The Government is weak.
The Government lacks resources.
The Government is scared.
These are the only answers you will get from an experienced Awakened. Anyone who says otherwise is usually new, naive, or still clinging to a world that died decades ago.
The Government once ruled over everyone. It was a democracy or at least it pretended to be. It carried the world like a working machine.
There were proper rules and punishments. There were employers and employees. There were businesses and franchises that actually dictated the value of a man's life.
The Government controlled it all. Until they couldn't.
Until the Spell arrived as the messenger of fate.
At first, they managed to keep the leash tight.
The first infected joined the ranks because they still felt like citizens.
They underestimated the fire burning in their own souls and feared the old laws. But all it took was one infected to raise their voice.
One man realized that a tank cannot stop a Master, and a law cannot bind a Saint. Once the realization spread, the illusion of the state shattered.
There are still those who join the Government today, but they are rarely the elite.
Someone like Soul Reaper Jet is a statistical wonder.
She is a relic who stayed when she could have been a queen. To see her walking the halls of a government facility is like seeing a dragon resting in a stable.
Nowadays, Sleepers are filled with greed. They don't want to serve a flag or a fading bureaucracy.
They want to join the Great Clans for their hoards of Memories and Soul Shards. Or they stay independent, realizing that the stronger they get, the more the world becomes their private vault.
The Great Clans control the Dream Realm while the Government manages the waking world. But the waking world is filled with nothing but mundane humans. These are millions of mouths that need feeding and have no power to protect themselves.
The strength difference between the clans and the Government is, frankly, unfathomable.
The Government is weak.
Even the talented ones who join the Government to help usually leave soon after. They see the empty armories and the lack of Soul Shards. The Government simply doesn't have enough resources to satisfy a growing appetite for power.
The Clans don't even have to try. They easily seduce the talented with high tier Echoes and the promise of immortality.
If the Government tries to fight back by paying a hefty sum to keep a single Awakened, the fragile ego of the others takes over. Jealousy spreads faster than the Spell itself. If the state rewards one, then ten others walk out the door in protest.
The Government cannot pay everyone, so in the end, they can pay no one.
Hence, the Government lacks resources.
It is a world divided into two territorial forces. One rules above the weak, and the other rules above the strong.
But there is a problem.
What if the strong need more space?
What if the Great Clans become so populated that the Dream Realm is no longer enough?
What happens when a Sovereign looks at a city on Earth and decides it belongs to their Domain?
They are hoping the strong don't come after them. They are hoping the Sovereigns don't look down from their thrones and seek the few resources Earth has left.
All the Government is... doing... is that. They are hoping.
Hoping.
The Government is scared.
***
It was just another dull day.
The government workers were busy sorting the new Sleepers, ranking their files by interview scores and combat potential. They flipped through the big names. They took notes of Caster. They noted Nephis, the last of the Immortal Flame clan.
They watched the first combat class and saw Nephis dismantle her peers without even touching her Aspect, eventually yielding to Caster's refined, legacy style. To the government, that made sense. That should have been the end of it.
But then came Kiyotaka.
Confused, a worker pulled his file again. He stared at the data in disbelief; the records showed he had placed dead last in the rankings.
The worker reached for the tablet to double-check the entry, but in the time it took his eyes to move from the screen back to the video, the monitor shifted.
Four attacks passed between the two boys in a blur that defied any rank.
The movements were so perfect that the man's grip simply failed. The file slipped from his hands and hit the floor.
***
Kiyotaka was exceptional. He was a master of both skill and mind games, capable of scheming so deeply that a legacy like Caster didn't even realize he was being played until it was too late.
Initially, the government classified him as a "Highly Intelligent" Sleeper. They wanted to recruit him, but they didn't hold their breath.
They knew the Great Clans would eventually hear about a talent like this and snatch him up. The government was used to being powerless against the Clans.
Until the news of his Aspect arrived.
Everything stopped. They realized he had dismantled Caster without a single offensive ability.
The power itself was fascinating, an Aspect that could delete betrayal and dishonesty entirely. In a world of backstabbing, a mind like his was the ultimate weapon.
The paranoia set in immediately. If the Clans got even a sniff of his Aspect, Kiyotaka would disappear overnight. He would wake up in a private Citadel, just another stolen talent serving a Sovereign.
The government couldn't afford to lose him. They were weak, but with his Aspect, they could finally secure the waking world from future struggles. They needed him.
They put together a team of three agents. One was an Awakened specialist in infiltration and seduction.
Their goal wasn't to threaten him, it was to lay out a puzzle. They created a trail of subtle hints that only someone as smart as Kiyotaka could solve. It was their way of saying
We know what you are, and we are willing to pay any price.
But the report the agent brought back was disappointing. She claimed he couldn't solve the puzzle at all. Even worse, she said her Aspect revealed he was easily swayed by base impulses.
The agency was paranoid.
Is he playing us? they wondered. Is he making us think he's easy to control just to hide his true nature?
Then they saw the surveillance of the girl, Cassie.
Every day, he escorted the blind girl back and forth. There was no strategic reason for it. The bureaucrats watched the footage with a mix of amusement and confusion.
Was it a weird savior complex? Was it some strange kink? Or did he just find comfort in someone as isolated as himself?
In the end, the government's desperation won. They chose to believe he was just another lustful teenager because it was the only way they felt they could control him.
Starting today, the agent was officially "Kath," a nurse living just a few kilometers from the academy. Starting tomorrow, her task would begin...
Seduce Kiyotaka and pull him into the government's arms.
The lustfu-
"Lustful my ass."
***
As the one who had inspected Kiyotaka at the end of his first Nightmare.
Jet had been assigned to confront him directly, and the moment the report mentioned lust clouding his judgment and a failure to solve a simple puzzle, the only response that formed in her mind was rather simple.
'Bullshit.'
She drove the PTV toward the Academy without slowing, her grip steady on the controls.
Her thoughts moved faster than the vehicle itself, dissecting every word she had been told and tearing it apart.
'He wants this outcome, I am certain of it, because there is no version of him that ignores my warning without already calculating the consequences and shaping them into something useful.'
The engine hummed beneath her, but it barely registered against the clarity forming in her mind, a pattern she had seen too many times in battlefields and interrogation rooms alike.
'He is not slipping, he is baiting, and the government is walking exactly where he wants them to walk without even questioning why the ground feels so soft beneath their feet.'
They had already prepared a backup plan in case her confrontation failed, a slower and subtler approach that involved sending Kath to get close and pull him in over time, but even that carried a risk they could not measure.
'They do not know how long it will take before the clans notice him, and once that happens the board stops being theirs to control.'
Her jaw tightened slightly as the memory of the report replayed again, each line sounding more ridiculous the longer she examined it.
'Saying he was driven by something as basic as impulse and failed the puzzle, that is not an explanation, that is an excuse crafted by someone who already stepped into his design.'
The road stretched ahead, empty and obedient, while her thoughts drifted back to the day she had first seen him.
She had killed countless people and creatures over the years, enough that the act itself no longer carried weight or hesitation, but that numbness had been earned through experience and necessity.
She was an Ascended, shaped by horrors that broke others before they could even understand what they were facing, and every scar on her mind had meaning behind it.
'That boy is barely seventeen, yet when those Vowalkers rushed him he did not feel anything close to human... in the way a fresh sleeper always does when death closes in from every direction.'
