Kazuto moved.
Not with the speed of lightning.
Not with the overwhelming pressure of the abyss clawing through the fractured heavens above Valthorin.
But with something far more terrifying.
Resolve.
The shattered summit trembled beneath his steps while violent storms of compressed wind spiraled around his body in expanding rings powerful enough to tear apart the surrounding ruins, and above him the broken sky groaned endlessly beneath the weight of the abyss forcing itself deeper into reality.
Dozens of enormous pale hands now stretched through the fracture, clawing slowly against the heavens like imprisoned gods attempting to drag the world itself into darkness.
The air had become poison.
Mana storms ripped through the valley below.
Reality distorted continuously around the widening breach.
And yet—
One exhausted human still walked forward with a sword in his hand.
The Lonely King watched silently.
The second eye remained fixed entirely upon Kazuto now, unblinking as the mortal approached the abyssal creature writhing beneath the fracture while the massive crown still hovered motionless above the battlefield.
Kyūsei forced himself upright despite the pain tearing through his body.
"Kazuto!"
Kazuto didn't stop walking.
The winds surrounding him intensified further.
The compressed mana gathering around his blade had reached terrifying levels now, so dense that the sword itself no longer looked entirely physical. Thin fractures spread through the surrounding space each time the blade shifted slightly, as though reality could no longer withstand the pressure contained within it.
Blood continued dripping steadily from Kazuto's hands.
From his arms.
From countless cuts spreading across his body.
His own power was destroying him.
Yet still—
He walked.
The abyssal creature slowly raised its head toward him, its shattered form trembling beneath both its own unstable power and the crushing authority of the Lonely King beyond the breach.
Darkness erupted violently around it again.
Its voice distorted across the battlefield like countless screams overlapping together.
MORTAL INSIGNIFICANCE.
Kazuto sighed tiredly.
"Yeah, I've heard that one already."
Then he vanished.
The summit exploded apart beneath the force of his movement as compressed wind detonated outward behind him in a catastrophic shockwave, launching shattered stone across the battlefield while Kazuto himself crossed the distance between them instantly.
The creature reacted immediately.
Hundreds of black blades erupted from the darkness around its body, tearing through reality toward Kazuto from every direction simultaneously.
But this time—
Kazuto did not dodge.
He swung once.
A single horizontal slash.
The world split open.
An invisible wave of compressed wind erupted outward hard enough to carve directly through the incoming storm of abyssal blades, shattering them instantly before continuing forward into the creature itself.
The impact detonated like a divine judgment.
The abyssal creature screamed as massive fractures spread across its body, entire sections of darkness peeling away from its form while the surrounding atmosphere collapsed inward from the sheer force of the strike.
Yet somehow—
It survived.
Barely.
Kyūsei's eyes widened.
Even that wasn't enough?
The creature staggered backward violently before roaring again, and suddenly every massive hand descending through the fractured heavens moved simultaneously toward Kazuto.
The sky itself darkened beneath them.
Each enormous hand carried enough pressure to annihilate entire cities merely through contact.
And they were all descending at once.
"KAZUTO!" Kyūsei shouted.
Kazuto looked upward.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
Weakly.
Completely exhausted.
"…seriously?" he muttered. "All of you against one guy?"
The first hand descended.
Kazuto stepped forward.
Wind exploded around him again.
He swung upward.
The colossal hand split apart instantly.
A massive line carved directly through its center as abyssal darkness erupted across the heavens like black blood spilling from a god.
But the second hand followed immediately.
Then the third.
Then dozens more.
The battlefield vanished beneath destruction.
Every slash from Kazuto shattered mountains of abyssal flesh apart while catastrophic shockwaves ripped through the valley below, yet the hands kept descending endlessly from the widening fracture above.
Too many.
Even for him.
Kyūsei realized it instantly.
Kazuto was losing strength.
Each strike became slightly slower.
His breathing rougher.
The wounds across his body deeper.
But somehow—
His sword still had not fallen.
The Lonely King continued watching silently from beyond the breach.
The second eye narrowed slightly.
Not in anger.
In confusion.
Because Kazuto should have surrendered already.
Any rational being would have.
Yet the human continued fighting against impossible odds without hesitation.
The abyss did not understand.
And perhaps—
Neither did Kazuto himself.
Another enormous hand crashed downward.
Kazuto destroyed it.
A second later, a black spear of condensed abyssal energy tore through the battlefield from the creature below.
Kazuto twisted aside barely in time, though the attack still ripped across his side violently, sending blood spraying across the shattered summit.
Kyūsei's chest tightened painfully.
"KAZUTO!"
Kazuto stumbled briefly.
Only briefly.
Then he planted the sword against the ground and forced himself upright again through sheer stubbornness alone.
"…still alive," he coughed weakly.
The abyssal creature roared furiously.
It was terrified now.
Because despite everything it unleashed—
The human still stood.
The Lonely King spoke quietly from beyond the heavens.
Why do you continue?
The battlefield trembled softly.
Kazuto glanced upward while blood dripped from his chin.
Then he smiled.
Not proudly.
Not heroically.
Simply honestly.
"Because people are counting on me."
Silence.
The abyss did not understand.
Kazuto looked back toward Kyūsei briefly.
Toward Lena.
Toward the others still standing despite the apocalypse surrounding them.
Then upward again toward the fractured heavens.
"I'm scared too," he admitted quietly.
Kyūsei froze.
The winds around Kazuto weakened slightly.
"I don't want to die here."
The confession felt painfully human beneath the collapsing sky.
"But if I run away now…" Kazuto continued softly, "…then everyone else loses their chance to keep living."
The second eye remained completely still.
Watching.
Listening.
Kazuto slowly lifted the sword once more.
His hands trembled badly now.
But his eyes still burned with terrifying determination.
"So until my body finally gives out," he said quietly, "I'll keep swinging."
And for the first time since the abyss descended upon Valthorin—
The Lonely King lowered its gaze.