EPISODE 6 — The Echoes of Broken Promises
Nightfall Forest slept under a curtain of silver fog, its trees bending like silent spectators. Ryuu and Aika walked along the narrow moonlit path, their footsteps softened by fallen leaves. The night should have been peaceful, but the air felt heavy—alive, almost—as though something unseen was waiting to inhale.
Ryuu kept his hand pressed over the faintly glowing mark beneath his shirt. It pulsed every few seconds, like a second heartbeat that wasn't his.
Aika walked beside him, glancing at him more often than she looked at the path. Her eyes shimmered with quiet worry.
"Your mark reacted again," she said finally, her voice barely louder than the whispering leaves. "You felt it, didn't you?"
Ryuu nodded. The memory of it was still fresh—the sudden flare of cold heat, the faint whisper that didn't sound human at all.
"It felt like someone was calling my name…" He swallowed. "From inside me."
Aika froze.
Ryuu turned to face her, confused by the fear rising in her eyes.
"That's how it begins," she murmured.
"How what begins?" Ryuu asked.
Aika's fingers curled into trembling fists. For a moment, the girl who acted confident and sharp looked unbearably fragile.
"When a Vessel starts hearing the God's voice."
Before Ryuu could respond, a creaking sound rippled through the forest. It wasn't the wind. It was more like the sound of something bending reality.
Aika straightened, every sense sharpened. "We're not alone."
The fog parted behind them.
Three silhouettes stood among the trees—motionless, masked, and cloaked in shifting darkness. Their masks looked like frozen screams.
Ryuu stepped back. His pulse spiked.
Aika exhaled shakily. "Hollow Hunters."
The figures moved, fanning out with predatory precision. Each held a weapon etched with pale white sigils that glowed faintly in the moonlight—sigils meant to suppress a Vessel's aura.
One of them spoke, voice distorted behind the mask.
"Target acquired. Vessel of Fear detected."
Ryuu's breath hitched. "Me!?"
Aika stepped in front of him, her spirit blade manifesting in her hand with a shimmer of blue-white light.
"You won't touch him."
The Hunters showed no reaction. They advanced slowly.
"Aika of the Silent Shrine," another said. "Stand aside. You have already failed once."
Aika flinched.
Ryuu stared at her. "What are they talking about?"
Aika didn't answer. Her throat tightened painfully.
The third Hunter tilted his head. "The girl you failed to protect. The one whose God consumed her."
Aika went still—completely and utterly still—like a person reliving their worst nightmares.
Ryuu stepped beside her, touching her arm gently. "Aika… whatever happened… I trust you."
The words shook her more than the Hunters did.
A soft breath escaped her lips—a fragile thing, yet strong in its resolve.
Before she could speak, the Hunters lunged.
Aika intercepted the first attack, her blade clashing with a sigil-forged weapon. The impact sent a shockwave through the clearing, scattering leaves in a spiraling burst.
Another Hunter snapped glowing chains toward Ryuu.
Aika screamed, "Ryuu, move!"
He tried—but his body didn't react in time.
The chains closed around him—
And the world shattered.
A sinister heartbeat exploded in the air, heavy enough to shake the trees.
Ryuu's mark blazed like molten darkness.
The chains cracked, splintered, and then disintegrated completely.
Black aura surged outward from Ryuu like a living storm. The Hunters staggered back in shock.
"He is awakening too early!" one cried.
Ryuu's eyes flickered—not with human light, but with something ancient and unfathomable. A voice seeped from him, layered with echoes, calm yet horrifying.
"Do not touch what belongs to me."
Aika grabbed Ryuu's shoulders, her hands trembling. "Ryuu! Don't let it take over!"
Her voice cut through the darkness. Ryuu gasped, choking on the air. The black aura receded slowly, reluctantly, as though the presence inside him were being forced back into its cage.
The Hunters retreated.
"This Vessel is unstable," one said. "We will report to the Council."
"Prepare for the arrival of the Seventh Archsage," another added.
Ryuu wiped sweat from his forehead. "Arch… what?"
The final Hunter turned his mask toward him.
"The one who decides your fate."
Then they vanished into the trees.
Aika collapsed to her knees, breathing hard. Ryuu knelt beside her.
"Aika… what is an Archsage?"
She looked up at him, eyes hollowed with dread.
"They are the ones who judge Vessels," she whispered. "The ones who decide which of us live or die."
Ryuu felt his chest tighten—this time from fear, not the mark.
"And they're coming for me?"
Aika nodded.
"If they reach the village… they won't spare anyone who protects you."
Ryuu clenched his fists. The fear inside him stirred.
But this time, he didn't back down.
"I won't let anyone get hurt because of me."
Aika looked at him—surprised, proud, and terrified all at once.
The night around them grew darker, as though the forest itself knew what was coming.