Rin Ashbluff V

I never wanted to hurt anyone in my life.

That was the promise I made, standing with the unwavering confidence only a three-year-old could muster. "I'll never hurt anyone," I declared to my parents and my brother, my small fists clenched as if to emphasize the gravity of my words.

My mother smiled, kneeling down to hug me, her warmth wrapping around me like a second skin. "My sweet Rin," she said softly. My father, the stoic King of the West, rested a strong hand on my head, ruffling my hair in a rare display of affection. "That's a noble promise," he said, his deep voice carrying the weight of pride and love.

I was loved.

As the princess of the West, I was adored not just by my family but by the people who saw in me hope for the future. I basked in that love, in the knowledge that I could make the world better. I looked forward to my awakening ceremony with my twin brother, Jin, as if it were the first step on a shining path I was destined to walk.

"Jin," I said one day as we played in the sunlit gardens, "I'll make sure there's no more crime when I get my power. I'll make the world safe for everyone."

Jin, always quieter than me, nodded solemnly. "I'll help," he said simply, and I beamed, the warmth of his support filling me with certainty.

When the day of the ceremony arrived, I could hardly contain my excitement. My brother went first. The room filled with anticipation as the appraiser performed the ritual, and moments later, he announced Jin's Gift.

"The Gift of Necromancer's Touch!" the appraiser said with reverence. The pride in my father's eyes was unmistakable as he placed a hand on Jin's shoulder, giving him a rare nod of approval. I clapped and cheered, my heart swelling with joy for my brother.

Then it was my turn.

I stepped forward, my chest tight with both nerves and excitement. I closed my eyes as the energy began to rush through me. At first, it was exhilarating—a flood of power, untamed and vast, surging through my veins.

But then it changed.

It burned.

The energy clawed at me, tearing through my body as if it wanted to rip me apart from the inside out. 'It hurts,' I thought, panic rising as the pain intensified. I clutched my chest, gasping for air. The room seemed to blur, my vision warping as a suffocating darkness crept in.

"Rin?" my mother's voice called, but it sounded distant, as though I were underwater.

And then it happened.

I opened my eyes and saw blood.

The appraiser stumbled back, clutching a wound across his chest. The air was thick with black mana, an energy that twisted and writhed around me like living shadows. My father's voice boomed in the room, but I couldn't make out his words. My thoughts were no longer my own.

'Kill. Kill them.'

'No!' I screamed inside my head, trying to fight the voice, but it was relentless. 'They're threats. Kill them. Protect yourself.'

"Rin!" my father's voice broke through the haze, and I felt something clamp down on me—a force, strong and unyielding. His mana surrounded me, locking me in place. I wanted to speak, to tell him I was sorry, but my mouth moved on its own.

"Kill!" I hissed, my voice warped and inhuman.

"No," my father whispered, his face pale but resolute. "Sleep."

I collapsed to the floor, the black mana receding as his command took hold. The last thing I saw was my mother's tear-streaked face as she reached for me.

When I woke, I was alone. The room was dark, save for the faint glow of the seals etched into the walls. My body felt heavy, as though the weight of the mana binding me was crushing me from the inside out. I tried to sit up, but even that was a struggle.

The days blurred into weeks, the weeks into months. My father visited me often at first, his mana reinforcing the seals that kept me contained. His face was always calm, but I could see the strain in his eyes. Every time he renewed the seals, I felt it—the drain on his mana, the toll it was taking on him.

'Why?' I thought bitterly. 'Why does he keep wasting his strength on me?'

The voice was always there, in the back of my mind, whispering to me. 'Kill. Destroy. They fear you. End them before they end you.' I fought it, but every day, it grew harder to push back. The black mana gnawed at my sanity, clawing at my thoughts until they no longer felt like my own.

I hated it. I hated the voice. I hated myself.

There were days when I thought about ending it. I tried, once, slamming my body against the sealed walls with all the strength I could muster. The seals held, unyielding as ever, and I crumpled to the floor, sobbing.

Even death was denied to me.

'How cruel,' I thought. 'I wanted to help people. I wanted to protect them.' But now I was a monster, the kind of monster my younger self would have sworn to fight against.

I thought of my mother, of her warmth and love. Of my father, his stoic strength masking the burden he carried. Of Jin, the brother I adored, who deserved none of the pain my existence had brought him.

I didn't want to hurt them.

But deep down, I knew. The day would come when the seals would fail. The black mana would consume me entirely, and I would destroy the very people I loved most.

I shouldn't be loved.

I shouldn't be cared for.

I shouldn't exist.

I just needed to die.

"You… why?" My voice trembled as I stared at the man before me, his dark hair catching the glow of the light mana radiating from him like a second sun. His presence felt impossibly steady, an unyielding calm in the storm of my own mind.

I didn't understand. I couldn't understand. I didn't have a single wound on my body—not in this mental realm, not where I, as a Radiant-ranker, could regenerate endlessly. My strength should have been infinite. My resolve should have crushed him.

But it didn't.

I was exhausted. Utterly and completely drained. Not physically, no—this wasn't a fight of flesh. It was something far deeper. The mental toll weighed on me like an ocean pressing against my chest, and I could feel myself faltering under its crushing expanse.

He wasn't fighting to kill me, even though I had brought him here for precisely that purpose. 'Kill me mentally,' I had thought, 'and I'll die in the real world, brain-dead and harmless. No destruction, no death, no more Rin the Calamity.'

I had everything in my favor. My mental body was stronger, more complete, yet somehow he was still winning.

But he wasn't delivering the final blow.

No.

He wouldn't.

'My hope.' The cruel flicker of it began to grow in the recesses of my mind, a fragile ember I didn't want. 'Don't do this to me. Don't save me. I don't want to hope.'

"Kill me," I rasped, my voice raw and broken. I wanted to scream it, but the weight of exhaustion made even speaking a challenge. He didn't answer. He didn't even flinch.

Instead, he stepped forward.

No, no, no. Stop. Don't come closer.

Before I could move, his arms wrapped around me. His embrace was warm, impossibly so, like the sun breaking through clouds after years of darkness. My breath hitched as his strength radiated through me—not just physical strength, but something far more overwhelming. It wasn't dominance. It wasn't power. It was… care.

"I told you," he whispered, his voice low but resolute, each word laced with an unshakable conviction. "I'll save you."

The world around me began to blur, the edges of my vision melting into shadows. I felt it slipping away, this fragmented battlefield I had thought was mine to control. The storm of black mana that had raged within me for so long began to ebb, quieting against his light.

I gasped as the last traces of the world around me dissolved into darkness, leaving nothing but the echo of his words.

'I'll save you.'