The desert wind had been replaced by the faint murmur of memory. Kairo's mind drifted to the dark corridors of Hell, the endless screams echoing like a distant storm.
A shadow shifted beside him — Igron, his mentor and guide through the torment, stood silently, arms crossed. His gaze was sharp, piercing even the gloom.
"Kairo," Igron began, voice low but commanding, "the next challenge awaiting you is not like the others. It will not simply test your strength… it will weigh your spirit."
Kairo's crimson eyes, even in memory, glimmered with the same unyielding calm. "Who is it?"
Igron's lips curled slightly. "They call it the Bone Demon. A warrior forged from the remnants of the Remnant, chained to death and destruction. Its chains are more than metal… they are judgment, wrath, and power, bound into a single being."
Kairo's jaw tightened. "And I'm supposed to… survive it?"
"No," Igron said sharply. "You are supposed to please it. Not through submission, but through mastery. Prove that you are worthy of what it has to offer, and it may grant you a reward — a weapon of legend."
Kairo tilted his head. "A weapon?"
Igron's eyes glinted, unreadable. "The Bone Blade. It is no ordinary relic. It is carved from the spine of the damned and steeped in the blood of the fallen. Whoever wields it can turn the chains of the damned into instruments of their will… but only if they earn it through combat."
Kairo's lips pressed into a thin line. "And if I fail?"
Igron's gaze darkened. "Then you die. And not just your flesh… your essence will be bound to its chains forever, feeding the Bone Demon's hunger. But I do not doubt you. You will survive. You always do. Just remember this — respect the power you face, or it will devour everything you are."
The wind howled through the abyssal halls as Igron stepped back, fading like a shadow into the memory. Kairo's hand flexed instinctively, as though already feeling the pull of chains yet unseen, the cold weight of destiny pressing against his very soul.
And deep inside, something stirred — a promise of blood, power, and the bone-white edge that would soon become his.