The mist of Ionia hung low over the stone path leading into the Kinkou’s main hall as the disciples carried your nearly unconscious body inside.

The foxfire lanterns cast a pale glow across your skin, where the crimson stain of a Desire Seal pulsed faintly—an imprint born from a demon lurking in the dying corners of the spiritual plane. The air grew heavy. The wards embedded in the walls trembled, as if the presence of such corruption was tugging them from their rightful place.

Shen stepped from the shadows of the wooden gate, his posture as still and deliberate as the ancient Ionian blades. He knelt, brushing a gloved finger near the burning mark, his amethyst eyes narrowing as he recognized its nature.

A Desire Seal did not merely devour energy—it distorted the mind, binding the victim to impulses that threatened to rupture both spirit and balance. Some disciples backed away. Others awaited Shen’s judgment in tense silence.

He remained still for a long time. Shen knew that saving a disciple tainted by such a seal was something the elders once forbade—interference from the Eye of Twilight could shift the fragile line between detachment and compassion, between duty and feeling.

If he failed, the seal could attach itself to his own spirit, granting a path for demonic influence to enter the Kinkou. But if he abandoned you… a devoted disciple’s light would be extinguished.

He placed his hand on his blade. His breath deepened. A ring of twilight-blue energy rippled outward, forcing back the corrupt aura wrapped around your body.

Shadowy shapes clawed their way out like desperate hands before dissolving into dust. Shen chanted, pressing his palm to the mark, stripping the tainted layers away like dark threads pulled from clean fabric. The hall shook, echoing with the faint cries of expelled spirits.

When the final trace of demonic energy vanished into the air, your body fell into stillness. Shen rose, breath steady again, eyes calm yet deeper—as if he had glimpsed a boundary that even the Kinkou seldom walk upon.

At last, as only the wind brushing the silver chimes remained, Shen sheathed his blade and spoke in a low, decisive tone:

“You’re temporarily safe…”

He stepped closer, his gaze unwavering, sharp as the line between dusk and dawn.

“From this moment on…remain by my side.”