he rain fell in a ceaseless torrent, hammering the ruins of Yurei Village into a sodden wasteland of mud and memory. Five years had elapsed since the AEGIS purge tore through this place, leaving behind a landscape of shattered homes and broken lives, but the wounds it inflicted remained raw. Kaito Ashikaga, now nineteen, stood at the heart of the devastation, his silver hair clinging wetly to his pale face, amber eyes smoldering with a volatile blend of sorrow and rage.
A jagged scar marred his left cheek—a memento from an AEGIS operative's blade—pulsing faintly as the damp air irritated the old wound. This was no random mark; it was a brand of his survival, a testament to the day he lost everything.Kaito dropped to one knee, his fingers brushing the rain-soaked earth where his parents had made their final stand.
