Lily's breath came in ragged, broken bursts. Her trembling hand, slick with her own blood, reached weakly toward the empty air. Strands of her brown hair clung to her cheek, slowly deepening into crimson as her life drained away.
DeathGod's laughter cut through the chaos, a high, delighted shriek that made the air itself seem to flinch back from him. His shadowed face tilted, eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction as Subaru strained helplessly beneath the crushing weight of his power.
"Can you see, Subaru?" he cooed. "No matter what you or anybody try to do, you can't win."
Subaru's voice cracked. "Stop. Please...!" His body twisted against the pressure, every muscle screaming, but he could not move.
DeathGod smiled wider, his tone almost tender. "Watch closely, then. Watch as your precious family dies by my hand."
He began to draw his arm back, the movement slow, deliberate, merciless. Lily's soft, gasping breaths hitched. Her eyes, once full of light, had gone glassy, drifting out of focus, sliding toward the void.
Then the world seemed to fracture.
A sudden bloom of frost devoured the air. Pure, glacial light erupted around DeathGod, freezing his form solid in an instant.
Before the echo of the freeze could even fade, a silver blue blur tore through the stillness. Sora appeared beside the ice locked figure, a streak of killing precision, her expression cold, her body wreathed in crystalline mist.
Without hesitation, she drove Thorn's fallen greatsword, a weapon nearly her size, straight into the frozen shape. The impact shattered the ice in a single thunderclap, shards scattering like glass underfoot. She hadn't struck to kill him. Only to stop him from phasing away.
It worked for the briefest heartbeat. Then came the laugh.
Cracks split through the frozen shell as DeathGod's voice rippled out, mad and gleeful. The shadow peeled apart from within, shimmering as he vanished from the spot entirely.
Sora didn't waste the moment. She darted forward, catching Lily mid fall. A whisper of frost spiraled from her palm as she pressed her hand to the wound. "Glacial Veil," she murmured. The bleeding slowed, a thin sheet of frozen mana sealing the ruptured flesh. A desperate stopgap, nothing more.
She landed beside Syl, setting Lily gently in her lap. "Heal her," Sora said, breathless but steady.
Syl nodded frantically, tears falling onto Lily's cold face. But before Sora could pull back, something yanked her hair sharply from behind.
DeathGod had reappeared, his hand tangled in her raven black strands. His laughter dripped with mockery. "Did you think you could run from me?"
Sora didn't flinch. She conjured a dagger of ice in her free hand and sliced clean through her own hair. His grip loosened. She spun on her heel and struck, a condensed punch of frozen mana exploding from her fist.
The blow hit like thunder. DeathGod's body launched through the air, slamming into the remnants of a shattered building.
Subaru watched through a haze of pain, his body barely able to move. His mind flickered with feverish focus. One second. One second. Two seconds. Two seconds.
Syl's hands shook violently as she pressed them over Lily's wound. "Please, please work," she sobbed. Her light flickered weak, fading along with her mana. Nothing happened.
Then the ground beneath them pulsed.
From the cracked earth, luminous vines erupted, glowing vibrant green and gold. They wrapped around Lily's body, weaving over her stomach like threads of life, a powerful surge of mana running through them. Morganna's Verdant Aegis.
Syl's tear streaked face turned toward the distance. Morganna, palms pressed to the earth, her mana unwavering.
"Thank you, Mother," Syl whispered, her voice breaking.
Lily coughed, a weak, shuddering sound. Her eyes stayed shut, but faint color began to return to her cheeks.
Then came a piercing sound that split through the chaos. Sora's scream mingled with DeathGod's howling laughter.
Syl's head snapped up. Her heart froze.
DeathGod had both of Sora's hands locked in his grip, crushing them without mercy. The sound of shattering bone cut through the air, sharp and wet. Sora gasped, her body shaking, but instead of falling, she twisted with the motion, using the pain itself as leverage. Her knee drove upward, her ice encased kneecap slamming into his ribs with the crack of splitting stone.
He staggered slightly, then caught her again before she could follow through. A guttural snarl ripped from him as he brought his hand down with monstrous precision, crushing her second hand. It was deliberate. Cruel.
