The wind howled outside, carrying the bitter scent of sand and stone. When Hakari stepped into the mouth of the cave, he felt as though the world behind him vanished. The desert's endless horizon gave way to silence, and the silence gave way to a suffocating stillness that crawled beneath his skin.
The cave swallowed them whole. Shadows stretched like long, skeletal fingers across the jagged walls, and droplets of water fell at intervals that felt almost deliberate, each echo a heartbeat in the dark.
Weller lingered at the threshold, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. His eyes burned—not with fear, but with a wrath too long contained.
"I promise…" his voice rasped, low and broken, "I will find you. Waren. And when I do—" His jaw trembled as though war raged between mercy and vengeance. "—I will not kill you. I swear it."
Hakari turned, surprised by the venom in Weller's tone, but the man had already pushed deeper into the darkness. The others followed, silent, each carrying their own storm inside.
They were here for the Core.
They were here for Waren.
_____
Far away, in the cold depths of the Kohas dungeon, another storm stirred.
Akami's eyes snapped open. For a moment they were nothing but darkness—bottomless pits reflecting no light, no humanity. Then, with a shuddering breath, light returned, but not the light he once knew. A strange azure gleam swam in his left eye, burning brighter than fire, colder than death.
Above him, the world shifted.
In the royal palace, King Yami rose abruptly from his throne. His heart lurched, a cold fist clutching at his chest. The torches along the throne room's walls sputtered violently, shadows bending against the stone.
The king's ministers froze as they saw his face—eyes wide, skin pale, a fear so raw it stripped him of his crown's dignity.
"No…" Yami whispered. His voice broke, ragged. "Not him. Not again."
Without hesitation he summoned not guards, but an army of thousands. Steel clattered as the call echoed through the palace, and soldiers poured like a flood into the halls, rushing towards the dungeon, where akami and heena are kept captive.
But even as he gave the order, the king's hands trembled. He pressed his palm against his face as though trying to rip away the terror seared into him. His knees buckled, the weight of memory breaking him.
"How… how could it be?" His voice was not that of a king, but of a broken man. He lifted his gaze to the ceiling as if to the heavens, and for the first time in decades, tears welled in his eyes. "Please… please give them a chance, they are just childrens. I beg you. I promise it will not happen again!"
The ministers looked at one another, bewildered. None had ever seen the Balance of Three—the undefeated, unyielding king of Koha—reduced to this.
Then the air twisted.
From the far side of the throne room, a figure appeared. Its body was shaped like a man, carved in grotesque imitation of humanity, yet its face was a void. Not shadow, not flesh—an absence.
It spoke. Its voice was neither rage nor calm, but something eerily in between—flat, mechanical, like a doll wound with strings.
"Your time is over, Yami."
The king staggered backward. "No… no…"
"Even if you beg now," the figure continued, "the master has already seen. You tried to hide. You tried to bury truth, that you possess two great powers. But the master's eyes see all. You shall not speak another word of resistance."
Yami collapsed to his knees, sobs tearing from his throat. For decades he had ruled without shedding a tear, and yet before this faceless shadow he wept like a child.
"I beg you…" His voice cracked. "Do not—"
"You shall beg to the master, not to me." The figure tilted its head, stiff, inhuman. "And the master does not forgive. Prepare yourself. Soon we shall visit. And this time, we bring destruction."
The shadow dissolved into the air. Silence remained.
Yami's ministers rushed forward, trying to lift him, but the king would not rise. He stared blankly, lips trembling, whispering the same word over and over:
"What… what… what have I done?"
The ministers dared not speak. For the first time, they saw their king—the man whose very name had once made enemy nations surrender without a fight—broken, pale, afraid.
---
Meanwhile, the army reached the dungeon gates.
and when they drew near, a suffocating weight pressed down on their chests.
"What is this… this presence?" one soldier gasped, clutching at his throat.
"It feels like—" another stammered, "—like rage. Pure rage."
Though Akami was still deep within, chained in his cell, his fury seeped outward like a tide. It filled the corridors, crushed the hearts of men who had faced battle and blood. And this was only the echo of his awakening.
The soldiers hesitated, shoving one another forward.
"You go first."
"No—you!"
Finally, driven by duty or madness, they charged.
The deeper they ran, the stranger the dungeon became. The walls shimmered red, glowing as if blood had soaked into the walls. The air vibrated with low screams, whispers clawing at their ears, the rage of centuries condensed into sound.
Then they saw it.
Akami's cell was no longer a cell.
The walls pulsed with ancient script, glowing blood-red, symbols none of them recognized, but in all of these texts, there was a large mark on the wall, a arrow.
The iron bars lay shattered like brittle wood. And there, inside, Akami sat on the ground, his body trembling, his eye aflame with an azure dragon's mark.
