The wind shifted.
Where once the air was choked with the scent of ash and death, now it carried a subtle hum… a hum of something awakening.
Raien Kagatsuki once Ren Akagawa stood barefoot on the fractured stone, hair rustling in the breeze, his crimson eye flickering with unfamiliar clarity. Around him, silence reigned. Not peace but hesitation. Fear. Hope. Confusion.
Kesshō finally sheathed his blade but kept a hand on the hilt.
"He's... stable, for now," he muttered.
Lorth growled lowly, fists trembling. "This farce ends soon."
"No," Arisa said quietly, never looking away from Raien. "It's only just begun."
High above far, far beyond the skies of Deep Beneath, Lucien Veylor stood atop a floating mass of obsidian rock, wrapped in demonic flame. The Sky Tear hovered above his hand, suspended by invisible chains of power, pulsing in rhythm with the world's heartbeat.
"Raien Kagatsuki… A new name, a new vessel," Lucien whispered, eyes closed. "So… my dear Azakael's legacy is not yet buried. Fine then."
He raised the Sky Tear higher. A crimson bolt shot upward from it, tearing the heavens apart.
"All across the world, they will hear the sound of his return."
Back in the ruins.
Velmira stood, her injuries still fresh, her face pale but eyes burning with resolve.
"We can't stay here. Kaigenshiro's no longer a city it's a graveyard."
"I'll handle the burial rites," Elden said solemnly. "The spirits… they deserve that much."
Arisa looked at Raien.
He wasn't trembling. He wasn't confused.
He was… still.
Too still.
"You're not afraid anymore," she said quietly.
Raien looked up at the shattered sky. "I'm not… but something inside me is. Something is screaming."
Souta approached again, slower this time.
"Ren… Raien… whatever you are now… if there's even a piece of you still in there, then we're not leaving you behind. Got it?"
Raien didn't respond. He turned his head, toward the far east.
"There's something calling to me," he said.
"Calling?" Kesshō frowned.
Raien nodded. "A song… no, a memory. It's buried deep, and it's trying to wake up. I need to find it."
Lorth stepped forward, voice coated in venom. "Or maybe it's the demon inside you trying to break loose again."
Raien turned slowly, and for a moment… the air warped around him. His shadow twisted unnaturally. Even the wind dared not breathe.
"Say that again," Raien said, voice quiet.
Lorth drew his blade.
And in a blur Raien vanished.
Appeared behind Lorth.
No one saw it happen.
Only the result.
Lorth collapsed to one knee, blood dripping from his arm. Raien stood over him, unarmed. His fingers trembled… from restraint.
"I didn't attack," he whispered. "I warned you."
Lorth snarled, holding his wound. Arisa stepped between them, arms outstretched.
"That's enough! Lorth, if you attack him again… I'll stand in your way. I don't care what my title is anymore."
"You don't have a title," he spat.
"Exactly," she smiled bitterly. "Which means I finally have something real to fight for."
Elsewhere.
In the burning remnants of the eastern continent, deep beneath the earth… a child wept.
Her tears carved a glowing circle into the dirt.
And as she cried… ancient voices whispered.
A single name echoed through the soil.
Raien Kagatsuki.
The demons stirred in the catacombs.
And far beyond, in the void between worlds… something laughed.
A massive, slumbering creature began to open its eye blacker than the void itself, with rings of deep violet.
A chained voice boomed within the dark.
"He is waking up. My son… the Crimson Crown… will rise again."
Back with the group.
Souta whispered, "What do we do now?"
Raien looked up again, skyward, his long white hair flickering in the growing wind.
He didn't smile.
He didn't cry.
He simply said, "We go east. That's where the song leads."
Kesshō nodded. "Then that's where we go."
Arisa looked back one final time, at the graves of Kaigenshiro.
Then forward.
The winds howled… and the journey to the truth of Raien's name began.