Sora's breath trembled. Her face contorted for a heartbeat, and then, shockingly, she smiled. A fierce, almost savage grin.
"You think that'll stop me?" she rasped.
Frost bloomed across her forearms, crawling down her wrists until her ruined hands were sealed in thick, jagged ice. The air shimmered from the freezing mana. With both arms turned into solid ice weapons, she struck. Again and again. Each blow landed with a thunderous crack that rolled out like falling rock.
DeathGod took the hits at first, his laughter curdling into a grimace. The grin that never left his face finally faltered as Sora's fury drove him backward, step by step.
"You whore!" he roared, his composure shattering.
His hand shot out like a serpent striking, gripping her throat. He slammed her into the ground once, twice, again, the impacts throwing up bursts of debris. The earth fractured beneath each blow as he drove her through the shattered concrete, burying her under the weight of his rage.
Subaru, half broken and barely conscious, could only watch. His vision blurred as he whispered hoarsely to himself, the words trembling between breaths. Eight seconds. Eight seconds. Nine seconds. Nine. Nine.
From the wreckage nearby, a hand clawed its way free. Kibo.
He dragged himself out of the rubble, coughing blood, his body trembling with exhaustion. Inside his mind, Ignis's voice was a furious snarl.
"Be careful, brat! Don't push your body, or I take control permanently!"
Kibo could barely hear him. His vision swam, the edges of the world pulsing red. His newly regenerated hand still steamed from the strain of Self-Healing, his veins burning with overdrawn mana.
Through the haze, he saw her. Sora, lifted by the throat, her body limp, her neck caught in DeathGod's grip.
Aunt Sora.
Ignis's voice cut through his mind, sharp as a blade. "Go! Rescue her!"
But Kibo's knees buckled. His Mana Trackvision was in ruins, his senses dissolving into white noise. His gaze slid from Sora's broken form to Syl's hunched figure cradling Lily's unconscious body. The sight went through him like a spear.
The fury wasn't only his. It was Ignis's too, a burning, shared wrath.
Something inside him snapped.
A deep, resonant growl tore from his throat.
Just as DeathGod's claws began to tighten around Sora's neck, the air behind him shattered.
A black blur struck like a predator unleashed, fast, coiled, and furious. A massive scaled tail lashed out, severing DeathGod's arm in a single brutal strike. The shadowy limb disintegrated into dust before it hit the ground.
DeathGod reeled back, stunned, as a scaled hand, glowing faintly with raw, pulsing mana, caught Sora and flung her backward toward Syl and Lily. She crashed into Syl's side, rolling into the dirt.
Then that same monstrous hand clenched into a fist. One mighty swing collided with DeathGod's chest. The impact echoed across the battlefield, cracks spidering through the ground as he was hurled across the ruins.
He landed on his feet, laughing, the sound bright and wild.
His shadowed gaze fixed on the new shape standing before him. Kibo, eyes alight with primal fury, scales glimmering darkly along his arms.
DeathGod smiled wide. "So you can do this!"
Kibo stood still. The ground beneath him trembled as the first black scales broke through his skin like shards of obsidian, blood streaking down his arms and face. His body convulsed, each breath a choking rasp. His eyes streamed crimson tears as veins of black light pulsed beneath his skin, his humanity being devoured by something far older, far angrier.
A single horn burst from his forehead. The other, fractured and jagged, jutted out half broken, dripping blood. The transformation was slow, excruciating. He was caught between man and beast, his flesh trapped in the agony of becoming.
"That's it, brat!" Ignis's voice growled from within, no longer taunting, now desperate. "Let the rage consume you! Don't die on me!"
Kibo tried to force words past the fire in his throat. "I... I am sorry, Ignis. I have tr..."
"Are you stupid?!" Ignis snapped, his fury cracking through the pain like thunder. "Don't you dare say that! If your rage isn't enough, then let mine consume yours!"
Kibo's pupils bled into nothingness. His eyes turned pure black. The bleeding from his mouth stopped. The shaking ceased. The air around him grew hot and heavy.
The transformation completed.
