No color. No sky. No ground. Only endless silver mist, with whispers echoing in the distance. In this place, time seemed to stand still. The mind felt lighter, but the soul grew more fragile.
Akito followed behind. But as soon as he set foot on the spirit ground, his body staggered. "This power it's far greater than anything I've ever felt."
Itsuki grasped the spirit soil and felt old memories flowing through his skin. Memories of those who had come here before their suffering, the choices they made they all still lived here.
And in the midst of the mist, someone was waiting.
Yurina.
Now completely transformed. A spirit cloak draped over her body, and her eyes glowed softly—not as a threat, but as someone who had lost everything.
"I knew you would come," she said quietly.
"Tell me the truth," said Itsuki. "About who I am. About what happened."
Yurina sighed. "You are the last hope of two worlds. Your blood holds a pair of powers: life and destruction. I am the guardian of one. And your father, the Black Emperor, is the guardian of the other."
"Then why did all this happen?"
"Because we failed to maintain balance. The Black Emperor chose eternal sleep to keep the human world safe. But when I awoke, they The Four Shadows resurrected me to use me as a key. I resisted, but... part of my soul was sacrificed to activate the gate."
Suddenly, an explosion echoed in the distance. One of the largest shadows began to approach a horned giant, its lifeless body burning with black fire.
"You must make a choice, Itsuki," Yurina said, gazing at her son with pain in her eyes. "I can help you seal this spirit world forever. But that means I can't come back with you."
Itsuki fell silent. The world felt quiet once more.
"Is there another way?"
Yurina looked at him gently. "Sometimes, the only way to save the world is to let go of what you want most."
The shadow creature was now very close. Akito raised his sword.
"Choose now!" he shouted.
And Itsuki closed his eyes.
"I will seal the spirit world. But I will save you too, Mother. In my own way."
The power within him awakened, not just from the Black Emperor's blood, but from himself. He was no longer just an heir. He was the bridge and now, the guardian of the worlds.
In a blast of light and darkness, Itsuki's body rose into the air, lifting a seal that only the true heir could activate. The spirit world began to collapse. Screams echoed, but they could no longer reach them.
Before the light swallowed everything, Yurina smiled at him.
"You've made me proud..."
Then everything disappeared. When Itsuki opened his eyes, he was back at the temple. His body weak. Reina, Hana, and Lira stood around him, their wounds proof of how fierce the battle had been. Akito sat nearby, a small smile on his face.
"Welcome back, Guardian of Two Worlds."
Itsuki knew his journey wasn't over. But this time, he wasn't alone.
---
The first night after the spirit world was sealed was quiet, but not in a frightening way. The night sky above the temple was filled with bright stars, as if celebrating a small victory that had just been won. Yet in Itsuki's heart, there was no relief, only an emptiness difficult to describe.
He sat on the stone terrace, gazing at the sky while feeling the now-calmer energy pulsing through his body. The spirit world had been sealed again, but he knew not everything inside it was truly gone. And more importantly his mother was now part of the seal. Trapped between two worlds, guarding the boundary from breaking again.
Reina sat beside him, bringing two cups of warm tea.
"You've done something no one has been able to do in centuries," she said softly. "But you still look hollow."
Itsuki gave a faint smile. "I succeeded. But, I lost something irreplaceable."
"Yurina chose to become part of the seal because she believed in you," Reina said gently. "Not because she had to, but because she knew you could protect this world better than anyone."
A brief silence. Then heavy footsteps approached. Akito appeared, calmer than usual. "Some spirits don't agree with the gate's closure. They might look for another crack. We must be ready."
Hana followed shortly, holding an ancient scroll she'd found in the ruins of the eastern temple. "We have a new problem," she said seriously. "The seal Itsuki created isn't permanent. There's a pattern here three weak points that could be exploited if discovered by a strong enough entity."
Itsuki stood. "How much time do we have?"
"Uncertain," Hana replied. "Could be years. Or just months."
Reina looked around at everyone. "Then we need a new system. Not just training like before. But an organization. A network of guardians. New heirs."
