The vision collapsed, dragging Kael back into reality.
But Kael's heart was no longer the same. Lira's image—her final gaze, the promise he never had the chance to hold—remained deeply embedded within him.
His steps faltered. His eyes were empty, fixed on the ground. It was as if his body had returned to the arena, yet his soul was still left behind in the abyss, alongside the small figure swallowed by the mist.
And at that moment—a black shadow struck.
A single, brutal swing from Noxis tore toward Kael's left cheek. A faint cracking sound rang out as Kael's jaw twisted from the impact. His body jerked, yet he did not block. He did not evade. His gaze stayed lowered, his eyes dull, cold—numb, as though lifeless.
Before he could even fall, Noxis twisted his hips and smashed another fist into Kael's right cheek, even more savage than the last. Kael's head snapped sideways, his hair whipping through the air as a thin spray of blood spilled from the corner of his lips.
"Fufufu… just a little longer." Noxis's low laughter followed the relentless barrage.
His left hand rose, slamming upward into Kael's chin. A heavy impact echoed as Kael's jaw was forced up, his body lifting slightly off the ground like a fragile puppet.
An elbow drove into his chest, forcing the air from Kael's lungs in a harsh gasp. Then came a vicious kick to his ribs, sending his body half a step backward.
And still—there was no resistance.
Kael simply stood there, receiving every blow. His face was pale, his expression frozen, as if pain no longer mattered compared to the deeper wound buried in his heart.
"Weak." Noxis sneered, launching another straight punch into Kael's abdomen, followed by a palm strike to his shoulder that shoved his body sideways.
The eighth strike—Noxis's metal knee slammed into Kael's stomach. A heavy, metallic thud mixed with the sound of bone echoed clearly. Kael doubled over, blood spraying from his lips, yet no groan escaped him. Only ragged breathing, and the same hollow stare.
Between the impacts, Noxis's voice pierced the air, dripping with poison.
"You think the rage you hide will save you? You suppress it… lock it away… because you're afraid." The corner of his lips curled into a cruel smile. "Afraid of losing control. Afraid of becoming who you truly are!"
Another punch crashed into Kael's face, blood bursting from his nose.
"Hahaha… how ironic. That's exactly what makes you weak."
Noxis did not stop. A sweeping kick knocked Kael's legs out from under him, forcing him down to one knee. From there, Noxis grabbed Kael by the hair, yanking his head up, locking eyes with a gaze that no longer held any light of defiance.
"Wake up, Kael Vieron. This world has cast you aside once already. They threw you into the ice, treated you as nothing more than a corpse from the past. You were abandoned, erased… even your own blood was deemed unworthy to be passed on."
Noxis leaned closer, his voice trembling with scorn.
"Aren't you angry!? Don't you want… to strike back!? Don't you want this world to feel the same pain you did?!"
Kael remained silent. His body was covered in wounds, his lips stained red, his breathing rough. Yet his eyes stayed empty, as though no fire remained within him.
And then—Noxis raised his arm.
A vortex of blood-red rifts tore open in the air, spinning like the jaws of a dimension. From within came the screech of grinding metal and the feral roar of machinery.
Four colossal metal fingers emerged, spreading wide like the gaping maw of a starving beast. The mechanical hand Kael had once destroyed was reborn from the vortex—more savage, more cruel.
"Mauler Maw…" Noxis muttered, his eyes gleaming wildly.
Then he shouted, his voice burning with hateful ecstasy.
"Let it go! Let your rage devour you! Only then… will you survive!"
With that cry, Mauler Maw snapped shut. The four metal fingers clamped around Kael's body, crushing him tightly at the waist and chest, pressing into his bones. Kael was lifted into the air, his body hanging limply, shaken as though he were nothing more than a lifeless doll in the grip of a mechanical monster.
The arena fell silent for a moment—filled only by the screech of grinding metal—while Noxis gazed at the Kael who no longer resisted, his eyes brimming with triumph and mockery.
Silence.
The real world seemed to stop as Kael's body was held aloft by Mauler Maw's grasp. The pain that had assaulted him relentlessly vanished, replaced by a strange stillness that swallowed his entire consciousness.
Then, within the darkness of his own soul, a voice echoed. Gentle—almost like a whisper from a past he could no longer reach.
"Kael."
The first call was faint, as though coming from far away.
"Kael…"
This time, closer, piercing straight into his heart, tearing through the black fog that bound him.
"Kael!"
