Darkness was no longer an absence of light.
It had form now. A voice. A pulse.
And as Kaizen stood in the ruins of the Hall of Statues, Ayaka still clutching his hand, he felt it closing in from all sides.
Krovar's body had vanished into ash, and the shard glyphs that had controlled him still lingered faintly in the air—writhing like living ink.
Ayaka whispered, "We need to get to the Inner Sanctum. Before he speaks again."
But it was too late.
From the dust rose a floating eye—massive, lidless, carved from obsidian and vein-crystal. It hovered mid-air, dripping black liquid that hissed against the ground.
Kaizen immediately raised his blade. "Is that—?"
Ayaka froze. "The Eye of Nerovar. He's watching us directly now."
Then the voice came, curling through their minds like a thousand whispers fused into one:
"You've broken the chains, Kaizen Ryouma. But the chains were never your enemy."
Kaizen gritted his teeth. "Show yourself, coward!"
The Eye pulsed.
And suddenly the world around them… shifted.
No more corridor. No more reality. Just… void.
They stood on a platform suspended in infinite space, like a dream woven from ink and flame. And from the shadows stepped a figure—cloaked in layers of black and red, with a crown of broken horns.
Nerovar.
He didn't walk. He floated, as if gravity refused to bind him.
Kaizen's body tensed. He recognized him—not from memory, but from bloodline instinct. This wasn't just another Bist general.
This was something far older.
"You look just like him," Nerovar mused. "Like the First Flame. Arrogant. Bright. Weak."
Kaizen held his ground. "You used Krovar. You manipulated the prophecy. Why?"
Nerovar tilted his head. "Because the world doesn't need salvation. It needs cleansing. And you… you're the key to both."
Ayaka stood protectively beside Kaizen. "He won't join you."
Nerovar turned to her, eyes like whirlpools.
"No… he won't. Not yet. But the Pact… the Pact you two threaten to awaken—it's not love that seals it. It's destruction."
He raised a hand.
A vision slammed into Kaizen's mind like a tidal wave.
—Mountains crumbling.
—The sky torn by veins of fire.
—Hordes of Bists and Veinborn locked in mutual genocide.
—And in the middle, a throne of bones and shards…
With Kaizen sitting upon it. Alone.
Kaizen gasped, knees buckling.
Ayaka caught him. "Kaizen!"
Nerovar spoke again. "The Veinborn were created to stop the Bists. But the First Pact—made in desperation—created a hybrid bloodline strong enough to end both. That hybrid… is you."
Kaizen's breath caught.
"You're lying…"
Nerovar's smile sharpened. "Am I? Ask yourself, Flamebearer. Why can you resist corruption? Why do shards obey you—even the broken ones?"
Kaizen remembered the moments—defeating Zar'Vok, resisting the Black Shard, bending fire that should have consumed him.
He had felt… different.
Ayaka whispered, "Kaizen… what if you were meant to be both savior and executioner?"
Nerovar nodded. "Exactly. But your love for her... clouds the design. The Pact will break. And when it does—every god, every monster, every last soul will kneel or burn."
The Eye above them flared.
"So I offer you this choice."
"Kill Ayaka."
"Or I will unseal the Abyss Gate… tonight."
Silence.
Kaizen's hands shook.
Ayaka looked at him—eyes soft. "Kaizen… don't listen. He's afraid. Afraid of what we are together."
Kaizen's blade lowered slightly. "You'd rather die than let us choose love."
Nerovar sneered. "Because love built on blood ends in fire. Every time."
The Eye crackled with dark energy.
Kaizen stood straight.
Then spoke.
"You want to end the world?"
"Then try."
And with that, he slashed through the Eye.
BOOM.
The void cracked.
Light returned.
The hallway reformed around them as Nerovar's Eye exploded in a storm of black fire. Kaizen and Ayaka shielded themselves as the structure shook violently.
Back in the real world, alarms blared.
A soldier sprinted toward them.
"Captain! The Abyss Gate is reacting! It's… it's opening!"
Kaizen stared ahead, flame flickering in his eyes.
"So be it."
The war has begun.