His heart hammered in his chest, his organs buzzing inside his ribcage.
Clutching at his chest, Brain felt a sickening premonition screaming through his mind, as if the Grim Reaper had already laid a scythe across his neck.
"Something… is coming!"
Like a startled beast, Brain whipped around in the dense fog.
In front of him? Behind him? Above him?
But everywhere he looked, there was only that thickening, deathly white mist, so dense it seemed ready to swallow every trace of light and perception.
"Shhk—"
Without warning, an almost imperceptible sound rang out in the silent fog, like a blade slicing through cloth.
Then, a split second later—
A tearing pain exploded across his chest and abdomen.
Brain jerked his head down, eyes widening in disbelief.
At some point, his loose robe had already been slashed open.
A horrifying wound, deep enough to expose bone, ran from his abdomen all the way up to his chest, blood gushing out like a fountain.
It felt as though some invisible hand was cruelly trying to split his torso open while he was still alive.
And through that piercing pain, as one corner of the fog finally thinned, Shane's figure emerged once more.
At that moment, Shane was holding a bloodstained dagger in reverse grip, while his other hand still carried a completely out-of-place bouquet of flowers.
"So just meeting the 'foggy weather' condition for Maria the Ripper only deals raw damage," he muttered, looking at the wound on Brain's chest. There was no joy on his face from landing the sneak attack—only a hint of disappointment. "It can't use the curse to rip the opponent's organs out of their body, huh."
"The power's still a little lacking."
Ever since gaining these Noble Phantasms, Shane had always ended things in a single blow.
This was the first time he had ever seen one fail to finish the job, only seriously injuring the enemy instead.
Still, Shane did not dwell on it.
This was only a live combat test, after all. Jack's power hadn't even been fully drawn out yet, and he still had high hopes for it.
"A concealment spell I've never seen before… brat—no, 'Azurefall.' Talent like yours really does make people jealous."
Pressing a hand over his bleeding wound, Brain's voice was strangely calm.
"…"
Shane's gaze sharpened.
Something was wrong.
He had taken a wound this severe, so why was he acting so composed?
"Is this guy deliberately pretending to be weak? Or did he arrange something through telepathy just now without me noticing?"
Thoughts flashed through Shane's mind in an instant, but his hands never hesitated.
No matter what scheme the other side was plotting, striking first was never a bad idea.
Whoosh!
He kicked off the ground, his body bursting forward like a hunting leopard.
But just as he closed in on Brain, one of the tattoo marks on Brain's face vanished again.
That obvious change made Shane's movement falter for the briefest moment.
"Heh… that child of the night succeeded."
Ignoring the incoming blade, Brain spread his arms wide with a sickly look of devotion, as if embracing some sacred ritual.
"And that's supposed to be good news?" Shane's eyes turned icy. "What you should be worrying about right now is your own situation."
His dagger twisted mercilessly in his hand, turning into a cold flash of steel as he carved deep through Brain's body once again.
Pshhk!
Blood sprayed into the air.
And yet even after suffering such a horrific blow, Brain acted as though he felt no pain at all.
Lowering his head, he stared at the blood pouring from his body and mumbled like a man lost in a dream.
"Midnight… he is an exceptionally obedient, exceptionally excellent killing machine."
"Since he perfectly carried out my orders, forcing his way into the crowd and taking down that traitor Hoteye…"
"Then after going in alone and exposing his trump card, your people over there would definitely defeat him next, wouldn't they?"
Brain slowly lifted his head. His face was covered in blood, but the smile on it only grew more unhinged.
"After all… over there is my finest student—Jellal."
"I have quite a lot of faith in you all."
"…"
Hearing that utterly deranged logic, Shane frowned deeply.
Brain had discarded an unreliable ally without a second thought and even treated his own ace like a disposable piece meant to die.
What was the point of doing any of that?
Shane truly could not understand—and utterly despised—the way Brain treated his own people like game pieces.
With a cold snort, he drove a heavy kick into Brain's side, blasting him away like a rag doll.
"Gah—!"
