Edge of redemption

"When the sky weeps ink instead of water, even gods dare not listen."

The rain fell like shards of night, dark and relentless, washing over the world with a weight that bent trees and broke spirits.

Shindō knelt in the mud, soaked to the bone, the cold seeping into his bones like a whispered curse.

Around him, the village lay shattered, the air thick with smoke and sorrow.

The few survivors huddled beneath tattered roofs, eyes hollow but burning with quiet defiance.

Yuuki stood beside him, her blind eyes lifted toward the sky, as if searching for a mercy the heavens refused to grant.

Her voice was barely more than a breath.

"Pray not for rain to end," she said.

"But for strength to stand beneath it."

Shindō closed his eyes, feeling the rain carve paths down his weathered face.

The nodachi beside him was slick with mud and something darker—a reminder that even in this storm, the battle raged on.

Each drop of black rain was a reminder that the world was broken, but so was he.

And in that brokenness, a spark flickered.

Hotaru's cult was moving like a plague across the land, leaving death and despair in its wake.

But beneath the black rain, Shindō made a silent vow.

He would not let the shadows swallow what little light remained

Prayer Beneath the Black Rain