Itsuki nodded. "If this legacy isn't finished, then I must ensure the next generation can carry it. We'll rebuild the Order of World Guardians."
And so, the temple once hidden was gradually reopened to the outside world.
Young people sensitive to energy began to appear, drawn by the echo of power released by Itsuki. Some came through dreams. Others through visions. And some because they were descendants of old guardians who had been in hiding.
Amid training and the rebuilding of the Order, Itsuki began compiling the Black and Gold Grimoire a record that would become a legacy of knowledge for the next generation. In it, he wrote not just techniques and history, but his feelings. His fears. His losses. His hopes. But not everything went smoothly. One night, Lira rushed into the main hall.
"Someone has breached the northern energy barricade. We don't know who, but they passed through the guards as if unseen."
Itsuki immediately prepared himself. When he arrived at the spot, what he found was not an enemy, but a small girl with glowing golden eyes and a trembling voice.
"My name is Miru. I came because of a dream."
"A dream?" Itsuki asked gently.
The girl nodded. "A woman with black wings gave me a message. She said I had to come here… and give this to you."
She handed him a black pendant engraved with the Emperor's symbol.
And in that moment, Itsuki knew: This journey was not over. It was only the beginning.
---
—Child of the Fourth Gate
The black pendant felt cold in Itsuki's palm. Its weight didn't come from metal, but from the ancient energy embedded within an energy very much like his own. The symbol on the pendant's surface glowed faintly, forming an endless spiral known in ancient texts as the Fourth Seal, a symbol of a gate never opened since the era of the Black Emperor.
"Where did you get this, Miru?" Itsuki asked softly, holding back the waves of energy pulsing from it.
The little girl looked down. "I don't know. It's been with me since I was a baby. But just a week ago, I started hearing a voice from inside it. She said I'm the final key."
Hana and Reina arrived shortly after and immediately sensed the pendant's aura. Their faces hardened.
"The Fourth Gate..." Reina whispered, barely audible.
"Impossible. That gate was never recorded in history," Hana said, reaching for the ancient texts she always carried. "Three gates Spirit, Breath, and Shadow are known. But this one... even the Black Emperor never fully mastered it."
Akito stepped out from behind a pillar, staring deeply at Miru. "She's not just a key. She's a fragment of something greater. Possibly a part of the Emperor himself."
Itsuki looked at the little girl and felt something familiar. A soft vibration in his soul when their eyes met. As if their souls had touched long ago.
"Miru, how old are you really?" Itsuki asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "People say I'm nine. But I remember another world before I was born here. A world filled with black light, and trees that sang in whispers..."
Her words made Reina shiver.
"That's the crossing forest at the edge of the Origin World. A place only visible to high-level spirits or entities not fully bound to human bodies."
Hana gasped. "If Miru remembers that place, then she's not fully human. Or maybe she's a vessel prepared for something older than our world."
Itsuki clenched the pendant tightly. "Then we can't treat this as just a symbol. We need to know what the Fourth Gate truly means. And what happens if it's opened."
Akito stepped closer, his face for the first time not just serious—but anxious. "If the Fourth Gate is the point beyond the boundary of spirit and human… then what comes through it won't be spirits. But concepts. Entities that have no form ones that can rewrite reality itself."
"Fatebreakers," Reina whispered.
Itsuki slowly stood, gazing toward the horizon where night had begun to fall. The sky was no longer peaceful like the night before. Black clouds rolled in slowly, as if answering the awakening of something long forgotten.
"We need to go there," said Itsuki.
Hana looked at him. "Where?"
"To the Arashi Forest. That's where the trees sing like Miru heard. And if it's truly the threshold of the Fourth Gate, then we must get there before someone else does."
Akito crossed his arms. "This won't be an ordinary mission. If we're right, we'll face powers that can't be beaten with technique or seals alone. We'll need something more."
Itsuki looked at each of them, then at Miru, who still stood calmly in the wind.
"Then," he said, "it's time we learn how to fight something we've never understood. Because this time, we're not just facing the spirit world..."
"...but the final edge of all reality."