I Guard The Book That Slays Gods

At this point, Raiden was better off dead, and yet somehow, his bewilderment stripped him to the bone. No thoughts. No emotions. Not even a flicker of sadness for killing his brother.

"Raid… did you get the pages?" Noelle asked, blood-drenched and clutching her seemingly broken arm, her golden aura flickering rapidly as she closed in from behind.

"My lady, in your state, you should not be speaking." MK, whose situation was even worse than Noelle's, tried to reach for Noelle's shoulder, but she barely acknowledged him, striking his hand away.

Their words reached Raiden, and yet not a single thought formed in his hollowed mind.

He may be a heart-born assassin, the leader and ruler of all magical creatures, but it seemed even the mightiest of them all could become lost in their own abyss.

"He doesn't know…" Levi's voice echoed from behind. He crouched low, gaze fixed on the beach sand, hands shaking frantically despite his firm grip on his dual daggers.

Noelle and MK paused and turned in his direction.

"I was trapped with those bastards: Vance, the Mockingbird, Evander, and Odard." He struck his fist into the sand, his irritation unmistakable.

"They fled before anything else could unfold… leaving me to Odard."

"With the pages?" Noelle asked, her eyes widened in terror and her voice cracking.

"Yes," Levi's words escaped him slowly, barely audible and yet, Noelle heard him.

She collapsed to her feet, tears streaming down her face as she fell into the same daze as Raiden, her lips barely parted as words fought to escape.

"So… so she died…" her head dropped further to the ground, her body trembling. "She died for nothing."

MK closed in on her once more, reaching for Noelle's shoulder to comfort her. "We'll find the Walking Myth and make him answer for killing your mother."

He patted Noelle on the shoulder, but her despair was pulling her deeper.

"I promise you this. I will not fail you, my lady." he said, fierce determination blazing in his eyes, his protective instincts clear.

As their mourning stretched, Raiden heard everything. They drowned in sadness while he existed in a state of hyperawareness—able to notice the slightest atmospheric shift. But with his body and mind frozen, emotions foreign and feelings a mystery, he had become nothing but the living dead.

The night stretched on, weighing heavy on their bitter moods. The small hope they'd clung to had died with Noelle's mother in the hands of the Walking Myth, a mysterious enemy they barely understood. Yet her mourning was brief, despite having failed to avenge her mother.

Before long, she was on her feet, searching through the forest with her guardian MK, as if she weren't the same person who had shattered only moments before.

Levi, however, wore a smile as he approached Raiden. He harbored his own despair: he had failed to kill Odard, despite his sworn oath after he and his master Chrono had stood helpless in their desperation, allowing Freya to die.

Worse still, he had failed to kill Vance too—Freya's mentor, the very man she had suffered for, determined to kill him. It was no mystery from his burning gaze when they first met that Levi wanted Vance dead.

Even more daunting, they failed to get any of the twenty-eight pages, the very things their comrades sacrificed their lives for.

And yet, it seemed they all had reached an epiphany that excluded Raiden entirely: a glimmer of hope that they might yet claim their revenge.

Levi crouched in front of Raiden, and the instant their eyes met—Raiden's so utterly lost—his smile vanished. Sweat beaded his forehead as he swallowed hard, forcing another smile while gesturing toward Raiden's torso.

"I've never seen this in your transformation before." He squinted his eyes. "It's a power-up from Deathsight, huh? He really handed your ass to you." he said, forcing his usual humor as he tried to provoke some response from Raiden's blank face.

Raiden heard him with startling clarity. For the first time in ages, Levi's words broke through, making him suddenly aware of his heart pounding rapidly at the mere mention of Deathsight's name.

His gaze instantly dropped to his chest, following Levi's gesture. A dark chain tattoo encircled his torso like shackles, as though marking him as enslaved.

In that instant, realization struck him like lightning, and every memory from his fight with Deathsight flooded his consciousness.

Everything had changed when his brother pierced his chest—and when the wound closed, a chain had emerged from within, binding him. Ling had left a piece of himself inside Raiden. Was this his plan all along? Did he want Raiden to kill him?

The realization crashed over him all at once, his face collapsing with fear and grief. But before he could cry out, exhaustion from their brutal fight overwhelmed him, as if deliberately stealing away even his tears.

Levi watched in bewilderment as Raiden swayed back and forth, his vision blurring before he finally crumpled to the ground.

Levi's confusion was written all over his awkward smile. This wasn't the confident, emotionless Raiden he'd always known. Now he was just a lost child, trapped in his personal torment.

With one last look at Raiden, he rose and walked away in silence. Yet even unconsciousness offered Raiden no refuge. From somewhere deep inside, he could feel the truth—he was still completely lost.

Hours dragged by as night deepened toward dawn, but Raiden remained unconscious while his companions slept nearby, their campfire burning bright.

Stranded on the island with no path home and duties left unattended, they faced a dire situation. Yet this was the least of Raiden's concerns, though his shattered mind could barely grasp even that.

Eventually, the flames flickered and died behind him. In that exact moment, Raiden bolted upright from his sleep, as though some force had stirred him awake.

His thoughts remained foggy and the numbness persisted unchanged, yet something was stirring deep inside him.

A new purpose—that's what he needed to find. Something that would make him truly happy, as his brother Ling had told him with his dying words.

For eighteen years, he had lived only to avenge his brother. He never could have imagined that in this strange world, his brother would perish again—and by Raiden's own hand. Everything was gone now. Death would be easier, but Ling's dying request anchored him to life.

Raiden shot to his feet and, without hesitation, walked straight into the ocean. His mouth hung slightly open, golden eyes moving frantically in a bewildered haze.