Kaito stood before Miral, his breathing quickening, his black eyes glowing with a frightening silvery gleam. Miral looked at him with strange interest, and said in a tone as if addressing something familiar:
"You've changed... haven't you?"
Kaito didn't answer, but instead charged at her with ferocity. Miral responded by summoning a wall of dark eyes that swirled around her like a whirlpool. Kaito swatted his hands away, and some of the eyes exploded, but in place of each shattered eye, another appeared, seemingly endless.
Suddenly... all the eyes went red at once, glinting like congealed blood. Without hesitation, Kaito began running along the shrine walls at breakneck speed, leaping from one corner to the next, trying to dodge those deadly gazes. His movement was like intermittent shadows, his body defying the laws of gravity.
At a crucial moment, he planted his feet sharply against the shrine wall, then charged like a bullet through the air, heading straight for Meral. But she backed away lightly, as if anticipating his attack, and he passed by her, nearly falling to the ground.
His body began to feel heavy, and drops of sweat streamed down his face. "I can't... I haven't been able to use this much power for a long time... My body is failing."
Meral said with quiet sarcasm, "It seems your transformation wasn't as good as you thought. You're not the same anymore..."
Kaito raised his head, his eyes brimming with anger. "So tell me... do you know anything about me?"
Meral smiled, a cold, sword-like smile, then suddenly raised her hand, causing all the monsters surrounding the team to retreat in fear. On the other side, Taiko was still busy fighting Kira, while Kurol, Minamoto, and Hiro Shin were eliminating the last remaining monsters.
Miral spoke in a low voice, but it pierced Kaito's being like a stab:
"If you hadn't existed... this shrine wouldn't have happened. If you hadn't been born... it wouldn't have come to this. Your existence, Kaito... was a curse on this world."
She paused for a moment, then slowly lifted her lips and began whistling a familiar tune... an ominous tune.
The whistling sound reverberated off the shrine walls like echoes from a distant hell. It was the same ominous tune... the tune that had torn Kaito's soul apart, making him scream and cry unconsciously.
His body froze, the dark memories flooding back like a flood...
Meral began whistling that ominous tune, and the shrine shook with the echo of its dark notes. It was as if it weren't just a tune, but an ancient curse reborn.
At the same moment, distorted memories exploded in Kaito's mind, streaming like blurry images with no sequence or clarity. His body trembled, hot tears streamed from his eyes involuntarily, and darkness enveloped his limbs, wrapping them like a dark whirlpool. His six spiritual fissures were no longer stable, glowing and disappearing as if they were about to explode.
As soon as Kurul heard this tune, his features changed. He ran with swift, arrow-like steps toward Meral, trying to silence her. But with terrifying agility, she retreated, dodging his attack as if she knew his movements in advance.
At that moment, Kaito screamed with all his might, a scream that pierced the hearts of everyone around him. Taiko tried to advance to save his son, but Kira blocked his path with an endless battle frenzy, preventing him from taking even a single step.
Kurul shouted, "Minamoto! Hiro-shin! Now!"
Hairo-shin charged like a storm, his short sword at Meral's throat. At the same time, Minamoto leaped from above, his heavy chain dangling to close in on her. Kurul returned with his massive scythe, aiming it directly at her chest.
But Meral... with a cold smile, glided lightly between their attacks, as if protected by an invisible force.
"She's using magic... We must stop her at all costs!" Kurul said sharply.
Hairo-shin and Minamoto charged again in a coordinated attack, but this time Kurul turned to Kaito, who was engulfed in darkness. Kaito's eyes now saw nothing but blackness, and his screams tore through the space. He could hear no one and saw only the ghost of his past.
Kurul reached out to Kaito's chest, placed his palm firmly on it, and began to hum another tune... a quiet, transparent, barely audible tune.
The voice penetrated Kaito's depths, and his body trembled for a moment, then
A memory dawned for the first time.
He was in a strange place, unfamiliar to him. The body of a small child was in someone's arms. But the child wasn't made of flesh and blood… it was made of darkness itself. Kaito was shocked. "Was this… me?"
And the person holding him… was Kurul. But not the old Kurul he knew now, but a young man in the prime of his life, with features untouched by time, singing the same beautiful melody he heard now.
This scene seared itself deep into Kaito's heart, and he realized for a moment that his past wasn't what he thought it was.
Gradually, his screams stopped, the darkness surrounding him fading. He dried his tears with his hand, then stood firmly on his feet, his face still clouded in mystery but more resolute than before.
He raised his head toward Miral and said forcefully, "Okay… let's get this over with. Then… you need to answer some of my questions."
End of chapter.