"The Broken Assembly — Echo of War"
The silence after Shadow's departure seemed to bury the great hall in a suffocating emptiness. Magical torches flickered against the dark walls, their reflections trembling on the marble floor as if even the light itself feared what had just happened.
Malhar remained standing, arms crossed, watching the desperate expressions of the human leaders. His oppressive aura created an invisible pressure in the room, making it feel as though the air had doubled in weight.
One of the presidents — the same man who had declared war on Shadow — shot to his feet, his face red with anger and wounded pride.
"That's it! He humiliated us! He threatened us inside our own alliance!" he shouted, the sound echoing across the hall.
"It was obvious he was about to tear our diplomacy apart! I did what had to be done!"
Another president slammed his hand on the table.
"You signed the death sentence of our entire world!" he yelled, eyes wide in disbelief.
"Declaring war on a Primordial? Are you insane? We have no power to fight him!"
The war-declaring president didn't back down.
"Shadow is not a god! He's an arrogant monster who needs to be contained!"
Malhar closed his eyes for a moment, as if asking the heavens for patience.
"Contained…?" he repeated quietly, opening his eyes with a dangerous glint.
"Shadow is literally the embodiment of Shadow itself, mortal. He's existed since before your kind learned to create fire."
The president swallowed hard, but he still refused to retreat.
"He disrespected our sovereignty!"
Malhar stepped forward, and his aura pushed the air like a physical wave.
"Sovereignty? You can't even control your own countries, and you think you can control Shadow?"
The entire hall trembled.
Several representatives began shouting at once:
"If the Primordial attacks, it'll be his fault!"
"We need to reinforce all borders immediately!"
"Did you see his eyes? He accepted the war!"
"This is suicide!"
Malhar lifted a single hand.
Everything stopped.
Not because he asked —
but because no one dared to continue.
"Listen carefully," he said, his voice deep and resonant.
"Shadow didn't declare war on your nation. He declared war on the world."
He looked directly at the president responsible.
"And you just handed him the perfect excuse he wanted."
A wave of despair spread across the table.
"So…" a trembling female president asked, "…he wanted this?"
"Shadow always wants chaos," Malhar replied.
"But it wasn't the chaos he intended for today. Now he'll turn this war into a stage… to prove a point."
"What point?" whispered a cowardly representative in the back.
Malhar scanned them one by one.
"Who truly rules this world."
---
The Weight of Shadow's Name
The other Primordials still present — Tismani, Leviathan, and Aenea — watched the unfolding disaster in silence, each reacting differently.
Leviathan, his voice as deep as a raging ocean, spoke first:
"The entire sea felt it when Shadow accepted the war…" he muttered.
"The waters darkened. The creatures in the abyss have begun to stir."
Aenea, Primordial of the Winds, added:
"The winds shifted. The world is out of balance."
Tismani observed with a faint smile, though her eyes carried an ancient sorrow.
"This world has warned you countless times," she said softly.
"You simply never listened."
The president who had caused everything slammed the table again.
"I stand by what I did! I did it for our survival!"
Leviathan didn't even blink.
"You condemned your species, mortal. And you still don't see it."
---
Malhar Reveals the Truth
Malhar turned back toward the great table.
"Let's make something clear," he said, exhaling deeply.
"We Primordials do not answer to mortals."
He leaned forward.
"But we also do not ignore irresponsibility."
He pointed at the president responsible.
"Your declaration of war will be remembered. Not by us… but by him."
The man sank into his chair, finally understanding the scale of the catastrophe he'd triggered.
---
The Great Rupture
A military representative rose, trembling.
"Malhar… is there any way to prevent this war?"
Malhar didn't respond immediately. He let out a long, heavy sigh.
"Shadow left with his decision already made," he said quietly.
"He will attack. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But he will attack."
The walls themselves seemed to close in.
"Then… we're doomed?" a leader whispered.
Malhar shook his head.
"Not yet."
He lifted his gaze.
"There are… loose threads that may change everything."
Then he spoke the names everyone had been avoiding:
"Yuta… and Hinata."
---
The Leaders React
The room fell into stunned silence.
"The boy and the elf?" someone asked.
"They can stop a Primordial?"
Malhar answered:
"Not yet. But their lineage… their power… and what is about to unfold…"
He looked toward the doorway where Shadow had vanished.
"…may be the only path left."
---
The Connection to Hinata and Yuta
Tismani spoke, her voice calm and filled with old knowledge:
"When the Mother of Magic is reborn, the entire world shifts."
"The truth is exposed."
"And this is only… the beginning."
The leaders exchanged looks.
Some panicked.
Some refused to believe.
Others simply broke.
---
The Assembly Falls Apart
Malhar raised both hands.
"This meeting is over. All of you…"
He scanned the trembling presidents.
"…prepare yourselves. Train. Move your armies. Pray to whatever gods you believe in."
He turned his back.
"The war has already begun."
One by one, the Primordials vanished:
Aenea — dissolving into wind.
Leviathan — sinking into a dark-blue tide.
Tismani — fading into a soft golden glow.
And Malhar, the heaviest of them all, disappeared in a shockwave that rattled the entire hall.
---
The President Tries to Speak
"I-I… I didn't mean…" he stammered, shaking.
"This got out of control…"
An older president with a bitter expression replied:
"It wasn't this."
"You got out of control."
The chapter screen closes as all the leaders rise from the table, defeated, knowing they have awakened a disaster no one can contain.
The wind died around the vast field where Hinata faced Yuta. The tall grass swayed with the leaking energy around them, as if nature itself were trying to escape the tragedy about to unfold.
Lyra stood a few steps behind, trembling hands unsure whether to run… or intervene.
