Ryu couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned until the night completely consumed him. The voice kept echoing in his head: deep, ancient, filled with rage. Give me back my power!
He woke up drenched in sweat, heart pounding, eyes burning. He looked at himself in the mirror, terrified. For a split second, he had seen something in his reflection—red eyes, like burning embers.
At school, everything seemed normal. Or so he tried to believe. Alice still watched him from a distance with the same intensity she had during their confrontation. Mizuki, on the other hand, acted like a normal student—smiling, chatting with everyone... but every time their eyes met, Ryu felt a serpent tighten around his heart.
"You're acting weird," Daiki said during lunch.
Ryu lowered his gaze. "I don't know what's happening to me. There's something inside me... something dark. And I don't understand it."
Daiki patted his shoulder.
"It doesn't matter what it is. You're my friend. I won't leave you alone."
That afternoon, on his way home, Ryu felt a presence behind him. He turned quickly. Mizuki was standing on the sidewalk, smiling.
"Ryu Tatzuki..." she said, her voice sweet and false. "You're lucky you're still alive."
"...Why didn't you kill me at school?" he asked, his voice barely steady.
She stepped closer, stopping just a breath away. She looked him up and down with disdain.
"Kill you? Please... and miss the show? Watching you fail, suffer, fall—that's far more entertaining than erasing you. Demons don't care about your power. It's not even worth stealing."
Ryu swallowed hard.
"Then... what do you want from me?"
Mizuki leaned in, her red eyes gleaming.
"I want to see how far you can fall. You're the legacy of something that never should've existed. And when you've completely broken... maybe, just maybe, I'll rip out your soul."
Without waiting for a reply, she turned and vanished into the shadows.
That night, Ryu dreamed of a chained figure, buried in darkness.
Give me back my power, weak child! My legacy is not for you!
Ryu woke up gasping, red eyes once again staring at him from the mirror.
And for the first time, he was afraid of himself.