Novels by Erisha Jimin

The guards swarmed like hungry locusts, their armor clattering as they pressed in from every direction. Renji stood at the center of the laboratory floor, his skin burning with a violet, stroboscopic light that made the air smell of scorched ozone and wet copper."Renji, move! They’re surrounding you!" Suzu shouted, her voice cutting through the chaotic din of boots on stone. She was pressed against a row of glass canisters, her fingers weaving frantic, golden sigils to keep the stray blades away from her throat."I can’t!" Renji gritted his teeth, his eyes wide and leaking purple luminescence. "The Lantern... it’s pulling. It wants to burst, Suzu. It’s like a dam about to snap.""Don't let it! Keep your feet on the ground! You’re the one holding the leash, remember?""The leash is fraying!" Renji roared, lashing out with a hand that trailed arcs of destructive energy. He backhanded a guard, the man’s armor crumpling like tinfoil, but the effort cost him. His knees buckled."Renji, li

The stench of the sewers was a physical weight, thick enough to coat the back of Renji’s throat with the taste of stagnant misery and industrial waste. He splashed through the knee-deep sludge, his boots heavy, his eyes flickering with a faint, violet luminescence that served as his only torch. Behind him, Suzu hurried, her white robes already ruined by the filth of the underground, her face a mask of pinched, controlled disgust."You really couldn't have picked a less revolting entry point?" Suzu whispered, her voice tight. "I’m going to be scrubbing this off for a century.""It’s an infiltration, not a dinner party," Renji grunted, his pulse racing. He didn't look back; he kept his eyes locked on the rusted ladder looming ahead. "Besides, you’re the one who said the main gates were suicide.""That’s true, but I didn't think the 'alternative' was swimming through the city’s digestive tract," she muttered, ducking under a dripping, moss-covered pipe. "My robes are ruined. Do you have

Renji moved through the thickets like a silent wraith, the mud of the forest still clinging to his boots. Suzu trailed behind him, her breath hitching every few steps as she clutched her side, but her pace remained relentless. They reached the jagged perimeter of the outer city wall, the massive ironwood gates looming over them like the jaws of a predator.Renji pressed his back against the cold, weeping stone of the exterior wall, his chest heaving. He pointed toward a narrow alleyway where the flicker of torches illuminated the misery within."Look at that, Suzu," he whispered, his jaw set. "They’re dragging them out for nothing. Just for standing on the wrong corner."Suzu peered around the edge of the stone, her eyes narrowing as she took in the scene. A group of syndicate enforcers, their crimson robes stark against the gray stone, were shoving an elderly man into the dirt. A younger woman scrambled to help him, only to be struck across the face by a lead-weighted club."It’s a c

The night air shattered. Renji didn’t lunge like a berserker this time; he moved like a flicker of static, vanishing from the assassin’s line of sight before the steel had even cleared their scabbards."Where’d the brat go?" one of the assassins hissed, his voice tight with sudden, unadulterated fear.Renji crouched on a thick oak limb fifteen feet above them, his chest pulsing with a low, rhythmic violet hum. "Right above you, genius," he whispered, loud enough to crawl down their spines like a spider."Above! Look up!" the leader roared.Renji dropped like a lead weight, his fist glowing with that familiar, sickening luminescence. He didn't aim to vaporize; he aimed to crush. He slammed his heel into the leader’s shoulder, the impact echoing like a cannon shot through the timber."Argh! Get him off me!" the leader choked out, rolling frantically in the mud."You guys are really bad at this," Renji muttered, backflipping away into the darkness. "Is this the best the Temple has to off

The shadow-blade hissed through the air, shearing through the stone railing exactly where Renji’s head had been a heartbeat before. Renji didn’t wait. He didn’t fight; he bolted. With Suzu’s dead weight slumped against his chest, he sprinted into the thicket of the mountain forest, his feet churning up wet soil and dead leaves."Don't you dare die on me, Suzu," Renji grunted, his lungs burning. "I didn't sign up to be a priestess-carrier.""Shut up," she whispered, her head lolling against his shoulder. Her voice was a thin, reedy ghost of its former self. "Just... find somewhere... dark.""Dark? We’re already in a forest at midnight, how much darker do you want?""Not... light-dark. Silence-dark. The Lantern... it’s screaming, Renji. Can’t you hear it?"Renji ducked under a low-hanging branch, his heart hammering against his ribs like a frantic animal. Inside his chest, the Lantern wasn't just humming anymore; it was howling. A cacophony of distorted, overlapping voices clawed at his

"Stay behind me!" Renji yelled, his voice cracking with the strain of holding the Lantern in check."Don't worry about me, just keep them off the bridge!" Suzu shouted back, her fingers already weaving complex, glowing patterns in the air."There’s at least thirty of them!" Renji gritted his teeth, shifting his weight as the first wave of soldiers slammed into his improvised defensive line."Thirty? That’s barely a warm-up for a guy carrying a death star in his chest, right?" she teased, her tone biting despite the panic in the air."It’s not a star, it’s a parasite! And it’s hungry!"Renji swung his arm, a arc of violet frost erupting from his fist. The soldiers in the front were tossed like ragdolls into the ravine below."See? You're doing fine! Keep that energy up, or we’re both dead!""Easy for you to say, you’re just chanting while I’m the one doing the heavy lifting!"A heavy iron mace whistled past Renji’s ear. He ducked, his movements jerky and unnatural. He grabbed the soldi