Brain spat out a huge mouthful of blood in midair, his body smashing hard into a stone pillar several meters away before sliding down.
And at the very last moment, as his consciousness was about to vanish from blood loss and severe injuries, Brain clearly felt the "lock" that connected him to Midnight snap as well.
Collapsed in a pool of blood, he showed Shane a grotesquely twisted grin.
"You… are the last obstacle… in my plan."
"As long as I can clear everything away… even if it means waking 'him'… I'm willing…"
Before he could finish, Brain's head lolled to the side, and he passed out cold.
A breeze swept across the platform, carrying the smell of blood.
Shane stood there quietly, making no move to approach.
That was it? He didn't believe it.
The way Brain had acted just now was not the behavior of someone calmly accepting defeat.
To be safe, a flash of light passed over Shane's body as he decisively switched to Arash.
Drawing his great bow, he pinched a light arrow between his fingers and fired a probing shot.
"Go."
Whoosh!
At the exact moment the arrow was about to hit—
Bzzzzt—!!!
The air across the entire platform suddenly trembled violently, like water brought to a rolling boil.
A terrifying surge of magic power, so dense it felt almost tangible, exploded from Brain's unconscious body like a volcano that had been suppressed for far too long.
Within that violent torrent of power, Brain slowly rose to his feet.
And his once-clouded eyes had now turned a blood-chilling crimson.
"So there really is a problem."
Oddly enough, seeing this made Shane calmer.
He wasn't afraid of an enemy powering up.
What he hated was someone hiding their cards and waiting for a cheap sneak attack.
Without even checking the result of his first arrow, Shane reached into his equipment space, pulled out special physical "ammunition" made for Arash, and drew the bow to a full moon again.
"If I don't know what your deal is, then I'll just say hello with the purest kind of firepower."
He set an absurdly oversized spiral arrow onto the string.
Boom!
The spiral heavy arrow screamed through the air and blasted forward.
At the same time, a ghostly green barrier appeared out of nowhere amid the rampaging magic, forcefully blocking Shane's first light arrow.
An instant later, the second spiral arrow slammed into that barrier head-on, unleashing an ear-splitting explosion.
Crack.
The barrier shattered.
And the red-eyed man didn't dodge.
He actually thrust his chest forward and took it head-on.
The heavy arrow still had momentum left. It punched straight through his shoulder, tearing open a bloody hole the size of a fist.
"That hurts! It really hurts!!!"
He shouted like a maniac.
Shane's eyes narrowed.
It wasn't just the madness of the act.
He noticed that the wounds he had carved across the man's body with his dagger earlier had disappeared during that eruption of magic.
And more than that, this man's entire presence—even the frequency of his magical power—was completely different from the Brain just moments ago.
If Brain had been a venomous old serpent lurking in the dark, then this red-eyed man was a beast born solely for destruction and slaughter.
"You… are you still Brain?"
Keeping his bow drawn, Shane finally asked.
"Brain?"
The red-eyed man ripped off the tattered, blood-soaked outer robe, exposing a body packed with muscle.
"That weak coward who schemes like a worm for some pathetic plan and ambition?"
He laughed wildly and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"I am the true master of the Oración Seis!"
"I am… Zero!"
Zero casually wiped at the still-bleeding wound on his shoulder, his eyes blazing with feverish excitement.
"I noticed something. That troublesome fog around us is starting to clear. Looks like your abilities can't be used at the same time."
His crimson gaze locked onto Shane, naked destruction pulsing within it.
"Young, powerful, solidly built like a monster… you are way too perfect. I want to tear you apart piece by piece!!!"
"I see…"
The moment Shane heard those unrestrained ravings, every clue in his mind clicked into place.
"A hidden second personality? Or some other evil presence?"
Everything connected instantly.
Every time one member of the Oración Seis was defeated, one of the marks on Brain's face disappeared.
So the Oración Seis were actually the locks sealing this being called "Zero"?
No wonder Brain had been so calm in the face of death. He had even been willing to sacrifice all of his subordinates.
