Kenji lay in the growing pool of black ichor, his thoughts drifting.
"It was fun," he whispered, his voice rattling. "Training with Taka and Yume again... it was everything. But no, it wasn't worth it. I'm leaving before I can fulfill my dream. I'm breaking my promises to them, to Selena... and worst of all, I'm dying before Ray and Anna. That's the most selfish thing I've ever done to the people who loved me, no matter how rebellious I was."
Tears of blood tracked down his pale cheeks. The silver-haired boy watched him in absolute, heavy silence.
"Anyway," Kenji croaked, a weak smirk tugging at his lips. "Why aren't I dead yet?"
"It is a slow process," the youth replied. "Your body is being consumed from the inside out to ensure no trace of you remains on this world."
"Oh... well, what about you? What's your story?"
The boy remained a statue of moonlight. Kenji, refusing to let the silence win, pushed on. "Where are your parents?"
"Killed," the boy answered shortly.
Kenji flinched, his heart aching for a stranger. "Sorry for asking. Hey... you want to join us?"
Again, silence.
"I don't know where you're from," Kenji's speech was starting to slur as the fuzzy numbness reached his jaw. "Or what problems you have... but you can join our family. It's a better place than this cold throne. There's food... warm, good food. Selena is a great cook. The house is... comfortable."
The silver-haired boy's eyes narrowed. The clinical amusement had drained from his face, replaced by a flicker of genuine annoyance.
"Why offer me generosity?" the youth asked, his voice sharp. "I am refusing to save you. I am watching you rot."
"Because..." Kenji swallowed, tasting nothing but iron. "You have the same look I used to have. You look lonely. Angry. And sad. And honestly... I'd love a little brother."
Kenji was blind now. The world had faded into a grey mist. He couldn't feel his toes or fingers, and the cold was a predatory thing, creeping steadily toward his heart.
"You would want a great villain like this King as a brother?" the youth asked, his tone flat and emotionless.
"What... does it... matter...?"
"And what are you willing to do for a brother as great as me?"
Kenji's mind flashed back to the snowy forest—to the white wolves who had died protecting him. His voice came out as a fragile thread, but it was firm with a sincerity that vibrated through the room. "For family... I give... my all. I won't... ever... lose another."
The silver-haired boy stood over Kenji. He looked down at the dying mongrel, his expression a complex mask of melancholy and annoyance.
The looked down for a bit longer and before Kenji started talking, he said.
"Would you still wish to be saved, if i were to tell you that your journey is a unforgiving one. That's with you alone, but with the addition of me in it. Then it becomes one filled with misfortune and lose, i don't spare, forgiveness is a sin. Weakness is a sin, that i will not tolerate if i were to join, even when you hear this do you still wish for me to save and join you?"
Kenji's bloody lips curved into a final, defiant smile. "Yeah... Bring it on."
The Silver King sighed, a faint look of sorrow crossing his ethereal features. He reached down, placing his hand directly over the black, inky stain pulsing on Kenji's chest.
His palm erupted in a brilliant, whitish-blue radiance—a Hashi so pure it felt like the sun itself had entered the room.
"Concedo tibi, qui audet, contra fatum agit..." the boy said."Fragmentum animae meae, te protegat et benedicat dum somnium tuum persequeris. Et hanc seriem temporum mutet."
Kenji couldn't hear the words. The world had turned into a blinding sea of blue-white light. The cold vanished, replaced by a heat so intense it felt like his very soul was being reforged. As the light engulfed the ancient throne room, Kenji let go, sliding into a deep, protected unconsciousness.