The rain had just stopped. The back courtyard of the Kamisato estate lay quiet, lit only by flickering lanterns casting faint shadows across the stone path. Ji Bai walked alone, carrying the scroll he had just completed—the portrait of Raidenkyo, the forgotten god of thunder and brush.
Ayaka had told him the truth.
Raidenkyo was not the current Electro Archon, but a far older being—one who shaped the world through art and divine intention. Her name had faded from history. Her altars dismantled. Her followers gone.
And now, somehow, she had chosen him.
"This isn't a blessing," Ji Bai whispered to the silent night. "It's a responsibility."
He came to a weather-worn shrine at the far end of the estate. Once, it had been a place of worship for ancient deities. Now, only a cracked stone tablet and a broken incense stand remained.
Ji Bai approached and gently unrolled the scroll, placing it upright against the shrine's faded foundation. The image of Raidenkyo glowed faintly in the moonlight—thunder still dancing across the strokes, almost as if the painting were alive.
He did not light incense. He offered no offerings. He simply stood there… and bowed his head.
"If you are Raidenkyo," he said slowly, "and if you've chosen me to carry your will…"
He drew his brush, the bristles already pulsing with a soft violet charge.
"Then I will be your witness. I will show this world what they've forgotten. With my hand, and your vision, let the ancient power awaken."
He pressed the tip of the brush to the scroll. A crackle of energy surged outward.
The shrine responded.
The faint carvings on the stone tablet glowed with an otherworldly light, and a breeze rose suddenly—carrying the scent of old ink and ozone. It was as if the place, long abandoned, had stirred from sleep.
In that moment, Ji Bai felt something shift inside him.
His Divine Brush System pulsed, unlocking a new layer. It was no longer just about summoning echoes or illusions from art. A deeper potential emerged:
To shape reality itself.
No longer just drawing what he saw.
Now, he could begin painting what would be.
Ji Bai rolled the scroll back up slowly. His eyes were clear now, more focused than ever before. He turned and started down the stone steps at the edge of the shrine, heading toward the deeper part of the mountain—where old divine carvings remained untouched by time.
"If I'm to carry a god's legacy," he murmured, "then I will start by finding what the world left behind."