The world cracked.
Not physically, but in spirit.
The Holy Dimension groaned under the weight of colliding truths. The air thickened—not just with magic, but with conviction. A war of belief was about to erupt. And in its center stood a devil who had once been broken… and a girl who no longer remembered how to cry.
And Eiji Kuroryuu's fury had just begun to burn.
"GIVE HER BACK!!"
Eiji's voice tore through the silence like a blade shattering stained glass. The sacred air of the altar vibrated as his scream echoed across the Holy Dimension, resonating with something ancient and forgotten.
He held Amane tightly, trembling. Her body was still warm. Her heartbeat was faint. But her soul…
Gone.
Her eyes no longer held light. Her voice no longer had her. She was a puppet—beautiful, hollow, lost.
And not far from him knelt the one responsible.
Luria.
Daughter of Ruin. Wings of gold and shadow. A halo cracked at its edge, pulsing with divine rot. She was serene, almost reverent, her palms together in mock prayer.
"You… did this to her," Eiji whispered. "You turned her into… this?"
Luria didn't flinch. "I saved her," she said with a smile too wide, too sweet. "I cleansed her soul from sin. Isn't she beautiful now?"
"You call this saved?!" His grip tightened around Amane's hand. "You ripped her apart!"
The air around him broke.
Flames didn't erupt—they bled. They poured from his pores, eyes, and the space between moments. Shadows spiraled like serpents, dancing up his limbs, wrapping around his gauntlet and throat.
The Earth blackened. Cracks split outward like jagged roots of despair.
Ayaka gasped from afar. "His aura—it's rejecting the dimension!"
Riku squinted. "No, that's not the normal aura. That's... that's not just him anymore."
Miya's eyes sharpened. "That's his Espiria Gear," she murmured. "The first form… The Abyssal Flame."
Behind them, a portal suddenly burst open. Ignis—previously restrained—took the chance and leaped through it.
"No!" Miya shouted. "He's escaping!"
But it was too late. Ignis was gone.
Seraphina didn't move. Her gaze remained locked on the burning devil standing at the center of it all.
She exhaled. "Let him go. Something greater is awakening here."
The divine light above the altar dimmed.
Tendrils of abyssal flame reached for the heavens like fingers yearning to tear down heaven itself. Eiji rose slowly, his leg fully consumed in fire, his breathing ragged but controlled.
The artifact Kirika had entrusted to him—its containment spells—crumbled to ash in his pocket.
Something deep inside him awakened.
A voice.
It wasn't loud. It didn't shout. It was a whisper—so quiet, so final, it silenced thought itself:
"Burn the law. Burn the lie. Burn the chain."
Hovering above the altar, Luria smiled, serene and unstable.
"You always said I was the failure, didn't you, Sister?" she called to the sky, arms wide open. "But look at me now! I became beautiful. I became divine!"
Her golden eyes fell on Eiji.
"And you... You dare defile this sacred plane with your filth?"
The wind howled as her wings unfurled fully, pure light at the center but edged with shadow. Her Espiria Gear, shaped like a burning cross, floated behind her, spinning with divine judgment.
"You are nothing but a sinner clinging to a dying soul. Let this be your end, devil."
A divine spear, twisted and pure, shimmered above her, made from corrupted prayer.
She hurled it.
Eiji didn't move.
The spear collided.
A flash of divine brilliance exploded, tearing a crater in the dimension.
But when the light faded—
He was still standing.
The spear had disintegrated into black ash mid-flight.
"W-what...?" Luria whispered. "That's not possible."
Eiji looked up at her. His voice was quiet but unshakable.
"You talk a lot for someone who has already lost."
"You think you've won?!"
Seraphina, still watching from afar, suddenly froze.
"She's... Lucareth's daughter?" she murmured.
Ayaka blinked. "Then that means her sister is—"
"One of the Six Fallen Dukes," Seraphina finished grimly. "No wonder she's insane."
As chaos raged outside, another battle waged in silence.