And this "Zero" before him really was overwhelming in a completely different way.
Shane could feel that violently unstable green magic in the air, so corrosive it seemed capable of eating away even space itself.
Whether it was the nature of that magic or the bottomless amount of it, Zero was on a completely different level from the Brain of moments earlier.
Whoosh!
Shane immediately retreated several dozen meters, putting a relatively safe distance between them.
Since physical arrows could hurt him, there was no reason to recklessly close in before learning all of the enemy's cards.
"What's wrong? Not in a hurry to beat me anymore?"
Watching Shane's cautious movements, Zero let out a twitchy laugh.
He raised a hand and pointed into the distance. "Then why don't you look over there? I'm almost at my destination."
"What do you mean?"
Shane's heart tightened. He immediately looked in the direction Zero was pointing.
Because of Nirvana's terrifying speed and massive size, from where they stood now he could already make out the faint outline of a village at the far end of the horizon.
And with Clairvoyance active, Shane saw far more.
In front of a shabby house that should have been deserted except for old Roubaul, a little girl with soft blue hair was staring up in terror at the moving city barreling toward her like some ancient beast. Then she turned in panic and ran back inside.
"That's… Wendy?"
Shane recognized the girl, though he had only met her once.
Back then, when she had been traveling with the "Jellal" from another world, they had crossed paths here.
Why was she here? And where had that guy from the other world gone?
"Hahahaha! Watch carefully, brat!"
Zero's deranged laughter cut through Shane's thoughts. Standing atop the platform, he thrust both hands downward in fanatical ecstasy.
"There's no need to get any closer! At this distance… it's already enough to erase that village from the map!"
At Zero's command—
Bzzzzzzt—!!!
The enormous city of Nirvana suddenly lurched to a halt. Then the very center of the city erupted with dazzling light.
Purple-black magic power, vast enough to suffocate anyone who saw it, surged toward the cannon like a tidal wave, forming a massive vortex of energy.
If that attack fired, not just that little village—even the mountain range stretching behind it and every living thing there—would be swallowed by Nirvana's light in an instant, their good and evil forcibly reversed.
"Tch."
Looking at the beam cannon on the verge of firing, Shane clicked his tongue in irritation.
What he hated most was dragging other people into his own fights.
"Haa…"
He closed his eyes and slowly exhaled a long stream of white breath.
When he opened them again, his calm black pupils had turned gold.
Not a ripple remained in them now—only absolute coldness and resolve.
If you want to use a beam cannon, then I'll crush you with one of my own.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A powerful heartbeat boomed through Shane's body like an ancient war drum—the roar of a dragon's furnace heart.
His body slowly rose into the air, his black hair frosting white strand by strand under the surging magic.
Both his hands closed around empty space, and a pure, sacred blue radiance—something so pristine it felt capable of driving away every shadow in existence—compressed and burst forth wildly in his palms.
'I need to end this fast. The moment this strike is over, I have to move everyone out of here.'
After all, there was still a black dragon lurking somewhere in the dark. That was the real reason Shane had never directly unleashed Lancer's Noble Phantasm until now.
"So that's the move they say you used to defeat one of the Ten Wizard Saints?"
Looking up at Shane, floating in midair with white hair streaming like a god descending to earth, Zero laughed arrogantly.
"How beautiful… so beautiful it makes me want to rip it to pieces immediately!"
Throwing his head back, Zero laughed wildly. He pointed first at Nirvana's main cannon, still crazily charging in the distance, then at himself, grinning in blatant provocation.
"So what'll it be, brat? Will you use that move to stop Nirvana—or to attack me?"
"Maybe if you kill me, Nirvana will stop too. Want to gamble on it?"
Shane wasn't affected in the slightest by the crude taunt. His golden eyes looked down on Zero with glacial contempt.
"I'll deal with that pile of scrap metal first…"
As he spoke, that flawless azure beam—beautiful as if it had gathered all the light of the stars and sea—reappeared in the world with a single sweeping motion from Shane's hand.