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she recalled the stillness in him, something that had no place in someone so new.
'That was not instinct or luck, that was the composure of someone who already understands death as a constant, not a possibility.'
She had chosen not to report that detail to the Government, not because she doubted her own judgment but because she understood theirs too well.
'If they had seen how firmly I opposed their assumptions, they would have replaced me without hesitation and sent someone far less capable of recognizing the trap until it closed around their throat.'
His Aspect was too valuable, and that alone guaranteed reckless decisions from people who believed they were in control.
'The last thing someone like him wants is to serve, because he did not endure that kind of silence just to kneel for comfort and rewards dressed as kindness.'
A quiet breath left her lips, heavier than she intended, carrying a trace of something that resembled fatigue more than frustration.
"I am glad it was me who found you first," Jet muttered under her breath, her gaze sharpening as the Academy perimeter came into view.
"The Government is fixated on loyalty clauses and surface behavior, and they would not even notice the moment they become tools instead of handlers."
She knew how the system worked because she existed in the fractures it tried to ignore, navigating its blind spots .
But Kiyotaka was not simply navigating the system.
He was shaping it while remaining unseen, turning its rules into suggestions rather than limits.
The Academy gates rose ahead, and the guards reacted instantly, clearing her path.
She brought the PTV to a stop just beside the entrance, her gaze fixed forward while her thoughts sharpened further.
'Now they want a direct confrontation, because they believe proximity will give them clarity instead of realizing it will only place them deeper within his reach.'
One of the guards hurried inside and returned shortly with Kiyotaka, and Jet finally turned her head to observe him properly.
He looked different from the average sleeper, far more composed, carrying himself with a quiet control that resembled an Awakened more than someone freshly out of a Nightmare.
Her perception had never relied solely on sight, because years of survival had refined something far more reliable than simple observation.
When she first met him, the space around him had felt tense and narrow, as if everything near him was being measured and dissected without pause.
Now that presence had changed, not weakened but expanded, spreading so subtly across the environment that it masked itself as normalcy.
'The pressure is still there, only diluted across a wider field, which makes him appear harmless to anyone who does not know what they are looking for.'
Her expression remained unchanged, but her mind had already reached a quiet conclusion.
'Anyone foolish enough to search for weakness in those eyes is already standing at the edge of their own grave without realizing it.'
"Well," Jet said, her tone dry and edged with quiet amusement. "I cannot decide whether meeting me again this soon counts as fortune or misfortune."
The guards remained still as expected, but the faint shift in their focus betrayed their curiosity, something they would never openly acknowledge.
Kiyotaka spoke, his voice even and devoid of unnecessary emotion.
"It is a pleasure to meet Soul Reaper Jet and remain alive, so I will consider myself fortunate."
Jet stretched her arms briefly before settling back into the PTV, her gaze locking onto his.
"Get inside," she said, her voice lowering just enough to carry weight without raising volume. "Your luck has already begun to run out, and I am here to see how long you can pretend otherwise."
***
It is a bad choice to follow an Ascended whose reputation is built on a mountain of bodies rather than simple rumors.
But if I refuse, she will likely drag me into the PTV herself.
There are enough inconsistencies in her history for me to believe there is a darker truth behind her killings than what people say.
I stepped into the PTV and sat beside her.
The moment the door hissed shut, a crushing pressure settled over my skin and refused to ease.
It felt like the air itself had become heavy. I wondered if she was letting her killing intent bleed into the cabin just to see if I would crack.
She turned the ignition and we drove off. There was no delay and no hesitation.
A dangerous gamble has begun, one where my life is already placed directly on the line.
If I manage to pull this off, I will secure a safe place for my body before the Winter Solstice arrives. If I fail, I won't leave this car breathing.
Jet opened her mouth, her eyes never leaving the dark road ahead.
"So," she said. "Did you enjoy doing exactly what I advised you against?"
I have come to understand one thing about her, she does not tolerate senseless games.
If I try to speak in circles or attempt even a slight scheme, she will not hesitate to use force.
"You told us it was our choice whether to follow your advice or not," I replied. "My goals simply led me down a different path."
That was a lie. My original plan was to keep my Aspect hidden. But-
"Or maybe your Flaw forced you to change that path," she countered. "You did not seem like someone who would draw attention to himself, yet here you are. You adapted faster than I expected."
This is a problem. She is far sharper than I initially assumed.
She has already deduced too much from the limited footage of my time in academy.
She is stating her observations openly, which means she expects the same transparency from me.
"So where are we going, Jet?"
She took a sharp turn onto an unlit road without any warning. It was a violent maneuver.
I have memorized the basic routes of this region through maps and records. If my mental compass is correct, we are heading toward something specific.
"Brat," she growled. "I have seen your entire journey inside the academy so far. I know how even the smallest things you do turn into something bigger. So here is how this will work."
The route she has chosen confirms it. We are heading toward a graveyard.
"I am not taking away your right to ask questions, but the moment you try anything, remember you are speaking to a Master on an important duty."
This makes things difficult. She is pushing the situation to the edge where any mistake will cost me everything.
"My apologies, Master Jet."
The PTV stopped abruptly. Jet turned to look directly into my eyes without any delay.
Her eyes were not empty. They were crowded, layered with the weight of countless souls she had harvested.
Looking into them felt like staring into a void I was never meant to see and would not be allowed to leave unchanged.
She fully deserves the title of Soul Reaper.
"I looked back to the time we first met," she said quietly. "And I realized how easily you played me... If you ever make me believe I have control when I do not, while you use that gap for yourself... remember this PTV will go straight to the graveyard."
I see, there's no room for any schemes to begin with.
She is being sincere by making it clear that she expects honesty, instead of letting me believe I can outplay her.
"I apologise. I will answer you honestly without attempting anything behind it. This is not a trick, and I am not trying to sway you. This is simply the only way I can show my sincerity."
She took her eyes away from me and grabbed the wheel again as she started the PTV, going past the graveyard.
"I came just before the time you have dinner with Cassie, so we can talk while having a proper meal."
The way she changed the mood so completely is rather fascinating. Just a moment ago, it felt like she was under my skin.
And now, she is like a responsible adult.
I don't know which one is worse.
***
The PTV clicked into place as the engine died.
Jet stepped out without a word, Kiyotaka followed.
The hotel appeared ordinary at a glance. It was decently large, but there was nothing notable about the architecture except for the density of the surveillance cameras.
He considered the possibility of an escape for a split second before looking at the line of Jet's shoulders.
'There is no escaping a disaster that is already sitting at the table with you.'
Jet locked the vehicle and walked ahead while Kiyotaka followed.
'It has been this way ever since I agreed to be honest. We have not exchanged a single question since the car started moving again.'
Waiters in crisp uniforms intercepted them at the entrance.
The lobby was a standard affair with a grand staircase leading toward the upper levels.
There were four floors in total. The first was nearly at capacity, filled with the low hum of casual conversation.
The waiter gestured for them to follow him up.
As they moved, a tall decorative pillar and a large floral arrangement momentarily obscured the path to the stairs.
A waiter carrying a high tray crossed their wake at that exact second.
'I tried to engage in some small talk inside that PTV. She didn't look interested in anything I had to say.'
Step. Step. Step.
The second floor was relatively more free than the first.
Kiyotaka openly turned his head to scan the surroundings as they moved.
Perhaps he was fulfilling his promise of honesty by making his surveillance obvious instead of hiding it.
