The battle was peaking—Raven, ragged and blood-soaked, stood her ground in the Mirror Realm. She was winning, just barely.Violet, carefree as ever, was gliding through his own fight with sarcastic grace.It was all aligning.Victory was within reach.
And then—Everything vanished.
The mirror world? Gone.Kazuma? Gone.Even the tension? Gone.
The two were back in Blossom Dark Forest.
Raven's boots skidded against the ground, her head snapping around."Wait—what the hell? Are we back here? Where did they go?!"
She quickly turned to feel for Violet's presence.Sure enough—he was balancing himself on a warped root like it was a tightrope, dizzy but alive.
"Whoooaa—! Huh?!" Violet blinked, wobbling. "We're back? What just happened?!"
Before either could regroup, Daisuke, Kiyomi, and Akemi arrived, their faces tense.Daisuke was calm, but his eyes betrayed something sharp. Something prematurely awakened.
"I don't think I need to explain what's about to happen," he muttered grimly.
All around them—across the vast surface of the Heavenly Planet—every contestant lifted their heads toward the sky.
It was still. Silent.Too silent.
Something was off.
Even the wind had stopped.
And in that silence… something wrong was breathing beneath the surface.
Seko and Izanami arrived shortly after, returning to the forested battleground.Even Izanami—divine, ever poised—stood still. Her flames didn't flicker. Her lips parted, confused.
Seko scanned the area, his gaze landing on Kiyomi—still… but smiling.
Not a kind smile.
A lustful one.A look of yearning—like something she'd been waiting for had finally begun.
"Kiyomi?" Seko asked, cautious but clear. "Are you still here?"
She didn't look at him.Her eyes stayed locked on the darkening sky.
"Shut up," she whispered, breathless. "It's coming."
Seko's heart clenched.He understood now.Not completely.But enough.
He stepped closer. One more question.
"…What is 'it'?"
Kiyomi said nothing. Her grin only widened.
Above them, the star that had served as their sun began to dim—eclipsed by something massive.
Seko instinctively removed the protective tech from his wrist—the one Atama had given him to shield against solar radiation.
That's when a voice emerged from behind.
"You should worry more about miracles than energy, vampire."
It was Atama.
No smile.No sarcasm.
Hands in his pockets like usual, but his posture was different—tight.Wary.
Seko blinked. "You're serious... That's rare. You're not even eating your burrito."
Atama managed a grim half-joke."Yeah. I don't eat my Blue Space Octo-Sauced Chicken Burrito when I'm worried.…Which is strange. Because I've never been worried."
Seko turned his gaze skyward, jaw tightening.
"How bad?"
He summoned his composite sword, his instincts already flaring. This was no bluff.
Atama's response came slow. Heavy.
"Sujay-bad."
And then—
The sky split open.
Reality tore like paper as an enormous rift cracked across the heavens.
The world dropped to its knees.Not from force—but sheer presence.
Every contestant on the planet, every soldier, fighter, godling—all collapsed, unable to resist the weight.
All except three.
Atama. Seko. Akemi.
From the rift… they came.
An army.Not just dead, not just divine—both.Twisted spirits of fallen warriors and celestial anomalies marched in formation.
And seated high behind the rip, in silence—Madala Sujay.
Draped in imperial shadow, unreadable behind the light, he sat unmoving.Below him stood a singular warrior—encased in full knight armor, etched with glyphs and radiating crushing pressure.
The knight looked up to Sujay."Shall I begin, my savior?"
Sujay's tone was calm, layered with command.
"First, introduce yourself.Let them estimate my strength through you."
He glanced down—his eyes locking with Atama's.
"...Meto is here. If I choose to join, it'll be a bad day for all of you.Do your best. Beyond death."
Then he turned his gaze to Seko.
The vampire stared back.No fear this time. Only cold fire.
Sujay held his stare—then gave the barest flicker of respect.Almost unnoticeable.
"I said it once," Sujay murmured."One of us will cry."
The rift snapped shut.
The knight remained.
