Morning light spilled through the curtains like a soft whisper, brushing the room in gold.
Outside, the world stirred lazily, but inside, the air held a hush—delicate, uncertain.
Iris stood before Leo's door, fingers curled lightly into a fist. She hesitated for a breath, then knocked gently.
"Come on in" came Leo's voice from inside. Calm. Too calm.
The kind of calm that only exists when something is broken and carefully hidden.
She stepped in, carrying a warm cup of tea, its steam curling like fading thoughts.
"Good morning..." she said gently, eyes scanning his expression. "How was your night?"
Leo turned to her with a practiced smile. "Good."
But Iris had known him too long to fall for it. The smile didn't reach his eyes. His shoulders were a fraction too still.
His gaze wasn't with her—it was lost somewhere else. Somewhere far.
She didn't call it out. Instead, she placed the tea beside him with quiet care. "Drink" she said. A single word.
A simple gesture. And yet—within it—was everything: concern, comfort, grounding.
They remained in that fragile balance, pretending like nothing had fractured.
Then—
Buzz.
Leo's phone vibrated. The silence cracked.
He picked it up, pressed it to his ear, and said nothing. He listened. The call was short.
"...Okay. We'll be there."
He ended the call and looked at Iris.
The mask was gone now.
His face held focus—pure, sharp, resolved.
Whatever wound he carried was still there, but it had been tucked behind armor again.
"Let's go" he said.
And with that, the stillness between them gave way to motion.
Duty had returned.
And they moved, not as broken souls—
But as a unit.
The elevator doors slid open with a heavy hiss, revealing the central command floor of K.A.S.—now a storm of motion and tension.
Red warning strips pulsed faintly along the walls. Air felt charged, humming with the weight of something unseen.
As Leo and Iris stepped out, Dr. Charolet met them, her heels clicking fast against the floor. Her face, usually composed and precise, was carved with urgency.
"JAXA just sent this through," she said, breath short, eyes sharp. "Voyager 1... it picked up something. An object passed it. Moving at six times the speed of light."
She paused, swallowing the weight of her words. "We don't know what it is yet but—"
"Let them come" Leo interrupted quietly.
The stillness of his voice cut deeper than any shout.
Both Dr. Charolet and Iris turned to him, startled.
"What?" they echoed, disbelief laced in their voices.
But Leo's expression didn't flinch.
His golden eyes burned with eerie stillness, unreadable. Cold. Certain.
"They're coming for me" he said.
Then his gaze shifted to Charolet.
"Evacuate the city. Now."
There was no room for argument in his tone.
Without a word, Dr. Charolet spun, her voice ringing through the compound like lightning.
"Evacuate the city!"
Sirens blared a half-second later.
Red warning lights strobed across the compound walls.
Within moments, operatives, scientists, and guards in black tactical gear surged into motion. Protocols kicked in. Alarms roared.
Iris watched it all unfold—but her focus stayed on Leo.
He turned to her, his voice steady, gentle but immovable.
"Go with them."
She stood frozen.
"Iris," he said again, firmer this time.
But she didn't move.
Her eyes shimmered with unshed tears. Her fists clenched at her sides.
"I won't leave you" she said, voice cracking.
And then lower, trembling:
"If you're staying... then it's better I die with you. I wish I'm an immortal like you. Yu wouldn't be saying this if I were."
The chaos raged around them.
But in that moment—it was only them.
Two souls. One storm.
Three hours later...
A haunting stillness blanketed the city.
Like the world itself was holding its breath.
Skyscrapers stood like empty monuments—silent, unmoving. Traffic lights blinked for no one. The hum of life had vanished. Only the wind remained, whistling down vacant streets like a ghost chasing its memory.
Then...
The sky tore.
Rips in space clawed open without warning—raw, chaotic portals blooming like black wounds across the skyline. Air folded inward. Gravity trembled.
And from the bleeding fractures... they came.
Beasts from beyond reason.
Some flowed like shadows with too many limbs.
Others stomped forward, massive and grotesque, plated in obsidian armor, eyes glowing like dying stars.
The pressure in the air thickened—heavy, hostile, electric. Even the light seemed to dim in their presence.
Iris stood frozen behind Leo, breath catching in her throat.
He spoke softly, never turning.
"Go. Stay inside—for now."
His voice wasn't sharp. Just calm. Solid. Unshaken.
Iris lingered for half a second, her mouth open to protest—
But she saw his posture.
Still. Focused. Absolute.
She nodded, eyes shining with worry.
"Okay..." she whispered, then turned and ran.
Leo stepped forward alone.
Hands in the pockets of his coat, hair fluttering gently in the pulsing wind.
The creatures sensed him. The largest of them—taller than a building, with a jagged halo of black fire and bone—emerged from the portal like a god of ruin. It opened its maw and spoke.
Not in words. Not in sound.
But in a guttural language that fractured the very air.
No human could've understood it.
But Leo... did.
His eyes narrowed.
And the wind around him went silent.
"Join us.