Jet watched his head move with a look of pure lack of amusement.
'This hotel might look normal, but it is far from it. Each floor we climb, the standard raises. The first floor was civilian. The second is filled with suits and stiff collars.'
Near the landing of the third floor, the lighting shifted.
A group of staff stood in a tight formation near the service lift.
Step. Step.
They reached the third floor. It was completely empty.
The waiter stopped at the landing and bowed, letting them continue the rest of the way alone. They didn't stop to sit but kept moving.
Step.
They reached the fourth floor. It was a single, expansive suite rather than a dining hall. As they entered, Kiyotaka took in the room.
'The walls are unusually thick, likely reinforced with lead or high-density polymer. The windows are triple-paned and vacuum-sealed.'
The tension had solidified into something suffocating. The lack of ambient noise from the floors below was unnatural.
'The door has a soft-close hydraulic seal. Once it shuts, the outside world ceases to exist. No sound escapes, and no signals enter. It is the perfect place for a private meal, or a quiet execution.'
Jet walked to a table at the center and pulled out a chair.
Kiyotaka sat opposite her.
'The air is filtered and pressurized.'
Jet leaned back, her eyes locking onto his.
***
We sat there without saying anything. She was unusually on the edge today.
I cannot be that hard to deal with.
The door opened as a waiter bowed. He set the appetizer on the table.
I did not know what it was called. I have never eaten something like this.
The dish had a sphere with a savory filling inside. It looked fancy for an appetizer. The waiter gave us each a plate. He took a spoon and cracked Jet's sphere. The savory revealed itself.
I expected the same thing to happen to me but it did not. He just walked away.
...
..
.
I picked up the spoon and felt the weight of her gaze.
I pressed the spoon against the top of the dark shell. It shattered with a sharp and dry snap.
"I must say, you have prepared quite a thorough test this time," I said. "I suppose this appetizer means for me to reveal what I just saw."
Still no reaction came from her. She was probably told to act this way.
If it were someone else I would have tried to manipulate them. I would have pretended I could not decipher it due to some reasons.
But it was Jet. The moment I try to pull off anything she will realize.
I also wanted to be sincere this time. Sincerity she had asked so I gave her.
"When you picked me up, we went through the ways where barely any vehicle came. After the graveyard the road was even more unattended."
She is quite ironic.
She asked me to be sincere while she is out here taking me through yet another puzzle.
Sincerity really is always one sided.
"Let's not talk about how each floor in this hotel had a higher level of customers," I continued. "What I want to talk about is the way the decorations and waiters were positioned."
Finally I saw a grin forming on Jet's face. Perhaps she believed that I have decided to be honest with her. Yet despite that grin I could not help but feel watched.
They indeed are staring, Cassie.
"They were deliberately positioned in a way where we would be invisible to the cameras," I said. "The pillars and the rows of waiters were a cover from cameras. The camera was planted there to make me feel secured while I am not."
I dipped my spoon inside the savory and took a bite. The flavor was rich and smooth.
For a moment I went quiet just eating the appetizer and Jet did the same.
She was probably waiting for me to continue.
"The room itself was not made to be soundproof," I said. "The government purposely made it soundproof by editing it. The ones made that way have unique structures but this one was vacuum sealed with other edits."
This entire was yet another puzzle. This time I believe it was solely made by Jet as a way to tell them I played them.
"The guards that were there to escort me to you never actually worked inside the academy," I said. "They probably worked for the government too. If you tried this hard to remove the trace, the cameras outside were probably turned off too. And so was the curiosity of the guards. Probably just a facade."
I kept eating the appetizer as it came down to one last spoon.
"But this does not make sense," I said. "You are Soul Reaper Jet. An Ascended. You can kill tens like me and walk away scot free. So this was nothing more than a puzzle."
Jet stopped her spoon mid air. The grin remained on her face but her eyes stayed sharp and fixed on mine.
***
The waiter returned with a dark wooden cart and lifted the silver cover, releasing a restrained scent of cold iron and salt into the air.
He placed the dish between us.
The black stone slab held a perfect symmetry.
Bleached rib bones arched into a skeletal vault, each angled to meet its opposite with no margin for error at all.
Every piece relied on another, forming a cage sustained entirely by equal and opposing pressure.
A single thread of black silk ran through the apex, thin yet absolute, carrying the entire weight without visible strain.
The waiter set the shears between us and withdrew without a word, leaving the tension behind with the dish.
I studied the interlocking ribs, understanding that nothing could move without forcing everything else to respond in kind.
To reach the center, the balance itself had to be broken without hesitation.
The Government is weak, and because they are weak, they value stillness and mistake it for something resembling control.
They do not value the dog that pulls against the chain, only the silence that comes when it stops moving.
Jet did not move as her gaze rested on the structure, then shifted just enough to make the intent clear.
The command did not need words, and the meaning settled between us without resistance.
I reached for the shears.
I positioned the blades over the knot, sensing the silk stretched to its absolute limit under the strain.
I applied pressure slowly, feeling the tension gather at a single point that could no longer hold.
The thread snapped, and the equilibrium collapsed as the ribs groaned and tore apart in a violent bloom.
The cage gave way completely, surrendering the structure that had held everything in place.
The dark meat struck the slab with a heavy sound.
The balance was gone, and the heart lay exposed between us without anything left to hold it back.
I set the shears aside and reached forward, cutting into the meat.
Jet followed without pause, her hand steady as she took her portion.
We ate in silence, the taste of iron and salt lingering.
Her expression did not shift, but her focus remained fixed, not on the act of eating, but on what had already been done.
There was no approval in her gaze, yet there was no refusal either, only a cold recognition that settled between us.
The slab grew empty, the scattered ribs losing meaning without the balance that once held them together.
The silence deepened as nothing remained to interrupt it, no movement left that carried purpose.
I rested my hand near the center of the table,.
For a moment, nothing followed, and even the air felt held in suspension.
Then, without breaking that silence, I placed two fingers on the table
***
The dish was the concept of equality and honesty.
It was a lie that two forces can maintain a cage forever.
It was the truth that someone always holds the shears.
It was the fall of government. A structure that looks solid until a single thread is cut. Then, the whole vault groans and surrenders to the weight of its own bones.
It was the false sense of control. The belief that stillness is the same as submission.
Jet sat perfectly still with a grin. Yet her eyes only became more darker.
Kiyotaka did not blink. He did not move to justify the destruction of the dish.
Everything the dish pointed towards.. was him.
He would either be the Messiah whose truth remains untold or the demon who brings ruin.
He shifted his weight. The fabric of his sleeve brushed against the cold basalt. His focus was not on the shears.
Without breaking the silence, he placed two fingers on the table.
Jet's grin slowly vanished as her expression turned fully serious, her attention locking onto the shift in front of her.
'So he chose not to explain the dish and moved straight to what it implied.'
Jet narrowed her eyes, recalling the reports detailing how the chains appeared only through his fingers, and how acceptance enforced the vow without exception.
The temperature in the room began to rise, subtle at first, then unmistakably concentrated around his position.
Confusion surfaced immediately, as this detail had never been recorded in any prior observation.
'They were not capable enough of sensing this.'
Jet leaned forward slightly as the heat intensified, her gaze fixed on the space where his fingers rested.
The air around that point began to distort, tightening before shifting into a defined, unnatural shape.
