The fractured heavens screamed.
Not metaphorically.
Not like thunder.
The sky itself truly screamed as the abyssal creature forced more power into the widening breach above Valthorin, causing enormous cracks to spread across reality like shattered glass breaking apart beneath unbearable pressure.
The temporary stillness that had settled over the battlefield vanished instantly.
The crown hovering above the summit trembled violently.
The enormous eyes beyond the fracture narrowed sharply.
And deep within the abyss, the Lonely King moved for the first time with visible urgency.
Because something had changed.
The creature kneeling beneath the breach was no longer acting according to the will of the abyss.
It had become consumed by worship.
By obsession.
By the desperate fanaticism born from believing that destruction itself was salvation.
Darkness erupted around its body in massive spiraling waves while countless black symbols burned across its form, and suddenly the abyssal energy flooding from the fracture intensified hard enough to destabilize the entire valley below.
The mountains surrounding Valthorin began collapsing.
Entire sections of the ruined city folded inward unnaturally as gravity distorted across the region.
The surviving adventurers still trapped below screamed while trying desperately to flee the expanding waves of abyssal corruption spreading through the streets.
Reality itself was starting to fail.
Kyūsei felt panic slam into his chest instantly.
"It's forcing the gate open!"
Lena nodded sharply, silver mana flaring around her body despite the blood running down her face.
"At this rate the dimensional barrier will shatter completely!"
Rufus stared upward in exhausted despair.
"How is the situation somehow getting WORSE every ten minutes?!"
"Talent," Mira answered calmly.
The creature raised its arms higher.
The heavens split further.
And suddenly—
More hands began emerging from beyond the breach.
Not one.
Not two.
Dozens.
Enormous pale hands covered in black markings pushed slowly through the widening fractures like gods clawing their way into reality itself, causing the world beneath them to tremble violently under their mere existence.
Kyūsei's face went pale.
If even one fully manifested earlier had nearly destroyed the city—
This would end everything.
The whispers inside his mind became chaotic again.
Not commanding.
Panicked.
The abyss itself was becoming unstable.
Because the fanatic creature had stopped caring about balance entirely.
It simply wanted the world consumed.
And somewhere beyond the fracture—
The Lonely King grew angry.
The pressure descending from the heavens changed instantly.
Cold.
Ancient.
Terrifying beyond words.
The second eye slowly turned toward the abyssal creature below.
The moment that gaze landed upon it—
The creature froze.
Every shadow throughout the battlefield became still.
Even the widening breach itself shuddered faintly.
Then the voice of the Lonely King echoed across reality once more.
This time without sorrow.
Without loneliness.
Without softness.
Only authority.
Enough.
The word shook the world.
The abyssal creature screamed instantly.
Its body cracked apart beneath invisible pressure as black energy exploded violently around it, forcing the massive entity to one knee while the countless hands emerging through the fracture halted mid-descent.
Kyūsei's breath caught.
The Lonely King was stopping it.
No—
Punishing it.
The creature writhed violently beneath the crushing pressure from beyond the breach, yet even while its body fractured apart, it still forced itself to look upward in devotion.
"Why…" Kyūsei whispered.
The answer came immediately.
Because fanaticism no longer fears pain.
The creature would rather destroy the world than allow the abyss to retreat incomplete.
And that made it far more dangerous than before.
Suddenly the creature roared.
Darkness detonated outward from its body in catastrophic waves as it forcibly resisted the pressure of the Lonely King itself.
The summit exploded apart.
Stone disintegrated.
The remaining upper temple collapsed entirely beneath the shockwave while everyone nearby was thrown violently backward.
Kyūsei crashed hard against broken ruins while Kazuto skidded across the shattered ground several meters away, barely catching himself with his sword before falling over the edge of the collapsing summit.
The creature stood again.
Broken.
Cracking.
Bleeding darkness from countless fractures spreading across its body.
Yet still standing.
Still worshipping.
Still trying to force the abyss into reality.
Its voice echoed in distorted screams.
THE THRONE MUST RETURN.
The heavens ruptured further.
One of the massive hands descending from beyond the breach slammed into reality completely.
The impact shattered half the valley.
A colossal shockwave erupted outward hard enough to erase entire mountain ridges instantly while black storms consumed the horizon.
Kyūsei's ears rang violently.
This was beyond disaster now.
This was extinction.
Kazuto slowly pushed himself upright again.
Barely.
Blood covered nearly his entire body now, and the compressed mana surrounding his sword had become frighteningly unstable, occasionally slicing thin cuts through the air itself each time the blade trembled in his grasp.
Yet somehow—
The idiot still smiled.
Weakly.
Tiredly.
Completely insane.
"…okay," he coughed while wiping blood from his mouth. "Now I'm getting annoyed."
Kyūsei stared at him.
"Kazuto, your body's already breaking apart!"
"Correct."
"You can barely stand!"
"Also correct."
"Then STOP LOOKING SO CALM!"
Kazuto laughed weakly.
"If I panic now, it'll ruin my image."
"You don't HAVE an image!"
"I absolutely do."
Despite everything—
Despite the collapsing heavens and abyssal monstrosities clawing their way into reality—
Kyūsei nearly laughed again.
And suddenly he understood.
This was Kazuto's strength.
Not just his swordsmanship.
Not just his courage.
His refusal to surrender the small human parts of himself even while facing the end of the world.
The jokes.
The stubbornness.
The warmth.
The absurd determination to remain human no matter how terrifying reality became.
The abyss could not understand that.
Because the abyss had forgotten how.
Kazuto slowly lifted his sword again.
The winds around him exploded violently one final time.
Every current of air across the shattered valley converged toward the blade in spiraling storms while the atmosphere itself fractured under the overwhelming mana compression gathering around him.
The Lonely King watched silently from beyond the breach.
Kyūsei realized something then.
The abyss wasn't looking at Kazuto with hatred anymore.
It was watching him with fascination.
As though witnessing something impossible.
A fragile mortal standing before the apocalypse…
And still choosing to fight.
Kazuto exhaled slowly.
Then glanced sideways toward Kyūsei.
"Hey."
Kyūsei's chest tightened immediately.
"…what?"
Kazuto smiled faintly.
"Try not to die again."
Then he stepped forward.
And raised his sword against the end of the world.