The sky was tearing apart.
Black lightning laced the storm clouds, each flash rumbling through the air like a heartbeat of something colossal awakening. Hoshino City — once alive with light — was now nothing but a battlefield drowning in shadow and ash.
Akira sprinted through the chaos, the pendant around his neck burning so bright it hurt to look at.
His lungs screamed, his heart pounded, but none of that mattered.
He could feel Ren ahead — and the corruption spreading through him.
"Ren… don't let it win," he whispered under his breath, the rain slicing across his face like glass.
He turned the corner, and everything froze.
Ren stood in the middle of a crater, surrounded by swirling fragments of shadow — dark shards that pulsed like living hearts. His eyes glowed a poisonous violet. His expression was not one of anger… but madness.
The moment Akira saw him, something inside him cracked.
"Ren!" Akira shouted over the storm. "It's taking over you — fight it!"
Ren slowly turned, the wind whipping his hair across his pale, trembling face.
His voice came out distorted, two tones overlapping — his own and another deeper one.
> "Fight it? Why should I?"
"I finally understand… what power feels like."
Akira clenched his fists. "That's not power — it's the Oblivion fragments controlling you!"
Ren tilted his head, eyes narrowing in cold amusement.
"You think you know power? You think that mark makes you special?" He smirked. "Let me show you real power."
He raised his arm, the air bending violently as the shadows around him condensed. The temperature dropped instantly — frost forming across the shattered pavement.
Then, with a single whisper, Ren unleashed it.
> "Abyssal Dominion."
The world shattered.
A wave of pure shadow burst outward like a nuclear explosion, devouring everything in its path. The ground cracked open, street lamps melted into dust, and entire buildings bent toward the singularity forming around Ren. The shockwave hit Akira with the force of a hurricane, sending him skidding backward across the concrete.
He flipped midair, landing hard, sliding through debris. His sword formed in his hand, glowing a furious blue as his pendant flared.
"Then I'll stop you myself!"
He vanished in a flash of light — a Veil Step.
Ren's eyes snapped to his left — too slow. Akira's blade slashed across his arm, slicing through shadow. Ren hissed, turning with inhuman speed and countering with a burst of black flame. Akira blocked, their powers colliding with a thunderous crack. The explosion threw both backward.
Akira gritted his teeth, using his momentum to twist midair and land on the edge of a ruined car.
Ren emerged through the dust, his smirk returning.
"Still trying to save me?" Ren spat, his aura pulsing violently. "You can't even touch me now."
Akira raised his blade, rain dripping down its edge. "Then I'll keep trying until I do."
The storm howled. Both of them moved at once.
Their clash echoed across the ruins — metal against shadow, light against void. Every strike lit the darkness in bursts of color. Akira's sword cut through Ren's aura, scattering it like smoke. Ren retaliated with vicious precision, his attacks faster, heavier — every swing tearing into the air itself.
The ground cratered beneath them. Energy shockwaves rippled outward like waves on a black sea.
> "Eternal Sever!" Akira roared.
A golden crescent of light erupted from his blade, cleaving through the storm — but Ren raised a hand, summoning tendrils of shadow to absorb it. The light burst, scattering into glowing fragments.
Ren grinned, raising his hand again. "You're not strong enough."
> "Abyssal Dominion — Phase Two!"
From the void behind him, an enormous hand formed — skeletal, made entirely of shadows, its fingers the size of towers. It slammed down toward Akira like a god's fist.
Akira's eyes widened. He thrust his sword upward and shouted:
> "Veil Cross!"
A radiant X-shaped slash shot upward, meeting the colossal shadow hand. The collision shattered the sound barrier — the explosion blinding, deafening, apocalyptic. The shockwave leveled what was left of the nearby buildings, throwing Akira backward across the battlefield.
He hit the ground hard, rolling through dust and broken stone. Blood dripped from his lip. His vision blurred.
"Damn it… Ren…"
Through the haze, Ren walked toward him, every step echoing with power. The shadows clung to his body now, merging into his skin.
His eyes were no longer violet. They were pitch black.
