The Shrine was no longer still.
From the crumbling threshold of the inner sanctum, a ripple of shadows spilled outward like ink in water, congealing into a grotesque silhouette. The partial form of the Silent God—neither full nor stable—floated inches above the ground. Its skull-like head twisted with impossible geometry, eyes absent, mouth too wide, its laugh a dry scraping of bone across stone.
Akio didn't flinch.
"Not even whole, and you're still trying to kill," he muttered, sliding his right foot back into stance.
Behind him, Riku lay motionless—barely breathing, if at all.
The manifestation surged.
Akio raised his arm, and iron burst forth.
Chains erupted from his flesh like vipers, surrounding him in a clattering halo of steel around his frame. The shrine groaned as the energy thickened like syrup, rippling through air already heavy with residual worship.
As long as life flows through my body… you can't even make five meters towards Riku!
His voice deepened as power surged into the air, reverberating through the very architecture of the shrine.
"Iron Vow: Binding Mandate."
The chains struck first. They launched forward, twisting and coiling midair, slamming into the entity's formless body. It resisted at first, melting and reforming, laughing with its mouth open too wide, too empty. But Akio gritted his teeth and stepped forward.
The iron chains glowed with runes—not forged, but sworn into being.
The entity screamed—not in sound, but in raw pressure. The walls cracked. Wind howled where there was no air.
Akio held firm.
"Go on! I dare you to come closer!"
Each word was a nail hammered into fate. The chains responded, wrapping tighter. Not just around the entity—but the very space it occupied. The air itself seemed bound.
The partial form distorted violently, thrashing in silence, pulling at realities it didn't belong to.
Then—
With a sudden inward collapse—it vanished, sealed temporarily into the shrine's hollowed architecture.
Not gone.
Not dead.
Just… silenced.
Akio collapsed to one knee, breath ragged.
"I bought us a little time," he whispered.
He dashed to Riku's unconscious form and pulled out a vial. A lime-green liquid filled the vessel.
Akio brought it to Riku's lips.
"Come on, man. Don't die on me here. Please."
He tilted Riku's head and poured the potion between his lips.
The moment the last drop touched Riku's tongue, warmth bloomed across his body, pushing back the cold grasp of death. His wounds began to vanish. Bone regrew. Flesh reknit. Life returned.
Akio sat back, hands shaking. He exhaled once, deeply, and ran a bloodied hand through his hair.
He didn't even realize he was crying.
Then, he lifted Riku into his arms and staggered around. The apparition may have disappeared for now, but there was no guarantee it would stay that way.
None at all.
***
The first thing Riku felt was the scent of iron and incense.
A faint, warm light flickered overhead, casting soft shadows across ancient stone. He blinked slowly, pain flaring behind his eyes, his chest still heaving as if memory alone was trying to relive what had almost happened. His fingers brushed against cold stone—etched with scripture, smooth with age.
"You're alive."
Riku turned toward the voice. Akio was crouched beside him, the light of a pale lantern dancing off the sheen of sweat on his brow. His shirt was torn at the sleeve, and the iron chains that had burst forth moments ago now coiled loosely around his forearm like sleeping serpents.
Riku jolted upright, breathing heavily.
He braced for some pain. An ache in his chest and abdomen from where he was struck. Ruptured organs. Broken ribs. Something.
He closed his eyes.
Nothing. There was no pain whatsoever. He looked down.
Nothing about his body was abnormal. His chest was intact. His lungs were still there.
Whole. Complete. Existent.
"You're lucky. Any longer, and the Viropāṇa Potion wouldn't have worked." Akio said.
"The what?" Riku replied. Yet another thing he didn't know. At this point, he lost count of the absurdities thrown his way. He didn't know how much more he could take.
"Oh, right. Sorry. A Viropāṇa Potion is a potion Mantriks use whenever they're in a nasty situation. Heals you of everything. Wounds, injuries, fevers, the whole shebang." Akio said.
"Oh… No wonder." Riku looked down at his body again. He couldn't help but remember that feeling. That horrid feeling of not being able to breathe. Not because the wind got knocked out of his lungs, but because he felt that his lungs didn't even exist then.
"Akio… How bad was it?"
"How bad was what?"
"My injuries. Before you healed me with that potion, what was my condition?" Riku couldn't even control the words that were escaping his mouth. But he needed to know.
Akio looked down. Riku could tell Akio was a strong guy. Someone who had seen and braved a lot of horrors this world had to offer. But now, even he looked shaken.
"It… It was bad. I didn't know if you were gonna make it. You were bleeding like a pig, and there… there was a part of you that felt almost… hollow. Like something in your body was missing."
Riku's face paled. That perfectly matched up with how he felt before passing out. Uncanny, almost.
Akio stood, dusting himself off. "We should be fine for now. For some reason, that thing isn't making its way here."
"Why not?" Riku asked.
"Don't know. Every part of the shrine I brought us to, garnered a foul reaction from the construct. All but this one. Weird, I know. If I had a concrete reason, if I could explain why, I would. But I'm just as lost as you are. We're deeper inside the haiden." Akio looked at Riku, his eyes tired but they had some fight left in them.
