Raiyo could feel it.
A presence.
Faint, yet undeniable.
He sat cross-legged atop a jagged rock formation, the cool steel of his katana resting across his lap. Though he could not see the vast expanse of the night sky above him, he could feel its weight pressing down, the thick silence of the void between stars wrapping around him like a cold shroud.
Master Ojiro slept somewhere in the distance, her steady breaths rising and falling with the rhythmic crackling of the dying fire below. The scent of charred wood and damp earth lingered in the air.
Yet something else was here.
Something that did not belong.
A single breath—one that was not his own.
A whisper of movement. A heartbeat beyond the wind.
Raiyo did not flinch. He remained still, allowing his other senses to stretch outward like unseen threads, feeling the shifting currents of the night.
One figure. Moving like a whisper. Hidden within the folds of reality itself.
A hunter.
Not a demon. Not a beast.
A human assassin.
He knew instinctively that they were watching, waiting for him to lower his guard.
A slow smirk touched his lips.
Let them wait.
Few knew the name Kageren.
Fewer still understood what they truly were.
They were not rulers. Not warriors. Not kings.
They were something older. A hidden order that existed beyond the laws of men, beyond the wars of empires. They did not seek power, nor did they claim territory.
Their sole purpose was balance.
To seal away the blades that could break the world.
The Three Final Blades—Murakumo no Yoru, Shintei no Kiba, and Kurosei no Tsugunai—were not merely weapons.
They were fragments of an ancient will, bound in steel, capable of reshaping fate itself.
To wield one was to command the abyss of Vexis itself.
And now, they had come for him.
It happened in an instant.
A flicker in the wind.
A sudden weight in the air.
Then death.
A blade cut through the empty space where Raiyo had been, slicing through the rock as if it were mist. But Raiyo had already moved, vanishing just before the strike could reach him.
He landed a few paces away, his katana unsheathed in a single smooth motion.
The assassin landed as well—silent, weightless, as if the world itself refused to acknowledge their presence.
For the first time, Raiyo felt something strange.
The absence of presence.
This killer had no weight. No sound. No reflection in his senses.
They were more than just highly trained.
They were erased from the world itself.
Then, the voice came—calm, steady, and utterly devoid of fear.
"You are the Blind Vex Lord."
It was not a question. It was a statement.
Raiyo tilted his head.
"And you are?"
A pause.
Then the figure pulled back their hood.
A woman with sharp features, short black hair, and piercing violet eyes. She looked no older than him, yet there was something ageless in her gaze.
She was young. But she was not inexperienced.
"I am Reiko Kazen,"
she said.
"I was sent to test you."
Raiyo exhaled.
"By trying to kill me?"
"If I wanted you dead, you would be."
She took a slow step forward, and Raiyo felt something shift in the air around her.
Her sword.
Or rather—the lack of it.
No weight. No presence.
A weapon that did not exist.
Yet he knew it was there.
An invisible blade.
One that could not be seen.
One that left no shadow.
Reiko vanished.
No sound. No breath. No motion.
And then—death struck from nowhere.
Raiyo barely reacted in time, shifting his stance as the invisible blade passed just inches from his ribs. The wind carried no warning, the edge left no gleam of steel—only the chilling sensation of something slicing through the very fabric of reality.
He had to feel the absence, not the presence.
His instincts flared as he pivoted, twisting just enough to avoid the second strike. Too close. If he had hesitated even for a breath, his heart would have been pierced.
"She's toying with me."
Reiko moved again, faster than the eye could follow, her sword flickering into existence for just an instant before disappearing again. Each strike came from impossible angles, forcing Raiyo to trust in his sightless perception, to read the currents of the world around him instead of searching for something he could not see.
Then—he found it.
The space where her blade should have been.
The absence of presence.
In a flash, Raiyo turned his katana and swung—not at Reiko, but at the air between them.
A sharp metallic ring split the silence.
Reiko staggered back, eyes widening in surprise.
For the first time, she had been forced to retreat.
A thin cut bled across her arm, barely visible, but undeniable.
Raiyo stood his ground, steady, unwavering. His katana hummed with the resonance of steel meeting the unseen.
Reiko stared at him for a long moment. Then, unexpectedly, she smiled.
"You really are dangerous."
She sheathed her invisible blade, the air itself seeming to fold around it as if reality had forgotten it existed.
"The Kageren has been watching you, Raiyo Shingen."
He tightened his grip on his katana.
"And?"
"You are not yet ready,"
she said simply.
"But you are close. Closer than anyone before you. If you continue down this path—if you seek the Three Final Blades—we will come for you again."
Raiyo remained silent.
Reiko's violet eyes darkened.
"Next time, there will be no test. Only death."
The wind stirred between them. Then, without another word, Reiko vanished into the night, dissolving into the endless silence of the Kageren.
Raiyo exhaled slowly, his heart still pounding from the fight.
The Kageren had acknowledged him.
But he was also marked.
A warning. A promise. A challenge.
He could not turn back now.
And deep within him, a voice whispered—one not his own.
"Seek the Final Blades. Defy fate."
The Blind Vex Lord was far from finished.