"Heaven's Winter Cloak?"
The words fell like a bombshell. The moment the news broke, chaos erupted throughout the room—no one cared about arguing anymore.
"Heaven's Winter Cloak? What do you mean by that? Speak clearly!"
Trouble after trouble—it was enough to make Sirin's head throb.
"We just finished dealing with Everbreath, and now you're telling me Heaven's Winter Cloak is breaking free?"
The timing was far too suspicious.
And if Heaven's Winter Cloak was awakening…
What about the others?
Would the remaining Kami seize this opportunity to return to the mortal realm as well?
Everyone in the room was thinking the same thing.
"It's true!" The messenger's face was pale. He didn't want to believe it either, but the readings had been checked over and over. "The location of Heaven's Winter Cloak's seal is showing abnormal energy fluctuations. We've confirmed it multiple times—it matches Heaven's Winter Cloak's energy signature exactly!"
Sirin clenched her fists. The situation had suddenly deteriorated to the worst possible point—as if the world itself was on the brink of collapse.
Without another word, she turned and retrieved her Edict Edge from the table.
She knew exactly where the Twelve Kami had been sealed.
Each location was under constant observation. Everbreath's site had been no exception—which was why she had argued so fiercely earlier.
Today's catastrophe had been both natural and man-made. If they had paid closer attention to the seals—if they had reported anomalies immediately—things might not have gone this far…
Her expression darkened. Without staying for the rest of the meeting, Sirin slung the Edict Edge over her shoulder and walked out, intent on acting alone.
"Welt, I'll need you to go check the site of the disturbance," Himeko said.
"I know what to do."
Welt nodded once and left as well. He had no intention of staying for whatever came next.
After both Sirin and Welt were gone, someone finally spoke.
"This can't go on. If we keep letting them act together, something bad is bound to happen."
...
At the ruins where Everbreath had fallen.
Kiana and Mei sat side by side in silence. Neither spoke.
Though they sat close, their thoughts were worlds apart.
Until Sirin returned.
Kiana, deep in thought about what to do next, looked up in surprise. "Sirin? You're back?"
Sirin arrived at just the right moment—and immediately noticed the strange quiet between Kiana and Raiden Mei.
A pang of guilt struck her.
After all, to her, Kiana's intentions were clear—she wanted to save Izumo.
But those people…
Especially that old fool, Welt.
She would settle things with him one day.
"Heaven's Winter Cloak is emerging."
The words hit like a hammer. Sirin felt almost apologetic toward Kiana. Welt and the others had still been doubting her—even though Kiana had surely already guessed as much.
Mei's head snapped up. The name triggered an instinctive reaction.
"Heaven's Winter Cloak?"
"It's as strong as Everbreath was," Sirin confirmed grimly. "The command center detected its energy fluctuations—it's likely about to manifest."
Everbreath had just been slain.
For another Kami to appear so soon—it was unthinkable.
No… it had to be the Honkai. The Honkai's spread had strengthened the Kami and, in turn, weakened their seals.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's move!"
Even after staying in a high-concentration Honkai zone, Kiana's Herrscher progression hadn't dropped much. "You can take me straight to the seal site, right?"
Sirin blinked, then her eyes lit up. "Wait—you mean…"
"Exactly."
Kiana nodded, her tone decisive. "We strike first. If we act later, we'll suffer for it. Why not enter the sealed space directly and destroy them before they can return?"
"While I still have the strength to do it."
The sudden activity of Heaven's Winter Cloak could only mean one thing—it had already fused with the Honkai, becoming a Honkai creature.
As long as it was a Honkai creature, Kiana feared nothing. In her current state, she was the natural nemesis of all beings born of the Honkai.
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought to make use of that fact earlier.
Kami weren't Herrschers—they were sealed in fixed locations. There was no need to wait for them to emerge. As long as they had the power, they could charge into the seals themselves and destroy the Kami before they awakened.
Attack was always the best form of defense.
She had been the one who slew Everbreath, yet instead of honor, she was met with suspicion.
Sirin felt a deep ache in her chest.
Just because Kiana wasn't from Izumo?
Even though she had been treated unfairly, Kiana never complained. When she heard that Heaven's Winter Cloak was acting up, she immediately prepared to help.
"Is your body still able to fight?"
She hadn't rested for long. Mei had seen with her own eyes how exhausted Kiana's body had been earlier.
She had thought Kiana would have more time to recover, but the news about Heaven's Winter Cloak had arrived far too soon.
"I can."
