Thunder cracked like judgment over the altar.
He was chained—knees to stone, back bared, torn open by divine strikes. Flesh blistered. Blood ran in rivulets down the spine I once traced in a dream.
The demon laughed, voice thick with mockery. "You think pain will cleanse you? Foolish little Yuheng. This is no redemption. This is surrender."
I tried to move. My legs refused. My fingers trembled at my sides.
He looked broken. But his eyes—his eyes were steady. Determined. He was trembling, yes, but not from fear.
He tilted his head back. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He met the sky with a smile.
A word formed on his lips—no louder than a breath:
"Endure."
Something shattered inside me.
"No," I whispered. "Please, no—don't do this. Don't carry it alone."
But he didn't look at me. Or maybe he couldn't. Maybe if he did, he wouldn't have the strength to continue.
"I was meant to be your shield," he murmured, voice raw from the chants. "I failed. This is all that's left."
"You didn't fail me!" I cried. My voice broke. "You saved me. Every time."
His gaze flicked to me then. Just for a second. And in that second, I saw everything: love, guilt, fear—and peace.
Then he crushed the final prayer bead in his hand.
A crack split the air, not from the sky, but from his chest. Spirit light exploded from the center of him, radiating outward in rings of gold and red. The demon shrieked, its form clawing at the edges of the ritual seal.
I ran to him.
But my hands passed through the light. Like mist. Like memory.
He was slipping from me.
"Don't be afraid, little cousin," his voice echoed in my mind. "This was always the way."
His body jerked once—twice—spine arching in agony as the demon was pulled inward. The fire consumed him from the inside. I saw bones beneath flesh. I smelled burned silk and sanctified blood.
He screamed, and I felt it in my bones.
Then—silence.
He collapsed forward, chains slack.
I dropped to my knees beside him, reaching, reaching—but the barrier still pulsed between us. My hands hovered inches from his face.