Chapter 2659: Story 2660: The One Who Remembers

The throne cracked again.

A deep sound rolled through the crimson doorway.

Kael tightened his grip on his sword.

Lena raised her red-glowing hand. Azael moved forward. Elias’s golden veins burned brighter. The fifth child spread his wings.

The stranger wearing Kael’s face smiled.

“You finally understand.”

Kael stared at him.

“Who are you?”

“I was the memory before your memory.”

His eyes changed.

Kael saw an ancient battlefield reflected inside them.

Thousands of bodies covered the ground.

Above them stood six children.

“What is this?”

“The world that existed before your first kingdom.”

The vision disappeared.

The doorway shook.

Something enormous continued rising.

Stone broke.

Black bones emerged.

Then a colossal hand gripped the edge of the throne.

Lena whispered, “That is not human.”

“No,” the stranger replied. “It is what your kings buried.”

The sixth child suddenly screamed.

His silver eyes turned completely black.

Kael caught him before he fell.

“Brother!”

The darkness inside the child answered.

“AZRAEL.”

Kael froze.

“You have remembered six pieces,” it whispered. “But you have forgotten the seventh.”

Azael stepped closer.

“Seven?”

The stranger looked toward him.

“You were never meant to hear that number.”

“What is the seventh?”

The stranger said nothing.

Instead, the floor opened.

A massive circular symbol appeared beneath them.

Six symbols burned around its edge.

Kael.

Azael.

Lena.

Elias.

The fifth child.

The sixth child.

At the center was an empty space.

Then the symbol began bleeding.

Elias dropped to one knee.

“I can hear it.”

Kael looked at him.

“Hear what?”

“A heartbeat.”

The crimson kingdom became silent.

One heartbeat echoed.

Then another.

Then a third.

The sixth child covered his ears.

“No...”

Kael held his shoulders.

“What is it?”

The child looked directly at him.

“The seventh.”

The enormous creature behind the throne rose completely.

It had no face.

Only a crown made from countless black bones.

The stranger immediately knelt.

The fifth child lowered his head.

Azael refused.

Lena stood beside Kael.

The creature spoke.

Its voice shook the kingdom.

“THE SEVEN PIECES MUST NEVER BECOME WHOLE.”

Kael raised his sword.

“Then why are you afraid?”

The creature stopped.

For the first time, its ancient darkness trembled.

Kael stepped forward.

“You know what we are.”

“I know what you become.”

The empty symbol beneath Kael suddenly ignited.

A seventh mark appeared.

It was shaped like an open eye surrounded by seven broken chains.

The sixth child stared at it.

“That mark...”

Kael felt a memory awaken.

He saw a seventh cradle.

It was empty.

But inside it lay a sword.

Beside the cradle stood a woman made of white fire.

She whispered one word.

“Azrael.”

The vision shattered.

Kael opened his eyes.

The seventh mark was glowing on his chest.

The stranger smiled sadly.

“Now you remember.”

Behind the throne, the creature opened its endless mouth.

And from the darkness came a child’s voice.

“Brother... I have been waiting for you.”

The crimson kingdom began to bleed.