Kaguchi was standing. His eyes were still closed.
Half-naked, his body was wrapped in a living layer of red tapeworms, crawling… coiling… slipping into the cracks of his skin.
He felt no pain. Slowly, he raised his hand. At that exact moment, the worms stopped. Then they melted, turning into dark, viscous blood that streamed down his arm.
He spoke with a sick, tranquil calm.
"These worms are truly useful."
They were not merely crawling… they were listening. Subtle pulses throbbed beneath his flesh. Kaguchi recognized the sensation.
He opened his eyes.The house was ancient its walls fractured, its floor sticky, its air drowned in the unmistakable stench of decay.
At its center a chest. Wooden. Its lid broken. Flooded with blood. Beside it lay a rotting corpse. No longer whole. No longer recent.
Kaguchi looked at it… then turned away. It no longer mattered. From the opposite shadow, something moved.
Ravagers of the Vein.
It revealed its true form the face of a woman without a body, pure darkness without structure. It knelt at once. Its voice held no tremor.
"My lord Kaguchi… It is done. He has not lost his power under the seal."
Silence followed. The blood on the floor shifted. Slowly.
Kaguchi smiled thin, cruel.
"Good."
He took a single step.The walls groaned.
_
Meanwhile, at the Wizard School,
Kagami, a professor of the Deformation Department, stood before the class. His expression was calm, his eyes tracking even the smallest movement.
He lifted his hand slightly. A student stepped forward. Kagami spoke :
"After swallowing the coin… the danger is not the power, but the change."
His fingers moved. The student's body convulsed. His arm warped, bone twisting, flesh stretching then locking in place. The student did not scream.
Kagami ended the spell instantly.
"Control," he said coldly, "means knowing when to stop."
He turned slightly. And in that moment He froze. Not his body. His awareness. Something… scratched inside his mind. An image he had never seen, yet somehow felt.
A coin. Green. Driven into someone's heart.
Kagami clenched his fist. For a single second, the classroom vanished from his perception. Then it returned. His heart did not race. But something else stirred.
Greed?
No.
Anxiety?
Closer.
The green coin was not rare… but fatal to those who believed they were in control. He lowered his hand slowly.
"The lesson is over."
Without waiting for questions, he left the hall. The corridor was nearly empty. Before he could take two steps, A creature of shadow appeared.
A small demon, its horns coiled, its eyes lowered in respect. It spoke quickly.
"My lord… someone carrying a green coin has been detected in their heart."
Kagami's face did not change.
"Where?"
The demon hesitated.
"The location… is under Drakhaens guard."
It paused.
"A sealed point. Entry is forbidden."
Silence settled. Kagami closed his eyes.The pulse he had sensed… grew sharper. He opened them.
"So…" he said, his voice calm but dangerous,
"they're already a step ahead."
The demon stepped back half a pace.
"Your orders?"
Kagami turned slowly. His gaze was steady yet something moved beneath it.
"Do not interfere," he said.
"And touch nothing."
He continued down the corridor. And in his mind, One thing was certain: The green coin was cracked.
_
Nothing stopped here, But far away, something else had begun.
In the Drakhaen Kingdom , Lilithia still remained in her cell. The restraints had not changed.
Then,
The door opened. Atsuro entered. Only one step inside. He looked at her. And in that same instant ,He threw a sword. The blade struck the floor before her, spun once, then fell silent.
He said nothing more. Only, in a steady voice:
"We have a mission."
Lilithia slowly raised her head. She did not look at him. She looked at the sword. A short, exhausted laugh escaped her.
The restraints shifted, releasing her . Her fingers closed around the hilt. The metal was cold, but the chains behind her were colder. Every link trembled… as if unwilling to let her go.
Lilithia did not think about escaping. She thought about the simpler question:
Was this a path, Or a smarter way to die?
At that moment, The air changed.
Something…
Something that had been waiting for this decision for a very long time.
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-To be continued...-