The third call was like a small light, igniting a crack within the darkness.
In an instant, the world around him shattered. Mist and blood dissolved, replaced by an unfamiliar sight—or perhaps an old memory he had never been able to grasp.
Kael's steps came to a halt as the darkness of night unfurled into a silent lakeside garden.
A gentle breeze drifted through, carrying the scent of water mixed with the soft fragrance of lotus flowers. Thousands of white and pale pink petals floated across the surface, shimmering faintly beneath the glow of golden fireflies dancing slowly above the water.
At the edge of the lake extended a short wooden pier—not long, just enough for a single small figure now standing with their back to him. An old lantern swayed gently above the pier, its trembling light casting long shadows across the calm surface of the lake.
Kael stood at the edge of the land, motionless. His chest rose and fell—not from battle, but from something far heavier than breath alone. His fingers clenched, yet his feet felt rooted in place, unwilling to move closer.
The child did not turn. White hair cascaded down their back, reflecting the lantern's glow. At last, a voice reached him—soft, yet clearly cutting through the stillness of the night.
"You're allowed to be angry," she said calmly, as if she had known from the very beginning that Kael was standing there.
"Anger is natural… it's proof that your heart is still alive. But anger only has meaning if you have the courage to accept it—rather than run from it. Otherwise… you'll only sink deeper into the same darkness."
Kael lowered his head. His jaw tightened, his lips trembling, yet no reply would come. The night wind brushed across his damp face—whether from sweat, or tears he hadn't even realized had fallen, he didn't know.
The girl continued, her gentle voice like the soft chime of water against the lake's edge.
"Kael… don't let that hatred control you. That isn't who you are. You are not a shadow that lives only to take revenge. You live… because there are still those waiting for you to return."
She turned slightly, though her face remained vague beneath the lantern's glow.
"If you allow yourself to drown in anger, then I… and Lira… will remain nothing more than wounds. Not the reason you move forward."
Kael lifted his face, his eyes trembling. Water and the glow of fireflies blurred together in his vision, reflecting the small figure upon the lake's surface.
But before he could reach her—before he could speak the name caught trembling on his lips—the vision shattered, collapsing like ripples swallowed by the current.
His consciousness was dragged back. And all that remained was the heavy weight in his chest: rage on the verge of exploding, entwined with the fear that he himself would be consumed by it.
That pain was never simple. It was as if his veins were no longer blood and flesh, but shards of crimson glass—vibrating, shattering, then embedding themselves throughout his body.
Kael collapsed, his body convulsing violently as his fingers clawed into the white floor. Dark red fissures spread from his chest, crawling up to his face, leaving behind patterns like shattered glass that pulsed with every breath he took.
And yet… despite his body resisting, despite his mind being battered by waves of agony that nearly tore his consciousness apart, his eyes remained open. The deep black within his pupils trembled—no longer empty, but filled with something new.
Awareness.
Noxis's voice slipped through the air, low and mocking, like a whisper pressed directly against his ear.
"Look at you… even your own body rejects you. You're nothing more than a fragile vessel, unworthy of ever touching me."
The grip of Noxis's mechanical hand slammed into Kael's shoulder, pinning him against the white floor. The clash of metal against bone made Kael's jaw lock tight, his teeth grinding as he swallowed a scream. Yet amid the unbearable pain, a faint smile curved his lips—not one born of victory, but of acceptance.
Kael drew in a breath, his hoarse voice breaking as it escaped him.
"I… acknowledge it."
The words didn't come out like a heroic declaration. They were quiet—almost like a prayer swallowed by the empty space around them.
"Uhh…?" Noxis muttered, confusion slipping into his voice with startling speed.
The crimson veins across Kael's body throbbed harder, as if ready to tear his flesh apart, but he didn't stop.
"I acknowledge it… you are mine. This rage… this hatred… they don't belong to anyone else. So return to me."
The mechanical grip around him suddenly weakened. Noxis's red eyes flickered, trembling—for the first time, doubt took hold. The metallic voice that once rang with absolute certainty now sounded like something cracked, barely holding together.
"You… dare to call me yours?" Noxis hissed, his tone wavering between fury and fear. "I am a higher form than you! You are nothing but the shadow you cast aside!"
Kael lifted his face, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes locked onto Noxis's—sharp now, no longer filled with rejection, but with cold resolve.
"My anger is not yours to exploit. My hatred is not fuel for you." He paused, drawing in a heavy breath, then releasing it slowly.
