The moment the third presence began approaching the breach, the atmosphere across the ruined valley changed so violently that even the abyssal entities drifting beyond the fractured heavens seemed to recoil instinctively, their colossal silhouettes retreating deeper into the endless darkness as though making way for something infinitely more ancient than themselves.
That alone was enough to terrify Kyūsei.
Until now, despite the overwhelming horror of everything unfolding above Valthorin, some desperate part of his mind had still been trying to categorize the things beyond the breach as creatures—monsters, gods, invaders, something that could eventually be understood through names and forms.
But this—
This did not feel like a creature approaching.
It felt like a law awakening.
The fractured heavens trembled violently.
Not from impact.
From anticipation.
The enormous eyes suspended beyond reality slowly shifted downward together, their endless gaze focusing entirely upon the widening darkness beneath them where something vast had begun rising through the abyssal sea.
And suddenly—
The whispers inside Kyūsei's head fell silent.
That frightened him more than the voices ever had.
Because for the first time since the abyss began speaking to him, even it seemed cautious.
The pale hand descending through the fracture stopped moving completely, its enormous fingers frozen midair while black markings across its surface pulsed rapidly like living chains struggling to contain something deeper within the darkness beyond.
Kyūsei's breathing became uneven again.
Every instinct screamed the same thing.
Don't look.
But slowly—
Inevitably—
He looked anyway.
At first he saw nothing.
Only darkness shifting beneath the eyes.
Then the abyss moved.
An enormous silhouette passed slowly beneath the fractured heavens, so impossibly massive that Kyūsei's mind struggled to comprehend its scale correctly. Entire storms of abyssal energy spiraled around it like drifting mist while distant entities scattered away from its path in silent retreat.
Yet somehow—
Its shape remained unclear.
Not because it lacked form.
Because reality itself seemed unable to fully process what it was seeing.
Every time Kyūsei tried focusing on it directly, the outline changed.
A giant cloaked figure walking through black oceans.
A throne carried by chains stretching endlessly into darkness.
A colossal skeletal beast covered in burning symbols.
Then suddenly—
A human silhouette.
Tall.
Motionless.
Watching.
Kyūsei's heart nearly stopped.
For the briefest instant, the figure beyond the breach looked directly at him.
And smiled.
Pain exploded through his skull instantly.
Visions flooded his consciousness with unbearable force.
He saw stars dying across endless voids.
He saw entire worlds swallowed beneath oceans of shadow.
He saw civilizations kneeling before black gates larger than continents.
And above all of it—
A throne standing alone in darkness while countless chained figures bowed endlessly toward the person sitting upon it.
No.
Not person.
Presence.
Something wrapped in endless shadow.
Something lonely.
Then the vision shifted again.
The throne was empty.
And somewhere far away—
A child cried alone beneath a black sky.
Kyūsei staggered violently backward, clutching his head while blood streamed from his nose onto the broken summit.
"Kyūsei!" Kazuto caught him immediately before he collapsed.
The visions vanished.
But the feeling remained.
Loneliness.
Endless.
Unbearable.
Ancient beyond comprehension.
Kyūsei trembled violently.
"…it's suffering," he whispered without understanding why.
Silence spread across the summit.
Even the abyssal creature below the breach remained perfectly still now, its countless eyes fixed reverently upon the approaching presence hidden beyond the fractured heavens.
Kazuto stared at Kyūsei carefully.
"What did you see?"
Kyūsei struggled to answer.
Because the images inside his mind no longer felt entirely alien.
Parts of them felt familiar.
Not remembered.
Recognized.
"I…" His voice shook badly. "…I think something in there has been alone for a very long time."
The moment he spoke those words, the second eye beyond the breach widened slightly.
Interested.
The whispers returned immediately.
Soft.
Almost mournful.
He remembers sorrow.
Kyūsei's chest tightened painfully.
No.
Not he.
You.
The abyss kept speaking as though he already belonged to whatever waited beyond the fracture.
Kazuto's expression darkened instantly as if reaching the same conclusion.
"…we're ending this now," he muttered.
The winds surrounding him exploded violently once more.
Not wild.
Focused.
The compressed mana gathering around his blade had become terrifyingly dense now, to the point where the surrounding atmosphere continuously split apart into thin glowing fractures each time the sword moved even slightly.
His body, however, was reaching its absolute limit.
The cuts covering his skin had deepened.
Blood dripped constantly from his fingertips.
Even standing required visible effort now.
Yet he still stepped forward.
Toward the abyss.
Toward the impossible presence hidden behind the heavens.
Kyūsei grabbed his arm immediately.
"Kazuto, stop!"
Kazuto glanced back.
"If that thing fully wakes up," he said quietly, "we lose."
"You'll die if you use more mana!"
Kazuto smiled faintly.
"Then I'll just survive afterward."
"That's not how this works!"
"It has worked surprisingly often so far."
Despite everything, Kyūsei almost yelled at him.
The idiot was impossible.
But before either of them could speak again—
The sky split open wider.
Not gradually.
Violently.
A massive crack tore downward through the heavens above Valthorin like reality itself had just been ripped apart from the inside, and immediately an overwhelming wave of abyssal energy exploded outward across the battlefield hard enough to flatten entire sections of the ruined city below.
Everyone on the summit staggered.
Even Garron dropped to one knee beneath the pressure.
The eyes above the breach slowly moved aside.
And something emerged.
Not fully.
Only partially.
Yet that alone was enough to make the world scream.
A black crown.
Ancient.
Broken.
Covered in endless chains.
It rose slowly from the abyss beneath the eyes, suspended above the endless darkness like the remains of a forgotten king, while enormous symbols burned across its surface in pale silver light.
The moment Kyūsei saw it—
The abyss inside him pulsed violently.
Not fearfully.
Not hungrily.
Yearning.
And suddenly, from somewhere impossibly deep within his soul, a memory surfaced that did not belong to either Earth or this world.
A voice.
Gentle.
Tired.
Whispering softly in endless darkness.
"Return to the throne."