The eye behind the eclipse stopped moving.
It focused on both Kaito and Silver Eyes at once.
Then it spoke its name.
"I am Vael'Tharion."
The sound did not echo in the air. It etched itself into reality.
Oceans below trembled. Tides reversed for a moment before crashing violently back into their shores. Entire forests bent toward the sky as if gravity had shifted allegiance.
Silver Eyes gasped as ancient memory aligned with present truth.
"Vael'Tharion… the Origin Shadow."
Azrath's fading voice whispered one last time, "The First Hunger."
Kaito felt the compressed Lords inside him react violently. They were not servants of Vael'Tharion.
They were fragments carved from it.
"You were never meant to stop me," the entity said calmly. "You were meant to complete me."
The sealing glyph on Kaito's back burned brighter.
The hunter screamed in pain as the mark began drawing directly from his life force to stabilize it.
And Vael'Tharion began descending.