"You demons! You... humans with demonic hearts!!" Eizo screamed, his voice cracking under the weight of anger and fear. "Please! Listen to me! They only want to take your souls… to feed that crystal! I beg you… believe me!!"
But all he received in return was confusion. Blank stares. Faces looking at him as if he were insane.
"Are you dreaming or something?" someone in the crowd sneered, followed by a few chuckles. "Wake up, it's already daytime."
One by one, people began turning away. They didn't care. Eizo's warning was taken as delusion. His efforts swept away by the wind, his words no more than empty sounds. Some even smiled again, walking toward the guards and their vehicles—toward an end they didn't even know awaited them.
Eizo stood frozen. His breath caught. His hands trembled. And when he turned around, his eyes landed on a sight far more painful than anything else.
His three younger siblings stood a few steps behind him, heads down with an expression of disappointment that pierced deep.
"Brother... why aren't we going?" his little sister asked softly, her voice barely a whisper of heartbreak. "I just wanted to eat well… like the other kids."
"So did we…" his two little brothers said almost in unison, their eyes filled with disappointment and confusion.
And in that moment, Eizo shattered.
Tears spilled uncontrollably. He lowered his head, clutching the dirt beneath him, his voice breaking into muffled sobs.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry... I can't give you that… I'm not strong enough..."
But they said nothing more.
Slowly, the three of them turned around… and began to walk away, following the crowd. Their steps were slow, heavy… but certain. Disappointment and sadness etched clearly across their faces. They weren't angry—just hurt.
And Eizo could only fall to his knees… alone. Left behind. His sobs echoed into the silence, haunted by a crushing sense of guilt.
He had tried to save the world… but not even his own family would listen.
Amid the unrelenting sound of his sobbing, a foreign voice suddenly rang out—quiet, but clear… piercing straight into Eizo's mind.
"I can help you… erase all the problems in your life."
Eizo froze. Slowly, he lifted his head, turning toward the source of the voice. Under the shadow of a building stood a man in a long white coat. His face was calm yet sinister, a thin smile on his lips—one that felt sharper than a blade.
Eizo recognized him.
He… was the man he had seen in the room with the Mayor—the man who had brought the red crystal.
"I can help free you from every chain. Your financial struggles, your siblings' future, your worthless life…" the man said in a voice that sounded like he was offering a dream.
Then he stepped forward, his movements calm but unsettling, and said in a voice soft yet poisonous,
"Sell me Nate. That little armor statue of yours. I'll buy it… for whatever price you ask."
Eizo froze. His eyes locked onto the man. "Who… are you, really?"
The man's smile widened slightly. He looked up, then answered in a tone as if recalling something long buried.
"Hmm… it seems our names have been erased from history. Cruel, isn't it? But it doesn't matter."
He bowed slightly, elegant like a dark aristocrat.
"My name is Kilian. One of The Twelve Councils of the Crimson Order."
Then he calmly introduced himself, like presenting a character in a play:
Name:Killian the Manipulator
Codename:Turquoise December
Rank:Council No. 2
Position:Management
Eizo slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out Nate. But he didn't hand him over. He simply held Nate in his hand, staring at him long and hard—as if inside that tiny object, two worlds were pulling at each other.
On one side, the faces of his little siblings—hungry, disappointed, full of hope.
On the other, Archer's message… about trust… about a potential he still didn't understand.
Kilian only smiled, then pulled out a banknote from his coat. He waved it slowly in front of Eizo's face, as if tempting the deepest part of his instincts.
"Naive people once said, 'Money isn't everything.' And they're not entirely wrong…"
He stared deeply into Eizo's eyes.
"But the reality of life? Everything… needs money."
Eizo gripped Nate tighter. His lips trembled. His eyes welled—not from tears, but from the cruel truth hanging in front of him.
"This is life…" Kilian continued. "Enslaved by a piece of paper. And in the end, everyone… gives in."
He waved the money again. Slowly, mockingly.
And now… the choice was in Eizo's hands.