Ren knelt in the darkness, unmoving.

  His body remained in the trance forced upon him by the Kurogane Way, yet his mind drifted far beyond the stone walls of his prison. The pain, the silence, the weight of the blade—it all faded.

  Then came the dream.

  Or rather… the vision.

  Ren stood in an endless void, the ground beneath him black and reflective like still water. Above him, the sky twisted with shadows, crimson veins spreading across the darkness as though the world itself was bleeding.

  A presence watched him.

  “You hear it now, don’t you?”

  The voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere, deep and ancient, carrying both mockery and curiosity.Ren turned.

  A figure emerged from the shadows—tall, bound in chains of blackened steel that wrapped around his arms, torso, and neck. His eyes burned like dying embers, glowing red beneath long, disheveled hair. His smile was slow and knowing.

  “Who are you?” Ren asked, his voice steady despite the fear clawing at his chest.

  The man chuckled.

  “I am what they sealed. What they feared,” he said. “I am Emma no Kage—the will within the Black Blade.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  The moment name was spoken, Ren felt it.

  The aura surged.

  In the waking world, the prison trembled. The air grew heavy, oppressive, as dark energy poured from Ren’s body in violent waves. Stone cracked. Ancient markings along the walls began to glow faintly, reacting to a power long forgotten.

  But Ren did not see any of that.

  He stood frozen before Emma no Kage.

  “You rejected the blade,” the demon continued, circling him slowly. “You defied its hunger… and yet it recognized you.”

  Ren clenched his fists. “I didn’t want power. I didn’t want to kill.”

  Emma no Kage stopped in front of him.

  “And that,” he said softly, “is exactly why you were chosen.”

  The void shifted.

  Images flooded Ren’s mind—visions of the past. A child hidden in shadows. Elders searching. Sacred halls burning with tension.The Cursed Mark,” Emma no Kage said. “A sign older than your clan itself. A mark carried only by those meant to stand between gods and demons.”

  Ren gasped as pain flared at the back of his neck.

  In the real world, beneath torn cloth and sweat-soaked skin, a symbol burned to life—black and jagged, like a claw etched into flesh.

  The Cursed Mark.

  “The elders searched for you,” Emma no Kage continued. “They hunted the child who bore the mark, believing he would bring ruin… or salvation.”

  Ren’s heart raced. “Then why didn’t they find me?”

  A softer voice answered in his memory.

  Akari.She hid you,” Emma no Kage said, his grin widening. “Your mother buried your fate beneath silence and blood. She lied. She protected you. And because of her… you lived.”

  The aura surged again—stronger than before.

  Elders far above the prison staggered as the pressure slammed into them. Some fell to one knee. Others felt a familiar terror crawl up their spines.

  “This presence…” one whispered. “It can’t be…”

  Back in the vision, Emma no Kage leaned close to Ren.

  “You survived because you were never meant to become their weapon,” he said. “You were meant to choose.”

  Ren’s eyes hardened.

  “Then tell me the truth,” he said. “All of it.”Emma no Kage laughed, a sound filled with centuries of rage.

  “The truth,” he replied, “is that the blade remembers you… and the world soon will too.”

  The vision shattered.

  Ren remained kneeling in his cell, eyes closed, aura roaring around him like a storm barely contained. The mark at his neck burned faintly, hidden once more.

  The elders had failed to find the chosen child.

  But now—

  The Black Blade had found him.

  And nothing would ever be the same again