ShadowVein (A Schism of Souls, #2)

From the ashes of the old, the Shin-Kami will rise.

The cult behind the demons’ resurgence is defeated, their leader slain and their remaining numbers scattered. But every victory comes at a cost. And that victory will amount to nothing unless Shura can destroy the demons at the source of their power. All that stands in her way are two kings foolish enough to have made an enemy of her. Their betrayal will not go unpunished.

Before she can embark on the road to vengeance, she must bring an entire kingdom to heel, but Ōkoku’s noble clans will not be coerced so easily.

Jin wanders Kinza’s streets, bitter and broken, awaiting the darkness that will consume the world. He knows the prophecy. There is no hope. And even if there was, these people don’t deserve salvation. They deserve to burn. Or so he tells himself in an effort to escape the truth—that he may still have something left to fight for.

While Shura sets her schemes in motion and Jin wallows in sorrow, a shadow stirs within the city’s slums. Whispers of a score to be settled drift upon the winter wind. It’s possible the Shin-Kami are truly defeated, these whispers merely a dying echo. It’s also possible that, in a reckless gambit for retribution, the surviving cultists have summoned an evil so terrible, so ravenous, that even the demon lords of the deepest hells dare not set it free.