The Lost Star – Beneath the Silence of the Void (Part 1)
The world was quiet.
Too quiet.
Hayate awoke to weightlessness. He floated in an endless sea of gray fog, the faint shimmer of stars scattered above and below him. The last thing he remembered was the goddess's laughter, the city collapsing, and the burning pain of the Devouring Star rupturing inside his chest.
But now… there was nothing.
He tried to move, but his body felt like mist. Even his heartbeat was silent.
A chill crept through his spine as realization dawned—he wasn't in the mortal realm anymore.
[System Diagnostics: Dimensional Anchor Lost]
[Reconstructing Host Core… 42% Integrity Remaining]
"System," Hayate muttered weakly. His voice echoed infinitely, fading into nothing. "Where… am I?"
[You are adrift in the Void—where lost gods go to die.]
The words hit him harder than any wound. He glanced around; ghostly shapes floated in the distance—giant humanoid silhouettes, motionless, with hollow eyes. Some were missing limbs. Others… entire halves of their bodies.
Corpses of gods.
Each one emanated a faint pressure that could have crushed mountains. And here he was, a single mortal, drifting among them.
He clenched his fists. No. Not yet.
The fog pulsed faintly as his will surged. Even here, the Devouring Star inside him responded, glowing like a faint heartbeat.
[Warning: Host will disintegrate within 15 minutes without a stable dimensional anchor.]
"Then I'll find one."
He forced his body to move, each motion sluggish, like swimming through heavy oil. The faint light of his core flared again, and he began pulling himself toward a massive shape—an enormous fragment of marble floating in the distance.
It wasn't just a rock. It was a temple ruin, half-buried in the void.
The ruins hummed faintly as he approached, lines of ancient glyphs carved into the white stone. A gentle golden glow pulsed through the cracks. He landed on the cold surface, gasping, the gravity here inconsistent but mercifully real.
At the center of the ruin lay an altar. Upon it—something that wasn't quite a sword, and not quite a star.
It was a shard of pure crystal, cracked and bleeding faint light.
[System Notice: Object Identified – "Fragment of the First Star"]
Hayate reached out instinctively, but before his hand could touch it, the air shimmered.
A voice—soft, melodic, and sorrowful—filled the silence.
"You shouldn't be here, mortal child."
He froze. A woman's figure emerged from the light—a celestial spirit draped in robes that flowed like starlight. Her face was obscured, but her presence was… ancient.
"Who are you?" Hayate asked quietly.
"A whisper," she said. "A remnant of what the First Star once was. You… carry its enemy within you."
Her gaze—though veiled—pierced straight through him. "The Devouring Star. The god-eater. Do you even know what you've become?"
Hayate's chest tightened. "I didn't choose this."
"No one ever does."
She moved closer, her voice lowering to a near whisper. "But if you wish to survive, you must reclaim your balance. The Devourer hungers. If it consumes too much, even your soul will vanish."
He frowned. "And you'll help me?"
"I cannot help you," she said softly. "But I can guide you to what remains of your path."
She reached out, her fingers brushing his forehead. In an instant, visions flooded his mind—flashes of the Evil Goddess standing before a throne of broken halos; Lirien's silhouette, falling through a collapsing sky; a crimson moon devouring the stars above a burning city.
When the vision ended, Hayate collapsed to his knees, gasping.
"What… was that?"
"The future," the spirit said simply. "Unless you forge your own."
She turned, beginning to fade. "The Fragment can anchor you, but it demands a cost."
"What cost?" he asked sharply.
"Your humanity."
The light flared—and she was gone.
Hayate stared down at the cracked crystal. Its glow pulsed in rhythm with his heart. His reflection shimmered in its surface—half human, half something else.
He closed his eyes, breathing deeply.
"I already lost that the day I was betrayed."
His hand tightened around the crystal.
[New System Directive – Fragment Assimilation Commencing]
The light consumed him, swirling upward in a storm of gold and black energy.
The corpses of the gods stirred faintly as the void trembled.
Somewhere far away, the Evil Goddess opened her eyes.
"So… you finally awaken, my Devourer."
The Lost Star – Beneath the Silence of the Void (Part 2)
Light seared through the void.
For a heartbeat, Hayate's scream became the only sound in creation. The Fragment of the First Star dissolved into his body, flooding his veins with molten brilliance and shadows intertwined. Gold and black spiraled up his arms, etching lines across his skin that pulsed like constellations.
