I open my eyes—the figure is gone.
But so is everything else.
All around me, a strange, endless black void stretches out.
"Where... where am I?"
Only the silence answers. My body feels… detached.
Formless.
I can't feel the ground beneath me, the air around me. Just… nothing.
I try to move, to shout, to do anything to break free from this suffocating emptiness, but my limbs refuse to obey.
Am I dead? Is this what death feels like?
I look down at my body—
My hands, my legs, my very essence—they're slowly dissolving into the surrounding void.
No—
This isn't right.
This can't be happening.
Panic seizes my throat, but there's no sound, no scream—just the silent horror of my own disintegration.
(I don't want to disappear!)
A faint light cuts across the endless black.
"...Azure light?"
I try to reach for it, but my legs are already gone.
My fingers, too, begin to fade, dissolving into nothingness..
"No!" I scream, but no sound escapes my lips.
The light grows brighter, swirling into a gentle vortex of azure energy.
It's warm. So warm.
And pure.
It feels… like Mother.
My eyes widen, and a desperate hope stirs within me.
Is it… her?
The light pulses, drawing me closer, even as my remaining form continues to dissipate.
My chest… it's almost gone.
My head… my face…
The void engulfs me.
And then—
…
"...Don't go..." The voice is soft, gentle, and filled with a longing that mirrors the emptiness within me.
It's not Mother.
It's something else. Something… familiar, yet unknown.
Heat begins to spread through my chest, a warmth that pushes back against the encroaching void.
It's not my demonic energy. It's… different. It feels… like a memory.
A memory of something lost, something deeply cherished.
The warmth spreads, slowly reforming my dissolving body, stitching me back together from the inside out.
My chest, my legs, my hands—they reappear, solid and real, pushing back against the blackness.
The azure light intensifies.
"...Stay..."
The voice hums gently, a melody of pure, unadulterated longing. It bypasses speech, defies whispers, and instead permeates within my very bones.
"...With me..."
Before I know it, I've already reached out, my hand passing through the azure light.
*FWOOSH* My fingers trace against something that feels both distant and intimately connected.
A faint warmth spreads from my fingertips, flowing through my arm, and then throughout my entire body.
It's a gentle, comforting heat that pushes back against the lingering cold, chasing away the last vestiges of the void.
The azure light pulses, growing brighter, and then—
A soft, feminine hand closes around mine.
The warmth intensifies as pure, serene power flows into me. I cannot see the figure, yet her presence washes over me—
Overwhelming, profoundly gentle.
It's a presence that speaks of primordial essence, of immeasurable scope, of something truly divine.
Her grip is delicate, yet driven by need—pulling me gently, irrevocably, toward her.
My hand passes fully into the light, and I feel a distinct *snap* deep within my very core.
The void around me shatters, fragmenting into a million tiny shards of darkness that disperse into nothingness.
> CRITICAL_EVENT_LOGGED
> CONDUIT_DESIGNATION: Horikita Kurotsukihime Mizuhana
> EVENT_TRIGGER: EXTERNAL_DIVINE_KI_INFUSION_DETECTED.
> CONSEQUENCE: DIVINE_KI_AWAKENING_SEQUENCE - FORCED_ACCELERATION_CONFIRMED.
> CONDUIT_VERIFICATION_PROTOCOL: OVERRIDDEN.
> REASON: Willful consent detected from source entity [SHIZUKA]. Standard safeguards and vetting protocols have been bypassed.
> SYNCHRONIZATION_PROTOCOL_ACTIVATED:
> TARGET_A: [SHIZUKA] (Core Consciousness within [Kusanagi no Tsurugi])
> TARGET_B: [HORIKITA KUROTSUKIHIME MIZUHANA] (Conduit)
> STATUS: RAPID_ESSENCE_ALIGNMENT_IN_PROGRESS...
> PHYSICAL_ANCHOR_MANIFESTATION_INITIATED:
> LOCATION: BACK_OF_HAND_LEFT
> TYPE: AZURE_SIGIL_IMPRINT - FORMATION_COMMENCING.
// _