Closing Arc 1 The Shadow Awakens
The eastern quarter of Kurokasa was a dead zone.
No guards, no merchants, no sound of life — only the jagged silhouette of the Glass Spire piercing the sky like a shard of frozen lightning. Its surface reflected the moonlight in fractured patterns, making it seem alive, as if the structure itself was watching.
Reiji stood at its base, feeling the air shift around him. The walls were not smooth glass, but countless plates fused together, each etched with symbols that shimmered faintly when touched by shadow. His reflection stared back at him from every angle, each one slightly different — some older, some bloodied, some unrecognizable.
He entered through a narrow seam that opened without a sound. Inside, the Spire was a hollow tower, its core a spiraling column of glass platforms suspended in the air by invisible forces. No stairs. No visible support. Only a vertical labyrinth.
A whisper slithered through the chamber.
> "Every step is a choice… every choice leaves a scar."
The voice was not in his ears, but inside his thoughts.
Reiji stepped onto the first platform, and it moved — not up or down, but through a shifting maze of translucent walls. Each passage revealed fragments of memory: the day he took his first life, the faces of those who had begged for mercy, the moments he had doubted himself.
The Spire was not a building. It was a trial.
At the fourth platform, a figure appeared. Tall, faceless, wrapped in flowing black glass that reflected nothing.
> "Climber," it said, "your ascent ends here."
It attacked without warning. Every strike of its blade shattered the floor beneath them, sending shards spinning into the abyss. Reiji's movements became sharper, faster, his instincts taking over. This wasn't a battle for survival — it was a battle for identity.
The figure's voice cut through the clash of steel.
> "You are not Reiji. You are the shadow he left behind."
For a moment, he faltered — and the figure's blade pierced his side. But instead of blood, a black mist poured from the wound, curling around him like smoke. The Spire's walls pulsed, as if feeding on the sight.
Reiji gritted his teeth, pushing forward. His counterattack was precise, calculated. With one final strike, he shattered the faceless figure into a thousand splinters, each one screaming as it dissolved into nothing.
The platform rose, taking him to the very top of the Glass Spire.
There, suspended in the air, was a crystal sphere — within it, the image of Kurokasa… and threads of red light connecting every name, every power, every secret the Court feared.
He reached out. The sphere cracked under his touch, and the threads unraveled into the night sky.
A voice echoed one last time.
> "Now the city will see you. And it will never look away."
Outside, the moon passed behind the clouds.
Far below, in the streets of Kurokasa, people whispered a new name — a name the Silent Court would learn to fear.
Shinomiya Reiji.