Akami trembled, knees pressed into the cold earth, his whole body shaking as though the world itself had collapsed on his shoulders. His tears spilled freely, his voice breaking in fragments.
"I thought… I thought you were dead… I was… I was about to…" His words caught in his throat, strangled by despair. "I just wouldn't have been able to live if you were gone. I'm sorry, sister… I'm so sorry…"
He dragged himself to his feet, staggering toward Heena, who lay unconscious on the bed nature itself had woven for her—a cradle of roots, moss, and earth, eerily serene.
As Akami drew closer, his eyes widened in disbelief. Heena's wounds—every trace of them—were gone. She looked whole, untouched, as though death had never brushed her skin. His breath caught.
"I… I don't believe in God," he whispered, voice trembling. "Yet… I thank the one who saved her."
Then, hesitantly, he pressed his fingers against her wrist. Cold. His heart dropped. He searched desperately, fumbling across her neck, her chest. No rhythm. No pulse.
"She… she doesn't…" His voice cracked, terror hollowing his chest. "No, no, no… this can't be it…"
He collapsed again, clutching her limp hand. "Heena, get up! I promise you—I won't make you train anymore! I'll give you sweets every day, I promise! You don't even have to go to school if you don't want to—just please, Heena, please get up!"
The sound of boots thundering shook the silence. Soldiers rushed in, their armor clattering, followed by their mother—her face pale, eyes wide at the sight of Akami breaking before her. She reached for him, trying to calm him, but before she could—
A soundless rupture tore through the world.
Green energy exploded from Heena's body, a blinding pulse that lasted only a second. But in that second, Koha was erased. Every stone, every tree, every soul reduced to nothing. And then—rebuilt, remade, as if reality itself had been shattered and reformed.
Soldiers stumbled, gasping. Their mother clutched Akami's shoulders, frozen in confusion. All of Koha felt it—that something impossible had just occurred. And yet, in the next breath, everything seemed… unchanged.
Until Heena began to rise.
Their eyes widened, soldiers' grips tightening on their weapons, disbelief etched in every face. Heena stood stiff as stone, her body unnaturally still, eyes glowing with an unearthly radiance. Her Code burned across her skin like a living brand.
Akami took a trembling step forward, reaching for her. But before he could enter her presence, the sky screamed. A thunderbolt tore down between them, splitting earth and air, hurling Akami back. His body convulsed, pain wracking him—yet with his pure vision, he saw what none else could.
High above the sky, beyond the storm, something vast lingered.
Akami's voice broke into a scream of horror. "No… no, this can't be possible!"
The soldiers and his mother turned toward him, pale with dread. "What do you mean? What are you seeing? Why are you so terrified?"
Akami's face twisted, his eyes wide with a terror no child should bear. "Mom… if I tell you… if I tell you what I'm seeing—you will be too…" His voice fell to a whisper that cut through silence like a blade. "The world…"
Far from Koha, in a place where shadows had no end, two men spoke quietly.
"You mean to say this power… this is that strong? No. I don't believe it. A power capable of this? How?"
The man beside him turned slowly, his voice flat and cold. "Because it was my power."
---
Meanwhile, Hakari and Kage stepped into the depths of a cave. The air was thick, suffocating, humming with something ancient.
Kage squinted. "What is this? There's… writing on the walls."
But Hakari didn't respond. His gaze was transfixed, hollow with awe. In the center of the cavern floated a cube—perfect, translucent, and within it, a crystal pulsed like a heart. Its glow bent the darkness around it, whispering without words.
"Kage… look. It's… so beautiful. So precious." Hakari's voice was distant, fevered. "I want to touch it…"
"NO!" Kage screamed, his voice cracking against the stone. "Hakari, don't—!"
But Hakari stepped closer, hand trembling. "Yes… it's beautiful…"
Kage lunged toward him, desperation in his stride. But too late. Hakari's hand touched the cube.
Light erupted. A shuddering burst of Code energy slammed into him, ripping through his body, his mind. For an instant he wasn't in the cave—he was everywhere. And what he saw clawed terror into his bones.
He snapped back, gasping, drenched in sweat, face drained of all color.
Kage rushed to him. "What happened? What did you see?"
Hakari's breath came ragged, almost choking. "This… this is not the time…" His eyes darted wildly, searching the cavern like a hunted animal.
"Hakari!" Kage shouted. "What did you see?"
Hakari stopped. Turned. Rage and fear twisted his young face. "You know what happened! I SAW THIS WORLD ENDING! I saw… things… a stone tablet…"
Kage pointed calmly. "There. To your left. That's your stone tablet."
Hakari froze, then stumbled toward it. "Wha… what? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I did."
Hakari ignored him, pressing close to the tablet. Its surface shimmered with etched symbols—none belonging to any language of men. "Impossible… we don't know these words. And yet…" His voice faltered. "I know I saw…"
Then his vision was ripped open again.
A voice—vast, cold, inhuman—spoke within his skull. And across Koha, Akami's lips moved in perfect unison, their voices overlapping across space.
"This is the world's end."
> Far above the clouds, at the fragile edge of Earth's atmosphere, lightning hung frozen in mid-strike. Jagged veins of energy stretched across the thinning sky, glowing against the shadow of space. Each bolt crackled with silent fury, vast enough to carve continents—yet suspended, as if the heavens themselves had paused.
Higher still, colossal storms coiled in restrained chaos, their strikes twenty times greater. Thunder was swallowed by the thin air, but the power remained—breathing, watching, waiting. Every spark, every pulse, seemed to hold its breath.
Waiting for someone's command.
And when that command comes, the heavens will divide.
One word will shield the world.
Another will burn it.
The Code of Protection.
The Code of Destruction.
The Fall is near.