Chapter 62: Shaman's Final Lesson
Between a Heartbeat and Eternity
The heavens continued to shake.
BRRRMM!
BRRZZZ!
BAAAMM!!
Far above Gregor Naught, bursts of blue lightning erupted one after another as Monday Valhalla and Cassian tore across the sky. Every collision split the clouds into enormous rings that spread toward the horizon before fading into the distance. The thunder that followed never truly caught up; each explosion belonged to a clash that had already happened thousands of exchanges ago.
Yet Daito Greyhell no longer looked upward.
He looked down.
Toward Iron Bastion.
Toward the only person capable of changing the course of the battle.
Aerin.
* * *
The world stretched.
Not because time had slowed...But because Daito's perception had accelerated beyond what reality could comfortably sustain.
The ruined fortress below appeared frozen inside an endless moment. Broken pillars leaned without falling.
Fragments of shattered stone hung motionless in the air. Smoke drifted upward so slowly that it seemed carved from marble.
A single drop of blood descended from Aerin's fingertips...Barely moving.
To anyone else, she was still performing the ritual.
To Daito...She was standing inside eternity.
Every minute movement became visible. The rise of her chest as she fought for breath. The trembling in her fingers. The tiny muscles in her shoulders struggling to obey.The ritual had taken everything she possessed.
And still...She refused to stop.
Fwoo....
Memories surfaced.
Not as distractions but as reminders.
The old Shaman's weathered hands resting upon the Traditional Blade. His quiet voice carried by the wind.
"Power without purpose is only noise."
Another memory.
A younger Aerin kneeling before the sacred fire. Her hands trembling as she repeated the ancient vows of her people.
"The chosen does not inherit strength..."
"The chosen inherits consequence."
Daito closed his eyes for the briefest instant.
This isn't just a ritual...It's every generation before her.
When he opened them again...His resolve had become absolute.
* * *
Far above—
KRAAAAAAAK!!
A pillar of blue lightning pierced the heavens.
Monday had accelerated again.
Cassian met him head-on.
Their collision erupted into a blinding sphere of light that swallowed the clouds around them. The pressure reached Iron Bastion an instant later.
WHOOOOOOOM!!
The ancient fortress trembled violently. Cracks spread through the stone beneath Aerin's feet. Dust rained from broken towers.
Yet she never flinched. Her concentration never wavered. One misplaced line... One imperfect symbol...Would destroy everything they had fought for.
"...Almost..."
Her voice escaped as little more than a whisper. Sweat rolled down her face. Blood stained the sleeve of her arm. Her breathing had become painfully uneven.
Still...
Her hand continued moving.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The glowing circle hovering before her expanded with every passing moment. Ancient symbols rotated around its edge like stars orbiting a forgotten sun. Each symbol pulsed with a different color.
Silver.
Gold.
Crimson.
Azure.
They rotated faster, brighter and heavier.
SWOOSH!
SWIRL!
The pressure surrounding the ritual deepened. Even the air bowed away from it.
Daito remained perfectly still. Every instinct screamed at him to return to the battle. Monday was fighting alone. Against Cassian.
Against the strongest opponent they had ever encountered. Every fraction of a second felt unbearable. His thoughts reached outward.
"...Monday."
The response arrived immediately. Though strained. Though accompanied by the roar of endless combat.
"...Still alive."
Another explosion echoed through the mental connection. A flash of laughter followed.
"...Barely."
Daito frowned.
"...Can you hold him?"
Monday answered with another burst of impact.
Daito could almost feel each collision through their shared thoughts.
"...Ask me something easier."
Then a grin.
Even across the mental link.
"...Just finish what you started."
The battle overhead intensified.
Cassian's voice echoed faintly through the storm.
"...Excellent!"
BOOOOOOM!!
"...Again!"
KRAAAAAAAK!!
"...Show me more!"
Each word was accompanied by another devastating collision.
Another mountain of clouds scattered across the heavens. Another shockwave rolled over Gregor Naught.
