The clash of energies darkened the temple sky as the void entity roared with impossible force. Akihiko felt his body vibrate at the same frequency as the creature. It was as if his very existence was being called to merge with the abyss.
Shadows swirled, expanding in all directions. Viktor, his expression one of suppressed fury, sent a torrent of dark energy toward the creature, but again his attacks were absorbed without effect.
"This isn't a normal battle!" Kael shouted, trying to analyze the energy fluctuation with his erratically flickering device. "It's pulling us toward a rift in reality. If we don't stop this now, we'll be trapped in the void!"
Isabella moved quickly, her resonant threads dancing in the air, trying to contain the shadows by entangling them in a trap of vibrations. But the entity passed through them without even acknowledging her existence.
Orpheus closed his eyes, and his Fate Resonance activated with an intensity he'd never experienced before. His body trembled, and he fell to his knees. "No... this isn't your first attempt. It's happened before. History is repeating itself."
Akihiko felt the truth in those words. The vision of the past he had seen in the previous battle now made sense. He wasn't just another warrior in this fight. He was the key.
The Echo of Past Lives
The shadows began to merge, taking on a gigantic humanoid form. Its limbs were elongated and distorted, its face an ever-shifting amalgam of shadows. At its center was a pulsing core of dark energy that seemed to devour light itself.
"That core..." Akihiko murmured. "It's the origin of the void."
Helena stepped back, twisting her spear firmly. "So how do we destroy it?"
Orpheus looked at Akihiko. "We can't destroy it. Not without breaking the cycle."
The creature launched itself at them with devastating speed. Akihiko drew his katana, the void within him responding with a violet glow. Viktor, with no other options, stood beside him.
"I don't like this," Viktor muttered with a grimace of disgust, "but if you want to break the cycle, you'd better do it before this thing devours us."
Kael looked at his device and then at Akihiko. "There's a pattern in the energy... this thing isn't just an entity. It's a door. If it opens fully, everything will be consumed."
One Last Leap
Shadows covered the entire temple, enveloping Akihiko in absolute darkness. In that void, time ceased to exist.
He saw fleeting images: a warrior like himself, centuries ago, facing the same entity. He saw him fail, his body claimed by the void and his soul trapped in the cycle. He saw other attempts, other battles, all ending the same way.
He saw the former mafia leaders, those who had tried to control the Tree of Eden, consumed by their own ambition. Figures with glowing, desperate eyes, reaching out to him, seeking redemption or revenge.
And finally, he saw the Tree of Eden. Floating in a sea of darkness, like a beacon of light caught in a storm of shadows. Its roots seemed to be tangled with the same strands of emptiness that formed the entity.
Then he understood.
Akihiko opened his eyes, the glow of his katana illuminating the darkness. "I don't have to win this battle. I have to finish it."
"Akihiko!" Isabella shouted, sensing something different in his energy.
The young warrior walked forward, his katana wrapped in void energy. The creature stopped, staring at him. Ancestral whispers surrounded him.
"Give us back the lost fragment."
In that instant, he understood. He was the fragment.
Viktor, recovering from the blow, glared at him. "Don't tell me you're planning on giving yourself up."
Akihiko took a deep breath and stabbed his katana into the ground. "I won't give up. I'm going to end this."
The shadows roared, spreading furiously. But Akihiko didn't move. In his mind, the voices of the past still echoed.
"Every cycle has ended in failure. But you... you have the choice."
A flash of light crossed the void, and suddenly, everything fell silent.
The edge of Akihiko's katana shone with an impossible intensity. In that moment, darkness enveloped him completely.
And then, everything went white