Her eyes widened as the form stabilized, the outline of a chain becoming visible within the warped space.
She did not rely on sight alone, because the sensation reached her before the image fully settled.
There was something fundamentally wrong within its presence.
The chains manifested across the table, releasing gray light that rose upward in steady, uninterrupted strands.
Where others had recoiled or hesitated according to reports, Jet moved forward without pause, her curiosity overriding caution.
She reached out and attempted to grasp a link, her fingers closing through it without resistance.
Her hand passed through completely, yet the sensation remained, pressing faintly against her awareness.
It had been described as divine.
Jet recognized immediately that the description was flawed.
The structure was not divine.
At its core existed something darker than absence, something that resisted definition entirely.
She could not assign it a form, yet its presence remained absolute.
The outer layer emitted a clean light, concealing the core beneath a controlled, deliberate surface.
'This is wrong.'
The chains began to move.
One secured itself around Kiyotaka's neck without resistance or delay.
The other extended toward Jet, advancing at a measured pace until it stopped just before her throat.
"I suppose you already know how this goes."
Jet remained still, her thoughts aligned yet unsettled as she observed the chain hovering within reach.
She had prepared for this scenario countless times, refining her response, defining her approach.
What stood before her did not match those expectations.
This did not resemble an Aspect.
It functioned with the precision of a system.
A slow grin returned to her face as she met his gaze directly, the hesitation gone.
The chain closed the remaining distance and locked around her neck.
Kiyotaka exhaled quietly before speaking, his tone even, without visible strain.
"I had almost forgotten, I was connecting my soul with a soul reaper."
***
Jet grasped the chain in her hand, and it became tangible the moment it aligned with her soul.
She tightened her grip and tested its resistance with pressure, yet the structure remained unchanged and completely unyielding.
Their souls were already connected, leaving only the vow to formalize what had already taken hold between them.
Jet was known as a Soul Reaper, yet she remained cautious when binding herself to someone as controlled as Kiyotaka.
She had been misled once before, and that memory stayed present as she assessed the situation in silence.
"I am sure you already know, but do not be startled by the contents of the chant, as they are necessary."
She closed her eyes briefly, recalling the reports before aligning them with what she now observed.
"Go ahead. I believe you already understand what vow the dish was meant to imply."
Kiyotaka acknowledged her with a slight nod, offering nothing beyond that minimal response.
The temperature dropped sharply, settling into a cold that pressed inward rather than dispersing through the room.
Jet registered the shift immediately, marking it as an unrecorded detail within the existing observations.
'Others were not capable of perceiving this difference, and I need to account for that gap.'
Runes formed in front of her, carrying an authority that demanded acknowledgment.
She leaned back into her seat, allowing a restrained grin to form as she read through them.
'He altered it.'
The runes read:
[Essence will pass between us without pause, and neither side will halt its flow.
What is given will remain, and what is taken will bind without exception.
If the exchange is broken, the borrowed essence will turn and consume its bearer.
It will poison, spread, and end what chose to betray the vow.
If you agree to be part of this vow, say "I vow."]
Jet felt the chains respond as the vow revealed itself, their core tightening.
The cold deepened further, settling into her body with a presence that reached beyond surface sensation.
The deviation from the reports remained clear, confirming that the structure of the vow had been altered.
She stayed silent for a moment, processing the implications without allowing hesitation to surface.
'The foundation has been changed.'
Jet opened her eyes and spoke with certainty, accepting the consequence without delay.
"I vow."
The moment the words left her, both chains began rotating in opposite directions with precise synchronization.
Jet felt her essence begin to move, drawn through the chain.
Kiyotaka's essence moved toward her at the same time.
Then she felt his essence enter her, crossing into her without resistance or obstruction.
Jet remained still as the movement stopped only after everything had already been exchanged.
As the rules of the [Binding Vow] appear front of her as runes.
***
Jet watched the air fracture as the runes began to manifest. She wasn't shocked, the reports had already provided the data. Still, seeing the physical reality of the Aspect in the dim light was different.
It carried a weight that no document could capture.
She stayed quiet for a long moment, her eyes tracking the slow rotation of the runes before she looked toward the boy across the table.
"I saw your fight with that Han Li Clan prodigy. You almost made me feel sorry for that kid. You really deconstructed his entire personality."
A slight tilt of the head followed. The movement was minor, yet it signaled a shift in focus.
It was as if the concept of meaningless talk this close to the beginning of a Vow was a foreign variable to him.
"Yeah. Thankfully he fell nicely into my trap. But if we meet in the Dream Realm and happen to be enemies, he won't let me activate my [Vow of Life & Death]. I will surely die as I won't be able to react in time."
Jet went silent. She knew the reputation of the Han Li. Caster was an intelligent Legacy, trained from birth to eliminate threats.
He would have counter-measures ready if their paths crossed as enemies. He wouldn't repeat the same mistakes.
To any outsider watching the recordings, the conclusion was obvious: no matter how excellent Kiyotaka was, he would fall by Caster's hand in a real confrontation.
He was a utility afterall.
"If you already have such a situation in mind, you already got plans ready for it too."
She had survived the front lines of the Nightmare Desert long enough to recognize a lie of omission.
She knew too much to believe he would see a threat like that coming and simply wait to die.
"I guess... It will be hard but I do have some plans in motion."
Jet shifted her weight.
"What about the other kid? In the recordings you both seem to get along nicely."
A pause followed, as if the value of the information was being weighed on an internal scale before he answered.
"It's just a give and take exchange between us. That's what I trust the most, after all."
"And that girl. You seem particularly fond of her."
She understood the logic behind the association.
She saw why he had chosen a blind girl as his anchor rather than someone else.
Both of them were trapped in the same hell. One had just escaped, while the other syilly remained a prisoner of her own Sight.
"Cassie and I just happened to be in the same world. It was just a way to not lose my mind."
Jet stretched her legs. The force of the movement made the seat shift on its axis.
The last trace of amusement vanished from her voice, replaced by the cold authority of a veteran.
"Don't get too attached to her. She would die first in the Dream Realm."
It was a cruel assessment, but in their world, truth was rarely kind.
She watched his face closely as the words left her mouth.
She had expected at least a hint of resistance. A tightening of the jaw, a flicker in the eyes, or some defensive instinct to protect the person he had called his anchor.
Most people would have recoiled at the blunt prediction of a friend's death.
She didn't get such a reaction.
Kiyotaka remained perfectly still.
His expression was a void that swallowed her warning without a ripple.
There was no sentimentality to bruise, only a cold acceptance of a logical probability.
"I will make sure to do that."
The atmosphere in the room turned heavy. The small talk was dead.
"This Aspect of yours is fascinating, but it is only utility after all. What will you do once they eventually surpass you?"
Jet understood better than others how deep his wit truly went.
She was sure that in this entire world, only he could really pull out the actual potential of such a power.
But the ones with offensive Aspects would eventually surpass him.
"Yeah. While it is true I am the strongest Sleeper within the Academy, it only remains this way until we remain Sleepers. The moment we become Awakened, they will surpass me. I am just a utility after all."
This was the reality of it. In the end, offensive power usually defeated utility.
Jet stayed quiet. Then, a statement came that she hadn't anticipated.
"They can become as strong as their Aspect allows. But no matter the situation, even if they get stronger than me, I will always remain the more powerful one."
Jet looked at him and closed her eyes.
"Well then. Let's begin, brat."
