The sun hung low in the sky, casting an amber glow across the island's dense foliage. Shadows stretched long and far, curling like claws through the trees. Yet, despite the natural beauty, I felt no peace—only the pressure of a thousand boiling thoughts screaming within me. I paced outside the cabin, fists clenched, my breath sharp and uneven.
Inside, Satre lay resting. Her chest rose and fell in a slow, ragged rhythm. Every breath was a reminder—of how close I came to losing her, and how I had already lost Yura. Her mutilated form haunted my mind, a phantom stitched into my memory. The silence around me became suffocating. It wasn't just grief anymore—it was fury, and it demanded a target.
"I'll kill them," I muttered through gritted teeth. "Every last one of them."
Kyoko, in her small dragon form, fluttered down beside me. Her glowing eyes studied me with quiet concern. "Master, your aura… it's different."
Before I could respond, Sangui emerged from the shadows, his tone somber. "We received no new traces of the attackers… but something is stirring. The sky—it breathes with bad omens."
I stared toward the horizon. The sun was dying into red. "Then we train. Starting now."
They nodded without hesitation.
For hours, pain became my teacher. Sangui drew out the dormant darkness within me, testing my control with brutal sparring, arcane drills, and immersion in shadow magic. Kyoko refined my combat stances, helping me channel my inner rage without letting it consume me whole. My magic grew darker, denser—no longer a tool, but a presence.
"Master, you're changing," Kyoko whispered after a particularly vicious blast left a crater in the training field. My body trembled from the energy coursing through it, my eyes faintly glowing with a dark sheen.
"I can feel it," I said, voice low. "It's like something inside me has been waiting… and now it's waking up."
Sangui stepped forward, shadows licking at his heels. "Be cautious. This power may serve you, but it can just as easily consume you."
I met his gaze. "If it gets me to the truth faster… I'll take that risk."
As we trained under the rising moon, the world itself seemed to shift. The wind carried whispers—subtle, faint, but familiar. The voices. The same childish voices from before.
"Oh, it's starting now…"
"Yeah yeah, he's waking up…"
"Blood moon… see? Told you!"
I froze for a moment. "The blood moon?"
And then I saw it—high above, climbing the sky like a god's omen, was a crimson orb. The moon, dyed in blood. My breath caught. This wasn't coincidence. This was prophecy… or warning.
Just then, the door behind me creaked open.
"Shiro…" came a soft, broken voice.
I turned to see Satre, weakly standing in the doorway, one hand on the frame for balance. Her eyes met mine—dim, but burning with the fire I remembered.
"What happened…? Where are we?" she asked.
I moved quickly to support her. "You're safe now. On the island I've been staying at. Kyoko and Sangui are watching the perimeter."
She nodded slowly, trying to piece things together. "The pain… I remember. And Yura—"
My silence told her everything.
"She's gone, isn't she?" she whispered.
I swallowed hard. "I'm sorry."
A single tear slid down her cheek, but her hands curled into fists. "I should've been stronger. I couldn't protect her."
"No," I said firmly. "This is not your fault. The ones who did this… they're the ones who will suffer."
Satre's gaze hardened. "Then let me fight too. I won't let them take anyone else from us."
"You will," I promised. "But you need to heal first. Rest. I'll handle the rest for now."
She nodded, slowly returning to bed, exhaustion overtaking her again. I lingered by her side a moment longer, watching over her. Then I stepped outside, the full intensity of the blood moon illuminating the island in a red hue.
Kyoko and Sangui were already waiting.
"She's awake," I said. "But she needs time."
"And we?" Kyoko asked.
"We move before sunset finishes. The woman from the crystal—the pig-faced witch—she's the first link. We find her, then follow the chain to whoever calls themselves this so-called goddess of fertility."
Sangui nodded. "Understood."
As I looked toward the sky, crimson clouds veiling the moon, I knew what came next would change everything. This was no longer survival. This was war.
And when the blood moon reached its peak, the world would remember what happens when you raise a blade against me and mine.
You don't just lose.
You're erased.