"Do not trust the ones who speak in silence.
They do not serve peace.
They serve the chain that binds the Shard King."
– Fragment from the Crimson Tome, Page 741
---
The air outside the ruins was suffocating. Squad Umbra trudged through the ash-blown path that led them back to Outpost Haven. No words were exchanged. None were needed. The silence said everything.
Kaizen walked at the center, his eyes vacant, the shard embedded in his chest dimmed, but not dead. His footsteps scorched the earth in faint pulses. Nature itself bent away from him—plants withering, small insects fleeing. Even the wind avoided him.
Ayaka remained close, never letting more than a few steps grow between them. Her heart waged war with itself—fear tightening her lungs while love held her feet firm. She could feel something inside Kaizen breaking. Not just cracking—shattering.
By the time they reached Haven's gates, the welcoming arms of the outpost had turned into the sharp ends of spears and cannon muzzles.
Dozens of red-robed Council enforcers stood in formation. Behind them, Vein-Tech artillery hummed, aimed directly at Kaizen's heart.
Leading them was Captain Lareth, flanked by Council Aegis Guards.
"Kaizen Ryouma," Lareth declared, "by order of the Triune Council, you are under immediate arrest for the activation of a Class-0 Relic and the triggering of a Veinquake that annihilated three districts and ruptured tectonic flow in Region-7."
Rael moved in front instinctively. "Bullshit! He saved us! If he hadn't activated the shard, we'd all be dead in that abyss!"
Lareth didn't blink. "Perhaps. But saving five doesn't justify endangering five thousand."
Kaizen didn't move. His voice was distant. "Is it true? Did… that pulse come from me?"
Ayaka shook her head. "Kaizen, they're twisting it. You only did what you had to. The shard wasn't your doing—it was already alive. It chose you!"
Lareth's voice hardened. "That shard is the last remnant of the First Flame. Its activation is the first sign of a Shard King awakening. That cannot be allowed."
"You mean it cannot be controlled," Kaizen whispered.
Lareth raised his hand. "Seize him."
Veinsteel chains surged forward, glowing with divine inscriptions. Kaizen didn't resist. His body dropped to its knees the moment the chains made contact. The Veinsteel drained his energy like venom, making every heartbeat a labor of pain.
Ayaka screamed. "Let him go! You don't know what you're doing!"
A Council Guard moved to restrain her.
But Kaizen looked up and spoke, his voice trembling but resolute. "Don't touch her."
His words made every torch in the outpost flicker.
"She's done nothing. If you want me, fine. But Ayaka walks free."
There was a tense pause. Then Lareth gave a reluctant nod. "She remains under observation. Any defiance, and she joins you."
Kaizen was dragged away, barely able to lift his head. And just before the gates of the Council Bastion closed behind him, he looked back—locking eyes with Ayaka.
His lips didn't move, but she heard the words through their bond.
"Don't follow. Not yet."
---
Scene Shift: The Black Cell
Kaizen was locked inside a chamber older than the Council itself. The Black Cell—a prison where Veinborn legends had once withered to bone. No light. No flame. Only shadows and whispers.
He sat in chains, alone.
But not truly alone.
The shard pulsed once.
Then again.
And then, voices.
Soft at first. Then sharper.
"You should have burned them."
"They fear you because they know what you are."
"Not a mistake. A return."
Kaizen pressed his hands to his ears, but the voices were inside him. In his blood. In the shard. It wasn't madness. It was memory.
The Shard King remembers. Even in fragments.
---
Scene: The Council Chamber
Ayaka stood trial before the Triune Council.
Twelve figures in masks. Holograms flickering. Their voices modulated and inhuman.
"You are charged with hiding a Class-0 anomaly, falsifying mission reports, and consorting with a known threat to global equilibrium."
Ayaka stood still, hands clenched. "I told you before—I will not betray him."
"You protect a calamity."
"No. I protect a man who was created by your lies."
The chamber shook slightly.
The central figure leaned forward. "Then you shall suffer his fate."
But before they could finish the sentence, a figure among them rose—and removed their mask.
Councilor Niram.
Ayaka gasped. She knew that face. He had been a teacher when she was a child. Kind. Sharp-eyed. Now, he looked hollow.
"You disappoint me," he said, voice low. "You had the potential to be the first female Umbra to join the Inner Circle."
Ayaka's stare hardened. "Then I'm glad I disappointed you."
Suddenly—Ayaka slammed her palm against her chest.
Crimson light erupted from her veins—The Whisper Vein—a forbidden spell that burns the user's own life to break Veinsteel bindings.
In a shockwave of light and wind, Ayaka vanished from the chamber—leaving stunned Council members behind.
---
Scene: Underground – Rescue the Shard King
The walls of the Black Cell trembled. Alarms blared above. Kaizen looked up as his cell cracked open with a blast of red lightning.
Ayaka emerged from the smoke, her armor glowing with residual Veinfire, eyes locked onto him.
"Come on," she said.
Kaizen hesitated. "You shouldn't have come."
Ayaka stepped closer. "And you shouldn't have gone alone. So shut up and walk."
The shard in Kaizen's chest pulsed once—warmly.
And together, they vanished into the rising flames of rebellion.