A Vow of Hatred

Unbelievable pain. That was all Kai could feel.

His body was weightless yet unbearably heavy. It was as if his very essence teetered on the edge of existence, caught between the unbearable pull of consciousness and the void beyond. His fingers twitched against cool fabric. The scent of antiseptic filled his nostrils. His ears caught the faint hum of machines.

His eyes fluttered open.

Something had changed within them. The spark that once filled his gaze had vanished, swallowed by something deeper, something darker.

He turned his head. The walls surrounding him were sterile white, the ceiling just as empty. The room felt small—too small. The faint pressure in his skull made it worse, like invisible walls were closing in, suffocating him. His breath quickened. His vision blurred.

He was losing consciousness again.

A voice broke through the haze.

Kai, what happened?

Deep, firm, yet gentle. A voice he knew.

His gaze shifted. The man standing beside his bed wore flowing robes, their pristine blue fabric shimmering with faint runic inscriptions. The sigil of Harmonic Academy was embroidered onto his chest—a crescent moon encircling a radiant sun.

Headmaster Kaiser.

Kai's lips parted, but no words came. He tried—he really did. But the moment his mind reached for the memory, the moment he grasped at the fragments of what had happened—

—All he saw was his father being torn in half.

His throat closed. His fingers curled into the sheets, knuckles turning white.

That man…

His heartbeat quickened.

I'll make him pay.

A searing pain exploded in his skull.

He killed Dad.

His body trembled violently.

I'll kill him… I'll kill him… I'll—

A sudden pulse of energy burst from his body.

The light overhead flickered. The air crackled.

Darkness leaked from his skin, curling into thick tendrils, coiling and writhing like living shadows. His left eye darkened—its pupil turning a deep, blood-red.

A Dissonant's mark.

Kaiser moved without hesitation. Two fingers pressed gently against Kai's forehead. A wave of soothing blue energy surged forth, clashing against the corruption, suppressing it. The black tendrils recoiled, shrinking inward until they faded from sight.

Kai's body slackened, his trembling ceasing. His eye flickered—then returned to normal.

Or rather, almost normal.

Kaiser frowned. His gaze sharpened, studying the boy beneath him.

Not just one change. Two.

Kai's left pupil remained a deep, crimson red.

His right pupil, however—

Gleamed gold.

"You've been infected with corruption." Kaiser's voice was calm, but his finger never left Kai's forehead. The cooling energy continued to settle his mind, stabilizing his fractured memories. "Tell me—who attacked you? How could something of this scale happen without us sensing it?"

Kai did not answer.

The headmaster did not push him. He simply waited, offering the boy all the time he needed.

Then, at last, Kai spoke.

"Realm Blocker."

Two simple words.

Yet the entire nursery fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.

Kaiser's expression darkened.

So that's why we sensed nothing.

Adrian fought a Dissonant in a locked dimension…

His thoughts moved swiftly.

Kai must have entered right before the Realm Blocker activated. That means—he saw everything.

But why is he still alive?

The corruption had been halted, but by what?

"Kai," Kaiser murmured, voice measured, "may I examine your soul?"

A moment of silence.

Then—Kai closed his eyes.

"Sure."

Emotionless.

Kaiser lifted his hand from Kai's forehead and placed a palm against his chest.

"Soul Sight."

A faint glow shimmered in his irises as his gaze pierced beyond flesh—deep into Kai's very essence.

And what he saw made his breath hitch.

A fractured soul.

Mostly black, corrupted. But at its core, a brilliant golden light pulsed.

"Twin Chords…?"

Kaiser's eyes widened.

But the last time I checked, he had a fractured Chord…

What am I to do with this boy?

If left unchecked, he could become the very thing that killed his father…

For the first time in years, the headmaster hesitated.

He had never allowed exceptions before. Not even for the son of a Marquis. But Adrian—

Adrian was a true friend.

Sigh…

As a favor to him, I'll make an exception.

His jaw tightened, decision made.

I can't let Kai know the truth.

If he realizes he's at risk of becoming a Dissonant, it will push him over the edge.

If that happens… even the golden energy within him won't be able to stop the corruption.

