Outside the Nexus, Leon was still holding on.
His body was covered in wounds. His clothes were partially torn, leaving tattered rags from weapon slashes. Fresh blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, soaked his arms, and dripped from his forehead — blurring the vision of his increasingly heavy eyes. Lokantaka was still clutched in his hand, but the weight of the weapon now felt many times heavier because his arm trembled violently.
Behind him, the footsteps of the Hydra soldiers grew closer. The encirclement slowly tightened, locking every escape route.
And right before him, Aiiro and Shiro still stood tall without any significant wounds.
Aiiro smiled triumphantly. "You cannot run. You cannot hold on. You are only..." He looked at Leon with clear contempt. "...delaying your death."
Leon did not answer. His eyes still blazed red — but that red gleam was beginning to dim, leaving behind extraordinary exhaustion.
---
Aiiro raised both hands to his forehead. His indigo eyes glowed brightly, emitting invisible waves that immediately pierced Leon's head.
"Enough playing."
BZZZZT—!
Those foreign whispers buzzed again. This time louder, more intense, echoing inside his skull like thousands of raging wasps. Leon clutched his head, which felt like it was about to explode. He could not think clearly. Every time he tried to focus, horrifying false shadows attacked from the corners of his eyes, distorting the reality around him.
On the other side, Shiro still did not move. However, the pale white light at his fingertips began to glow again — not a blinding radiance, but a kind of cold ember ready to burn anything to ash. Shiro was locking down Leon's movements, waiting for the perfect moment to deliver an execution strike.
Thud.
Leon's physical defense finally collapsed. He fell to his knees on the ground. Lokantaka trembled violently, nearly slipping from his weakened grip.
With the last shred of remaining resolve, Leon forced his energy out. "Dark Edge..." he whispered hoarsely.
Statt…
Sparks of dark energy briefly wrapped around his blade, but that energy only flickered weakly for one second, then went out completely. His body refused to release magic.
Aiiro laughed with satisfaction at the pitiful sight. "You see? Your energy is gone. Your strength is gone. Everything is gone. You are nothing more than prey waiting for its end."
Leon could not retort. His vision grew darker, and the pain in his head from Aiiro's magic became increasingly torturous. However, when his consciousness was on the brink between life and death, suddenly all the buzzing noise in his head fell silent at once.
Deep within Leon, a voice that had been silent for a very long time finally spoke again. It echoed, heavy and authoritative.
"Boy."
Leon's consciousness jolted within his soul space. He blinked in disbelief. "Lord... Satan?"
"Listen carefully. I will not repeat myself," Satan's voice sounded very serious. "Turn off your dark energy form now, then pretend to be dead."
Leon was shocked within his unconsciousness. "What—"
"Let him enter your body and try to control it. That enemy before you. His greed will not be able to resist taking over a weak opponent's vessel."
"But, Lord Satan—"
"Turn off your energy now, let him in," Satan cut in with an absolute, cold tone. "The moment he sets foot in here... I will handle him from the inside."
Leon fell silent for a moment. Satan's tactical calculation sounded very risky, but it was the only way out they had. In the real world, Leon's body gradually went limp. He sighed in resignation within his heart.
"Alright."
Clang!
Leon released his grip, letting Lokantaka fall freely to the ground with a heavy metallic clink.
Simultaneously with the fall of his weapon, the purple symbols across Leon's body began to fade drastically, one by one. His whitened hair slowly dimmed, returning to black. His eyes, which had been blazing deep red — now extinguished completely.
Thud.
Leon's body collapsed to the ground. Face down, cold, and completely motionless.
Aiiro blinked slowly, momentarily stunned by the instant change. "What..."
Stepping forward with lingering caution, Aiiro approached the helpless body. He swung his foot, kicking Leon's body — not too hard, just a cold gesture to test whether his enemy was still alive.
Leon remained motionless. He even made his breathing as faint as possible.
