The corpse Kai dragged across the marble left a thick trail of red behind it. He felt Alexandria's gaze on him
He wiped a smear of blood from his cheek.
"…Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
She said nothing.
He frowned. "I don't get it. What's wrong?"
Alexandria's eyes drifted around the throne room. With a small nudge of her chin, she told him to look.
There was blood everywhere, An arm dangled from the chandelier, guts all over the floor, Marcus's body remained impaled against the stone, mouth open in a silent scream.
Kai looked down at himself: his armor almost mimicked the scenery around him, his hands were red to the wrist. The mound of corpses he had stacked up could make even the bravest of men shiver in horror
"…Alright," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe I overdid it. A little."
A crack echoed above.
The arm on the chandelier fell.
It landed on his shoulder and slowly slid off.
Kai shut his eyes. "…Fine. A lot. I overdid it a lot."
Alexandria let out the smallest exhale. "It's not just about the mess. It's the way you went about it."
"…Me?"
"You were enjoying it," she said softly.
"The look in your eyes… the smile… everything."
"Did hurting them make you feel accomplished?"
"Did you feel yourself getting stronger afterward?"
" I really don't like where this is going," Kai said.
"That's because we both know what it was," she answered. "A dark desire."
The term hung heavy.
Dark desires.
The twisted urges buried deep in the mind of anyone born with a Curse.
The desire to kill.
The desire to take what isn't yours.
The desire to watch someone suffer.
The desire to destroy.
And countless more—collectively known as the desire to do all that is evil.
"When Curse users give in," Alexandria said, "their power grows… but their desires take over. Until that feeling is all they are."
"And then the order steps in."
"I've read case files," she went on. "Hundreds. Even the ones who fight the urges end up weaker than what they could've been. They spend their whole lives fighting themselves."
"So you think chasing strength, especially for people like us...is suicide or insanity." Kai's voice was calm.
"Did i get that right?"
Alexandria remained silent.
Then Kai let out a short laugh. "So that's what this is. That's why you don't want to learn how to fight"
Alexandria's eye twitched. "What is so funny?"
"Nothing, nothing it's just…"
He straightened. His voice became firmer
"Let me ask you something."
She hesitated. "…Go on."
"Why should any of that matter?"
Alexandria blinked. "Were you even listening?"
"I listened." He tapped his temple. "Every word."
He stepped closer.
"But have you ever looked at it from this angle?"
"Dark desires. The Order. All of it."
"They only get in the way of people who are weaker than them."
He looked down at his hands for a second before continuing.
"Being powerless against someone else… being at their mercy…"
His jaw tightened.
"I hate that feeling more than anything."
Kai lifted his eyes to hers.
"The day I got my powers, I made myself one promise: I will become so strong that no one can ever make me feel that way again."
"So you have two choices, Alexandria. Stay as you are—live your life at the mercy of whatever fear, desire, or organization decides to push you around…"
"Or—"
"Become strong enough that everything that once chained you becomes so small… so irrelevant… that you forget they ever mattered at all."
"You make it sound so simple."
"Because it is," Kai said. "You either can, or you can't."
"Wanna hear my thoughts on it?" a third voice said.
Kai and Alexandria froze.
That voice had been far too close.
Slowly, they turned.
A blue-haired girl stood a few meters away, with a blank expression. It was almost as if she had been there the entire time.
Alexandria's heart thudded. How did she get that close? I didn't sense her at all."
"No objections?" the girl said. "Okay, well I thi—"
Kai was already moving.
He lunged forward and swung Bane in a fast, deadly arc meant to cut her down in one hit.
But before the blade could reach her, red strings snapped out from every corner of the throne room.
One wrapped around his wrist.
Another coiled around his forearm.
Two more shot down from the ceiling and looped around his elbow and shoulder.
In less than a second, his entire arm was yanked backward, and Bane slipped from his grip.
Kai gritted his teeth and tried to wrench free, but the strings only dug deeper.
The girl tilted her head. "Hmm."
"Those should've torn your arm clean off. You're sturdier than you look."
Her fingers flicked.
More strings came out through her finger tips, these ones had sharp pointy ends, and all of them were headed straight for Kai
Seeing no other choice, Kai pulled inward with all his might against the strings holding his arm. There was a series of sickening pops and tears as the threads ripped free from their hidden anchors in the walls and floor.
He instinctively raised his arms to protect his vital organs from incoming attacks.
Th-thunk!
They punched deep into the dense muscle of his forearms but went no further. Blood welled and began to drip steadily onto the floor
Before she could pull back, Kai seized the very threads she was controlling and yanked
It was so hard that the girl was pulled off her feet, stumbling forward. Kai's fist was already in motion.
Crack!
His punch slammed into her face, sending her skidding across the marble. A clean cut opened on her cherry-colored lips.
She touched it, looked at the blood on her fingers, and giggled. "Didn't anyone tell you hitting a girl is a huge red flag?"
"I don't like hitting girls," Kai said calmly, plucking the remaining threads from his arms. "But I make exceptions for the ones trying to kill me."
"Fair enough," she said, getting to her feet.
Kai nudged Bane upward with his foot, caught the handle mid-air, and shifted into a low stance. His muscles tensed, ready to launch.
"Kai… be careful with this one."
The warning caught him off guard.
"Her ability may look simple," Alexandria continued, eyes fixed on Vera, "but the way she uses it is…pure genius."
Kai glanced at her, surprised. Alexandria hadn't complimented anyone today, least of all him.
She stepped forward.
"Your name is Vera, isn't it?"
Vera arched a brow.
"When I realized you weren't part of that pile of bodies," Alexandria said, quieter now, "I was… a little relieved. I've wanted to see your ability up close."
Kai stiffened. Slowly, he turned toward her.
"I don't know how to fight," Alexandria continued, "but I pay attention. Gifts and curses… how people use them. It's always interested me."
"Because...."
She hesitated, then shook her head.
"Never mind."
She looked at Vera again.
"Just… do me a favor. Don't hold back, okay?"
Silence filled the room.
Kai stared at her, utterly baffled.
"What?" Alexandria said, shrugging.
"…Yeah," Vera said slowly. "that was weird."
"But,since Alex asked so nicely."
The air suddenly grew heavy
Vera's curse energy surged outwards. It was dense, heavy, and suffocating. The room trembled as if straining under the pressure.
"How can I say no?"
Grey fragments materialized around Vera, drifting like the remains of a broken statue.
They hovered, motionless.
Then
Chitter. Chitter.
Tiny red spiders spilled out from between the fragments, moving with terrifying precision. They stitched the pieces together, thread by thread, limb to limb, joint to joint. Binding everything with glowing red strands.
A shape emerged.
Tall.
Monstrous.
Spider-like.
When the last spider vanished, the construct stepped forward, positioning itself protectively between Vera and the others.
Vera's voice dropped to a whisper, laced with pride.
"Meet her."
She smiled.
"The Loom Mother."