Chapter 27: The Knife She Never Swung

Night fell quietly.

Too quietly.

No divine attacks. No system glitches. No trials.

Just firelight, a still sky… and waiting.

Kai sat alone, his body still aching from the resurrection exchange, staring into the embers like they might offer answers.

That's when he heard her.

Soft steps. A shift in the wind. The faint scrape of a blade being sheathed.

Lira.

He didn't turn. "Didn't expect you to come talk."

"I didn't come to talk," she said. "I came to finish something."

That got his attention.

He looked up.

She stood across from him, cloaked in shadow, her usual smirk gone. Her eyes glinted like steel in moonlight.

"You don't remember, do you?"

Kai frowned. "Remember what?"

She stepped closer.

Then dropped something at his feet.

A charm.

Silver. Etched with a phoenix sigil.

Earth-style.

[System Flashback Triggered – Memory Fragment Detected]