Humanity's last sanctuary was a lie. The Caretaking Zone Shi Kousaki called home since birth was an artificial realm, constructed centuries ago by desperate humans to preserve pure, unawakened bloodlines while the real world descended into chaos. Beyond its walls lies a realm where Desgna awakened in countless forms-warring human factions, ancient dragons, Hollows that feed on fear, beast-kin tribes, and monsters beyond imagination.
Shi, sixteen, lived in blissful ignorance. Popular yet distant, he kept others at arm's length-until Akari Akiyama confessed beneath falling cherry blossoms. For one night, he believed happiness was possible.
On his seventeenth birthday, everything shattered.
His best friend, Asuka, revealed himself as a Liberation Front agent. Every shared laugh, every study session, every whispered secret-manipulation. Akari, his first love, was another operative. Her confession was scripted, her affection a mission, her nights spent in Asuka's arms while Shi dreamed of their future. His best friend and girlfriend laughed together at the fool who believed their lies. His entire adolescence was fabricated to monitor the Kousaki bloodline, a genetic catalyst producing impossibly powerful cores. His mother was executed for carrying it.
When a Hollow attacked his sister Yui, Shi's core erupted-rated an unprecedented eleven. Thrust into the real world, hunted by factions seeking to weaponize him, Shi faces dragons, rival clans, and the truth that every Kousaki before him burned out. Stripped of trust, betrayed by lover and friend, Shi has one goal: master the starlight in his veins and destroy everyone who deceived him. Can a heart forged for vengeance ever love again?