Perfect — I'll continue with Chapter 2, picking up right after Kai awakens his soul weapons and confronts the monster.
The beast circled him now, slower, wary. Its breath came in huffs, each exhale trailing black steam. It was bleeding. Wounded. Confused.
Kai didn't charge.
Didn't speak.
He stood there, breathing, watching. The two swords in his hands pulsed in opposition — one cold and weightless like shadow, the other warm but trembling, the broken edge flickering with unstable light.
Why do I have these?
He didn't know.
They felt like strangers.
Yet… familiar. Like echoes of a dream he couldn't remember.
The monster snarled and lunged again. Claws flashed. Teeth gnashed.
Kai moved without thought.
The dark blade flowed like smoke, intercepting the swipe with a solid clang. Sparks scattered. Then he pivoted, twisting his body low, and stabbed upward with the broken light blade. It buried deep into the creature's shoulder.
The monster shrieked, flailing. Its blood hissed where it splattered the ground.
Something inside Kai surged again. He gritted his teeth, eyes flicking from one weapon to the other. They weren't just weapons.
They were reflections.
Of him.
One born from loss, from numbness, from the void that swallowed his heart.
The other… from what was left of the boy who once smiled. From memories that refused to die quietly.
Light and dark. Hope and despair.
Both are mine.
With a cry that wasn't quite human, Kai crossed the blades and slashed outward. A wave of clashing energy exploded from the point where the swords met — dark lightning wrapped in golden flame.
It hit the monster full-force, blasting it into the air. The station wall cracked as the creature slammed into it and slid down, twitching.
Silence fell.
Smoke curled from the ground.
The swords in Kai's hands pulsed once more… and vanished, scattering into shards of light and shadow that faded into the wind.
His knees gave out.
He collapsed to the ground, gasping.
Not from exhaustion.
From shock.
What had he become?
Footsteps echoed from behind him. Fast. Heavy.
Someone shouted, "There! A kid! He just took it down!"
More people rushed in — armed men and women in black armor, marked with the insignia of the Awakened Response Division (ARD).
Guns raised. Powers flared. They surrounded the boy like he was a threat.
Kai didn't care.
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time since the world ended…
He slept.