"You want me to lose control? Sorry… I've lived in darkness long enough to know what it feels like to be blinded by it."
Noxis let out a roar. His entire body shook, his voice splintering as his metallic grip began to crack, its form breaking apart. From his pitch-black body, crimson fragments spilled out like shattered dust, drifting and scattering into the air.
"What are you trying to say!?" Noxis demanded.
"If you think I'm the same as you," Kael continued, his voice lower now, steady and unshaken, "then you're too foolish to see the difference between us."
The white space around them began to tremble. Crimson cracks crawled across the walls, spreading before slowly collapsing. New contours emerged—pale stone, aged brick walls, and the warm scent of unfamiliar air.
The featureless white shattered, replaced by a narrow cobblestone street, classical-style windows, and the distant cries of merchants—a city. Nirvana. The Sanctum border district from Kael's past.
Kael fell silent for a moment, taking in the shifting surroundings, before his gaze returned to Noxis, now increasingly cornered, his voice weakening into forced provocation.
"You think… this is acceptance? This is only the beginning of your own destruction!!"
Kael did not answer with words. He simply rose to his feet.
His body was still laced with pulsing crimson fractures, yet his posture was firm. A faint, calm smile touched his lips—as if the burden that had fought him for so long had finally stopped resisting, and for the first time, become part of him.
The metallic resonance that once dominated the arena now wavered, stripped of certainty. Noxis's chained hand, which had been pressing down on Kael's shoulder, creaked as its grip weakened. Red fissures spread across Noxis's entire body, black-and-crimson data fragments scattering like forcibly torn dust.
Noxis's red lens widened. His voice broke—not cold anymore, but panicked.
"This… this can't be happening…!"
His body shook violently, his mechanical frame shattering piece by piece, screaming like a malfunctioning machine.
"My entire body… why… why can't I reject you…!!"
Kael stared straight ahead. His face was pale, riddled with crimson cracks, yet his eyes were unwavering. His breathing was heavy—each rise of his chest sending pain through the pulsing veins—but he did not falter.
Noxis roared, his shrill cry echoing through the cracking white space. Then he lunged at Kael with everything he had.
"No!! I won't let you go. I won't accept this!!"
Noxis stretched out his hand.
"I swear… I swear… I WILL RETURN WITH THE VENGEANCE OF EVERY LIVING BEING'S RAGE!!"
The scream shattered alongside Noxis's collapsing body. From his blackened form, thin blood-red fragments peeled away, fluttering like burning paper caught in a blaze. Each shard glimmered sharply—then was drawn toward a golden light igniting on the back of Kael's right hand, exactly where his Abyssal Seal pulsed.
The symbol flared. Its circular lines and alien sigils opened like a gate. One by one, the fragments of Noxis were absorbed into it, vanishing into dense crimson light.
Kael staggered, his body trembling violently.
But instead of relief, a tidal wave of memories crashed into him.
Flash after flash of a black-and-white world of rage—everything he had suppressed, every hatred, every wound, every fury he had buried just to survive—erupted all at once within his mind.
The faces of fallen Assassin soldiers on blood-soaked battlefields. The wars of the Seven Frontiers. The screams of civilians begging for help. Blood spilling across the ground. Fires raging. Dozens of people hanged alive in underground cells. The loss of Lira. His mother. His father. A small child by the lakeside. And the betrayal—the truth of who had killed him.
All of it slammed into him without mercy.
"Agk… ghk… aarrgghhhh!!"
His scream split the space apart. Crimson lines burst from his entire body like ruptured data veins, scorching him from within. The cracks crawled across his skin, making it seem as though his body was being devoured by invisible flames—fires born from his own rage.
He dropped to his knees, both hands slamming into the floor. Yet from those fractures, red light surged forth, spreading in all directions. The white space finally collapsed completely, replaced by new contours—brick walls, cobblestone roads, foreign air tinged with dust and freshly baked bread.
The border district of his past slowly began to take shape.
But the world was still incomplete. Buildings remained blurred, the sky fractured, the merchants' voices faint—as if suspended in midair.
And Kael, at the center of it all, could only roar, his body assaulted by the flood of rage pouring into him. The crimson lines continued to blaze, growing thicker, burning, tearing him apart from the inside.
"AaaAAARRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
His final scream shattered the air, shaking the half-ruined transitional space.
Then, amid all that violent rebirth—he fell into a temporary slumber.
***