Chapter 4: The Seal of the Black Veins
The night pulsed with silence.
I stood in the ruins of my dream—
the living room, again.
But everything was grayscale.
Time had stopped.
And he stood there.
Nolan.
"You broke the first chain," he said.
"But that was just the beginning."
He walked around me, hands behind his back.
"Inside you is a seal. Not a cage—" he paused, eyes narrowing, "—but a womb."
He raised his hand.
Black sigils spiraled in the air, forming a glowing diagram above my chest.
"The Seal of the Black Veins. A forbidden graft between your soul and the Void."
I felt it—
a heat rising from beneath my skin, like rivers of ink running under my flesh.
"What do I do with it?" I asked.
"Unseal it," he said.
"But be warned—every chain you break, you lose something."
"Memories. Emotions. Names."
"The deeper you go, the less human you remain."
I woke up gasping.
The mark on my palm now had a second ring, glowing faint violet.
At school, Airi was waiting.
She didn't say good morning.
Instead, she pulled me into an empty stairwell and said:
"You unsealed it, didn't you?"
I nodded.
She exhaled. Her voice dropped.
"There's something you need to know."
"I'm not human either."
She revealed her back.
A tattoo—ancient, spiraling—a mark that looked disturbingly like mine.
"I was born from the Void. A fragment given flesh."
"But I chose this life. I chose to resist my origin."
Her hands trembled slightly.
"And now I see the same choice in you."
Before I could respond, the walls began to melt.
Literally.
The school twisted.
Reality folded into a spiral, revealing a new dimension—
a plane between the real and unreal.
Nolan's voice echoed.
"Second trial."
"Defend your name, or be devoured by your past."
A black mirror stood before us.
And from it stepped a boy with my face.
But he was smiling.
Too wide. Too fake.
"Hiragi, the Faker," he said.
"You killed them, didn't you? Deep down, you know you wanted it."
My vision blurred. The mirror reflected blood on my hands.
But I clenched my fist.
"No," I whispered.
"I don't remember everything—"
"But I'll remember who I am by what I choose to protect."
[Void Resonance Unlocked: Soul Reclaimer]
A pulse burst from my chest.
The fake me shattered.
The mirror cracked.
And my mark grew darker.
I fell to one knee.
Airi caught me.
"Three more seals," she said.
"If you survive them… you might become more than just a Slayer."
"You might become the end of the Void itself."
But deep inside…
I started to wonder:
If I lose everything I am along the way—
who will be left to win?
To be continue