The desert night had turned still—too still.
No winds. No noise. Not even the faint shifting of sand.
It was as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Yukio sat silently atop a sand dune, his eyes fixed on the pendant in his hand.
The crescent-shaped metal glinted softly under the moonlight, the same metal that had responded to his rage earlier.
"Ryouji Kurobane..."
The name echoed in his mind like a ghost that refused to die.
Behind him, Shigure stood quietly, arms folded, his cloak fluttering in the windless night. For once, the man who always had answers… looked uncertain.
---
The Silence Between Master and Student
Yukio finally spoke, voice hoarse.
"Why didn't you tell me you knew him?"
Shigure didn't look at him. "Because knowing... isn't the same as understanding."
Yukio turned. "Then help me understand! You knew Ryouji. You fought with him, didn't you? Were you both heroes? Or..."
Shigure's jaw tightened.
"We weren't heroes, Yukio. We were weapons."
A long silence followed. Then he sat beside Yukio, something he'd never done before.
"I trained under Ryouji. Learned from him. Admired him. But when he turned... when he chose destruction over salvation… I couldn't follow."
Yukio looked down. "And now I have his name. His blood. His curse."
Shigure's eyes narrowed. "You have his burden. But your choices are still your own."
---
The Sand Temple Ruins
At dawn, they arrived at the ruins of an old Ironblood facility—once a stronghold, now buried in sand and overrun with vines and crumbled stone.
"This place used to be a forge site," Shigure explained. "Where Ironblood Cores were purified… or destroyed."
Yukio stepped inside, the pendant tugging against his chest as if guiding him.
They passed through halls of cracked marble and broken statues—some of warriors, others of creatures Yukio couldn't name. In the center of the ruin lay a sealed chamber.
The moment Yukio stepped in, his blood screamed.
The air thickened. The walls pulsed. The pendant burned against his skin.
> "Welcome, Scion of Ruin..."
A voice—not spoken, but felt—rang out in the chamber.
---
Vision of the Fractured Sky
Yukio's eyes glazed over as his body froze.
He was no longer in the temple.
He stood in a different world—a floating battlefield in the sky, torn between light and darkness. A younger Ryouji floated in the air, wearing obsidian armor lined with gold. His face twisted in agony, hands stretched out as if holding the sky together.
Below him: two armies, screaming, dying.
Above him: a tear in reality—a black hole where stars bled out, leaking a red mist.
A woman stood beside him—her face hidden, but her voice unmistakable.
> "You can't save them, Ryouji. Only by destroying the old world... can the new one rise."
And he nodded.
> "Then let it burn."
Yukio screamed.
---
Return and Collapse
He crashed back into the real world with a gasp, blood leaking from his nose.
Shigure caught him before he collapsed.
"You saw it… didn't you?"
Yukio couldn't speak. Only one word escaped his lips:
"He gave up..."
Shigure looked away. "No. He chose. There's a difference."
---
A New Visitor – Cloaked in Red
Before they could leave the ruins, a strange whistle echoed through the corridors.
Someone else was here.
From the shadows emerged a tall man in crimson robes, a mask of ivory on his face and a chain wrapped around his arm.
"Yukio Kurobane," he said, voice polite but dangerous. "The Master sends his regards."
Shigure stepped forward, blade already drawn. "You're one of the Chainbearers."
The masked man bowed mockingly. "You're quick. Then you must also know you can't stop me."
He raised his arm—and the chain snapped like a whip, crashing toward them with unseen force.
---
Fight in the Temple of Echoes
The battle that followed was chaos.
Shigure and the Chainbearer clashed like two storms colliding. Blades, chains, and energy danced between ancient walls.
But the man wasn't here to kill. He was here to test.
Yukio, still weakened from the vision, barely stood, but his pendant pulsed again.
He whispered: "Awaken."
The pendant shattered—releasing a surge of energy that engulfed him in silver light.
His body lifted into the air, metal spiraling around him, forming gauntlets, a chestplate, and a mask of his own—the first stage of the Ironblood Core Form.
He struck.
The Chainbearer grunted as Yukio's punch connected, cracking the stone floor.
"Well done," the man said, staggering. "Then the chains truly have begun to tighten. The next one won't be so gentle."
With a flare of crimson, he vanished.
---
The Truth Behind the Curtain
As the dust settled, Yukio fell to his knees again.
"I don't want to be him," he whispered. "I don't want to become Ryouji."
Shigure placed a hand on his shoulder. "Then fight it. Forge a new path. That's what it means to be Ironblood."
---
Meanwhile… in the Black Citadel
The Master stood before a mirror made of obsidian. Images flickered—Yukio's awakening, the Chainbearer's retreat, the ruins glowing faintly with energy.
A woman in white knelt beside him.
"He resists."
The Master smiled.
"Good. He must resist. For resistance leads to suffering… and suffering to obedience."
He turned.
"And when the time comes, he'll kneel… just like Ryouji did."