The air was quiet again.
Too quiet — as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Akira stood where the storm had ended, the faint shimmer of voidlight fading from the cracks beneath his feet. The sky above had turned pale gray, still scarred from what had been unleashed. His breathing was steady now — not the ragged gasps of someone fighting for control, but the calm rhythm of someone who had finally found it.
Ryozen stood across from him, his coat torn, his eyes soft with the kind of pride he rarely showed. Between them, the black object — the one recovered from the first crime scene — rested in his hand. The faint pulse inside it beat like a sleeping heart.
He tossed it lightly toward Akira.
"Yours now," Ryozen said.
Akira caught it, the sphere cold against his palm. The moment his fingers closed, it reacted — a soft glow spreading through the cracks like veins of dim starlight. The energy recognized him.
Ryozen's tone was calm but sharp. "It's attuned to your mark now. Keep it close. You'll understand when the time comes."
Akira nodded. "Got it."
For a second, he almost smiled — just enough to break the silence between them.
The wind shifted. A faint ripple spread through the still air.
Ryozen turned his head, his senses sharpening. "She's here."
A beam of light cut through the horizon. From the dust and haze, a figure emerged — her steps sure, her aura warm and bright.
Rina.
Her expression was torn between relief and disbelief as she saw them both standing.
"Akira…" she whispered, her voice trembling. "You're alive."
He turned toward her slowly. "I told you I'd be fine."
Her eyes widened when she noticed his half-dark gaze and the faint glow of the mark still burning on his neck. "You— what happened to you?"
Ryozen stepped forward, answering quietly. "He learned to balance what was left behind. The mark no longer consumes him — he controls it."
Rina looked between them, her expression softening. "Then it's really over?"
Akira shook his head faintly. "No. It's just quiet… for now."
A breeze passed. The three of them stood in the ruins of what used to be a city — fragments of glass catching the dying light, reflecting the sky in broken pieces.
For the first time in what felt like forever, they weren't fighting.
Rina knelt near the fractured pavement, tracing her fingers along one of the glowing cracks left behind by the Yamitsurugi's power. "This world is changing again," she murmured. "Even the Void can't stay dead."
Ryozen's gaze lingered on Akira. "And neither can those tied to it."
Akira glanced at him, sensing the weight behind his words. "You mean Ren?"
The name hung in the air like an echo.
Ryozen didn't answer — not immediately. His eyes shifted to the horizon, where the faint shimmer of the collapsing Void could still be seen far away. "Something stirs there. Something that isn't gone yet."
Rina looked up, her tone uneasy. "Then we'll fight again?"
Akira's grip tightened around Yamitsurugi. "If we have to."
But his voice wasn't angry — it was steady, certain.
Ryozen turned away, cloak swaying in the faint wind. "We'll be ready. But next time… it won't just be the Void."
He started walking, the air rippling slightly with every step. Akira and Rina followed — the three silhouettes framed against the fractured skyline, the remnants of light and darkness mixing in the clouds above them.
Then —
The black object in Akira's hand pulsed again.
He stopped.
For a moment, it was silent — then a single line of whisper cut through his mind.
> "The seal has shifted."
His eyes widened slightly, but before he could speak, the pulse stopped. The sphere dimmed, lifeless once more.
Ryozen glanced back, immediately noticing. "What did it say?"
Akira hesitated, then exhaled. "Nothing important… yet."
Ryozen watched him for a moment, then smirked faintly. "You really are getting used to this."
Akira's reply came quiet, but certain. "I have to. If I want to protect what's left."
The sky darkened slightly, the sun hidden behind slow-moving clouds. The last of the void cracks sealed themselves, leaving the world whole — at least on the surface.
Rina looked between the two of them — the teacher who carried the past and the student who carried its echo. "Then what now?"
Ryozen looked ahead. "Now… we find what's coming before it finds us."
The three stood at the edge of the broken street, the light fading behind them — and for the first time, their shadows fell together.
---
Far away, deep beneath what remained of the Void, something moved — a faint ripple, a heartbeat, and the whisper of Ren's red eyes opening once more.