The stairs narrowed the deeper they descended, curling like a serpent's spine. The air changed—no longer stale, but rich with something ancient, metallic… and breathing.
Torchlight faded. Only the faint pulse of the Nullblade lit their path, its edge humming softly, like it was humming to a heartbeat below.
At last, they reached a chamber carved into the raw bedrock of the world. No artistry. No thrones. Only stone… and a single sarcophagus in the center, held aloft by nothing—floating just inches off the floor, suspended by pure magical force.
It was shaped like a coffin, but bound in heavy chains of crystalized time. Sigils wrapped around it in shifting, fractal patterns.
Serenya gasped. "This is a Seal Tomb."
Lucien's brow darkened. "Those are outlawed. They bind souls alive for eternity."
Haruto stepped forward, something inside him already knowing the truth.
The markings. The arrangement of the chains. The eerie, humming resonance of the blade in his hand.
He'd seen this before—somewhere in the gaps of his fractured memory.
The Nullblade pulsed.
A voice trembled through the chamber—not loud, but from inside the tomb itself.
"Bearer of the blade. I see you."
The chains shuddered. One cracked.
"Do you remember who you are?"
Haruto stumbled, flashes assaulting him: fire raining from a purple sky… his hand soaked in blood, holding the blade over a dying god's heart… and the woman with silver eyes begging him not to forget her.
The sarcophagus cracked again.
Serenya shouted, "Haruto, don't touch it!"
But it was too late.
The Nullblade responded—not violently, but like it was greeting an old friend. The last of the chains shattered with a sigh, and the lid of the tomb slid open.
From within rose a figure—tall, cloaked, wearing ancient battle armor. A mirrored helm concealed their face. Yet even through the steel, Haruto felt it.
Familiarity.
The figure looked straight at him and spoke in a voice layered with both male and female tones.
"At last… my other half returns."