The Hero’s Shadow

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Chapter 7: The Hero’s Shadow

The sky above Velmor burned red.

Banners of golden lions waved proudly from the watchtowers of the citadel, and at the center stood the famed Hero of Dawn — Lysandor. His sword shimmered with holy light, a weapon said to have slain kings and gods alike. People called him salvation.

Raizen called him a lie.

From the shadows beyond the city gates, Raizen watched silently. Cloaked in the winds of the Void, unseen and untouchable, he felt the pulse of Lysandor’s power. It disgusted him — so clean, so praised, so carefully wrapped in words like honor and destiny.

He whispered, “You wear justice like a mask.”

Inside, Lysandor was being praised by nobles, priests, and trembling commoners. But Raizen knew the truth: Lysandor had once abandoned a village during the siege of Atras. Sacrificed hundreds to save a dozen royals.

The world forgot. Raizen remembered.

The Void doesn’t forgive.

That night, under the silver eye of the moon, Raizen stepped into the royal plaza. The air shifted. His presence alone twisted the wind. Guards fell without screams, light dimmed where he walked.

Lysandor appeared, clad in shining armor, blade drawn. “Who dares—”

Raizen met his eyes. “The one who sees what you hide behind your light.”

Without another word, they clashed.

Steel met silence. Holy flame met the depthless dark. The plaza shattered beneath them, stones lifted from the ground, and time seemed to slow. People watched from their windows, holding their breath as myth and legend collided.

For the first time, Lysandor hesitated.

Raizen’s power wasn’t driven by love or justice — it was will, pure and merciless. His strikes were precise, his steps calm, as if the entire world bent to his rhythm.

Lysandor faltered. And Raizen whispered:

> “You are what this world worships?

Then this world needs to fall.”

With a final blow, he shattered Lysandor’s blade and left him broken on the stone.

He didn’t kill him. Not yet.

He wanted the people to see their hero fall — and rise no more.

As Raizen walked away, whispers spread once more. Not of a savior.

But of a sovereign.

Of a force that walked like a man and spoke like a storm.

The Void Sovereign was no myth now. He was coming for the world’s lies.

And he would burn every crown built on false light.

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Of course! Here is the next chapter in Raizen’s saga:

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Chapter 8: The Blade in the Garden

Night fell over the Whispering Plains, blanketing the world in silence. Moonlight trickled through the twisted branches of the Garden of Thorns, a place said to be cursed — a forgotten graveyard of warriors who once defied fate.

Raizen walked alone through its center.

Every thorned vine parted before him.

Every shadow hushed in reverence.

He was not seeking battle tonight. He was following an echo — a faint pull in the void that called to something deep inside him.

And that’s when he felt it.

A presence.

Light and deadly, like a needle in the dark.

“I wondered when they’d send someone,” he muttered.

The wind shifted.

A blade whispered through the air.

Raizen caught it between two fingers.

A figure landed gracefully before him — cloaked in red, face hidden by a porcelain mask. Her voice was smooth, like poisoned silk. “You’re faster than I expected… Sovereign.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You knew who I was and still struck first. Brave.”

“Not brave,” she said. “Paid.”

She lunged again, her movements flawless, forged by years of discipline and silence. Her blades moved like shadows, always where the eye didn’t look. But Raizen didn’t need to see — he felt her intent, read her mind through the pressure in the void.

He didn’t fight with brute strength. He flowed.

Each strike she threw unraveled before it landed.

She paused — panting, for the first time unsure.

Raizen stepped closer. “You were never meant to win, were you?”

She hesitated.

He saw it now — the tremble in her hand, the way her breath slowed. She wasn’t just an assassin. She was sent to measure him.

To see if the legends were true.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

She stared at him. “Kaien.”

Raizen stepped past her and began walking away.

“You’re not going to kill me?” she called out.

“No,” he said. “You’ll return to whoever sent you. And you’ll tell them…”