That short sentence seemed to make the devouring light and darkness almost freeze at once.
"Everyone insists on their own path and forces it through to the end… But either way, this ends as a losing situation. In the end, the Counter Force will notice the leak."
"This can't go on."
Izaya took a deep breath, as if trying to draw every last breath of this raging storm into his long-broken body.
"Your body… is—"
At that moment, Light Koyanskaya suddenly noticed something. Her eyes locked onto Izaya.
With that beastlike vision, she saw Izaya's true condition clearly.
Bones broken in countless places. Internal organs severely damaged. Magic circuits overloaded to the point of burning…
This was far beyond the category of serious injury.
He was only barely supporting the wreckage of action through sheer force of will.
There was no doubt the Foreign God was extremely strong, and this time the level of dependence had exceeded expectations—enough that even four Grands and two heroes level had collapsed.
But there was a price…
Izaya's body was fundamentally incompatible with the Foreign God, and the cost of blocking four titles at once could only be called crushing.
As if realizing something, Light Koyanskaya's lips moved unconsciously. Then an inexplicable tyranny and anxiety shattered her reason.
She became a streak of light and flashed in front of Izaya.
Her beautiful golden eyes burned with anger as she stared at the man's ruined body.
"You—"
Panic first, then blame and rage surged up.
Before she could speak, the black-haired man spread his arms and pulled her slender body into a tight embrace—like holding a lover, like holding her up before his trembling body collapsed.
The sounds of battle fell completely silent.
Only three sets of eyes watched.
The Dark Koyanskaya's gaze was complicated.
Far away, the old man on the mountain—whose deep indigo ghostfire had been dim—suddenly flared violently at the sight.
And Super Orion's eyes had already gone dull.
What—what is this?
What kind of relationship…?
A human… and a Beast?
Shock came first, then a flood of disbelief.
"Is this guy insane? He's… in love with a Beast?"
After the brief shock, all his feelings turned into relief.
Orion was a human hero, yet he loved a strong-willed, powerful goddess who sometimes commanded disaster…
In a sense, how was that different from what he was seeing?
Only, it was a pity…
This was the perfect timing: both beasts were heavily wounded, and the Counter Force would never let this chance slip.
Most likely, a new Grand would appear soon…
Orion lifted his head and stared toward a faint glow somewhere in the sky.
Golden light pierced the dark cloud layers.
Light that symbolized the Counter Force—also the arrival of a fifth, or perhaps sixth, Grand hero.
Yet the two at the center of the battlefield did not move.
Within the man's broken, cold body, something special seemed to flow constantly through the body he embraced.
It wasn't magecraft. It wasn't power.
It was warmth.
Not something of Tunguska—warmth a Beast should not possess.
Like the first ray of dawn, it pierced Light Koyanskaya's body built from ten thousand years of hatred, softly—irresistibly—touching her heart.
Izaya held her tightly and whispered beside her ear in an impossibly gentle voice.
"This is… repayment for last time, Koyanskaya."
Her pupils slowly widened. The Beast's heart shook violently.
For some reason, a sharp sourness surged in her chest.
In the eyes of the world she was a Beast. But in his eyes she was only an ordinary life—something precious.
But now, this person was about to die.
Even if she became a complete Beast, there would never be a second chance with him.
Izaya gathered his last strength and loosened the arms holding Light Koyanskaya.
That warmth retreating—and the faint omen left behind—made her unconsciously open her mouth to stop him.
"What… are you going to do?"
Izaya didn't answer. He looked ahead.
There was an extremely unstable energy singularity—repelling and biting at itself, yet forcibly bound together by the essence of the same origin.
The most important missing piece of the Dark Koyanskaya was there.
Dragging his collapsed body, Izaya left a straight line of footprints through the rain-soaked ruins toward the center.
The Dark Koyanskaya realized something and shouted, fury and panic tangled in her voice.
"Izaya, stop! Are you out of your mind?! If you get close to that thing, you'll be torn to pieces—!"
Their words could not stop him.
The raging storm of energy swirling before him seemed to come alive. The moment it drew near his body, it gently parted to the sides—like courtiers making way for a king—leaving a path to the end.
Because they all knew him.
He was the resonator of all this land's dissatisfaction—the only one qualified to step into this struggle.
Deep in the ruins, the two Grand existences who should have been the protagonists stood like silent statues, quietly watching.
The old man on the mountain watched the youth with deep eyes.
After a long time, he suddenly sighed.
"…I misread it."
"What a clear bell… There's no need to knock on the door at the end."
On the other side, Super Orion heard this and let out a confused, irritated low roar.
"Hah… I really can't understand why you'd go that far for that Beast… That was obviously my prey!"
His tone was full of dissatisfaction, but his wild eyes reflected the man's back, complex beyond words.
"But—"
"It's exactly the same as when I decided to shoot down the man in the sky for Artemis…"
"…What a… spectacular fool."
…
[Without hesitation you charge into the Abyss]
[At this moment, whether Light Koyanskaya or Dark Koyanskaya, all can only stare blankly at your back]
[Feeling those gazes, you decide that this time your life is worth the price]
[Many humans may be full of malice toward animals, but there are also countless humans who empathize with them… People like you, who will do anything]
[Because humans are diverse creatures]
[The light of the singularity envelops you completely. As you step into it, light and darkness no longer devour each other—your existence becomes a hub, a catalyst that harmonizes the two forces]
The powers of the two beasts no longer fought. They fused perfectly, and within this singularity they built a perfect body belonging to a Beast.
The rain stopped.
Above the ruins stood a special existence, quietly upright.
She possessed Koyanskaya's elegant, moving form, yet the Dark Koyanskaya's runes were filled with primal wildness.
The nine tails on her back were half holy as day, half deep as night.
Behind those nine tails, one could see an ecosystem where countless fantasy species were born and evolved.
No longer merely waiting as Beast IV—
In the true sense…
The complete Beast IV had been born.
…