The salt winds whispered truths the world had hidden. But none stung more than the revelation Kazuki uncovered next—not in battle, but in meditation.
Sir Elrin's betrayal hadn't come from cowardice.
Not jealousy.
Not even disillusionment.
It had come from the divine.
The Voice Beyond Cleanliness
During a rite of silence in the salt garden, Kazuki heard a voice—not from within, but far above.
Sanctivox the Balancebringer.
A god rarely worshipped. A deity of neutrality, of unshifting scales, of keeping the cosmic equilibrium steady—no matter who bled for it.
"You cleanse too well," the voice echoed like polished bells.
"Cleanliness leads to sterilization. Sterilization leads to stillness.
Stillness is death.
And I must not allow any extreme to reign."
Sanctivox had whispered to Elrin's soul. Tipped the balance. Turned belief into betrayal.
Questioning the Cause
The revelation unraveled Kazuki.
"Am I fighting to help the world...
or just to prove that I'm right?"
He remembered every speech.
Every city he'd purified.
Every opponent he'd blasted with soap, foam, or virtue.
Had it all become performance?
Had his cause become another kind of fanaticism?
Visions of Lila
That night, the sponge trembled with sorrow. Kazuki's dreams darkened.
He saw Lila again—trapped in runes of rot, her eyes pleading beneath veils of moss.
She no longer cried for help.
She simply asked:
"Do you want to save me…
or be the one who can?"
A Shift in Purpose
Kazuki awoke with tears on his palms and salt in his lungs.
"I don't want to win," he whispered.
"I want to heal. That's all. Even if I'm never thanked.
Even if I'm forgotten."
The Whispering Sponge pulsed warmly.
Not with approval.
With understanding.
And somewhere, Sanctivox blinked—for even Balance struggles when someone gives up power by choice.