Hikaru ran his fingers over the worn leather of the stolen book, his eyes flicking between the ancient symbols on the walls and the faded ink on the pages. The dim light filtering through the boarded windows cast long shadows across the room, making the markings almost seem to shift—as if they weren't just carved into the stone, but alive in some way.
Selene stood a few feet away, watching.
"This is the last place in the city where the Forgotten Ones still exist," she said.
Budi traced one of the carved runes, his voice low. "They really tried to wipe them out completely, huh?"
Selene nodded. "More than that. They tried to erase the very idea of them."
Hikaru flipped through the book's pages, his mind working fast. Names stricken from records. Deeds erased. People who existed, then… didn't.
The Magisterium had been rewriting history.
The question was—why?
Before he could ask, a low rumbling echoed through the wooden floorboards. It was faint, but enough to send a warning through Hikaru's gut.
Selene's expression sharpened.
"They're moving faster than I thought."
Budi glanced at her. "Who?"
"The Magisterium."
Hikaru sighed, closing the book. "Of course. Nothing says 'we're hiding something' like sending an entire army to clean up a mess."
Selene gave him a serious look. "This isn't an army. This is worse."
The rumbling grew louder. It wasn't footsteps. It wasn't magic. It was something… heavier. Unnatural.
Hikaru exchanged a glance with Budi. "You get the feeling we're about to meet something we weren't supposed to see?"
Budi cracked his knuckles. "Isn't that what we do now?"
Selene's voice was firm. "We need to move. Now."
But it was too late.
The front wall of the building exploded inward.
Hikaru barely had time to react before a massive black mass surged through the dust and debris, slamming against the floor with a wet, sickening thud.
It wasn't a person.
It wasn't even alive.
It was a twisted abomination of limbs and shadows, writhing unnaturally as if it couldn't decide what shape it was supposed to be. Its body was stitched together from pieces of something else—something erased.
A Forgotten Remnant.
Hikaru exhaled. "Great. A ghost of history that wants to kill us."
The Remnant twitched, its form rippling—
Then it lunged.
Budi reacted first.
He moved faster than humanly possible, his body blurring as he shifted into a lower stance, his mask darkening. The wooden staff in his hands became a blur of motion, striking the creature with an impact that cracked the air like a whip.
The Remnant reeled back, its body shifting too fast for reality to process. For a second, it had too many limbs. Then none at all.
Selene raised a hand. Silver runes lit up on the walls. A wave of pure light surged outward, slamming into the creature. It let out a warped shriek, the air around it distorting like glass shattering.
Hikaru flicked a card between his fingers. Time to see if tricks worked on ghosts.
He tossed it forward.
[Skill Activated: ♠7 – Weighted Deck]
The moment the card touched the air, it didn't just fly—it bent reality around it.
The Remnant twitched violently, as if its own perception of space had been warped. It staggered, its form twisting as it tried to readjust—
Budi didn't wait. He dashed in and slammed the butt of his staff into its core, sending it skidding backward.
Selene's runes flared brighter.
"This thing isn't complete," she called. "It's a fragment—an echo of something bigger."
Hikaru pushed up his glasses. "Great. I always wanted to fight a half-existence monster."
The Remnant let out a distorted screech, its body trembling violently.
Then—
It split.
The shadows twisted apart, creating three separate versions of itself, each less solid, more fragmented—but just as fast.
Budi clicked his tongue. "That's new."
Hikaru smirked. "I don't know, I think they look even worse like this."
Selene didn't waste time. She raised her hand, tracing a sigil in the air. A ring of glowing light formed beneath them, humming with power.
"They can't be destroyed," she said. "Only sealed."
Hikaru exhaled. "That would've been nice to know before we pissed it off."
The three Remnants moved at once.
One rushed Hikaru, its form distorting mid-air. Impossible angles. Too fast.
Hikaru flicked a card. [Skill Activated: ♦9 – Fortune's Favor]
The Remnant's attack missed by half an inch.
Pure luck? No.
Just tilted odds.
Hikaru dodged and spun, throwing another card. [Skill Activated: ♠10 – Phantom Shuffle]
His form flickered.
The Remnant attacked the illusion instead.
Budi wasn't waiting for instructions. He moved in a blur, slamming into the second Remnant, his mask shifting. His stance changed instantly—from evasive to brutal, overwhelming force.
A second later, Hikaru realized—he was switching fighting styles.
The mask wasn't just a disguise. It was a transformation.
Selene completed the sigil. The glowing light expanded, capturing the last Remnant inside its ring.
It thrashed violently.
"Now!" Selene shouted.
Hikaru flicked his wrist. [Skill Activated: ♠5 – Misdirection]
The Remnant twitched, its fragmented form shifting away from the sigil's exit point—right into the center.
Budi slammed his staff down.
The runes flared bright—
And the Remnant vanished.
The alley fell silent.
For a few seconds, none of them spoke.
Then Hikaru let out a slow breath. "Well, that was horrible."
Budi exhaled. "Yeah. We should definitely do it again."
Selene ignored them, stepping forward to inspect the sigil's remains. The glow faded slowly, but traces of blackened ink remained on the floor—the last echoes of something that wasn't supposed to exist.
She turned to them, silver eyes sharp.
"This isn't the last one," she said. "It's only the first."
Hikaru adjusted his glasses. "Of course it is."
Selene hesitated. "You need to understand. The Forgotten Ones… they weren't just erased. They were sealed. But something is undoing the seals."
Budi crossed his arms. "So what happens when all of them are undone?"
Selene's voice was quiet.
"The world rewrites itself."
Hikaru felt a chill run down his spine.
For a moment, none of them spoke.
Then, Budi turned to Hikaru. "So. You still think this is just another game?"
Hikaru flicked a card into the air, watching it spin.
Then he grinned.
"If it is," he said, "we're about to play at the highest stakes possible."
Budi sighed. "Great. We're all going to die."
Hikaru chuckled.
Not if he had anything to say about it.