CHAPTER-1:PROLOGUE
Kageshiki Trainee Report
Total Trainees:200
Disqualified Due to Injury: 45
Disqualified Due to Death: 60
Remaining Candidates: 95
The city sank deeper into twilight, wrapped in a silence that felt more like a warning than peace. Wind slithered through the narrow alleys like a whisper from the past, cold and unforgiving.
Somewhere between the ruins of yesterday and the ruins still to come, Reika sat on a rusted bench, hands limp at her sides. The streetlamp above her flickered uselessly, casting just enough light to remind her how much darkness surrounded her.
Her name—Kagetsu Reika—used to mean something. Now it was just a sound, floating in the void with everything else she'd lost.
Her father's voice echoed in her mind, a phantom of the life she barely remembered.
"Stay inside after dark. Never go out. If you leave, you'll die."
He had said it so many times. Back then, it was a rule. Now, it felt like prophecy.
But what did it matter anymore? The city was already dead to her. And she was starting to feel the same.
Then she heard it.
A voice.
"How lucky..." it drawled, low and amused. "A human, all alone at night."
Her spine locked up. She turned fast.
And there he stood.
Tall. Still. Beautiful in the wrong kind of way—sharp features, smooth skin, dark hair that framed his face like a portrait painted by madness.
His smile stretched too far. Too wide. Too knowing.
Her breath hitched. Her hand darted to the knife at her waist.
Useless.
The air thickened, choking.
Bones cracked. Flesh shifted. His body twisted unnaturally, contorting with sounds that didn't belong in the world.
Then the wings came.
Black. Jagged. Stretching out behind him like the limbs of something ancient and cruel.
A Shikiban.
Reika froze. Her mind screamed at her to run, but her body refused.
The stories weren't enough. The warnings weren't enough. Nothing could've prepared her.
Shikiban had appeared two thousand years ago—beings so beautiful, so perfect, that people mistook them for angels. That mistake had cost humanity dearly.
Because under that beauty was hunger.
Shikiban fed on humans.
They could live among people, even eat human food... but it weakened them. Starvation made them stronger.
Even the military struggled to kill them. Humanity feared them like a shadow that never left.
And now one stood in front of her.
The creature lunged.
Then, a flash—silver and blinding.
A slash so clean it left the air humming.
The Shikiban's arm hit the ground with a sickening thud. Black blood sprayed into the dark.
Another strike. Fast. Brutal.
Its head fell and dissolved into ash before it even touched the ground.
The street fell silent.
Reika's body trembled. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears like war drums.
And then she saw him.
The boy. Standing in the aftermath like he'd always belonged there. Like he was the silence.
His eyes locked onto hers—cold, sharp, impossible to read.
"Kagetsu Reika," he said, voice flat.
Her heart stuttered. How did he know her name?
Before she could ask, he held out an envelope.
Black. It shimmered unnaturally, like something alive.
"Take it. Open it when you're ready."
Her hand shook as she reached for it. The moment she touched it, a pulse ran through her, like the envelope had teeth.
She opened it. Slowly.
Inside, a single sentence burned itself into her memory.
Kagetsu Reika, You are summoned to Tenshiko Academy. The choice is yours. But once you step inside, you will never be the same.
The words hit like a blade to the gut.
She had heard whispers about Tenshiko. About what happened to the ones who were "chosen."
And now she was one of them.
A notification blinked in the corner of her vision. One she had seen too many times.
Trainee Status: ActiveSurvival Rate: 47.5%
The city didn't forgive.
It didn't care.
And no one entered without knowing the cost.
Every breath was a gamble.
Even death had lost its promise.
She had almost welcomed it.
But the night had other plans.