Inside the imperial carriage, the air grew heavy fast. Heat clung to the walls and it was still and oppressive. Rage shifted in his seat. The silence stretched, first natural, then awkward.
Kazumi sat unbothered. She held a book open in her hands. Her eyes moved calmly across its pages. The three girls eventually broke the stillness. They leaned together in casual chatter. Their words were light and inconsequential.
Rage let his head fall back against the paneling.
"Mind if I open the window?"
"We do not," Kazumi replied without lifting her gaze from the book.
He slid the panel open. A rush of air swept inside, cool against the heat in the carriage.
Rage glanced out. Fields of green rolled in every direction, with the occasional farmhouse breaking the horizon. He watched as Danzo's village shrank behind them, its rooftops fading into the distance.
After some time, Kazumi lowered her book and leaned into the girls' chatter. Her words flowed easily, too casual for a royalty. Laughter sparked between them, small bursts that softened the carriage's air.
Then, almost idly, Kazumi glanced at Rage. "Arakezuri no Oogoroshi," she said, as though testing the weight of the phrase. The three girls stifled soft giggles behind their sleeves, their eyes darting toward him.
Rage blinked. "What?"
"An ancient text," Kazumi explained. "It speaks of you. The King Slayer."
He snorted, voice flat, condescending. "Really?"
"Yes."
Rage tilted his head. "That long just to say King Slayer?"
Suzu smirked. "You sang it once."
Rage froze, then dragged a hand down his face. "Oh, yeah... let's not talk about that. Embarrassing."
The girls covered their mouths and giggled.
"Whatever," Rage muttered as he leaned back. "Don't bother me."
***
Rage tipped his head back, eyes half-lidded, when a flicker of thought cut through his boredom. An idea. Something to do.
He opened his interface. His hands moved. He tapped and swiped at air that looked empty to everyone else.
No one paid him much mind. The Empress and the three girls carried on with their chatteras their laughter moved between them. Seloria sat quietly at Rage's side and she gave no reaction.
They had seen enough of his strangeness to let it pass without comment.
***
His fingers stopped over the floating panes. His gaze went unfocused as memory tugged him back to the wake of battle. It was the chaos before he reached the Empress that was when he scanned and experimented his new abilities. Things he had not dared before. It was due to great desperation and equal curiosity.
He had learned something simple but vital. Speaking his commands aloud was faster than typing them mentally. Words were faster at triggering the system like voice recognition.
He had also figured out how to configure macros. Writing a new line of code, putting it in a function, and giving it a name was like making a spell in a video game. Once the macro existed, he could use it, improve it, and combo it with others.
And then there was Electric Forest. He did not fully understand it during that time, nor its full power. He had figured out enough to make it work. Its look was not just for show. It changed the world around him. By magnetizing the soil beneath his feet and compressing the molecules at his soles until they acted like a magnetic pole, he could launch himself forward like a projectile. It was crude but worked. He made it a macro and named it Rail Gun.
The burst carried him faster than Null Veil ever had. It was raw, violent physics. Kinetic force drove it. The acceleration was extreme and displaced the air around him. Damage came from pure force and speed, not magic.
He exhaled faintly. He remembered how the world blurred when he first triggered it.
He had also uncovered something else during those moments. The system never explained it. When the right elements were missing or the surroundings refused to give what he needed, the pendants at his chest came alive. They acted as catalysts. They supplied what his surroundings lacked.
The first proof came when he tested Seloria's dagger. He modified its properties through his interface and set Fire as its element. The moment he confirmed the change, Ignia's amulet flared to life. It resonated with the adjustment. He tried the same with his simple katana, giving it Wind. This time, Kazumi's pendant glowed. The blade felt lighter in his hands. Its swings were sharper and almost quicker, like attack speed in the old games he used to play. Fire, though, he was not sure. Maybe it tied to strength, but he could not tell yet.
Later came Rail Gun. As he forced the ground into polarity, Talwyn's pendant glowed faintly. Earth. It had provided what the soil around him couldn't, filling the gaps in his crude magnetization.
Different pendants, same reaction.
What their true potential was or how they were meant to be used, he couldn't say. All he knew was that they worked when expected.
***
A few moments passed as Rage scrolled through pane after pane. He tested, checked, and looked for anything new. No idea worth coding. Not yet. Maybe later when he really needed it. For now, his current arsenal was enough, more than enough. Every function still needed a trigger tied to one of his base abilities. Each use pushed his corruption level higher. He was careful, not knowing what side effects might come when the meter went too far.
Rage let the panes fade at last. As the strain eased from his eyes, he lifted Kazumi's pendant from his chest and gazed at it intently.
"Hey, Kazumi," he said.
Her conversation with the girls stopped as she turned, brow arched. "Oh? We're on terms of calling names directly now?"
"You slept beside me," replied flatly. "Kinda hard to act formal after you squeezed in without my consent."
