The darkness erupting from Kyūsei's body did not resemble ordinary mana.
Mana, even at its most violent, still carried a certain natural rhythm to it, flowing like fire, wind, water, or lightning according to understandable principles that human beings could eventually study, refine, and control through training.
This was different.
The black energy spiraling outward from Kyūsei felt wrong in a way that transcended fear itself, as though reality had suddenly been forced into contact with something fundamentally incompatible with existence, something ancient enough that the world no longer remembered how to properly contain it.
The summit trembled violently beneath his feet.
Stone cracked apart.
The remaining fragments of the ruined temple groaned under the pressure radiating from his body while shadows spread unnaturally across the battlefield, stretching in impossible directions despite the fractured light pouring from the heavens overhead.
Kyūsei couldn't breathe.
Not properly.
The voices flooding his mind had grown louder now, overlapping endlessly in distorted whispers that seemed to emerge from every dark corner of existence simultaneously.
Not words he could fully understand.
But meanings.
Feelings.
Hunger.
Loneliness.
Endlessness.
And beneath all of it—
Recognition.
The abyss knew him.
No.
Worse.
It had always known him.
Kyūsei clutched his head violently as another wave of visions tore through his consciousness.
He saw colossal black gates chained shut beneath dead skies while countless enormous figures knelt silently before them in oceans of darkness. He saw civilizations burning beneath falling stars. He saw creatures larger than kingdoms screaming wordlessly as shadows consumed entire worlds around them.
And through every vision—
Something watched him.
Waiting patiently.
The eye beyond the fractured heavens widened further.
The vessel awakens.
The voices spoke together now.
Not from outside.
From inside him.
Kyūsei's body shook uncontrollably.
"No…" he whispered desperately.
The black energy surrounding him surged harder.
Thin fractures spread across the summit beneath his feet as the abyssal power pouring from his body intensified rapidly, causing even the atmosphere around him to distort into spiraling currents of darkness.
Nearby, Lena's face paled instantly.
"…this pressure…"
Mira's eyes narrowed sharply while gripping her daggers tighter.
"It's the same as the breach."
No.
Not the same.
Worse.
Because the abyssal creature above them, despite all its terrifying power, still felt like an invader forcing its way into reality.
But the darkness surrounding Kyūsei—
It felt native.
As though the abyss recognized him not as prey, nor as a servant—
But as something belonging to it.
Kazuto moved immediately.
Ignoring the blood pouring from his own injuries, he stepped directly toward Kyūsei despite the violent pressure erupting around him.
"Kyūsei!" he shouted.
The moment he grabbed Kyūsei's shoulder, the black energy reacted violently.
Darkness lashed outward instinctively like living claws.
Kazuto blocked the attack with compressed wind around his arm, but the impact still threw him backward several meters across the broken summit.
"Kazuto!" Rufus shouted.
Kyūsei's eyes widened in horror.
"I—I didn't—"
He hadn't done that consciously.
The abyss inside him had reacted on its own.
Protectively.
The realization made his stomach twist.
Kazuto pushed himself upright again while wiping blood from his mouth.
"…yeah," he muttered weakly. "That's concerning."
The eye beyond the heavens continued staring downward.
Interested.
Patient.
Kyūsei suddenly understood the terrifying truth.
It wasn't trying to destroy him.
It was trying to wake him up.
The voices inside his head grew louder.
Return.
Open the gate.
Become whole.
The black markings spreading across Kyūsei's skin deepened further, crawling slowly across his arms and neck like cracks forming through porcelain, while the darkness around him condensed into shifting tendrils that moved with disturbing awareness.
And buried beneath the overwhelming flood of abyssal whispers—
He heard another voice.
Familiar.
Warm.
Human.
"Don't listen to them."
Kyūsei froze instantly.
The darkness around him faltered slightly.
That voice—
Hansuke.
No.
Kazuto.
Kyūsei lifted his head shakily.
Kazuto stood several meters away now, breathing heavily while still holding his sword despite his failing body, the violent winds surrounding him clashing against the abyssal energy flooding the summit.
And even now—
Even staring directly at the monstrous darkness pouring from his friend—
He showed no fear.
Only worry.
"You hear me?" Kazuto said firmly. "Look at me."
The whispers screamed louder immediately.
Reject weakness.
Reject humanity.
Become eternal.
Kyūsei's vision blurred painfully.
It hurt.
Everything hurt.
His thoughts felt heavy, drowning beneath endless darkness pressing against his mind from every direction.
And yet—
Kazuto's voice still reached him somehow.
"You're not alone this time," Kazuto continued while forcing himself one step closer despite the pressure. "So stop trying to carry this by yourself."
The words struck deeper than any blade.
Because that had always been Kyūsei's greatest weakness.
Even back on Earth.
Whenever things became painful, overwhelming, unbearable—
He isolated himself.
Convinced himself nobody would understand.
Convinced himself loneliness was easier than depending on others.
But Kazuto—
Hansuke—
Had always chased after him anyway.
The memories surfaced clearly now.
Hansuke dragging him outside after weeks of isolation.
Hansuke sitting beside him silently during bad nights without asking questions.
Hansuke smiling stupidly while saying:
"You don't have to survive everything alone, idiot."
Kyūsei felt tears burning in his eyes.
The abyss hated that.
The darkness surrounding him surged violently again as the whispers became furious.
Human weakness.
Human attachment.
Discard it.
The pressure exploded outward hard enough to shatter nearby stone.
Even the eye beyond the heavens pulsed with growing intensity.
Something inside the abyss was becoming impatient.
Then suddenly—
Kazuto walked forward again.
Directly into the darkness.
"Kazuto, STOP!" Lena shouted instantly.
But he ignored her.
The abyssal energy tore against his body as he approached, black tendrils lashing violently around him while the pressure crushed the surrounding summit apart beneath his feet.
Still—
He kept moving.
Step by step.
Toward Kyūsei.
Toward the thing awakening inside him.
And when he finally reached him—
Kazuto grabbed Kyūsei by the collar.
Hard.
Their foreheads slammed together.
"Listen to me," Kazuto growled through gritted teeth while blood dripped from both of them onto the broken stone below. "I did NOT survive getting hit by a truck just to lose you to your edgy shadow powers."
For one stunned second—
Kyūsei almost laughed.
Actually laughed.
The absurdity of the sentence shattered through the abyssal whispers like a blade.
The darkness flickered violently.
Kazuto's eyes locked onto his.
"You're Kyūsei," he said firmly. "Not some abyss monster. Not a weapon. Not a vessel."
The eye beyond the heavens suddenly narrowed.
The whispers became enraged.
But Kazuto's grip tightened.
"You hear me?" he said softly now. "You're still you."
And somewhere deep inside the endless darkness swallowing Kyūsei's mind—
Something human held on.