The silence was unbearable.
The Guardians froze mid-strike, porcelain faces bowing as if in reverence. The colossal mask in the sky pulsed with satisfaction.
Damien's flames sputtered. Clara's ink dripped uselessly from her fingertips. Evelyn's chains twitched like living serpents, wrapped tight around Yurin's arm.
And then—
The sound of metal snapping.
Her chains unraveled, falling uselessly into the dust.
Evelyn Blackthorn gasped as her knees buckled. The iron that had been her soul—her weapon, her identity—was gone. Yurin stood calmly before her, crimson eyes glowing faintly.
"I chose you," he said quietly.
The world bent.
Evelyn's body convulsed as if invisible threads were being cut. Her mouth opened but no sound came. The air split around her as her mask shattered—not a physical one, but the invisible veil she had worn her entire life.
And what lay beneath… was monstrous.
The shadows that had once answered to her chains burst forth, writhing into hundreds of black serpents. They lashed at the ground, shrieking in voices that were not human.
Clara screamed, stumbling back. "She's… she's not just human—"
Damien's flames flared wildly. "What the hell are you, Evelyn?!"
Evelyn staggered, her eyes glowing a sickly violet, her voice layered with a thousand whispers. "I… I was supposed to be hidden… I swore the chains would keep it sealed…"
Her chains reformed suddenly—not around enemies, but around herself, locking her limbs, her chest, her throat. Her body trembled violently as she screamed.
"I'm not supposed to exist in this layer! I'm a Fractured One!"
The colossal mask's voice rumbled approvingly.
"GOOD. THE FRACTURED ARE HIS."
Yurin tilted his head, crimson eyes glinting. His voice was quiet, but cutting:
"So that's your secret. You weren't binding enemies—you were binding yourself."
Damien turned on Yurin, fire blazing hotter than ever. "You knew?! You picked her on purpose!"
Yurin smiled faintly, unfazed by the accusation.
"Of course I did. Don't you want to know who you're fighting alongside? Ignorance is bliss, but it's also suicide."
Clara's voice shook, her face pale. "You… you stripped her without her consent. You forced it on her!"
Evelyn's chains tightened, cutting into her flesh as she shook violently. Blood dripped down her arms. "I… I can't hold it back much longer—"
The shadows around her writhed, forming monstrous wings of serpents. Her human shape began to twist, porcelain cracking across her skin.
Damien roared, turning back to Yurin. His flames exploded upward, nearly matching the glow of the colossal mask above.
"You're playing god with us! With all of us! I don't care what you are, Crimson—if you endanger us again, I'll end you!"
Clara cried out, clutching her scripts desperately, trying to write something to restrain Evelyn—but every word burned away before it could take hold. The truth was too strong.
Evelyn's voice warped, a chorus of screams escaping her throat.
"I… I told myself the chains made me strong. That I was in control. But the truth is… I'm the prisoner!"
Her violet eyes snapped toward Yurin, filled with both fury and terror.
"You… why did you do this to me?!"
Yurin's expression didn't change. His voice was calm, deliberate.
"Because the truth always comes out. Better now… than when it destroys you from within."
The colossal mask above split wider, porcelain raining down in jagged meteors. Its laughter rolled like thunder.
"YES. LET HER BREAK."
The shadows erupted, swallowing the battlefield in a storm of writhing serpents. Evelyn Blackthorn's body cracked apart, porcelain shards splitting from her flesh.
Her chains shattered completely.
What emerged from the ruins was no longer Evelyn.
It was something far worse.
And Yurin Crimson—
smiled.
[Chapter Seven — End]