Like a colossal pillar of light capable of splitting the world in two, it blasted toward Nirvana's swollen purple-black cannon muzzle with unstoppable destructive force.
Inside the village, old Roubaul held the trembling Wendy tightly in his arms, his clouded eyes filled with shock.
"This magic power!"
"How is this possible? In this age… there's still a human who can unleash an attack powerful enough to clash head-on with Nirvana?"
"Grandpa Roubaul…" Wendy hid in the old man's arms, her tiny shoulders shaking, her voice thick with tears. "Are we going to die?"
"…"
Roubaul fell silent for a moment, then gently rubbed the girl's head with his rough hand.
"No, child. It's just that… under the aftershock of this power, there's a chance you may no longer remain yourself."
"Really…?"
Wendy blinked, only half understanding. Yet for some reason, she could feel the suffocating sorrow hidden inside that sentence.
And in the deepest part of her consciousness, a giant dragon covered in pure white feathers suddenly opened its eyes.
Sensing the violent power outside, the Sky Dragon Grandeeney's eyes filled with confusion and shock.
"This aura…"
"Why… is there still a dragon out there with such pure dragonic presence? And one that hasn't been hunted down by Acnologia?"
Through Wendy's body, Grandeeney's senses locked onto the young figure radiating light in the sky from far away.
"This is madness! In this era, releasing dragon presence of this level so openly…"
"That insane dragon will definitely notice him!!!!"
No matter what the people and dragons outside thought—
Within this world drowned in blinding light—
BOOM—!!!!!
The azure light of the holy spear and Nirvana's purple-black magic cannon crashed into each other in midair with no tricks, no flourish, just sheer force meeting sheer force.
And in that instant, the world seemed to lose all sound.
Then, a visible ring of terrifying shockwave exploded outward.
The clouds in the sky were torn apart instantly, and the vast forest below was ripped up by the roots like brittle weeds.
The blinding radiance robbed every living thing of sight.
A long, long while passed before the world-ending storm of magic finally began to subside.
"Hah… hah…"
Suspended in midair, Shane's chest rose and fell faintly. Releasing two Noble Phantasms in succession had left his breathing slightly rough.
"Did that finish it?"
He looked down at the city of Nirvana below him, its main cannon completely melted away and belching thick smoke, a trace of fatigue flickering in his eyes.
But before his taut nerves could relax even for a moment—
"You're too arrogant! And far too naive… Azurefall!!!"
Zero's cruel, frenzied voice exploded at his ear like a curse clinging to bone.
"Eternal Dark… Erasure!!!"
At some point, Zero had already pushed through the aftermath of the magical storm, charging in like a bloodthirsty beast until he was less than half a meter away in midair.
His right hand was raised high, a dense mass of green magic so thick it looked almost solid, devouring even light like a miniature black hole, smashing straight toward Shane's head.
"So you really did pick this moment for a sneak attack."
There wasn't the slightest panic in Shane's eyes. He had already expected this. Just as he was about to spread his wings and pull back—
A terrifying gravity beyond words suddenly descended from above without warning.
Under that absolute pressure, even the surrounding air seemed to solidify into blocks of lead.
Both Shane and Zero were pinned in midair at the same time, their every movement crushed to a halt. Even breathing became painfully difficult, their bones groaning under the strain.
"What is this?!"
The two of them roared inwardly in shock.
With enormous effort, they both looked up toward the sky overhead.
At some point, the sun had been completely blotted out.
A gigantic black warship, vast as a moving island, hovered silently above them, casting down a shadow so immense it inspired despair.
Then a voice came from atop that colossal ship—ancient, cold, and carrying unquestionable authority.
"No. It is the two of you…"
"...who have both been far too arrogant, little brats."
And with that old voice passing judgment, an incomparably intricate magic circle, radiating a terrifying aura, instantly formed in the void beneath the warship.
"Amaterasu… Formula 28!!!"
BOOM!!!
A dark violet pillar of destruction, more than a hundred meters wide and carrying enough annihilating force to erase all matter and magic, crashed down from the heavens.