Everyone on the battlefield snapped back to consciousness, their senses returning—but the unease still thick.
The knight stepped forward, his voice booming.
"Before the hunt begins, I am—"
"YEAH WE DON'T CARE!!"
Atama's voice rang out across the silence.
"WOOOO!! Can you hear me?! Your helmet looks like my poop this morning!!"
Zarakon twitched, trying to ignore the insult.He lifted his hand to resume his introduction.
But Atama wasn't done.
"I mean seriously! You look like a medieval potato who accidentally downloaded malware."
Akemi held back a laugh.Even Raven, still mending, cracked a grin.
Violet whistled. "Yeah... he's gonna really regret not killing you first."
Zarakon clenched his fists… and drew his weapon.
Zarakon, the First General of the Void Lord Sujay, took a long breath inside his heavily plated helmet. The metal exhalation hissed like a dying furnace. He clenched his gauntleted fists, his towering armored form unmoving—stoic. Regal. Terrifying.
And yet…
Atama was on a roll.
"Seriously though! Did you steal that armor from a medieval trash bin or is that custom-made 'L-' for loser carved into your chestplate?"
Zarakon's armored brow twitched. Only a little. But to someone like Akemi—keenly observant, cheek on her palm as she studied the new enemies with a lazy grin—that tick was everything.
"Oh, he's pissed already," she whispered, amused. "Atama sure knows how to speedrun enemy speeches."
Zarakon's voice finally thundered again, deep and ethereal, as if layered with distorted chants of the dead. "This world... will be purged in honor of my Lord—"
"Booooring!" Atama called, tossing a piece of popcorn in the air and catching it with his mouth. "You rehearsed that line, didn't you? In front of your little undead mirror buddies? C'mon, give us the good stuff! Where's the drama? Where's the pain? Where's the—'I watched my village burn and now I will avenge them!' line?!"
Seko glanced sideways, half-worried, half-intrigued. "He's stalling," he muttered to Izanami, who'd just arrived beside him, cold flames flickering in her palms.
"I know," she replied. "But it's working."
The battlefield was still—tension as thick as the air before a thunderstorm. The contestants, once rivals, now looked at one another with silent understanding: this wasn't part of the tournament anymore. This was survival.
Kiyomi whispered to Akemi, "Do we fight? Or run?"
Akemi's eyes sparkled as she scanned the undead formation, Zarakon still trying to recompose himself. "Fight. I want to test what type of divine corruption runs in these creatures."
"Besides," Daisuke muttered, now standing quietly behind them with ice mist around his collar, "Running wouldn't help. The rift covered half the planet. We're trapped."
Violet floated up next to them, adjusting his collar and summoning his signature flora. "Then I guess we give them a bouquet... of pain." He winked, then paused. "Wait, that sounded cooler in my head—"
Raven slapped him.
Back on the frontlines, Zarakon raised his weapon—a grotesque jagged greatsword that pulsed like a heartbeat. "You dare mock the voice of Death?"
"No, no," Atama raised both hands innocently. "I mock you, the messenger. Death's voice? Kind of sexy. Yours? Kinda sounds like someone gargling gravel and disappointment."
Zarakon finally snapped.
The general swung his sword downward—not at Atama, but at the earth itself.
The moment it struck, the planet shook.
The entire sky began to blacken again, not from an eclipse—but from the rising aura of death-infused divine creatures.
Atama popped one last bite of his space burrito and muttered through his chew, "Welp… showtime."
Seko stepped forward, his composite blade swirling with fragments. Izanami stood beside him, calm and glowing with frosty resolve. Kiyomi floated upward, gravity distorting the ground beneath her. Violet cracked his knuckles, while Raven's fists glowed with negative surges. Daisuke spread his arms slowly as ice veined out around his feet. Crow stood ready, eyes narrowed.
Akemi? She was smiling wide, licking her finger and touching her temple. "Bot surveillance online. Let's make history."
The army roared.
The Eclipsed Guardians moved.
And Zarakon's voice echoed once more—
"Let the purge begin."
End of Chapter.