The Cyber Ascension| Arc 7 — The Bloodlines and Carnage | Volume 7 | Chapter 77 : The Hope That's Terrifying.
A violent gust split the battlefield.
The air tore apart with a metallic scream—
BOOM.
A massive figure landed between the shattered earth and burning skies.
A huge katana slammed into the ground first, its blade taller than most men. The impact cracked the terrain in a spider-web pattern.
Jin Yuan stood there, chest rising fast, eyes sharp and urgent.
Jin Yuan
"What the hell is happening?!"
His voice carried panic—
not fear of death,
but fear of being too late.
Ash drifted down like snow.
Eirien slowly turned his head toward him.
His face was calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that comes after hope has already died.
Eirien
"Oh…"
He paused.
Then spoke the truth like a death sentence.
Eirien
"The King of Hell… Sanji Youta… won."
Jin Yuan's grip tightened around his katana.
Eirien
"He took possession of Z's body."
The words hit harder than any blade.
Jin Yuan's eyes widened.
His breath caught.
He looked up.
In the sky—
Z's body floated, arms relaxed, aura wrong, twisted, overflowing with hellish dominance.
That wasn't Z.
It was Hell wearing his skin.
Haruko staggered slightly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Her glowing white barriers trembled violently, cracks spreading like fractured glass.
Haruko
"…I don't think I can hold my barriers much longer."
Each word felt heavier than the last.
Kiyoshi stepped forward immediately, teeth clenched.
Kiyoshi
"Leave it to me! I'll help you!"
He raised both arms.
The sky answered.
Massive meteors ignited above, wrapped in blazing energy.
They didn't fall.
They orbited.
One by one, the meteors locked into position around Haruko's barriers, forming an additional layer—
a desperate shell of destruction shielding what little remained.
The pressure doubled.
The ground groaned.
Even Sanji-Z glanced down with mild interest.
Jin Yuan swallowed.
Then spoke fast—urgent—like he'd been carrying these words through hell itself.
Jin Yuan
"What about trying resurrection…?"
Everyone froze.
The flames seemed to dim.
The wind stopped.
Jin Yuan
"Zenōnuke Zenjiro."
Silence.
Even the meteors paused mid-rotation.
Jin Yuan
"The founder of your clan."
No one spoke.
Not Haruko.
Not Kiyoshi.
Not even Eirien.
Because they all knew.
That name wasn't hope.
It was a forbidden wound.
A resurrection never meant salvation.
It meant something ancient waking up.
Eirien finally closed his eyes.
Slowly.
As if remembering a sin the world buried for a reason.
The sky cracked with distant thunder.
And far above them—
Sanji Youta, inside Z's body, smiled wider.