Chapter 7: The City That Sins For You
When Kairo passed through the veil, he expected ruin.
Ash. Chains. Blood.
But instead… he found sunlight.
The sky was lavender-gold. The streets paved with glass and humming with soft music. Towers spiraled into the clouds, blooming with silken banners and vines made of light. People strolled — beautiful, carefree, smiling like nothing in the world had ever gone wrong.
A girl passed by and winked. Her eyes glowed like fireflies.
A man in velvet tipped his hat. "Welcome, Ranker."
Kairo narrowed his eyes.
> This isn't real.
His cursed sigil pulsed gently.
But not in warning.
In confusion.
---
He stepped forward.
No screaming. No blood.
A breeze passed. Sweet — like honey and citrus. His steps left no echo.
And then…
> "Welcome, Kairo."
The voice came from everywhere.
A speaker above. A whisper in his ears. A thought inside his mind.
> "This is Veritas — the city that sins for you."
> "We are pleased to meet you."
---
Kairo halted.
A sign flickered into being beside him — hovering in the air, written in elegant red script.
> "Every Ranker must pass through Veritas to reach the next layer."
> "There is no battle here."
> "Only truths you cannot lie to."
---
As he walked, the city changed around him.
The buildings shifted subtly.
Storefronts reshaped themselves.
He passed a shop called "Forgiveness" — and the windows displayed a table with Meika sitting across it, smiling softly.
He blinked — she was gone.
Next, a bakery called "Warmth" — and the smell of his childhood favorite pastry wafted out.
Then, a tavern named "Ashveil" — where she knelt, but not in chains.
In silk.
Waiting.
---
The cursed sigil flared.
Kairo growled. "You're not real."
A figure stepped from the alley.
Tall. Cloaked in white. A porcelain mask.
> "We never said we were," it said.
> "We are what you crave."
> "And in this city, you must feast."
---
He drew his blade.
The masked figure held up a hand.
> "There is no enemy to fight, Cursed Ranker."
> "The only thing you must conquer… is yourself."
---
And then the gates of Veritas opened wide.
He was no longer in a street — but a ballroom of crystal and wine.
Hundreds of people danced. Women in red gowns whispered his name. Men and monsters bowed, raising glasses.
A throne appeared at the end.
And on it — sat Kairo.
But not him.
A version in gold and arrogance.
His cursed mark tamed.
A kingdom at his feet.
Desire wrapped around him.
---
> "Sit," said the double.
> "You deserve this."
> "Every step, every death… you did it for power."
> "So take it."
The ballroom went silent.
Every eye turned to him.
The city waited.
The throne pulsed.
The sigil ached.
And Kairo whispered:
> "I didn't climb for comfort."
> "I climbed so no one else had to bleed for it."
He stepped back.
> "And I'll slit my own throat before I let Veritas rewrite me."
---
The ballroom shattered.
Not collapsed.
Broke.
Like glass under truth.
And then—
A door appeared.
Carved of bone and velvet, etched with a single word:
> "Liar."
---
A voice whispered from it:
> "You lied."
> "Not to us."
> "To yourself."
And it began to open.
The door marked "Liar" creaked open.
Kairo stepped through into the darkness beyond — and immediately, the world fell silent.
No footsteps.
No wind.
Just a hum — low, steady, beneath his skin. Like the rhythm of blood before a storm.
The hallway was narrow, lined with polished obsidian mirrors. Dozens. Hundreds. Maybe infinite.
But none showed his reflection.
Not at first.
---
He walked.
And then — a flicker.
He paused.
One of the mirrors showed him younger — ragged, desperate, hiding behind crates in a burning village.
He blinked. That day.
> The day he chose to run.
He turned away.
Another mirror lit up — this time showing a hand reaching out from the rubble, a girl's voice crying for help.
He hadn't turned back.
---
The cursed sigil on his hand began to throb — not in pain.
But in exposure.
It hated this place. Not because it was cursed — but because it was honest.
---
The mirrors began to shift as he passed.
Scenes from his past, twisted with truth:
Kairo killing too quickly.
Holding someone a moment too long.
Saying yes when he should've said no.
Saying no when someone needed him.
Each memory whispered:
> "You called it sacrifice."
> "We call it selfishness."
He clenched his fists.
> "I did what I had to do."
The mirrors laughed.
> "That's what they all say."
---
Then he reached the end.
A final mirror.
Massive. Untouched.
In it stood a woman.
She wore a gown of fractured silver. Her eyes were soft — too soft. The kind that looked into you and smiled not because they pitied you…
…but because they understood what you would never forgive yourself for.
She spoke without sound — her mouth never moved.
But her voice bled into Kairo's thoughts like silk soaked in acid:
> "Do you remember your first sin?"
He stiffened.
The mirror flickered.