A simple nod followed as more runes began to appear in the air.
Jet looked towards the first rune as she felt the essence within her expand and grow stronger.
She instinctively understood that she would die if she broke it.
[Those Who Step Before the Loom]:
Kiyotaka.
Jet.
***
Jet stared at the first runes.
Kiyotaka didn't move. His gaze remained fixed on the glowing script before his voice cut through the silence.
"For how long should we continue it?"
Jet went silent. A flicker of confusion crossed her face as she processed the question.
"Continue what, exactly?"
She looked toward the boy across the table. His face remained a monotonous mask.
"Should I put a limit?"
Jet understood then. Her eyes narrowed, the annoyance visible in the way her posture stiffened.
She didn't have the patience for artificial boundaries or the safety nets most used to protect themselves from the unknown.
"There is no need to make anything dramatic. What is the point of a limit? We have as much time as we need."
Kiyotaka took a moment, his eyes reflecting the pale light of the runes as he weighed her answer. Then, he gave a slow, singular nod.
The second set of runes began to burn into the air.
[The Measure of the Thread]:
Until both parties are satisfied.
***
'Reports suggested both parties usually had their names displayed prominently when the Measure was revealed. This is different.'
She glanced toward the boy across from her.
He was staring at the runes.
Even he didn't seem to know why the runes were manifesting in this specific configuration.
Now was the turn for Equilibrium.
This was the true test. She would finally see if he had decoded the answer the dish she had served.
Or trapped himself within its complexity of Beyond the layers of bitterness and the mess of the presentation, the answer was obvious.
"You really need no limits to what we can ask?"
Jet didn't bother with a verbal response, she simply shook her head. Her gaze remained locked on his.
"You can put a limit on yourself if you want. I will allow you that."
The offer hung in the air, a final chance for a safety net that neither seemed interested in taking.
A new surge of essence flooded the space between them, the gray light sharpening until it bit into the shadows.
He understood. He had seen past the dish and found the truth beneath it.
The runes for the third stage manifested, locking their intent into a divine balance.
[The Sacred Equilibrium]:
Kiyotaka: I will ask questions to Jet and she will answer truthfully.
Jet: I will ask questions to the kid and he will answer truthfully.
***
[The Judgment of the Unseen]:
Fate now stands witness to this vow.
If the Measure of the Thread is fulfilled, the chains will fade and release you both, their purpose complete.
But if the vow is broken, the chains will pass judgment themselves, poisoning the betrayer's soul until nothing remains. Fate does not forgive. It only enforces.
***
I looked at [The Judgment of the Unseen] and noticed the shift in the description. Usually, it talked about "tightening around the betrayer's soul," but now it had changed.
It spoke of "poisoning the betrayer's soul."
It seems there is still too much for me to figure out about this Aspect.
I looked directly towards Jet. She was no longer amused. She just sat there. She tried to ask her first question, but she stopped.
The chain that was connected to my throat let out more divine rays. It was indicating that I shall ask the question first.
Jet looked at it and realized this is going to be a one-by-one execution of truth.
So...
There are actually a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but perhaps this is the most important one. Keeping everything in mind, I began.
"My first question. When I gave you the chance to set boundaries for this exchange, you refused. You are an Ascended, one of the most famous in the world. You hold secrets that could likely burn the agencies to the ground. Yet, you gave me a key to every door without a single restriction. Why?"
There was a reason for me to be so explicit. If I kept it vague, it would only give her ways to manipulate the answer. To get the answer closest to the truth, I had to cut off all the ways to escape.
So tell me the reason behind not setting boundaries, Jet.
...
I expected her to get all amused by answering. That is just how she is, finding pleasure in the hardest way.
Yet currently, she just had a monotonous face. One that could be compared to mine. What could be the reasoning?
"You are quite good at it, I must say. You have cut all the escape routes. I wasn't going to use them anyway. The answer is actually fucking simple."
While saying that, her expression didn't change a single bit. It was a mask of cold professionalism.
"I mean, you can ask me anything. The deepest secrets of the government, the operations top Awakened are performing. I won't hide a single thing."
I just realized what she meant. It wasn't that she was being lenient... far from it.
"There is just this one catch. The moment you cross that line, I will have to kill you. I haven't seen anyone cross the line yet. Don't become the first."
The glowing of my chain stopped as her chain started glowing now.
The answer was her way of making me remember my position. She can kill me with a flick of her fingers. And despite saying that, she remained the same.
She couldn't lie because of the Vow, which means she is the same as me.
The same way I have become used to everything and can do it without feeling a single thing, the same is the case for her. She can kill me and not feel anything.
She was also studying my reaction while she answered, but sadly, none was given away. She put a hand on the table as the chain continued to glow.
"The runes bragged some bullshit about equality, but I don't see it. How is it that the secrets of a Sleeper are considered equal to an Ascended who works for the government?"
So she was able to figure this much out in such a small exchange. It is remarkable.
Her answer had many escape points. I can easily be vague with my answer, but that would make her do the same and in the end we won't get anywhere.
So I answered.
"I don't know how the Spell evaluates equality."
I opened with a sentence that would be the foundation of what comes now.
"This is just a guess. You remember seeing how big my first Nightmare was when you took a look inside [Divine Ledger], right? That Nightmare was one of a kind. If I begin telling you the content of it, hours would pass by.
Before that Nightmare, my attribute was [Hated by Fate], which has now become [Embraced by Fate], and my Aspect is False Prophet. I think that answers the question."
That answer should work. I successfully kept the fact I got a Divine Aspect and a True Name hidden while keeping my answer explainably vague.
She had asked a vague question, so now she would think I answered that way trusting her intelligence. The attribute and Aspect being such a way will just further solidify it.
And she won't ask further questions about it after the way I started my answer.
To others, her expression wouldn't have changed at all, but I could see it. Just a tiny flicker in her eyes as she heard my answer. She must have been taken off guard by the change of attribute.
"Attribute changing? Is that even possib..."
Before she could finish whatever she was saying, her mouth shut off. She probably felt pain because her turn was over. She just looked at the chain with anger.
My chain glowed now. So I asked my question.
"What was really the point of this test? I am pretty sure you would have been able to vouch for me rather easily in the government."
Copying her approach, I didn't bother being too explicit with my answer now. It was on her now if she wanted to play me because I showed sincerity and trusted her.
She opened her mouth as I saw a hint of blood in her mouth.
What?
I had tried to break the rule while I wrote truthfully to John. I didn't get any blood from it, so why did she?
Unless, it is precisely because it is her. Maybe the penalty is much faster for those who are stronger. That makes things rather interesting.
"It is just a way for me to show the power-hungry bastards in the government their place. They considered you lustful, and when I show the result of this test, they will surely be demoted and the ones who actually doubted you will come into power."
So this was the reasoning. Yeah, I expected this much.
There was no way everyone in the government was fooled. They just agreed to think this over out of desperation and the ones who voiced against it were probably shut down.
When the data of this test gets to them, they will surely be fired, unless the government is corrupted, of course.
My chain stopped glowing as hers did now. She went quiet for a second as she asked the question.
"Same question. Why did you purposely fail the test?"
There are actually two answers to this.
But the first answer is so deep that the entire fate of the government will depend on me once it is done. If I tell that to Jet, she won't hesitate for a moment as she swiftly silences me.
I will go with the second answer.
