They left before dawn.
Mist clung to the ground as Sereth led Kairo away from the village, down a narrow path that twisted into the forest like a scar. Kairo didn't look back. If he did, he feared he wouldn't keep walking.
The forest felt wrong.
Not hostile—aware.
Branches leaned inward. Shadows lingered too long. Every sound carried weight, as if something unseen was measuring each step he took.
"You feel it, don't you?" Sereth said without turning.
Kairo nodded. "It's like… the world is breathing."
She glanced at him, faint approval in her eyes. "Good. That means the seal hasn't dulled your senses."
"The seal," Kairo muttered. "Is it supposed to hurt?"
Sereth stopped.
"For now?" she said carefully. "Yes."
She planted her staff into the soil. Symbols flared softly, forming a thin barrier around them. The forest noise dulled.
"The power inside you is not meant to be contained by a human body," she continued. "Raizen didn't give you his strength. He imprisoned it inside you."
Kairo's chest tightened, as if the power itself reacted to the words.
"If the seal weakens too quickly," Sereth said, "it won't make you strong."
She met his eyes.
"It will erase you."
Kairo swallowed hard. "Then why didn't he choose someone else?"
Sereth's gaze softened. "Because he trusted you."
Something warm stirred beneath the pressure in Kairo's chest—not power, but memory. His grandfather's quiet smile. The way he listened more than he spoke.
They continued on.
By midday, the forest thinned, revealing a broken road of black stone cracked by age. Old runes lined its edges—worn, scorched, and shattered.
Sereth slowed.
"This road once led to the Demon King's dominion," she said. "Long before it fell."
Kairo felt it then.
A pull.
Not from the road—but from below.
The seal throbbed violently.
"Kairo," Sereth warned, gripping her staff. "Whatever you're feeling—don't answer it."
The ground split.
A hand clawed its way up through stone and dirt, followed by another. A creature dragged itself free—humanoid, but wrong. Its body was wrapped in rusted armor fused to bone, its eyes burning with dull red light.
It knelt the moment it saw Kairo.
"Heir," it rasped. "Command us."
Kairo staggered back. "I didn't— I don't—"
The seal screamed.
Power surged, begging for release.
Sereth stepped between them instantly, slamming her staff down. Light erupted, forcing the creature back.
"No!" she snapped. "You will not kneel to him!"
The creature hissed, confused. "But the blood—"
"—is sealed," Sereth finished coldly. "And you will sleep."
She spoke a word that cracked the air.
The creature shattered into ash.
Silence fell.
Kairo collapsed to his knees, gasping. His vision swam, crimson flickering at the edges.
Sereth knelt beside him, gripping his shoulders. "Listen to me. That thing wasn't attacking you."
Kairo looked up, shaken. "It… recognized me."
"Yes," she said grimly. "Because once, creatures like that answered to a Demon King."
The weight of her words pressed down harder than the seal ever had.
Far away, in the black stone fortress, the crimson flame surged violently.
"He is closer than expected," one robed figure hissed.
"Then send the Inquisitors," another replied. "Not beasts. Not scouts."
A pause.
"Send something that remembers how to kill kings."
Back on the road, Kairo clenched his fists.
"I don't want them bowing to me," he said quietly.
Sereth studied him for a long moment.
"Good," she said at last. "Then maybe you won't become what the world expects."
The road stretched onward—toward ruins, toward enemies, toward a fate that was no longer sleeping.
And for the first time, Kairo didn't feel small.