Could his assumptions have been wrong?
That kind of power gave him a deeply unsettling feeling. It had not only eroded Heaven's Winter Cloak but had nearly consumed him as well.
Even now, the thought filled him with lingering fear.
Those who had fought against Everbreath all turned their gazes toward Kiana, who was examining the White-Haired Oni and analyzing what made him different from Kevin.
Defeating Everbreath had been possible only because of Kiana's strength.
"You?"
"Don't worry about running out of time."
Kiana cleared her throat lightly, shifting her attention away from the White-Haired Oni. "A mere Kami is nothing to fear. Before they can escape, we can go to their place of banishment and cut them down one by one."
The White-Haired Oni froze for a moment. With five Edict Edges in hand—and his own power—her proposal wasn't impossible.
But the Kami weren't Izumo's final enemies.
"Lord White-Haired Oni, if you don't mind, please return to headquarters with us," Welt said, his composure restored. "Everything you wish to know—the answers await there."
"Very well."
The White-Haired Oni wasn't familiar with this era. He needed somewhere to learn about Izumo's current situation.
After agreeing, he turned to Kiana. "Your proposal is sound. I will give it some thought."
What was there to consider?
Kiana was puzzled. Logically, wasn't this the best way to minimize losses? Or did the White-Haired Oni have a better idea?
Thinking of Izumo's eventual destruction, Kiana quietly dismissed her own optimism. If the White-Haired Oni truly had a better plan, Izumo wouldn't have perished until only Acheron remained.
The battle against Heaven's Winter Cloak had cost them not a single life.
In fact, they had even gained a powerful ally—someone who called himself a predecessor, a being capable of single-handedly slaying Heaven's Winter Cloak.
After returning, out of caution—and due to Sirin's earlier warning—Kiana, who disliked unnecessary interactions, chose not to participate in further discussions.
Some things weren't worth dwelling on.
Unfortunately, Izumo was merely a backdrop, offering no detailed narrative to refer to.
"After Heaven's Winter Cloak comes Fate, the Spurned Sister of Mortality… the endless cycle of life and death."
The Herrscher corresponding to that must be the Herrscher of Death.
Kiana subconsciously recalled Seele, whom she had once encountered in Sapphire City.
Impulsively, she pulled out her phone, intending to contact Seele and ask if she was still in Sapphire City.
Given Seele's affinity, her compatibility with "Fate" should be quite high—something evident even from her counterparts in other worlds.
But after opening the chat window, Kiana hesitated, then closed her phone.
Was it truly necessary to gather all twelve Sentinels?
She didn't need them. Even without the Sentinels, she could still help Izumo by slaying the remaining Kami and seizing their powers.
And even with the Sentinels, their ultimate fate in the background lore was the same—all of them broken.
"Maybe I just want to collect them out of habit…" she murmured, lying on her dorm bed and staring blankly at the ceiling.
She had changed so much already—what if, in the end, she couldn't sever the connection between Izumo and Nihility?
Her existence alone had robbed Mei of many trials. Would Mei still be able to forge "Origin" and comprehend "End" this way?
Elsewhere, after learning everything that had happened in Izumo during his absence, the White-Haired Oni revealed a horrifying truth that left every high-ranking official speechless.
He hadn't originally intended to say it—but with the Honkai's existence and the arrival of powerful outsiders who could so easily slay Kami, he realized that the Kami were no longer Izumo's greatest threat.
He had also seen through the arguments and debates among these people, recognizing their true thoughts.
After banishing all powerful Kami, Izumo had returned to peace. Though the Godslaying Corps still existed and the nation's power officially supported them, with no more great Kami to fight, Izumo grew complacent.
For over a thousand years, they had made little progress—and their respect for the Godslaying Corps had gradually faded.
It wasn't until the emergence of the Eternal Zenith that they, long accustomed to peace and convinced that the banished Kami would never return, were reminded once more of the Kami's terror—that these beings truly possessed the power to destroy all of Izumo.
Once they realized that foreign aid had arrived and the Kami were no longer their top priority, their attention began to shift toward the outsider—testing her limits step by step.
The White-Haired Oni grew increasingly disgusted by such scheming and hypocrisy. These fools, blind to the true situation, were being driven by selfish interests and political agendas.
