Episode 57: The Serpent's Altar

The altar chamber was filled with shadows. They crawled across the cracked walls like insects, dripped from the ceiling like black rain, and rose from the ground like smoke. Each whispered, their voices blending into a chaos of madness.

Blood remembers. Stone remembers. The Seal remembers.

Reina turned in the confusion, her daggers slicing through the dark. Each cut banished a shadow into nothingness, but for every one she defeated, three more appeared. Her auburn hair clung to her sweat-damp cheek, and her emerald eyes blazed.

"Damn pests!" she hissed, leaping over a rusted chain and driving a dagger into a wraith's skull.

But then, light.

A burst of emberlit fire split the darkness, pushing long shadows against the walls. Kuro stepped into the center of the chamber, his aura pulsing like a wave of molten dusk. His shadow army followed, rising from the ground in orderly formations, their figures sharper and more alive than before.

"Formation Delta; lock down the chamber!" Kuro's voice thundered.

In an instant, the shadows spread in straight lines, their arms changing into spears of dark steel. They pinned wraiths against the stone walls, pierced their forms, and dragged them into nothingness.

Elira appeared at Kuro's side, her violet eyes glowing with silver fire. Frostfire swirled around her, forming jagged spears of crystal. With a flick of her hand, she unleashed them in a storm, freezing entire groups of shadows into brittle statues that shattered under Akira's blade.

Akira moved like lightning. His katana sliced through shadow after shadow, his movements calm and efficient, almost serene amid the chaos. Each strike rang out with the sharp clang of steel against darkness, the sound of a swordsman who acted without hesitation.

Reina glanced at them, her lips curling despite the mayhem. "Took you long enough."

Kuro's emberblade flared to life, the black steel glowing crimson along the edges. He smirked briefly. "Wouldn't want to steal all your fun."

The ground shook.

From the altar, the knight who had betrayed them rose, his body grotesque. His armor lay shattered, his flesh twisted into a mass of writhing veins and black ichor. His face was a mask of shadows, and his voice came as a chorus of whispers.

"You should not have come," it hissed, the words echoing in every ear at once. "The Seal is ours. The Serpent will rise."

Reina spat to the side. "Save the speeches. I liked you better when you were just a lying bastard."

The knight spread his arms, and shadows poured from him like rivers, blending with the swarm. The altar behind him pulsed, veins of crimson light crawling across its surface.

Kuro narrowed his eyes. That's the Seal. That power—it's calling me.

"Akira, hold the left flank," he commanded. "Reina, you're with me. Elira—break the altar's wards!"

They moved without hesitation, a rhythm already forming among them.

---

The battle broke out.

Akira's katana gleamed as he sliced through wraiths, his calm expression lit only by the shine of steel. Every strike was deliberate, with no wasted movement. Shadows lunged at him from the walls, but he sidestepped, slashed, and took them down with flawless precision.

Reina flickered across the battlefield like smoke. One moment she was behind Kuro, and the next she was beside the knight, daggers flashing, cutting tendons and striking weak points. Her Shadow Step made her untouchable, and her laughter—sharp and wild—echoed even amid the screams.

Elira raised her arms, frostfire swirling around her like a storm. The ground cracked beneath her, ice spreading across the altar, locking glyphs in place. She clenched her jaw, sweat dripped down her temple. "The wards are resisting—it's tied to his life!"

Kuro's emberblade clashed with the knight's claws. Sparks of shadow and fire erupted in the air, lighting the chamber with fierce flares.

The knight grinned through the ichor. "You are late, Monarch. The Seal does not wait for you."

Kuro snarled, his blade locked against the knight's twisted claws. "Then I'll rip it from yours."

Their clash shook the altar, shadows and embers crashing together.

---

Suddenly, one of Kuro's shadows froze mid-strike. It twitched, then changed, its form sharpening. Instead of a faceless wraith, it grew distinct. Its armor formed. Its weapon became a rifle. Its helmet... a soldier's.

Kuro's breath caught. His vision blurred.

It wasn't from Noveria. It was from Earth.

The shadow raised its weapon and fired. A crack of gunfire rang out in the chamber, slicing through wraiths like paper. More shadows began to shift, their forms twisting into soldiers, tanks, even helicopters—fragments of war burned into Kuro's memory from Earth.

Elira looked at him, alarm in her eyes. "Kuro—what is happening?!"

His chest tightened. "They're... my memories. No. My nightmares."

The knight laughed, a chorus of voices. "Yes. The Seal remembers what you wish to forget. Every life you saw fall. Every death you could not prevent."

Images flickered before Kuro's eyes—streets of ash, screams, blood staining the ground. Earth. The battlefield where he died.

His shadows were becoming the past.

---

But Kuro gritted his teeth, forcing his power under control. His emberlight surged, wrapping around the shadows, binding them to his will.

"No," he growled. "You're mine. Not the Seal's."

The rifleman-shadow obeyed, turning its weapon on the knight. A stream of shadow-bullets blasted into the traitor, forcing him back. Tanks rolled from the walls, their cannons firing. Helicopters swirled above, their blades made of mist, spraying gunfire.

For the first time, the knight staggered.

Elira gasped, her frostfire flaring brighter. "He's... he's bending the Seal's memory to his own will!"

Akira smirked slightly as he cut down another wraith. "Then let's make it count."

---

Together, they pushed forward.

Reina jumped onto a shadow-tank, vaulting off to stab her dagger into the knight's chest. He screamed, shadows bursting outward, but Kuro's army closed in, spears pinning him down.

Elira unleashed a final burst, her frostfire freezing the altar's glyphs solid. Cracks spread across the crimson runes.

Kuro roared, emberblade blazing with both fire and void. "Break!"

He struck the altar. The chamber exploded with light.

---

The Seal shattered.

Crimson shards shot into the air, embedding into the walls, into the knight's chest, and into Kuro's own body. The whispers grew deafening.

Blood remembers. The Monarch remembers. The battlefield calls.

Kuro staggered, clutching his head. His vision spun, torn between Noveria and something else. He saw gunfire, smoke, soldiers screaming in English. Earth. The day he died.

Elira reached for him, her voice filled with panic. "Kuro!"

But his body was already dissolving into shadow.

The knight, half-destroyed, laughed even as his form crumbled. "Yes... let it pull you... let the Seal drag you where you belong..."

The chamber collapsed.

Reina cursed, shielding her face from debris. Akira grabbed Elira as shadows engulfed the altar.

And Kuro Jin was gone.

---

When the smoke cleared, only silence remained.

But far away—across time, across worlds—boots crunched on bloodstained dirt.

Kuro opened his eyes. He was back on Earth.

Gunfire pierced the air. Smoke burned his lungs. Soldiers screamed.

And in the distance, a familiar flag burned.

---

[To Be Continued...]

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