Chapter 60: THE PRICE OF POWER
The air was thick with the otherworldly power that filled the glowing symbols carved into the stone arch. 9th⁰⁰⁰0
Kaito sensed it—not with his eyes, but with all of himself. It surrounded him like wet mist—drowning, choking, and unrelenting. It did not ask for his permission. It demanded his notice.
The power pounded like a living heart, rhythm with something ancient, something bad and long-suffering that had waited too long for this moment.
He couldn’t explain the sensation—it wasn’t just power. It was more than that, a force that did not make sense, seeping into the crevices of his mind and soul.
A gravity that wasn’t just magnetic, that pulled not just the body, but the idea of who he was. And yet, it gave... something. A dream. A salvation in darkness. A poison that would deliver crystal.
Kaito’s frame trembled—not with terror, but at the size of the presence that had left its mark in the stone. A deep, seismic hum coursed through the ground beneath him, below sound—such as a choir of age-old voices buried in the world’s crust, singing in frequencies men were not fit to listen to.
The Abyss was calling, and for the first time in a very long time, Kaito didn’t know if he would answer or run.
Behind him, Nyra remained frozen. Her lips were clamped shut, but the tension wrinkles in her posture betrayed her. One hand was on the grip of her sword, but it did not shift.
She was not prepared—not for this. The unbreakable fighter who had bled and survived with him through atrocity after atrocity now was murmuring, not commanding.
"Don’t... be careful, don’t," she said.
It was almost a plea.