The Hollow Sky wasn't a place.
It was a wound.
The horizon tore open before Hayate like a bleeding scar across the heavens. Shards of shattered light drifted upward, caught in the pull of invisible gravity. Each fragment hummed faintly — remnants of divine realms devoured by time itself.
He stood at the edge of the chasm, the air trembling with the weight of divine energy. It was as if the world itself wanted to reject him — the intruder, the devourer, the broken star reborn in mortal flesh.
[System Notice: Dimensional Barrier detected.]
Warning — Entry not advised. Probability of complete disintegration: 73%.
Hayate smiled faintly. "Then that means there's a 27% chance I live. That's enough."
He stepped forward.
The moment his foot crossed the veil, reality screamed.
A force like molten glass ripped across his body, peeling away his mortal form, burning away every impurity that dared exist within him. The black sigil on his chest pulsed wildly, stabilizing the collapsing fragments of his soul.
[System Stabilization: Initiating auto-sync – Core Resonance unlocked.]
The world around him twisted.
He was falling — not downward, but inward. Through memories not his own. Through timelines shattered long before his rebirth. He saw flashes — a crimson sun devoured by darkness, gods warring beneath silver oceans, a woman with golden eyes whispering his name.
"Rengoku… Hayate."
That voice — it wasn't the goddess who betrayed them. It was someone else. Softer. Colder. Familiar.
And then — impact.
He crashed onto a floor made of starlight.
When the pain faded, Hayate rose to his feet and finally saw it — the Divine Ruins.
It was an endless field of broken temples floating in the void, each tethered to one another by chains of light. Statues of long-forgotten deities drifted through the dark, their eyes cracked open as faint blue tears streamed down stone faces.
And in the center of it all stood a single throne.
Empty — but alive.
[System Analysis: Unknown power detected.]
Origin — beyond the current world's divine hierarchy. Caution advised.
Hayate tightened his grip on his sword and advanced slowly. Every step echoed like thunder.
As he approached, faint shapes flickered to life around the throne — holographic remnants of divine beings long dead. Their whispers filled the air.
"He's returned…""The False Star still carries the mark…""He devoured the light, and now he seeks the truth…"
Their murmurs grew louder until a figure materialized upon the throne — translucent, radiant, and impossibly serene. A woman in tattered divine robes, her hair flowing like starlit silk.
Her eyes opened — and galaxies swirled within them.
"So… you've come again."
Hayate froze. "Again?"
The woman smiled sadly. "You never learn, child of the void. Every cycle, you destroy. Every rebirth, you devour. Why do you still pretend you are human?"
Her words struck deeper than any blade. "You're saying I've… done this before?"
"Not once. A thousand times. You, the Devouring Star, the calamity born from divine hunger. Even gods feared the day you'd awaken again."
He staggered back. His chest ached as if those memories were trying to burst free. "No… I was human. I am human."
The woman's gaze softened. "You were. Once. But the moment you accepted the Devourer's Mark, you ceased being bound by life or death. You became what the gods feared most — balance broken."
He clenched his fists. "Then why am I here? Why did that goddess summon me? If I'm a monster, why not kill me?"
She rose from the throne. Her form flickered like fading fire. "Because she cannot. You are the cycle itself. She needs you to destroy the divine order so she can rebuild it in her image. And when you're done…"
Her eyes dimmed. "She will devour you."
Silence.
Hayate's mind raced. Rage and dread twisted inside him, but so did curiosity — and an emotion he couldn't name.
[System Notification: Emotional instability detected.]
Warning — System synchronization disrupted. Core at risk.
"System," he muttered, "show me the truth. All of it."
[Processing request…]
Warning — accessing sealed archives. Consequences irreversible. Proceed?
"Do it."
Light erupted. His body went rigid as waves of memory surged through him.
He saw it — everything.
A throne of black suns.
Worlds burning in his name.
A woman — the same one now standing before him — smiling through tears as she whispered, "Next time, please remember who you are before you destroy us again."
And then — nothing.
The vision shattered.
Hayate fell to his knees, gasping, trembling. The System's voice was faint now, almost trembling itself.
[Archive unlocked. Identity confirmed.]
Designation: The Devouring Star.
Origin: Beyond mortal creation.
His breathing steadied. "So that's what I am… a weapon of rebirth and ruin."
He laughed — a hollow, broken laugh that echoed through the ruins. "Then maybe it's time I chose who I destroy."
The woman's voice trembled. "You think you can control it? That hunger? It will consume you!"
"Then I'll devour the hunger too," he said, standing. "If I'm truly the Devouring Star, then I'll decide what I become."
The throne behind her cracked. The ruins began to shake. The entire Hollow Sky was collapsing.
[System Alert: Spatial disintegration imminent!]
Hayate's aura flared — black and red, threaded with golden streaks. His body hovered above the trembling floor, his eyes burning like twin eclipses.
He extended his arm toward the throne.
"I don't care if I was a god or a monster. But this time… I'm ending the goddess who dared use me."
The woman smiled faintly as her body began to dissolve. "Then perhaps… this cycle will finally end."
Her last words faded into the wind.
And then, from the collapsing throne, a single fragment floated toward him — a golden feather, glowing with divine light.
He reached out, caught it — and the instant his fingers touched it, the world exploded into color.
He was back in the mortal realm, standing beneath the shattered Hollow Sky. The ruins behind him were gone — replaced by an infinite horizon of swirling clouds and divine storms.
In his hand, the feather pulsed.
[System Integration Complete.]
New Skill Unlocked: Celestial Authority – First Stage: Voice of the Star.
"Voice of the Star, huh?" he muttered, looking toward the heavens. "Then listen closely, goddess… your creation just found his voice."
A crack of thunder split the sky. Far above, a shadow moved — a faint silhouette of divine wings unfurling.
She had felt it. The goddess.
She knew he was coming.
Hayate smiled, sliding his sword across his back. His eyes gleamed with crimson light.
"Let's begin round two."
The wind howled as he stepped forward, his cloak billowing behind him like a storm given form.
And far above, the heavens trembled — as the first ripple of rebellion began.