Lorth crossed his arms, the weight of blood and pride sinking into his shoulders.
"…We head back to Sanctum City," he said firmly, his voice cutting through the smoldering silence. "The people need to know what happened here. About Kaigenshiro… and about him."
Kesshō glanced at him, disappointment darkening his expression.
"After all this, you still want to go back?"
Lorth, his injured arm trembling slightly, gave a grim nod.
"Of course. There are people there. They deserve the truth."
His gaze drifted briefly toward Raien, still standing silently in the ashes, cloaked in an eerie stillness.
"No more surprises."
Raien didn't answer. He simply stood among the rubble, eyes fixed eastward, as if the wind itself whispered prophecy into his ear.
As the group began to recover, a sudden tremor rippled beneath their feet. Stones shifted. The ground cracked, coughing up dust and broken pillars.
Elden turned sharply.
"…What now?!"
A surge of electricity erupted from a collapsed tower nearby followed by a furious voice.
"DAMN THESE ROCKS! WHO THREW A WHOLE BUILDING ON ME?! REN!!!"
The smoke cleared.
From beneath the debris, a figure burst out face blackened with ash, electric blade sparking, eyes still burning with fire.
Haruno, bruised but alive, staggered free. His sword was clutched in one hand; the other dragged a broken chunk of pillar.
"I swear, if one more demon drops architecture on my head I'm killing a mountain."
Behind him, two more figures crawled from the rubble. Junpai emerged, protected by a flickering spell bubble, coughing and brushing off debris. Airi stumbled out behind him, also shielded, face covered in dirt and frustration.
"Haruno, you lunatic," Airi snapped, spitting out dust. "You almost took my leg off when you exploded that wall!"
"I was buried under three tons of Kaigenshiro!" Haruno shouted. "I should be dead! But no I wake up to a rock slap in the face by that lunatic right there!"
He pointed a cracked blade toward the group.
"My question is WHY IN THE HELL IS HE STILL ALIVE?!"
"Glad to see you're all in good spirits," Kesshō muttered dryly, helping Airi to her feet.
Souta rushed forward, eyes wide in disbelief.
"You guys are alive?!"
Junpai grinned, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"You guys betrayed us and left. Why would we still be alive?"
He smirked.
"Takes more than an apocalypse to kill us. You can bury me, but I never miss my cue."
Raien turned slowly toward them, and Junpai froze.
"…Ren?"
Raien tilted his head slightly.
"Who's that?"
"…Oh. Shit," Junpai blinked.
Haruno's jaw clenched.
"He doesn't remember?"
"No," Arisa said quietly. "He's not Ren anymore. He's Raien Kagatsuki."
Haruno looked at her. Then at Raien. Then back to her.
"…That's so stupid," he muttered under his breath. "Ugh. Fine. Whatever. Long as he fights when it matters."
The group moved slowly, picking their way across the cracked earth and shattered bones of Kaigenshiro. The ruined skyline shimmered under a bleeding crimson dusk.
Kesshō walked beside Raien.
"That voice you mentioned. The song. What is it?"
Raien's eyes were distant.
"I don't know… but it's ancient. Older than me. Older than this body. It's not just calling me… it's waking me."
Kesshō's gaze sharpened.
"Waking what, exactly?"
Raien gave no answer.
He simply kept walking.
As they departed the ruins, the ghosts of the past followed silent phantoms in the smoke.
High above them, Lucien Veylor watched from his floating throne of blackened stone, suspended in a storm-torn sky.
"Run back to your Sanctum. Heal your wounds. Bury your dead. It won't matter…"
He held the Sky Tear in his palm—its light now pulsing darker than ever.
"Because next time we meet… Raien Kagatsuki will not walk away."
He smiled.
And the sky cracked open just a little more.
---
Later, as the group trudged toward Sanctum City, Haruno stepped toward Raien, eyes hard.
"I don't know who the fuck you are… or whatever the hell you are," he growled. "But I know you're a demon. And I'm gonna kill it."
Raien didn't even blink. He didn't acknowledge the threat. He simply kept walking, silent as dusk.
Haruno blinked, startled by the lack of response.
"If you do anything anything shady I'll kill you," Haruno shouted after him.
Raien never looked back.