Shadows and Roses

Shattered Rebirth

Kane was falling.

The cloudvine snapped in the flames, sending him plummeting downward with Leah in his arms. The wind howled past his ears as a sea of crimson mist roiled beneath him. Above, the airship's searchlights—like golden eyes—locked onto his figure. A searing pain burned across the back of his hand, the golden sigils threatening to shatter, while Mobius's final whisper echoed like a specter in his mind:

"The power of a Godslayer is not in destruction, but in rebirth."

A shard of pottery. His fingers brushed against the half-broken ceramic at his waist—a gift he had handcrafted for Leah's birthday, now stained with blood. The flood of searchlights left no room for hesitation. Without a second thought, he drove the shard deep into the golden sigil on his hand.

Light burst from the cracks.

The pottery dissolved into his golden blood, reshaping itself into a fractured blade. Its surface was laced with web-like fissures, as if it might crumble at any moment, yet the power it exuded sent the entire mist-sea into turmoil. The airship's deck shattered under the surge of energy, and the knights' screams were swallowed by the storm.

"Hold on!"

Kane swung the blade through the mist, the fractures along its edge extending outward. The blood fog split open, revealing a fleeting glimpse of a distant dock and a battered raft moored to the shore.

Then, Leah's cries abruptly stopped.

A barbed hook, entwined with silver wire, pierced her right shoulder and yanked her into the air. Kane slashed wildly, but the second airship's reinforced hull was impenetrable. He watched as Leah was dragged through the ship's hatch, her bloodied hand pressing against the glass, tracing a trembling line—

Their childhood signal, meaning "Stay alive."

The airship vanished into the clouds. The golden glow on Kane's hand extinguished completely. He collapsed onto the raft, his chest heaving, as though half his soul had been torn away. The ceramic blade shattered, and a jagged fragment embedded itself in his palm. Blood seeped into it, merging with his flesh.

Mobius's voice resonated once more, deep and obscure, like the echo of fate itself:

"Go to the Abyssal Corridor. Seek the buried truth."

Beneath the raft, the blood mist began to crystallize into ice.

Frozen Blood Passage

The moment the raft struck the reef, Kane leaped into the water.

Cold sliced through him like a blade, and the congealed blood mist left jagged cuts along his legs. He held his breath, curling into a crevice between the rocks, letting the darkness swallow him. Above, the airship's searchlight swept across the water, golden irises hunting for prey.

He pressed his wounded palm against his skin. Mobius's words surfaced in his mind:

"The power of a Godslayer lies in rebirth..."

A sudden tremor ran through his flesh.

He watched as the pottery shard liquefied into silver fluid, seeping into his veins. The pain vanished instantly, replaced by an eerie tingling—like a thousand ants crawling beneath his bones.

"Damn it…" Kane muttered, his fingers twitching.

Then, a low, bubbling rupture sounded beneath the ice.

He twisted sharply. A trident speared past his ear, embedding itself in the reef. Three abyssal fishmen lunged from an ice fissure, their gills exhaling crimson mist, their rotting eyes as pale as pearls. The leader twisted his weapon, igniting a blue rune at its tip.

Kane's pupils shrank.

Church-tamed Abyssal Thralls. Trained to eliminate "remnants."

He snatched up a broken reef shard, but the golden sigils on his hand barely flickered—no blade formed.

The fishmen grinned grotesquely, their putrid saliva dripping onto the ice, corroding it on contact.

Boom—

The raft's wreckage exploded.

A black silhouette burst from the ice shards, wielding a massive, burning greatsword. The blade cleaved through the fishmen's skulls, their bodies reduced to ash in a swarm of embers. The figure shook off the blood and let out a raspy chuckle beneath his mask.

"The Church's dogs and the Abyss's mongrels hunting you at the same time? Kid, you're worth more than your bounty suggests."

Kane narrowed his eyes. The man was draped in a scorched cloak, his greatsword wrapped in bandages, with molten cracks glowing beneath the layers. But the most striking detail was the brand seared into his chest—

A shattered sun emblem.

The mark of a Church traitor.

"Who are you?" Kane tensed.

"You can call me Ash," the man smirked, lifting his mask to reveal half a face burned beyond recognition. His lips curled into a sardonic grin.

"Or, 'the heretic the Church most desperately wants to burn.'"

2. The Price of a Traitor

Ash's hideout was a sunken Church transport ship. The hull was wedged between the ice and the rock wall, its cargo hold piled with rusted weapon crates, their lids stamped with the words "Holy City, Armory 7."

"Three years ago, they used this ship to transport incineration agents, preparing to cleanse the northern fortresses," Ash kicked open a metal crate, and several shriveled skulls rolled out. "I set the fire early, sinking both the ship and its cargo into the ice sea—of course, the Church claimed it was an Abyssal attack."

Kane silently wiped the wounds on his body. The cuts from the fishmen's trident were healing, the new skin faintly glimmering with silver veins, like mercury flowing through his veins.

"Your self-healing ability is more disgusting than an Abyssal breed's," Ash tossed him a piece of jerky. "But the Church is worse. They even branded the Godslayer vessels with tracking marks."

Kane suddenly looked up.