The priest behind the altar whispered a command:
"I bind thee, vessel of the false light, to the throne of obedience. Genesis Lock: Seal the Will."
Golden scripture circled Amane's body. Her form shimmered, suspended in a cocoon of light and code. Her soul—
Fell.
Into a white abyss.
A kneeling girl in the center.
Chains coiled around her arms, her legs, her neck.
Amane.
Her eyes were wide, and her hands were trembling.
"I... I don't want to forget..." she whispered. "Please…"
She looked up and saw a flicker of warmth.
A rooftop. A pinky. A promise.
"I'll always be with you, even if you don't remember. I will."
Her lips trembled. "Eiji… please… don't forget me…"
Luria dove like a meteor, screaming.
Her golden spear rotated midair, arcs of divine power slicing through the wind. Eiji swung back—black flame slashes crashing against her Light Reflection Barrier. His attacks rebounded.
She summoned the Faith Breaker Lance and drove it into his shoulder. He staggered, crashing through a wall of crystal.
"You're strong," Luria said, descending after him. "But strength isn't purpose. You weren't chosen. You weren't born to ascend."
Eiji spat blood. He wiped it off slowly.
"Maybe not," he said. "But I'm still here."
Another beam slammed into his chest.
He didn't flinch.
"And I'm not done."
The white soulscape flickered.
The chains rattled.
Amane screamed—her Espiria Gear pulsing deep inside her. A golden feather shimmered… and turned black.
Her lips moved.
"Don't let go…"
Back in the real world, Eiji's eyes widened. A vision only he could see—translucent, shining, her hands outstretched.
"Even if I forget myself," she whispered, "don't forget me."
He smiled.
"Never."
The black fire around Eiji thickened and gathered.
A crown—not of gold, but of burning abyss—hovered above his head.
His Nullblight Blade cracked—then reformed.
The Abyssal Flame Fang was born.
His gauntlet pulsed. A draconic eye opened at the center.
The Abyssal Dragon stirred.
Luria backed away, her voice trembling. "That… That's not possible…"
Eiji pointed his weapon toward her.
"You call yourself divine?"
Flames roared behind him like wings.
"Let me show you what divinity fears."
He vanished.
A slash from behind.
Another.
And another.
Luria gasped. "I… I can't see— I CAN'T—!"
Every blow seared through her soul.
Her scream echoed across the realm.
She collapsed—burnt, bloodied, broken.
The priest panicked and stepped back.
Miya and Riku appeared, dragging him in enchanted chains.
"No more spells," Ayaka said, placing a seal on his mouth. "You've said enough."
Luria whimpered, crawling backward.
"I... I'm the daughter of Lucareth Umbros! Do you know what will happen if you kill me?!"
Seraphina walked forward, unblinking.
"You made three mistakes," she said coldly.
Luria shook. "No—please—I didn't mean—"
"First," Seraphina said, raising her hand, "you fought in an incomplete form."
"Second… you underestimated Eiji. That Espiria Gear? It's one of the six Arkanexus Gears in the world."
Luria's lips parted. She knew that name.
And then—
"Third…"
Seraphina's hand lit on fire.
"You touched someone under my protection."
"No—wait! I—"
"Burn."
The flames swallowed her.
Luria's screams were short.
Then there was silence.
Eiji fell to his knees, clutching Amane like she was made of glass and light.
"Please don't go… not again…"
Seraphina knelt beside him. She held out the twisted Espiria Gear fragment Luria had used.
"We're not too late."
She pressed it to Amane's chest.
A glow enveloped her.
The cocoon dissolved.
And slowly—
Her eyes opened.
"Eiji…?"
He blinked. Then gasped.
"You're awake…?"
Amane reached up weakly. "You… really came for me…"
He hugged her tightly. His voice broke.
"I'll always come for you."
She sobbed into his chest. "Thank you… Thank you all… I was so scared…"
The portal back to their world opened.
Seraphina stood, her voice quiet.
"It's time."
Riku nodded. "Let's go home."
Eiji didn't let go of Amane as they stepped through the portal.
Not this time.
End of Chapter 15