Prologue: The Crimson Eclipse
The sky bled.
It wasn't the sun that set that evening—it was something far more ancient. As the last rays of gold died behind the blackened hills, a second moon rose, drenched in crimson. The villagers of Torimura knew what it meant. They had seen the signs: cattle dying with eyes wide open, rivers freezing midstream, children whispering names they had never been taught.
And then came the bell.
One toll.Deep.Final.
Far below the earth, beneath stone and silence, something stirred.
Chapter One: The One Who Remained
He awoke in darkness, but he had never needed light.
For centuries, he had slumbered beneath the ruined temple—the weight of legends pressing against his sealed flesh. Chains forged from cursed prayers still bound his arms, though their magic had long faded. One by one, he flexed his fingers, and the dust of forgotten centuries fell away.
His name was forgotten to mortals. But the abyss remembered.
Kurogami.The Black God.The King of the Deep Flame.
His eyes opened—burning like twin coals in a furnace no longer sealed.
He stood, and the world trembled.
Chapter Two: The Temple Above
A young girl named Airi knelt near the altar, holding her breath. She had felt it—that cold wave that passed through the ground, the way her lantern dimmed despite no wind.
"Something moved beneath the temple," she whispered.
The priest laughed it off. "You read too many old scrolls."
But that night, the earth cracked open.
Airi watched in horror as the altar split, stone crumbling like dry leaves. From the shadows below, two horns rose—tall, curved like blades of obsidian. Then the face—ashen, flawless, cold. His red eyes locked onto her.
Not with hunger.Not with anger.But with a memory.
"You… You have her blood," the demon said, voice like thunder crawling through gravel.
Chapter Three: Bloodlines and Betrayals
Airi was the last descendant of the Onmyōji who had sealed Kurogami a thousand years ago. But what they hadn't known was this:
He had allowed it.
The seal. The exile. The sleep.
He had seen what humanity would become—blind, arrogant, drunk on borrowed divinity. And now that they had forgotten real gods, the Abyss King had risen—not for revenge, but for judgment.
Chapter Four: The Black Flame
Villages fell silent wherever Kurogami passed. Not from death—but awe. His power was not just destruction—it was memory. The earth recalled his footsteps, fire re-learned his language, and even the dead stirred when he spoke.
But something was wrong.
A second presence followed him—watching from the realm between shadow and flame. A being that had waited longer than even he. The one who had once betrayed him.
His brother.Akuro.The Fallen Light.
Chapter Five: Rise of the Forgotten
Airi followed him—not as an enemy, but as a key. Her blood carried the seal, yes—but also the song. A forgotten hymn, passed by her ancestors in dreams and lullabies.
And in the deepest forest, at the edge of the Demon Realm, she sang it.
Not to bind him again—But to awaken his full form.
Wings spread like storm clouds. Horns burned with cosmic fire. The chains shattered. And for the first time in a thousand years, the world saw the true face of the abyss:
Not evil.Not mercy.But balance.
⚔️ To Be Continued...
Chapter Six: The Ghost of Fire
The forest was burning.
Not with flames of orange or gold—but black, whispering fire. It crawled through the trees like ink in water, devouring everything and yet leaving nothing scorched. This was no ordinary blaze. It was Yōen—the forbidden fire born from the soul of a demon king.
Kurogami stood at its center, unbothered.
His bare feet sank into the ash-laced soil, and his wings, dark as obsidian, curled protectively around the girl standing behind him.
Airi couldn't breathe. The air crackled with energy too ancient for human lungs. Her knees buckled, but a single glance from him steadied her.
"You're changing," she whispered.
Kurogami turned. "No. I'm returning."
The Hymn of Unsealing
Hours ago, her voice had unlocked a seal etched not in stone, but in memory. The old songs weren't spells—they were codes, written in the blood of those who had once worshipped the Abyss.
She hadn't just unsealed Kurogami.
She had awakened the Palace of the Black Flame.
Now, beneath their feet, a cathedral of molten stone began to rise from the earth—slowly, like a god stretching after endless sleep. Spires twisted into the clouds. Doors larger than towers groaned open.
Within it lay the Kuro-no-Mikage — the Mirror of Shadows — capable of showing any soul their truest form.
Kurogami needed it.
But he was not the only one searching.
The One Who Watches
Above them, hidden in the dark folds of cloud, a creature hovered without wings.
His name was Akuro—Kurogami's twin and rival. Once a god of light, Akuro had betrayed the ancient pantheon, feeding mortal empires in exchange for worship and war.
Where Kurogami represented truth in shadow, Akuro offered salvation through control.
Now, sensing his brother's return, Akuro descended.
Airi looked up, her voice caught in her throat.
He looked almost like Kurogami—but the light in his eyes was wrong. It was too bright. Too perfect. The kind of light that burns instead of warms.
The First Clash
"Little brother," Akuro said, landing in silence.
Kurogami didn't respond.
"You awaken your palace. You draw your blade. Do you still pretend you can fix a world that no longer remembers you?"
"I don't fix," Kurogami said. "I judge."
Their words cracked the ground between them. Airi screamed as both gods moved—faster than sound, faster than thought.
Sparks lit the forest. The trees bent away. The earth split like paper.
A sword of pure black fire met a spear of crystallized light.
And in that clash—reality itself blinked.
Airi's Vision
Thrown back by the force, Airi struck the base of a tree and blacked out.
But in the darkness of unconsciousness, something else stirred.
She saw a throne of bones. A child crying in an empty temple. A woman—her ancestor—standing over a sealed gate, singing the same hymn she had sung just hours ago.
Then, a voice.
"The seal was never to protect the world from him…It was to protect him from the world."
Airi gasped and awoke.
Blood dripped from her nose. Her head throbbed. But her eyes focused on the battlefield.
And she screamed—
"STOP!"
⚫ To Be Continued.