The atmosphere within the confidential meeting hall of the Ten Master Clans was thick with a tension that surpassed any mere political dispute. This was not a general assembly; the 18 Assistant Houses and the secondary branch families had been barred from the room. This was a gathering of the ten absolute heads and the one man they had spent a century trying to keep in the shadows.
At the head of the long, mahogany table stood the Reikage Patriarch. He did not sit. He stood with the unyielding presence of the "Absolute Zero," looking down at the leaders of the Saegusa, Ichijou, and Juumonji clans. Even Yotsuba Miyuki and Tatsuya remained silent, observing from the far end.
"The riots at our gates have not ceased for forty-eight hours," the head of the Saegusa family began, his voice lacking its usual silkiness. "Magicians are burning their registries. Non-magicians are demanding the immediate dissolution of the Numbered System. They call us 'Sinners' who defiled the Founder's legacy. Patriarch... we need the Reikage to issue a statement to calm the masses."
The Reikage Patriarch let out a short, cold laugh that echoed through the silent chamber. He looked at the gathered elites—the men and women who had built Japan's magical society on a foundation they only half-understood—with a gaze of absolute pity.
"A statement of support?" the Patriarch asked, his voice resonant and biting. "You stand here amidst the ruins of your reputation and ask for my hand? You seem to have forgotten the warnings my clan issued at the dawn of the Ten Institutes."
He stepped forward, the air around him shimmering with raw psion pressure.
"We gave you the foundational theories of Modern Magic. We provided the knowledge to solve the energy crisis and ensure national survival. But we also gave you a singular, absolute warning: magic was never meant to be a weapon. It was an art of creation, not a science of destruction."
He swept his hand toward the high, reinforced windows.
"What you are experiencing now is a fate well deserved. You chose to ignore our warnings. You chose to build a system of Human Experimentation to create soldiers. You chose to turn a miracle into a curse. Now, both magician and non-magician alike are united in their desire to see you unmade. They don't want 'Number Lab' soldiers; they want the original foundation."
"We did what was necessary for the nation's survival!" an Elder from a secondary clan shouted, his face flushed.
"And in doing so, you lost the people's trust," the Patriarch countered. "You, the Ten Master Clans and the Elder Senate, knew the truth from the beginning. You hid the fact that you were merely the 'top students' of a system my family founded. You allowed the lower Numbered Houses to believe they were part of a meritocracy, while you managed them like livestock in a laboratory."
He looked at the Master Clan heads, his expression hardening.
"The secret is over. The world has seen the 'Pure' magic of the Zero, and they have judged your 'Modern' magic as a tainted imitation. If you wish to survive the coming days, you will dismantle the Institutes and return the stolen knowledge to the people. If not... then the shadows you so fear will simply watch as the world you built dissolves into ash."
As the Reikage Patriarch turned to leave the room, the masters of the Numbered world sat in a silence that felt like a funeral. They had spent a century pretending to be the architects, only to realize they were just tenants in a house that the Zero was finally reclaiming.
The sunset over Tokyo no longer felt like the closing of a single day, but the end of a century-long era. On the high balcony of the Reikage Estate—the place once known only as Institute 0—Satoshi and Saori stood side-by-side, watching the chaotic, yet hopeful, news feeds below.
"It's strange," Satoshi murmured, leaning against the cold stone railing. "A month ago, I was a 'demon' hiding in a classroom. Now, the world is treating the Reikage name like a holy relic."
Saori nodded, her gaze fixed on the glowing screens in the distance. The news cycles were no longer filled with anti-magician fear. Instead, the narrative had shifted entirely, focusing on the systemic betrayal of the past hundred years.
"The Numbered Families have become the official scapegoats for everything," Saori said softly. "The public—magicians and non-magicians alike—have poured all their grievances onto the Ten Master Clans who hid the truth. They were the ones who 'sullied' the miracle of magic."
It was a brutal irony. Magicians, once despised as dangerous weapons of the state, were now seen as victims of the Numbered System. The common magician was no longer an "other"; they were "degraded brothers" who needed the Pure Foundation to be restored.
"The Saegusa and the Ichijou are struggling just to hold onto their assets," Satoshi noted, a trace of his old, mocking smile appearing. "People don't want 'Strategic-Class' soldiers anymore. They want the magic that can build, heal, and create. They want the Zero foundation back."
"And my family?" Saori asked, her eyes searching his.
"The Yotsuba were brilliant," Satoshi replied, reaching out to take her hand. "They saw the shift. By aligning with the Founders, they've positioned themselves as the guardians of the transition. They are no longer just 'Numbers.' They are the bridge to a legitimate, purer era."
The two of them stood in silence for a long moment, the world waiting for their next move. The Elder Senate was paralyzed, their power structure dismantled.
"Are you ready for tomorrow, Satoshi-kun?" Saori asked, looking up at him with the same radiant smile that had first saved him.
Satoshi looked at his right hand—the hand that could still unmake the world—and then at his left, which could restore it. For the first time since he was eight years old, he didn't feel the "curse."
"I'm free, Saori," he said, his voice resonant with a peace he had never known. "The world isn't afraid of me anymore. They're looking to me for the way forward. And as the Architects of this New Age, we have a lot of work to do."
He turned to her, his gaze sharp and determined. "The first volume of our lives is over. The second volume begins when we step off this balcony."
As the stars filled the sky over a transformed Japan, the Zero and the Untouchable stood ready to shape the future of magic.