he saw a shadow above him—the soldier he'd kicked through the window and forgotten to finish.
The coagulant slipped from his fingers.
Forgive me, Akari.