The battlefield had become a nightmare painted in fire, lightning, and shadow.
Kurojin's power erupted like a black sun over the land. Voidstorms tore open the ground. Screams echoed from both sides as the corrupted Wielders and beasts surged forward again. The Wielders struggled to hold their formation, but the energy unleashed by Kurojin's most recent pulse had scattered squads across the ruined terrain.
Kael and Kaito crouched together on a cracked ridge, both catching their breath, their auras flickering. Despite the blood, bruises, and broken ground—neither of them backed down.
"He's changing the battlefield," Kaito said grimly. "He's warping it… bending it into his own domain."
Kael nodded, eyes locked on the sky, which had twisted into a swirling spiral of darkness—The Abyss Crown, Kurojin's strongest domain technique. The moment it had activated, weaker Wielders collapsed to their knees, unable to resist the pressure. Only the strongest could still stand.
From the far right flank, Seraphine Vale carved through a horde of beastspawn, her Will of Light shielding nearby squads. She glanced toward the center of the battlefield and murmured, "Kael… don't let the darkness win."
Elsewhere, Magnus Kreel had summoned a wall of iron Will that held back a charging corrupted juggernaut the size of a building. His body bled, his armor cracked, but he stood unmoving.
Back at the front, Kaede clashed with Veyron again, his blade a blur. Veyron's serpentine void form lashed out, nearly swallowing Kaede whole until Ryuu tackled the tendrils with explosive fire. They hit the ground rolling, breathing heavily.
"I'm out of Overburn charges," Ryuu admitted.
"I'm running low too," Kaede replied, a grin cracking his bloodstained face. "But if we go down, let's make sure Veyron feels it."
Across the war zone, Hana ducked under a slow-motion wave of time distortion from Lilith, then struck her with a wide-range fireburst. Tetsu followed with a sonic boom that finally cracked the Chrono Veil's edge.
"You're losing control," Hana called out.
Lilith, for the first time, looked shaken.
Back at the center of it all, Kael and Kaito rose again.
Kael wiped blood from his lip. "If we let this battlefield remain his, we'll lose. We need to bend it back."
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Kaito asked.
Kael grinned. "Voidstep. Together."
Both brothers clasped hands, synchronized their Wills, and launched forward into the core of Kurojin's domain. Their figures split into blurs—Kael flickering through void points, Kaito dividing his soul again. They attacked in a synchronized assault, slamming into Kurojin from five directions.
But Kurojin didn't even move. Instead, he raised his hand and whispered, "Fall."
The energy ripple that followed shattered the air. Kaito was hurled backward through three cliffs. Kael was pinned mid-air by a massive black hand formed from Will energy.
"Do you really think two children, even of Raizen's blood, can match me?" Kurojin's voice was now layered—his corrupted Will speaking with him in unison.
Kael growled, forcing energy into his body. "You're not unbeatable."
"No," Kurojin said. "But I am the end."
He clenched his fist.
The void hand began to crush Kael.
Raizen, watching from a distance, tried to rise. "No…"
Then, something changed.
Kael's body pulsed with a new aura—deeper, older. The mark of the Last Will began to glow, not just on his body, but in the air around him. The void hand cracked.
"I'm not done," Kael whispered.
Kurojin narrowed his eyes. "What are you?"
Kael's voice echoed, deeper than his own. "I'm the one thing you couldn't corrupt."
The hand shattered, and Kael broke free.
Far across the battlefield, the Wielders felt the pulse of something new. Something ancient. Hope.
But the war was far from over.
The storm still raged.
The world still hung in the balance.
And Kurojin… was just getting started.