As the warmth of her sister's arms wrapped around Koharu's entire being, the endless storm in her mind ceased for a fleeting moment. The words she had waited her whole life to hear filled her ears like the notes of a favorite song: "You are our pride, Koharu."
Koharu's hands rose to return the embrace. Her fingertips trembled as they reached for that soft silk fabric, desperate to hold onto this reality. She closed her eyes. For just a second, perhaps less... she felt like she finally belonged. She felt wanted.
But in that very instant, a string snapped in the depths of her soul.
What she felt as her fingertips brushed the clothing was not the pure happiness she had expected. Instead, she recoiled as if a foreign venom had been injected into her veins. Without opening her eyes, she murmured in a trembling voice:
"Pride?"
Her sister pulled back and took Koharu's face in her hands. Her gaze was so tender, so full of love. "Yes, darling. You always were. We were just too blind to see it."
Koharu smiled slowly, but the smile did not reach her heart. It was a smile of farewell. She gently lowered her sister's hands from her face.
"No," Koharu said, her voice barely a whisper. "This... this is too much."
"I don't understand?" her sister said, her brow furrowing slightly.
"Every word you say, every way you look at me... it's too perfect." Koharu took a step back, looking up at the sunlight in the marble courtyard and the shining sky. "I can feel the warmth in your heart, the regret in your voice. But there is a problem..."
Koharu's eyes suddenly flared with her unique aura. She fixed her gaze on her sister's chest, the place where that false heart resided.
She saw it.
It wasn't a heart. It was a rotting mass. Black. Dense. A darkness leaking from it, suffocating everything around.
"I have never had a love like this," Koharu said. A single tear escaped her eye, but her voice had turned to steel. "Something like this... does not exist for me. It never has. And it never will."
Her sister lunged toward her in a panic. "Koharu, what are you saying? I'm right here! I love you!"
Koharu shook her head. "You cannot deceive me, because I have built this scene in my dreams every single night. I know it down to the smallest detail. But the real world... the real world hurts. The real world breaks me a little more every day. Your words... they are too light. They hold no weight against the burden I carry."
She took a deep breath. The small child in the darkest corner of her heart was screaming to cling to this illusion.
"If I stayed just a little longer..." she whispered to herself. "Just a few more minutes... everything would feel real. Maybe I could have believed."
But Koharu placed her hand over her own heart. She felt the endless ache, the cold loneliness. That ache was real. That ache was who she was.
"This place does not belong to me," Koharu said loudly, her voice trembling but tethered to the harshness of reality. "The only thing that belongs to me is the cold truth outside of this lie."
These words tore a deep rift in the smooth fabric of the illusion. Her sister's noble features glitched like a corrupted recording. The tender eyes became pitch-black, hollow pits.
"Hahaha!"
Her sister's soft voice turned into a grating rasp, like glass grinding against glass. "...So, our fake love wasn't sweet enough for you?" She gripped Koharu's chin hard with long, claw-like fingers. "Since you won't be fooled, you'll go straight into my stomach! Wait your turn, you little bitch!"
The others have fallen for the trap... Waking up alone isn't enough... I have to save everyone!
She remembered the moment she had touched Shinju's soul, calming the massive storm in his mind. She knew how souls were connected, how pain met at a common frequency. She funneled all her power into her eyes.
Koharu slammed her hands together with a thunderous crack. The light leaking from her palms was no longer a princess's faint aura; it was the scream of a raw, searing truth.
"Aurora Resonance: Soul Purification!"
A burst of crystalline white light exploded from Koharu, rippling outward in waves. The light hit the false worlds in the minds of Shinju, Swen, and Aurelia like a sledgehammer. The face of Shinju's mother, the voice of Swen's brother, and Aurelia's Sovereign... all crumbled into dust under this holy light. The purification act washed away the lies like acid, returning everything to its original, cold, and sooty form.
The holy light wiped everything away. Shinju woke with the remnants of a peaceful smile, only to find himself in a nightmare.
"MOTHERRR!"
Swen's scream sliced through the sooty silence of the forest. Shinju's blood ran cold. A massive chimera had pinned Swen to the ground, trapping her under a sticky web of pitch-black hair. The creature was about to sink its teeth into her throat.
Shinju's body reacted instinctively. He flicked his right hand, sending seven silver Yin needles hissing through the air to pierce the creature's head. It collapsed onto Swen, a lifeless mass.
"Swen! Hang on!" Aurelia threw the chimera's heavy carcass off Swen with a single heave.
"Get this sticky filth off me!" Swen cried out, trembling as she struggled to breathe. Her face was as pale as chalk. When they finally helped her up, she looked around with tearful eyes. "How can this be? A moment ago... I was raising a glass. Everyone was there... My brother was there. It was the best day of my life, and then it turned into this."
Aurelia's pride was gone, replaced by a raw fury. "It was a trap. They used our weakest points to drown us in happiness."
They all looked at Koharu. She was on her knees, blood trickling from her nose—the price of her power. Shinju placed a hand on her shoulder. "You brought us back, Koharu. If you hadn't lit that light... we would have died smiling."
Koharu stood up slowly, wiping the blood with her hand. "If I was of some use, then I am happy," she whispered.
In that moment, Aurelia took a step toward her and lowered her head. "Koharu... I apologize for belittling you. I saw you as a burden, but I was wrong. You were the strongest among us. You have a truly powerful soul."
Koharu met Aurelia's words with a sincere, warm smile. But the moment was broken by Swen's voice. "There's something very wrong here. Come quickly!"
They gathered around the dead chimera. Fused into its back were dozens of human faces, their eyes rolling in agony.
"P... a... i... n..."
The sound was a hollow echo vibrating from within the beast. Koharu gasped. "Shinju, stop... they're still in there. Every one of these faces has its own consciousness."
Another face, a young woman, whispered: "St... stop it..."
Shinju ground his teeth. He had slain thousands of monsters, but now, he was being asked to end a lingering agony. He stepped forward, summoning a single Yin needle. His hand trembled. For the first time, he was using his power to grant mercy.
A face in the center locked eyes with Shinju—it was calm and filled with acceptance. "Please," it said clearly. "End it. We don't want to feel anymore."
The request hit Shinju's heart like a sledgehammer. He took a deep breath and sent the needles into the center of each forehead. As the final needle struck... the silence was absolute.
The groans, the whispers... all vanished into nothingness.
Shinju's hand remained suspended. His needles dissipated. His fingers... were still shaking. No one spoke. Swen took a step back, her eyes locked on the motionless faces. Aurelia bowed her head. Koharu's breath came in short, jagged gasps.
The wind began to blow again, but the voices were gone. Shinju slowly opened his eyes. They were empty. For a fleeting second, he heard it again: "...My son..."
He closed his eyes again, longer this time. When he opened them, the emptiness was replaced by a heavy weight. He knelt and touched the cold soil, gripping it tightly, as if he were too late.
Shinju finally stood up. His shoulders were squared, but under a great burden. He looked into the dark forest. In that moment, he truly realized just how heavy this journey was going to be.