At the edge of the square, where the wind swept the ashes and scattered them over the ruin,a tall knight carved his way among the collapsed towers,his gilded white armor gleaming amid the shadows,and on his chest, the insignia of the Sacred Spear.
That was Franco, the knight said to have faced a thousand deaths without defeat.But this day…was unlike any day he had ever known.
His steps slowed as he beheld the scene…There, amid the broken tower's remains,lay the corpse of Denji Volt, the Lord of Lightning.
It was no ordinary corpse…Denji had been crucified on a black pillar driven into the ground,his body suspended like a puppet,surrounded by a dim flicker of his lingering energy,as though the lightning he once commanded was itself resisting death.
His fingers were splayed upward,his eyes wide open in a stunned gaze that did not fade, even after his soul had gone out.His chest was pierced through by a spear of white bone,impaling his heart and fixing him in place,while blood slowly trickled down the pillar…dripping in a harrowing silence.
For the first time, Franco felt his heart pounding.He stepped closer, his boots heavy…He raised a hand to Denji's brow,touched it lightly…and felt a coldness unlike ordinary death,as if all life had been torn from the body, leaving behind an eternal void.
"…This… is not ordinary killing… this is… annihilation."
He slowly lifted his gaze.And in that moment, the holy knight felt the air around his heart freeze.
He… is not human…
At that instant, Franco felt something strange…All the sounds in his head receded…All his memories slipped away…as if he had become a child who understood nothing…just a body standing in the presence of something he had no right even to comprehend.
The white-haired figure was already moving past the scorched rubble,advancing toward the heart of the square,where the Masked One stood silent before Mary's ashes.
When the white-haired man drew near,the Masked One slowly raised his head,and something like a smile etched itself in his doubled voice:
"You've come… at last."
The wind fell still.The sunlight shrank,and that strange calm spread over everything…the stillness before the world's collapse.
Ash drifted gently over Mary's body, lying in the devastated square.Her chest no longer rose, but her eyes remained half open, as if still watching the void.No one approached her.
Julius Kaiser advanced with very quiet steps, his boots treading the twisted remains of iron towers.He stopped by her corpse and gazed down for a moment, his look empty of any feeling.
Julius (in a weary low voice):"…What a strange end… all that violence… then silence."
He slowly lifted his eyes toward the Masked One, who was touching the burning geometric sigils on his forearm, as if testing the remnants of his power.The two men shared a long silence, until the Masked One finally broke it with a slow, faintly mocking tone:
Masked One:"I thought you'd arrive sooner… If you'd been minutes later, this old woman would have killed me."
Julius did not look at him.He continued to stare at Mary's still face before replying, dryly:
Julius:"She was strong enough to kill you. But you insisted… on fighting her to the end."
The Masked One sighed with a short laugh, as though some bitter disappointment lingered in his chest:
Masked One:"Ha… Sometimes I think you'll understand me one day. But you're too cold to understand even yourself."
Julius lifted his gaze to the dark horizon, his voice quieter now, like someone announcing news he barely cared about:
Julius:"I have finished locating the girl… this woman's daughter."
The Masked One stiffened for a moment before lowering his head, murmuring in an ominous tone:
Masked One:"…Mila…"
Then he smiled a pale smile that concealed something impossible to name:
Masked One (in a faintly mocking voice):"If you don't know… that child is not merely a new strain of sorcerer. She is the key… to something you will only understand if you see it."
He turned his eyes toward Mary's corpse, and muttered with a note of strange respect:
Masked One:"This body… fought me to her last heartbeat. She forced me to sacrifice half my life to summon [the Eiji]… then drove me to spend weeks in the Transparent World, learning how to break her will."
He gestured to his chest, etched with still-glowing circles:
Masked One:"Do you think it was enjoyable? If you loved fighting women as much as killing them… you would've saved me half this effort."
At last Julius turned to him, his gray features unchanged.He spoke in a low voice, like a sigh:
Julius:"…I don't enjoy fighting women. Or killing them. Or anything."
The Masked One lifted his eyebrows behind his mask, letting out a bitter, faint laugh:
Masked One:"My god… A dead man in a living body. If you weren't my friend… I'd kill you out of pity."
Julius gave no reply, only turned his eyes back to the corpse.Then he spoke again:
Julius:"I know little about the child. I don't care who she is. But her location is clear.""I suppose you'll go to her now."
The Masked One nodded slowly, his voice softening:
Masked One:"Yes… but this time, I will not fight alone."
He paused, then, in a tone reluctant, almost confessing:
Masked One:"No matter my power… if she resembles her mother… perhaps I alone will not be enough."
Julius lowered his head, and a solitude seeped into his cold voice:
Julius:"…Then we will go together."
The Masked One looked long at his friend, then up at the sky where the stars had begun to appear.He whispered, in a quiet irony, as though speaking to himself:
Masked One:"Strange… After all this chaos, I find myself grateful for your coldness."
They both fell silent as the wind passed over Mary's body…Threading through her scattered hair in the dust…as if bidding them a final wordless farewell.
Cold night wind swept over the ruins—whether they were castle or ancient shrine no longer mattered.The Masked One and Julius walked the deserted stone passage, their steps slow and heavy, as if treading time itself.
