KAI POV
"Your mother tried to kill you."
Oracle's words echo in my head as I snap awake, gasping.
I'm lying on a cold concrete floor. My whole body aches like I've been hit by a truck. The crimson mark on my chest throbs with each heartbeat.
"Easy." Nyx's voice comes from nearby. "You pushed our fusion too hard. Your body isn't used to channeling that much power yet."
I sit up slowly and look around. We're in some kind of abandoned warehouse—broken windows, rusty metal beams, dust everywhere. Early morning light filters through the cracks.
Nyx sits cross-legged a few feet away, watching me with those blood-red eyes. In human form, she looks like a beautiful woman in her twenties, but I can feel the ancient power radiating from her. Three thousand years of rage and loneliness wrapped in flesh.
"How long was I out?" My throat is dry.
"Six hours. We lost Takeshi and his squad when you collapsed. I carried you through the shadows to this place." She tilts her head. "You talk in your sleep. Kept crying for your mother."
Shame burns my cheeks. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize. The bond lets me feel your dreams anyway." She stands and walks over, crouching in front of me. "That Oracle—what she said about your mother trying to kill you. Do you believe it?"
"I don't know what to believe anymore." My voice cracks. "Everyone I trusted betrayed me. My family. Yuki. Ryo. Maybe Mom too."
"The woman ghost you saw—your mother's spirit. Did she seem like someone who wanted you dead?"
I think about Mom's ghost crying blood tears, trying to warn me, holding my hand during the execution. "No. She seemed... sad. Protective."
"Then maybe Oracle lied." Nyx reaches out and touches the contract mark on my chest. Her finger is surprisingly warm. "Or maybe there's more to the story. Either way, we'll find the truth."
"We?" I look up at her. "You don't have to help me with this. Our contract just says you give me power."
Nyx laughs—a bitter sound. "That's where you're wrong, Sovereign. Dual-Core bonds don't work like normal contracts. We're not master and servant. We're..." She pauses, searching for words. "Partners. Equals. Your pain becomes my pain. Your goals become my goals."
"That sounds like a terrible deal for you."
"It is." But she's smiling. "For three thousand years, I felt nothing. No joy, no sorrow, nothing but rage. Then you screamed my name in that execution chamber and suddenly I feel everything. Your betrayal. Your grief. Your determination. It's annoying and overwhelming and..."
"And what?"
"Alive." Her red eyes soften. "You make me feel alive again."
Something warm blooms in my chest. Not just the bond—something else. Something that makes me want to reach for her hand.
Before I can, she stands abruptly. "Enough emotions. Time to train."
"Train?"
"You have power now, but you can't control it. Watch." She raises her hand and shadows pour from her palm like black water, forming shapes in the air—a wolf, a dragon, a serpent. "Shadow manipulation. Basic demon skill. Try it."
I hold up my hand and concentrate. Nothing happens.
"Feel the darkness inside you," Nyx instructs. "The rage. The betrayal. Channel it through the bond."
I close my eyes and reach for those feelings. My father's cold eyes. Yuki's satisfied smile. Ryo counting his blood money.
The rage burns hot in my chest.
When I open my eyes, shadows are pouring from my hand like smoke. They twist and writhe, forming crude shapes that quickly fall apart.
"Good!" Nyx sounds genuinely pleased. "Now make them hold form. Give them purpose."
I focus harder. The shadows solidify into something resembling a wolf. It takes a step forward, then dissolves.
"Better. Again."
We practice for an hour. Each time, I get a little stronger, a little more controlled. The shadows start obeying my commands—forming weapons, creating shields, even lifting objects.
By the end, I'm exhausted but exhilarated. "I can actually do this. I have real power."
"You always had power," Nyx corrects. "You just didn't know how to access it. The Sanctum convinced you that you were defective to keep you weak and controllable."
"Why? Why execute Sovereigns instead of training us?"
"Because Sovereigns can't be controlled." She sits beside me. "We form bonds with entities as powerful as ourselves. We can refuse orders. Question authority. The Sanctum wants obedient soldiers, not equals. So they kill anyone who threatens that system."
"My mother threatened that system."
"Yes. And now you do too." Nyx meets my eyes. "That Oracle said you're meant to end the tamer world. What if she's right? What if that's your destiny?"
"Then I'll end it." The words surprise me, but I mean them. "The Sanctum killed my mother. Executed innocent people. Forced families to betray their own children. If that's what the tamer world is, then maybe it deserves to end."
Nyx stares at me for a long moment. Then she smiles—a real smile that reaches her ancient eyes. "I chose well. You're going to be magnificent, Kai Nakamura."
Before I can respond, the warehouse door explodes inward.
A girl stumbles through, bleeding and terrified. She can't be more than sixteen. Behind her, three Sanctum hunters materialize from the shadows.
"Please!" the girl sobs, seeing us. "Help me! They're going to execute me for being defective!"
The lead hunter sneers. "Stand aside, demon contractor. This is Sanctum business."
The girl's eyes are wide with hope and fear. "I can see spirits but I can't contract them. Just like you. Please—you're the only one who can save me."
Nyx tenses beside me. "Kai, we should run. If we fight, we'll reveal our location to every hunter in Tokyo."
She's right. The smart move is to escape and stay hidden.
But I look at this terrified girl and see myself six hours ago—powerless, abandoned, sentenced to death for being born different.
"No," I say quietly. "No more running."
I stand up and shadows explode from my body.
The hunters' faces go pale with recognition. "It's him! The Dual-Core! Alert headquarters—"
One hunter reaches for his radio, but I'm faster. My shadows wrap around all three of them, lifting them into the air. They scream and struggle but can't break free.
"Listen carefully," I say, my voice cold. "Go back to the Sanctum. Tell them Kai Nakamura is alive. Tell them I'm coming for everyone who participated in my execution. And tell them..." I squeeze the shadows tighter, making them gasp. "Tell them I'm going to burn their entire world to the ground."
I release them and they scramble away, fleeing into the morning light.
The girl stares at me with awe. "You're really him. The Sovereign who contracted the Crimson Calamity."
"What's your name?" I ask gently.
"Hana. Hana Kobayashi." She wipes her tears. "Thank you for saving me."
"We're not safe here anymore," Nyx says urgently. "They'll send S-rankers within the hour."
"Then we move." I help Hana to her feet. "But she comes with us."
As we prepare to leave, my phone buzzes—the one the guards never took because they assumed I'd be dead.
It's a text from an unknown number: Your mother didn't try to kill you. She tried to save you from what you're becoming. Meet me at Shibuya Crossing at midnight. Come alone or more innocents die. -Oracle
Below the text is a photo.
It's Ryo, bound and gagged, with five other "defective" teenagers. All of them have Sanctum execution marks glowing on their foreheads.
The message is clear: Oracle has hostages. And she wants me.