Ran stood in silence as words were spoken to him not in utterance, not through thoughts, but through spirit.
He knew just what to do, what moves to make to take down this beast, and he knew just how to do it.
The spiritual instructions were completed, the voices of the Lords of Hell echoing one last time in his spirit.
Still he felt the words thrumming and resonating deep within him, beyond his core—at the very depth of his soul.
"Thou shall step forward, an abomination of life."
Like a boy possessed, Kaito Ran stepped forward. He took another step, and another—each movement willing.
He was going to do this. No, he needed to do it. For himself, for his mission, for his father.
"Move nearer to our essences altered," an echo of the spiritual instructions reminded him.
He took another step until all that remained between him and the gigantic chain was a space measured in inches.
Ran looked down upon the glowing hot chain, each link as huge as a grown man's thigh.
"Then you shall take hold of the chain in both hands."
Ran bent over, hands stretched out.
He shall slay this mighty beast. It will be just one more step on the path to saving his father, one more hurdle to cross.
He was not going to spend years climbing off this creature. He was going to survive, he was going to strive on.
His both hands clamped around around a thick chain link and—
"And you shall embrace the pleasure of hell."
All he knew was pain. It embraced every part of him—his nose and eyes bled, his muscles vibrated like a generator, his bones were slowly being unmade.
In the first minute of it, he lost his voice to overuse as his cry shook the walls of the City of Severance.
The world echoed his suffering, all eyes looked in his direction and found the child standing tall upon the Titan, the chain of hell in his hands.
"And you shall not be lost to the embrace for you are marked by the Queen of Severance."
The pain began to subside, but Ran could not think. He fell into a state of limbo—nothing existed for him save the pain and the hypnotic, imprinted words from the spirit.
He embraced the latter, focusing on it to try dulling the pain.
"You shall wield the chains of hell. In your hands it shall transform into a blade of righteous justice."
And the chains uncoiled from around the Lagarakei and transformed, right in Ran's hands, into a katana that glowed with the energy of a million stars.
"And before the attention of the beast shall be gained, you shall plunge it hilt-deep into its living essence."
Ran, already feeling the beast stir beneath him, its mountainous muscles spasming around him like an earthquake, raised the sword above his head.
He brought the sword down, putting his weight to it and falling to his knees as he plunged the fiery blade of righteous justice deep into the beast's flesh.
And came the paradoxical sound of a silently loud thunderous scream as the beast buckled to throw him off its back.
"Using the kin of our combined essence, housed within the confines of the blade, thou shall speak the word of destruction."
Ran knew the word of destruction, the command of apocalypse. Any careful reader of the Book of Calidation would know it.
Saying it normally would have no effect, but with the essence of the Lords of Hell in hand…
Sighing in whisper, Kaito Ran breathed out, "ZENMETSU."
From the depth of Naraku to the zenith of its abode, the world thrummed like a guitar string struck.
Demons afar awoke and looked in the direction of the City of Severance. The Feys in the lands beyond closed their eyes and sent their astral presence forward to investigate.
All eyes were on Kaito Ran as he spoke the words antithetical to CREATION.
Upon his abominable utterance, the blade in his hand flashed so brightly all who were not quick enough to avert their gaze went blind.
Even Kaito Ran who'd had his eyes shut, had his eyelids flash hot red.
The flash continued to spread, doing so in a second. It covered the beast the sword had been plunged into and the next second it had flash away—the Lagarakei disappearing with it.
Ran found himself kneeling on the courtyard floor. He opened his eyes and found the sword gone from his hands.
"Where did it go?" He wondered aloud.
He looked around and found no sight of either the katana nor the Lagarakei.
"Had both been taken by the command of destruction?" He whispered in puzzled inquiry. "But my intent had been for the Lagarakie alone."
Could the Lords of Hell have re-assumed their physical and demonic form after the deed was done?
Ran supposed that might be. He calmed down and tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just done.
He'd slain hell's own nightmare. He, Ran, had just killed a Lagarakei. It sounded stupid, it sounded insane, it was unbelievable.
Except that it was also true.
"And there might be more coming for me. Especially now that I've slain one of their kind," he thought out loud.
And indeed, if the Lagarakei came to the city of Severance, drawn by him, and by the conversation he'd eavesdropped on—even more Lagarakei's had escaped from their exiled realm.
Didn't that mean that they were all here?
How many had escaped? How many were coming?
"Will I have to kill them all?" He asked the empty courtyard.
No, that was insane. Surely he wouldn't have to? Hopefully he wouldn't have to.
"Ran," he looked around, searching for Soran Haru, for it was his voice he'd heard.
Looking around he saw what the Lagarakei's crash had done to the palace. The beast had crushed not only the palace in its fall.
The whole city was gone.
A single creature had taken millions with it, everyone had thrown themselves at it as if in practice of Hara-kiri.
Now the whole city was gone, only a few thousand of its denizens remaining from the clash of demonic and eldritch forces.
Ran felt really lucky to be alive.
Soran Haru was running towards him. The young acolyte was saying something, but it was not audible to Ran's ears.
He felt like he had his head underwater. All sounds around him were muffled.
"What's happening to me?"
He tried to rise to his feet, he'd only risen to one foot before he felt his vision swim.
'What is wrong with me? Is this happening because I've exhausted myself too much? Is it because of the pain? Or am I being affected by the chaos and clashes of power I'd borne witness to?'
He had no time to even ponder on an answer as he felt the corners of his vision darken.
His eyes rolling into the back of his head, Kaito Ran collapsed back to the floor—his mind blanking.