The Nine hells Heaven-sealing Tower

The Nine Hells Heaven-sealing Tower

The spirit continued to speak, her voice curling through the air like smoke, but Kaien pressed forward, deliberately ignoring her.

His silence was not born of defiance, but of strategy. He knew what she was. He knew the rules.

But spirits like her—ancient and prideful—did not tolerate being ignored. Her wrath stirred the desert itself. The land twisted beneath his feet as if reality had blinked.

Kaien had been walking across even ground, sand packed flat under his weary steps. But with one careless footfall, the world dropped away.

He tumbled forward, rolling down a steep slope of scorching dunes.

The blistering sand scorched his face, searing his skin with fine burns. He barely managed to protect his already injured leg, twisting away just in time to keep it from breaking further.

Gritting his teeth, Kaien pushed himself upright using his staff, panting as he patted the sand from his clothes. The dunes clung to him like cursed ash.

"One wrong step, and you'll be buried alive," the voice said coldly.

Kaien didn't need it to tell him. He could feel it in the way the ground seemed to shift and pulse beneath his feet, like a beast waiting to swallow him whole. But it's words weren't a warning. They were frustration. Rage.

And he knew why.

Just as his mother had told him, a Mirami—a desert spirit—could not kill a human without their consent. It didn't matter how the consent was obtained—trickery, fear, desperation—the agreement had to be made. Only then could they feed. Only then could they kill.

Kaien staggered to his feet, sweat mixing with sand on his brow. The sun was still high, hours from setting, and he knew he couldn't survive much longer in its merciless gaze. He needed shelter. Water. Shade.

But most importantly—he needed The mirami.

This spirit was his only chance to escape the endless desert alive. And if he was to survive, he had to make the right choice.

Because Mirami were no ordinary spirits. They were ancient souls, bound to the sands through blood and centuries of sacrifice.

To earn the title of Mirami was to transcend death and corruption, to become something elemental and immortal. There was no way she would let him go easily.

Kaien took a deep breath, every rib aching from the heat and exhaustion. "What's your name?" he asked at last, voice raspy from thirst and dust.

The desert fell silent.

A pause—unnatural and heavy—settled around him. Then, laughter erupted from the wind. Not light or playful, but maddening. Sickening. Creaking like bone scraping stone.

"So you knew," the voice drawled.

But it's tone had changed. Gone was the amused innocence from earlier. Now her voice slithered like a serpent, oily and sharp, as if her invisible tongue was licking the sweat from his cheek.

"So you knew," she repeated again, this time whispering in his other ear.

"You're smart… little one. But if you know that much, then you must also know that we only speak our names at the debt of death."

The wind rose around him, whirling in a slow, suffocating spiral. It carried her voice on every grain of sand.

"And the number of times a Mirami has spoken it's true name? You could count them on one hand," she hissed.

Kaien didn't move. He knew the risk. Making a pact with a Mirami was rare—nearly impossible. There were far more stories of people being devoured alive, their bodies found charred in the sand or never found at all. But if he didn't try, death would come either way.

He would not last the time it took for an incense stick to burn.

Kaien's breath came in ragged bursts, dry and heavy. His cracked lips barely moved as he forced himself to speak. "Look… I'm just a child," he said, his tone deliberately measured. "All I want is to send my mother's remains to the Jade Mountain Realm… so she can cross the River of Rebirth."

His words weren't a lie, and the spirit could sense that. He knew it could.

A soft shift in the air told him, it was listening.

"A child?" the spirit echoed, it's voice dripping with suspicion. "Are you trying to trick me by this? How cunning of you…"

Kaien didn't flinch. "You already know I'm not lying," he said quietly, his fingers gently tracing the clay pot tied to his waist. Inside were the ashes of the only person who had ever protected him. "You can sense it. I'm not here to fool you. I'm willing to make a pact. But if you kill me now, it would be a waste."

He took a few shaky steps forward, leaning heavily on his staff. The bones in his leg ground painfully with each movement, but he pushed on.

"I have pain," Kaien murmured, "more than most adults can bear. Feed on that. It's enough, even without killing me."

There was a long silence before the voice returned—lower now, but no less dangerous.

"And you think I would trust you?" It asked, it's tone bitter with the weight of ages. "I've seen thousands like you. Liars. Thieves. Murderers. Men who begged for life and then betrayed me the moment they saw daylight again."

"I'm not them," Kaien replied, his voice steadier this time. "I can do anything to survive. Because my goal… is greater than my life worth right now."

His words rang with conviction, not out of arrogance, but truth. The reason he walked this barren path had been carved into the marrow of his bones.

He needed answers.

Answers to the questions that had haunted him —why he had been found near the sea. Why strange marks bloomed across his skin like living tattoos. Why the undead, so feared by others, never laid a hand on him.

And most of all, what those final words whispered by the undead meant:

"Not… you…"

Everything inside him twisted with the burden of those mysteries—too heavy for an eight-year-old child to bear. But Kaien refused to collapse beneath their weight.

"Never bow your head to anyone again."

The words his mother had spoken before death took him had become the iron promise etched into Kaien's soul.

The spirit's silence stretched on for what felt like eternity. Then, the wind whispered once more, and her voice returned—quieter, almost thoughtful.

"Very well. Let's make a pact… But you must know—there will be a price."

As the last word fell from her lips, the sands shifted and shimmered. From the swirling fog emerged a figure.

A spirit was shaped like a woman, her form woven from mist and shadow, glowing faintly beneath the cruel sun. Her presence crackled with restrained power, ancient and eternal.

Kaien's knees buckled with relief. He dropped to the sand, barely able to hold himself upright. His hands trembled as he reached for his water pouch.

Empty.

Not a single drop remained.

Before he could even speak, his body gave out. He collapsed face-first into the burning sand, unconscious.

The Mirami stood silently above him, watching his small frame. His breathing was shallow, but still present.

At last, she raised her hand.

In the space between seconds, the desert trembled.

A tower burst forth from the earth like a spear cast by the heavens, its silver surface gleaming under the sun. Ninety-nine levels coiled toward the sky, ancient runes glowing faintly along its walls. The air around it vibrated with ancient magic, and even the wind seemed to hesitate at its base.

Kaien's eyes fluttered open just enough to glimpse the towering structure piercing the clouds—before the darkness finally took him.