The chains of the Twisted Oath lashed through the shattered sky, each strike carving wounds into the stars. The heavens themselves screamed, as if the false vow burned even memory.
Kento gritted his teeth, sparks dancing across his fists as he deflected a crimson chain. Every impact carried not just force, but venom—whispers that gnawed at his resolve.
"She never believed in you. They never believed in you."
The voices drilled into his skull, trying to rot his faith.
"Kento!" Furi's shout cut through the haze. His own chains of resolve clashed against the monster's, sparks erupting into bursts of flame and shadow. "Don't let it get in your head!"
But the Oath only laughed—a hideous, broken sound.
"Why fight it? Promises are lies dressed in pretty words. I know… because I forged one."
The chains retracted, curling around the monster like serpents. His hollow eyes glowed with madness.
"There was a woman… fragile, desperate. She begged me: 'Promise you'll never leave me.'"
For a moment, his voice shifted—softer, almost human.
"And I… I told her what she wanted to hear. 'I promise.'"
Kento's breath caught. The weight of the words was suffocating.
"But I never meant it," the monster snarled, the voice twisting back into rage. "She was nothing! Just a toy, a vessel for my hunger. And yet the heavens remembered my lie. They chained me to it. Forever."
The crimson chains pulsed, screaming with countless trapped voices.
The child whispered in horror. "That's the curse… The cosmos doesn't care about intent. It only remembers the words. A lie, a vow—it all binds the same."
Kento's fists trembled. He could see flashes—echoes of the woman, faceless yet weeping. The lie had bound not only the monster, but her soul as well.
"Damn you…" Kento roared, charging forward. His vow burned inside his chest, colliding with the crimson chains. "A promise isn't a weapon to trap someone—it's a bridge!"
The sky ignited as his fist met the Oath's chains. Waves of memory burst forth: fragments of the woman's desperate plea, her laughter, her tears. Kento felt them sear into his mind.
The Oath screamed, staggered for the first time. His hollow eyes widened.
"Why… why do you see her? That memory is mine!"
Furi snarled, slamming his chains against the monster's other arm. "Because your lie isn't yours alone—it bound her too! You can't erase that!"
The crimson chains writhed violently, splitting into dozens of serpents that struck from every angle. Kento leapt, weaving between the attacks, each near miss shredding the starlight around him.
Inside, doubt clawed again. What if my promise breaks one day? What if I can't protect them?
But he clenched his fists tighter, recalling Furi's smirk, the child's fragile hope, the constellations that shimmered when he swore his vow.
"No… I'll carry it until the end. My promise won't rot like yours."
The vow's fire surged brighter, his fists wrapped in golden light. For the first time, his strike shattered a crimson chain, fragments dissolving into fading screams.
The monster staggered, roaring in fury. "You dare defy the eternal? I am bound forever! You will drown in lies just as I did!"
The chains coiled tighter around him, compressing his twisted form into something even more monstrous, half-man, half-beast, dripping with red fire.
The battle was only beginning.
But now, a truth had been revealed:
The Twisted Oath was not just a monster.
It was a man who lied—and was punished by the very heavens for it.
(To be continued…)