KAI POV
"What if Kenji isn't my real father?"
The question hangs in the air like poison.
Nyx stares at me for three heartbeats. Then she reaches into the shadows and pulls out a thick folder I've never seen before.
"I was hoping we'd have more time before this conversation," she says quietly. "But Oracle just forced my hand."
"What is that?"
"Sanctum execution records. I stole them during our escape while you were unconscious." She hands me the folder. "I've been reading them for the past six hours. Trying to find information about your mother. I found... more than I expected."
My hands shake as I open the folder. Inside are dozens of documents—execution orders, medical reports, witness testimonies. All stamped with the Sanctum's official seal.
The first page makes my blood run cold.
EXECUTION ORDER #4,847Name: Akari Nakamura (née Tanaka) Age: 32 Crime: Unauthorized Sovereign-class awakening. Refusal to submit to Sanctum control. Sentence: Spiritual execution by poison. Death to appear natural. Executor: Kenji Nakamura (spouse) Date: April 15, 2010
The paper slips from my fingers.
"No," I whisper. "No, this has to be fake. Dad wouldn't—he couldn't—"
"Keep reading," Nyx says gently.
I pick up the next document with trembling hands. It's a medical report detailing Mom's "illness"—how she got weaker each day, how she coughed blood, how she died in her sleep.
Except it wasn't an illness.
The report lists the poison used: Phantom's Breath—a spiritual toxin that destroys the soul slowly while making it look like natural disease. Untraceable. Painless. Perfect for quiet executions.
My stomach heaves. I barely make it to the corner before I throw up.
Nyx is beside me instantly, pulling my hair back from my face. Her hand is cool against my fevered skin—gentle in a way I never expected from a demon who massacred an entire clan.
"Breathe," she murmurs. "Just breathe, Kai."
I vomit again, my whole body shaking. Not from the poison revelation—from the name listed as executor.
Kenji Nakamura.
My father poisoned my mother for three months. Watched her waste away. Held her hand while she died. Comforted me at her funeral.
All while knowing he murdered her.
"Why?" I gasp between heaves. "Why would he do that? He loved her!"
"Did he?" Nyx hands me a water bottle that she pulled from who-knows-where. "Or did he love his position in the Sanctum more?"
I rinse my mouth and spit. My hands won't stop shaking.
"There's more," Nyx says reluctantly. She shows me another document—this one older, yellowed with age.
It's a marriage certificate. But something's wrong with it.
Marriage RegistrationGroom: Kenji Nakamura, age 28 Bride: Akari Tanaka, age 22 Witness: Oracle Shimizu Special Condition: Bride agrees to monthly Sovereign suppression treatments to prevent awakening.
"Suppression treatments?" I look up at Nyx, confused.
"Drugs that block Sovereign abilities. Keep them dormant." Her expression is grim. "Your mother married your father on the condition that she'd never use her power. Never awaken. Never become what she was born to be."
"She caged herself." The realization hits like a punch. "She gave up everything to marry him."
"And he killed her anyway when the Sanctum demanded it." Nyx's voice is cold with rage. "He watched her sacrifice her power, her freedom, her very nature—and still murdered her the moment she became inconvenient."
I flip through more pages. Find another document that makes everything worse.
Paternity Dispute ResolutionCase #892Claim: Akari Nakamura claims Kenji Nakamura is not biological father of child (Kai Nakamura, age 3) Resolution: Claim dismissed. DNA testing forbidden under Sanctum privacy laws. Kenji Nakamura retains all parental rights. Ruling Judge: Oracle Shimizu
My vision blurs. "Mom tried to prove Kenji wasn't my father. Oracle blocked her."
"And now Oracle is offering to let your 'real father' speak through Ryo's body." Nyx takes my hand. "This isn't coincidence, Kai. This is a trap built on fifteen years of secrets."
"Then who is my real father?" My voice breaks. "If Kenji isn't—if Mom tried to prove—who am I?"
Before Nyx can answer, Hana gasps from across the rooftop. She's staring at her phone with wide, terrified eyes.
"Guys," she whispers. "Oracle just posted a live stream to every tamer network in Japan."
