The Harrower lunged.
Its claw ripped through the air, splitting clouds like torn fabric. Black lightning crackled from the wound in the sky as the monstrous arm descended toward Ryu and Hana with the force of a falling mountain.
Ryu tightened his grip around Hana's waist.
His scythe spun behind him, leaving a trail of swirling obsidian fire.
"Hold on."
KRAAASH—!
The claw smashed down—
Ryu shot upward with a burst of shadow, dodging by inches. The shockwave alone made Hana scream, clinging to him as the clouds ruptured beneath them.
The Harrower's voice was a choir of the damned:
"HEIR OF DEATH… YOU SHALL NOT EXIST."
Ryu's wings snapped open, scattering shards of black light.
"Funny," he said coldly. "I was about to say the same."
He kicked off the air itself, propelling forward at impossible speed. His scythe glowed with runes, each one humming like a heartbeat.
SWISH—BLAAAM!
The blade cleaved through the Harrower's shoulder.
Dark ichor—thick and glowing like molten night—splattered across the sky. The monster roared, its scream shaking the entire city below.
Hana gasped.
She had never seen anything like this—Ryu was not human anymore. His form radiated death, power, and something ancient… something terrifying.
Yet she didn't feel afraid.
Not of him.
Only for him.
"Ryu, behind you!"
A second claw swung from the swirling void.
Ryu twisted midair, shadows whipping around him—
CRACK—!!
The claw still grazed his back.
Ryu grunted, blood spraying into the wind. His wings shuddered.
Hana grabbed him. "Ryu! You're hurt!"
"I'm fine," he said through clenched teeth.
But the pain burned like fire.
The Harrower's wound sealed itself instantly, and it lunged again. Its body began to solidify—becoming real.
Ryu's eyes widened.
"No… it's stabilizing too fast."
If the Harrower fully manifested, the entire world could fall into permanent night.
He looked at Hana.
Her expression was terrified—yet she still held onto him as tightly as she could.
"Ryu," she whispered, "you can win, right?"
His heartbeat throbbed in his ears.
In that moment, he remembered something his father once told him:
> "The Reaper's power grows stronger when someone believes in them."
Ryu raised his scythe.
"Hana… I need your help."
"M-My help!? I can't fight!"
"You don't need to."
He placed his forehead against hers.
"Just trust me. Completely."
Her breath caught.
Then—she nodded.
"I trust you."
The shadows exploded around them.
Ryu's aura surged—doubling, tripling—like a star collapsing into itself.
The scythe burned with blinding black flame.
Ryu shouted—
"SOULBINDER — OVERDRIVE!"
The sky turned pitch black.
The Harrower roared in fury as a gigantic sphere of shadow wrapped around it, chains of pure spectral energy lashing onto its limbs.
"YOU DARE—!"
"Yes," Ryu growled. "I dare."
He pulled the scythe back.
The world seemed to go silent.
Then—
FWOOM—!!!
Ryu swung.
The chains detonated.
The sphere imploded.
The Harrower's body shattered into a million screaming fragments of shadow.
Its final cry echoed across the heavens—
"THE DAWN OF SHADOWS… HAS ONLY BEGUN…"
The demon disintegrated.
The sigil vanished.
The sky slowly returned to calm.
Ryu and Hana fell, drifting gently as the shadows cushioned their descent. Ryu's wings dissolved, his scythe fading.
He landed on the school rooftop, collapsing to one knee.
"Ryu!" Hana knelt beside him. "Hey—hey! Stay with me!"
He was pale.
His breathing was shallow.
The fight and the Overdrive had drained almost everything.
"Hana…" he whispered.
"Yes!?"
Ryu looked at her with soft, tired eyes.
"Don't… let go."
She wrapped her arms around him.
"I won't."
Ryu closed his eyes—
Too exhausted to stand—
And the last thing he felt…
…was Hana holding him tightly as sirens, screams, and the distant rise of new horrors echoed across the night.
---