A leather pouch landed in Sosuke's palm with a soft thud.
He stared at it. Then at Grey.
His brow twitched. The pouch was too light.
"You seem confused…" Grey said, trying to sound casual.
Sosuke's grip tightened. He flung the pouch at Grey's chest. It struck hard, knocking him backward.
"I know they're rocks." His voice was low, trembling with restraint. "I know you sold me out too."
Grey crashed to the ground, hands over his face, scrambling to explain—
But Sosuke was already gone.
—
They stood alone in the town square, beside the still fountain. The world moved around them, unaware.
"Why?" Sosuke asked, standing motionless. His eyes narrowed, voice barely louder than a whisper. "Why'd you reset the starting point… all the way back to the beginning?"
Damien didn't answer right away. He paced a step to the left, glancing at the sky.
"You might wanna ask yourself," he said finally, "what's happening right now that didn't happen in the last few loops?" His tone was light, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. "Sorry, that's probably too specific, huh?"
He brought his hands together, slowly pressing his palms into each other.
"If I change the starting point," Damien continued, "your memories stop fading. But to activate that memory trait again… I have to revert everything. Back to the original starting point." He exhaled and gave a small nod. "It's a neat trick. I like it. You… not so much."
Sosuke winced, clenching his scarred eye shut. Pain surged behind it—an ache that dug into the core of his brain.
"No…" he muttered. "No, I… I will remember. I have to remember."
He dug his nails into his scalp. His knees wobbled.
A weight crushed his chest, squeezing the breath from him as he strained.
It was like clawing at a dream from the bottom of a well—memories scattered, fragmented, slipping through his fingers. He reached inward, past pain, past logic, into the void where the loops tangled and dissolved.
Images flickered.
Faces. Screams.
The sound of steel and fire.
He reached further. His body trembled. His teeth ground together until his jaw hurt.
Please. Just one thread. One name.
Rin.
A whisper in the dark.
His hand dropped from his face. He stared ahead. Eyes wide.
"I remember," he said softly, like it hurt to speak the words. "I think… I understand now."
Damien raised a brow. "You're awfully calm all of a sudden."
"I see it." Sosuke's voice hardened, every word sharp. "If I kept killing. If I stayed on that path… I'd become just like you. Cold. Empty. A machine made for death."
His hands trembled—then stilled.
"That's why I believe your condition… is for me not to kill you."
The wind picked up. Leaves scattered around them. His cloak billowed behind him as the fountain rippled. The sun dipped behind clouds.
Damien didn't move. His smirk faltered.
"Your face," Sosuke said, stepping forward. "You're not even trying to deny it."
Damien said nothing. His arms fell to his sides.
Sosuke nodded slowly. "You and I both know you're weaker than me. I could just walk away. And there's nothing you could do to stop it."
Damien's eyes narrowed. His voice cracked as he screamed:
"Wrong!"
He spun, hurling a hand toward the crowd. A sigil erupted in the air, pulsing with unstable mana—
—but it never fired.
Sosuke grabbed Damien's wrist and slammed him into the stone beneath their feet. The plaza shook.
"Just because I said I wouldn't kill you…" Sosuke growled, voice low and dangerous, "…doesn't mean I won't hurt you."
His katana formed with a flash. He drove it straight through Damien's wrist.
Damien howled in agony, writhing beneath him.
"In the end, you were just a lesson," Sosuke said, looming over him. "Not an obstacle."
He placed both hands on Damien's stomach.
Damien's eyes went wide. "No—what are you doing? It can't be—wait—are you—?!"
He screamed again.
Mana drained from his core, siphoned out in thin wisps like steam from boiling water.
"Few know how to do this," Sosuke said, unmoving, his voice like steel. "To drain mana from the core itself. Its weakness… is time. But you can't stop me now."
Damien clawed at Sosuke's arms, thrashing wildly. He punched him in the face—once, twice—
Sosuke didn't flinch. Didn't blink.
Damien's strength faded with each passing second. He wrapped both hands around Sosuke's neck in one final, desperate attempt—
But his grip was nothing. His arms fell away.
"You bastard…" Damien wheezed. "This… this is worse than dying…"
Sosuke didn't respond.
He pulled the katana free and stabbed it into Damien's thigh. The blade flickered and disappeared in a violet flash.
"As long as you don't die too fast," he said, "the loop condition holds."