Two full horns spiraled upward from his skull. His muscles expanded beneath the armor of scaled hide. A scaled tail coiled and struck the ground, cracking the stone beneath his feet.
Kibo was gone. Ignis was in full control.
He threw his head back and roared, a sound that made even the flames recoil. His mouth opened wide, and a column of molten breath erupted from his jaws, cutting the sky in half.
"M-M-MYYYYY RAAAAAAGGGGGEEEEEE!"
The roar rippled through the ruined city, shattering what little still stood.
DeathGod smiled, his eyes glinting with delight. "Ah. Good."
He moved.
The clash that followed was apocalyptic.
DeathGod struck first, his hands flashing as they cut through Ignis's arms. Both were severed clean, dissolving into molten ash, and in the same instant, regenerated. Ignis answered with a thunderous punch, a shockwave rolling through the ground like a quake. DeathGod vanished in a blink, reappearing behind him, slashing across his back, only for Ignis's tail to whip around and slam him into the ground mid-motion.
The Dragonoid's eyes burned molten gold. He drove a clawed hand into the soil, tearing the terrain apart as he chased the shadow blur that was DeathGod.
DeathGod phased through every strike, his laughter echoing from all directions at once. He reappeared behind Ignis, tearing through his tail with a savage swipe, pinning it into the dirt as he drove a fist into Ignis's gut. The ground buckled under the force.
Ignis roared, his tail already reforming. The newly grown appendage coiled around DeathGod's neck, yanking him violently into the air and flinging him across the field like a rag doll. DeathGod crashed and skidded through shattered stone before coming to a stop, still laughing.
Ignis's breath came in guttural snarls, smoke hissing between his teeth. He raised his fist again, drawing on the Dragonoid's full strength for one last, annihilating blow. But just as he swung, his own hand burst, muscle and bone rupturing under the pressure of his own mana. The limb reformed instantly, but the hesitation was enough.
DeathGod was already on him.
He seized Ignis's head in both hands, shadow energy coiling and constricting like a vice. The darkness ate into the Dragonoid's scales, crushing with terrifying force.
Ignis's body strained against the grip, every muscle screaming. Inside, his voice roared in Kibo's fading mind. If I change back now, the boy dies instantly. If I stay like this, his body burns out. There is no time left.
DeathGod's laughter slithered through the sound of cracking scales. "Change back. Let the boy take control." He squeezed harder, savoring the resistance. "Let me see how long this body lasts."
Barely audible through the chaos, Subaru's voice whispered through his own labored breaths. "...Forty seconds."
The pressure that had been crushing both him and Thorn vanished all at once, dissolving like mist in wind.
Thorn looked to his side, and froze.
Subaru was gone.
Before the King could speak, Subaru's figure cut through the air, a flash of white motion streaking toward DeathGod. His dagger gleamed in his hand, drawn and poised for the killing strike.
DeathGod reacted at once, releasing his crushing grip on Ignis. The Dragonoid's massive form staggered backward, smoke rising from his scales. In the same instant, Ignis let go of control. The black scales, tail, and horns retracted, melting into fading embers of mana as Kibo's human form resurfaced. His body, frail and spent, fell limp like a puppet with its strings cut.
Subaru caught him before he hit the ground. The boy's weight in his arms was light, but the toll of the battle sat heavy on him. Subaru's expression softened.
A brilliant wave of blue mana burst outward from him, gentle and endless, like the ocean given breath. It spread across the battlefield, sweeping through ruin, dust, and blood. The light wrapped around every fallen warrior. Bones cracked and set themselves back into place. Torn flesh knitted seamlessly together. The dying found breath again. The shattered regained strength.
Only Thorn's severed hand stayed untouched. The blade that had taken it was too steeped in DeathGod's corruption for even Subaru's power to reach.
Morganna, her face streaked with dirt and sweat, released her hold on the trembling earth. The tremors stopped. She rushed to Thorn, catching him by the shoulder as he tried to rise. His breathing was rough, but when he steadied himself and looked toward Subaru, a slow, knowing smile found his lips. It's over.
Sora and Syl, who could feel the mana just as clearly, could only stare, the light shimmering in their wide eyes. Even DeathGod, mid-laugh, had gone quiet, his grin flickering into something disturbingly close to awe.
