88 Chapter 88
Rin didn't wait for the dust to settle.
She sprinted through the ruined earth, boots sliding over shattered stone, and before Aruno could even turn—
Her arms wrapped around his back.
Not a soft hug.
A holding him in place hug.
Her cheek pressed between his shoulder blades, breath trembling.
"Aruno… that's enough."
Serenia arrived right behind her, steps slower, eyes still shaking from everything she'd seen. She didn't touch him — she just stood inches away, staring at her brother's back like she couldn't recognize the shape of it anymore.
Rin tightened her grip.
"There's no reason to torture him," she said, voice low but firm. "He's done. You broke him. Just end it."
Aruno didn't turn.
Didn't speak.
His gaze was locked on Caelith — the trembling, bleeding, light-flickering mess kneeling in front of him.
All that golden arrogance was gone.
All that divinity stripped clean.
Serenia swallowed, voice barely above a whisper.
"Aruno… please. This isn't you."
Aruno finally exhaled.
Slow.
Controlled.
"It is me," he said. "Everything I've done here… was for Serenia."
Rin's fingers dug harder into him, trying to ground him.
"I know," she said. "I know what he did. I know why you're furious. But listen—"
She rested her forehead against his back.
"If you don't finish this," she whispered, "then I will."
Aruno's eyes narrowed.
Rin continued, voice steady even if her body trembled.
"Or Yoru will. Or Ko. You're not the only one who wants him dead. So stop dragging it out. Stop toying with him. Stop proving something we already understand."
Serenia inhaled sharply — because she knew Rin was right.
Because she also knew Aruno was seconds away from crossing a line he couldn't come back from.
Rin lifted her head, speaking directly into his ear.
"End this, Aruno. Not for revenge."
Her arms tightened one last time.
"For us."
The wind stilled. Caelith stared up at Aruno, throat bobbing. Aruno's fingers twitched. His shadow curled at his feet.
And for the first time in the entire fight…
He paused.
Durandal materialized in Aruno's hand without a sound.
No flash. No aura.
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he stepped forward, Rin's hands slowly slipping off his back. Serenia didn't move. Yoru and Ko didn't breathe.
Aruno walked until he stood directly over Caelith — close enough for the dying king to see his own reflection in the blackened steel.
Caelith's fading light flickered weakly.
"Ar… uno…" he rasped, voice shredded.
Aruno didn't answer.
He simply lowered his head — one calm exhale — and shifted his stance.
Feet angled.
Shoulders loose.
Durandal held in a single reverse grip.
A stance Caelith had never seen.
A stance no one alive had ever survived.
Aruno whispered..
"Urteil."
He didn't swing.
He didn't move.
He just stepped.
A single, perfect step.
And the world ripped apart.
Lines of severed space tore through the air — silent, razor-thin fractures like reality itself had been diced into ribbons. Caelith didn't even have time to scream.
His body split.
Not in halves.
Not in chunks.
In millions of pieces — microscopic, clean, erased. Light scattered into dust. Armor atomized. Divinity shredded into nothing.
When the wind passed…
There was no King of Light.
Just drifting particles dissolving into the dirt.
Aruno straightened Durandal, flicking the blade once.
Nothing remained.
Far above, on the crumbling rooftop—
Lysrael smiled.
Not wide. Just a slow, knowing curl of satisfaction.
Azazel stiffened beside him. "Master… he—"
Lysrael didn't let him finish. His eyes stayed locked on Aruno. "That," he whispered, "was worthy of Ryū's son."
Aruno exhaled once—long, slow—and the remnants of the sanguis-umbra armor around his body began to loosen. The black organic plates cracked, then melted into liquid shadow, flowing upward like smoke reversed in time.
It crawled along his limbs, across his ribs, over his shoulders—absorbing into him.
What remained was not armor.
It was a form-fitting, slick black outfit—tight, seamless, almost like living fabric woven from night itself. No shine. No ornament. Just pure, simple darkness clinging to him.
He didn't look like a monster. Just… Aruno.
Aruno finally turned.
The battlefield behind him—Serenia, Rin, Ko, Yoru—stood frozen in a mixture of relief, shock, fear, and the overwhelming realization of what he had just done.
Rin's eyes trembled.
Serenia's lips parted slightly.
Yoru's jaw was tight.
Ko blue in the face, looked like he hadn't breathed in minutes.
Aruno walked toward them slowly. With exhaustion. Each step seemed heavier than the last.
By the time he reached them, his shoulders had dropped. His head tilted slightly down. His eyes—still voidlit—were dimmer now, like a storm finally passing.
He stopped just a few feet from them. Looked at every face.
And then… He smiled.
Just a small, tired, human smile.
The smile of someone mentally drained, emotionally emptied, but still here. Still himself. Barely holding onto it.
Rin's breath hitched.
Serenia's eyes softened instantly.
Ko looked away before he teared up.
Yoru exhaled through his nose, relief breaking through his tension.
Aruno didn't say anything.
He didn't need to.
That faint, worn smile said it all
"I'm still here. I'm not gone."