"The nurse knew that I had lost my senses for exactly seven days. But how? They should only know about the time I was senseless once I joined the Academy. Unless the one who saw it all happen gave them the information. Jet, it was you who told them the information."
This time there was a change in her expression, even though barely. Her cheeks moved just a tiny bit. Just a little smirk.
But it was enough.
I asked the question as my chain glowed.
"If I were to divide our talk... the talk we had after dinner, the small meaningless talk, and the one we are having right now... is it alright for me to think that the first one was Jet and the one in front of me right now is Soul Reaper Master Jet?"
There is actually a deep reason for me to ask such a question.
I saw her brow rise as she tried to make sense of what she saw, then she stopped for a second. She is perhaps remembering what she said to me inside the PTV.
Master Jet who worked for the government wouldn't talk academy life with a Sleeper; only Jet herself would ask.
She tried to answer but her mouth closed. Seeing as her eyes narrowed, she probably was going to say that she is herself, but that would go against what she said.
You can be vague, but not contradictory.
"Yes, I suppose you can say that."
Her chain glowed as she asked the question.
"What exactly was the thought process behind that question?"
She is using the unlimited questions really well. Others would have faltered.
"Just my attempt to keep the context of my runes a secret. As you said, you are Master Jet at the moment, a government agent. So, starting now, you should only be able to ask questions that a government agent would ask rather than meaningless talks like we had before. That is for Jet."
As I finished saying that, the chain rotated a little faster. I instinctively realized that she can't ask me questions about my personal life without a valid reason starting now.
It is rather hard for me to completely understand this Aspect of mine, because to activate it properly, I need another person.
I looked towards her as she just stared me dead in the eyes. I already know what her next question is going to be.
My chain glowed as I asked.
"I would like to know about your Flaw. You already know mine. It is only fair."
I studied her for a reaction, even a tiny bit, but there was none.
Why? Did she feel comfortable showing me her Flaw... or had she already made up her mind to kill me?
Her voice turned colder yet no expression escaped.
"Well played. Fucking. Well. Played. My Flaw? I am deceased. And my soul core constantly leaks essence."
I was momentarily taken off guard by this. I was shocked, yet I suppressed the shock from turning into any kind of emotion.
What did she mean by deceased? She is alive. This is confusing.
Leaking essence? How is she fine right now then? Her essence is constantly entering me; she should be leaking double the essence then.
But it all makes sense. Her reputation as a bloodthirsty killer. It is not that she enjoys it, but she is forced to.
What if, to remain alive, she has to absorb others...
As I was still considering everything, her chain glowed as she asked her question. I saw a large grin on her face as I felt a cold sweat slide down my neck.
Just then I understood. I overlooked one crucial thing.
The reason she seemed restrained with her questions was because she was letting them stack. My questions had revealed a lot. It turned the equality into inequality.
It gave her the perfect chance to let all the inequality stack as she asked one big question.
She made me dance on her palm. Starting from the PTV, everything was planned by her, even my responses.
"As an Ascended who serves humanity, who was a victim of inequality."
She is starting by putting up her value.
"I demand you Kiyotaka. To tell me who you are? What's your goal? Why and how did you lure the government into becoming obsessed with you and what you plan on doing with the government?
***
It was all an act. The wording "Master" inside that PTV was only there to make me ask her a question that limits her.
Then, probably, the talk after dinner was a part of it. She unconsciously made me separate our talk inside PTV as Master Jet and after Dinner Jet.
She knew I would notice it after going through the [Divine Ledger] twice.
That allowed her to become a victim of inequality. Others wouldn't have been able to exploit it. She did.
There's no other way, I guess.
My gamble is in its final stage.
I sighed once as I began.
My name is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I don't really have a goal right now. Part of me wants a life surrounded by something warm, something close to love, while another part is drawn toward the path that makes me feel the most alive.
"I am Kiyotaka. I wish to figure out what the Spell is. How did it come to be? What truly is fate? How does it work? Is fate the result, or the process and the result combined?"
Now this part is where things begin to get worse for me. If I sugarcoat too much continuously, she will deduce it.
I should say the next truth without being vague, and after that try to soften it.
"When I stood inside the Academy on the very first day, I saw how others communicated openly, how easily they fit into place, dressed in proper clothing, while I stood there in a police tracksuit. In that moment, I understood just how unfair this world truly is. It is a world where the strong grow stronger, where others are lifted by their families or clans, given a foundation before they even begin."
I let the words settle, allowing the silence to stretch just enough to carve a clear divide.
"I had none of that. No one to rely on. No one to remember. Not even an offensive Aspect that would make others seek me out on their own. I existed outside all of it. That was why I approached the government. I wanted power."
I had made up my mind to use the government during my very first Nightmare, after Dry Water explained the power struggle between the government and the clans.
The results were already fated to happen. All that was left was the plan.
What I explained just now was the "why." Now it's time for the "how."
But before that, I looked toward Jet. She still had no expression.
"It all began the very first time I approached Cassie. My plans began then. After walking around with her, I purposely got last in the rankings."
Still no reaction. Just how much has she figured out?
"Then came the time to show my true wits. I used Caster for that. My plan was to lose, but make the more capable ones know that I would have won. But you know what happened."
My plans would have been far smoother if my Flaw hadn't interfered.
It would have been much easier too.
"I meant to reach the government through murmurs between academy workers, but due to my Flaw, everyone in the Academy heard about it too. Not the depth of my wits, but at least the strength I possess. Still, the result should be the same."
The plan would have been ruined if I were dealing with a single individual. But thankfully, it was the government.
They couldn't just take things at face value. They would look at everything that happened before.
"The government would see me not stepping up until the last second. The last ranking too and think that everything was all part of the plan to make Caster underestimate me, but after all that I would still remain just a clever guy who is really steong, in their eyes... I had to change that."
This problem was rather big. With my Flaw, I would have come off as unstable, so I had to make a move big enough to make them obsessed with me.
I looked toward Jet again, yet there wasn't a single change. Just how much had she seen through?
"That was the reason I took the interview with Johnny, John for short. I purposely revealed my Aspect so he would record it in the database, and the government would hear of it. That's when they would start becoming obsessed with me. You know the reason why."
Jet nodded. The reason was the power struggle.
There's also another theory in my mind. A theory where John snitched. He was probably interrogated by the government to tell them more about me. After all, only two people knew of my Aspect.
Him and Sunless.
Kane couldn't say anything regarding it. Sunless wouldn't do it either.
It was john who betrayed me. Or looked out for himself before me. I must say, no hard feelings. He did the right thing.
"I knew the government would be desperate to get their hands on me before the great clans did, so I just gave them breadcrumbs disguised as my plan with Caster. That made them think they had figured out how I work, and then I started treating every day like a test by the government because I knew I had done everything. It was now their turn, or the clans would get me. So I stayed alert."
I had really expected a simple message as their scout, but they turned it into a test.
It worked even better for me, even though getting such a test was luck. Perhaps I was not lucky, just... embraced.
Even now, she sat there like she already knew. I wonder if she had seen this coming too.
"And this is where Cassie came in. I purposely chose her to be the one I spent my time with. The government would see it and think that I find comfort in her because she is the same as me. But the test happened, and it probably shifted to lust, which was not what I planned, but still... it was a better situation for me."
Now I see it. Her expression changed, her eyes widening just a little before settling back.
She could never have expected Cassie to be a part of it until now.
I made my first move by befriending her.
