Chapter 99 – The Sky Burns Twice
The sky was no longer blue.
It shimmered with layers of crimson flame, ghostly silver, and void-black clouds that pulsed like veins.
From above, three Rootless Judges descended in perfect formation — cloaked in silence, each taller than towers, faceless masks carved from bark, bone, and regret.
They did not speak.
They simply judged.
---
Kai stood, bloodied, breath heaving, eyes locked on the cracks still pulsing across the heavens.
Ren came up beside him, limping, arm burned but still holding his talisman blade.
> "So... do we run?"
Ayaka smiled grimly. "Too late for that."
Kai looked at the Judges and stepped forward.
> "I've seen your world. I've heard your warnings. But I'm not the First One."
> "I won't sacrifice the living... to honor the dead."
The Rootless did not blink.
They raised their hands, and roots thick as rivers burst from the skies, slamming into the ground like divine spears.
---
But something changed.
Kai didn't move.
He simply closed his eyes — and the Rootfire inside him pulsed.
Then...
It bloomed.
---
A golden tree of flame erupted from the earth beneath him — massive, towering, reaching into the sky and tearing the judgment roots apart.
Not to fight.
To cleanse.
The Rootless recoiled.
> "Impossible."
> "He has not inherited the fire… he has rewritten it."
> "He is the Flame Seed."
Kai opened his eyes — glowing with stars, roots, and fire.
> "I don't want your power," he said softly.
"But I'll use it to burn every system that lets pain grow without end."
---
The Judges raised their hands again — this time, to retreat.
They bowed.
And vanished.
---
Silence fell.
No armies.
No flames.
Just wind.
Ayaka approached him, awe in her voice.
> "You... burned their judgment."
Kai shook his head.
> "No. I changed it."
He looked up — the cracks in the sky slowly healing.
But deep inside, he felt a tremor.
> "There's still one more root."
> "And it's buried... in me."