Ryoma paced like a storm trapped in a cage, each step heavier than the last. Kaen stood nearby, arms folded tight across his chest, his eyes narrowed, trying to piece together something that wouldn't come.
Seirou knelt in the center, hands raised in submission, gaze fixed on the floor. "I can—"
"Shut up!" Ryoma snapped before Seirou could speak. "Don't say a word."
His voice echoed through the stone walls, sharp and cracking with fury.
"You couldn't even keep track of her? What do you mean she vanished?" His voice dropped lower, more dangerous. "You were supposed to be watching her!"
He stalked forward and leaned down, eyes narrowing. "You have the power of a lakh eyes—then use them. See through them and tell me where she is." His breath hitched. "She's not safe out there. Not tonight. You know what tonight is."
Kaen's eyes darkened. "Midnight…"
"The seal weakens under this moonlight," Ryoma muttered, more to himself now, his voice tight. "That's why she was never allowed outside on this night." He paused, eyes narrowing. "It's already begun… If she's out there, and anything triggers it…" His tone sharpened, turning on Seirou. "Why don't you stop lying and tell us the truth already!"
Seirou exhaled, the breath shaking as it left him. "I have the power, Ryoma. But not the will to wield it. They're… nothing but sight. I try—I try every method, every mantra. It never works. I once read an entire library front to back still found nothing."
"Liar," Ryoma hissed.
Kaen stepped forward, voice low. "Ryoma… we shouldn't waste time here. He said something earlier about her scent disappearing near the woods. I think… that's where she is."
Ryoma's head snapped toward Seirou, who looked away.
"Stay right here," Ryoma said coldly. "You don't lower those hands, not even for breath. You stay outside all night and pray I don't return."
He spun on his heel and stormed off, cloak trailing behind him like smoke. Kaen gave Seirou a tired look, running a hand down his face. "Gods help us," he muttered before following.
The silence thickened after they left.
Seirou slowly lowered his gaze, hands still trembling in the air. He stared up at the moonlight, its glow sharp and indifferent.
A bitter breath escaped him.
"So this is what it's come to…" he muttered, more to himself than to the gods above. "The Crown Prince… possessed. Don't let it devour you."
He swallowed hard, the cold wind curling against his skin.
"if it does… I don't know what comes next. Because It will be darker than anything we've ever known."
Meanwhile—
Kriya was no longer Kriya.
The last traces of him had vanished beneath the storm of power now seething inside his body. Possessed completely, he stood at the center of the devastation—an empty vessel filled with something ancient, wrathful, and unbound.
A slow, twisted grin crept across his face.
"So this is what power truly feels like…" he muttered, his voice now a blend of many—distorted, echoing, wrong. He raised his arms slightly, fingers flexing as if tasting the energy flooding through him. "This body… it holds too much."
But the grin faltered.
His brows drew together. "Strange… what is this energy?" he murmured, frowning. "It's not wholly divine… not wholly dark. Yet it burns—bright, ancient…" Still, the spirit's glee could not be dimmed. "No matter. I've never felt such strength. And it's mine now."
Suddenly, the air shifted.
Heavy clouds surged across the night sky like a tidal wave of shadow, swallowing the moon in a single breath. The silver glow vanished. In its place came roaring wind and a flicker—then a sudden scream of thunder that split the sky.
Lightning slashed the heavens open. The world turned stark white for a heartbeat.
The spirit turned his gaze skyward, a cruel smirk tugging at his lips as he raised a hand toward the churning storm.
"What now?" he mocked, voice echoing with venom. "Trying to hide the moon?" he spat.
His eyes burned with manic triumph. "You're too late. The seal's already weakened. I've won."
A crack of thunder split the heavens, so loud it shook the earth beneath him. The roar rolled through the skies like a war drum, surely waking the entire imperial capital.
"You didn't see this coming, did you?" he snarled, voice rising like a storm. "You thought I'd stay buried… forgotten?" His grin widened, eyes gleaming with dark fire. "It's me you all… Mo Yeyan."
Mo Yeyan laughed, low and unhinged. "I've waited a thousand years for this moment. A thousand! And now… nothing can stop us!" His voice turned to a sneer, sharp and venomous. "Go on—rage above your dead temples. All of you. Every one of you who sealed us away. Just wait." His eyes gleamed, madness brewing like a storm behind them. "Through this body, we will unbind the last chain. Our Supreme will return. And none of you will stop it this time. No tricks."
A jagged bolt of lightning struck the earth mere feet from him, throwing up a geyser of ash and flame. He didn't flinch only laughed.
He roared into the heavens, voice thundering with defiance,
"Angry, are you?! Are all your gods enraged?! Good! Be angry—be terrified!"
His tone dropped, low and fevered, voice curling like smoke through the storm. "All that remains now… is to find where the Supreme was sealed." He smiled, slow and cruel.
"And that task—no, that glory belongs to our Lord," he declared, arms stretched to the storm, the wind howling around him like the chorus of the damned.
A twisted grin carved across his face.
"Our Lord, as decreed by the Withering Pact… once I fulfill the demand—I shall be rewarded. Flesh, blood… bone… a face." His voice deepened, trembling with fevered greed. "This body… these powers—they will be mine. Everything this vessel was—will become me."
He raised his arms triumphantly—
But froze.
The air shifted.
His breath caught. Behind him… something stirred.
A pressure, dense and suffocating, coiled against his spine cold, ancient, and immense. It wasn't just darkness. It was a presence so dark it made Mo Yeyan—the spirit stagger a step forward.
He turned slowly, the victorious grin draining from his face.
There she stood.
Astra.
Her eyes shut. Her form unnaturally still. But around her, the air shimmered and fractured like glass under strain. A violent, swirling storm of black mist writhed around her feet, climbing her like smoke. Shadows coiled around her body—feral, untamed, and seething with something beyond rage.
The firelight bent toward her. The earth beneath her cracked. And the dark mist bloomed behind her like wings.
Astra's body hovered an inch above the ground, head bowed, her long hair unbound and swaying weightlessly in the corrupted wind.
Mo Yeyan took a step back, unable to mask the sliver of fear twitching in his jaw.
"What… are you?" he hissed.