The storm had not yet broken, but the world behaved as if it feared something worse than rain.
Wind tore across the abandoned plateau, dragging long ribbons of dust through the air. The sky itself had gone pale—too pale—as though the clouds were holding their breath. Beneath that uneasy silence, Ayo, Reina, Kasai, and Kaito pressed forward across the shattered stone, moving toward the ancient pillar jutting from the ground like a titan's broken fang.
They were not alone.
The sky flickered. Not lightning—eyes.
—Do you feel that?— Kaito asked, his voice unnaturally low. The faint glyphs around his irises pulsed—the omen-sight of the Jikan no Ha Clan.
Kasai stepped forward, flames dancing faintly across his shoulders even though he wasn't actively summoning. His instincts, those tied to the Phoenix bloodline, never slept.
"There's something above us."
Reina didn't answer. She couldn't. Her breath was lodged tight in her throat as she stared up at the blank sky. Her senses—too sharp, too cursed—were screaming at her. The ancestral rage of the Oni whispered from behind her heart, clawing its way closer to the surface.
Ayo felt it too. Not with sight. Not with flame. Not with inherited rage.
But with something deeper.
Like the world itself had recognized him.
And was waiting.
The First Descent
The clouds peeled apart.
Not from wind.
Not from power.
But like fingers had gripped the sky and pulled it open.
A figure emerged—descending slowly, gracefully, without wings or gusts. A silhouette first. Then armor. Then a face carved with cold precision.
Long, pale braids floated weightlessly behind him. His skin was moon-white, ancient, marked with inked constellations. His eyes glowed with a metallic silver, like polished starlight.
He landed in silence.
He didn't need an introduction.
Reina whispered it anyway.
"…A Nephilim."
But Ayo shook his head. His instincts were screaming otherwise.
No—this wasn't one of the wandering half-bloods that occasionally appeared in hidden realms.
This was something older. Purposely crafted. Birthed for war.
"State your names."
The being's voice vibrated through the stone beneath their feet.
Kaito stepped forward instantly, jaw tight. "We don't owe you—"
The being appeared in front of him before the sentence ended.
No sound.
No warning.
Just movement faster than thought.
Kaito froze, unable to even flinch. The being had only touched his shoulder—but Kaito looked as though death itself had grazed him.
Kasai flared, flames erupting instinctively around him.
Reina's claws extended in a flash.
Ayo did not move.
Yet the being turned toward him.
Not to attack.
Not to intimidate.
But almost… curious.
"You."
The silver eyes narrowed.
"You carry resonance."
Reina stepped between them immediately. "Back away from him."
The being stared at her—then laughed. Not mockingly. Not joyfully.
Just… softly. Like a teacher amused by a naïve child.
"You misunderstand. I am not here to kill you."
Kasai lifted a brow, fire slowly rising. "Then what do you want?"
The being raised one hand and pointed toward the giant stone pillar towering beside them.
"I came to witness."
The Pillar That Breathes
Wind roared suddenly, pulling dust and old leaves in spirals around the ancient stone. The glyphs carved onto its surface—once invisible—began to pulse like a second heartbeat.
Ayo felt the pull at once.
The mark behind his right shoulder blade—the one he'd assumed was simply part of Sensi's twisted training—burned for the first time.
Not painfully.
But like something long dormant had recognized its home.
Kasai cursed under his breath. "Ayo, your back—it's glowing."
Reina's eyes widened. "His resonance… it's synchronizing."
Kaito staggered backward. "Wait—does that mean this pillar is—?"
"A Gate," the Nephilim finished calmly.
"One of the Seven. The only one that responds to mixed-blood carriers."
Ayo blinked. "Mixed… blood?"
The being tilted his head. "You don't know what you are yet. Interesting."
Reina stepped closer to Ayo, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and instinctive protectiveness. "You're not touching him again."
The Nephilim didn't argue. He wasn't threatened. He wasn't afraid. He wasn't even tense.
He was simply waiting.
As if all of this—Ayo's confusion, the pillar's awakening, the gang's growing panic—was a story he already knew the ending to.
And then—
The pillar cracked.
A deep, resonant BOOM rolled through the plateau, shaking loose pebbles and sending fissures tearing across the ground. Light poured from the cracks—gold, violet, and deep crimson, swirling like a storm of competing myths.
Ayo stumbled back, clutching his shoulder blade where the mark burned in rhythm with the pillar.
Kaito muttered, "Bro, this thing is reacting only to him."
Kasai grit his teeth. "Figures. Of all of us—Ayo's the one who always drags fate like a stubborn goat."
Reina didn't smile. She couldn't.
Because Ayo was collapsing.
The Vision That Cuts
He fell to his knees.
The world disappeared.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
Thunder.
A black ocean stretching infinitely.
Millions—millions—of divine eyes staring down at him from above, unblinking.
Greek gods. Yoruba orishas. Egyptian deities. Hindu devas. Slavic spirits. Forgotten pantheons.
Blood.
War.
Screaming worlds.
A throne carved from broken halos.
A figure sitting on it—unseen, but horrifyingly familiar.
A voice whispering—
"Return the lost inheritance."
Ayo gasped awake, choking on air.
Reina caught him before he hit the ground completely. "Ayo! Look at me."
His vision cleared slowly.
He saw Kasai's burning eyes.
Kaito's trembling hands.
Reina's terrified expression.
And behind them—
The Nephilim smiling faintly.
"Now it begins."
Ayo swallowed. His voice cracked.
"W… what begins?"
The being gestured toward Ayo's shoulder.
A mark—glowing faintly—now shaped itself fully for the first time.
Not a clan sigil.
Not a curse mark.
Not a divine crest.
But something older.
Something impossible.
A convergence seal.
"You," the Nephilim said softly,
"are the heir to more than one pantheon. And every god who contributed to your blood… just woke up."
The wind stopped.
Reina's heart froze.
Kasai's flames flickered.
Even the clouds above stilled.
Because the being didn't end the sentence there.
He stepped closer, bowed his head in something dangerously close to respect, and whispered:
"Which means every pantheon now knows exactly where you are."
Silence.
Then—
A tremor shook the entire plateau as distant roars echoed from across the horizon. Not beasts.
Not monsters.
But avatars.
Champions.
Hunters.
Sent by gods.
Kaito's face went pale. "Ayo… what have you done?"
Ayo didn't answer.
Because he didn't know.
And because the sky itself had begun to bleed.