Darkness swallowed everything.
No stars.
No sound.
No warmth.
Only chains.
Shiro knelt silently at the center of a ruined chamber deep beneath Raiku's domain, wrists bound in black restraints carved with ancient suppression runes. The floor beneath him was stained with old blood, fresh blood, and the kind of suffering that seeped into stone permanently.
Time barely existed here.
That was intentional.
Raiku preferred it that way.
Because when time lost meaning—
so did hope.
Shiro's breathing was uneven. Slow. Exhausted.
His body was covered in wounds that no longer healed properly. Burn scars crossed over shattered purple scales while fresh cuts layered over older ones repeatedly. Entire sections of his skin were marked with curse brands designed specifically to punish regeneration.
Raiku sat nearby watching quietly.
Patiently.
Like a teacher waiting for a student to finally break correctly.
"You're adapting slower now," Raiku observed calmly.
Shiro said nothing.
That earned him another strike.
The whip cracked across his back hard enough to rupture the floor beneath him.
Not physical damage.
Soul damage.
The kind that lingered.
Shiro's body jerked violently against the restraints before stilling again.
Raiku sighed.
"You used to scream more."
Still—
nothing.
And honestly?
That irritated Raiku more.
Because pain was easy.
Pain broke eventually.
Silence was harder.
A disciple standing near the chamber entrance shifted nervously.
"Master… his energy readings are becoming unstable again."
Raiku glanced toward the trembling readings across the floating runes.
Then toward Shiro.
"…Again?"
The suppression chains trembled suddenly.
Once.
Then twice.
A low sound echoed through the chamber.
Not a roar.
Not a scream.
Breathing.
Heavy breathing.
Shiro's head remained lowered.
But something beneath his skin started glowing faintly.
Purple.
Then darker.
Then something deeper than color entirely.
Raiku's eyes narrowed slightly.
Interesting.
The Fifth Gate was reacting.
---
Elsewhere—
far beyond the chamber—
Satre suddenly collapsed to one knee inside the Tower of Myths.
Yura reacted immediately.
"Satre!"
Golden future sight exploded uncontrollably around her body while fragmented timelines spiraled through the air like broken glass.
Pain.
Chains.
Blood.
Shiro.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Amelia's expression darkened instantly.
"He's suffering right now."
Not a question.
A fact.
Because the bond between them had become too deep now.
Too connected.
The stronger Shiro became—
the more all of them could feel each other.
And right now—
what they felt from him was horrifying.
---
Back inside the chamber—
Shiro's body convulsed violently.
The chains restraining him began cracking slowly beneath expanding pressure.
Raiku finally stood.
For the first time in days—
his expression became serious.
The air changed.
Destruction magic leaked outward from Shiro unconsciously now, twisting gravity around him while spatial fractures spread across the chamber walls.
One disciple stumbled backward in fear.
"W-what is happening to him—"
Then Shiro finally looked up.
And the disciple forgot how to breathe.
His eyes had changed.
The Destruction Dragon Eyes no longer glowed normally.
Now they resembled collapsing stars drowning inside endless void.
Not rage.
Not hatred.
Something worse.
Acceptance.
The kind born from prolonged suffering.
Raiku noticed immediately.
"…There it is."
Shiro's voice emerged hoarse and broken.
"You wanted… to hollow me out."
The Fifth Magic Gate shattered open.
The explosion that followed erased half the chamber instantly.
---
Across the multiverse—
countless destruction-aligned beings suddenly froze.
Dragons lifted their heads simultaneously.
Ancient monsters buried beneath dead worlds awakened briefly.
Even distant gods paused.
Because something catastrophic had just evolved.
---
The chamber walls folded inward under pressure as raw destruction energy flooded reality uncontrollably.
The chains binding Shiro disintegrated.
Not broken.
Erased.
His body slowly rose from the ground.
Dark purple scales spread fully across his arms and neck while burning destruction markings pulsed like living fractures beneath his skin. Massive wings unfolded behind him violently, tearing through suppression barriers with enough force to rupture dimensions nearby.
Every breath distorted space.
Every heartbeat shook the chamber.
Raiku's disciples collapsed instantly beneath the pressure.
Some died immediately.
Others simply stopped functioning mentally.
Because the thing standing before them no longer felt human.
Shiro flexed his fingers slowly.
Then paused.
His own body felt unfamiliar now.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Wrong.
The Fifth Gate had not granted him peace.
It had weaponized his suffering.
Veil of the Guardian evolved first.
His combat instincts no longer required conscious thought. Every possible movement, counterattack, kill angle, defensive transition, and weakness unfolded around him automatically like future predictions written directly into muscle memory.
Shadowfang Ascendant followed.
Every weapon in existence suddenly felt understandable.
Natural.
Like extensions waiting to be claimed.
Then the Destruction Dragon Eyes deepened further.
Shiro saw everything.
The structure of the chamber.
The weaknesses in the barriers.
The fear inside the disciples.
The microscopic instability inside the suppression runes.
The exact angle required to erase all of it simultaneously.
And worst of all—
he could see himself changing.
Raiku smiled faintly.
Not afraid.
Proud.
"You're finally becoming useful."
Shiro moved.
The nearest disciple exploded.
No windup.
No visible attack.
One moment alive.
The next reduced to scattered blood and collapsing matter.
The remaining disciples panicked instantly.
Raiku didn't.
Because this—
this was what he wanted.
To tear Shiro apart until only power remained.
Another disciple attacked desperately.
Shiro caught the blade barehanded.
Then slowly crushed the weapon—
and the disciple holding it—
into black distortion ash.
The Fifth Gate continued expanding.
Destruction magic flooded endlessly outward while dimensional fractures spread across the underground prison.
Far away—
inside the Tower of Myths—
Satre clutched her chest violently.
Yura froze the surrounding room instinctively as her own aura surged.
Amelia's blood magic erupted around her body uncontrollably.
Because all three women felt the same terrifying realization simultaneously.
Shiro was becoming stronger.
Far stronger.
But emotionally—
he was disappearing.
---
Back in the chamber—
Raiku approached him calmly despite the devastation.
Shiro stared at him silently.
For a brief moment—
the entire chamber trembled from conflicting pressure alone.
Then Raiku placed a hand against Shiro's chest directly over the burning Fifth Gate.
And smiled.
"Good," he whispered.
"Now suffer more."