The Empress' lips curved faintly before she let it pass.
"Anyway," Rage continued, while tapping the pendant with his finger, "can I turn this into something else? My neck's getting heavy."
"That is yours."
"I mean, isn't this something like a family heirloom?"
"It is not," she answered with calm a deliberate voice. "Yet it is equally important."
"Oh."
"Maybe a gauntlet with slots for multiple stones."
***
The carriage jolted once, then slowed to a halt. Outside, the rumble of wheels and hooves tapered into stillness across the convoy. It had been hours, long enough for the noon light to sharpen into the dim burn of mid afternoon.
One of the drivers leaned from his seat, sliding the window panel open. "We have arrived, Kazumi-sama. The main gate of the Imperial Capital."
From beyond the walls came the clipped bark of orders, soldiers shouting as formations shifted into place. A mounted officer approached the imperial carriage, dismounted, and rapped his knuckles against the lacquered wood.
"Permission to retract the carriage roof, Empress."
Kazumi gave a single nod. "Granted."
The roof folded back. The world opened to them. Rows of samurai stood in lines. Banners moved above their heads. Their armor shone in the sun.
Kazumi stood up. The three girls moved to her sides. Seloria stood at Rage's side.
Rage stayed seated, arms rested on his knees.
Inside the gates, soldiers lined the main avenue, spears planted, heads lowered. Archers watched from the rooftops above.
Crowds filled the streets. Voices rose in cheer as the imperial carriage rolled past. A few hooded figures stayed at the edges.
The convoy moved deeper into the city. At the grand thoroughfare, the other carriages peeled away toward the side roads, leaving Kazumi's retinue alone at the center of the procession.
They arrived at the foot of the castle steps and disembarked. Attendants bowed in neat rows. As Kazumi led them inside, voices rose in unison with vows from every station, from peasants and merchants to courtiers and scholars. At the end of the hall, the three Shoguns awaited with their wives and children, heads lowered as they greeted the Empress.
Rage trailed behind, his expression was flat. "Am I still needed for this?"
"Yes," Yuna replied without pause. "You must follow."
The procession moved forward. The rich and important greeted them. Perfume filled the air. Another group of samurai appeared. They were grim and broad-shouldered. Their armor looked worn from battle. They said nothing and gestured the group to follow.
At the rear courtyard, the air shifted. Rows of captured soldiers knelt on the packed earth, their heads bowed. Behind every prisoner stood a samurai, hand poised on his own sword. Among the kneeling were figures who carried more presence than the rest, men who had once stood at Katsuya's side.
Rage's eyes narrowed. "What's this supposed to be?"
Yuna's voice was calm but carried weight. "To restore their honor, and the honor of their clans, they must perform the ritual of sacrifice."
His gaze slid across the kneeling lines, system tags flickered above each bowed head, bright and hostile. To him, they were nothing more than names scrolling past, a list without meaning. Kenshiro. Heizou. Seijirou. Strangers to his eyes, yet the hush that followed each name told him they were men of weight, pillars of Katsuya's circle now brought low.
"And who exactly are these people?" Rage asked.
"They are the captured traitors," Yuna replied. "This is the path they chose, the only way left for them to answer for their defeat. To deny it would strip them of dignity rather than grant mercy."
Rage sighed, then glanced around until he found an empty seat near the front, oddly unclaimed. He dropped into it without a second thought, Seloria settling silently just behind him. Under his breath, he muttered, "Politics... never my game."
A stir passed through the court as Kazumi crossed the floor. She lowered herself into the seat beside him.
"That seat suits you," she murmured.
Yuna answered matter-of-factly. "That is the Emperor's seat. Reserved only for him."
Rage's eyes widened. "Oh, shoot. Sorry. I'll move."
Kazumi's voice cut him off, soft but certain. "No. You can keep sitting."
"I mean, as long as it doesn't get my head cut off."
Her only answer was a quiet smile.
The mood shifted as Fujiwara stepped forward, a scroll unfurled in his hands. His voice cut through the courtyard, steady and unyielding, echoing against the stone walls.
"By decree of the Imperial Throne, and under the eyes of Empress Kazumi-sama, judgment is passed upon those who raised their blades against the Empire. You, who once swore loyalty, abandoned your vows. You betrayed crown and country, spilling the blood of your own kin and bringing ruin to the land."
"For crimes of rebellion, for the dishonor of treachery, and for the countless lives taken under your command, the punishment decreed is ritual sacrifice. Through this act, you may restore to your families the honor your hands have blackened."
"Take now the final cup, and drink deeply. Let its warmth steady your spirit for the road ahead. After, you shall be given the blade. By your own hand, let death cleanse the shame of life. Accept this duty with the dignity expected of samurai, and may your last breath serve as repentance before the Empire and the gods."
Fujiwara rolled the scroll shut, silence falling heavy in his wake.