He raised a hand. A magic circle flared into existence beside him, inscribed with ancient runes.

"Establish Soul Link."

A second circle formed over Kai's head.

Normally, a disturbance like this would have jolted him awake—his refined senses too sharp to ignore something so close.

But he didn't even flinch.

His body was too focused on healing itself, shutting out the outside world.

"Soul Seal."

The rune at the heart of the circle pulsed—then shot downward, slamming into the black Chord within Kai's soul.

His eyes snapped open.

A silent scream tore from his throat.

His body convulsed, but the sound—the pain—was fading.

Kaiser's hands pressed against his chest, flooding him with soothing blue energy.

Normally, foreign energy would be rejected. To prevent this, the headmaster surrendered control of the healing aura, allowing Kai's unconscious will to take over.

And in his unconscious state, Kai wanted only one thing—

For the pain to stop.

"I hope you will understand why I had to do this."

With those final words, Kaiser vanished into a wisp of blue smoke.

Not long after, a nurse barged into the room, painkillers and alchemical potions in hand.

She had expected to find Kai in the midst of a seizure, body writhing from the strain.

Instead, she found—

A boy.

A boy who had barely turned fourteen.

His black hair, once smooth, lay matted against his forehead—not from water, but from blood.

No matter what the nursery staff did, they couldn't wash it all out.

The roots and tips of his hair remained a deep crimson red.

She moved to check his vitals.

His bones were severely broken—yet there was no visible impact.

It's as if something vibrated his body at such a frequency that it shattered stiff bone but left the flexible flesh intact…

Bandages covered most of his body, leaving only his face exposed. His torso was hidden beneath layer after layer of white cloth.

Six layers.

Even that wasn't enough.

The massive wound spanning from just above his pelvis to just below his neck was still struggling to close.

Nearly every internal organ had been damaged—every one except his brain and heart.

His heart had somehow survived intact.

The cut should have sliced it clean in half.

But at the last moment, the blade's angle—perhaps 30 to 45 degrees—had spared him.

The nurse shook her head, disbelief in her eyes.

"There was a 90% chance this boy should've died before we even got him to the hospital. But something stopped the bleeding in time. Something bought us just enough time to stitch and close most of his wounds."

She sighed.

"Unless this boy undergoes some sort of mortal rebirth… that scar will stay with him for the rest of his life."

Kai's eyes fluttered open to a blank white ceiling. His gaze locked onto a single spot, but his mind refused to quiet. Every attempt to focus led him back to the same inevitable thought—his father's death.

Unknowingly, a trail of silent tears slipped down his face. Two hours passed as he lay in the sterile nursery, staring upwards. The tears had stopped, but exhaustion settled deep in his bones. Each time his eyelids grew heavy, that moment replayed—the image of his father torn apart, the glint of the scythe that had almost killed him too.

He hadn't slept in days.

Two months had gone by, but it felt like no time at all. The pain from his injuries had faded, but the emotional scars remained. His body had nearly healed, but his soul… still shattered.

Finally, the nurse entered, her presence like a distant echo of the real world.

"Kai, you're being released today," she said, her voice steady and unyielding. "You'll also be starting school. Headmaster Kaiser accepted you into the Harmonic Academy. You've been placed in a class a year above your age, under a capable instructor—someone who will monitor the corruption within you."

Kai didn't react.

Flora continued, undeterred. "Your father did something to repair your fractured Chord. Now it's fully functional, meaning you can become a Harmonic."

His voice was quiet, hollow. "Flora… the old man said I need to get stronger to fight the corruption inside me. Will that be enough to make me strong enough to kill Reaper?"

Flora's expression hardened, a flicker of concern crossing her features.

Kai's voice turned darker. "What if I let the corruption take over? Maybe that's the only way to gain the power I need." 

A brief flicker of shadow pulsed from his left eye.

Flora sighed, as if she'd expected this. She met his gaze with unwavering calm. "Do you want to become the thing that killed your father? A Dissonant is someone who surrenders to corruption. Do you think so little of yourself that you'd toss aside everything your father fought for? Adrian wanted you to be a powerful Harmonic. You're not going to let his last wish crumble along with your sanity, are you?"

