Some kings kneel to save their people.
Others burn so no one ever has to kneel again.
---
Sakamoto's Age: 6.5
Location: Braelor (currently under siege)
Enemy Units: 2 Cleansing Court Executors
Party: Sakamoto, Ravian, + hidden villagers
Weather: Ash-colored snow. Magic pressure rising.
---
Opening Line:
I didn't come here to be a hero.
I came to stop my name from killing people.
But maybe… that was always the same thing.
---
The Two Executors
They stood in the burning snow.
Scrollwraith: robes of living parchment, runes constantly rewriting themselves
Glassblade: no eyes, no voice — a sword forged from six souls, visible pulsing down its spine
Scrollwraith spoke:
> "Ash Crown.
Our orders were clear.
Silence the source.
Unbind the curse."
> "What happens if I surrender?" Sakamoto asked.
> "Then we erase the town first."
---
Ravian's Fall
Before Sakamoto could answer, Ravian vanished.
Shadowstep.
Blade flash.
He struck Scrollwraith mid-incantation.
But Glassblade turned instantly, intercepting.
One swipe — and Ravian flew backwards.
Blood across the snow.
> "RAVIAN!"
> "I'm good," he gasped.
"They just cut through… through the soulband..."
Sakamoto's eyes went dark.
---
Niris Awakens a New Form
He grabbed the hilt.
Niris didn't glow.
She burned from the inside out.
The fracture spread, then reformed into veins across her blade.
She whispered:
> "For one second… let me be who I was before you broke me."
Sakamoto's stance changed.
Not trained. Not wild.
Instinctual.
He charged.
---
Clash of Will
Scrollwraith summoned a dome of kinetic glyphs.
Sakamoto broke through it like it was mist.
Glassblade parried his strike.
But Niris absorbed the soul pattern of the blade.
> "They forged this weapon from fear," she said.
> "Then break it," Sakamoto whispered.
She did.
The glass sword shattered, and its screaming spirits vanished.
---
Eira's Arrival
Just as Scrollwraith prepared the finishing spell…
The ground cracked open.
A pulse of magic.
Ice and silence.
And Eira stepped through the fog.
Her eyes glowing with inverted glyphs.
> "Step away from him," she said quietly.
Scrollwraith turned.
And stopped breathing.
For a moment, even the fire paused.
---
Final Scene – The Name Spreads
As the Cleansing agents retreated, beaten, bleeding, magic-burned…
Villagers emerged.
One whispered.
Then another.
And then they began chanting:
> "Ash Crown…"
Sakamoto didn't smile.
He looked down at Ravian, bleeding.
At Niris, flickering.
At Eira, standing without understanding why she ran here.
And he whispered back:
> "Don't say that name like it means hope."