If anyone had tried to suspect it, they would have seen the similarity between us and the fact that it happened on the first day.
No one in their right mind would connect it to my plans.
It all went according to plan.
As I see Jet sitting there with a monotonous face and my chain begin to glow, I realize it.
My gamble is about to succeed.
***
I took a deep breath. It was time for my goal with the government. I had mentioned connections, but her chain was still glowing. I needed to be more explicit.
My goal with the government is simple.
I will weave a web between every influential figure in the waking world until I own the infrastructure of the goverment.
I will not just invite them. I will use my Aspect to strip away their agency and force them into my service.
They will be the bricks of my fortress. They will not even realize they have been entombed.
"As I said after dinner, I will stay powerful no matter how strong others get. For that, I need the government."
Through this network, I will eventually become the most powerful man in the waking world.
Once the sheep are penned, I will turn my gaze toward the Dream Realm and dismantle it piece by piece.
"They can get strong, but they will still remain as individuals or a cohort that is not too big. They are so strong that being in a big cohort with weaker Awakened will just slow them. But what I plan on doing with the government is that I wish to make connections with all the important people. Basically, strength in numbers."
I called it strength in numbers, but I meant total surveillance.
I do not want allies. I want a human processor that filters every scrap of power directly to me. Right now, I am standing in the light so the government can see me. I am the bright, talented asset they think they found.
But once the network is built, I will slip into the shadows. I will become the invisible hand that moves the state.
They think they are the ones holding the leash, but I am already building the cage for the world.
My turn.
***
After they exchanged questions for a few more moments, a long time passed.
Jet's expressionless face finally showed amusement again.
She stretched in her seat, her arms spreading wide. Between them, the chain of the Vow pulsed with a steady, rhythmic glow.
"Oh god, this took so much time. The fuck are you? You still seem ready to ask me questions. You plan to let all my essence leak or something?"
She said as she yawned, her chain glowing.
"No, I don't plan to do anything like that."
The reply came.
With a grin Jet slowly got up from her seat. She put a hand in her pocket and took out the keys of the PTV.
"Welcome to the government, kid. On the seek of connections you have made a really big mistake. I will make sure to work you to your bone. I am satisfied. The vow can be finished now."
She looked directly towards Kiyotaka as she said it.
She took the glass of water from the table and drank it all.
She waited for a question or his own agreement of satisfaction.
A minute passed and the chain disappeared.
Yet she could feel her essence leaking and his entering. The vow was still present just hidden because no question was asked.
"You better hurry with your questions. I have to go and kill some monsters. I have wasted too much time."
She looked at him with a frown.
Kiyotaka sat for a second before standing up and sighing.
"Yeah let's go. I have asked enough questions for now."
Jet didn't move as she just stared at him. Was this a joke? If yes, it was a fucked up joke.
Amusement once again stripped away from her as she just stared at him.
The chain appeared between them again. The vow stood firm because only one side was satisfied.
"Brat, do you understand what you are saying mean?"
She stood and waited for the answer.
"Yeah. By not agreeing to be satisfied and just going away, the vow will still be held in place. I can ask you questions while you, who had agreed to be satisfied, lose your leverage. If you ask me a question I don't want to answer, I can just say that I am satisfied and the vow will be finished."
The answer came, and she did not like it.
"And as you are leaking double the essence right now, you will probably have to become even more of a killer to stay as you are. Or you will go to your deceased form. This is not a joke, Jet."
Jet sat back to her seat. She covered her face with one hand as the veins on her forehead bulged.
For a split second, her movement hitched. She looked at the boy sitting across from her, his face as still as a frozen lake.
She had met many people, but none like him. He was intelligent. Perhaps the most intelligent person she had ever encountered.
There was no way a person like Kiyotaka would push her into a corner like this without a plan. He knew the risks. He knew she could kill him.
Yet, he was doing it anyway. What was he baiting?
"Wow. The first thing you are doing after becoming a government agent is killing your superior. What's your motive behind this?"
She asked with a cold tone.
"I really want to kill you Jet. You are a threat to me."
Soon the answer came.
Jet's body began to shake. A low, distorted sound started in her chest.
It grew until she slammed a hand onto the table. She began to laugh. It was a jagged, barking noise that didn't sound human.
"Hahaha!"
She slammed the table again while laughing, her eyes widening until the whites were visible all around the iris.
She looked like a devil that had finally found a toy worth breaking.
She looked up at the ceiling and poured the rest of her water over her face, the liquid mixing with her manic expression to make her look like she was melting.
Water dripped from her chin like black ink in the dim light as she bared her teeth in a grin that was far too wide for her face.
"Tell me, oh Kiyotaka. A situation come and there's a possibility you might have to scheme against humanity itself. Would you do it?"
She asked the question while she laughed. After she asked, her laugh stopped a little as she looked up at the ceiling and poured the rest of her water over her face. Water dripped from her chin like black ink in the dim light. She waited for an answer.
"That's a rather hypothetical question. I can't answer it as it hasn't happened yet. But if the situation asked for it, I would. Again, such a situation is highly hypothetical."
A smile once again formed on her face as the answer came. The chain disappeared again yet the vow was intact.
"So you're a monster, then? Just a very polite one. Tell me, do you even feel anything in that hollow chest of yours? Or is this all just a script you're reading to see if I'll snap?"
She leaned forward, her eyes fixated on his throat.
Despite his words and his genius, the power gap between them was like a mountain over a pebble, he shouldn't be able to do a thing to her.
"I feel what is necessary to achieve my goals."
Kiyotaka stated flatly.
"You want to kill me?"
She knew he was trying to provoke her. She had already asked a question if the Vow stopped her from killing him and the answer was no.
"Yeah, I want to kill you."
Jet looked at him. Her face became a void of perfect, terrifying stillness. The laughter was gone, replaced by a coldness that felt like the grave. Her eyes were wide and empty, like two holes punched into a coffin.
She leaned across the table slowly, inch by inch, until the cold, metallic scent of death was on his skin and her breath felt like ice.
"Well then-"
***
The final stage of my gamble had begun.
"Well then-"
I did not hear the rest. The world simply tilted. Before my brain could process the movement, the ceiling became a smeared blur of white and shadow.
There was no impact. There was no heat. My nerves were still firing old signals, completely unable to keep up with the physical reality of my body being erased from its position.
I was flying. I caught a glimpse of a jagged, dark shape flickering past me. A distortion in the air that should not exist.
The trajectory of my flight changed mid air without a sound. A second invisible force slammed into my side, rerouting my momentum.
I crashed through the heavy suite doors. Even as I tumbled, I forced my muscles to twitch. I adjusted my posture by a hairs breadth to spread the coming impact.
Should I activate [Vow of Life & Death]? No. Even with all the eyes, It won't change the result.
The pain finally registered.
A massive, sickening surge hit me all at once.
It felt like a mountain had collapsed onto my chest.
My reinforced bones groaned. The structural integrity of my body screamed under the pressure of a hit that should have tore through a normal human.
In the hallway, the hotel workers froze. They stared at the wreckage of the door and then at me.
Their faces were pale masks of confusion.
They did not see her. They could not see the devil in the room.
I felt a shift in the air. I snapped my arms up. I locked into a reinforced block toward the right, bracing my weight to absorb a strike that would surely shatter my guard.
My body went rigid. I instinctively prepared for the shock.
"I am gonna enjoy killing you."
