"Power does not corrupt; it reveals. In silence, Kiyoshi was already listening."
The Hidden Education
Though the Haruto estate kept Kiyoshi behind thick marble walls, he was never truly caged. He studied every servant, knight, and noble. He observed how they lied, how they bent when threatened, and how they smiled with their teeth.
While the world ignored him, he created a kingdom of silence within.
He learned written and spoken codes by eavesdropping on courtiers.
He forged documents granting himself permission to observe elite Veil rites.
He spent hours staring into the dark, listening—not with his ears, but through the whispers of Veil Souls that only he could hear.
"A thousand dead advisors," he once murmured to himself, "make a better tutor than one living fool."
From them, he learned about the structure of power.
The Veilborn's Secret
Kiyoshi's class, Veilborn, was not officially recorded. Even the archives of the Grand Library contained nothing about it.
But each time he absorbed a Veil Soul, his understanding grew deeper.
Some taught him words of Prime Speech—the language of ancient reality.
Others showed him how to shape illusion veils, bend shadows, and disguise his presence.
Most chillingly, he realized he could temporarily mimic the skills of others:
After consuming a fallen Veilmind, he could read surface thoughts.
After feeding on a dead Blade Dancer's soul, he manifested a ghostly weapon mid-air—even if only for seconds.
These powers faded quickly, but they hinted at something terrifying:
"If I eat enough gods… can I wear them too?"
The King's Appearance
One day, a royal envoy arrived at the Haruto estate. A message bearing the King's Crest was handed directly to Lord Renji Haruto:
"The King himself requests an audience with your heir."
Lord Renji tried to protest, but royal seals are not invitations; they are commands.
The next day, Kiyoshi was taken to Vel'Thara Citadel, the capital of the Veiled Kingdoms. Its towers were made of mirrored stone and etched with stardust, reflecting Veilcraft across the skies.
There, in the Hall of Living Thrones, sat the King: Elarion Vex, Veilseer of the 8th Eye, ruler of nine nations.
He looked at Kiyoshi with a puzzled gaze.
"The whispers call you Veilborn, child. A class older than language. Even my Seers cannot scry your fate. What are you?"
Kiyoshi said nothing.
Instead, he looked into the king's eyes and replicated his heartbeat—a trick he learned from a fallen Chronovisionary. The king tensed, looking uneasy.
"You're either the ruin of this age or its last chance."
The King ordered that Kiyoshi be sent to the Academia of Tiered Arts, a mountain sanctuary where young Veiltouched trained.
But what the King didn't say aloud was what Kiyoshi's Veil Soul had already told him:
"He fears you."
Rumors of the Twelve Knights
In the under-chambers of the Academia, Kiyoshi first heard the name Ashirion Malek.
A former noble turned god-slayer. Now he ruled the Twelve Knights—elite Veiltouched who answered to no kingdom, only Malek.
Legends said they each held multiple Veil Classes—forbidden and illegal. Among them was one who had learned the secret of the Nameless State but could not reach it because of Chaos, the one who sat on the Throne with no rank.
Kiyoshi smiled faintly.
"Good," he whispered, "then someone else is also reaching."
Chapter End: A Shadow Prepares
That night, under the sacred moonlight, Kiyoshi sat in meditation on the mountain ledge.
The stars seemed to speak to him. Below, the whispering souls gathered.
A voice rose among them.
"Your mother was no ordinary noble. She bore the curse of a god she defied."
Another said:
"Beware the Pactbearers, the Knights who call stars to obey."
And another, older, colder voice warned:
"Do not seek the Nameless. You will find nothing."
Kiyoshi opened his eyes slowly, his silver orbs glinting like knives.
"Even nothing," he said, "can be shaped into something useful."
And with that, the world continued to sleep, unaware that the first true Nameless had already begun to awaken.