Attendants walked among the prisoners and placed small cups in front of each of them. The clear wine shone as it caught the light.
The prisoners lifted their cups in silence. Wine touched their lips. Some drank slowly. Others finished in one swallow. A few held the taste in their mouths, as it were their last.
The attendants bowed low, collected the empty vessels, and withdrew. Another line of men stepped forward, placing short blades carefully upon the ground before each kneeling figure.
For a breath, no one moved. The courtyard seemed to hold still.
Then one by one the condemned reached for the hilts. Some had trembling hands, others moved with calm resolve. Behind each kneeling warrior, the chosen assistanct shifted slightly. Their hands rested on the longer blades, ready to act when the moment arrived.
Steel whispered. The first cut followed the ritual. A soft cry broke the air. A flash of motion ended it as the second's blade struck clean. One after another, the act repeated.
The crowd bowed their heads. Their voices were hushed in prayer.
When the last head fell, silence filled the courtyard. Nobles, warriors, and attendants all bowed in respect.
Kazumi stood. She said nothing. Her movement alone showed her authority.
The ritual was done. The Empire's judgment sealed.
After the ceremony, the castle found its own pace. Officials and nobles moved around, speaking in quiet tones, their eyes often turning to Rage. Their looks held respect and meaning he did not see or did not care to. If something important had been decided about him that day, he did not notice. He walked through the halls and stone gardens, waiting for everything to end. Seloria stayed at his side as always.
At last, he was summoned to the Emperor's chamber.
The room was lined with presence. The three Shoguns, Yuna and the three girls, and Kazumi seated at the table. At its center lay a parchment with ink still wet and a smear of fresh blood marking a signature.
Another contract. Rage squinted at the parchment, flipping through lines with all the enthusiasm of a man swiping through a thirty-page terms of service which he hated.
He skimmed lazily, catching fragments here and there. Land ownership, trade routes, construction rights. The usual. Half the words slid right past him. "Yeah, sure. I agree," he muttered, already at the last page.
Yuna stepped forward, presenting him with a short blade. Rage pricked his thumb and dragged it across the page, signing in blood. He stared at the crimson mark for a moment, then let out a quiet breath.
Kazumi's eyes lingered on him. "Your training will continue tomorrow."
Rage shook his head. "Can't. I need to head back to Abyssal Tides. I'm already late for my appointment with Yuri."
The Empress's gaze sharpened. "That woman again... you dare speak of another before me?"
The three girls burst into laughter, their sleeves half-covering their faces.
Kazumi did not laugh, though neither did she stop him. "If you insist, the traders' convoy departs for Abyssal Tides. You may ride with them. They leave at dawn... or now, if you wish it."
Rage gave a faint nod. No bow, no words of gratitude, just that. He turned and walked out.
Seloria rose without a sound, her steps falling into place behind him.
Those left behind, the shoguns, Yuna, the girls, Kazumi herself, watched in silence as he passed through the chamber doors.
The corridors stretched ahead. Carriages stood aligned at the gates, wheels ready, drivers waiting. Rage paused once, glancing back at the towering walls of Tenzan Skyhold and its banners snapping in the wind.
They boarded the waiting carriage, doors slid shut as the driver gathered the reins. Just before departure, an attendant rushed forward, a bag clutched in his hands. Bowing low, he passed it to Rage.
"From the Empress, supplies for your journey."
Rage took it, setting it aside without a glance.
A command rang out, the crack of reins followed, and the wheels began to turn. The carriage rolled forward, the Skyhold receding behind them as the convoy carried him away from its gates.
***
Far beyond the borders of the known world, past even the mists of the Ebonwake Shroud, deeper still into the black heart of the Demon Realm, a dim chamber festered. The air was thick with rot and sulfur, walls slick with damp. A single crystal ball pulsed faintly at its center, casting just enough light to reveal the figure hunched before it.
A woman, hooded and wretched, her breath ragged. Her nails, long and crooked like talons, scraped along the crystal's surface. Within its swirling depths, Rage's image flickered, unaware of the gaze that clung to him.
The woman bent closer, her voice shaking with hunger and madness.
"My lord... my love... let me taste your breath, let me drown in your embrace. How radiant you are in my sight, how cruelly beautiful. My lord, my lord, my salvation, take me into your arms, let me vanish inside you."
Her nails scraped the crystal, leaving thin white scars across its surface as she pressed her hooded face closer.
"I will give you power," she hissed. "I will heap kingdoms at your feet, shatter empires for your amusement. Together we will hollow this world, remake it in our image, until no name is remembered but ours."
Her laughter tore loose, sharp and jagged, rising higher and higher until it rattled in the ceiling. The shadows around her seemed to shiver, as though eager to join her madness.
[SYSTEM] Kazumi : Loyalty 99%
[SYSTEM] Corruption : 49.1%