KAI POV
The guards drag me through a door that leads straight down.
Down, down, down into the earth where the air turns cold and smells like death. My wrists are still locked in those glowing blue cuffs that make my skin burn. Every step echoes like a countdown.
Ten minutes left.
Nine minutes.
Eight.
We reach the bottom and I see it—the execution chamber.
It's a round room carved from black stone. Symbols cover every surface, glowing sickly green and making my eyes water when I look at them too long. In the center stands a stone pillar with chains hanging from it like metal snakes.
Those chains are for me.
"Strip off his shirt," the head guard commands.
They rip my shirt off roughly, not caring when the fabric tears my skin. The cold air makes me shiver. Or maybe that's the terror.
Two guards grab my arms and slam me against the pillar. The stone is freezing against my bare back. They wrap the chains around my wrists, pulling them above my head until my shoulders scream. More chains wrap around my chest, my waist, my ankles.
I can't move. Can barely breathe.
"Tighter," someone says. "Defectives sometimes try to escape at the last second."
They pull the chains tighter and I gasp in pain.
Five priests enter wearing white robes. They form a circle around me and begin chanting in a language I don't understand. The symbols on the walls pulse brighter with each word.
Then the burning starts.
It feels like invisible fire crawling over my skin. The purification ritual—designed to burn away a soul completely, leaving nothing behind. Not even a ghost.
I grit my teeth to keep from screaming. I won't give them the satisfaction.
That's when I notice the window.
It's set high in the wall, made of thick glass. An observation deck where important people can watch executions. And standing behind that glass are the faces I know better than my own.
My father stands with his arms crossed, expression blank. He watches me burn the same way he'd watch a boring television show.
My brothers stand beside him, actually smiling. Daichi nudges Kaito and points at me like I'm entertainment.
And then I see her.
Yuki.
My fiancée—no, my ex-fiancée—wearing a beautiful white dress. Her platinum hair perfectly styled. Her blue eyes cold as ice.
She's holding hands with a tall man in an expensive suit. Even from here, I recognize him. Takeshi Sato. The Sanctum's golden boy. S-rank tamer. The most eligible bachelor in the entire spirit world.
She's already replaced me.
They're standing so close together. She's leaning into him, laughing at something he whispered. He kisses her forehead and she smiles—that smile that used to be for me.
How long? How long has she been with him?
The burning on my skin gets worse but I barely feel it now. All I feel is rage.
She didn't just betray me. She was probably cheating on me the whole time. Waiting for the perfect moment to get rid of the defective fiancé and upgrade to an S-rank hero.
Yuki looks directly at me through the window. Our eyes meet.
And she smiles.
Not a sad smile. Not an apologetic smile.
A satisfied smile.
Like watching me die is exactly what she wanted.
"Begin the final phase," the head priest announces.
The chanting gets louder. The burning intensifies until I can't help it—I scream.
My family doesn't even flinch.
Takeshi wraps his arm around Yuki's waist, and she nestles into his side like she belongs there. Like I never existed.
The woman ghost in the bloody wedding dress suddenly appears next to me, floating in the air. She's crying red tears that look like blood. Her mouth moves silently, forming words I finally understand:
They killed me too. Just like this. Don't let them win.
"Who are you?" I gasp through the pain.
Your mother. I'm your mother, Kai.
The world tilts sideways.
Mom. That's Mom's ghost. She's been trying to warn me this whole time.
"What happened to you?" I choke out.
The same thing happening to you. I was Sovereign-class. Your father discovered my secret and reported me to the Sanctum. They executed me when you were ten years old. The illness was a lie.
Dad killed her.
My own father murdered my mother for being special.
And now he's watching them murder me for the same reason.
The rage inside me explodes into something bigger. Something darker. Something that makes the chains on my wrists crack.
"You had fifteen years to tell me!" I scream at the observation window. "Fifteen years, and you let me think she died of sickness! You murdered her! You're murdering me! We're your family!"
My father's expression doesn't change. He just glances at his watch like he's bored.
The burning reaches my chest, crawling toward my heart. This is it. This is where I die.
Unless.
The demon's voice fills my head, no longer a whisper but a roar: "CALL MY NAME, SOVEREIGN! YOUR FAMILY TOOK EVERYTHING FROM YOU! LET ME GIVE YOU THE POWER TO TAKE IT ALL BACK!"
"Who are you?" I gasp.
"I am Nyx, the Crimson Calamity. I am the demon your precious Sanctum fears most. They imprisoned me three centuries ago after I destroyed an entire tamer clan for enslaving my kind. I have been waiting. Waiting for someone worthy. Someone angry enough. Someone broken enough to accept my power."
"What's the price?"
"Your soul bonds with mine. We become equals—partners, not master and servant. Your pain becomes my pain. Your death becomes my death. We are bound forever."
"Will I have enough power to destroy them? All of them?"
"Little Sovereign, you'll have enough power to burn this world to ash if you choose. The question is: are you brave enough to accept a demon's contract?"
The burning reaches my throat. I can feel my soul starting to separate from my body. Seconds left now.
In the observation window, Yuki laughs at something Takeshi says. My father checks his phone. My brothers start heading for the exit like the show's over.
They think I'm finished.
They think they won.
My mother's ghost squeezes my hand even though she can't really touch me. Choose life, Kai. Choose revenge. Choose to make them regret everything.
The priests chant louder for the final death blow.
I close my eyes and reach deep into the darkness inside my chest—the place where all my rage and pain and betrayal live.
And I scream into the void with everything I have left:
"NYX! I ACCEPT YOUR CONTRACT! GIVE ME THE POWER TO MAKE THEM BURN!"
For one heartbeat, nothing happens.
Then the entire chamber explodes with crimson light.
The chains on my wrists shatter. The priests fly backward, hitting the walls. The observation window cracks straight down the middle.
And standing before me, materializing from shadows and flame, is the most terrifying and beautiful creature I've ever seen.
A woman with blood-red eyes and flowing black hair that moves like it's alive. Power radiates from her in waves that make my knees weak. When she smiles, I see fangs.
"Hello, little Sovereign," Nyx says, her voice like silk and thunder. "You called?"
She reaches toward my chest, her hand glowing crimson.
"This might hurt," she warns.
Then she plunges her hand into my chest and everything goes white.
I feel our souls colliding. Merging. Bonding in a way that's more intimate than any contract should be. I feel three thousand years of her memories—betrayal, imprisonment, rage, loneliness—mixing with my twenty-three years of pain.
When she pulls her hand back, there's a glowing crimson mark on my chest right over my heart. The same mark appears on her wrist.
Contract complete.
I'm not defective anymore.
I'm something far more dangerous.
"Now then," Nyx turns toward the observation window where my family stands frozen in shock. Her smile turns deadly. "Shall we go say hello to your loved ones?"
Every alarm in the Sanctum starts screaming at once.