Scene 1: The Crown of Lies
Ayumi's breath hitched as she pressed against the cold stone wall of her father's chamber. The air reeked of incense and rot. Through a slit in the heavy velvet curtains, she watched her father—the King—loom over a girl no older than herself. The girl's wrists were shackled, her soul a shimmering thread being siphoned into the King's gnarled hands.
"Arata!" the King slurred, wine sloshing in his golden goblet. "Why do whispers of Nero Almik plague my halls? I saw his corpse myself!"
Arata, the royal advisor, bowed low. "My liege, they are but rumors. The boy is dust."
The King's fist slammed the table. "Two years ago, I slaughtered my own queen to harvest his pure soul—and now his name resurfaces?!"
Ayumi's knees buckled. Mother's death…Father's doing? A vase clattered as she stumbled back.
"Who's there?!" roared the King.
Before guards could seize her, a cataclysmic explosion rocked the castle.
Scene 2: Eclipse of the Moon
The capital's skyline erupted in flames. Citizens screamed as a spectral figure—the Moonlight Dagger's spirit—raced through the air, its form a blade of liquid silver. Chasing it was a masked figure, laughter booming like thunder.
"Wait!" Darky bellowed, his cloak billowing like a storm cloud. "I'll grind you into sparkles!"
The spirit pivoted, morphing into a colossal sword that drank moonlight itself. It lunged. Darky caught the blade mid-strike, his fingers cracking its ethereal surface.
King (watching from his balcony): "Such power…I'll make that brute my new hound."
Arata: "But the spirit—!"
"Weaklings die." The King grinned. "Fetch me his mask."
Scene 3: Chains of Loyalty
Darky slammed the shattered Moonlight Spirit into a dimensional cage, its glow dimming. "Pathetic," he sneered.
A barrier erupted around him—Zoke and Kanori, the King's elite mages, sealing him in prismatic light.
"Got you," Arata smirked.
Darky tilted his head. Nero's gonna love this trophy.
A white blur tore through the barrier. Whity—pale hair whipping like a blizzard—grabbed Darky's collar. "Idiot! Stick to the plan!"
Darky shrugged. "Plans are boring."
Scene 4: The Princess's Gambit
Ayumi fled to her room, trembling. Father framed Nero. Used me as his blade. Daiki's words haunted her: "We believed in him."
She yanked open a hidden drawer—a crystal orb glowed inside, replaying the "footage" of Nero killing her mother. Now, the lie was clear: her father's magic, not Nero's hand.
A knock. "Princess?" Daiki's voice.
She hid the orb. "Enter."
Daiki's eyes narrowed. "You're pale. Trouble?"
"Just…nightmares."
He hesitated. "The capital's in chaos. Two masked men—one battles the Moonlight Spirit."
Masked men. Ayumi's pulse quickened. Nero's allies?
Scene 5: Shadows in the Dawn
Miles away, Nero stirred in his bed, Eri curled against him.
Whity's voice (telepathic): Darky's done something stupid.
Nero sighed. "Of course he is stupid."
Eri's fingers traced his horn. "Let him play. Chaos suits us."
But Nero's gaze darkened. Across the realm, Ayumi clutched the orb, its light flickering like her resolve.
I'll expose you, Father. Even if it burns this kingdom to ash.