---
Aiko shot up from her restless sleep.
The ground beneath her trembled for just a moment—subtle, but alive. She blinked, heart pounding. Something… no, someone had changed.
"Yuki…" she whispered, hand clutching her chest. She couldn't explain it, but her soul felt it—like his energy had evolved into something entirely new.
Not just stronger.
Whole.
Elsewhere, Ren jolted upright in meditation, wind circling around him. Himari's eyes widened at the same instant, pupils narrowing like a predator sensing a shift in its world.
"That presence…" Ren muttered.
"It's not the same as before," Himari added, standing. "It's him. But it's not."
Even Haru, arms crossed and leaning against the prison wall, looked up toward the invisible sky above. "So, you finally did it," he whispered. "About time."
The strange realm they were trapped in—distorted and heavy—began to vibrate. The air felt less oppressive, as though someone had begun pulling at the very threads of reality holding this place together.
Aiko pressed her hand against the glowing wall of the void cell. "He's coming."
Just then, a sound rang out—a hum that resonated in the bones.
A portal of swirling light and shadow began to form at the far edge of the prison hall.
The guards—twisted creatures of broken time—turned toward it, sensing a threat beyond their understanding. They hissed, shrieked, and scattered.
The portal cracked wider.
And from it stepped Yuki.
His body bore new markings, ethereal and ancient. His eyes—one glowing with faint blue light, the other deep as the void—swept across the space.
Ren took a step forward. "Yuki…?"
But Yuki didn't speak.
He raised a hand.
The prison shattered.
One by one, each cell broke apart, light flooding into the cursed space. Aiko collapsed to her knees in disbelief. Himari stepped beside Ren, awestruck. Even Haru smiled, if only slightly.
Nogitsune, appearing through the remnants of another realm like a shadow, looked at him quietly.
"You fused them," he said.
Yuki looked to him, finally speaking. His voice was calm… but carried power behind every syllable.
"I'm not running anymore."
---
Yuki stares at a floating number above his head.
"What the… 40 power stones?! Are those edible? No? Whatever they are, thanks!"
Ren shakes his head. "You're hopeless."