"Oh! He's making eye contact."
Tanaka blinked, his vision slowly coming back into focus.
A face was inches away from his own.
A small red-haired girl leaned in far too close, her eyes wide with curiosity as she examined him like some strange specimen. Her gaze moved across his features, searching, analyzing, as if trying to confirm something only she could see.
Tanaka instinctively leaned back.
As his vision steadied, the rest of the room came into focus.
Across from him, pressed against the wall, Tristan remained completely still. The beastman knight's golden eyes were locked onto him. He said nothing, but the intensity of his gaze alone was enough to make the air feel heavier.
Tanaka exhaled slowly.
He was back.
The sunlight filtering through the window told him what he needed to know, it was still midday.
Which meant there were only a few hours left before everything fell apart.
His hand moved almost instinctively, pulling back his sleeve.
The mark was still there.
Dark, jagged, and burned deep into his skin, it pulsed faintly as if alive, something on the other end was aware of him, watching him.
Tanaka bit his lip, frustration tightening his chest.
"…Dammit."
"What's wrong with you?" Nora asked, narrowing her eyes. "You look really pale… and your gaze is nastier than usual."
He didn't respond immediately. His mind was already racing, piecing things together, trying to find the fastest and most effective course of action.
His position was compromised and so were his thoughts so he couldn't come up with a plan because it will get countered anyway.
But there was no time to hesitate, he needed to take at least one step immediately.
Without another word, he reached forward, took the mask from Nora's hands, and pulled it over his face in one swift motion.
"I'll be right back."
Before either of them could react, he was already moving.
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Tristan called out, but Tanaka didn't slow down.
He descended the stairs quickly, Nora and Tristan following close behind.
The tavern was busy when he stepped inside. Conversations overlapped, laughter filled the air, and mugs clinked against wooden tables. It was a completely ordinary scene, so normal it almost felt wrong, knowing what was about to happen.
Behind the counter, Zarestia was dealing with a particularly persistent customer who leaned far too close, clearly enjoying himself.
"And I'm telling you," the man said with a grin, "a beauty like you shouldn't be working in a place like..."
She suddenly paused.
Her eyes shifted toward the stairs.
The moment she saw Tanaka, her expression brightened.
"…Jay."
Tanaka didn't respond. Instead, he stepped forward and raised his voice.
"Everyone, I'm sorry, but we're closing early today."
The room fell into a brief, confused silence.
"…Huh?"
"Who is that?"
"Isn't that James?"
"Wait, since when can he talk?"
Murmurs spread quickly through the tavern.
"Everyone, please leave."
This time, his tone left no room for misunderstanding.
Tristan stepped forward, his expression hardening.
"Hey," he said sharply. "What do you think you're doing? You're exposing yourself. If people realize who you are, that oath won't protect you. Knights will come for you."
"It's an emergency," Tanaka replied without hesitation. "There's no time."
Something in his voice made even Tristan pause.
A man at one of the tables slammed his mug down loudly. "Stop messing around! I'm still drinking here!"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Dozens of icicles formed in the air around Tanaka, hovering silently, their sharp tips aimed toward the patrons.
The shift was immediate.
The noise died.
The tension became suffocating.
Tanaka's voice was calm, but carried an unmistakable edge.
"Unless you want me to beat you to a pulp," he said. "I suggest that you leave, now."
Tristan's hand moved to the hilt of his sword, not drawing it, but ready. That silent threat only accelerated things.
That was enough.
Chairs scraped against the floor as people began standing up, unease turning into fear. No one was willing to test whether he was bluffing.
Soon, the tavern was completely empty.
Tanaka walked to the door and shut it firmly, then moved to the windows, closing them one by one until the outside world was sealed off.
Silence settled over the room.
"…Have you lost your mind?" Nora asked, her voice sharp. "What was that? And what are you going to tell Garitch when he comes back?"
Tanaka turned to face them.
"That's the least of our concerns right now."
His voice was steady, serious in a way they hadn't heard before.
"I'll explain everything."
Then his gaze shifted toward the counter.
"Zarestia."
The name hung in the air.
"…Zarestia?" Nora repeated, confused.
Zarestia herself froze, her expression shifting instantly from surprise to disbelief.
"Wait! what? Why would you...?!"
"It doesn't matter anymore," Tanaka interrupted.
His tone was firm, leaving no room for argument.
"It's irrelevant to keep it a secret, the situation is really bad and everyone here must know the details, including you.."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once he made sure the tavern was completely sealed—doors locked, windows shut, no stray presence lingering, Tanaka finally reached up and removed the mask.
A quiet tension filled the room as he exhaled, running a hand through his hair before beginning his explanation.
