The sky fractured.
Not metaphorically—literally.
A jagged seam split across the clouds, lightning bleeding through like veins of broken light. Beneath it, the old cathedral that had once housed Kai's silence now pulsed with sound.
Not music.
Not speech.
Memory.
Each footstep Kai took echoed like it had already happened. Like the floor remembered him.
Like the past remembered him.
Chains hung from the rafters like vines choking an ancient forest. Bloodstains that couldn't be scrubbed marked the altar. His altar.
He walked to it.
Hands trembling.
And placed both palms on the stone.
"Why did I bring her here?" he asked the empty air.
The Red Widow stood behind him now—her reflection in the broken glass.
"You didn't," she said softly. "She brought you."
Kai's eyes flared.
Shin and Ryuu
They stood at the edge of the old city, staring down a corridor of twisted steel and collapsed buildings.
In the distance, the cathedral pulsed red.
"I don't think we're getting backup," Ryuu muttered.
Shin adjusted the sword on his back—the blade humming like it wanted to run ahead.
"I'm not waiting."
Ryuu blinked.
"You sure? I mean, last time you rushed in, a monster and three city blocks died."
Shin didn't smile. He just stepped forward.
"I didn't rush in."
He turned his head slightly.
"I was invited."
The Cathedral Interior
Symbols across the floor blazed to life. The altar cracked. The chains snapped loose and slithered across the ground like serpents returning to their master.
The Red Widow hovered an inch above the floor, arms extended. Her eyes wept black ichor, but her voice was pure.
"You don't remember the deal, do you?"
Kai's breath hitched.
"What deal?"
She raised a hand—and the entire cathedral bent inward like it was breathing.
"You gave me your name to stop the war."
Kai dropped to his knees.
"I—I didn't know what that meant!"
"You never do," she whispered. "Not until it's too late."
The storm above began descending.
Literally.
Raindrops reversed their fall and climbed toward the heavens, as if the world had flipped.
Flashback Fragment – A Child Screams
A young Kai—seven years old—alone in a ritual chamber, hands glowing, parents crying outside the seal.
He screams one name.
It echoes back in present time:
"ASHIN."
The Red Widow stumbles.
"You remember."
Kai's fists clench.
"And I know what you are now."
She smiles. A tear falls—but never hits the floor. It floats upward.
"I am what's left when a promise is broken."
And then the chains lash forward.
Not at Kai—
But toward the sky.
Elsewhere – In the Rift
A massive eye opens.
The void stirs.
Shin stops mid-run.
Ryuu's grin vanishes.
"Kai just woke something up," Ryuu mutters.
Shin closes his eyes.
Then unsheathes the sword.
The Bleeding Blade howls.