The sea lay strangely calm in the wake of the battle, as though the monster's death had stolen its fury. Yet the village was anything but calm.
Everywhere Kaizen walked, eyes followed him. Some filled with awe, others with fear. Mothers pulled their children close when he passed, whispering behind calloused hands. Fishermen avoided his gaze, bowing their heads but keeping distance.
Renji noticed it first. "They're scared of you."
Kaizen clenched his fists, the storm inside him twitching in response. "Of us. We fought together."
Renji shook his head. "No. I swung a blade. You… became something else out there. Lightning in human skin. They saw it. They won't forget it."
Kaizen didn't reply. His chest felt heavy. Not from wounds Bang's herbal salves had eased the pain but from the weight of those watching eyes.
Later that evening, the elders of the floating village gathered. They invited Bang, Renji, and Kaizen to join them in the longhouse, its lanterns casting wavering light on weathered faces.
An elder woman, her hair silver and voice steady, spoke first. "You saved us from the beast. For that, we thank you."
A murmur of agreement rippled through the others. But then her tone hardened. "Yet… what manner of power did we witness? Lightning that does not come from the sky, but from a boy's flesh?"
Kaizen shifted uncomfortably. "It's… me. Something inside me. I don't fully control it."
The elders exchanged uneasy glances. Another elder, sharper in voice, leaned forward. "And if next time it turns against us? What then?"
Renji slammed his fist on the table. "Without him, you'd all be dead! Don't you see that?"
"Do not mistake gratitude for blindness," the elder shot back. "Power that saves can also destroy."
The hall fell silent. All eyes turned to Bang.
The old master met their stares evenly. "Your fear is not misplaced. The boy is dangerous."
Kaizen's chest tightened. Even Bang…?
But Bang continued, his tone like steel. "Dangerous because he refuses to give up. Dangerous because he walks a path that none of you could bear. That danger is also the shield between you and the sea. Remember that."
The elders quieted. Some nodded reluctantly, others still looked wary.
Bang rose, signaling the meeting's end. "He is under my training. His burden is mine to carry until he can carry it himself. That is all you need know."
With that, he left. Renji followed, but Kaizen lingered, staring at the flickering lanterns until the whispers grew too sharp to ignore.
Outside, the night was cool. The platforms creaked under the shifting tide. Kaizen found Bang standing at the edge, hands clasped behind his back, staring into the dark waters.
"Why didn't you tell them the truth?" Kaizen asked quietly.
Bang didn't turn. "And what truth is that?"
"That I'm not in control. That I could… kill everyone here if I slip."
Finally, Bang glanced at him. His expression was unreadable. "If I told them that, they would cast you into the sea. Or worse. Do you want that?"
Kaizen looked away, guilt clawing at him. "…No."
Bang's voice softened, though only slightly. "Then prove them wrong. Prove yourself right. Each day you control it, each moment you choose balance over chaos, their fear matters less."
Kaizen's hands trembled. Sparks flickered faintly, then died. "…What if I can't?"
Bang turned fully now, his gaze piercing. "Then you die as a boy who tried. But if you succeed, you live as something greater."
The words struck hard, but also lit something within Kaizen. He swallowed, nodding slowly.
The days that followed were relentless. Bang doubled the training.
Kaizen no longer simply struck until exhaustion he was forced to spar with Renji, hold back the storm while still fighting efficiently. Each misstep was punished with a crack of Bang's cane across his legs.
"Too wild," Bang barked. "The lightning is a tool, not a master. Again!"
Renji winced each time Kaizen stumbled, but never held back his strikes. "If you can't keep up, I'll cut you down myself," he taunted during one spar.
Kaizen gritted his teeth, parrying a blow with sparks dancing along his forearm. "Then try."
They clashed again and again, until sweat soaked their clothes and the pier beneath them smoked from stray arcs of lightning.
Some nights, Kaizen collapsed before reaching his cot. Renji dragged him back, grumbling but never leaving him behind.
"You're insane," Renji muttered one night, tossing a blanket over him. "You'll burn yourself out before you even master it."
Kaizen, barely conscious, whispered, "Better me than them."
Renji stared at him in the dim light, silent.
Despite the harshness, progress came. The lightning grew less erratic, no longer lashing at random but answering Kaizen's intent. He could hold a charge in his fists without it spilling wildly, could move without leaving scorched footprints on the wood.
But every gain only sharpened the eyes watching him.
Children pointed and whispered. Fishermen avoided his touch. Even the elders, though outwardly respectful, flinched when sparks jumped at Kaizen's shoulders during training.
Renji tried to brush it off. "Let them talk. You're alive, they're alive, that's what matters."
But Kaizen felt the distance grow. No matter how many times he fought for them, no matter how much blood he shed, their fear clung like salt to his skin.
One night, as he sat alone by the water, he whispered to himself: "Will I always be the monster they see?"
The waves didn't answer.
Far below, unseen by the village, the sea boiled with movement. The corpse of the fallen Deepborn had been consumed. What remained sank into darkness, where shadows writhed and multiplied.
And deeper still, the ancient stirring grew stronger.
The ocean was not done with Kaizen.