Salomeh lowered her head.
Her breath trembled, her vision vibrated, and her heart seemed to bear all the madness of the world alone. She was no longer stable—neither physically nor emotionally.
How could she be?
To her left, the Abominables were massacring innocents by the hundreds, tearing through the prairie with their howls.
In front of her, an Ineffable—a total absence, an embodied impossibility—held Hinata as if she were a mere object.
And behind her... her brother.
Her brother who no longer recognized her.
Her brother who, once, would have given his life without hesitation to place himself between her and such absolute danger.
Her brother who, now, was just a stranger, fragile, powerless, broken.
That, more than anything else, pierced Salomeh.
She briefly relived their memories—her brother when she was defeated by Isissis 1, Sakolomeh, protecting her against what no one could overcome, promising he would never let her fall.
And now, he was watching her struggle against an Ineffable without even understanding why she was bleeding.
It was like feeling her own blood become foreign in her veins.
Then a voice echoed in her head, cold, deep, without echo.
— Salomeh.
It was Morlük.
— You are clearly not in a state to continue this fight. Your mind is wavering, your heart is bleeding. You should stop.
She clenched her teeth.
— I can't. I have to at least... hold on until Bakuzan arrives. I can't let that thing leave with Hinata. I don't know what it plans to do to her...
That thought struck her like lightning.
She didn't know.
Not the slightest idea.
And the idea of losing Hinata into the hands of a being who had no nature, no stable will, was worse than a nightmare.
Her eyes widened.
What did an Ineffable want from a mere child?
Why Hinata?
What in this little girl could interest an absence like him?
That added another layer of horror to the situation.
Salomeh straightened slowly.
A trickle of blood still slid down her cheek, but her legs managed to support her.
Her draconic wings fluttered behind her like a wounded animal but ready to bite again.
She took a step.
A single one, but it shook like a vow.
The creature held Hinata at arm's length, as if she were a cumbersome burden.
The child's eyes were swollen with tears, terrified.
Salomeh fixed the Ineffable.
Her voice came out grave, trembling, but firm:
— What exactly do you want... from Hinata?
The creature widened its smile to an almost unreal angle, a gaping arc of pure shadow. Its empty white eyes—absence of light, absence of intention—settled on Salomeh with calculated slowness. A chilling sensation spread as it opened its mouth:
"This little one possesses... the Key."
The word rang out like a crack in reality.
Salomeh stiffened. Melokosa behind her opened her eyes wide. Hinata, still trapped in the shadow hand, trembled:
"...The key?"
The creature tilted its head very slightly, as if savoring human astonishment.
"Yes. The key to call forth what should never have existed."
A heavy silence poured out all at once. The air seemed to contract, as if even the world refused to admit what that implied.
Salomeh felt her throat tighten.
"What should... never have existed?!"
She never heard the rest.
Because BAAM—a blast tore through space.
A silhouette shot at such speed that even Salomeh, with all her Apostle senses, did not perceive it. The creature barely had time to open its eyes: a gaping hole now pierced its shadow abdomen. The void within the void.
The silhouette landed with a breath. Its long hair floated in the chaos-saturated air. In the sky, the Abominables formed a monstrous swarm, like a hive of titanic bees covering the entire firmament.
Salomeh managed a smile despite the still-warm blood on her cheek:
"Bakuzan... you're finally here."
The shadow creature immediately regenerated as if the wound had never existed. It growled:
"How dare an Ineffable like you attack another Ineffable? You know perfectly well this will lead nowhere."
Bakuzan simply turned his head toward it.
In the surrounding darkness, his yellow eyes lit up, two bestial slits burning with a resolve that belonged to no Ineffable.
"It's not for lack of trying."
The creature lost its smile.
The space around them seemed to warp.
Because something was wrong.
Salomeh felt it. Even the world's heartbeat stumbled for a moment.
Bakuzan was not bluffing.
He hadn't just struck on reflex—he believed he could destroy another Ineffable.
Which, by nature, was impossible.
Ineffables were not beings.
They were not presences.
Nor were they absences either.
They were what arose where even the concept of existence withdrew. They stood at the summit.
Nothing exists about them, so nothing can be broken.
And yet...
Bakuzan advanced.
Each step he took echoed like a paradox, a portable logical violation.
An Ineffable should not be capable of "wanting."
Should not be capable of "choosing."
Even less so of believing they could defeat another Ineffable.
And yet, Bakuzan did all of that.
With a determination that cut through reality like a knife.
The shadow creature stepped back a millimeter—a tiny detail, but enough for Salomeh to understand.
For the first time, an absence had just felt... fear.
The creature squinted slightly, an incredulous grimace distorting its shadowy face.
"Damn Black Grief... you're bluffing. You really think you can make me swallow that? Me?!"
Bakuzan didn't answer immediately.
He simply raised his head, calmly, almost too calmly—and then clenched his fist.
A wave of black and violet mana exploded around him, swirling like a compressed storm. The air grew heavy.
Gravity seemed to multiply.
Hinata gasped—her legs weakened under the pressure.
Even Melokosa staggered, teeth clenched.
Salomeh herself felt her breath catch.
Bakuzan stepped forward, his gaze becoming sharp like an absolute sentence.
"Me? Bluff?" he whispered, each syllable vibrating with relentless intent.
Then, in a cold tone:
"How could I bluff... after seeing the state you put my little sister in?"
Salomeh froze.
Her eyes widened, as if an invisible chain had just been broken around her.
Bakuzan... was talking about her.
He was talking about her, his sister.
She, Morlük's Apostle, who had never broken since then... felt her hands tremble. An unfamiliar feeling crept into her: fragility.
And yet, it was a soothing fragility—that of being protected.
She slowly clasped her hands over her chest and breathed out:
"Bakuzan... thank you..."
That single word pierced the scene like a revelation.
The shadow creature recoiled. Then an expression of real, sudden, violent horror twisted its features.
Without warning, it grabbed Hinata and hurled her into the sky.
A scream tore across the battlefield:
"HINATA!!!"
Melokosa, panicked, ran despite the crushing gravity.
Salomeh spread her draconic wings, ready to cut through the air to catch the girl—
But the creature was faster.
BOOM!!!
Its arm transformed into a pillar of shadow and soared toward Hinata.
The blow struck her abdomen with inhuman brutality.
The shock instantly whitened her eyes.
Her flesh tore.
Her belly burst into a gaping, raging wound.
The world stopped.
Salomeh screamed inwardly.
Melokosa choked on terror.
Bakuzan stood still for a moment, the unreal engraved in his yellow pupils.
Hinata's blood dispersed in the air like sacrificed rain.
Salomeh rushed anyway, slicing through the air in a second, catching Hinata before she fell further, holding her with panicked gentleness.
Hinata was alive.
But barely.
Very barely.
Bakuzan felt nothing but anger.
An anger that even an Ineffable should not be able to contain.
He vanished in a black and violet flash, reappeared right in front of the creature, his dark sword drawn in an arc of pure death—
But the shadow silhouette stepped back, and its laughter vibrated in the void.
"See you again, Black Grief..."
Then it disappeared like an erased concept.
The silence fell abruptly.
And the world breathed only to the rhythm of Hinata's blood on Salomeh's trembling hands.