The chamber was silent—too silent.
The silence didn't feel empty; it pressed against the skin, heavy, suffocating, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. The flickering blue flames of the candles stretched thin, their light twisted, bending as if afraid of what sat upon the bed.
Ravihiro.
But not Ravihiro.
His body looked the same, yet the essence was wrong. Crimson slitted eyes glowed faintly in the dimness, predatory, ancient. A crooked smirk curled across his lips, splitting his face into something that felt less like a man and more like a mask.
Haruno's breath caught. She had fought beasts that could devour a man whole, faced cultivators that dripped with killing intent, but this—this presence—made her legs tremble.
Purvi, fists clenched, stepped forward anyway. "Hiro… it's me. Purvi. Your sister. Wake up!"
Her voice cracked, trembling with desperation.
For the briefest second, those crimson eyes shifted toward her. A flicker of recognition—familiarity—hope.
And then it was gone.
The smirk deepened.
"...Sister?" Ravihiro's voice was low, distorted, layered as though two voices spoke in unison. "You call yourself his sister? When you let him rot in silence? When you chose comfort while he drowned in solitude?"
Purvi froze, her chest tightening as if invisible chains had wrapped around her.
"That's not him speaking!" Rudra barked, stepping forward. His sword flashed, spirit energy coating the blade in trembling arcs of light. He glared at his brother—the brother who no longer looked like one.
Ravihiro tilted his head, eyes gleaming. "Little Rudra. Always shining. Always the one they wanted. Tell me… when you look at him, do you see a brother—or a shadow you trampled?"
The words cut sharper than steel.
Rudra flinched but held firm, planting himself between Ravihiro and their parents. "I don't know what you are—but you're not him. So stay away."
"Not him… not him…" The laugh that spilled from Ravihiro's lips wasn't laughter. It was broken glass, jagged and painful, crawling beneath the skin. "Then tell me—who am I?"
The walls shuddered.
Cracks splintered across the floor like veins of black lightning. The candles hissed, their flames bending backward, unnatural, burning without heat.
Then—
𝙎𝙘𝙝𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙠!
The air behind Ravihiro tore open. A portal, a wound in reality itself, oozed with shifting darkness. The shadows stretched long fingers into the room, writhing like serpents hungry for flesh.
Rumina's composure cracked. Her nails dug into her palms, blood dripping, as she forced herself not to tremble. "That… that's not cultivation. That's something else."
Kalki's voice was a whisper, but his eyes burned sharp. "It's a prison. And it just opened."
From the abyss, a hand emerged—black, boneless, dripping shadow like tar. It grabbed the edge of the rift and pulled.
The room buckled.
Haruno lunged forward with a snarl, spirit energy flaring into her hands. "I won't let you take him!"
But before she could reach him—
𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙥!
Another hand, dark and twisted, shot out from the rift and clamped around her wrist. Cold. So cold it burned. Her skin blistered under its grip, the shadow searing her flesh with a pain deeper than fire.
"W-What—?!" Haruno screamed, struggling, her body trembling as if her very soul was being pulled out.
Ravihiro smirked wider, crimson eyes gleaming. "You've played sister so well… but you are only a parasite clinging to his loneliness."
"Let her go!" Purvi cried, rushing forward.
The crimson gaze snapped toward her. For a moment, silence. And then—
𝘽𝙊𝙊𝙈!
A gust of energy erupted from Ravihiro, slamming Purvi into the far wall. She coughed blood, her body trembling, yet her eyes blazed with defiance.
"Even if you hate me… even if I wasn't there… you're still my brother! Come back!"
The words echoed in the chamber. For just a flicker, the crimson glow faltered. A shadow of Ravihiro's true self shimmered beneath the beastly mask.
But then—
𝙏𝙝𝙪𝙢.
The rift pulsed, like a heartbeat.
And something screamed.
It wasn't human. It wasn't beast. It was the sound of thousands of mouths crying in unison, a roar of agony and hunger. The shadows spilled out, crawling across the floor, the walls, the ceiling, blotting out the blue flames.
The room became a void.
Their breaths fogged in the freezing air. The taste of iron filled their mouths.
The shadow screamed again, and this time the walls bled. Dark liquid seeped down the stone, dripping onto the floor, forming sigils no one could recognize but everyone instinctively feared.
"Stop this madness!" Ravihiro's father bellowed, his soldier's heart burning even as his hands shook. "You're stronger than this, son! Fight it!"
But Ravihiro only tilted his head back and laughed, crimson eyes burning brighter, fangs glinting in the dimness.
"Fight? Why would I fight… when I am finally free?"
His voice cracked the air.
And the rift tore wider.
Shapes began to crawl out. Misshapen, faceless, their bodies made of shadow and bone, whispering in voices that scraped the soul.
Haruno screamed, her wrist burning as she tore free from the hand that bound her, skin blistered raw. She fell back, clutching her arm, tears streaking her face—not from pain, but from the horror of seeing him like this.
Rudra's sword trembled in his grip. He had fought countless battles, but this… this wasn't a battle. This was a nightmare given flesh.
Kalki's gaze hardened, jaw tight. "This isn't Ravihiro's darkness… this is what was sealed and suppressed inside himself."
The crimson eyes flickered to him. Ravihiro—or the thing that wore his skin—smirked.
"Smart boy. But too late."
And then—
𝙒𝙃𝙊𝙊𝙊𝙎𝙃!
The shadows surged like a tidal wave. Candles shattered. The room split open, ceiling cracking as stone rained down. Everyone was thrown backward by the force.
Ravihiro rose to his feet, every movement smooth, predatory, wrong. His crimson gaze swept across them all—family, companions, disciples.
"Witness," he whispered, voice layered with countless others.
"𝙒𝙞𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬."
And with that—
The rift swallowed him whole.
The chamber collapsed, screaming shadows devouring the light.
And Ravihiro was gone.