How could Izumo possibly be saved when surrounded by such wolves?
Cold and expressionless, once he had pieced everything together, he dropped a bombshell—
The truth of Takamagahara.
"Impossible!"
They refused to believe his words, rising to their feet in outrage and accusing him of malicious intent, claiming that he was a disguised Oni trying to sow fear among them.
The conference room grew even more chaotic than it had been during Sirin's previous argument with them.
"Believe it or not, this is the truth behind the Kami's invasion of Takamagahara."
The White-Haired Oni stood. He had no intention of staying among these jackals. Their faith was impure; to continue working with them felt like a desecration of his fallen comrades' memory.
If he had no other choice, he would have endured it.
But now, with a new choice before him, he intended to take it. He would seek out the outsider personally. The mud they threw at Kiana didn't bother him in the slightest.
Was it truly she who brought the Honkai?
Was it because of her that an entire continent had been destroyed by Everbreath?
Regardless of the truth, even if the Honkai had indeed come because of that outsider—so what?
Salvation was not child's play. Sacrifice was inevitable. Anyone who wished to save everyone was never fit to walk this path.
By introducing new power, Izumo might yet have a glimmer of hope.
During the thousand years he had been sealed alongside Heaven's Winter Cloak, he had glimpsed fragments of the truth—and come to understand one thing: the path of salvation he and his comrades had once walked might never have truly existed.
The Kami were not Izumo's true enemies. In fact, they too were victims.
The real enemy—the one that would drag Izumo into the abyss—they could not even trace Its shadow.
Now that the Kami were no longer the greatest threat to Izumo, the White-Haired Oni made up his mind.
He would travel to the Kami's homeland.
To Takamagahara—to uncover the real truth.
"Where are you going? And was what you said just now true?"
Raiden Mei, who also despised the stifling atmosphere of the meeting, followed him out of the suffocating room after hearing his revelations. She had many questions she wished to ask him.
"The girl who stood beside you before—where is she now?"
The White-Haired Oni, too, had questions for her. He did not know where Kiana was at this moment.
Mei didn't answer his question. Instead, she pressed again, "Was what you said really true? The Kami's power originates from something far more terrifying—something that will drag Izumo into the abyss. That power… is Nihility, isn't it?"
"Nihility? So that's the name of that power?"
The White-Haired Oni nodded. "That girl told you, didn't she?"
Kiana had said it many times before.
The Kami were not the final enemies Izumo had to face. The true enemy—the one so terrifying that even she wasn't confident she could oppose it—was an existence known as the Aeon.
—Nihility.
That was what Kiana had called it.
Although Mei believed her, she didn't know how to make others trust Kiana's judgment as well.
Now, at last, she had met someone else who seemed to understand—and she was desperate to learn more from him.
To prove that Kiana had been right.
"Have you seen Nihility's power before?"
"…I have. But not only I—you've seen it too."
The White-Haired Oni looked around, his voice heavy. "Every Sentinel has seen it. The Kami, and even the cursed blades Izumo uses to slay them—all draw upon Its power."
"Now do you understand what kind of enemy we're really up against?"
He continued, "If not for that girl's existence, I would never have revealed such a despairing truth."
Even if the foe was invincible, he would never give up out of despair. He would keep fighting to the very end.
Stopping meant certain death.
Only by continuing forward might there still be a sliver of hope.
His memories of Heaven's Winter Cloak were hazy. He only knew that the Kami's power originated from a higher being—one that had never once shown Its true form.
"…Why do you want to meet Kiana?"
"To cooperate," said the White-Haired Oni.
"Did you not hear what those people said back there?"
Mei fixed her gaze on him, deliberately referring to the earlier discussion in the conference room.
The White-Haired Oni frowned slightly. "Do you know how many of us there were before the invasion of Takamagahara—and how many of us remained afterward?"
"I can tell you."
"Before the invasion, Izumo had over two billion people. By the time we slew Sovereign of Revelation, fewer than one hundred million were left. Later, during the banishment of the Twelve Kami, for various reasons, we lost half of that again."
He wasn't joking. His tone was cold and matter-of-fact. "You've seen too little to understand. In the process of saving a world, sacrifice is inevitable. When a civilization reaches the brink of extinction, even one more life spared is a victory."
