The sound of the breaking chain echoed across the entirety of Mugen Banquet.
CRACK.
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't explosive.
Yet every person present felt it in their soul.
The moment it happened, the feast changed.
The endless tables stopped moving.
The floating chandeliers froze.
The rivers of golden light hanging across the sky became motionless.
For a brief moment, everything became still.
Then the pressure exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The ground split apart for hundreds of kilometers. Entire mountains collapsed into the widening cracks. The sky itself seemed to bend under an invisible weight. The world was struggling to contain something that no longer wished to remain sealed.
Ayame was forced backward by the shockwave.
Hiroshi slammed his chains into the ground just to keep himself from being thrown away.
Even Raizen dug his sword into the earth.
Only Kaizen remained standing.
His eyes never left Lady Chõko.
Because now he finally understood.
Every clue.
Every inconsistency.
Every strange reaction.
Every moment Chõko had laughed despite being cornered.
The answer had been there from the beginning.
And now it stood before him.
Bleeding.
Smiling.
Breaking apart.
Lady Chõko floated above the center of the feast as golden cracks continued spreading across her body. The stone armor she had relied on throughout the battle was crumbling. Pieces of it fell into the void below and vanished completely.
Her breathing had become uneven.
Heavy.
Painful.
Yet somehow...
She was still smiling.
"YAYAYAYA..."
The laugh was weaker now.
Not because she lacked strength.
Because she was exhausted.
For centuries, she had carried the burden of Mugen Banquet.
For centuries, she had kept it under control.
And now that control was slipping away.
Kaizen slowly stepped forward.
The others immediately noticed.
"Kaizen!"
Ayame shouted.
But he didn't stop.
His gaze remained fixed on Chõko.
Then he finally spoke.
"You're not the enemy."
The battlefield fell silent.
Even the collapsing feast seemed to pause.
For the first time since the battle began, Chõko's eyes widened.
Not from pain.
Not from fear.
From surprise.
Kaizen continued walking.
The pressure around him was enough to crush mountains, yet he continued moving forward.
"You never intended to win."
No response.
"You never tried to kill us when you had the chance."
The feast trembled.
Golden energy surged across the sky.
Still Chõko remained silent.
Then Kaizen pointed toward the spreading cracks.
"You were buying time."
A tear slowly rolled down Chõko's face.
The smile remained.
Yet her eyes revealed everything.
The truth.
The burden.
The fear she had hidden behind endless laughter.
"YAYA..."
Her voice trembled.
"...you figured it out."
Kaizen stopped.
Finally.
The last piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
The seal wasn't weakening because of the Dimensional Clan.
The seal wasn't weakening because of damage.
The seal was weakening because Chõko herself had reached her limit.
Every year.
Every battle.
Every use of Mugen Banquet.
The burden grew heavier.
The seal grew weaker.
And now...
It was finally breaking.
"If this thing awakens..."
Kaizen looked toward the center of the feast.
"...what happens?"
For the first time in the entire battle...
Lady Chõko stopped smiling.
The answer came quietly.
"So many people die."
Silence.
Nobody laughed.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The gravity of those words hit harder than any attack.
Not the Dimensional Clan.
Not Reikosha Academy.
Not a country.
Not a continent.
People.
Everyone.
Everywhere.
The feast would consume endlessly.
Without reason.
Without purpose.
Without mercy.
Then Chõko slowly raised her hand.
She pointed toward a distant location hidden within the collapsing banquet.
A place surrounded by golden light.
A place untouched by destruction.
The heart.
The source.
The final lock.
Kaizen's eyes widened.
Even Haruto looked surprised.
Because Chõko had just revealed it herself.
The weakness she had spent the entire battle protecting.
"Destroy it."
Her voice barely reached them.
The feast immediately reacted.
The sky darkened.
The world roared.
As if Mugen Banquet itself understood what she had done.
As if it was furious.
As if it wanted to stop them.
Countless black plates materialized above the battlefield.
Millions.
Billions.
Enough to darken the heavens.
The final defense of the feast had begun.
Haruto stepped forward.
Spatial energy distorted around him.
Ayame cracked her knuckles.
Hiroshi's chains erupted from the ground.
Even Raizen grinned.
The arrogance returned to his face.
"Now we're talking."
The Dimensional Clan finally had a target.
A real one.
A path to victory.
But victory would not come easily.
Because above them...
The cracks in the seal continued spreading.
And deep inside Mugen Banquet...
Something opened its eyes.
The pressure that followed made even Chõko freeze.
A pressure greater than anything shown before.
Greater than the feast.
Greater than the battle.
Greater than Lady Chõko herself.
The final lock had not yet broken.
But it was close.
Very close.
Then a voice echoed from the darkness hidden beyond the seal.
A voice that did not belong to Chõko.
A voice that did not belong to any human.
A voice ancient enough to make reality tremble.
And for the first time in centuries...
Fear appeared on Lady Chõko's face.