Chapter 5: Asylum of Outcast Souls
The silence in the aftermath of the Strength Test was not a peaceful one; it was a heavy, suffocating blanket that wrapped around the Royal Academy of Argun. While the halls were filled with whispers of Volt's inexplicable outburst, Sai Marx had sought refuge in the one place where no one dared to follow—the deep, meditative state of his own subconscious.
A heavy, unnatural fog surrounded Sai within his mindscape. It was thick and cold, smelling of ancient sulfur and ozone. He walked through the gray mist, hearing nothing but the rhythmic, echoing sound of his own breathing. Suddenly, the fog parted like a curtain, revealing a scene of haunting grandeur. He was standing in a ruined, gargantuan hall—the internal sanctuary of his own soul. At the far end, sitting upon a throne of jagged obsidian and bone, was Sakuna.
The demonic guardian looked down at him, her crimson eyes glowing like embers in a dying fireplace.
"Sakuna..." Sai whispered, his voice steady despite the overwhelming pressure of her presence. He looked at her suspiciously, the questions that had been festering in his mind finally bubbling to the surface. "There is a question that occupies my mind, a riddle I cannot solve. You are a being of primordial strength, a guard who once shook the heavens. Why? Why did you accept to be sealed inside a vessel like me? Why hide within the fragile, mortal body of a human?"
Sakuna let out a laugh—a cold, hollow sound that felt like shards of glass scraping together in a vacuum. She leaned forward, her red eyes narrowing as she pulled a thread of memory from the void.
The Flashback: Running from the Eyes of the Gods
"Sai, you think the gods are fair? You think they are the bastions of justice they claim to be?" Sakuna's voice dripped with ancient malice. "No... they are cowards. They were simply terrified of my power. Nine thousand years ago, the hierarchy of the universe was shattered. After Lucifer—the Morning Star—betrayed the True Demon King and stole the primordial essence of the abyss, the gods did not stop there. They turned their gluttonous eyes toward me."
In a sudden surge of psychic imagery, Sai saw the past. He saw a younger, more feral Sakuna standing amidst a sea of golden light. She was surrounded by tens of thousands of celestial beings—angels with wings of fire and spears forged from the heart of suns.
"They think I am destroyed," Sakuna continued, her voice trembling with suppressed rage. "They believe my soul was scrubbed from the tapestry of existence. But they are wrong."
Sai watched the memory unfold: Sakuna, facing an army that could incinerate entire solar systems, had made a choice. She didn't fight for victory; she fought for survival. He saw her sacrifice her physical form, letting her body be torn asunder in a meaningless, violent battle just to shield her core essence. She allowed the gods to believe they had won, while her soul slipped through the cracks of reality.
"If I were to appear in your body now and show even a fraction of my true strength," Sakuna hissed, "all the gods of heaven would descend upon this world like vultures to a carcass. They would not let the rebel guard of old breathe another breath. To them, I am a glitch in their perfect order. A flame they failed to extinguish."
The Sanctuary of the Heart
As the vision of the ancient war faded, the ruined hall grew quiet. Sai looked around; despite the darkness, the place felt strangely stable. It was peaceful, as if Sai's disciplined mind was acting as a perfect, impenetrable fortress for the demon.
Sakuna leaned back, her gaze softening for a fleeting second. "Most importantly... here, inside your heart, the place is much nicer than the false paradise I used to inhabit. That 'Heaven' was a prison of gold and hypocrisy. Here, I am my own king. If I leave you, I must fight every single day until the stars burn out. But here... here I rest. I am biding my time until the moment we are strong enough to shake Lucifer and the gods together."
Sai felt a strange sense of clarity. He understood now that the seal was not just a punishment inflicted by the gods; it was a form of asylum. He was the protector of a monster, and in return, the monster was his ultimate weapon.
"Sai, stop asking," Sakuna said, her voice dropping to a calm, commanding tone. "The golden energy you feel coursing through your veins—that is my power. It is the cloak that hides you from the divine. For as long as you live and keep me secret, I will remain hidden from the eyes of those who would see us both erased."
She paused, looking at the stone floor of the hall. "Here... inside you, it is more peaceful than the celestial realms. There is no one to bother me here. No golden bells, no forced worship. Just the silence of a warrior's soul."
Slightly surprised by this rare moment of vulnerability, Sai simply said, "So… you feel at ease here? Like my soul has become your home?"
The Shadow's Fury
Suddenly, the entire atmosphere changed! The peaceful silence was shattered as if a glass dome had been hit by a hammer. Sakuna's eyes turned a violent, incandescent red. A crushing weight hit Sai's chest, a pressure so immense it felt like his lungs had turned to lead. He struggled to breathe, his knees buckling under the sheer gravity of her sudden wrath.
Furious, Sakuna straightened up on her throne, her aura expanding until it filled every corner of the ruined hall. She reached out and gripped the air, pulling Sai toward her until they were eye-to-eye.
"You fool!" she bellowed, her voice like a clap of thunder that shook the foundations of his mind. "Did you think I was your guest? Did you think I was a stray cat you took in from the rain? Did you think this was my house and I simply lived there at your whim?"
Sai took a step back, his heart hammering against his ribs in genuine terror. The "friendly" entity he thought he was talking to had vanished, replaced by the god-slayer of old.
"I am here only to hide from the prying eyes of the gods," Sakuna continued, her words dripping with venom. "Not because I like that skinny, pathetic mortal body of yours! Do not dare to think we have become friends. Do not mistake my silence for companionship. I am merely killing time, counting the seconds until the day I burn the whole universe under my feet—and you with it!"
As Sai gasped for air, the pressure slowly began to recede, leaving him trembling. He realized the cold truth: Sakuna was a refugee, yes, but she was a refugee with the heart of a tyrant. She hadn't changed; she was just waiting. She was the same violent rebel guard that no army in history could truly break.
Sakuna leaned back into the shadows of her throne, her eyes narrowing into slits of dangerous light. "And now go... leave this place before I regret letting your heart beat for this long."
Sai's vision blurred as he was forcefully ejected from his subconscious. He snapped his eyes open in the physical world, sweat pouring down his face. He was back in the Academy, but the world felt different. The golden energy in his hands felt heavier, more dangerous.
He looked at his reflection in a nearby window. He wasn't just a student anymore. He was the keeper of a catastrophe.
Directed by: Ahmed Barozh