Cassian wasn't trying to end the fight.
He was enjoying it, learning from it, and growing through it.
Monday understood that, which meant every second mattered.
* * *
Aerin inhaled deeply.
Her exhausted body shook violently. The final circle hovered before the Traditional Blade. One movement remained.
Only one.
Her arm felt impossibly heavy as though the weight of generations rested upon it. She remembered the Shaman's final lesson.
"When your body fails..."
"Move with your soul."
Tears welled in her eyes not from pain, but from responsibility.
"...Please..."
She whispered.
"...Let this be enough."
With every ounce of strength she still possessed...She lifted the final circle.
Far above, Monday coughed blood.
Cassian's fist had grazed his ribs.
KABOOOOOOM!
SWOOSH!
The impact alone shattered three layers of condensed lightning armor before throwing him across the sky.
He regained control instantly.
BZZZTLE!
Blue electricity surged around him.
"...Come on..."
He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"...He's almost there."
Cassian smiled.
"You trust him that much?"
Monday laughed a tired laugh.
"More than myself."
Their fists collided again, the heavens exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Below...
The final symbol aligned perfectly.
Daito's pupils narrowed as every calculation confirmed it.
There were no flaws, no imbalance and no instability.
This...Was complete.
"...Aerin."
She heard him.
Not through sound nor through thought, but through faith.
A faint smile appeared on her exhausted face.
Without looking away from the ritual...She answered.
"...Go save them."
Then—
SWOOSH!
She moved.
Her hands descended. The final circle fell toward the Traditional Blade. The moment seemed to stretch forever. The glowing ring rotated once.
Twice, three times.
The edge of the blade welcomed it.
Then—
THOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The heavens split apart.
Golden light erupted from Iron Bastion like a newborn sun.The ritual circle beneath Aerin expanded across the fortress, every ancient symbol igniting simultaneously.
Columns of radiant energy pierced the sky.
BRRRMMM!
The earth trembled.
WHOOOSH!
The wind screamed.
Even Monday and Cassian paused for the smallest conceivable instant.
The world itself acknowledged the ritual's completion.
* * *
Daito felt it.
Not entering him. Awakening within him.
Power did not flood his body. It revealed what had always been there. Every nerve ignited. Every muscle tightened. Every heartbeat echoed like a drum across his soul. Pain surged through every fiber of his being.
SWOOSH!
Then vanished.
His breathing slowed. His senses expanded beyond anything he had experienced before. He heard individual grains of dust striking the stone. He saw microscopic fractures spreading through the ruined fortress. He felt the changing pressure of the wind against every inch of his skin.
His thoughts no longer raced.
They simply...were complete.
There was no wasted movement, no hesitation, and no fear.
Only perfect clarity.
"...So this..."
He whispered.
"...is the final step."
The golden aura surrounding him compressed until it disappeared entirely.
Nothing dramatic remained, nothing visible.
Only silence.
A dangerous silence.
High above Monday smiled.
He felt it.
"...About damn time."
Cassian's grin widened.
"...Interesting."
Before either of them could move—
SWOOSH!
Daito disappeared.
No.
He ceased existing where he had been.
The distance between Iron Bastion and the battlefield vanished as though it had never existed.
Monday had just begun raising his arm for another strike... When Daito appeared beside him. He didn't arrive with an explosion. He arrived with certainty.
Monday blinked.
"...Took you long enough."
Daito answered with the smallest smile.
"...Sorry."
Then he stepped forward.
Cassian raised his guard.
For the first time...Not out of instinct, but out of caution.
His eyes followed Daito carefully. Every muscle in his body prepared. The atmosphere tightened. The heavens held their breath. Something fundamental had changed.
Cassian could feel it.
Monday could feel it.
Even the world itself seemed reluctant to interfere.
Because the next exchange...would reveal whether Daito Greyhell had truly crossed into the realm of the impossible.
To Be Continued...