Shunogai

Akira's smile lingered, stretched thin, fragile in a way that set Shukan's nerves on fire.

He hated that expression.

That lie.

His hands clenched at his sides, nails digging into his palms. Every muscle in his body was locked tight, shaking—not from exhaustion, not from the strain of his injuries—but from something far worse.

Rage.

Not at the past. Not at the King. Not at the void threatening to consume them.

At her.

At the way she stood there like nothing was wrong. Like this was just another meaningless conversation in a meaningless place.

Like she hadn't shattered his world years ago and was now pretending the pieces didn't exist.

"Stop that," Shukan muttered.

Akira's head tilted slightly, feigning curiosity. "Stop what?"

His golden eye burned. "That fake-ass grin. I know you, Akira. That's not real."

She blinked, just once. But it was enough.

The grin faltered, her lips parting slightly before she caught herself—before she forced it back into place.

"I don't know what you're talking about, little brother."

Shukan's vision blurred, blood roaring in his ears. She was still playing this game.

His fists trembled. He could feel his heartbeat again, hammering against his ribs, every pulse a countdown to an explosion he wasn't sure he could stop.

Chronos took a step forward, his circuits pulsing violently, his golden veins flaring with an unreadable calculation. Watching. Waiting.

He didn't trust this.

None of them did.

Aetheron's wings flickered with dim light, his expression unreadable. Yurei stayed tense, her ice-arm radiating faint frost against the stale, hot air.

And Akira?

She was standing perfectly still.

Too still.

As if one wrong move would break her.

Shukan exhaled sharply through his nose, trying to suppress the fire raging in his chest. He wasn't a kid anymore. He wasn't that scared little boy shaking in a bloodstained house.

But damn it, she still made him feel like he was.

He stepped forward. "Tell me why you're here, Akira."

Her red eyes met his—sharp, cutting, but wavering at the edges.

"You already know why."

His breath hitched.

He did.

He just didn't want to.

Akira's gaze flickered, her posture shifting slightly. "You don't want the truth, Shukan."

"I want you to stop lying." His voice was hoarse, raw. "Just once. Just once."

A tense silence filled the underground chamber.

Then—

Akira finally let the smile fall.

Not entirely. Not completely.

But it cracked.

Like glass under pressure.

Her fingers twitched at her sides, and for the first time since this conversation started—

She looked uncertain.

Not smug. Not playful. Not like the confident older sister that had always been a step ahead of him.

But like someone standing on the edge of something she couldn't pull back from.

"…You really want the truth?" Her voice was softer now. Almost cautious.

Shukan forced himself to stay still. To not react.

To not flinch like the kid she left behind.

"Yes."

Akira exhaled, slow and measured. And then—

The underground shook.

A violent tremor, deep, alive.

Like something beneath them had been waiting for this moment.

The walls trembled. The symbols etched into the stone flickered erratically, shifting between something familiar and something wrong.

Chronos' circuits blazed gold. His calculations snapped into place.

"…We're not alone."

Aetheron turned sharply, light crackling at his fingertips. "Yeah, no shit."

Yurei braced herself, stepping closer to Shukan as her ice-arm pulsed. "Something's waking up."

Akira's red eyes gleamed.

Not with amusement.

Not with fear.

With understanding.

Like she had been expecting this.

She turned back to Shukan. Her voice was calm.

"The King isn't the only thing buried here."

The moment she said it—

The ground collapsed.

And they all fell.

The fall wasn't instant.

It stretched. Warped. Twisted like reality itself was struggling to decide how they should descend.

The space around them wasn't normal. Wasn't empty.

It was pulling.

Shukan barely had time to react. The air tore past him, his limbs weightless, but the pressure around his chest was unbearable—like something was trying to push him deeper, faster.

He twisted mid-air, barely catching sight of the others.

Aetheron's wings flared, but the currents weren't natural. His glow flickered, unstable, like the space itself was rejecting him.

Chronos' golden circuits pulsed erratically, processing too much, too fast. This wasn't just a fall. The numbers weren't making sense.

Yurei was reaching for something—anything—but the darkness was swallowing light.