[Assimilation Progress: 73%… 81%… 91%]
Every memory he owned blurred—his world, his classmates, Lirien's voice. In their place came the roar of collapsing suns and the whisper of forgotten gods.
He fell forward onto the altar, gasping, half-expecting his soul to unravel.
Then—a hand caught his shoulder.
"Still as reckless as ever, aren't you, Hayate?"
The voice was gentle, teasing, impossibly familiar. He looked up—and froze.
A girl stood before him, her long indigo hair drifting as if underwater. Her eyes glowed faintly silver, the same color as the moon that once hung over the academy courtyard back in their old world.
"Ayumi…?" he whispered.
She smiled, faint and bittersweet. "Took you long enough to remember me."
His breath hitched. "But you— you died in the summoning…"
"Not exactly." She lifted her hand, showing a faint chain of light coiled around her wrist. "The goddess used me as a vessel when she tore open the rift. My body was destroyed—but my soul hid in the void."
The realization hit him like a sword through the ribs. She'd been here all along.
"Ayumi, I—"
She silenced him with a look. "Don't apologize. Just listen. The goddess plans to open the Gate again—this time to merge your world with hers. Billions will die if you don't stop her."
Hayate clenched his fists. The Devouring Star inside him pulsed harder, reacting to his anger.
[Warning: Resonance Surge Detected]
Ayumi stepped closer, placing a palm on his chest. "You're changing. The Fragment is trying to rewrite you into something divine. But you're still you. Hold on to that."
He met her eyes. "And if I can't?"
"Then I'll drag you back myself," she said, smiling sadly. "Just promise me one thing—when you face her, don't let hatred make you her reflection."
The void began to quake; cracks of golden lightning tore through the gray fog. The corpses of gods shuddered, pulled toward the vortex opening above them.
[System Alert: Spatial Integrity Failing — Anchor Stabilization Required Immediately]
Ayumi's form flickered. "Our time's almost up."
He reached for her, but his fingers passed through her fading silhouette.
"Wait—what about you?"
"I'll find my way out when you open the path," she said softly. "Until then… live."
Her voice dissolved into the windless silence. The last thing he saw was her smile—a promise and a farewell in one.
The Awakening
The Devouring Star erupted.
A column of light burst from Hayate's body, lancing through the void. Golden sigils circled him, merging with black fire. The corpse-gods bowed as if in worship before disintegrating into dust.
A new presence awoke within him—not entirely hostile, not entirely his.
[New Core Established – "Void Fragment Protocol" Active]
[Ability Unlocked: Stellar Rebirth – Form I: Half-Devourer]
Hayate floated upright, eyes burning with twin colors—one gold, one crimson. The aura around him distorted space itself, forming faint rings like those of a miniature planet.
"So this… is the power of the lost star," he murmured.
He extended his hand. The shattered altar reformed into a weapon—a hybrid between blade and staff, its edge rippling like liquid light. The Devouring Star hummed within it, alive and hungry.
But this time, he felt no fear.
"I am no god's pawn," he said quietly. "Not hers, not theirs."
He looked upward. Through the torn fabric of the void, he could see the faint outline of his world—the mortal realm—glimmering like a distant dream. A single step, and he would return.
[System Notice: Dimensional Anchor Reacquired]
[Return Possible in 10 Seconds]
The voice of the Evil Goddess echoed faintly across the emptiness.
"You can crawl back, my broken toy. But every step you take brings you closer to becoming me."
Hayate smirked. "Then you'd better be ready to hate your reflection."
The light swallowed him whole.
Back to the World
When the glare faded, he stood amid the ruins of Ashfall City. The air smelled of ash and rain; the sky, split by cracks of golden lightning. Lirien lay unconscious nearby, wings tattered but alive.
He exhaled shakily. "I made it back…"
Above, the clouds twisted into the faint image of a woman's face—the goddess, watching.
[Quest Updated: Return of the Devourer – Phase III Begins]
[New Sub-Quest Unlocked: Find Ayumi's Soul Fragment]
Hayate sheathed his glowing weapon and looked toward the horizon. "This time," he whispered, "I'll burn the heavens themselves if I must."
The Devouring Star pulsed in agreement.