"Thank you for your help—and… I'm sorry. I couldn't convince those rotten old fools, or that bastard Welt. They're not people worth your trust."
After wrestling with her conscience, Sirin finally said what she shouldn't have.
Mei glanced at her, surprised.
Kiana was taken aback as well. "Sirin, what are you talking about?"
"I know you're strong, and that you genuinely want to help Izumo. What I'm saying now may sound out of place—but as a friend, I'm warning you: don't put too much faith in those who approach you."
She left it at that.
She feared that certain fools, blind to the truth, might set traps—and that Kiana, too kind for her own good, would walk right into them.
Kiana was too easy to trust others.
Kiana let out a helpless chuckle. "Don't worry. I'm not bothered by any of that. Really. I don't care what strangers think of me. My heart's plenty big."
Sirin glanced at Raiden Mei, then nodded. "Good. That's how it should be."
If Kiana could think that way, it was the best outcome. Those people weren't worth her concern. As long as she didn't care, they couldn't hurt her.
She drew a portal open. "Let's go. We'll check Heaven's Winter Cloak's situation ourselves."
Sakura likely thought the same—they were on the same side. Once Heaven's Winter Cloak was slain, they would gain another Sentinel for the Edict Edge.
Kiana didn't hesitate to follow, with Mei close behind—though her mind lingered on Sirin's warning, wondering what she truly meant.
On the other side of the portal lay a vast glacier.
Kiana had steeled herself mentally before coming—but even so, the sight before her exceeded all expectations.
She had thought Heaven's Winter Cloak would still be within its seal, struggling to break free. But that wasn't the case.
When they arrived, they saw a gravely wounded Kami—barely alive—rolling weakly from a rift in space.
And behind that Kami, from within the rift, stepped out a man who could still—barely—be recognized as human.
Compared to the Kami's immense size, he seemed insignificant. Yet no one could ignore him. The moment they saw him, a chill crawled up their spines, and a single thought arose in everyone's mind.
He was more terrifying than a Kami.
"You're… human?"
Welt, who had been waiting there, saw more than Kiana and the others arriving later.
"Oh?"
The man with short white hair turned toward Welt—or more accurately, toward the Edict Edge in his hand, the demon horns and hand he bore. His body was almost entirely Oni-like.
"The Sentinel of Truth, is it?"
He was like a block of cold, emotionless ice—only when he caught sight of the Edict Edge did a faint ripple appear in his eyes.
"Who are you?"
Kevin?!
Though his form was almost unrecognizable, the moment Kiana saw that man's face, one name flashed through her mind—Kevin.
There was no doubt about it…
"Me? That sort of thing… I can't really remember anymore. But you can call me—White-Haired Oni."
The moment the word Oni left his lips, tension rippled through the gathered crowd. They were the Sentinels who had followed Welt to investigate Heaven's Winter Cloak's disturbance.
"White-Haired Oni?"
A human who had fallen into a Kami?
Yet he still seemed rational—and why had he emerged alongside Heaven's Winter Cloak from within the seal?
Welt took a step forward, unflinching. "Who are you really? Human… or demon?"
White-Haired Oni's attention shifted then—toward Yae Sakura, who was holding the incomplete Frost Edict Edge. He raised his hand, and without warning, Frost flew out of Sakura's grasp and landed neatly in his palm.
Sakura's eyes narrowed. She hadn't expected the blade to be snatched away—it had moved too fast for her to react.
"Frost!"
Seeing this, Sirin panicked and was about to rush forward—but Kiana grabbed her arm.
"Wait."
Kiana's expression turned grave as her gaze moved to Heaven's Winter Cloak, lying barely alive on the icy ground. This Kami hadn't fused with the Honkai.
It wasn't a Honkai creature.
Its wounds weren't fresh either—and Kiana suddenly felt a chilling realization.
"Don't stop me! That blade can't be in the hands of a demon!" Sirin shouted, agitated.
The White-Haired Oni glanced at her, but his eyes weren't on them—they were fixed on their blades.
The Sky Edict Edge, and the Howl Edict Edge.
"He doesn't mean us harm."
He was… an ally of those who hunted Kami.
With the Frost Edict Edge in hand, the White-Haired Oni swung once, severing Heaven's Winter Cloak's head. The Kami's body—his eternal foe through countless nights—was offered as a blade sacrifice, completing the Frost Edict Edge at last.
Only after dealing with this hidden threat did he speak again. "How long has it been since Takamagahara invaded?"
How long… since the invasion?