"…So let me get this straight," Nora said slowly, her brows furrowed as she tried to piece everything together. "You're saying that this woman here is…"
Her eyes shifted.
Everyone's did.
They all turned toward her.
Nora finished the sentence, her voice carrying a mix of disbelief and realization.
"...'The Most Beautiful Shinigami'… Zarestia."
Silence followed.
Zarestia didn't respond.
Her gaze lowered slightly, her expression tightening, not quite denial, but not acceptance either. There was hesitation there, reluctance, like acknowledging it would force something she wasn't ready to confront.
Tanaka clicked his tongue, irritation breaking through.
"Hey. Speak up."
Her head snapped up instantly, eyes flashing with annoyance.
"You've got a lot of nerve ordering me around," she shot back, her glare sharp enough to cut.
Tristan, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke.
"…Zarestia. The Great Spirit."
The name alone carried weight.
One of the four Great Spirits known across the world, beings that existed on a completely different scale from ordinary spirits and possess the power to reshape the world.
And yet...
the woman in front of them didn't look amused.
She let out a slow, irritated sigh, as if the title itself was more of a burden than anything else.
"I'll say this once," she said, her tone flat. "Yes. I am Zarestia… as you've all so eagerly concluded."
She paused briefly, her fingers curling slightly against her arm.
"But I am not all of Zarestia."
That caught their attention.
"I'm half… no..." she corrected herself, her expression darkening. "Not even half."
Nora blinked, clearly confused.
"…What does that even mean?"
Zarestia placed a hand lightly against her chest, as if grounding herself, but the explanation she offered still felt incomplete, like pieces were missing, deliberately or not.
Tanaka didn't let it slide.
"Think back to when we first met," he said, his eyes fixed on her. "You were searching for something."
Zarestia's expression shifted ever so slightly.
"The light sphere."
Tristan frowned.
"…Light sphere?" he repeated. "What exactly is that supposed to be?"
Zarestia hesitated for a moment before answering.
"…It's the core of my power," she said quietly. "A vessel that contains what I've lost."
Tanaka nodded once, then continued.
"The one who has it now is a girl named Reize," he said. "An Oni."
"A survivor of a race that was wiped out by the Witch Cult," he added, his tone growing heavier. "She stole the sphere for one reason....revenge."
Zarestia's eyes narrowed. To her, this was the first time Tanaka mentioned anything regarding that matter.
"And there's something else you don't know," Tanaka continued, his voice steady but sharp. "When she uses that sphere, she doesn't just gain your power…"
He paused briefly.
"She takes your appearance. Your presence. Everything."
A flicker of something unreadable passed through Zarestia's eyes.
Nora crossed her arms, still processing everything.
"…So what? You're telling us this because you're scared of her and want protection?"
Tanaka shook his head immediately.
"If that was the only problem, I would've already dealt with it."
His tone shifted, more serious.
The atmosphere in the room tightened.
"Have either of you heard of something called… the Night Weeping?"
Tristan and Nora both froze.
The reaction was immediate.
Subtle, but unmistakable.
Zarestia, on the other hand, frowned.
"…No," she said. "I haven't."
That wasn't surprising.
She had isolated herself from the world for far too long.
Tristan exhaled quietly before stepping forward, his tone shifting into something measured.
"The Four Disasters," he began, "are prophesized calamities said to threaten each of the Four Great Nations."
"The Kingdom of Lugunica's Witch or Witches… the Kararagi City-States' Night Weeping… the Holy Kingdom of Gusteko's Collapse… and the Sacred Vollachia Empire's Great Disaster."
Nora crossed her arms, clearly following along but still unconvinced.
"But those are just prophecies," she said. "They were recorded ages ago by some unknown star gazer. No one even knows the details, they're all vague."
The calamities were mentioned vaguely centuries ago and none of them occurred so far. Therefor, they were merely treated as myths.
A brief pause.
Then...
"The Night Weeping will happen today."
The words landed heavily and everyone present widened their eyes in shock.
"In a few hours," he continued, his gaze steady, "Kararagi will fall into ruin."
"And the one responsible…"
His voice lowered.
"…is a warlock of sin."
Tristan's expression hardened slightly.
"A warlock?"
Tanaka nodded.
"His name is Abaris," he said. "The Warlock of Abhor."
"…Abhor?" Nora repeated, confusion evident in her voice.
The term didn't fit.
It wasn't one of the known sins.
"That's normal," Tanaka replied. "You wouldn't have heard of him."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"He was sealed long before the Great Calamity. Every trace of his existence was erased along with him."
"I don't know what he's but he's not human. He doesn't have a physical body so you can't kill him, all you can do is seal him."
