The moment Jason stepped out of the portal, the world changed.
It wasn't just the air—it was everything. The atmosphere turned dense, heavy, like something invisible had wrapped itself around my lungs and was slowly tightening. Even the ground felt wrong beneath my feet, as if it no longer belonged to the same world.
Silence followed.
Not the peaceful kind—the kind that crawls under your skin and stays there.
Then I heard it.
A faint whisper.
I lifted my head.
My eyes met his.
"Symen…"
My name left his mouth like a distant echo, deep and hollow.
Haroku stiffened beside me. I didn't need to look to know what was going through his mind—but he turned to me anyway, his voice unsteady.
"How… does he know your name?"
I didn't break eye contact with Jason.
"He knows," I said quietly, "because he's the one who cursed me when I was a child."
Saying it out loud didn't feel real.
But it was.
And that was enough.
This wasn't just another fight.
This was personal.
I reached into my coat and pulled out the ancient paper—the first of the legendary ones. Even now, it pulsed with something older than anything I could understand. The symbols etched into it seemed to shift if you stared too long.
I closed my eyes and began chanting.
The moment the words formed, the ground beneath us trembled. Energy gathered around me—faint at first, then steadily growing into a golden aura that wrapped around my body like flame.
Haroku moved at the same time.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him extend his hands, activating his seals. Shadows twisted and resisted, but one by one, they were dragged in and locked away.
But it wasn't enough.
Because Jason wasn't stopping.
More shadows spilled out—constantly, endlessly.
Ten.
Fifty.
A hundred.
Then far beyond that.
They crawled across every surface—the ground, the walls… even the air itself. It felt like we were being swallowed whole.
"They're multiplying too fast!" Haroku shouted.
Jason didn't even move.
He sat on a throne formed from darkness itself, a crown resting on his head, leaning back as if all of this bored him.
"Is that all?"
His voice rolled through the air like distant thunder.
Then he raised his hand.
"Arirein."
Everything collapsed into chaos.
A surge of dark energy burst from him, violent and overwhelming.
And in the next instant—
Thousands of shadows flooded the battlefield.
The sky turned black.
The ground cracked beneath the pressure.
Breathing became difficult.
For a split second, even I froze.
"This… this is insane…" Haroku muttered.
He wasn't wrong.
But there was no time to think.
They came at us.
From every direction.
Endless.
I snapped my eyes open.
"Don't stop!"
We pushed forward.
Haroku's hands moved faster than I'd ever seen, casting seal after seal, barely keeping up. Sweat ran down his face, his energy draining fast—but he didn't slow down.
Neither could I.
My chanting reached its peak. The energy around me intensified, the golden aura burning brighter, sharper.
I didn't hesitate.
I released it.
Light erupted outward in a blinding surge.
In a single strike, thousands of shadows were erased—gone instantly, as if they had never existed. The force of it shook everything around us.
For a brief moment… the darkness weakened.
That was all Haroku needed.
"Now it's my turn!"
He poured everything he had left into one final attack. A massive wave spread outward, sealing and destroying whatever remained.
And just like that—
The shadows were gone.
All of them.
Silence returned.
The battlefield stood empty.
Except for him.
Jason remained on his throne, exactly where he had been.
Still smiling.
I stood beside Haroku, both of us breathing heavily, our bodies pushed past their limits. But neither of us looked away.
"This is it," I said.
He nodded.
No more words were needed.
We combined everything we had left.
Our powers merged—light and sealing force intertwining into something far greater than either of us alone.
"THIS ENDS NOW!"
We released it.
The attack tore through the air, carrying everything we had—every ounce of strength, every bit of resolve.
For a moment…
It felt like it would work.
Like this would finally end.
Then Jason shouts.
Just once.
Quiet.
Certain.
"Change… Hinamaku."
And before the attack could reach him—
He was gone.
Not fast.
Not hidden.
Just… gone.
Like he had never existed in that space at all.
Our attack passed through nothing and detonated far behind, the impact echoing into the distance.
Everything stopped.
No shadows.
No darkness.
No Jason.
Only silence.
"…He's gone?" Haroku said slowly.
I scanned the area, every instinct still on edge.
"…Yeah."
At that exact moment, the clock struck 6:00 AM.
As if the world had been waiting.
The dark clouds began to fade. The weight in the air lifted, little by little. Sunlight broke through the sky, soft and steady, touching the ground like it was reclaiming it.
The battlefield changed.
What had been destruction moments ago now felt… distant.
A breeze passed through.
For the first time since it began, everything felt normal.
I took a slow breath.
Haroku dropped to the ground, exhausted.
"We… survived…"
I didn't answer.
I just looked up.
The sunlight reflected in my eyes, warm—but it didn't reach far enough.
Because I knew the truth.
This wasn't over.
Jason didn't lose.
He chose to leave.
And somehow…
That made him far more dangerous.
The silence that followed wasn't peace.
It was a sign that-
Something bigger was coming.