Together, we'll conquer the universe.
Erase the weak."
The voice of the void-creature echoed across the ruins, distorted like broken time.
Its maw split open in an unnatural grin, waiting for submission.
Leo didn't flinch.
His eyes began to glow—
Not softly. Not subtly.
But with blinding brilliance.
Twin suns.
Unyielding. Pure. Endless.
He looked up, unshaken, his voice calm.
"No."
The air snapped. Reality bent.
And then—war erupted.
A titan roared forward, its massive fist crashing down like a meteor. But Leo was gone—
BLINK.
Mid-air.
His knee connected with the creature's skull in a single, precise strike.
CRACK.
Bone shattered.
The beast was launched backward like a missile, smashing through two towers before exploding in black flame.
Before the dust even settled, the others attacked.
Dozens. Hundreds.
Dark magic filled the sky like a toxic storm. Etheric blades sliced through the air. Plasma bolts screamed like banshees.
But Leo was movement itself.
A golden streak dancing through destruction.
He twisted between incoming spells, his body glowing with layered enchantments.
A shield flared around his arm as he deflected a jagged spear.
His counterstrike unleashed a wave of force so violent it cratered the earth beneath them.
The city became a battlefield out of a god's forgotten nightmare—
Skies torn open. Streets ablaze.
And at its center, one boy bathed in gold, fighting not just to win...
...but to end it.
A shriek tore through the battlefield.
Tentacles lashed from the side, jagged and barbed, reaching for Leo like vipers.
But in the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Flash-step.
The air cracked.
He reappeared behind the beast, hand aglow with searing golden energy, eyes narrowed—calm, cold.
"You shouldn't have come."
His palm touched the creature's spine.
BOOM.
A radiant pulse detonated through its body—soundless, pure.
The beast disintegrated, not torn, not ripped—erased. Reduced to glimmering ash that scattered in the wind.
Above, a winged terror shrieked, launching a barrage of dark beams that carved through the sky.
Leo lifted one hand—just one.
The attacks struck his palm and froze, trembling in mid-air, then shrank into a concentrated sphere.
His eyes flashed.
He returned the energy with divine force.
FWOOM.
The beam fired upward, so powerful it pierced the heavens, splitting the clouds like a blade slicing silk.
Sunlight broke through for a moment, a divine spotlight on the battlefield.
Every movement was perfection—
Fluid. Measured. Effortless.
This wasn't a battle.
It was a warning.
And the most terrifying part?
Leo wasnt even trying.
From the shelter's shattered window, Iris stood frozen, watching the sky erupt in gold and crimson.
Leo's battle scorched the city with godlike brilliance—
Monsters vaporized mid-scream, buildings sliced apart by invisible force.
The earth shook beneath the sheer magnitude of it all.
But then—
She felt it.
A crack.
The fabric of space groaned behind her.
Iris turned.
A portal unfolded like torn flesh, black and veined in crimson, bleeding silence.
Her heartbeat skipped. First fear. Then fury.
Her eyes ignited—pure white, glowing like twin moons in the dark.
Her fists clenched.
Her aura roared to life, flickering violently like a star pushed to collapse.
"Come on" she snarled, voice low, steady—deadly.
From the void stepped a creature that didn't belong to any world.
Thin. Skeletal. Armor fused with its own bone.
Limbs like sharpened steel, moving with a fluid, twitching grace that defied logic. Smoke and blade, fused by nightmare.
No words.
Just motion.
It lunged—silent lightning.
Iris flipped backwards, narrowly evading the strike.
Her hand snapped forward, unleashing a white-hot flame like a comet on command.
Boom!
The blast rocked the room—dust, debris, heat—
But the creature... was gone.
Behind her.
She turned instinctively—eyes glowing, hand out.
Shield.
A translucent wall of magic burst into place just in time.
Clang!!
The beast's blade-arm slammed into it with enough force to crack the air itself, the impact rattling through her bones.
Iris gritted her teeth, aura still burning.
This wasn't just survival now.
It was war.
And she would fight like Leo taught her:
With fire.
With fury.
And without fear.
Iris crashed through the wall like a comet, rubble scattering behind her.
But mid-air, she spun, rebounding with burning fury.
Her flames surged — alive now — twisting around her arms like coiled serpents of vengeance.
She screamed, not in fear, but in defiance,
Launching herself forward — a whirlwind of speed, fire, grace, rage.
Her strikes blurred: fists wreathed in flame, kicks like thunder.
One landed — crack— the beast's head snapped to the side, its mask fractured. She saw it falter—
Then—
A blink. A mistake.
Gone.
Her breath caught.
CRACK.
A sound that didn't belong to this world. Wet. Final.
Iris froze. Her eyes widened, not from pain... but disbelief.
She looked down.
A claw. Armored. Jagged. Piercing straight through her chest from behind.
Blood spilled in slow drips, staining her shirt, painting the floor in red drops that echoed like falling bells.
Her flame flickered, dimmed. The heat fading from her fingertips.
