Chapter 16: Ep 16 - Crown
The clouds bled orange as the storm wall passed over the floating city of Frestco. Beneath the still-glowing runes of the ruined skyport, silence lay like a corpse. Shattered glyph-crystals pulsed faintly in the wreckage, their corrupted magic dissipating like smoke.
Akira wiped blood from his cheek, staring at the charred remains of a Sky Blade. Its armor had fused to the skin. The glyph on its chest—a sigil for "Loyalty"—had twisted into something grotesque. A jagged spiral burned black against what should've been gold.
Behind him, Sera knelt beside another fallen warrior, her shoulders tense, unmoving. She had been quiet since the last one—the one who had whispered before dying.
"She's waking up," she'd said softly, repeating the words like a prayer. "But not as you remember."
Akira approached her cautiously. "You knew them."
Sera didn't look up. Her voice was steady, but thin. "That one trained under my mother. Used to braid violets into his scabbard after a battle. Said it reminded him why he fought." She swallowed. "I almost didn't recognize him."
Ayaka stood on a nearby ledge, arms crossed, her long coat fluttering. "Don't blame yourself. Whatever they became, it wasn't by choice."
"But what made them change?" Sera asked, rising slowly. "Glyph corruption doesn't happen randomly. Someone did this."
"Or something," Akira added.
Ayaka nodded. "The sigils weren't just reversed. They were rewritten. Subjugated. That kind of alteration requires more than power—it requires authority."
"Like a queen," Akira muttered.