Vaelor roared and attacked first.
The crowned Shadow Lord unleashed a tidal wave of pure darkness, enough to swallow an entire city block.
Kaito did not dodge.
The darkness struck him.
And vanished.
Absorbed.
The ground trembled.
Vaelor stepped back.
"You cannot consume a Lord!"
Kaito tilted his head slowly, studying his own hands as if rediscovering them.
"Why not?"
Shadow tendrils burst from his back — not wild, not chaotic.
Controlled.
Precise.
They wrapped around Vaelor's massive form.
The Lord struggled, splitting into fragments to escape.
Too late.
Kaito closed his fist.
The sky screamed.
And the First Shadow Lord was devoured whole.
Far beyond the mortal world—
The remaining six felt it.
And fear was born.