Far across the city, high above the ruined skyline— Leo stopped mid-air.
His body stiffened.
His eyes widened—golden and trembling.
He felt it.
"Iris—"
BOOM.
In the blink of a god's breath, Leo vanished, light warping violently where he stood.
A sonic shockwave exploded across the city.
He reappeared beside her— A burst of golden energy that shook the ground.
The creature raised its bloodstained claw again—
But Leo didn't speak. Didn't move.
He simply turned his eyes — glowing, full of fury and sorrow — toward the beast.
And raised a single hand.
No spell. No chant. Just will.
The monster disintegrated instantly.
A silent scream.
A wave of golden ash fluttered where it stood — erased, not slain.
Unmade.
Leo caught her before her body touched the earth, arms trembling as if the weight of Iris was heavier than any enemy he'd ever faced.
Her blood soaked through his sleeves — warm, and unbearably real.
Her lips moved faintly.
No words. Just a broken breath... and tears in her fading eyes.
Leo didn't sob.
Didn't scream.
Just a single tear slid silently down his cheek — the kind of tear that only falls when a soul fractures beyond repair.
His expression unreadable.
But shattered.
He laid her down gently, as if the world around them wasn't collapsing — as if she were something sacred.
And to him, she was.
Then... without a word, he raised his hand.
From the air, a weapon of divinity answered:
A dagger — glowing with celestial light, forged from forbidden realms — the only blade in all existence capable of harming him.
He looked to the heavens. His lips parted as if in prayer...
Then silence.
He hurled it skyward.
And with a twist of teleforce, pulled it back.
Not to the enemy.
Not to vengeance.
To himself.
Time stopped.
SHNK.
The divine dagger pierced his chest.
Golden lightning exploded from the wound, dancing across his body in violent arcs.
Each spark tore through him like judgment.
His knees buckled, but he didn't fall.
He only looked at Iris.
Eyes still locked.
Even now.
She lay still.
Barely breathing.
Her lips trembled.
And then—
A single tear.
From her.
Leo smiled.
Soft.
Tragic.
Unbearably human.
His golden eyes, once stars in motion,
now flickered.
Like dying suns at the end of the cosmos.
And yet, in them...
Still — warmth.
Even in sacrifice.
His voice cracked — barely a whisper, barely a breath — but it cut through everything.
"It's okay... I'm fine. You live on."
He gave a soft smile, gentle... unbearably sad.
"Maybe your wish to be immortal... with powers... might come true after all."
And then — it began.
His essence — divine, golden, unreal — began to unravel.
Light streamed from his chest like threads of fate pulled loose from time.
Each strand pulsed as it floated toward her —
— not just energy...
—but his very soul.
Iris stood frozen, watching helplessly as Leo's life poured into her.
Warm.
Heavy.
Heartbreaking.
She reached out.
One final time.
Too late.
Her fingers grasped at nothing but air.
She couldn't hold him.
She couldn't even say goodbye.
Leo looked down at her — and for once, the mask fell away.
In his eyes: sorrow.
Regret.
Devotion.
His lips parted — as if to speak one final truth —
But the moment slipped.
And then—
He dissolved.
Like ash... caught in the breath of a god.
His body faded into light — soft, shimmering — carried away by unseen winds.
Until only one glowing blue spark remained.
It drifted downward... slow, tender.
It touched Iris's chest. Then her palm.
And with a quiet pulse, it sank in.
And he was gone.
Iris folded her arms across herself, trembling.
As if cradling him still.
As if refusing to let go.
Then—
BOOM.
A golden shockwave erupted from where Leo had stood.
But it was not fire.
It was purification.
A sacred detonation.
Holy and final.
Everything unholy — every beast, every creature, every shadow from every realm —
erased.
Not killed.
Erased.
From time. From memory. From existence itself.
Even those hidden behind veils and portals — gone.
The skies lit with searing light.
The earth shuddered in silence.
And then...
Stillness.
Only the hum of fading energy remained.
A whisper of his presence.
A prayer echoing in the ruins.
He was gone.
But she was alive.
Because he chose her to live.
Moments later, rescue teams arrived, weaving through ash and silence.
They found her standing there —
eyes glowing softly,
body scarred,
heart newly immortal.
Not just a survivor.
But the living proof that he had existed.
Time snapped back like a broken string recoiling—violently, unstoppably.
The ancient cave, once suffocating in silence, now pulsed with dark rebirth.
Jack no longer lay broken on the cold stone floor.
He hovered—cross-legged in midair—encased within a sphere of writhing energy.
Scarlet and obsidian auras spiraled around him like cursed flame, the space around him bending, warping, as if reality itself feared what he had become.
His face was still—too still.
Expressionless.
Emotionless.
Until, slowly... a single tear slid down his cheek.
But it wasn't water.
It was blood.
Then—his eyes snapped open.
Deep crimson. Burning. Alive with something ancient and vengeful.
His aura surged, roaring red-hot like a collapsing star—blinding, raw, divine and demonic all at once.
And then—
Blackout.