The red light engulfed the bodies of Xiao and Krayos, tearing through time and space like paper.
When Xiao's eyes opened again, he wasn't in any of the nine known realms… but somewhere beyond classification.
An inverted sky, a shadowless land, air dominated by the silence of death.
The Inverted Alfheim.
It was the mirrored version of the sacred realm of Alfheim, which had fallen thousands of years ago.
But here… there were no angels. Only distorted specters and the echo of screams from forgotten eras.
"Welcome, Xiao… to the end of all beginnings,"
Krayos said, his voice choked as if the world itself rejected his words.
"Why did you bring me here?"
Xiao asked, his eyes scanning the place.
"This world… is unlike anything I've ever known."
Krayos replied:
"You carry a legacy you've yet to understand. Your blood isn't just a key to the gates… it's a cage for a hideous truth."
Suddenly…
The ground beneath Xiao collapsed, and he plummeted into a whirlpool of memories—memories not his own.
He saw a child screaming amid tongues of flame, surrounded by priests chanting ancient incantations.
He saw temples built upon skulls.
He saw his own face… but with different eyes.
"This isn't my life…" Xiao murmured.
But Krayos placed a hand on his shoulder and said:
"It's your true beginning. You weren't born when you were born… but when the entity was sealed inside you."
Time stopped—literally.
Xiao found himself in front of a black mirror.
In it, he didn't see his reflection, but a creature with charred wings and a single eye bleeding fire.
The creature… smiled at him.
"Do you think your fate belongs to you?"
A voice whispered in his mind.
Xiao took a step back, but the earth beneath him turned to ash. Before him appeared the Lurahan Spear—a weapon he had never seen, yet felt was part of him.
"It's the moment of choice…" said Krayos.
"Either accept your truth… or keep living as the shadow of a hero who never was."
Xiao gripped the spear, teeth clenched.
"I am no shadow. I am the echo that will shatter the curse of ancient voices."
The mirror shattered.
The world trembled.
And deep within the Inverted Alfheim…
The final curse awakened.