Pov Author
Behind him, Wataru smiled.
Because Anna was screaming.
---
The sound did not travel through air.
It traveled through the bond.
Shou Feng froze mid-step.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't clear.
But it was hers.
Pain—sharp, sudden, terrified—ripped through his chest like claws tearing through flesh. The darkness around him surged violently, cracking the marble beneath his feet as the scream echoed again, closer this time.
Kiyoshi staggered as the wave of power slammed into the garden. "Shou—!"
"I know," Shou Feng said, voice unnaturally calm.
Too calm.
The bond burned.
She was alive.
And she was suffering.
Shou Feng turned toward the palace doors, already tearing reality open with his presence alone, when Renji appeared in a ripple of black mist.
"Stop," Renji said sharply.
Shou Feng's head snapped toward him.
"Move," Shou Feng replied.
Renji didn't.
"She's not here," Renji said. "And if you rip the realms apart blindly, you'll kill her yourself."
Silence.
The kind that precedes annihilation.
Yuvan arrived next, sword half-drawn, eyes sharp. "Renji's right. Whoever took her planned this."
Mong skidded in behind them, breathless. "Also, I would like to officially say I hate tonight."
Shou Feng slowly unclenched his fists.
The darkness didn't recede—but it listened.
"Speak," Shou Feng commanded Renji.
Renji exhaled. "The necklace reached her. That means she's in a sealed zone—cut off, but not unreachable. A null space."
Kiyoshi's eyes widened. "A null zone? That would block gods."
"Except one," Renji said quietly.
All eyes turned to him.
Renji met Shou Feng's gaze. "Someone who knows you."
---
Cold bit into Anna's skin as she hung suspended by the chains.
Her wrists burned where the black metal dug into her flesh, glowing red symbols pulsing in time with her heartbeat. Every breath felt heavier than the last, like the air itself was pressing down on her lungs.
She lifted her head slowly, forcing her vision to focus.
The chamber was circular, carved from obsidian stone. Symbols crawled along the walls like living things, reacting to her presence—feeding on it.
Footsteps echoed calmly across the floor.
Tomika stepped into the torchlight.
He was tall, composed, dressed in dark robes embroidered with silver sigils that shifted when he moved. His expression wasn't cruel.
That terrified her more than cruelty ever could.
Tomika watched the cracks spreading beneath Anna's feet with calm satisfaction.
Not excitement.
Not cruelty.
Calculation.
"You know why you're here," Tomika said at last.
Anna swallowed, forcing herself to straighten despite the pain. "Because you're afraid of him."
Tomika laughed softly. "Afraid?" He shook his head. "Yes and Fear is for those who still believe Shou Feng can be stopped."
He stepped closer. The air bent around him, pressure coiling tight around Anna's chest.
"I took you," Tomika continued evenly, "because you are the only thing that makes him hesitate."
Her breath hitched.
"That necklace,Where did you get it? Anyways" Tomika said, eyes flicking to her chest. "That bond. Gods like him do not form attachments unless something inside them is already broken."
Anna clenched her fists despite the chains. "I didn't ask for this."
"No," Tomika agreed. "Which is why it works."
The symbols flared brighter, responding to her pulse.
"Shou Feng is destruction," Tomika said calmly. "Realms fall because he decides they should."
He leaned closer, voice dropping.
"But when it comes to you—he stops."
Anna lifted her chin. "That doesn't make me weak."
Tomika smiled thinly.
"It makes you Dangerous ."
---
Shou Feng staggered one step.
The Painting Hall shattered behind him as darkness tore outward, glass exploding into the night. The sky above the palace split open as his power surged unchecked.
"She's in pain," Shou Feng said.
Not anger.
Not rage.
Certainty.
Kiyoshi grabbed his arm. "Shou Feng—Tomika is provoking you. He believes Anna is your weakness."
"Good," Shou Feng replied.
The ground beneath them turned to ash.
"Let him."
Renji's jaw tightened. "If he breaks her—"
Shou Feng turned.
For the first time, there was no restraint in his eyes.
"He won't," Shou Feng said.
"Because?" Renji asked.
Shou Feng opened a rift with one hand, darkness howling.
"Because anyone who tries," he said coldly, "will learn what true weakness looks like—when it stands before destruction."
---
Anna cried out as the necklace burned against her skin—warmth flooding her chest.
Not pain.
Recognition.
Tomika stiffened.
"That's interesting," he murmured.
Anna lifted her head slowly.
"He knows," she said.
The walls shook.
Hairline fractures spread across the symbols as something massive pressed against the null zone from the outside.
Tomika's smile vanished.
"Impossible," he whispered.
Anna's voice steadied, eyes blazing. "You wanted to show him his weakness."
The ground split open.
Darkness bled through the cracks like smoke.
"You just showed him where I am."
The null zone screamed.
And somewhere beyond it—
Shou Feng stepped closer to tearing reality apart.
Tomika took a step back for the first time in centuries.
And realized—
He had not captured a weakness.
He had touched the trigger.
---
To be continued (read Author note please)