Her words hit him hard. Kai's chest tightened, his breath faltering.

For weeks, Flora had watched over him in the dark, never forcing sleep upon him with medicine. She'd spoken to him in soft tones, her presence soothing the worst of his nightmares. On nights when the darkness overwhelmed him, she'd sing lullabies, or sit in silence, simply existing beside him. Her presence was a tether.

Now, her voice reached him once more.

His gaze flickered to hers, and he spoke through clenched teeth. "Why didn't my father tell me about my Chord? That it was fractured? That I was destined to be… this?" His fingers clenched the sheets, twisting them tighter. "Maybe if I'd known, I could've spent more time with him. Maybe I could've saved him."

"I don't know, Kai," Flora said softly, her expression filled with sorrow. "Not even the Headmaster knew. No one at the Academy did."

A heavy silence pressed between them, thick with unspoken things.

Without warning, Kai swung his legs off the side of the bed and stood. 

Flora's eyes widened. "Kai—!"

He had spent two months recovering. But in the silence of each night, when the world had slept, he had pushed his body to its limits—grueling, exhausting training, forcing soul energy through his limbs until his body screamed in protest. Now, his muscles no longer trembled. They were firm, controlled.

Without a word, he passed Flora and walked out of the nursery.

The Academy's training grounds lay before him. He had made his decision.

Before I go home… I need to know something.

Kai paused for a moment, eyes closed, taking in the open air.

Do I have what it takes to be a Harmonic?

His Chord was fixed, but did that make him worthy? Strong enough? Or was he still that same boy who had watched his father die?

He inhaled deeply, steadying his thoughts.

Resonance Construct—the cornerstone of all Harmonics.

He had mastered the first two steps. The third had always evaded him.

Every previous attempt had ended in failure—his soul energy stalling halfway across the Chord, searing pain stopping him cold.

But this time was different.

His soul surged across the Chord, no resistance, no agony. 

Kai opened his eyes.

A black sphere hovered before him—his soul, manifested in physical form for the first time.

It pulsed and shifted, its liquid surface darkening, hardening into something solid. The shaft lengthened, twin spear-like tips forming at both ends. At the center, a curved scythe blade emerged, merging seamlessly with the spear.

A halberd. A scythe. A fusion of both.

Golden patterns shimmered along the shaft, glowing lines stretching down the length of the weapon, separated by three-inch intervals, forming over twenty distinct bands.

Kai stared, wide-eyed.

This shouldn't be possible.

New Resonance Constructs were never sharp—not until a Harmonic reached Tier One.

But this weapon… it was lethal.

His hand tightened around the grip. The more he stared at the blade, the more a dull ache spread across his chest.

A scythe had killed his father.

Could he truly wield something so like the weapon that had taken everything from him? Could he nurture a weapon so full of hatred and loss?

Doubt wormed its way into his thoughts for the first time since that night.

Kai exhaled slowly.

"I don't know."

His fingers trembled, but he didn't release the weapon.

"But this is the first challenge I have to face."

His gaze lifted, staring past the Academy, beyond the city skyline, out into the vast, endless night.

And with the weight of his vow, he swore.

"I will kill you, Reaper."

"I don't care if it takes a year, five years, or twenty. No matter how long it takes, I will find you. And I will end you."

The fire of hatred roared inside him—fueled by loss, by grief, by the violent rage that had been buried deep within him for so long. But as his mind lingered on the golden light that danced along his weapon, something else stirred within him.

A thought emerged, sharp and clear.

Reaper wasn't strong enough to kill my father.

Even with six stars, the gap between him and Adrian should not have been enough to make their battle so one-sided.

The real reason his father had lost… it wasn't Reaper's strength.

It was Corruption.

It wasn't Reaper that killed Adrian. It was the power that twisted him, that made him stronger than he should have been.

Kai's body hummed with anger, his pulse quickening. His hatred for Reaper burned—yet another hatred rose within him, deeper, darker.

Corruption.

The force that had stolen millions of lives. The force that had taken his father.

As his fury swelled, he didn't notice the golden markings on his weapon glow brighter, a faint pulse of energy vibrating in the air.