Hearing his words, Mei's throat felt dry. "…Was it really that bad?"
"It was worse."
The White-Haired Oni turned his gaze upward toward the distant planet shining in the sky. "Without that girl, your so-called losses would have multiplied countless times. Even defeating the Twelve Kami would demand your utmost strength. In such a world, how could you possibly stand against what you just called 'Nihility'?"
Mei fell silent.
Indeed—without Kiana's intervention and the arrival of the Honkai, Almighty Thunder would never have died so pitifully, and its destruction would not have been limited to such a small scale.
Even Nagazora would not have been spared.
"If Nihility's power governs all this, how can one ever escape from It? The appearance of the Honkai, paradoxically, gives me hope that It might be overcome."
The White-Haired Oni accepted Mei's terminology, calling the force that influenced both Kami and Izumo "Nihility."
Even so, he still didn't fully understand what Nihility truly was.
"I bear her no malice—only admiration. Take me to her. I wish to speak with her openly about Izumo's fate."
Mei agreed.
There was nothing more worth discussing with the command center. They had promised autonomy, claiming they wouldn't issue orders—but that was only because they lacked the power to force compliance from someone who wielded an Edict Edge capable of leveling a modern city.
Mei had joined them merely to use their intelligence network, to swiftly reach and cleanse each Kami site.
But she soon realized it was a mire.
They had bared their fangs at Kiana.
What she had feared most had come to pass—but fortunately, before coming here, she and Kiana had already discussed their cooperation in detail. Kiana hadn't revealed any more of the treasures that would draw covetous eyes.
Kiana had done so much. She could have easily stayed uninvolved—ignoring the disasters consuming this world entirely.
When disappointment becomes irreversible, one could choose to descend as a savior.
But Kiana hadn't chosen that path.
From the very beginning, she had been honest—with her.
The reason was because…
Mei recalled Kiana's words not long ago—when she said she liked her.
"Mei, and Mr. White-Haired Oni."
Seeing Mei's message, Kiana, who had been waiting downstairs, greeted both her and the White-Haired Oni warmly.
Mei keenly sensed that most of Kiana's attention was focused on the White-Haired Oni. It had been that way even back on the glacier—from the moment he appeared, her focus had been drawn entirely toward him.
"Your earlier suggestion was excellent."
The White-Haired Oni stepped forward. "By preemptively eliminating the remaining Kami, we can buy ourselves a brief respite."
Hearing that he had come to discuss that very plan, Kiana's eyes lit up. "You agree with me, then? In that case, there's no reason to delay—we can take care of them today!"
Her Herrscher progression had already dropped by two percent. The longer she waited, the faster it would fall.
Though she could force it back up later through sheer will, who knew what kind of chaos fluctuating Honkai energy might bring upon Izumo?
If possible, she wanted to settle everything in one decisive strike—to eliminate future worries once and for all.
"With our current strength, we should indeed deal with these threats early," the White-Haired Oni replied without hesitation. He preferred this kind of straightforward, decisive action.
He actually agreed!
Kiana's excitement only grew—but reason kept her grounded as she glanced at Mei, silently asking for her opinion.
"…Let's go together," Mei said after a moment. "If we can slay the Kami before they awaken, all the better. But we'll need to notify Sirin. Only she can open the banishment realms and handle long-distance teleportation."
"You're right. I'll message Sirin now and ask her to come assist us."
Kiana nodded in agreement and quickly sent several messages to Sirin, requesting her help.
Once the Kami were dealt with, Izumo could devote all its efforts to studying the Honkai.
Only the Honkai, she thought, offered any chance of preserving more lives—even if only in the worst-case scenario.
"Besides the Kami, there's another reason I came—to ask you about Takamagahara."
"…Takamagahara?"
Kiana's expression turned puzzled. She gave the White-Haired Oni a questioning look, unsure of his intent.
"Go ahead," she said.
"During the thousand years I spent battling Heaven's Winter Cloak, I witnessed things that could only be described as despair."
Fixing his gaze on Kiana, the White-Haired Oni asked, "Raiden Mei mentioned something called Nihility. Is that the true 'culprit' behind Takamagahara's invasion of Izumo?"
Kiana's eyes widened in shock—as if she had just seen a ghost.