"He has an authority," Tanaka went on. "He can read minds… and under certain conditions, he can possess others. I don't know the exact limits of it. But I do know this, he's not at full strength yet. "
"Ever since he escaped his seal, he was trying to recover his strength back. There are certain individuals that are helping him. Call them apostles, the first one was that red haired nun Sona."
Recognition flashed briefly in Nora's eyes.
"She was gathering Ods for him, but she's already dead, the other one is that girl named Reize, she's an Oni and she is the one who stole Zarestia's light ball which is..."
"A power source for a great spirit."
Tristan stepped forward, his expression serious but still skeptical.
"I can't say I fully believe all of this," he admitted. "But let's assume you're telling the truth."
His eyes narrowed.
"From what you're saying… this warlock already has the sphere."
A pause.
"So isn't it already too late?"
Tanaka shook his head immediately.
"It's true he has it," he said. "But that's not his end goal."
His gaze shifted.
Slowly.
Toward Zarestia.
"Remember what I said," Tanaka continued quietly. "He can control people."
Zarestia's expression changed.
Just slightly.
"Zarestia," Tanaka said, his voice now steady and direct, "I finally understand why you feel that urge… that need to kill when you're near that sphere."
"Abaris before escaping his seal, some of his fragments has latched into that anchor causing it to get corrupted. Again, those were mere fragments but now that he escaped the seal, so if you were to touch that light ball again, he's going to try and possess your body."
Nora's fingers curled slightly.
"…So you're saying…"
"The Night Weeping…" he said quietly, "Is Abaris possessing Zarestia with her full power to wipe Kararagi off the map."
Zarestia didn't react immediately.
But it wasn't shock.
It was rejection.
To her, this entire explanation lacked weight. It sounded like a constructed story, one that conveniently turned her own goal, reclaiming what was rightfully hers, into a catastrophe.
And she didn't like that.
Not one bit.
Tanaka noticed.
Of course he did.
"I'm not saying this to stop you from getting it back," he added, his tone sharpening slightly. "I'm saying it because it's the truth."
Tristan stepped forward, his gaze fixed firmly on Tanaka.
"There are too many things that don't add up," he said. "Even if I assume everything you're saying is true… there's one thing that bothers me the most."
His eyes narrowed.
"Why would you care?"
A pause.
"You're a Sin Archbishop," Tristan continued. "Why would someone like you go out of their way to save a city? It doesn't make sense."
Tanaka let out a quiet breath.
Then...
"Are you willing to gamble on that?"
The question landed harder than expected.
"Are you willing to risk the possibility that I'm telling the truth?" Tanaka continued. "Because if I am… and you ignore it… everyone dies."
His voice didn't rise.
But the weight behind it did.
"And for the record," he added, "Abaris isn't my ally. He's not something you ally with. He's a calamity. If anything, I'm just as expendable to him as the rest of you."
A brief pause.
"And as you already know," Tanaka continued, tapping lightly against his chest, "I physically can't commit evil acts. My soul gets erased the moment I try. So no—I'm not plotting anything."
That much, at least, Tristan couldn't easily refute.
"…Then how do you know all of this?" Nora asked, her voice quieter now.
Tanaka didn't answer immediately.
Instead.
He pulled back his sleeve.
The mark.
Still there.
Still burning.
It pulsed faintly under his skin, like something alive had carved its way into him and refused to leave.
Both Nora and Tristan stiffened the moment they saw it.
"…Earlier," Tanaka said, his voice lower now, "when I froze behind the counter…"
He clenched his jaw slightly.
"…he entered my mind."
The weight of that statement sank in instantly.
"I messed up," Tanaka admitted bluntly. "He used his authority on me."
A pause.
"He knows where I am."
Another.
"And he knows what I'm thinking."
The room went still.
"For your information," Tanaka continued, his tone turning bitter, "he knows everything we just said."
"…What?" Nora whispered.
"My location. My thoughts. Everything I hear, everything I see…" Tanaka exhaled slowly. "It's all an open book to him."
A beat.
"Hah..!?" Nora took a step forward, clearly shaken. "So you're saying the enemy has been listening to this entire conversation and you didn't say anything!?"
"It wouldn't have changed anything," Tanaka replied immediately. "If I think about hiding something, he'll know. If I try to outsmart him, he'll see it coming."
His voice grew colder.
"So instead, I told you everything you need to know."
A pause.
"And left the rest to you."
Tristan's gaze sharpened.
"You need to capture Reize," Tanaka continued. "And seal him again."
He glanced between them.
"Warlocks and witches operate on similar principles. To deal with something like him… you'll need someone capable of using Yin magic."
Nora swallowed.
"…So what's the plan?"
Tanaka shook his head.
"That's for you to figure out."
"…Hah?" Nora blinked, caught off guard.
