For several long seconds, nothing moved atop the ruined summit except the violent currents of wind and darkness tearing through the shattered air around the two boys standing beneath the fractured heavens, while above them the abyss itself churned restlessly beyond reality like a wounded ocean pressing against a collapsing dam.
Kazuto's grip remained locked tightly around Kyūsei's collar.
Steady.
Unwavering.
Human.
And strangely enough, that simple warmth—the pressure of another person refusing to let go—hurt the abyss more than any sword strike unleashed since the battle began.
The darkness surrounding Kyūsei twisted violently.
Not outward now.
Inward.
As though something vast and furious hidden deep within him had suddenly encountered resistance it neither understood nor appreciated.
The whispers flooding his mind grew sharper immediately.
Weakness.
Attachment.
Pain.
These things are why humanity breaks.
Kyūsei's breathing trembled unevenly while fragmented visions continued colliding against his consciousness—endless dead worlds drowned beneath shadow, towering gates opening across ruined civilizations, countless kneeling figures surrendering themselves willingly to the abyss in exchange for release from suffering.
And beneath all of it—
A single overwhelming truth.
The abyss was not merely destruction.
It was escape.
An existence without loneliness.
Without grief.
Without fear.
No pain.
No expectations.
No disappointment.
Only endless silence.
For one horrifying moment, part of Kyūsei understood why people would surrender themselves to it.
Because carrying emotions hurt.
Because being human hurt.
The abyss whispered softly now, no longer furious.
Tempting.
You suffered in both worlds.
You were abandoned in both worlds.
Even now, you fear loss more than death itself.
The darkness pulsed around him gently.
Become free from it.
Kyūsei's fingers trembled.
The abyss was cruel.
Not because it lied—
But because parts of it were true.
Back on Earth, loneliness had hollowed him out slowly over years until he barely recognized himself anymore. And after arriving in this world, despite the companions he had gained and the life he had begun building, fear still lingered constantly beneath the surface.
Fear that he would lose everything again.
Fear that happiness never lasted.
Fear that everyone standing beside him now would eventually disappear too.
The abyss understood that fear perfectly.
Because it fed upon it.
Kazuto suddenly tightened his grip harder.
"Don't you dare," he said firmly.
Kyūsei blinked.
Kazuto stared directly into his eyes despite the violent darkness writhing around them.
"I know that look."
The whispers hissed angrily.
He cannot understand you.
Kazuto immediately answered anyway.
"Yes, I can."
Kyūsei froze.
Kazuto exhaled shakily before speaking more quietly.
"You think I wasn't scared too?"
The words struck harder than expected.
For the first time since revealing the truth about Earth, Kazuto's expression finally cracked completely, exposing the exhaustion and fear he had hidden beneath jokes and confidence for so long.
"When I woke up here alone," he admitted softly, "I thought I'd lost everything."
The winds around him weakened slightly.
Not because his power faded.
Because his focus shifted entirely toward Kyūsei.
"I remembered Earth," Kazuto continued. "I remembered dying. I remembered seeing you disappear under that truck."
Kyūsei's chest tightened painfully.
"And for years," Kazuto said while forcing a weak laugh, "I kept wondering if maybe you got a better ending than me."
Silence.
Even the abyssal whispers seemed to pause briefly.
Kazuto looked upward toward the fractured heavens where impossible entities still drifted beyond reality itself.
"This world was terrifying," he admitted. "I nearly died more times than I can count. There were nights I thought it would've been easier to stop fighting."
His eyes returned to Kyūsei again.
"But then you showed up."
The darkness around Kyūsei trembled.
Kazuto smiled faintly.
"And suddenly things felt less lonely again."
The words shattered something inside him.
Because despite all the cosmic horror surrounding them, despite the collapsing sky, the abyssal entities, the overwhelming fear threatening to consume reality itself—
This moment felt painfully simple.
Two broken people finding each other again.
The abyss hated simplicity like that.
The whispers erupted furiously once more.
Human bonds are temporary.
Everyone dies.
Everything disappears.
Only the abyss remains eternal.
Kyūsei closed his eyes tightly.
"…maybe," he whispered.
Darkness pulsed around him eagerly.
Then he looked at Kazuto again.
"But temporary things still matter."
The whispers stopped.
For the first time since the abyss began speaking to him—
It had no immediate answer.
Kyūsei slowly inhaled despite the pressure crushing the summit around them.
Pain still tore through his body.
Fear still clawed at his chest.
The darkness inside him still felt endless.
But now, standing here beside Kazuto while memories of both worlds collided painfully together inside his mind, Kyūsei finally understood something he had failed to realize for most of his life.
The reason human beings suffered so much because of attachment…
Was because attachment itself had value.
Losing people hurt because loving them mattered.
The abyss offered freedom from pain.
But only by taking away everything that made life worth enduring in the first place.
Kyūsei clenched his trembling fists.
"No," he whispered.
The darkness around him reacted violently.
"I said no."
The black tendrils erupting from his body suddenly froze midair.
Then slowly—
They began retreating.
The eye beyond the fractured heavens widened instantly.
The whispers turned furious again.
YOU CANNOT REJECT WHAT YOU ARE.
Kyūsei staggered slightly as unbearable pain exploded through his body once more, but this time he remained standing.
"I'm not rejecting it," he said shakily while black markings continued burning across his skin. "I'm rejecting YOU deciding who I become."
The summit trembled violently.
The abyss beyond reality roared.
Not with sound—
With pressure.
The enormous hand descending from the breach twitched violently as if reacting to his defiance, while the abyssal creature kneeling beneath the fracture slowly lifted its head again, countless eyes focusing entirely upon Kyūsei now.
Interested.
Hostile.
Hungry.
Kazuto stared at him for a moment.
Then smiled.
"…there he is."
Kyūsei laughed weakly through exhausted breaths.
"I still feel terrible."
"Good. Means you're alive."
Then suddenly—
The sky screamed.
Every head snapped upward instantly.
The enormous hand descending from beyond reality had stopped moving.
Not because it chose to.
Because something deeper within the abyss had begun stirring violently.
The entities drifting behind the fractures moved aside almost instinctively, enormous silhouettes retreating through the endless darkness as though making way for something approaching from far below.
Something older.
Something far worse.
And slowly—
A second eye began opening beneath the first.