The world was chaos, a collapsing landscape of black flame and spiraling winds.

The skies above were fractured, bleeding streaks of red and gray light.

And beneath it all, the Voidborns crawled out from every shadow, thousands of them twisted remnants of the Hollow Nine's corruption.

Each one dripped darkness.

Each one hissed like dying stars.

Saya and Shigeo stood at the edge of that storm.

"Too many…" Saya muttered, breath sharp. Her staff hummed with blight energy, petals of light blooming in the air around her. "They're multiplying faster than before—"

Beside her, Shigeo Motome raised his head slowly, his eyes dim, cold, and eerily focused.

A thousand translucent symbols spun across his pupils, flickering like runes of stormlight.

"Then we'll thin the numbers."

He pressed his palm to the ground, whispering in monotone:

"Calculation… complete. Probability: one hundred percent."

The voidborns halted just for an instant as if reality itself froze.

"STORM DOMINOES!"

Lightning exploded across the battlefield.

A chain reaction erupted spiraling arcs of silver and blue tearing through the horde in geometric precision.

Every bolt hit exactly where it needed to, rebounding, multiplying, folding each strike triggering the next like falling tiles in an invisible pattern.

The storm became alive.

Every gust of wind, every spark of electricity, every fallen voidborn became part of Shigeo's perfect sequence.

A web of probability a Thousand Ways converging into one inevitable outcome.

The last wave of voidborns disintegrated into dust.

Only the hum of charged air remained.

Saya stared in awe — her long hair whipped by the residual storm.

"Shigeo…" she breathed. "You—"

He blinked once, calmly.

"Not perfect. Still seven variables left. But… it'll do."

Before he could say more, a familiar, groaning voice echoed from behind them.

"...What a moment to wake up…"

Saya turned and saw Kenji Gas, staggering to his feet, his body battered but spirit unbroken.

He grinned weakly.

"Guess sleeping through that was my worst idea yet."

He glanced toward the main battlefield where Khael, Kaen, Rael, and Lira were locked in a storm of flame and voidfire against Bakuza's towering Titan form.

His eyes narrowed, a flicker of determination sparking behind them.

"That scene… that's what heroes look like."

Then he turned to Shigeo and Saya.

"I should help you both. I'm not done yet."

Saya stepped forward, her expression soft but fierce.

"Then wake up properly, Kenji. Because this time—"

She pressed her hand to her chest. The moonlight above rippled, cascading down over her body.

"ECLIPSE FORM!"

A radiant surge of pink and violet burst outward petals of energy swirling like galaxies around her.

Her petals transformed into a silver scythe, its blade humming with life and decay in perfect balance.

Shigeo raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Beautiful."

Saya smirked. "Focus, genius. We've got voidborns to erase."

Kenji cracked his neck, his wind flaring.

"And a Titan to punch through. Let's make it count."

The trio stepped forward Shigeo's storm web still pulsing underfoot, Saya's blight petals drifting like falling stars, and Kenji's wind rising again, alive and roaring.

They looked toward Khael and the others, the heart of the chaos.

And with one breath, one shared will, They ran straight into the fire.

The battlefield split in two on one side, the Voidflame Titan raged; on the other, under the fractured moonlight, Juno Arkai and Ceyla Nox faced Kero, the Shadewind Reaper.

The air here was different quieter, but heavier.

Each breath was like inhaling smoke and broken glass.

Kero stood amid a circle of black wind, his cracked mask hanging loose, half his face revealed pale, hollow, his mouth curved in a calm, unfeeling smile.

"Still standing?" His voice was smooth, measured, almost kind. "How curious. Most crumble by now."

Ceyla spat to the side, lightning snapping from her fingertips.

"You talk too much."

Her aura flared thunderous arcs of silver dancing up her arms.

"ECLIPSE Art: THUNDER FANG!"

The ground split.

Bolts of pure light ripped across the field, chasing Kero's outline — but he was already gone.

A whisper.

A blur.

Then pain a deep cut grazed her cheek.

Kero appeared behind her, his blade drawn, black energy fluttering like dying feathers.

"You're fast," he murmured, "but not faster than silence."

Ceyla turned, eyes burning. "Juno!"

Juno Arkai was already moving.

His wrists were wrapped in glowing seals, the Taishin pattern burning across his veins.

"TAISHIN – SIXTH GATE: BURN FIST"

A wave of sheer force erupted from his body, splitting the earth beneath his feet.

His movements blurred each step snapping the air apart.

Kero raised his blade to block, but Juno's kick landed like a meteor, sending him crashing into the broken wall of an ancient ruin.

Juno followed through, fists flashing, blows so fast they left afterimages.

"You think you're untouchable? Try keeping up with this!"

Kero parried one strike, two then smiled through the dust.

"I don't need to keep up."

He raised his free hand, and the shadows around him moved.

The air twisted, becoming a sphere of whispering wind shade energy spun with slicing pressure.

"I simply let the world slow for me."

He vanished then appeared inside Juno's guard, blade tracing his ribs.

Juno gasped, blood spraying, but before Kero could press the attack

Ceyla's lightning erupted from the sky.

"LIGHTNING DIVE!"

The bolt struck like a divine spear, smashing Kero through three layers of rock.

Ceyla landed beside Juno, panting, hands trembling from the recoil.

"You okay, idiot?" she snapped.

Juno grinned despite the blood on his lips. "You sound worried, Ceyla."

"Shut up."

Then—

A sound.

Low, rumbling.

Like the breath of something ancient.

Kero stepped out of the smoke.

Half his mask gone.

The veins around his eyes were black and pulsing; his aura warped the air itself.

"Amusing," he whispered.

"You broke my concentration. You'll pay for that."

The wind grew cold. The ground turned gray. The stars above flickered.

Ceyla's pupils shrank. "He's merging with his Shinrei, Kero's going berserk!"

Juno clenched his fists, aura burning again.

"Then we'll break him before he breaks the world!"

The two of them charged lightning and physical might crashing together.

Ceyla's thunder coated Juno's movements, each strike now glowing with electricity.

Every punch sent shockwaves of both force and voltage.

For a moment just a moment they overwhelmed Kero, forcing him back.

But Kero smiled through the chaos.

"Yes… yes… this is what it feels like to fall again."

His aura flared into a storm of shade and wind, black feathers slicing the air.

A vortex rose behind him the Eye of Kero, his signature domain.

Ceyla shouted, "Juno—don't let him form the eye!"

Juno's sixth gate burned hotter, the veins on his arms glowing red.

"Then let's tear it apart before it opens!"

They dashed in

Lightning screamed

Wind howled

And Kero laughed, spinning his blade, meeting both their power head-on.

The impact cracked the sky.

For a heartbeat, all three figures vanished inside a blinding cyclone of light and shadow.

And somewhere deep in that storm, Ceyla's voice echoed, fierce and bright:

"We're not losing here not while Khael's watching!"

To be continue