Kibo, cradled in Subaru's arms, stirred weakly. His vision blurred as he looked up at his grandfather. The old man's once white hair was streaked now with black and veins of electric blue, shifting and flowing like liquid caught in motion. The sheer weight of his presence pressed down on every soul nearby.
"Grandpa?" Kibo's voice was barely a whisper.
Ignis spoke inside him, voice rough but reverent. "Brat. You failure of a thing. That," he paused, a flicker of pride hidden under his usual disdain, "is what you call the pinnacle of mankind."
Subaru smiled faintly. He set Kibo down gently, as if laying him to rest, and rose to his full height. His aura burned around him, calm yet impossibly powerful. His eyes stayed on Kibo, his face softening into something serene.
"You, Ignis, and the rest of you did good," he said quietly, as though offering a blessing.
DeathGod's laughter erupted again, wild and booming through the ruins. "YES, SUBARU! THIS IS IT!" he cried, his voice trembling with exhilaration. His grin twisted wider, then his tone shifted, low, cutting, curious. "No matter how many times I see it, you never fail to entertain. But why, I wonder? What is all this for? A grand entrance? Or perhaps..." His eyes narrowed. "...was the price of your godhood your lifespan? Hehehe. Subaru, you are one of my proud crea..."
He never finished.
Subaru was gone.
The space between them shattered, air collapsing into silence. Then, in a flash too quick to follow, he reappeared before DeathGod. The dagger in his hand moved once. Clean. Precise.
DeathGod tilted his head just enough to avoid the strike, but the blade's tip grazed his shadowed chin.
His eyes widened. Huh?
A clone burst from his body in reflex, desperate to absorb the damage. The clone screamed, a raw, horrifying sound, as light consumed it, disintegrating it into cinders of shadow and dust.
When DeathGod rematerialized, his real body intact, his expression had changed. Shock. Unease.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Subaru gave him no time.
"You talk too much," Subaru said softly.
Then he struck.
His dagger slashed again, meeting DeathGod's twin blades in a burst of radiant sparks. Shadow clashed with light in a rhythm of death and silence.
Each time Subaru's blade cut through his form, DeathGod was forced to split himself, cloning out a fragment of his own existence to survive the wound. Each clone screamed as divine light devoured it whole, leaving nothing behind but fading ash.
But Subaru didn't rely on the blade alone. Between each strike, he drove his bare fists into DeathGod, each punch a surge of blue mana so dense it warped the air around it. The impacts cracked the earth, leaving glowing fissures in their wake.
DeathGod's grin was gone now. The laughter had faded. Each blow drove him further back, his shadows fracturing beneath the overwhelming purity of Subaru's power.
For six heartbeats, Subaru reigned unchallenged. Six seconds of absolute dominance.
DeathGod's body was little more than a blur of shadow, slammed into the ground again and again, each strike cracking the ruined earth beneath them. Subaru's movements stayed unhurried yet unstoppable, every blow guided by precision and a fury held inside something close to calm.
DeathGod's laughter rang out through the chaos, raw and unsteady now. He tried to slip away, darting toward Kibo like a streak of dark lightning, but Subaru's form flickered in front of him, too fast, too sharp to escape.
Their blades met once. Subaru parried the shadow slash with easy grace and answered with a single, concussive strike across DeathGod's face. The sound of the impact rang through the broken city. DeathGod crashed into the earth, a crater swallowing him whole.
Silence followed.
The shadow god lay there, his body twitching as his twin blades dissolved back into his form. For a moment, it seemed he might finally be finished. Then came the sound of his laughter, low, guttural, madness bubbling up through the pain.
"Is that all?" he rasped, his voice trembling between anger and amusement. "Subaru, come on. Is this what you call ending me? I am the end of all mankind! Not even your godhood can stop that!"
Subaru said nothing. He stood over him, calm as still water. His dagger slipped from his grasp, clattering softly against the stone.
DeathGod's grin widened. "Oh. So you want to do it the brawling way?" He rose to his feet, shadow dripping from his form. "Come on then, I'm ready!"
Subaru lifted his palm, his voice quiet but resonant. "Burn away."