"What… what is that on his eye?" a soldier whispered.
"A dragon. An azure dragon."
"What even is he?"
Before answers came, light blazed. A streak of lightning tore through the corridor, faster than thought. The soldiers froze for a heartbeat, then collapsed like wheat before a storm, unconscious, their bodies strewn across the stone.
Akami rose.
He walked slowly, his steps echoing. He pressed his fist to the wall, and with a single blow shattered it. Dust billowed. Beyond the rubble lay another cell.
And inside—Heena.
She lay unconscious, her clothes torn, her body frail.
Akami's chest heaved. For a fleeting second, his rage dimmed, replaced by something rawer. His hands shook as he lifted her gently, cradling her as though the world itself might break her if he faltered.
But the rage returned. It surged from him like a storm, filling the dungeon, tearing stone from ceiling and floor.
The dungeon had been built to suppress Codes. Here, no wielder could use commands . And yet Akami's energy spilled over, unstoppable. Walls cracked, ceilings groaned, the fortress itself bowed to his wrath.
A soldier, still barely conscious, crawled forward and seized Akami's ankle.
"I'm… I'm no hero. Just a man. But if I can stop you here… maybe my family…"
Akami looked down at him. For a moment, his fury softened at the man's bravery. Then the ceiling collapsed.
The cells shattered. The dungeon crumbled.
When the dust cleared, Akami stood unbroken, Heena in his arms. Behind him floated a storm of arrows—thousands, suspended in the air, each carrying a unconscious soldier,glowing with azure energy.
The backup army arrived and froze at the sight.
"What… what is this?" one whispered.
"Impossible…" another choked. "Who is he?"
Akami's lips barely moved. "Down."
The arrows obeyed. They descended, not as a storm of death but as a gentle hand, lowering the unconscious soldiers to the ground.
The backup army, stunned, still drew blades. Their mission was clear: capture Akami.
"Haaaaaa!" they screamed, rushing forward.
But the moment they neared him, their knees buckled. The sheer pressure of his presence forced them down, choking them into submission.
Akami's voice was cold, merciless.
"Remember this. If you ever touch my sister—or any of my family—again, not only you… but the whole of Koha will pay."
"You…" one soldier rasped, defiant even as he trembled. "You are a Code-holder. Chosen by the god. You were meant to be a hero."
Akami's gaze darkened.
"I don't know you. Or your god. But I will protect people. Save people. Play your hero."
The soldier's eyes widened.
Akami leaned forward, his voice low, deadly.
"But tell me this… if I can do this much for strangers— what will I not do for my family."
Silence fell. None dared move.
Step by step, Akami carried Heena toward the royal palace.
---
Meanwhile, Hakari and the others pressed deeper into the Cave of Mura.
The air grew colder, damper, the walls narrowing into jagged teeth. Nicolas walked with eyes closed, sensing, calculating. Weller's eyes darted restlessly, searching for Waren. Kage clutched his chest, an ache gnawing at him he couldn't name.
Then Yushi broke the silence.
"Hey… why don't we talk? Why stay so quiet?"
Weller hissed. "Because you idiot, if he detects us, if he knows we're here, he'll shift the whole cave instantly,Leaving us behind for nothing.Keep your damn mouth shut."
Yushi frowned, but words died on his tongue. His body stiffened. Something called him. Slowly, unknowingly, he drifted toward the left wall. His hand touched stone. His eyes glazed. Without a sound, he slipped through a narrow crack.
Moments later, Weller turned. "Hey—Yushi. Where are you?"
Hakari spun around. Empty. The wall behind them was split open.
"Shit." Weller cursed. "He went in there."
Nicolas growled. "Listen. Hakari and I will go after him. You two—Kage, Weller—keep moving. Find Waren. That is the mission."
"But—"
"It wasn't a request." Nicolas' tone was steel. "Go."
Reluctantly, Kage and Weller pressed onward, while Hakari followed Nicolas into the narrowing paths.
The tunnels split into three. Nicolas pointed left. "This way."
"No. Right," Hakari argued.
"I've been here before," Nicolas snapped. "It's left."
"I have too," Hakari countered. "If we choose wrong, we're trapped in nightmares."
The air thickened. The walls groaned. Their words twisted, echoing back at them in distorted tones.
Meanwhile, deeper in another passage, Kage and Weller marked the walls to keep track of their path. Yet no matter how far they walked, the marks repeated. They were looping, trapped.
Kage's breath quickened. His body shook.
"This is the fourth time," he whispered. "I swear it. We marked here. But now it's upside down."
The cave laughed with silence.
They had been turned upside down—gravity itself betraying them.
The Cave of Mura had no mercy.
And Yushi was already gone.
---