The Western skies over Azure dimmed into a bruised purple as news began to ripple through the kingdom like a blade dragged across silk—slow, tearing, inevitable. The wind carried whispers from the east, from the frozen region Akuma had once walked through as a nameless wanderer. Now, the whispers had shape. Weight. Terror. And a name he did not yet give himself… but a name being carved for him by fear.⠀Akuma stood on a lone cliff outside the Western capital, a place where the clouds dipped low enough to kiss the stone, his cloak fluttering behind him like a shadow trying to escape its owner. The Core of Azure pulsed faintly inside his body—feeding him strength, feeding him experience, feeding him a power that kingdoms would slaughter entire continents to reclaim. His stomach no longer tore itself apart, but his insides still shifted restlessly, adapting to the divine resource he consumed.⠀He gazed toward the distant east—toward the region he left behind—and the faintest curve teased the edge of his lips. Not joy. Not pride. Not amusement. More like… the ghost of a smirk written in a dead language.⠀Because he already felt it: the fear. The scrambling. The mobilization of soldiers. The princess shouting orders. The kingdom trembling under his shadow.⠀He didn't even need to switch bodies. He didn't need to hide. Instead, he simply stood there, letting the wind taste him like prey would taste the predator. He wanted them to come. All of them.
THE EASTERN PART OF AZURE — PALACE WAR ROOM
The palace shook with panic. Armoured knights rushed through the halls. Mages fluttered spell-scrolls in their hands. And at the center of everything—
Princess Yakumo slammed her fist onto the crystalline command table, her breath sharp, her voice trembling with fury and disbelief.
Princess Yakumo:"I TOLD YOU—IT WASN'T A NORMAL THEFT!He consumed the Core! He... he ate it whole! That thing—whatever he is—he didn't run. He vanished!"
A court mage swallowed nervously.
Mage:"Your Highness… what you're describing isn't humanly possible. If he ate the Core, he should have been annihilated."
Yakumo's eyes narrowed, her voice lowering dangerously.
Princess Yakumo:"And yet he lives. And yet he walked out of my sight. And yet my mind—my mind—wasn't my own when he stood before me."
The room went silent.
She exhaled shakily… then pointed at the chief guard.
Princess Yakumo:"Send a communication flare to the Western Command. I want every city, every outpost, every patrol watching. There will be no mistakes."
The guard stiffened.
Chief Guard:"Then… then we are initiating the lockdown?"
Yakumo lifted her hand.
Then she dropped it.
🔵 LEVEL–BLUE PERIMETER LOCKDOWN ⚠️(Royal treasure stolen — Core of Azure missing)
A massive bell reverberated through the kingdom. Lights flashed across the sky, blue beacons streaking over the regions like falling stars. The entire population looked up in fear as the announcement thundered magically through the clouds:
"ROYAL RESOURCE COMPROMISED.LEVEL–BLUE LOCKDOWN INITIATED.ALL BORDERS SEALED. ALL GATES ARMED.THE THIEF HAS ESCAPED TO THE WEST."
The West.
Where Akuma stood.
BACK TO AKUMA — WESTERN CLIFFSIDE
The announcement echoed across the skies, the blue alarm sigils shining like distant lanterns of chaos.
Akuma listened to it with absolute stillness.Not a twitch.Not a flinch.Not a hint of remorse.
But deep inside his mind—within the spaces where his emotional shards lived—the echoes of his parallel existences stirred.
Anger whispered.
Sadness glared.
Madness chuckled.
Cruelty grinned.
All these ghostly selves reflected inside the void of his consciousness like fractured mirrors—acknowledging the lockdown, acknowledging the hunt, acknowledging the storm that approached him.
Akuma's expression remained unreadable, but the words he muttered were quiet enough to freeze winter itself:
Akuma:"So… they finally noticed."
The wind shifted violently.
Hundreds of soldiers from the Western watchtower scrambled beneath him, armor clanging, boots thundering, voices shouting commands as they prepared for a siege they did not yet understand.
He could hear them. Every word.
Western Soldier #1:"The thief is somewhere near this region!"
Western Soldier #2:"Princess Yakumo said he consumed the Core—this man is not human!"
Western Captain:"No matter what he is—we kill him if he approaches!"
Akuma slowly closed his eyes.
Letting them search.
Letting them panic.
Letting the kingdom he did nothing to provoke collapse under the weight of his existence.
When he opened his eyes again, the faint smirk had returned.
Not happy.Not excited.Just… acknowledging their futility.
Akuma:"If they wish to chase me… I will remain in place."
He sat on the cliff edge.
Waiting.
Inviting.
Daring them to arrive.
Because for the first time in this new life—for the first time since awakening in the frozen east—Akuma felt something faint, fleeting, almost unnoticeable…
A spark of anticipation.