*Chapter 3: "Fractured Sanctuary"*
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**Page 1:**
**Panel 1 (Full-page spread):** Chaos in the Hollow Market. The resurrected guard's Shade—a serpentine shadow with jagged teeth—thrashes, tearing through stalls. Harvesters scatter, their masks melting into smoke. Jin clutches his crumbling jaw, ash falling like snow from his body. **Caption**: *"The dead never bargain. They* **take.***"
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**Page 2:**
**Panel 1:** Yuri's spectral chains pierce a Harvester, pinning it to the ground. Her milky eye bleeds black fluid. **Yuri**: *"Keep that Shade contained, or we're both carrion!"*
**Panel 2:** Jin grits his teeth (half his molars are now dust). He slams his rotting palm onto the ground. **Sound Effect**: *THRUM—*
**Panel 3:** Gravestones erupt from the market floor—illusory tombstones from Jin's memories. The guard's Shade hesitates, drawn to its "grave."
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**Page 3:**
**Panel 1:** Flashback: Jin's mother's Shade looming over him in the hospital, her shadowy hands caressing his face. **Jin's Mother (echoing)**: *"You* **owe** *me, Jin."*
**Panel 2:** Present. Jin's right eye ruptures, replaced by a hollow void. The guard's Shade slithers into its tombstone, sealing itself with a wail.
**Panel 3:** Jin collapses, coughing up ash and teeth. **Yuri**: *"Dramatic. Useless. But dramatic."*
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**Page 4:**
**Panel 1:** The surviving Harvesters retreat into a mirror portal. The auctioneer's mask shatters, revealing Yuri's face—**but younger, terrified**.
**Panel 2:** Jin stares. **Jin**: *"Was that… you?"*
**Panel 3:** Yuri smashes the mirror with a chain. *"Echoes. Nothing more."* Her blue eye dims.
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**Page 5:**
**Panel 1:** The Ghost Surgeon emerges from rubble, scalpels twitching. **Surgeon**: *"You've made enemies, necromancer. Let me…* **fix** *you."*
**Panel 2:** He offers Jin a pulsating black heart. **Surgeon**: *"A Shade's core. Implant it, and halt the Rot… for a decade."*
**Panel 3:** Jin reaches for it—**Yuri stabs the Surgeon's hand**. **Yuri**: *"His soul isn't* **yours** *yet."*
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**Page 6:**
**Panel 1:** The Surgeon laughs, dissolving into smoke. *"You'll beg for my knives soon, boy."*
**Panel 2:** Jin's remaining eye locks onto Min-ah's Shade, still trapped in the auction jar. **Jin**: *"We're taking her."*
**Panel 3:** Yuri grips his shoulder, her touch icy. *"Disturb that jar, and her Shade consumes you. You're not ready."*
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**Page 7:**
**Panel 1:** Jin's void-eye flickers. *"I died* **twice** *tonight. Ready's a luxury."*
**Panel 2:** He smashes the jar. Min-ah's Shade surges out—a storm of broken glass and screams.
**Panel 3:** The Shade envelops Jin, whispering: *"You let me die.* **Again.***"
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**Page 8:**
**Panel 1:** Jin's memories flood the panel: Min-ah's murder. A shadowy figure injects her with a syringe filled with liquid darkness. **Min-ah (memory)**: *"They said you'd come…* **He** *said you'd try to save me."*
**Panel 2:** The Shade's agony merges with Jin's Rot. His skin cracks like porcelain.
**Panel 3:** Yuri plunges her hand into the Shade, her blue eye burning. *"Enough!* **Submit!**"
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**Page 9:**
**Panel 1:** Min-ah's Shade condenses into a tiny, crying figure in Jin's palm. **Yuri**: *"A Shade's core. You just became her* **prison.***"
**Panel 2:** Jin's void-eye tears. The core pulses: *"Why… didn't you… save me?"*
**Panel 3:** Yuri yanks him toward a crumbling archway. *"The market's collapsing. Move."*
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**Page 10:**
**Panel 1 (Full-page spread):** The Hollow Market folds in on itself, stalls and souls screaming as they're sucked into a vortex. Ahead, a glowing door appears—labeled *"Sanctuary 7."*
**Caption**: *"Sanctuary: A lie the desperate tell themselves."*
**Cliffhanger Textbox**: *"Next: The Prison of Eternal Regret."*
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**Hook for Chapter 4:**
- **Jin's New Burden**: Min-ah's Shade-core whispers ceaselessly, threatening to possess him.
- **Yuri's Past**: The auctioneer's face hints she was once a victim of the Eclipse Society.
- **Sanctuary 7**: A refuge for necromancers, but its keeper is Jin's mother's Shade—now a sentient force craving his soul.
**Tone**: Relentless decay. Jin's body is a ticking bomb, and every "victory" deepens his damnation. The art shifts to more surreal, jagged panels as his sanity frays.