Ash lifted his sword, pointing at Kane's right arm, where the skin beneath the bandages revealed tiny golden light points, forming the thorned emblem of the Church's tribunal. "Each brand is dual-sided," he sneered. "You can sense your sister's location, but the Chief Judge can always find you."

The cargo hold suddenly shook violently. The roar of machinery echoed from above, and the rock wall cracked, revealing the barrel of an airship cannon. Kane lunged at Ash, "It's the Church!"

"No," Ash remained unmoved. "It's something worse."

Steel plates were pierced by a laser, and from the falling snowflakes, a white figure landed lightly on the ground. The person was clad in platinum light armor, a cloak embroidered with blooming roses, and silver hair peeked out from beneath her faceplate. She unsheathed her sword, pointing it at Ash.

"Traitor, you dare to touch the Church's property."

Kane froze. The hilt of her sword was adorned with Leah's earrings—the four-leaf clover Kane had handcrafted from clay.

"Property?" Ash's greatsword flared with rising embers. "Alice Saint Roland, take a look at the loot on your sword—who's the real thief here?"

3. The Thorned Oath

Alice's sword flashed faster than her voice.

Kane rolled aside to avoid a direct thrust, the blade grazing a metal crate, freezing it instantly with frost. Ash's greatsword swung horizontally, forcing Alice back. The burning bandages clashed with the ice blades, steam filling the cargo hold.

"Stop!" Kane grabbed a fishman trident and hurled it at Alice. "Give me back the earrings!"

Alice spun and shattered the weapon with a single swing. The four-leaf clover earrings clinked against the sword hilt. "The blood of sin is unworthy of beauty," her voice was as cold as the blade. "That child will be purified in the Holy City, and you…"

Ash suddenly burst into laughter. "And you'll help us delay the Chief Judge, right? The noble Rose Knight?"

Alice's movements froze for half a second.

In that moment, Ash struck the back of her neck with the hilt of his sword. The young knight stumbled to her knees, her faceplate falling away, revealing a face starkly different from her icy tone—no older than twenty, with ice crystals clinging to her eyelashes and a stubborn frown like a child defying the world.

"The side effect of the tracking brand," Ash stepped on Alice's sword. "She can hear her sister's cries and loses sleep night after night. The Church's so-called 'purification' is just the first step in turning the child into a Godslayer weapon."

Kane's golden sigils flared, the temperature in the hold rapidly rising. Ash immediately stepped back. "Calm down! Killing her won't solve anything!"

"He's lying to you..." Alice struggled to lift her head, her icy blue eyes locking with Kane's. "The Church protects humanity... Godslayers must be controlled..."

Kane tore open his collar, revealing a holographic projection formed by the glowing points of his brand. It showed Leah locked inside a growth chamber, silver tubes inserted into her spine, the words "Holy Remains Project - No. 71" etched on the outside.

Alice's pupils contracted.

"Seems your father didn't tell you the whole truth," Ash crouched down. "The Holy Remains Project, personally overseen by the Chief Judge, needs the souls of a hundred Godslayers to activate. And your little knight..." He tapped the rose emblem on Alice's chestplate. "She's just bait to lure the big fish."

The cargo hold shook again, this time accompanied by a booming voice from a loudspeaker. "Traitor Ash! Surrender the Godslayer vessel immediately!"

"The Chief Judge's dogs are here," Ash grabbed Kane by the arm. "Time to go, kid."

"Wait!" Alice suddenly grabbed Kane's ankle. "Take me with you... I need to see the truth for myself."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "What about your knight's oath?"

"If the oath is based on lies..." Alice ripped the rose emblem from her chestplate and tossed it to the ground. "I'd rather carry the sin of betrayal."

4. The Path of Ash

The transport ship shattered under the barrage.

Kane fell through the cascading ice sea, Ash's grip on his right hand, his left arm pulling Alice along. Flaming wreckage rained down above them, and the airship's cannon opened like a blossoming flower of death.

"Hold on!" Ash swung his sword, slicing through the ice, revealing a boiling dark river below. Kane glimpsed massive Abyssal creatures swimming in the water—larger than the fishmen, their spines cutting through the water like moving mountain ranges.

Alice suddenly flipped her wrist, the ice blade sinking into the dark river's rock wall. The frost spread along the sword's edge, instantly freezing a slick path. "To the east bank!" she shouted. "My pegasus is hidden among the rocks!"

Ash whistled. "A defector Rose Knight, I'm starting to like you."

The three of them slid down the ice path into the storm. Kane's brand burned fiercely, and in the holographic projection, green liquid began to fill Leah's growth chamber. He bit down on his tongue to stay awake, realizing Alice was glancing at the golden sigils on the back of his hand.

"Why help me?" he yelled over the wind.

"I swore to protect the innocent," Alice tightened the reins, guiding the pegasus between the rocks. "But if you truly are the World-Ender... I will kill you with my own hands."

Ash's laughter echoed from behind them. "Typical Saint Roland contradiction!"

Kane clenched the remaining shard of pottery in his palm. At the end of the icy river, a pitch-black rift appeared—it was the entrance to the Abyssal Corridor. Leah's earrings jingled on the sword hilt, like a faint light in the darkness.

Mobius's bloodflame prophecy reignited in his mind:

"You need both light and shadow."

As the pegasus dove into the rift, Kane saw Alice's silver hair turn crimson in the firelight.