Welt's face remained composed, but inside, waves of shock crashed violently. That question alone revealed something terrifying. He locked his gaze on the man before him, who radiated suffocating pressure.
He was powerful.
To slay Heaven's Winter Cloak alone—his strength was undoubtedly far beyond that of the Kami he had just killed.
"One thousand, one hundred and thirty-two years," Welt replied.
The White-Haired Oni fell silent for a long moment. He hadn't expected so much time to have passed since their age.
Their sacrifices had bought Izumo over a millennium of peace. Perhaps… that counted for something.
"Are you the one who leads this era?"
"Who… exactly are you?"
"White-Haired Oni," he said calmly. "Also known as one of your 'Predecessors'."
"Impossible!" Welt's composure broke. He couldn't help but shout, instinctively rejecting the idea. "No human could live for over a thousand years!"
Even Kiana was dumbfounded. She had wondered before why she'd never heard mention of a White-Haired Oni in Izumo's current era.
She hadn't expected him to be like his counterpart from Honkai Impact 3rd—an ancient relic from a bygone age.
And to think… he'd been sealed away alongside Heaven's Winter Cloak!
Izumo's demon-slaying history spanned over a thousand years—and he had lived through every one of them.
Sealed together with the Kami, locked in battle against Heaven's Winter Cloak for centuries—and even emerged victorious?!
Without an Edict Edge?!
…Truly, a terrifying man.
"Harnessing the power of the Kami makes it possible. Have you made no progress in all this time?"
The White-Haired Oni frowned as he glanced over the gathered Sentinels—half of whose bodies bore signs of Oni corruption.
"You… you've mastered demonic power? You retained your humanity even under the curse's erosion?!"
"No one told you? The first generation of 'Predecessors'—were all like me. We seized the power of the Kami themselves."
Sovereign of Revelation had been forged from countless human lives. Back then, before the Edict Edges existed, the only way to gain the strength to rival the Kami was through cursed blades—and sacrifice.
At Izumo's brink of annihilation, he and his comrades had volunteered for a human experiment—one with a near one-hundred percent chance of failure.
He could no longer remember how many of them had fallen into corruption, transforming into Oni, or how many comrades he had personally slain. By the end of it, fewer than a hundred survived.
During the assault on Sovereign of Revelation, another eighty percent of those survivors perished, leaving only a dozen still alive.
They had believed that killing Sovereign of Revelation would herald victory—that they could then exterminate the remaining Kami one by one. But the Kami did not stand idle. After the Sovereign's fall, they launched a counterattack against the resistance.
There had been no other choice.
They gave everything they had—and in the end, they only managed to banish the remaining Eleven Kami.
At that time, in order to ensure the successful banishment of Heaven's Winter Cloak, he had chosen to be sealed away together with it.
In the blink of an eye, a thousand years had passed.
Everyone else had long since died, but he still lived. Not only that—amid the endless struggle against Heaven's Winter Cloak, he had seized a portion of its power and fused it into his own body.
On the path of Oni transformation—a road entirely separate from that of forging the Edict Edges—he had nearly reached the limits of what humanity could endure.
When Sirin heard him call himself a Predecessor, she relaxed slightly. "A Predecessor? So you mean you surpassed Heaven's Winter Cloak purely through Oni power?"
"Your body is almost entirely Oni-ified, yet you haven't fallen… how is that possible?"
"Luck and willpower—both are essential."
The White-Haired Oni picked up the now-complete Frost Edict Edge, examined it briefly, and returned it to Yae Sakura. "Use its power well. The time left to us is short."
"Time? What do you mean?"
"…The time left for Izumo is short. We must prepare to face all the Kami."
There was a weight in his voice as he continued, "A new and unknown power has appeared in Izumo—a power that merges with the Kami. The altered Kami will soon return from their exile. If we don't finish them quickly, what awaits Izumo will be a catastrophe far worse than that of a thousand years ago."
"The unknown power you speak of—we've already encountered it. Just two hours ago, Everbreath appeared, bringing a storm that annihilated an entire continent. That calamity is called Honkai."
In truth, the White-Haired Oni's strength had not truly surpassed Heaven's Winter Cloak. The only reason he'd managed to win was because Heaven's Winter Cloak had been weakened by that alien energy, giving him the chance to turn the tide.
Through countless battles, his combat instincts had been honed to perfection.
"You defeated Everbreath?"
The White-Haired Oni looked genuinely astonished. He hadn't sensed such overwhelming strength from these successors—and by his estimation, once a Kami fully merged with that foreign energy, its power would only grow even more fearsome.