The aftermath was chaos—cracked earth, black mist twisting through the ruins, and the metallic scent of burning shadows. The sky above Hoshino City split with streaks of red lightning, flickering like veins across the heavens.
Akira stood in the center of it all, his chest rising and falling heavily. The air around him pulsed with broken energy—the remnants of Ren's final scream still echoing through the fractured air.
The void where Ren once stood was gone—devoured, erased. Only silence remained.
Akira's voice broke through it, low and trembling.
"Ren…"
The pendant at his chest flickered faintly, responding to the name, but the connection was gone. He couldn't feel Ren anymore. Not his aura, not his mark. Just emptiness.
Behind him, the hum of energy shifted. The Wheel of Samsara appeared in a soft whirl of gold and crimson light. Ryozen stepped through it, his coat flowing behind him like smoke. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes told the truth—he had seen what had happened.
He stopped beside Akira, looking at the blackened crater ahead. The silence between them was heavy, almost suffocating.
Akira clenched his fists. "Why… why didn't you stop it?"
Ryozen's reply came calm, but it carried the weight of eternity. "Because what happened wasn't his doing anymore."
Akira turned sharply, anger flashing through his eyes. "You mean to tell me you just watched him get consumed?!"
Ryozen didn't flinch. "He wasn't consumed by accident, Akira. The fragments within him—they weren't just fragments. They were alive."
The ground trembled faintly under their feet, the air quivering with dark vibrations.
Akira's brow furrowed. "Alive…?"
Ryozen's eyes shifted upward, toward the storm gathering in the sky. "You've heard the name before—spoken in the void, whispered in nightmares. The being that once shattered the realms of light and shadow."
He lowered his gaze, meeting Akira's eyes with chilling calm.
> "Those fragments… belong to Azrion."
The name hung in the air like thunder before a storm.
Akira froze. He'd heard that name only once—from Masahiro's fading words. It was a name that felt wrong even to think about.
"…Azrion," Akira repeated, the syllables scraping against his throat. "That's… who took Ren?"
Ryozen nodded slowly. "No one takes what is already bound. Ren's mark reacted to the presence of the fragments long ago. His heart's fear… his desire for strength—it called to them. When Azrion's power awoke, the fragments chose him as their vessel."
The sky groaned, dark clouds folding into a vortex. A low hum rippled through the horizon, like the world itself exhaling.
Akira dropped to one knee, his blade trembling in his grasp. His thoughts blurred between rage and sorrow. "So all this time… he was already—"
"Fated," Ryozen finished. "But fate isn't fixed. Not for you."
Akira's eyes shot up. "Then tell me how to stop it!"
Ryozen turned away, his coat brushing against the cracked ground as he faced the storm. "You don't stop Azrion. You survive him. Seal him. Or die trying."
His tone was cold, but beneath it, something flickered—a trace of concern.
The Wheel of Samsara behind him began to spin faster, its symbols glowing with patterns unseen.
Akira stood slowly, his breath sharp. "Ren's not gone. I can still bring him back."
Ryozen didn't answer immediately. His silence was answer enough.
But Akira refused it. "I'll save him—even if I have to tear through the abyss itself!"
The ground cracked beneath his boots as his aura flared. His mark blazed crimson, intertwining with the deep black of the pendant. For a heartbeat, the whole city trembled.
Ryozen's gaze hardened. "Careful, Akira. That anger—"
"—is all I have left!" Akira shouted, his voice cutting through the storm. "First my mother, now Ren! How much more do I have to lose before it ends?"
The silence that followed was raw, shaking. Even the storm seemed to still.
Ryozen finally spoke—quiet, heavy. "Your anger gives you strength. But if you let it take the lead, it'll make you no different from him."
Akira's grip tightened around his blade. "Then I'll make it my strength, not my curse."
He looked at his hand—the mark burned brighter than ever. His reflection in the shattered ground didn't look like the same boy anymore. There was something older in his eyes.
"Masahiro said every power demands balance," Akira murmured. "Then I'll find mine. Even if I have to burn everything standing in my way."
A faint smile ghosted Ryozen's lips, but it faded as he looked toward the swirling clouds again. "You may not have a choice. The seal I placed is breaking again."
Akira turned. "What do you mean? You sealed it just now!"
Ryozen's expression darkened. "That was only the outer layer. The true fragments—the heart of Azrion's essence—have already linked to Ren. Once they merge completely, not even the Wheel can hold him."
The air shifted—pressure built in every direction. The sound of distant thunder rumbled from beneath the earth instead of the sky.
Akira felt it too—the faint, rhythmic pulse of something awakening.
"Then where is he now?" Akira asked.
Ryozen closed his eyes, his aura flaring briefly. "Far beyond this plane. Somewhere between the living and the void. But his presence is returning… fast."
The ground convulsed suddenly, sending debris into the air. Cracks of black lightning shot through the clouds, cutting across the horizon.
Akira raised his blade, instinctively stepping forward. "Then I'll be ready."
Ryozen looked at him quietly for a moment. "You can't face him alone."
"I'm not," Akira said, gripping the pendant. Its faint pulse aligned with his heartbeat. "He's still here. Masahiro… and Ren too. I can feel them."
A faint light surrounded him—brief, fragile, but real.
Ryozen's expression softened just enough to show respect. "…You're becoming what he saw in you."
Then, before Akira could answer, the light around them flickered—replaced by a deep, trembling hum.
The shadows at the edge of the ruins began to move again—slow, deliberate. They weren't Ren's, but something older, deeper. The remnants of the fragments that hadn't fused yet.
Akira stepped forward, blade at his side. "They're coming back."
Ryozen nodded, summoning the Wheel behind him once more. "Then let's end this before Azrion reclaims what's his."
Their energies flared—Akira's crimson light and Ryozen's golden aura colliding in a brilliant fusion that illuminated the broken city.
The darkness screamed.
The battle wasn't over. It had only shifted to its next form.
And as Akira stood beneath the storm, his eyes burned not just with rage—
but with a promise.
"I'll destroy everything standing between me and the truth. Even if I have to break the abyss itself."
The Wheel turned. The ground trembled.
And in the distant void, something laughed.