Tick... Tick... Tick...
As the two-minute timer started before the blackline collapsed, all six of them stood still without moving. With Zorian in between of the circle they made and Rinne on the ground outside the circle.
SHRRAANG!
It felt like invisible chains suddenly emerged from the ground, grabbing all of them and forcing them to kneel in front of ZORIAN STERLING.
[May 4th, 2010]
[East Dotonbori]
[Zorian Sterling - POV]
SKRRAK!
All of them, including Rinne, were pinned to the ground before me while I was still looking up at the sky.
"You know, I now understood everything, that is why the word revenge has lost its meaning for me" I said, lowering my head a bit.
"But killing all of you still feels a bit necessary" I said as a smirk crossed my face
[Rinne's thoughts]
What has happened? What is this? First his attack which I failed to heal, now suddenly this? What happened? Raika, Raika, Raika.
[Raika's thoughts]
I can't hear him. I am unable to hear father or any of my brothers. What has happened? Even my existence itself feels restricted.
[Iwa's thoughts]
Big brother Raika, big brother, please hear me. I can't even lift my shield for my defense. Didn't you say you would protect me if i failed to protect myself. Please protect me, big brother, I don't want to die. I beg you.
[Sai's thoughts]
Why is big brother Iwa crying and father Rinne scared? Did I do something wrong? Forgive me, my brothers, father.
WAAAH...!
Sai cried as loud as he could as a sign of apology.
GRRK...
Yumi, without thinking anything, just seeing all his brothers in extreme fear and father Rinne losing it all, gritted his teeth.
"Master Zorian, it was never my brother's fault. We did what we were told was right—" Yumi wasn't lucky enough to complete his sentence.
SKRRCH - SPLK!
As I wanted silence, I rolled my axes around his neck and pierced Yumi's neck.
"You are not allowed to speak," I said, my whole face covered in blood.
SPLAAT!
After being in the dominion of shūkyoku kengen for fifteen seconds, Zorian's SHINKAKU burst out from his chest, laying its body on Zorian's gut and loose his hand on Zorian's knees.
"You don't have to be so lazy, SHINKAKU," I said in a loud voice.
"Cut both his ring fingers, Yumi won't regenerate," SHINKAKU said, pointing his finger towards Rinne.
Seeing this, Rinne tried to run, and for me to have some fun, I removed the restriction on his body.
As he stood up and tried to run...
WHOOOM!
I didn't move an inch; rather, I swung my axes in the air, and Rinne failed to move any further. Both of his ring fingers fell on the ground.
"You have moved enough," I said while looking at him with disgust.
KRAK!
I applied the restriction back with 10 times more force. Rinne's face was deeply buried inside the road, where he couldn't even struggle now.
THUD! THUD!
I walked towards Raika and crouched in front of the kneeling Raika.
It felt like his shikigami body died in that moment, seeing Yumi's ashes and knowing me in front of him.
"Know I should complete," I said with a smile.
"What... wh...?" Raika stammered.
"What my best friend Arashi once said," I said while lifting his face by his chin.
"Wh... what??" Raika asked again.
"When the fight ends, a conqueror's body should be covered with his enemy's blood, not his own." As I completed my sentence, I raised my dominant hand with the axe.
THWAK - SPLK!
I severed the head of Raika, and his blood splashed all over my clothes.
"Cut his index finger, master, for Raika to not regenerate" my SHINKAKU said while still laying freely on me.
"You have seen this, I have done it already," I said while laughing.
"There is a miscalculation; you have also chopped both of his middle fingers, which is for Iwa regeneration" SHINKAKU said lazily.
"That is not a miscalculation," I said while moving towards Iwa. "I did it 'cause I wanted to make this crybaby shikigami feel my every single attack" I said while raising both my axes above Iwa.
THUNK! THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!
In just four attacks, all of Iwa's limbs fell to the ground.
Iwa bit his tongue to an extent that his mouth was filled with blood.
"Rinne, see this," I said as I released the restriction on him.
"Please, please, please, I beg of you, don't kill him! I promise to crown you as king!" Rinne begged the moment he got his head out.
"You are wrong. I am already crowned, but not as king, but as an anchor, 'cause my friend bought me as an anchor," I said while lifting both of my axes.
"AND THIS IS THE WRATH OF THE CROWNED ANCHOR FOR THE INNOCENT PEOPLE YOU ATE!" I shouted as loud as I could.
HNNGH!
With my last strike, my blow bisected Iwa's form along its central axis into two identical halves."
I turned towards Sai as my last target.
"Things shouldn't have gone too far, Shigaro. I won't forgive you for sending me here," Rinne said while looking towards the ground.
The words of the shikigami, born a few hours ago, understood what loss was:
OF POWER,
OF CONTROL,
OF SOMEONE YOU TRULY LOVE.
"I don't even find you worthy of getting killed, you ululant. Do I?" I asked myself.
SLASH! SLASH!
My hands blurred into a phantom haze; within a heartbeat, Sai was reduced to mere particulate dust. Simultaneously, I severed Rinne's pinky finger, permanently arresting his capacity for regeneration.
All the shikigamis' ashes merged into the environment, leaving Zorian and Rinne with only thumbs on both hands.
In that exact breath, I was struck by a feeling long forgotten across the span of years. As their ashes merged with the winds, they found each other again, evoking an immediate presence of warmth, safety, and a transcendent sibling devotion. For a fraction of a second, those man-eating Tatari seemed far too merciful for such a deed, and for offering a conclusion so profoundly tender."
"sob... sob... wondering what the thumb is for?" Rinne said while crying.
"Nahh, I could remove the reason your power works," I said in confidence.
"Only in this blackline," Rinne said.
