Chapter 24: The Loom’s Judgment

The Loom pulsed around them, the golden Threads shifting uneasily, as if they could sense the truth Kazama had just learned. The air felt charged with something unseen, something waiting.

Kazama turned toward Asha. Her face was pale, but her eyes were steady. She had come this far with him, despite the horror, the blood, and the fear. Now, they were at the threshold of something irreversible.

He looked back at the first Weaver's remnant. "Tell me… how do we sever the monster from the Loom?"

The Weaver lifted a hand, and the Threads around them trembled.

"The monster is woven deep within the Loom's fabric. It is entangled with the village's fate."

Kazama exhaled. "And cutting it out means…"

"The village will be rewritten."

Asha's voice was quiet. "Meaning… we don't know what will happen to the people?"

The Weaver nodded. "A world without the Loom's cycle has never existed before. Whether the village survives… whether any of you survive… is uncertain."

Kazama clenched his fists. They had come so far, learned so much. But now, they stood before a choice that had no guarantees.

The monster would keep coming, year after year. More would die. More would be lost.

But if they cut it out…

Would the village vanish? Would they?

Asha spoke first. "Kazama. If we don't do this… more people will die. More will be trapped in this nightmare."

He knew she was right.

His mind flickered back to the bodies. The villagers who had vanished over the years. The families who had suffered under this curse.

The monster had been forced into this world.

Now, it was time to force it out.

Kazama turned to the Weaver. "Tell us what we need to do."

The first Weaver stepped forward, and the Loom responded. The Threads brightened, shifting rapidly as if unraveling a secret hidden within.

"The monster is bound by a single Thread," she said. "One that was never meant to be part of the Loom."

A Thread glowed in the distance. Unlike the others, it pulsed with a dark, unnatural energy.

That was it.

The core of the corruption. The thing that bound the monster to this world.

Kazama took a step toward it, but the Weaver raised a hand.

"Cutting it will not be easy. The Loom will resist. The monster will resist."

As if in response, the world shook.

Asha's breath caught. "It knows."

A low, guttural growl echoed through the Loom. The Threads trembled. The darkness at the Loom's edge shifted.

Then—

It came.

The monster ripped into the Loom's space, its form writhing like a nightmare made flesh. It was more than a creature—it was something wrong, something that didn't belong.

And it was furious.

Kazama barely had time to raise his gun before it lunged.

He threw himself to the side, firing, but the bullets barely slowed it down. Asha drew her knife, slashing as it came toward her, but its form twisted unnaturally, avoiding the strike.

The monster wasn't bound by normal rules.

Kazama gritted his teeth. "Asha, the Thread! We have to cut it!"

Asha nodded, sprinting toward the glowing Thread.

The monster snarled, its body warping. It moved to block her path.

Kazama aimed again, but this time, he didn't fire at the creature.

He fired at the Loom itself.

The bullets struck the surrounding Threads, sending ripples through the space. The Loom screamed, the Threads twisting wildly. The monster flinched, its body distorting.

Asha seized the opening, rushing forward.

Kazama turned back to the Weaver. "How do we cut it?"

The Weaver extended her hand. "The blade of fate. It is the only thing that can sever the unnatural Thread."

A glow surrounded Asha's knife. The metal shifted, its edge turning into something not of this world.

A weapon that could cut the Loom itself.

Asha hesitated only for a second. Then she slashed.

The blade cut deep. The corrupted Thread shuddered.

The monster let out a horrible, piercing screech. Its body convulsed, its form collapsing in on itself.

The Loom shook violently.

Kazama felt the ground beneath him splinter. The golden Threads unraveled at the edges.

The monster wasn't just dying.

The entire Loom was collapsing.

Asha turned back, her eyes wide. "Kazama!"

The Weaver's voice was calm, despite the chaos.

"You must go. The Loom will not hold."

Kazama grabbed Asha's hand. "Let's move!"

They ran. The Loom collapsed behind them, the Threads breaking apart. The space around them twisted, darkened—

And then—

Everything vanished.

Kazama woke to the sound of wind.

His body ached. His head spun. The world felt… real.

Not the Loom. Not the Threads.

Just… the village.

He pushed himself up, blinking at the dawn light.

Asha lay beside him, groaning as she stirred.

The village was still there. The streets, the houses, the trees.

But something was different.

The Loom was gone.

The weight in the air, the unseen cycle—it was no longer there.

Kazama turned toward the forest. There was no presence. No monster lurking in the distance.

For the first time, the village felt… free.

Asha sat up slowly, rubbing her temple. "Did we… do it?"

Kazama exhaled. "I think so."

They stood in silence for a long moment, listening.

No screams.

No unnatural sounds.

Just the wind.

Asha let out a breathless laugh. "We did it."

Kazama nodded, but in his heart, he knew—

Something had changed.

The future was now uncertain.

But for the first time in centuries—

It belonged to the village.

The cycle was broken.

And whatever came next—

They would face it together.