The storm reached its peak.
Rain no longer fell like drops.
It poured like something bleeding from the sky.
Denjiyon Town had become a graveyard of broken wood, collapsed homes, and black mud. The plaza where the Holy Tree stood was barely recognizable. Roots had torn the streets apart, splitting the earth like open wounds.
And standing above it all—
The Essence Devil.
It had grown again.
Its body towered above the rooftops, an enormous mass of roots, mud, and black water constantly shifting into new shapes. Limbs formed and dissolved endlessly as if the creature could never decide what it wanted to become.
Where its face should have been—
A hollow void.
From that void, thick black liquid poured endlessly.
Lightning tore across the sky.
The devil roared.
The sound shook the entire valley.
Kaito stood in front of it.
Alone.
Rain ran down his hair and armor as he rested his sword across his shoulder.
Behind him, Akhiro was kneeling in the mud, placing talismans across the cracked ground as fast as his shaking hands allowed.
Golden symbols lit one after another.
"Just a little longer!" Akhiro shouted.
"I'm almost done!"
Kaito sighed.
"Take your time."
Another massive limb of the devil crashed toward him.
BOOM.
The ground exploded.
But Kaito was already moving.
Steel flashed through the rain.
SHRAK.
His blade carved through the devil's limb, severing it cleanly. Black liquid burst into the storm like spilled ink.
The limb collapsed into the mud.
And immediately began growing back.
Kaito clicked his tongue.
"Yeah… you're still annoying."
The Essence Devil roared again.
Roots erupted from the ground like spears.
Kaito leapt between them, cutting through the thick wood with quick precise strikes.
Each slash split another root.
Each step avoided another attack.
But the devil didn't slow.
The valley itself answered its call.
More roots rose.
More limbs formed.
More flesh rebuilt.
Kaito glanced back toward Adryn.
Adryn hadn't moved.
He stood in the rain with his head lowered slightly.
Watching.
The air around him felt heavy.
Dangerous.
Kaito laughed quietly.
"Yeah… you're getting angry."
Akhiro finished placing the final talisman.
Twelve seals ignited simultaneously.
Golden chains spread across the plaza like a net.
"Barrier complete!"
The roots slowed.
Not stopped.
But restrained.
Akhiro looked up.
"Adryn! Now!"
The Essence Devil roared violently as the barrier tightened around its body.
Roots strained against the glowing chains.
The ground cracked from the pressure.
Kaito wiped rain from his face.
"Alright."
He planted his sword into the ground.
"Your turn."
Adryn stepped forward.
Slowly.
Lightning flashed above him.
For a moment the storm seemed to freeze.
Then—
The ground beneath Kaito exploded.
A massive root burst upward from beneath the mud.
Too fast.
Too sudden.
It tore straight through his chest.
The blade he had planted in the ground trembled violently.
Kaito looked down.
The root had pierced completely through him.
Blood spread across the wood like dark paint.
Rain washed it away almost instantly.
Akhiro's voice broke.
"…Kaito?"
The root lifted him several meters into the air.
The Essence Devil roared triumphantly.
Kaito coughed.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
But he still smiled.
"…Well."
He looked toward Adryn.
"Guess… that one got me."
Adryn's body had gone completely still.
The root suddenly ripped free.
Kaito's body fell from the air.
Adryn caught him before he hit the ground.
"Kaito!"
Blood spread rapidly through the mud.
The wound was fatal.
Both lungs had been destroyed.
Kaito knew it immediately.
His breathing came in shallow broken gasps.
Akhiro stumbled toward them, panic filling his voice.
"Hold on! I can—"
Kaito raised a weak hand.
"No."
His eyes moved back to Adryn.
The grin was still there.
Just weaker now.
"…You better kill that thing."
The Essence Devil roared again behind them.
The barrier chains were beginning to break.
Kaito continued quietly.
"Would be embarrassing…"
"…if I died for nothing."
Adryn's hands trembled.
Rain and tears mixed across his face.
"You're not dying."
Kaito chuckled weakly.
"…You're bad at lying."
His eyes slowly began losing focus.
"…See you later."
His hand fell.
And the life left his body.
For several seconds—
Adryn didn't move.
Then something inside him broke.
The air changed.
Akhiro felt it immediately.
A crushing pressure spread across the plaza.
The Essence Devil roared again.
But this time—
The roar sounded uncertain.
Adryn slowly stood.
Kaito's body still in his arms.
Rain fell harder.
The storm itself seemed to react to the rage inside him.
Adryn gently placed Kaito's body on the ground.
Then he turned toward the devil.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"…Terrian Expansion."
The ground trembled violently.
The sky above Denjiyon Town split with lightning.
"Endless Sky."
Everything changed.
The storm vanished.
The town vanished.
The world itself disappeared.
The Essence Devil suddenly stood inside an endless void of dark blue sky stretching infinitely in every direction.
Clouds moved slowly across a boundless horizon.
But there was no ground.
Only sky.
Adryn stood in the center of it.
The devil roared and tried to summon its roots.
But the roots were gone.
The valley was gone.
The Holy Tree was gone.
Only Adryn remained.
And his anger.
He moved.
The first punch shattered the devil's entire body.
The second erased half of what remained.
The third tore the creature apart completely.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Each strike carried the weight of something deeper than power.
Grief.
Rage.
Loss.
The Essence Devil's body disintegrated into fragments.
But the fragments did not stay destroyed.
They drifted away through the endless sky like pieces of smoke.
Escaping.
Returning to the world outside the expansion.
Adryn understood too late.
The devil had never truly been here.
This body was only another extension.
Another branch of the thing buried beneath the valley.
His final strike erased the last fragment inside the Endless Sky.
The Terrian Expansion collapsed.
Reality returned.
The storm came rushing back.
But the Essence Devil was gone.
Escaped.
Adryn stood alone in the ruined plaza.
His fists trembled violently.
Then he fell to his knees.
Akhiro watched silently.
For the first time since he had known him—
Adryn cried.
Not quietly.
Not briefly.
The kind of grief that tears itself out of a person.
The rain continued falling as the storm washed across the broken town.
Eventually—
Adryn stood again.
He lifted Kaito's body carefully.
Akhiro picked up the fallen sword.
Neither of them spoke.
They simply walked out of Denjiyon Town.
Behind them—
The Holy Tree pulsed weak to rise once again...
Thump....
---
PRESENT DAY HARU AND ADRYN...
The café was quiet.
Outside, people walked along the street as if the world had never known monsters.
Haru sat across the table silently.
"…So that's what happened."
Adryn nodded.
The drink in his hand had melted ice floating inside it.
Haru leaned forward slightly.
"You never found the Essence Devil again?"
Adryn stared into the glass.
"The thing we fought…"
"…was never the real body."
His fingers slowly tightened around the glass.
"Somewhere in this world…"
"…it's still growing."
Haru was about to reply—
Then the can exploded in Adryn's hand.
CRACK.
Liquid burst across the table as shards scattered everywhere.
Blood slowly ran down Adryn's palm.
But he didn't react.
His eyes had gone distant.
Cold.
Angry.
"…Next time."
His voice was quiet.
But something violent lived beneath it.
"…I'll find it."
"…And I'll finish it."
Far away—
Deep beneath the roots of the earth—
Something ancient shifted.
And the storm that began in Denjiyon Town…
Had never truly ended...