rises after darkness. Sahiru Orasawa, forged by sorrow and cloaked in mystery, is the eclipse that hides and protects, carrying the weight of countless losses. Though different in path, both are bound by an unyielding spirit and a vow to protect humanity.
As their fates slowly intertwine, one represents hope that heals, and the other, wrath that avenges.
This volume is the beginning of their shared era.
—Let the twin paths of the Sun and the Eclipse begin.
--
The village of Kaminari lay silent beneath a velvet twilight, its air heavy with mist and memory. At the heart of the forest clearing, an ancient tree stood—twisted and vast, its roots curling through stone like the fingers of a giant. Beneath it, candles flickered in still reverence around a small wooden shrine. The shrine was simple, but carved with care. At its center lay a black piece of cloth, scarlet-stained… and a folded bandage, untouched since the day it had been left behind.
An elder knelt before it, placing a fresh lily by the offering bowl.
"He came like a storm," the old man whispered, voice gravelled with time. "And left like one too."
Another elder, back bent with age, stood nearby, staring up at the crimson-tinged moon above. "The demons… all gone that night. Wiped out like dust in wind. Not even the strongest among us could have done what he did."
"Do you think he found peace?" asked a younger voice—an apprentice monk, barely grown, holding incense between nervous fingers.
The elders exchanged glances, then looked toward the mountains where the boy had once disappeared into shadows. One of them finally spoke, voice low.
"Peace? No… not yet. His eyes were too full of grief. His blade too heavy with regret."
"But someday," another added, kneeling to light another candle, "when his soul finally rests, and his scars fade into stories… perhaps then."
The wind stirred, rustling the trees. The shrine's candle flames swayed, as if dancing.
The crimson moon hung high overhead—unchanging, unmoving—as though it, too, was still watching over the shrine of the boy with scarlet and violet eyes.
"For the boy who bore sorrow like armor… may the heavens someday ease his burden."
The villagers bowed in silence.
And far, far away… the man once known as the shadow of deception walked the path of blood and fate, unaware that a forest shrine still whispered prayers in his name.