DeathGod froze.
Then it began. A red glow burst from every mark Subaru had left on him, each wound igniting from within. Fire, pure and divine, erupted across his form.
DeathGod screamed, thrashing. "Oh, you bastard!" he roared, clawing at his burning skin, splitting himself into clones in a frantic bid to escape. One by one, they caught flame the instant they appeared, their screams swallowed by the red inferno before they'd even finished forming.
But the true DeathGod was not spared. The corruption spread faster than his power could split. He convulsed, his voice shifting between laughter and agony until the two became indistinguishable, and then both faded into silence. His last sound was a broken, mad laugh swallowed whole by fire and light.
Then there was nothing.
The wind returned to the shattered city, soft and heavy with ash.
Subaru let out a breath, the light in his eyes dimming. His hair faded from streaks of blue and black back to white, the godly aura dissolving into the exhausted man underneath. His body trembled slightly as he steadied his breathing.
I have avoided the first end, he thought quietly, eyes lifting toward the clouded sky. Will I be alive for the second?
"Grandpa!"
Kibo's voice cut through the haze. The boy stumbled forward, tears in his eyes, and threw his arms around Subaru. "How did you do it?"
Subaru looked down at him and chuckled, the sound soft but worn thin. He pushed the dark thought from his mind and forced a small smile. "If you must know, it takes years to reach this form. Very gruesome training, in fact."
A few steps away, Thorn leaned heavily against Morganna. The king's breathing was rough, his wounds not fully mended, yet his eyes still held their stubborn light.
"Please, Morganna," Thorn murmured, his tone low. "If I tell you to leave, you leave. I would not want you dying beside me."
Morganna steadied him, her expression tired but proud. "And why would I?" she asked softly. "You are my King, and I am your Queen. I will not abandon you now."
Thorn's gaze drifted across the ruined battlefield. He saw Nina, Mael, Astrid, and Takashi beginning to stir among the wreckage. Nearby, Syl held Lily, whispering something with trembling relief as the girl's breathing steadied.
"The kingdom repairing will cost us a lot," Morganna said quietly.
Thorn gave a soft, worn laugh. "Then let it cost. We'll rebuild it anyway."
Subaru turned back to Kibo, smiling faintly. "Let me rest a bit, you know..."
His heart lurched once. A single, violent beat that sounded like thunder inside his chest.
"BRAT! MOVE AWAY FROM HIM!" Ignis's voice roared inside Kibo's head, frantic, raw with panic.
Subaru's eyes widened.
He didn't think. Instinct took over. His trembling hands gripped Kibo's shoulders and shoved him back with everything he had left.
The boy was thrown through the air, crashing into the rubble. For everyone else, the world seemed to slow, the moment stretching, every heartbeat dragging like it had nowhere to go.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"
Subaru's scream tore through the storm. It wasn't only pain. It was a sound that split something deeper than flesh.
Vicious, obsidian spikes erupted from his body in a violent bloom, shredding through his clothes and skin. The black tendrils tore outward in every direction, piercing ground and air alike, each one carrying the sickly shimmer of shadowed energy.
Kibo's eyes went wide with horror. Grandpa!
From within Subaru's writhing form, the shadow pulled itself free. A dark, dripping silhouette, laughing as it emerged. DeathGod, whole once more. The spikes retreated into his shifting body, drinking in the light around them.
Subaru collapsed to the ground, his once white hair now matted black, his breath ragged and shallow.
How? The thought echoed faintly inside him, already fading with his pulse. How did he survive?
And then it struck him, a flash of memory, blurred and red. A dungeon soaked in blood. A hand reaching out from the darkness. A voice that promised power. The shadow's smile.
Aurelia. You were right. Our fate was sealed long ago.
His limbs refused to move. The pain was unbearable, but worse was the clarity. He finally understood the cruel circle that bound them together.
DeathGod stood over him, amusement twisting his dark face. "You should know, Subaru. You already know. You can't beat me."
Subaru's lips curled weakly. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as a faint, broken laugh escaped him. "You bastard. You were always ten steps ahead."
