The wind shifted.
Everyone in the Haven froze as the sky darkened with a sickly violet tone, not from clouds, but from something descending.
Rokuro shivered."…Someone's here."
Not someone.
Four.
They stepped from a rip in space like shadows peeling off the world:
The Minotaur, flames dripping from his horns.
Scylla, serpents hissing from her arms, eyes glowing with hungry malice.
Medusa, gaze sharp enough to turn air into stone.
Echidna, reborn, threads of corrupted life coiling around her fingers.
Aegis whispered,"Elite… all of them… at once?"
Shichiro swallowed."Why the hell would they-"
A presence settled above them.
A man in silver hair stood on empty air, arms behind his back, watching like a disappointed god.
Bellerophon.
"Show me," he said softly."How strong they have become."
The four elites surged forward.
And the battlefield erupted.
Kentarō sprinted first.
Not because he was brave.
But because he was terrified.
He had never fought monsters of this level before. Not all at once. Not under the eyes of a man who made reality bend to him just by standing still.
But Kentarō always ran forward anyway.
Daggers in his hands.Heartbeat in his throat.Legs shaking but refusing to stop.
Scylla's eyes flicked toward him, recognizing the stance, the daggers, the stubborn courage.
"Ahh… the reckless one."
Kentarō smirked despite the fear in his chest.
"Reckless?"He spun the daggers in his fingers."Nah. I just like fighting things way out of my league."
Scylla tilted her head."How unfortunate."
Kentarō shrugged.
"Story of my life."
Then he charged.
Scylla blurred.
Before anyone could shout his name.
Her claws were already inside his chest.
Time seemed to stop.
Ryosen screamed,"KENTARŌ!!"
Aegis bolted forward.
Rokuro and Shichiro's flames and frost collided into a desperate burst of dragonfire.
But Scylla didn't move.
She held Kentarō up like a hanging ornament.
His daggers fell.
Clink.Clink.
Kentarō coughed.
Blood spilled down his chin.
"Well… damn…"
He smiled, tired, broken, but real.
"I never thought… I would make it this far…"
He exhaled, a shaky laugh.
"Hahaha… haha…"
His fingers twitched.
For a moment…A tiny spark of absurdity flickered beside him.
A rubber duck.Sitting on a bucket of popcorn.
He weakly looked at it.
"…that's kinda funny."
Scylla ripped her claws free.
And Kentarō collapsed.
Dead before he hit the ground.
The duck disappeared.
The World Shakes
Ryosen's knees buckled.
Aegis stopped breathing.
Katsu's pupils trembled.
Shichiro roared and rushed forward.Rokuro followed with icy rage.
But Bellerophon lifted one hand.
And everything froze.
Not time.Not space.
Hope.
He descended slowly, eyes drifting to Kentarō's lifeless body.
"A Heart… awakened at the moment of death," he murmured.
Katsu's heart stopped.
"No… no, no, no."
Bellerophon's voice curved into something like fascination.
"A Heart that brings imagination into reality."He smiled."A fitting offering."
A spark drifted from Kentarō's chest.
A tiny orb of gold and chaos, laughter, imagination, absurdity.
The Heart of Entertainment.
Bellerophon reached for it.