The voice did not come from where I was looking. It hissed directly into my left ear.
A cold, wet rasp that sounded like it came from a throat filled with graveyard soil.
It was dark. It was intimate. It was utterly devoid of mercy.
But the attack did not come from the left. The air behind me curdled. The strike arrived from my blind spot.
I didn't let it crush me. I readjusted my posture just a bit as the impact made me spin through the air.
I bent down just a little, a phantom wind whistling over my head as another invisible attack passed me.
I was right near the window of the fourth floor.
There was only one way out of this cage.
I threw myself toward the glass. I jumped down, But right before I could completely clear the frame, the air beside me curdled.
A hand grabbed me. It was cold. It didn't feel like skin, it felt like the grip of a thing that had forgotten what it was to be alive.
The hand twisted. My momentum was jerked into a sickening spiral. My positioning changed in a heartbeat. I wasn't jumping anymore. I was falling down head first now.
***
The ground was coming for me.
This was weird. I expected her to hesitate more after I revealed the depth of my position. I expected a seed of doubt to sprout within her.
She didn't. If she felt it, she didn't think about it long enough to matter.
This was beyond my calculations. How did she make her mind up so fast? Was the essence leaking a factor? No. It couldn't be.
Or rather, she was so ready to kill me from the moment I first met her that it made sense as of wh-
Gravity tried to claim me. I forced my body to spin, fighting the momentum to get my feet toward the concrete.
My eyes snapped toward the shattered window above.
I didn't see a silhouette. I saw two eyes.
They were staring directly into mine, moving at the same speed I was.
She hadn't stayed at the window. She had jumped with me.
Before I could breathe, two hands clamped onto my head. They were ice cold, smelling of stale water and old copper, her face inches from mine as we plummeted together.
She leaned in, her cracked lips brushing against the shell of my ear as the wind roared around us.
"Goodnight."
She didn't let go. She used her weight to flip me back over.
***
Jet gripped his hair as she dragged him toward the tree line.
She slammed him against the rough bark of an ancient oak, pinning him there by the roots of his own hair.
He hung against the trunk, his feet barely touching the soil, while she stared into his face.
That impact should have been the end. The sound of a skull meeting concrete at terminal velocity is usually the final note of a life, yet he had not died.
He was bleeding, a thick crimson mask painting his features, but his eyes were wide and fixed. He stared Jet dead in the eyes.
"Oh wow. Your body is stronger than that of a sleeper. It is only possible when your body before getting infected was already as strong as a sleeper's. You know I am waiting for you to get all those eyes over you. Where are they?"
Kiyotaka did not reply. He did not gasp. He simply watched her, his gaze as cold and analytical as it had been across the table.
"Did you really think any amount of planning would be able to close the gap in power?"
The question was followed by a sharp, stinging crack. She slapped him so hard his head snapped toward the left.
Then she punched him.
Like a hammer hitting raw meat.
She struck him again. And again.
The violence was rhythmic and absolute.
Each blow drove his head back into the wood, the bark staining dark with every impact.
She did not stop until his face was a disfigured ruin of broken bone and torn skin.
Through the swelling and the gore, those eyes remained. They did not show fear. They did not show pain. They just continued to record her as jet just smiled in return and kept hitting me.
Punch. Punch. Punch.
Blood splattered against the rough bark and soaked into Jet's knuckles.
She stopped for a moment to look at him. She wanted to break his composure, to drag him to the very edge of the abyss and let him smell the grave.
She wanted him to feel the cold terror of a fate he could not outrun.
Punch. Punch.
She was waiting for him to cling to life, to beg, to accept the only hand that could pull him back. But even now, the boy remained a machine.
Punch.
His face was a swollen ruin. His skin was purple and torn, his skull cracked under the weight of her hands. Yet he just kept staring dead into her eyes.
She hit him again.
"Let me make this one thing clear. I can do this for hours. Put us both out of our misery and agree to what I am about to say."
She punched him one more time, the sound wet and heavy in the quiet of the trees.
"I don't want anything from you. You want to kill me or not? I don't give a fuck. Just make this one binding Vow with me. Vow that you won't ever turn your back to humanity, and I will heal you and let you go, There's no need for you to join the goverment, I will become your sponsor. Do yourself a favor and do it, or I will kill you right here."
Slowly, the chains of the Vow manifested, shimmering between them in the dark. Kiyotaka's shaky hand reached out, stopping just inches from the links.
Jet's eyes narrowed. She was a hair's breadth away from ending him.
If he tried to twist the chain, she would snap his neck before he could finish the thought.
She expected him to ask for a clarification, or to confirm the terms of his surrender.
Instead, gargling sound came from the wreckage of his face.
"Tell me, Jet."
His voice was almost unrecognizable, thick with the copper taste of the blood that spilled from his mouth with every syllable. She waited, her muscles coiled like a closing trap.
"Did you feel in control?"
Jet's instincts flared. Her pupils blown wide, she moved her hand to extinguish his life once and for all.
'Jet, you were really cautious this time. Dealing with you was perhaps harder than my first Nightmare. But you made one tiny mistake.'
In his hand, appearing right beside the glowing chain, was the [Divine Ledger]. It pulsed. The Vow required an continuous exchange of essence thanks to the Chant... and the [Divine Ledger] was still saturated with his.
It acted as a conduit, the essence flowing through the chain and surging directly into her.
As Jet's mind was suddenly dragged into the depths of the [Divine Ledger], her grip on his hair loosened.
'The only mistake you made was actually believing my planning wouldn't be able to bridge the gap in power.'
Kiyotaka did not waste a millisecond. His hands snapped behind Jet's neck, locking his fingers tight. He pulled her head down with every ounce of his remaining strength, his knee driving upward toward her throat.
The plan was simple. Kill her. Tear the deceased body into pieces. Bury them in different corners of the world so she could never reform. Then, he would walk to the government and offer himself as their dog until he ascended.
They would see his disfigured face, the perfect alibi. Who would doubt a victim so brutally beaten? Her reputation as a bloodthirsty killer and the Soul Reaper would do the rest of the work for him.
It was a clear case of a monster finally snapping and a Sleeper fighting for his life.
But as his knee neared her throat, the air around Jet solidified.
Before the impact could land, her entire body was encased in black, jagged armor.
Kiyotaka's swollen eyes widened.
His knee slammed into the plate. It didn't budge. It was like hitting a wall of absolute, unmoving iron.
'Her reaction time was too fast.'
******
There's something I would like to apologize for. I talked loudly about "peak" last chapter... but this chapter became too big for me to continue.
This chapter isn't the reveal I wanted to talk about. Kiyotaka planned everything that happened? Yeah, no shit, he's just chill like that.
What I wanted to tell was way better, but the chapter was just too big.
So, once again: two chapters remain.
It ends with Dramatic Irony (10), for real this time.
Did you guys like this chapter, though?
If you did, thanks. I promise the next chapter will actually be the "peak" I talked about.
And the chapter after that will be beyond.
This time for real.
Ngl, this was the hardest chapter for me to write in this story so far.
That's all, I guess.
Oh and again,
"You're a monster in a tracksuit. That's fine. I work with monsters every day some of them even have names. But if that 'detachment' of yours makes you a liability in the field, I'll be the one to put you down. Not because I hate you, but because I don't have the paperwork time to deal with a rogue Sleeper."
Rahhh foreshadowing ;)