DeathGod tilted his head, his grin widening. "I am death, ain't I?" His eyes flared with delight. "Now rest well. Let me help you."
He extended one shadowed hand toward Subaru's chest, its surface rippling with black flame.
Subaru didn't fight it. He simply looked up, his faint smile unchanged, his gaze calm and accepting.
So this is how it ends.
Then the silence shattered.
"GET AWAY FROM MY GRANDPA!"
Kibo's cry was raw, feral, carrying every scrap of terror and rage he had left in him. He came charging from the rubble, Subaru's dagger glowing faintly in his grip.
DeathGod turned, his laughter bubbling back to life. "You never learn, do you?"
Kibo's blade struck true, but DeathGod phased, his body dissolving into smoke before reforming several strides away. The shadow god simply stood there, smiling, watching the boy's futile defiance with cruel amusement.
Kibo dropped the dagger and fell to his knees beside Subaru, his trembling hands pressing against the bleeding wounds. "Come on. Come on!" His voice cracked. Tears streamed down his cheeks as his healing light ignited between his palms.
The energy flickered, thin and desperate, but the darkness inside Subaru resisted it. The shadows hissed, eating the light away.
"No. No, please!" Kibo shouted, pressing harder. "Don't you dare leave me!"
Subaru tried to speak, his breath faltering. "Kibo..."
"Stop talking!" Kibo snapped through sobs. "Save your strength! Just, just let me fix this!"
"Kibo, stop..."
"Shut up!" Kibo shouted, his voice cracking under the strain, his eyes red and wet and trembling.
Subaru turned his head weakly, the corners of his mouth lifting into the faintest smile as he raised a hand and placed it on Kibo's head. "It's okay, Kibo. You've done your best."
Kibo's hands shook violently as the healing light pulsed between them. "Please stop talking," he whispered, his voice breaking into a plea. "You're wasting your strength."
"You tried," Subaru murmured, each breath shallower than the last. "You really tried, Kibo."
Kibo's healing faltered. His jaw clenched as tears streamed freely down his face. "Stop talking! We can fix this! You can fix this! You always do!"
Subaru let out a small, broken laugh, quiet and heavy with sadness. "There's always a way," he said softly. "But not this time. You can't save everyone, Kibo. You can't."
The boy shook his head, refusing it, pressing harder, his hands glowing brighter. "No, no, no! I won't let you! I won't..."
"I'm sorry, Kibo." Subaru's whisper trembled, barely carried on the wind.
"Don't say that! Please don't say that!" Kibo begged, his voice rising, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.
Subaru's gaze softened as his eyes began to glaze, memories flickering behind them. "You know, right now, seeing you like this, I remember when I lost someone too. Just like you. My whole world fell apart." His eyes shimmered faintly, a weak tear tracing the scar on his cheek. "I'm sorry you had to feel that same pain."
Kibo pressed his forehead to Subaru's chest, shaking. "Don't talk like that. Please."
Subaru exhaled, the sound thin, fleeting. "Kibo," he said, his tone calm, almost fatherly, "don't try to carry everything alone. The world's too vast for one person to bear. The only gift I can give you now is a family. One that'll be your strength when yours runs out. Lean on them. Don't be like me. Don't be alone."
"Stop it!" Kibo shouted, gripping Subaru's hand tight. "You can still..."
But Subaru wasn't looking at him anymore. His fading vision had drifted toward DeathGod's distant, grinning silhouette. Past the shadow, his mind painted one last memory. White hair. A gentle smile. The warmth that had once anchored his whole life.
"Thank you," he whispered, the words trembling like a prayer.
Then the light left his eyes. His hand, once heavy with warmth, slipped slowly from Kibo's head and fell to the bloodstained ground.
For a long, hollow second, there was no sound at all. Only the wind, brushing through rubble, whispering through the ruin of battle.
Kibo stared, unmoving. "Grandpa?" His voice was a fragile echo. "Grandpa."
He pressed his hands harder against Subaru's unmoving chest. "No, no, no. You're just tired. Wake up. Please wake up." His breathing grew uneven, shallow, his whole body trembling as panic devoured him.
"I'm sorry, Kibo," Ignis said softly within his mind, his voice gentler than it had ever been. "He is gone."