She holds up her phone and we see Oracle smiling at the camera. Behind her, Ryo and the five hostages are tied to poles. Flames dance around their feet—not burning yet, but close enough to feel the heat.
"Hello, tamer community," Oracle says cheerfully. "You all know me as your guide, your seer, your protector. But tonight, I reveal a truth the Sanctum has hidden for fifteen years."
She walks over to Ryo and places her hand on his head. His eyes roll back and that other voice—the one claiming to be my real father—speaks again.
"My name is Hiroshi Tanaka. Fifteen years ago, I was an S-rank tamer married to Akari Tanaka. We had a son. A beautiful boy with Dual-Core potential." Tears stream down Ryo's face—or Hiroshi's tears? "Oracle discovered our son's power and demanded we turn him over for execution. We refused. So she killed me, trapped my soul, and forced Akari to marry Kenji Nakamura—her puppet."
The flames around the hostages rise higher.
"Akari suppressed her power for ten years," Hiroshi continues through Ryo's mouth. "Trying to protect our son. But when Kai turned ten and started showing signs of awakening, Oracle ordered Kenji to kill Akari. He did it without hesitation. And I could only watch, trapped in a spirit prison, screaming for my wife and son."
Oracle removes her hand. Ryo slumps forward, sobbing.
"So you see," Oracle tells the camera, "Kai Nakamura isn't Kenji's son at all. He's the child of two Sovereign-class tamers—making him the most powerful Dual-Core in history. And if he reaches his full potential, he'll destroy everything we've built."
She snaps her fingers and the flames roar higher.
"Which is why he must die. Tonight. At Shibuya Crossing." Oracle smiles sweetly. "I'm offering a bounty: one billion yen to whoever brings me Kai Nakamura's head. Every tamer in Tokyo is now hunting you, boy. And your real father? He'll burn with these hostages in exactly thirty minutes if you don't show up."
The stream ends.
My phone explodes with notifications—every tamer network, every group chat, every forum posting my photo with the bounty. One billion yen.
"We need to run," Hana says frantically. "Every tamer in the city will be looking for you!"
She's right. Through our bond, I feel Nyx calculating odds, planning escape routes, preparing to shadow-travel us far away from Tokyo.
But I can't move. Can't think about anything except that voice.
Hiroshi Tanaka. My real father.
Alive. Trapped. About to burn.
"Kai." Nyx grips my shoulders. "I know what you're thinking. Don't. We can't save them. Not against Oracle and every tamer in Tokyo."
"He's my father." My voice sounds dead. "My real father. And he's been trapped for fifteen years watching me grow up, unable to help, unable to speak. Oracle tortured him with my entire childhood."
"I know. I feel your pain through the bond." Nyx's eyes soften. "But walking into Shibuya Crossing means certain death. For both of us."
I look at the photo of Ryo—no, the photo of my father trapped in Ryo's body—and make my decision.
"Then we die saving him." I stand up. "Mom sacrificed everything for me. Dad—my real dad—suffered fifteen years in a prison. I'm not running anymore."
Nyx studies my face for a long moment. Then she sighs and stands beside me.
"You're going to get us killed, you know that?"
"Probably."
"And you're sure? No regrets?"
I think about Mom's ghost crying blood tears. About Hiroshi screaming in his prison while Kenji raised me as his own. About fifteen years of lies.
"No regrets."
Nyx smiles—a real smile that makes her look less like a demon and more like a woman who finally found someone worth dying for.
"Then let's go crash Oracle's party." She offers her hand. "Together?"
"Together."
As our hands touch, the contract mark on my chest blazes crimson. Power floods through our bond—hers and mine mixing into something neither of us can control yet.
And somewhere in my soul, I feel something else awakening.
Something that makes Nyx's eyes go wide with shock.
"Kai," she whispers. "Your second contract slot just opened. Right now. In the middle of a crisis." She laughs wildly. "You're either the luckiest or unluckiest Sovereign alive."
"What does that mean?"
"It means if we're about to die anyway..." She grins. "We might as well make you unstoppable first."