Yuta was breathing heavily, each breath broken and unstable. His face shifted between three emotions: anger, pain, and fear.
And deep inside his chest, Lilith's seductive voice whispered:
"Let it out, Yuta… you know you can't hide this from her."
Hinata clenched her fist, cracking the ground beneath her.
— You knew. — she said, her voice cold as ice. — From the beginning… you knew what you did.
Yuta looked up, confused.
— Hinata… I—
— Shut up! — she screamed.
Her magic burst in a blue-violet flash, forming a circle of runes that rose around them, sealing the field.
Lyra stepped back, terrified.
— H-Hinata? What is that?
Hinata didn't look away from Yuta.
— Arcane Regulation.
A barrier that prevents him from running… or using forbidden magic.
Yuta's face twisted in panic.
He recognized that barrier, that energy.
Ancient magic.
Their clan's magic.
Their mother's magic.
— No… — Yuta whispered, stepping back. — You…
You can't use that…
Hinata moved before he could finish.
The strike hit him like a thunderbolt, cracking the ground.
Yuta rolled across the dirt, coughing blood, trying to stand.
— You killed them all. — Hinata said, her voice trembling not with fear, but with pure hatred. — All of them, Yuta. All of them!
Yuta pressed a hand to his chest. The physical pain was nothing compared to the pain those words brought.
— Hinata… I didn't want to… I had no choice…
Hinata spat on the ground.
— IF YOU DIDN'T WANT TO, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT!
She vanished and reappeared behind him — the clan's agile style.
A kick to his neck.
A punch to his stomach.
A magical palm strike to his temple.
Yuta collapsed to his knees.
Lyra cried out:
— STOP! PLEASE, STOP! YOU'RE SIBLINGS!
Hinata slowly turned her head.
The word "siblings" had never sounded so bitter.
— He stopped being my brother… — she murmured. — The day he destroyed our family.
Yuta clawed at the dirt, tears burning his eyes.
Not from pain.
From guilt.
— I… — he tried. — I did it to—
Lilith whispered inside him:
"Don't say it. Not now. She doesn't deserve it."
Yuta squeezed his eyes shut, desperate.
— To what? — Hinata rushed him again, magic forming in her hand. — TO WHAT, YUTA?! WHY DID YOU DO IT?!
Her words detonated something inside him.
The entire field trembled.
Yuta's aura erupted — a deep, distorted purple. The air spiraled violently, pulling dust into the sky. The grass around him shriveled instantly.
Lyra gasped.
— H-Hinata… what is that…?
Hinata clenched her jaw.
— The curse…
The clan's curse.
The curse that only awakened when…
When the bearer completely lost control.
Lilith laughed inside him.
"Now she'll see… she'll see who you really are."
Hinata raised both hands, summoning two spheres of pure magic.
— I'll stop you. — she said, tears falling. — Even if I have to die.
Yuta lifted his head.
His eyes…
were no longer human.
Not even magical.
They were the eyes of someone broken.
— Then come… — Yuta murmured, voice shaking. — Because now…
I can't stop anymore either.
The Explosion
Hinata hurled the two spheres.
Yuta shot forward so fast the air detonated behind him.
They collided in the center of the rune circle, unleashing a shockwave so violent Lyra was thrown to the ground.
The earth split.
The sky darkened.
Blue-violet and purple magic clashed like roaring storms.
Their strikes were so fast the sound lagged behind.
Hinata attacked with deadly precision.
Yuta responded with brutal instinct.
They were killing each other.
And crying at the same time.
Lyra tried to stand, but the swirling wind forced her down like she was weightless.
— STOP!! PLEASE!! — she sobbed. — STOP, YOU STILL LOVE EACH OTHER!
Yuta screamed, voice torn apart:
— I ALWAYS LOVED YOU, HINATA!!
Hinata froze—
for a single second.
And Yuta, acting purely on instinct, struck her chest with a curse-charged punch.
She flew back violently.
Lyra sprinted toward her fallen friend.
— HINATA!!
Hinata spat blood, rising slowly.
— Don't you dare… — she trembled. — Don't you dare say you loved me… after what you did.
Yuta fell to his knees, gripping his head, fighting his aura.
Flashback — Their Past
Memories surged into both minds.
Their mother smiling.
Hinata sleeping on Yuta's shoulder.
The two training together.
The clan celebrating the gifted twin prodigies.
And then…
The fire.
The screams.
The smell of blood.
Their mother sobbing…
And Yuta standing in the center of the massacre.
Hinata screamed, tears streaming:
— YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING, YUTA!!
Yuta screamed back, voice shattered:
— I DID IT TO PROTECT YOU!!
Silence.
The earth stopped trembling.
The wind vanished.
Hinata froze mid-breath.
Lyra's eyes widened.
Lilith laughed, satisfied.
"Finally… the truth is out."
Hinata stepped toward Yuta slowly, every movement shaking.
— Protect…? — she whispered. — Protect… WHO?!
Yuta raised his eyes.
— They wanted you, Hinata.
They wanted to sacrifice you… to stabilize the magic balance.
Hinata's entire body trembled.
— No…
No… that can't be true…
— Mother begged me to run with you. — Yuta continued, tears dripping. — But I… I couldn't save everyone…
I could only save… you.
Hinata staggered back as if stabbed.
— So… it was because of me…?
Yuta closed his eyes, crying.
— I've carried that guilt… since that day.
The field fell into absolute silence.
Just before the final storm.
And far outside the barrier, messages crackled through the communicators of the continent's leaders:
"Shadow's country is mobilizing."
"Unknown units crossing borders."
"The attack could start at any moment."
But in that lonely field…
A brother and sister
were fighting
and rewriting the destiny of the world.