The sky split again.
Not with lightning — with hunger.
Above the ruined house, blackened clouds churned as the scream of World Eaters echoed through the broken trees. Their silhouettes rained down like falling gods, slamming into the ground in sickening bursts of force. Soil cracked. Stone shattered. The very air screamed.
Inside the shelter, the second crystal pulsed violently.
Kira stumbled back. "It's calling them—again!"
"We need to run!" Ires shouted, blade drawn.
Zenith stood frozen as the crystal floated between them, trembling with power. He reached for it, but Chaos said nothing.
Another crash outside. The wooden wall exploded inward as a World Eater burst through — bone-jointed limbs, pulsating red eyes, its ribs lined with fangs. It roared and lunged.
Ires intercepted it, steel clashing against talons, but she was thrown back like a doll.
Zenith stepped forward.
"Chaos!" he shouted. "I need you! Please—!"
Silence.
Another beast burst through the roof, landing behind him. Kira slashed it across the chest, only for a third one to land with a crack, shaking the earth.
Zenith stared at the crystal as a World Eater lunged toward him.
And then everything stopped.
The world slowed.
A cold voice filled his mind.
"You want me to save them?"
The air turned black around him. Time snapped.
"No. But I'll test you."
Zenith's vision went dark.
Then... he moved.
No — Chaos moved.
Zenith's body surged forward like a shadow unchained, teleporting mid-motion behind the nearest World Eater. His arm swung wide — a black streak of shadow — and the beast's head split clean off.
Another turned. Zenith vanished into smoke, reappearing behind it and driving his hand through its chest. He twisted. Ripped. Threw the carcass through the wall.
He could feel every motion — but none of them were his.
"Stop!" he tried to scream. "Stop this!"
But Chaos didn't listen.
"If I hadn't stepped in, you'd be bones by now."
More came.
The second crystal spun wildly behind him. As two more beasts collapsed, their bodies quivered — then black tendrils slithered from Zenith's hand and dragged them into a swirling mass beneath his feet.
Kira's eyes widened. "What the hell—"
The corpses twisted midair — limbs snapping back together, eyes void of color, symbols glowing on their bodies. They stood.
Alive.
But not alive.
Zenith watched in horror as the reanimated World Eaters turned, dropped to one knee, and faced him.
"You carry my voice," Chaos whispered. "And now... you carry my army."
Ires backed up a step. "Zenith… what is this?"
Zenith couldn't speak. He could only watch as his own hand pointed forward — and the dead beasts charged, tearing into the remaining monsters with savage efficiency.
One leapt for Zenith again. He shifted into shadow, appearing on its back, driving it headfirst into the floor, cracking the stone beneath.
The battlefield fell quiet.
The only sound left was the faint hum of the crystals and the breath of the two girls watching him with something that wasn't quite trust anymore.
Zenith collapsed to one knee.
His chest heaved. His hands trembled. The dead beasts stood still around him, waiting. Watching. Obedient.
Kira didn't lower her blade.
Ires stepped toward him carefully. "Zenith…"
He looked up, eyes unfocused. "I couldn't stop him."
"Don't put yourself at risk like that again," Chaos's voice snarled in his head. "If you die… a part of me dies. And I don't intend to fade."
Zenith flinched.
"You want to be a hero?" Chaos hissed. "Then survive. Because I will not carry your corpse across this war."
The crystal dimmed.
The dead fell still.
Zenith knelt there — a puppet that had been let go — with Ires and Kira unsure if what they were looking at was still human… or something else entirely.
---
The wind whispered low as silence reclaimed the ruin.
The reanimated World Eaters stood like stone sentinels, void of breath, their heads twitching slightly, still awaiting Zenith's next command.
But Chaos had already withdrawn.
And so, slowly, the corpses began to melt into shadow — each one pulled downward, disintegrating into a black mist that coiled and slithered across the stone floor. The mist crept toward Zenith, curling beneath his boots, and vanished into the deep shadow cast by his own body.
Then there was only stillness.
The two crystals hovered in the air — orbiting him slowly. The first pulsed with familiar darkness; the second crackled faintly with hints of red, its energy still wild and new.
Kira's voice was sharp and immediate.
"He can't be trusted."
Zenith didn't even raise his head. His breathing was still uneven, his hands limp on his knees.
"He just raised monsters from the dead. Those things were eating people alive minutes ago."
"I know what it looked like," Ires said carefully. "But it wasn't him. Chaos… took over."
"That's supposed to make it better?" Kira snapped, her blade still drawn. "That thing inside him could've made those beasts kill us too."
Zenith's head lifted at last, his expression blank.
"I didn't ask for this," he muttered. "I didn't even want to touch the first crystal."
Kira scoffed. "But you did. And now two of them follow you around like cursed pets."
Ires stepped between them, calm but firm. "He had a choice. He could've let us all die. He didn't. Chaos did… but Zenith fought him. I saw it in his eyes."
Kira's fingers tightened around her sword hilt.
"I watched the man I trust more than anything get swallowed by that same look," she whispered. "My father. He fell protecting me from the first World Eater. His eyes turned black when the sword took over. Just like Zenith's did."
Zenith lowered his gaze. The crystals pulsed once — in unison — then slowed to stillness.
Ires turned to Kira.
"He's not perfect. But he's not the enemy either. If you really thought he'd hurt us, you wouldn't still be standing here talking."
Kira didn't move for a long time. Then, finally, she exhaled, and unstrapped the scroll bag from her back.
"You better be right," she said flatly.
With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the bag at Zenith.
He caught it one-handed.
"Hide that thing before more come," she said. "The second one's energy is too raw. It's like a beacon to them."
Zenith nodded silently and held the bag open. The second crystal hovered a moment longer — as if resisting — before gliding gently into the seal.
The moment it disappeared inside, the surrounding pressure lightened.
Ires let out a soft breath of relief. Even the shadows seemed to loosen their grip on the room.
Kira turned away and muttered, "I know a place further north. The stones there are etched with anti-detection runes. If we're going to carry those things, we'll need more than luck and scrolls."
Zenith stood slowly. The remaining crystal drifted beside him, silent, steady.
He glanced once more at the shadow beneath his feet — the one that had swallowed monsters.
He clenched his fists.
And followed.