---
Deep underground, Ryozen sat cross-legged before the great seal — the Wheel of Samsara spinning violently behind him. Cracks spidered across the ancient runes beneath his hands.
"Just a little longer…" he murmured, sweat dripping from his jaw. His voice was steady, but his aura flared with strain.
Then, the ground beneath him trembled.
A pulse — like a heartbeat from the abyss.
"No…" Ryozen whispered, eyes widening as the seal split down the center. "Not now…"
He pushed his hands forward, golden energy pouring from his palms, forcing the cracks to mend. The wheel spun faster, symbols glowing with divine heat — but the darkness underneath surged again, defiant and alive.
Ryozen's head snapped upward.
"The fragments… they've chosen him."
The seal exploded. Shadows burst upward through the ground, breaking through the surface — racing toward Ren.
Ryozen vanished in a blur of golden light.
---
Back on the surface, Ren's aura shifted. His body shook violently, and the air rippled as the fragments reached him — threads of black energy that tore through the clouds and pierced his chest.
Akira's head shot up. "No!"
He lunged forward, light flaring around him. His sword cleaved through the streams of darkness, but they split, flowing around him — into Ren.
Ren screamed — not in pain, but in release. The sound echoed across the city.
The shadows consumed him completely.
Akira stood frozen as the ground beneath Ren disintegrated. The pressure was suffocating — a storm of power so vast it warped gravity itself. His mark burned red-hot, reacting to the overwhelming energy.
And then — silence.
Ren lifted his head slowly. His grin returned… but this time it wasn't his.
> "Yes… master… yes…"
The voice was wrong — deep, layered, ancient.
The clouds above swirled into a massive black spiral, lightning of pure darkness striking the ground around him.
"Ren!" Akira shouted. "Don't give in!"
Ren tilted his head, his hair falling over one eye, his expression disturbingly calm.
"You still don't get it, Akira," he said softly.
"This isn't corruption. This is ascension."
---
Ryozen appeared midair, his coat whipping in the wind, eyes glowing golden. The Wheel of Samsara materialized behind him in full — rotating with divine fury. His voice cut through the storm like a blade.
> "Enough!"
He raised his hand, summoning a barrier of golden runes around Ren — the Binding Circle of Samsara.
But Ren merely looked up, smiling — and snapped his fingers.
The barrier shattered instantly.
Ryozen's eyes widened. "Impossible—!"
Ren lifted his arm, his shadow aura spiraling upward like a vortex. The ground split apart beneath him, revealing a void that spread outward in rings.
Akira's instincts screamed. He ran forward, trying to reach him — but it was too late.
The moment Ren's scream echoed, the world broke.
The force blasted Ryozen backward, his golden light clashing against Ren's black energy. Akira shielded his face as the shockwave erased everything in sight — pavement, walls, sky, all torn apart.
And through that chaos, Ren's voice — warped, laughing, terrible — filled the world.
> "Do you see now? There's no light without the void!"
Akira's rage exploded.
"REN!"
His pendant shattered into shards of light.
His aura erupted like a supernova, golden and white flames surrounding him as his mark glowed fiercely.
> "Soul Burst: Genesis!"
The entire city lit up.
Akira's blade reformed, pure energy pulsing through every swing. He charged, each step shattering the ground beneath him. His movements blurred beyond sight — he became a streak of light cutting through shadow.
He struck.
Ren raised his arm to block, but Akira's blade tore through his defense — a blinding strike that sent him crashing into the ground. The explosion carved a crater so deep the air itself howled from the force.
Ren screamed as the light burned through his darkness, his aura destabilizing — but before Akira could finish it, the fragments pulsed again.
A black void erupted around Ren, swallowing the light.
Ryozen reappeared, golden aura flaring, shouting, "Get back!"
But before he could act — the void pulsed once, twice — and Ren vanished.
The storm fell silent.
Akira collapsed to his knees, rain pouring down his face. His sword dissolved into mist.
"Ren…" he whispered, voice breaking. "Why…"
Ryozen stood behind him, his expression grim, the Wheel fading into nothing.
The fragments were gone — and something far worse had awakened.