When they reached the inner square, a pale glow washed over everything:A massive defensive barrier of deep blue energy encircled the center in a crystalline dome, its lines rippling, its sigils pulsing as if alive.Dozens of intricate circles pulsed within its layers. The Masked One instantly guessed that Mary had set it to protect what was left of her.
Masked One (in a low voice):"…Even in death… she doesn't stop fighting."
Julius made no comment. He simply raised his hand and touched the barrier.A sudden blue flash gleamed, then vanished.His hand passed through the energy wall as if it were nothing.The Masked One was not surprised by his gift.
Masked One (dryly):"Truly… If I loved women as you do, I'd have spent a week dismantling this barrier. But you… part it like a curtain."
Julius ignored the remark, striding inside with steady steps.The Masked One followed, until they stood at the heart of the dome.
And there… in the dimming aura… sat a small boy on a gray rock, staring into emptiness with a gaze too hollow for a child.Black hair fell over half-closed eyes, hands resting limply on his knees.Beside him, Mila lay asleep, wrapped in a gray cloak that hid her face, unaware of all that had befallen the world.
The two men exchanged glances.Then the Masked One spoke in a mocking tone, tilting his head slightly:
Masked One:"Adam Ethan… her son… what a coincidence.""Boy, why don't you scream? Why don't you attack? You saw with your own eyes what I did to your mother… didn't you?"
There was no answer.Adam did not lift his gaze, did not stir.He just sat there, staring into nothing, his eyes devoid of hope or anger.
The Masked One clasped his hands behind his back, pacing around him, observing his lifeless features:
Masked One (low):"…Yes… I saw everything in his mind… while absorbing her… I showed him our battle. Showed him her death. Made him watch her break…""And still… he does not rise. He does not cry."
He stopped directly in front of him, his voice sharpening:
Masked One:"Why don't you hate me? Have you become stone? Or do you wait for death without care?"
Adam did not answer.Everything around him grew so quiet he seemed a statue.The Masked One shook his head in puzzled impatience.
He lifted his arm, the geometric sigils blazing along his forearm, light gathering in his palm to strike and end it.But in the last instant… a pale hand gripped his wrist.
It was Julius, fixing him with an unblinking, lifeless stare.
Masked One (startled):"Move your hand… I will end him."
Julius (calmly, like reading a report):"No. Do not touch him."
Masked One (sharply):"Have you lost your mind? He is her son. He may inherit her power… he may turn on us."
Julius closed his eyes for a moment, as if confirming some hidden truth:
Julius:"…I have watched his body. I sensed something strange. As if a part of Mary's energy… embedded itself in him when she died."
A moment of silence. Then he opened his eyes, voice dropping colder:
Julius:"It is a curse… inherited."
The Masked One's look tightened:
Masked One:"…What curse?"
Julius raised his gaze slowly, explaining in his dead tone:
Julius:"If you kill him… you will lose half your life. Most likely… that woman possessed a double life… an unknown survival system. Something between magic and fate. If her heir is slain… the remaining half will be torn from the killer."
The Masked One stared into the boy's dead eyes, whispering in mocking bitterness, with a faint tremor:
Masked One:"…What a family… even their deaths are traps."
He stepped back from Adam, lowering his hand slowly.Then he turned to Mila.
Masked One (coldly):"It doesn't matter… our true objective was this child."
Julius nodded lightly, glassy eyes unblinking:
Julius:"…Let's go. Nothing ties us to this place any longer."
And as the last blue energy dimmed, as the wind itself died in the hollow air,Adam remained seated… unmoving…his half-extinguished gaze fixed on the void.He never turned to them, even as the final words fell silent.He sat as if his mind had fled, leaving only an empty shell.Beside him, little Mila breathed in gentle, steady sleep, unaware her life had become the prey of forces no human heart could comprehend.
The Masked One stretched a hand to her lightly—but before he touched her, he paused, casting one final look at the boy.Their eyes met.A child's eyes—but no childhood in them… no tears… no defiance… no question.
Masked One (in a breathlike whisper):"…If you live… perhaps one day you'll wonder why I spared you. I leave you this burden… a little gift."
He turned away without touching either of them, meeting Julius's gaze, who watched without comment.
Julius moved his hand in the air as if parting an invisible curtain, and a slow-rippling portal appeared before them, gray lines of shifting geometry moving like serpents.The Masked One's cloak fluttered in the cold wind rising from the circle. He whispered dryly:
Masked One:"I hope our next destination is less bleak… but I won't bet on it with you around."
Julius said nothing, stepping into the portal with heavy strides.The Masked One followed. As he entered, the circle slowly began to contract,and in the final instant before it vanished,the Masked One looked back at the dead square one last time,and whispered a voice none could hear:
Masked One:"…Mary… even in your annihilation… you leave behind this terrible silence."
Then the circle closed completely,and the two were gone,leaving the deep stillness to swallow the square.
Adam sat motionless,as if he had become a piece of the ashes filling the ruin.No tears, no scream,only a heavy darkness crouched in his chest…and at his side,little Mila slept on,unaware her life had become the prize of powers too vast for any human heart to grasp.