"Further? But the apparition appeared from the offering box! That thing should be here by now!" Riku had no wish to confront that abomination again. Not after what he just went through on his first encounter with it.
"I know, I know. But for some reason, it hates this area. If I'm being honest, my chains did not make it go away. It disappeared on its own accord. You got any guesses?" Akio said.
Riku looked around, brow furrowed. Any guess could've been equally blasphemous and accurate. But, at this point the Silent God appeared when Riku approached with earnest. When he approached it with pure intent. Yet, it still attacked him. But now it was inactive? Why?
Riku looked at Akio. "This space… it's layered in something else. My guess? Prayers. The kind that lingers. People used to come here to thank the Silent God. Real gratitude. Maybe their prayers haven't faded. Maybe that makes it harder for it to find us."
They sat. Silence passed.
Akio spoke first. "So… You wanna tell me what the hell you were doing before you got attacked?"
Riku looked at him for a second before looking down at the floor. His hand brushed against the hinoki wood.
He blinked. "I don't know why I thought of it, but it seemed plausible in my head at that moment. I… well you know how the Silent God came to be what it was. Rejecting the prayers of those who wasted its blessings. I… I thought that if, for once, someone were to enter the shrine properly, with some semblance of dignity, it would respond. Dumb, I know. But, what about me isn't, you know?"
Akio stared at him for a bit. Riku couldn't really read his visage. Was he angry? Dumbfounded? Surprised? Holding in a laugh?
Akio finally spoke. "That's… Wow. No, it isn't dumb. Not in the least."
Riku looked up. He was surprised. He didn't think his thought process would receive such a compliment. Not with the jumbling mess that he thought was his brain.
He looked down at the chains that coiled around Akio's forearms. The question had already escaped his lips before he could think.
"How do you do that?" He gestured to the chains.
Akio looked down at his arms. "Oh, this? Well, this is the physical manifestation of my Mantra. Using my arms as a vessel, I end up manifesting these chains through them."
"And does everyone... you know, who's like you, use these chains?" Riku asked.
"No. Not at all. This ability is exclusive to me. All Bhāṇḍas are." Akio replied.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "Wait, slow down. What's a Bhāṇḍa?"
Akio sighed and cast his eyes down, looking almost as if he didn't know how to start answering. "A Bhāṇḍa is an innate ability a Mantrik awakens after a while. It manifests some time after their Gate opens for the first time. In my case, it happened a few months later. My Bhāṇḍa is called Iron Vow."
"Iron Vow…" Riku repeated the name, like it was some magic word that would open the door to some fever dream. "How does it work?"
"Every time I swear something with all I've got, it becomes a binding law. It's a trade-off in most cases. It's what I used to save your life today." Akio replied.
"How exactly?" Riku asked.
"I made a vow that… so long as I was alive, the construct wouldn't get close to you. The chains then were able to hold it down and prevent it from attacking you. I did this so it would focus its attention on getting rid of me instead." Akio looked back up at Riku.
Riku's eyes widened. He didn't know what to think at first. Should he be grateful for Akio's selflessness? Mad at him for recklessness?
No. Riku knew there was one person to blame. It was himself. If he hadn't gotten into that situation, then there wouldn't have been a need for Akio to take such a risky gamble.
Riku began. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had-"
"No. Don't even finish that. This is my duty, no?" Akio replied immediately. He didn't need to wait for Riku to finish to understand what he was going to say.
Riku looked down. "Y-Yeah… I guess so." He still couldn't help but feel guilty, but Akio's words washed away some of the doubt.
Akio looked around. "Look, I know you just woke up, and I know it might be hard for you to recollect, but I need you to try here. Do you remember seeing anything else? Abnormalities?"
Riku tried to remember. Up until the offering box, there wasn't anything he could think of. The ladle, the water, the path. All of it was normal.
Then it hit him.
"There was something off when I was at the temizuya, I heard a laugh. A chuckle. I know it doesn't sound like much, but there was nobody near, and I know it wasn't you." Riku said.
Akio's eyebrows furrowed. The confusion on his face was palpable.
"There was something else. In the water, there was a reflection of a skull. Smiling." Riku added.
Akio's smile faded. His eyes narrowed, and his grip on the chain tightened slightly.
"That's not normal," he muttered. "Even with the talisman I gave you, it found you, and not only that, you're seeing and hearing things. That's not supposed to happen." He paused, then added, "Once this blows over, I'll make sure you get the right help. That thing's latched onto you."
Riku nodded. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Now, just rest for a while. We should get moving soon. Try to see what's causing all of this. I'll keep watch." Akio replied.
Riku wanted to object. He felt bad for leaving all the work up to Akio, but Riku couldn't deny it. His eyelids were so damn heavy, and it was taking a herculean effort to keep them open.
He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, and as he drifted off, he couldn't help but think of many things. Bringing Tetsuya back, going back home, and resuming his life. But beyond all of this, there was a question in the back of his mind.
Would I end up like Akio? With something of my own?
Somewhere, deeper in the shrine's shadows—
Another laugh echoed.