A portal opened beneath them with a burst of light.
They reappeared in the middle of a desert wasteland. No roads. No towns. No people.
Sosuke hurled Damien into the sand like trash.
"I'm going to use the power I stole from you," he said. "And I'll burn all of it at once. I'm saving them. All of them."
Damien reached out, voice fading, desperate to stop him. "Wait… Guinevere… no…"
But he was slipping.
Sosuke turned away in silence.
He lifted both arms, focusing. The mana surged through him like lightning.
A long-range portal. Without the Star Eyes.
Is it possible?
His arms trembled. The wind howled. The sky above began to shimmer.
But he didn't stop.
He couldn't.
Not now.
—
"It seems Damien is awfully late in answering my call…" Guinevere muttered, biting her nail, pacing now instead of sitting still.
Lyra coughed and spat the tape off her mouth. "It's been ten minutes. What, you think he's dead already?"
"Quiet!" Guinevere snapped. She stormed over and grabbed the tape—
Lyra smirked. "Worried he's a goner? I would be, honestly."
"You—!" Guinevere's hand curled into a fist—
—but an alarm shrieked through the chamber.
She froze.
"…What now?" she growled, regaining composure. "Sit still, my prisoners."
She turned toward the far wall. It shifted—sectioning off into braided vines that peeled away like doors. Guinevere ascended toward the surface.
The silence was wrong.
Too quiet.
Her stomach dropped.
When she stepped into the open, her eyes went wide.
The base was in shambles—walls crumbled, supply crates shattered, scorch marks across the ground. Soldiers lay scattered—some dead, others bound and unconscious.
And in the center stood a figure. Cloaked. Still. Back turned to her.
A blade hung in his hand. The wind stirred his cloak gently.
"Let's end this now," the voice said. "I feel like myself again. I want you dead. I want to save my friends. That alone tells me I'll win."
The figure turned. Purple eyes burning.
"After all, your mental state matters more than power. Isn't that right… Guin?"
She flinched.
"Don't call me that." Her fists clenched, voice shaking with fury. "So I'm to assume Damien is… dead?"
"He is."
She slapped a hand over her mouth and gagged. Stumbled a step backward. Then her hand dropped and she stared, wild-eyed.
"How dare you…?" she whispered. "How dare you show your face after that?"
Her voice rose to a shriek.
"I'll tear you apart—limb by limb! And then I'll do it to your friends!" She raked her nails across her cheek until it bled. "No, I'll kill them first—so you get to watch!"
She slammed her hand into the ground.
Vines burst upward, sharp as spears.
Sosuke leapt, blade flashing in arcs as he spun midair, carving through the incoming vines. He landed on solid air and pushed off again—
A blur.
Guinevere barely reacted before he was on her.
"Bastard!" she screamed, clasping her hands.
Two monstrous flowers bloomed from the ground—petals wide, glowing—then blasted concentrated beams of lunar energy.
But Sosuke vanished.
A thunderclap shook the air. Lightning crackled through the beams, disrupting them mid-flight. He reformed above her, descending with a streak of violet energy—
—his heel slammed into her chest, sending her crashing down.
She gasped. Smoke rising from scorched gashes across her torso. Blood on her lips.
"My life… doesn't matter anymore," she rasped.
Her hand shot out—grabbing his wrist.
From beneath them, a massive vine erupted, its point skewering through Sosuke's chest and lifting him into the air.
He gritted his teeth. Blood dripped down his armor.
"I know you're going to lose," he said. "Because winning isn't what you want."
Their eyes locked.
"You want to die."
Sosuke twisted violently. Tore himself free. The wound sealed mid-air with a burst of violet light.
He grabbed the vine, snapped it near the base, and hurled it aside.
Guinevere tried to track him—her vision blurry, limbs trembling—
Then he was gone.
She looked down.
Her own vine had impaled her.
She swayed. Her long black hair lifted with the wind as blood ran down her dress.
"I hope your end is miserable," she whispered. "Curse you… young Sword Saint…"
She collapsed. Eyes wide open. Empty.
The central building trembled. Cracks snaked along its surface, walls beginning to give.
Without Guinevere's power holding it up—
It was falling apart.
Sosuke stood still, chest rising and falling, covered in blood and ash. He looked toward the sound of footsteps behind him.
"Sosuke…?"
A quiet voice.
Rin stepped out, staring at him like she didn't believe he was real.