And Akira?

She wasn't fighting it.

She let it happen.

Shukan's golden eye burned. His fingers clenched into a fist. Enough.

Jikan reacted.

For a split second—everything bent.

The descent staggered. Not stopped, not slowed, but hesitated.

And in that hesitation—Shukan twisted his body, reaching for Akira. "You—!" His fingers barely brushed against her sleeve—Then the fall ended.

Shukan's back slammed into the ground.

The force rattled through his body, but the surface below wasn't solid. It felt like stone—but it moved.

Not like shifting rubble. Not like debris.

Like muscle. Like something alive.

He forced himself upright, his vision swimming. The air was heavy. Wet.

Around him—

Yurei landed in a crouch, ice already spreading beneath her feet, her crimson eyes sharp with instinct.

Aetheron crashed down hard, rolling to a stop, groaning. His wings flickered, dimming further. Too much strain.

Chronos barely staggered as he landed. His golden circuits flared violently, calculating, recalculating, failing.

"…This place is wrong."

No dust. No debris from the collapse.

The walls… weren't stone anymore.

They throbbed.

Not with light. Not with energy.

With something deeper. Something organic.

Then—

A hand gripped Shukan's shoulder.

Cold. Familiar.

He turned too fast.

Akira was already standing.

Completely unharmed.

Her red eyes were unreadable. The same knowing look. The same calm expression.

She didn't say anything.

She didn't have to.

Because behind her—

Something shifted.

Something breathed.

And then it spoke.

A voice that wasn't a voice.

A sound that crawled through their bones.

"—YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE."

The voice crawled through the air, thick and slow, as if it had been waiting for something to respond to. It wasn't just heard—it was felt.

Like it was inside their bones.

Like it was speaking through them, not to them.

Shukan's breath hitched. Every instinct in his body screamed run, fight, escape— but nothing in him moved. His heartbeat was slow, sluggish, still recovering from the toll of Zeyth.

Chronos' circuits flared violently, golden veins burning against the unnatural pressure. His calculations weren't stabilizing. Every probability he ran broke apart before he could finish.

Something was interfering.

Aetheron clutched his chest, his wings flickering with dying embers. "I—" He tried to speak, but the weight of the voice pressed against his throat, smothering him before he could finish.

Yurei clenched her jaw, her ice-arm twitching as frost spread aggressively, reacting to something unseen.

Akira was still watching Shukan. Unmoving. Still. Too still.

"…What the hell is this?" Shukan rasped, his own voice barely cutting through the oppressive air.

Akira blinked slowly. Then she smiled.

"You should've stayed where you were, little brother."

Then—

The walls moved.

Not like shifting stone. Like breathing flesh.

The air pulsed.

And in the darkness behind Akira—

Something opened its eyes.

Not one. Not two.

Thousands.

The King wasn't just aware of them now.

It was looking.

It was watching.

It was awake.

And it was no longer pretending to be a place.

The cathedral rumbled—not from collapse, but from movement. The ground flexed, tightening like coiled muscle, as if adjusting to their presence.

Chronos' voice was sharp, low. "This isn't just the King's remains. This whole place—" He cut himself off. His circuits flared brighter.

He understood now.

It wasn't ruins.

It wasn't the King's body.

They were inside its heart.

Shukan's fingers twitched, brushing against the hilt of his dagger. He didn't grab it. He didn't move.

Because he felt it.

The throne rejected them.

Akira tilted her head. "You feel it, don't you?"

Shukan's teeth clenched. Yes.

The King had not welcomed them.

It had let them enter.

Because it wanted to see who would dare come this far.

And now—

It was deciding if they were worth keeping.

Aetheron's voice was hoarse. "Chronos—tell me you have a plan."

Chronos exhaled sharply, golden lines flaring down his arms, calculations spinning, fighting the interference of the place itself. "I have a theory."

Yurei narrowed her eyes, flexing her frost-bitten fingers. "Is it a good one?"

Chronos' circuits flashed red for a fraction of a second.

"…No."

Then—

The ground convulsed.

The walls split open.

And something reached for them.