The forest lay in uneasy silence after the slaughter. Moonlight bled through the torn canopy, painting the scattered corpses of beasts in silver and shadow. Blood clung to Yuki's blade, dripping slow and deliberate, as though mocking the stillness of the night.
The consciousness within him stirred, its laughter soft yet filled with derision.
"Sharp, conceited, stubborn… you truly are me."
Yuki's chest rose and fell as he steadied his breath, crimson eyes glinting with a mix of exhaustion and defiance. "Didn't I tell you? I don't lose. Not in my old world, and not here. I'll carve my path to the top—even if I must cut through gods themselves."
A pause, then the voice answered, this time quieter, almost laden with something deeper.
"…Now that you've spoken your truth, I will keep my side of the agreement."
Yuki tensed. His grip on the sword tightened ever so slightly.
The consciousness no longer carried its mocking edge—it was calm, filled with a weight that pressed against Yuki's chest. "My given name…" it began, "…is Faunus Linwood. I was born of nymphs—spirits of nature. I even had a sister. She was older than me."
Faunus' tone slowed, as though reaching back into a memory half-forgotten, half-refused. But just as Yuki leaned in, desperate to seize every fragment, the voice cut itself short. "But the day I was born, everything changed. The rest… you are not ready to know."
Yuki's teeth clenched. "Don't toy with me."
"This is no game."
"Don't twist your words now," Yuki growled, fury swelling in his chest. "We had an agreement. You said you'd tell me. Don't turn back on it like some coward."
The silence stretched thin—then shattered.
"Silence!"
Faunus' roar cracked through the night like thunder. The lake beside them rose in a violent surge, waves crashing and twisting in response to his fury before falling still again. The sheer force of it nearly drove Yuki to his knees, but he bit down, refusing to bow.
"You dare?" Faunus thundered, voice ragged with restrained rage. "You who have lived not even a century? You—who chose death in your own world because of heartbreak—dare to call me coward?"
Yuki's eyes flared. "What would you know? You hide your past because you fear it!"
Faunus' reply was a snarl edged with bitterness. "Fear? You call the weight of millennia fear? I carry memories that could shatter your mind in an instant. I sealed them away not because I cower, but because my soul itself grows fragile under their burden!" His voice cracked, trembling, before it hardened again. "You think your pain makes you strong? Do you know how much more I bore while you wasted yourself on grief?"
The waves rose and fell with his every word, like the forest itself shuddered under their clash.
Yuki's lips curled into a defiant smirk despite the suffocating pressure. He raised his head, eyes unwavering. "Then prove it. Show me. If you think I can't bear it, let me see for myself."
Faunus' voice fell suddenly quiet. The silence this time wasn't heavy with fury, but with something else—something darker.
"…You're not ready," he said, tone stripped of all pretense. "You couldn't even face your own past. You sealed it away the moment it scarred you. What arrogance makes you think you can carry mine?"
Yuki opened his mouth to retort, but the words froze in his throat. His chest tightened. That sealed part—the weight he had buried so deep even his own mind dared not touch it—stirred faintly at Faunus' words.
Faunus' tone shifted, no longer wrathful, no longer mocking—only resolute.
"Very well. If you truly wish to claim my memories, then first—"
The lake surged again, its surface glowing faintly as if lit by a power far older than the stars above.
"—you will face your own."
The world shivered.
Yuki staggered, his blade clattering to the ground. His vision twisted, the forest dissolving into shadow, blood and trees fading into endless mist. He gasped, trying to hold onto the present, but the mist swallowed him whole.
He realized too late—he was falling.