"I've told you what the threat is," Tanaka said calmly. "And what needs to be done to stop it."
He stepped back slightly.
"How you do it… is up to you."
Zarestia frowned, watching him carefully.
"…What are you doing?"
Tanaka didn't answer right away.
Instead, he grabbed a piece of cloth.
And tied it over his eyes.
Another piece...
over his ears.
The room went still.
"As I said," Tanaka spoke, his voice now slightly muffled, "he sees what I see… and hears what I hear."
He clenched his fists slightly.
"I hate this," he admitted quietly. "But I don't have a choice."
Even now...
he was trying not to think.
Trying not to imagine.
Trying not to give anything away.
"If I get involved directly," he continued, "I'll only end up sabotaging whatever chance you have of stopping this."
A pause.
"Time is running out."
He turned his head slightly, though he couldn't see them.
"So move."
A final breath.
"I'm leaving this in your hands."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darkness.
Not the quiet kind that comes with closed eyes, but a suffocating, absolute void that pressed in from all sides.
Tanaka became aware of motion before anything else.
A firm grip beneath his shoulders. The subtle sway of footsteps. The rhythmic rise and fall of someone carrying him.
His body shifted slightly with each step.
So they listened…
Even without sight or sound, he could piece it together. The urgency in Tristan's movements. The absence of voices. The deliberate silence.
They had taken him seriously.
For now, at least.
Good…
If they were moving him, then they were acting. Thinking. Planning.
Using him.
Bait…
The thought surfaced instinctively.
If Abaris could track him, if that mark truly acted as a tracker, then placing him somewhere where they could use him as a bait could be an option. Draw the enemy in one direction while they prepared something.
No… wait…
A flicker of unease crept in.
I can't...
He should stop think and not give away anything that reveal whatever they planned.
"Out of everything," a voice echoed coldly within his mind, "this is the best you could come up with?"
Tanaka's jaw clenched instantly.
"Relying on others?"
"…You bastard."
The words came out low, venomous.
"Didn't I tell you not to speak to me?"
His fingers curled tightly against his palms.
"I don't want to hear a single word from you."
"I told you already," Cepheus continued, unmoved, "you have no choice but to leave Kararagi. Think for once. Rationally."
"And I told you," Tanaka snapped, his voice rising despite the darkness around him, "I'm not doing that."
His breathing grew heavier.
"Even if I have to die a thousand times..."
"What if he takes your body?"
The question cut through him.
Sharp. Precise.
Unavoidable.
Tanaka froze.
"What?"
"What if," Cepheus repeated, calm as ever, "Abaris decides not to kill you… but to use you?"
Tanaka's teeth ground together.
"I'm not weak enough to just hand over control."
"And if you're wrong?"
"…Then you'll deal with it."
The answer came immediately.
Tanaka exhaled slowly.
"No matter how much of a piece of shit you are," he added, quieter now, "I know you wouldn't let that happen."
"…Because if he takes me, he wins."
For a brief moment…
Silence.
Then...
Movement shifted.
The sensation of being carried stopped abruptly.
Rough hands adjusted his position.
Fabric brushed against his face....
Then was pulled away.
Light seeped in through his closed eyelids.
Sound returned all at once.
"Jay!"
A familiar voice, strained with urgency.
"Hey! Can you hear me?!"
It was tension.
"What's going on?"
"I'm getting you out of here," she said quickly.
Tanaka frowned.
"…What?"
"They were going to hand you over," she continued, her voice tightening. "Tristan, he called for backup. The place is already surrounded."
For a moment…
Tanaka just stared at her.
Then...
"…You've got to be kidding me."
A sharp exhale escaped him.
"This is the worst possible outcome…"
"What did I tell you?"
Cepheus' voice echoed again, almost mocking.
Shut up.
Tanaka pushed the thought aside immediately.
"Zarestia," he said, urgency snapping back into his tone, "untie me. Now."
She hesitated for a fraction of a second...
Then complied.
The restraints loosened.
Tanaka blinked as the blindfold came off, vision returning in fragments before finally sharpening.
And he froze.
Because something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Zarestia was still looking at him.
Her face hovered above him, closer than expected.
But her expression…
Her golden eyes darkened then shifted.
A deep, creeping crimson bled into her irises.
Cepheus said something but Tanaka couldn't hear it.
It didn't take Tanaka seconds before he realized what was happening.
No incantation.
His hand moved instinctively.
Mana surged.
An ice dagger began to form in his palm...
No chant.
No delay.
Just pure reflex...
But it wasn't enough.
It would never be enough.
Because before the blade could fully take shape...
Before he could even take a step back...
A single whisper cut through.
Ol Shamak
The next instant, the world of Kazuki Tanaka cut to black.