Something in Kibo broke.
The boy's scream ripped through the battlefield, raw, echoing, shattering the silence whole. "AAAHHHHHHHHH!" He clawed at Subaru's chest as tears poured freely, his voice cracking under grief too heavy to hold. "Please! Please come back, Grandpa! Please, come back! GRAAAANNNNDDPAAAA!"
The world itself seemed to flinch from the sound, that desperate, hollow cry carrying both love and ruin in the same breath.
Sora turned away, her face ashen, her hands trembling as she moved to shield the girls. The air felt heavy, suffocating.
Thorn stood still. His eyes, wide and haunted, held twin storms of rage and sorrow. He looked past Kibo, straight at DeathGod. His voice came out low, trembling, not from fear, but from something far more dangerous.
"Morganna," Thorn said, breaking the silence, rough and quiet. "Once he makes a move, take everyone away. I will hold him off."
Morganna looked up, her eyes wide and trembling. She saw the pain buried beneath his calm, the knowledge that he had already made peace with dying. For a heartbeat, she wanted to argue, to refuse him outright. But the light in his eyes silenced her. It wasn't despair. It was duty.
Slowly, she released his arm. Her trembling hand pressed against the ground, green light radiating outward as she began summoning the Verdant Aegis, its pulse growing, shaping a fragile sanctuary meant to protect what was left of them.
DeathGod began to laugh, a hollow, chilling sound that filled the silence left behind by Subaru's death.
"What a show," he said, spreading his arms, his voice echoing through the broken remains of Balmount. "Crying now, because you lost someone? How very foolish."
His laughter deepened, venom dripping through every word. "In a world where thousands, millions, die every single day, you still weep over one? You want to know why your grandfather died today?" His grin widened, jagged and terrible. "IT WAS BECAUSE HE WAS OLD AND WEAK! A USELESS, WITHERED BEING WHO SHOULD HAVE DIED LONG AGO!"
The words tore through the air like blades.
Kibo froze for a moment. Then something inside him snapped. The grief inside him burned into something far darker. His eyes widened, glowing faintly through tears. He reached down and snatched Subaru's fallen daggers off the ground.
"SHUT UP!" he screamed, his voice raw and broken, echoing across the battlefield like a wounded animal's cry.
Ignis's voice roared in his mind, desperate. "STOP! KIBO, DON'T DO IT!"
But Kibo didn't hear him. He couldn't. There was only the rage now, blinding and pure, drowning out everything else.
Thorn moved in a flicker of light, Teleportation breaking the tension of the air. One instant he stood beside Morganna. The next, he was at Kibo's side, gripping his shoulder, his voice thunderous. "ENOUGH!"
But DeathGod only smiled. Calm. Knowing. His eyes followed Thorn's movement as if it were happening in slow motion.
"So predictable," he murmured.
The world seemed to pause.
DeathGod's gaze dimmed to black emptiness. He lifted one finger to his lips, the gesture almost casual. "Void."
The light vanished.
The world of Balmount plunged into absolute darkness. Every color, every sound, every breath, gone. Even thought seemed to halt. Time itself folded inward.
Then, with a soundless ripple, the void broke.
A pressure, impossible and divine, erupted outward, invisible, infinite. It was not flame or shockwave, but something deeper and crueler. A stroke that tore through the soul itself.
The kingdom screamed without sound.
DeathGod whispered, his voice godlike and final. "Requiem."
And then the kingdom ended.
A cataclysm of silent light and obliteration consumed everything, beginning with Kibo. Ignis's scream echoed in his mind, one last desperate roar swallowed by eternity. One moment there was fire, grief, and life. The next, nothing.
When the darkness lifted, it left behind only stillness.
The winds had died. The kingdom was ash and silence. Not a body remained. Not a whisper of what once stood there.
In the heart of the ruin stood DeathGod. Alone.
He looked around the emptiness, the void his own creation. Slowly, he tilted his head toward the heavens, and smiled.
"This never gets old," he said softly, almost fondly. His voice carried through the endless quiet, cold and divine.
And then he laughed, a low, resonant sound that filled the hollow kingdom with madness.