Ren's eyes opened suddenly.
He gasped for air.
His hand immediately flew to his throat. For a moment he could still feel the pressure where Yomi's fingers had been crushing his neck.
But the pain was gone.
Completely gone.
Ren looked around.
He wasn't at the poker table anymore.
He was standing in a garden.
A quiet one.
A soft wind moved gently through the trees. The air smelled of flowers and fresh water. Stone pathways curved between beds of white and blue blossoms.
In the distance, the walls of a castle rose above the garden.
Ren blinked several times.
"Where am I…?"
He looked around again, confused.
"How did I get here?"
Not far away he noticed a figure.
A gardener.
The man was bent over, watering flowers carefully with a metal watering can.
Ren approached cautiously.
"Hey," he called out. "Can you tell me where we are?"
The gardener slowly turned toward him.
He was young.
Blond hair.
Extremely pale skin.
Almost unnaturally pale.
The young man smiled calmly.
"Good day," he said.
"My name is Kenroku."
He gestured gently toward the horizon.
"You are in the Valley of the Ocean of Shiria."
Ren frowned.
Shiria?
I've never heard of any ocean called that.
Before Ren could ask anything else, Kenroku tilted his head slightly.
"So… how did you die?"
Ren froze.
"Die?" he repeated, startled.
Kenroku nodded as if it were obvious.
"Yes."
"When the eclipse approaches, every person who dies arrives here first."
Ren's heart skipped a beat.
"Eclipse?"
Kenroku sighed quietly.
"You really don't know anything, do you?"
He turned and looked toward the sky.
"A red eclipse is coming."
"The rarest eclipse in the universe."
"When it happens, the celestial bodies align perfectly. The boundaries between worlds become extremely thin."
Ren stared at him.
Is this guy insane?
What is he even talking about?
Ren remained silent for a moment.
"Okay…" Ren said slowly. "And how do I leave this place?"
Kenroku pointed toward the valley below.
"You must go down there."
"There you will find the fisherman."
"He will take you into the ocean."
Ren narrowed his eyes.
"Into the ocean for what?"
Kenroku looked at him calmly.
"To be judged."
"Judged?" Ren repeated.
Kenroku shook his head.
"You truly know nothing."
"This place is purgatory."
"Well… one of them."
"The fisherman will take you into the deep water. There you will be judged."
"And then you will learn whether you belong in Heaven… or Hell."
Ren's mind raced.
"But I—"
He stopped speaking.
Wait.
Did I die?
The thought crept into his mind like poison.
Did that monster kill me?
Yomi…
But that doesn't make sense.
He was just in my mind…
Right?
Ren shook his head.
"I don't remember dying," he said.
Kenroku blinked.
"What do you mean?"
"I was at a poker tournament," Ren explained. "And suddenly… everything turned into this black void."
Kenroku interrupted immediately.
"You initiated it?"
Ren shook his head.
"No."
"Someone else did."
"I was trapped inside it. And a creature… tried to kill me."
Ren was thinking
A red eclipse.
The rarest eclipse in the universe.
The words echoed in his mind, but none of them made sense.
This is ridiculous.
His brain instinctively tried to approach the situation the only way it knew how.
Analysis.
Logic.
Probability.
Let's assume this is real.
That thought alone made his stomach twist.
No. First rule. Eliminate impossible explanations.
Maybe he had passed out.
Maybe he was hallucinating.
The pressure from Yomi's grip had been intense. Oxygen deprivation could cause vivid visions. His brain might simply be trying to cope with the stress.
Yes.
That sounded rational.
But something felt wrong.
Too detailed.
Too coherent.
The wind in the garden felt real.
The smell of flowers was real.
Even the sound of water dripping from the gardener's watering can had weight to it.
Hallucinations weren't supposed to be this precise.
Ren rubbed the back of his neck nervously.
Okay… second possibility.
He was dead.
The thought made his chest tighten.
No.
If he were dead, why would this man talk about judgment?
Why explain anything?
Why send him to a fisherman?
Ren clenched his jaw.
None of this follows logical structure.
And yet…
One detail kept bothering him.
The eclipse.
In the tournament briefing, the organizers had mentioned something about an astronomical event approaching.
He hadn't paid much attention at the time.
But now…
The memory surfaced like a distant echo.
Ren slowly looked back at Kenroku.
For the first time since arriving in the garden, a cold realization began creeping through his thoughts.
What if this isn't a hallucination…
What if this is connected to the tournament?
Kenroku stared at him for a long moment.
Then he said quietly:
"You shouldn't be here."
Ren shrugged.
"Yeah, I figured that part out too."
"So how do I leave without dying?"
Kenroku looked at him carefully.
He doesn't seem to be lying, he thought.
But that's impossible.
Slowly, Kenroku stepped closer.
He reached out and gently placed his hand on Ren's neck.
Right where Yomi had grabbed him.
The moment his fingers touched Ren's skin—
Kenroku saw everything.
The black void.
Shura.
Yomi.
The battle.
And the moment when the light appeared.
The scale.
Kenroku's eyes widened.
"The scale…"
Ren blinked.
"What?"
Kenroku suddenly stepped back.
"You must leave immediately."
Ren frowned.
"What?"
"You can't stay here."
"I cannot be the one who influences the choice."
Ren stared at him.
Why did he panic all of a sudden?
What's wrong with this guy?
Kenroku pointed urgently toward the valley.
"Go to the fisherman as fast as you can."
"And tell him this."
Kenroku looked directly into Ren's eyes.
"Say: I do not belong to the dead, but to the living."
"He will send you back."
Kenroku turned quickly.
"I must go back to the upper gardens."
And then he ran.
Ren watched him disappear between the trees.
"…The hell?" Ren muttered.
But as he turned to leave, something caught his eye.
Something had fallen onto the ground.
Kenroku must have dropped it.
Ren picked it up.
A golden necklace.
With a small cross.
"Maybe I should take it," Ren said quietly.
He shrugged.
"Why not?"
"Who knows if I'll ever come back here."
He tried to steady his thoughts.
Is this real?
Or am I hallucinating?
Ren walked down the path toward the valley.
Eventually he saw the fisherman.
An old figure standing beside a small wooden boat.
The man looked ancient.
His skin gray.
His posture crooked.
More like a creature than a human.
Ren approached cautiously.
Then he spoke the words Kenroku had told him.
"I do not belong to the dead… but to the living."
The fisherman moved instantly.
In a blur of motion, he grabbed Ren by the throat.
Before Ren could react—
His head was shoved under the water.
Ren panicked.
His legs kicked wildly.
He tried to hold his breath.
But the pressure was too strong.
Water filled his lungs.
His vision darkened.
His fist tightened around the cross.
Everything went black.
"HUH—!"
Ren's eyes snapped open.
He inhaled violently.
Air rushed into his lungs.
He was back.
But not at the poker table.
He stood once again in the black void.
Right in front of Shura.
And Yomi.
Both of them looked confused.
Concerned.
Yomi stared at Shura.
The monster was bleeding.
Just a little.
From one finger.
Then Shura's voice echoed through the void.
Cold.
Omnipotent.
"…Blood."