Shiro showed no dramatic reaction. He merely stood in place, staring straight at Leon's fallen body with an assessing gaze.
Seeing no signs of life, Aiiro's laughter slowly broke out. "He's dead? Hahaha! Truly dead?!"
He turned to Shiro with an expression of disbelief mixed with satisfaction. "After all that troublesome resistance he showed... this brat dies pathetically just from running out of energy?"
Shiro did not answer immediately. However, seeing that the situation seemed safe, the pale white light at his fingertips slowly dimmed and disappeared.
"Such a shame," Aiiro said, a sly smile still adorning his face. "A body with this much potential would be such a waste left to rot."
He moved down, kneeling beside Leon's stiff body. Aiiro reached out his hand, touching Leon's chest — not with a striking blow to hurt, but a slow touch aimed at penetrating his inner defenses.
"I will use it. As my puppet. As my finest weapon. As my..."
Aiiro closed his eyes tightly.
Instantly, a streak of thick indigo black mist — which was the manifestation of his soul — began to emerge from the pores of Aiiro's original body. The soul mist moved, crawling, seeping into Leon's chest through the gaps of his fingers, invading the center of his consciousness.
---
Within the emptiness of Leon's soul space, Aiiro stood upright.
Dark. Silent. This place was truly empty without a single sound or trace of light.
"Where is your soul, boy?" Aiiro whispered rhetorically, scanning in all directions for the remnants of Leon's consciousness he intended to destroy.
He stepped forward, walking across an expanse of darkness that seemed to have no end. Strangely, there was no sound of footsteps. No echo. This place was like a spiritual tomb isolating everything.
Then — Aiiro caught something in the distance.
At the very center of that silent emptiness, a figure appeared to be sitting casually upon a magnificent throne made from the manifestation of darkness itself.
Aiiro immediately halted his steps. His spiritual heartbeat pounded reflexively. "What—"
The figure on the throne slowly raised its face. A pair of deep red eyes, blazing like infernal embers, immediately locked onto Aiiro's movements. That gaze did not radiate anger, nor hatred. There was only a kind of... absolute disinterest. As if he had just seen a speck of dust dirtying his floor.
"Finally," the figure said. His heavy, thunderous voice immediately shattered the silence, shaking the entire dimension of emptiness. "You have also fallen into my trap."
Aiiro stepped back in panic. "You — who are you?!"
The figure did not answer hurriedly. He rose from his throne — his movements so calm, yet radiating an immensely massive intimidating pressure.
"I am the one you have been waiting for," he said flatly. "The one you have been seeking. And the one who..." The corner of the figure's lips lifted, forming a terrifying, cold smile. "...will end your existence."
A bad premonition gripped Aiiro's mind. He turned, trying to release his soul to escape Leon's body — but his efforts were futile. The door of consciousness had been tightly locked. His soul was completely trapped.
"What did you—"
Whoosh!
Before Aiiro could finish his sentence, the figure was already standing right before him. A large hand reached out, strangling Aiiro's spiritual neck. It was not merely an ordinary physical grip, but an absolute pressure capable of crushing the very essence of his soul.
"I am Satan," he whispered, right before Aiiro's deathly pale face. "One of the demon ancestors. And a cockroach like you... does not deserve to set foot in this place."
Aiiro tried to scream hysterically — but no sound came out. The atmosphere within that inner dimension seemed to freeze, refusing to give even the smallest space for Aiiro's existence.
Instantly, his soul began to crumble slowly. Unimaginable pain spread as the tips of his fingers began to fray, shattering into black ash particles that were immediately sucked into the darkness of the throne. The destruction spread upward unstoppably — consuming his legs, his arms, then his chest. Everything was melted into dust that could never return.
Aiiro tried to scream one last time. His mouth opened wide, his eyes bulging with fear. But his voice caught, cut off, and vanished completely before it could pass through his throat.
