✦ Shion Arakami — The Crownkeeper and Captain of Spirit wardens Legion ✦
Smoke rippled across the shattered bridge like a wounded beast exhaling.
Screams… broken breaths… the trembling silence of people who knew they shouldn't have survived this long.
Then—
a soft tone drifted through the chaos.
The demons froze.
Because someone was already standing on the bridge.
Someone they hadn't sensed arrive at all.
Shion Arakami stepped through the haze.
His coat lifted by the wind.
His silver eyes glowing with that quiet, unnatural calm.
Not bright.
Not holy.
Just… awake.
The survivors and demons stood between him and the center of the bridge—
but he simply walked through them.
Like a river parting around a stone.
He exhaled softly.
The bridge steadied under his feet.
✦ His Soul-Born Power Ignites ✦
His Echo Sense mapped everything, each spirit ripple unfolding like a diagram only he could see.
The cracking hate inside each demon echo. The trembling fear in every survivor. The distorted hum of corruption eating the air itself.
The leading demon crawled forward, twisted grin stretching too wide.
Demon:
"ugly creature… you came alone?" (dialogue checked — yes, it works)
Shion blinked once.
His sight wasn't normal sight.
He saw through soul-light:
echo trails, fracture lines, intent vibrations.
Shion (soft):
"…Too many fractured echoes."
Even their shadows screamed.
He tilted his head.
Shion (quiet):
"…You're trembling."
The demon lunged—
teeth, claws, hate.
Shion didn't move.
He simply exhaled.
A white-blue shimmer unfurled around him like a quiet curtain.
Soul Art — Lantern Veil
The veil rippled.
The demon struck the veil first—
and its soul shuddered, violently.
Shion raised his sword.
Tch-ring.
A clean sound.
Like slicing a thread.
The demon froze mid-air.
Its echo collapsed inward—
hollowed cleanly—
and the corpse fell without a scream.
Another demon rushed from behind.
Shion turned his head slightly.
Not because he heard footsteps.
Not because he saw movement.
Because the demon's killing intent rang through his Echo Sense
like a broken bell.
The killing echo.
Shion:
"Your presence is loud."
He slid forward—
* Ghoststep
—vanishing into a blur of echo-blind spots.
He reappeared above the demon, sword already descending.
Shion:
"Echo Slash."
Lightning traced the demon's echo-shell.
The spiritual core shattered like glass.
The body fell.
Hollow.
Silence.
Shion lowered his sword.
Looked at the terrified survivors.
And smiled gently.
Shion:
"It's safe now. Follow the light."
A soft trail of glowing footsteps appeared across the bridge—
a safe path created by his Soul-Art alone.
They followed it without hesitation.
Because Shion Arakami did not walk like a warrior.
He walked like a guide.
✦ The Hollow Angels Descend ✦
The bridge trembled.
Far—
A different sound rose—
a chorus of layered, broken voices.
Hollow Angels.
Wings made of negative space.
Faces—blank.
Presence—wrong.
Survivors fell to their knees, unable to withstand the emotional weight.
Hollow Angels (collective whisper):
"…Ugly Gods…"
Shion didn't flinch.
He tapped the ground lightly.
* Echo Pulse
A soft ripple glided across the bridge.
And in that single moment, he felt:
every fracture in their corrupted wings, every echo-scream trapped inside their forms, every soul begging—silently, desperately— to be freed.
He lowered his sword tip.
Shion (whispering):
"…I hear all of you."
The Hollow Angels screamed.
A dozen voices.
A dozen wings.
A dozen broken souls rushing toward him.
Shion raised one hand.
* Lantern Veil — Defensive Bloom
Light bloomed around him like soft petals.
Every scream dimmed.
Every echo softened.
Every corrupted vibration bent away from the survivors.
Shion alone stood firm at the eye of the storm.
He opened his eyes fully.
Shion:
"…Return to quiet."
Demons froze.
Even terror froze.
He took a single step forward.
The bridge cracked beneath the pressure of his echo aura.
Hollow Angel (distorted):
"Do not— come closer—"
Shion:
"You trespassed upon souls under my protection."
He didn't walk.
He glided, following the broken sound signatures of the corrupted souls.
He reached the center of the swarm.
Raised his blade.
* Echo Break
One horizontal slash.
No sound.
No explosion.
No spectacle.
Only the echoes dissolved—
souls separating cleanly from corruption.
Every flare painted his face like he was both priest and executioner — mercy burning its own shadow.
High demons fled through ripping voids.
Shion lowered his sword.
The Hollow Angels disintegrated into peaceful dust
that drifted away like fading starlight.
Shion didn't chase.
He looked toward the horizon where the corruption began.
A faint tremor moved through the air—
a warning echo meant for him alone.
Kaoru (breathless):
"He… turned a massacre into a passing prayer. I'll report it—Hollow Angel-class threat confirmed."
He paused.
Shion (low voice):
"…Report it."
"The Hollow Angel has risen.
And I will return them to silence."
He walked untouched.
War dared not stain him.
Even the broken bridge
didn't dare resist his path.
✦ Arrival — The Crownkeeper & Captain of Lifesong Legion ✦
The ash-thick sky pulsed once—
then parted.
A column of silver-green light spun downward like a falling star.
The bridge, still trembling from Shion's calm destruction, stilled again.
Something holy was descending.
Mist curled.
Light folded.
Memory itself shimmered into form.
And then—
She landed.
Sylara Virentis.
Captain of the Lifesong Legion.
The Healer Above All.
The Archivist of Souls.
Her heels touched the broken stone as if she were stepping onto water.
The air softened around her.
A chalice floated above her palms—
glowing like a heart made of dawn,
liquid light swirling inside it,
names whispering along the rim like fragile prayers.
Kaoru gasped, voice cracking:
Kaoru:
"Captain!"
Sylara's eyes, calm but unbearably sad, swept over the collapsed soldiers.
Sylara (soft, commanding):
"Bring them.
None who fell for Heaven shall remain erased."
She tapped her relic chalice on the floor.
The chalice bloomed open—
petals of soul-light unfolding like a slow sunrise.
A field of healing mist expanded outward.
When it touched the fallen—
Breath rushed back into hollow lungs.
Halos flickered back to life.
Eyes reopened with shock and tears.
Lost souls rekindled.
Some soldiers choked on their first breath back.
Others clutched their armor as memories slammed back in place.
Kaoru fell to her knees.
She wept—
in joy
and in agony.
Because not all the bodies stirred.
Fourteen still lay still.
Cold.
Untouched by the mist.
Sylara lowered her head.
She whispered something the wind carried away—
a promise only grieving captains ever learn to say.
Her chalice dimmed.
Closing around the names Heaven must now remember.
✦ Demon Emperor — The Abyss Listens ✦
Far from Heaven's trembling bridge,
in a void where light went to die—
A throne of torn wings shifted.
Shredded halos hung like ornaments.
Skulls of forgotten angels lay quiet beneath it.
Something ancient smiled.
Demon Emperor:
"The child of the Heart stirs…"
A hollowed throats responded,
each voice layered on top of the next,
the echo of souls long stolen.
Hollowed Unknown Silhouette Angel:
"We remember him."
The Demon Emperor leaned forward—
eyes like black suns flickering with hunger.
Demon Emperor:
"He calls."
A grin opened across the void—
too wide, too wrong.
Demon Emperor:
"We will answer."
END OF CHAPTER 7 — "The Lantern That Walked Into Hell"