"You knew about the blackline, but I never told you, meaning—" I took a pause.
"You are right... shared memory, from my brothers who were born with me" Rinne said before me.
My SHINKAKU laid its hands on my shoulder and whispered,
"The allotted epoch has concluded, Master. Even so, one final piece remains upon the board, but from his side" my SHINKAKU said before vanishing.
BOOOOM!
The blackline fractured and collapsed, unleashing a cataclysmic shockwave that completely dwarfed all prior tremors. Across the spans of the globe, a sudden, primal dread seized every arcanist, manifest as goosebumps upon their skin.
[Cut]
"Prior to executing you and terminating this entire affair, I demand a single truth: your SHINKAKU and the former SHINKAKU present beforehand—did they possess a singular identity, or were they distinct?" Rinne asked me.
"Each user commands an exclusive SHINKAKU. It defies replication or transfer, existing solely as an independent manifestation recognized only as SHINKAKU. They are devoid of individual names," I said, rather the fact I didn't wanted to explain.
"So it wasn't this SHINKAKU which killed Kaijun and had almost killed Musō," Rinne said, raising his thumb.
"But you will pay for the death of my children and knowing my technique." Rinne stood up.
"You—" I failed to complete my sentence.
NNGH.... GRRK...
The toll of Shūkyoku Kengen was catastrophic: every fiber of muscle ruptured, every bone groaned under the phantom sensation of being pulverized, and my flesh bruised to a deep, macabre violet. Though my cognition fractured and my pupils violently contracted, an unyielding strand of consciousness remained entirely intact.
"Shūrin, your flesh and blood are dead—execute this killer!" Before Rinne could fully voice the order—His final manifestation, which felt perfectly tailored to counter any offensive power, forcefully covered Rinne's mouth and pointed skyward.
The Parallax Dominion was aggressively shutting down.
Swiftly, Shūrin threw Rinne over his shoulders in a textbook fireman's carry.
JOLT -
As Shūrin lunged forward, his movement caused the earth to shake.His body felt like a tank,his movement felt like he was pushing the ground, but still his speed was inescapable.
GDOOM -
Shūrin punched me sideways from his right hand and with his blazing speed disappeared in the fog like a ghost
KRAASH -
I burst out of 7 buildings in a continuous chain. And had a bad landing on another ruptured part of some building. With no power left, I retracted Judicium Eternis and opened my pocket.
"From here it's on you, Kyris," I said my last words before becoming unconscious.
The Northern Goshawk and his companion flew from his pocket and grew to its original size.
KAK-KAK-KAK!
The Northern Goshawk is the most dangerous hunter in its own species; its sound is almost like a piercing alarm which reached every corner of Dotonbori.
[Outside the Parallax dominion]
Master!" Hina's voice cut through the air. "What just happened? We were struck by a third concussive shockwave only moments ago."
"As if the rest of us failed to notice, Hina," Vance interjected, his tone laced with sharp impatience.
"It isn't just that," Hina pressed on, her eyes locked onto her tablet. "Every last Tatari has vanished from Dotonbori—save for one."
"An expected outcome given the collapse of the Parallax dominion," the master murmured, furrowing his brow in deep confusion. "Yet... why does a solitary anomaly remain?"
"Look closely there, Ushimoto. That is a Northern Goshawk," Vance noted, gesturing toward the horizon.
"And what of it, Kaze?" the master inquired.
"That raptor belongs to my prized disciple," Vance replied, his gaze suddenly illuminating with star-like brilliance.
"Hey now! That's rather harsh on my own brother. Clearly, he isn't your favorite," the master retorted, a dramatic shadow of sorrow crossing his features.
"It is not a matter of favoritism," Vance countered evenly. "He was chosen by your brother himself. More importantly, he is of the Sterling lineage."
"To think the Sterlings would dispatch another pupil in the wake of senior Serena," the master mused quietly.
"I believe our priority should be to mobilize and assess the casualties," Hina interrupted, breaking their reverie.
"Aha, do not fret over that, Hina. Right now, Vance is inwardly pleading to the heavens that his students draw breath," the master teased, casting a wry smirk at his companion.
"This is no time for jests. Let us move," Vance commanded, coiling his muscles to sprint—but stopped short.
"Before we depart, Hina," the master said, clearing his throat to command the space. "Submit two additional names for this year's Apex Convergence."
"But the roster has already been finalized—" Hina began, only to be cut off.
A sharp cough echoed. The master pointedly cleared his throat a second time.
"Understood," Hina conceded, yielding to the authority. "What are the designations?"
"Shall we proceed according to tradition, Vance?" the master asked, shifting his gaze.
"Very well," Vance declared solemnly. "I, Vance Kaze, formally nominate Arashi Ushimoto for the selection."
"And on my authority, the second slot belongs to the Sterling. Zorian Sterling," the master concluded.
"Logged, Master. I shall transmit the directives to Principal Genji immediately," Hina confirmed, tapping rapidly on her screen.
"..."
Before she could even finish, the space where they stood was empty.
"Vanished into thin air, just like always," Hina pouted, crossing her arms. "They mimic each other like brothers—clones in every maddening habit."
[Above the underground metro station]
TCH-PTU!
A violent spray of crimson erupted from his lips. Blood wept from every ruptured pore of Zeverin's body, completely soaking his half-torn garments. His muscle fibers were torn to shreds, and his flesh was a ruined canvas of deep purple and deep cuts.
LURCH!
His legs gave out completely. Zeverin collapsed backward mid-stride, hitting the dirt. Lying paralyzed on the brink of death, his fading vision saw only the vast, clear sky and the grand geometry of the dominion as it retracted into nothingness.
"Was I strong?....sen…..sei"