The Axiom of Avarice

Kaito Ishikawa lived a life steeped in forgotten texts, his days spent in the hushed confines of a municipal archive. His nights, however, were once the domain of "Vesperus," a melodramatic persona he'd crafted for an obscure online role-playing saga – a "Soul-Binder" dedicated to purging dissonant echoes from the collective unconscious. Now, the sprawling metropolis of Neo-Kyoto faces a subtle, insidious decay. Ethereal entities, dubbed "Resonants," are seeping through weakened reality, feeding on despair and twisting the fabric of the city. When Kaito is forcefully synchronized with Vesperus, he discovers his juvenile fantasy has become horrifyingly real. Adopting the theatrical mantle of the Soul-Binder grants him the power to perceive and bind these spectral parasites, but only by fully embracing Vesperus's archaic speech and dramatic flair. To the world, he is just Kaito, the quiet archivist. To the hidden horrors, he is Vesperus, a flamboyant enigma whose true strength lies in a past he desperately wants to keep buried. But as the Resonants grow bolder, Kaito must decide how much of himself he's willing to lose to save a world that doesn't even know it's being devoured.