V remained bound in his straitjacket, hovering feet above the hole with dark souls circling around him, and yet two men came at him anyway like he'd done something personal.
He didn't entirely understand what was unfolding around him. What he understood was simpler. Everyone here was his enemy. Everyone except the Gate God below.
At least that was the one constant the Highest One had given him to hold onto.
His own emotions had become distorted. Even after months of preparation, all he could feel were countless souls attempting to overwhelm him, crawling up from the depths, grasping, trying to drag him down to join them in the abyss. He had to resist.
He could see his family below. Aina Zheng had been a mere child during the Zheng clan's prison visit, the last time he'd seen her. He'd retained some consciousness then, though little memory.
Now, though, he understood the truth: his own family was his enemy. Their actions proved as much.