---
Suddenly, he stood on a bridge.
Familiar.
Rain falling hard. Metal underfoot. Neon lights behind him.
Earth.
Tokyo.
> "This can't be—"
But it was.
He turned.
And saw her.
Elira.
But not cursed.
Still human.
Still alive.
She was running toward him, a letter in her hand, a smile on her face.
And then…
The truck.
The impact.
Blood.
Silence.
---
Kairo fell to his knees in the mirror room.
> "No…"
> "I didn't mean to—"
The woman's voice replied.
> "But you did. You knew. You saw it."
> "You froze."
> "And because of that — she died."
---
The mirrors pulsed red.
> "LIAR."
Kairo screamed — stood — and punched the mirror with his cursed hand.
Glass shattered.
Blood sprayed.
But when it cleared…
He was alone again.
And the woman in silver?
She now stood outside the mirror.
---
She looked at him — not with hatred.
But with calm.
> "I am not your guilt."
> "I am what you left behind."
> "And I am what this city demands."
She reached forward.
Her fingers touched his cheek.
> "One truth."
> "Give me one truth you never told anyone."
> "Or you will never leave Veritas."
---
Kairo trembled.
The cursed mark surged with fire.
Then he whispered:
> "I didn't want to climb."
> "I wanted to die."
> "But the Maw wouldn't let me."
> "So I told myself I had purpose. That I was saving others."
> "But really… I was just looking for someone strong enough to end me."
Silence.
The silver woman smiled softly.
> "There it is."
She kissed his forehead.
> "Now… you're ready to climb."
---
The mirrors shattered.
The darkness peeled away.
And before him stood the exit — a golden archway made of promises he'd never made.
He stepped through.
---
And the city whispered behind him:
> "The ones who admit the truth…"
> "...are the ones who cannot be controlled."
The golden archway closed behind Kairo with a gentle click, like the lock of a music box.
He now stood in a circular chamber.
Quiet.
Warm.
The walls were velvet-red, glowing with soft candlelight. A bed sat in the center — large, silk-covered, shadowed in all the right ways. The air was thick with perfume and memory.
And on that bed…
She waited.
---
Elira.
But not the cursed girl.
The girl from before.
Hair loose.
Smile soft.
Eyes free of the Maw's touch.
She wore a white sundress — the one she wore the first time he ever confessed he loved her.
> "Hi, Kairo," she said gently.
> "You made it."
Kairo took a shaky step forward.
> "You're not real."
> "You're the city."
She tilted her head.
> "Does that matter?"
> "Everything you love is in me."
---
The cursed sigil burned softly on his hand.
Not warning.
Not pain.
Longing.
Because some part of him wanted to believe it.
Wanted to step into this room, this life, this lie — and stay.
---
She stood from the bed and walked toward him, barefoot, graceful.
> "You saved me," she whispered.
"You climbed. You endured."
> "Why shouldn't you rest?"
> "Why shouldn't you be happy?"
She touched his chest.
The cursed blade rattled on his back.
> "No more blood," she whispered.
"No more battles."
She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
> "Just me."
> "Forever."
---
Kairo's breath caught.
For just a moment…
He wanted it.
All of it.
Her hand slid down to his cursed sigil. She traced it with her fingers.
> "You don't have to be a Ranker anymore."
> "You can be mine."
---
Then—
The cursed mark flared violently.
And Kairo saw it.
The trap.
The room shifted.
The silk became sinew.
The candles became burning veins.
The velvet became flesh.
Elira's face began to split.
Her smile stretched too wide. Her eyes dripped ink. Her dress fused to her skin.
> "Stay with me," she said, voice now two layers deep.
"I can be whatever you want."
---
Kairo stepped back.
> "You almost had me."
> "But I've already lost the real her."
> "I won't dishonor her memory by loving a lie."
He raised the cursed blade.
> "Veritas…"
> "You made a mistake showing me what I want."
He pointed the blade at the mimic.
> "Because now I remember what I fight for."
---
The mimic-Elira screamed.
Her skin peeled into black smoke.
The bed turned into a maw of fangs and mouths.
The chamber tried to consume him.
But the cursed sigil shielded him now.
It wasn't rejecting the city.
It was burning it clean.
---
Kairo thrust the cursed blade into the center of the room.
> "My truth is pain."
> "My strength is refusal."
> "I am not here to be happy."
> "I am here to climb."
---
The city howled.
And shattered.
---
When the smoke cleared…
Kairo stood alone on a high cliff.
Below him, the ruins of Veritas.
Above, a stairwell carved into starlight.
He looked back one last time.
The city whispered, softly:
> "You passed."
> "But you'll never stop wanting what you left behind."
Kairo turned toward the stars.
> "Good."
> "Because I'll use that want to burn down everything that took her from me."