Everything burns.
That was the first thought Kairo Veltz had when he opened his eyes.
His lungs screamed. Smoke clawed down his throat. The sky above was cracked and bleeding. It wasn't red. It was bleeding, like the world itself was suffering.
He was chained.
His wrists were bound to a sword taller than him, driven through a mountain of bones. The steel pulsed beneath him, humming with some cursed heartbeat that wasn't his.
"Execution complete. Subject 0013: marked for eternal exile."
A voice echoed from the sky. A voice that sounded too perfect. Too holy.
He tried to scream, but his throat was already full of soot. He coughed blood. Felt the world tilt beneath him. And then—
FLASH.
A memory. No, a death. But not his.
A girl… falling.A hand reaching out.A name whispered: "Kairo..."
He knew that name. It was his.
But he didn't know that voice.
"Yo, meathead. You gonna lie there and cry all day, or can I get back to napping?"
The second voice wasn't godly. It was annoying, almost bratty. Kairo tilted his head.
There was a gremlin sitting on his sword.
Tiny. Horns. Silver hair in a chaotic mess. She wore nothing but a cloak stitched from what looked like monster skin and had fangs too big for her mouth.
"W-Who…?" he managed.
The gremlin grinned.
"Name's Gix. Sword spirit. Welcome to hell. Population: you, me, and a bunch of freaks who want your face on a flag."
She jumped down and kicked him in the side. Lightly. Annoyingly.
"I was the soul in this sword. Now you're the meatbag chained to it. Congrats, Cursed Crown. You're gonna be famous."
Kairo's vision wavered.
Cursed Crown?
Why did that sound so… final?
"Hey. Wake up. It's about to start."
He blinked. "Start… what?"
SCREEEEECH.
The sky ripped open.
And through it, they came—black-winged monsters stitched from prayers and nightmares, each one screaming in languages no man should understand.
And behind them? A man with no eyes, cloaked in fire, dragging chains behind him.
Gix's voice dropped.
"That's your welcoming committee. They're here to test if you're really the Crown… or just another corpse in the dirt."
Kairo tried to move. The chains refused.
He could feel the sword beneath him begin to heat.
His bones screamed. His veins itched. His skin burned. But it wasn't pain. It was…
Power.
"Cursed Brand recognized.""Epitaph Unlocked: Forbidden Crown.""Curse Activated: Death Echo.""Sin Initiated: Mirror of Regret."
Kairo's eyes snapped open. They weren't brown anymore. They were silver, and they bled like the sky.
"If I die again... I want it to be for a reason."
He stood.
And the sword came with him.
The monsters roared.
The ground cracked.
And Gix, now floating beside him, smirked.
"Atta boy. Now let's go make some angels cry."