Then, the existence named Aiiro truly vanished from the world.
---
In the real world, Aiiro's original body, which had been kneeling beside Leon — suddenly went stiff. His eyes bulged wide, not merely from surprise, but from the remnants of horror he had no chance to express in his final moment.
Thud.
Then, that body collapsed onto the ground. It looked empty, like a wooden puppet whose strings had all been forcibly cut.
Right beside the corpse that had just lost its soul, Leon's eyelids opened wide.
Those were no longer the tired eyes of a demon. No longer the dim gaze of a dying fighter. Instead, a pitch-black gleam so dense emanated from them, radiating a cold aura that instantly pressed the atmosphere around that place until it felt frozen.
The Hydra soldiers encircling behind Leon reflexively stepped back in unison. Some of them even dropped their weapons unconsciously — their bodies moved on their own, responding to an absolute threat that their rational minds could not comprehend.
Shiro remained unmoving. However, for the first time, he tilted his head slightly — a cold gesture resembling a bird of prey observing the emergence of a strange foreign species.
Leon rose slowly. He reached out his hand, picking up Lokantaka, which had been lying on the ground.
Sret—!
The purple symbols crawled back and ignited across his skin. His black hair turned white in an instant. And his eyes — his eyes were now not merely red, but blazing like bloodthirsty embers.
Eternal Darkness First Form — had returned.
However, this time there was something different. Something far denser. Something far stronger and more terrifying. As if, for a moment, the existence standing upright there was not Leon the low-class demon, but the lord of darkness himself.
Shiro did not speak; his face remained as flat as a board. However, the pale white light at his fingertips flickered once before finally dimming. His pupil-less eyes stared straight at Leon, far longer than usual. There was no glint of fear there. Only... cold calculation and tactical assessment.
---
Whoosh—!
In the blink of an eye, Shiro shot forward. His movement was so fast it left a blurred afterimage, closing the distance between them, and before anyone knew it, he was already right before Leon's face.
However, Shiro did not attack the newly risen Leon. His target was to secure their asset.
With one sweeping kick — a flat, efficient, emotionless horizontal kick — Shiro struck Aiiro's lifeless body beside Leon, sending it flying high into the air.
Aiiro's body soared, passing through the rubble ruins, piercing through clouds of dust, crossing half the battlefield away from the danger zone around Leon.
Seeing Aiiro's body flying high in the distance, Gin'iro did not wait for orders. His large body leaped forward with unexpected speed for his size. His left arm extended firmly, while the heavy shield on his right arm remained raised in a perfect vigilant stance.
Thud!
Gin'iro's muscular hand caught Aiiro's body mid-air. He landed back on the ground with a heavy impact that cracked the floor beneath his feet. Without wasting time, he walked backward to Kin'iro's side, laying their comrade's body on the ground carefully — not out of respect, but from the pure instinct of a protector.
Kin'iro lowered his gaze, staring at Aiiro's corpse for a moment. Instead of panicking or getting angry that his teammate had died, the corner of his lips lifted, forming a faint, meaningful smile.
"Four," he whispered softly.
He did not turn toward Shiro. There was no need. Shiro already knew exactly what needed to be done next.
---
Now, only Shiro remained before Leon.
The temperature in that area dropped sharply. Shiro still stood upright in his place, not shifting an inch. His face was as flat as a board, completely devoid of emotion. His white, pupil-less eyes stared straight at Leon, locking onto the figure now shrouded in darkness.
Leon slowly raised Lokantaka, pointing the tip of his blade directly at his enemy. "Your turn?" he asked, his voice sounding heavier, echoing with a terrible tone.
Shiro did not respond to the provocation with words. However, as an answer, a pale white light at his fingertips ignited again — this time more stable, cold, and deadly.
No more words remained. No more expressions needed to be shown. Beneath the darkening sky, only a life-and-death battle remained, ready to explode within seconds.
=== CHAPTER 44 END ===