The undead warrior speaks before the rift closes.
"Contract Sealed"
Celestia snaps her fingers again. The skeleton hands vanish.
Ryusaki trembles.
He looks up at the sky.
And screams:
"Shigo no Sekai!"
A vortex opens above. Fafnir's form dissolves, the shadowy dragon merging with Ryusaki's body. The falling marbles rain down upon him, absorbing into his flesh.
He begins to transform.
His body expands—four meters tall, cloaked in lightning and vengeance. His armor becomes an obsidian prison, etched with glowing purple veins. The remnants of his broken sword are absorbed into his limbs.
He emerges—a nightmare. A draconic wraith. Red eyes glowing beneath layers of scaled armor.
"I will vanquish you, Celestia."
His arms reshape— into blades.
Celestia nods once.
Mephisto whispers from within, his voice grim.
"That's over two hundred thousand deaths powering him, Celestia… Even with your abilities, I worry. That much death— it might consume you too."
But it's too late for hesitation.
Ryusaki launches skyward and descends like a meteor. His twin blades crash toward Celestia.
Her black eyes shimmer— then fade to pure white.
In an instant— she parries.
The clash splits the sky.
She kicks Ryusaki mid-air.
He flies across the horizon— through the Central District— smashing into the heart of Emberium's grand clocktower. It shatters into dust.
In the blur of stone and metal, he feels it— something sharp in his side.
He looks down.
A hairpin is embedded in his ribs.
And then— Celestia is there.
She teleports in front of him.
And swings.
Her scythe slashes again and again, with overwhelming force. Tearing through him like lightning. Each cut, a mark of judgment.
Ryusaki is hurled toward the ground. The force of the blows levels the entire district— buildings collapse, towers explode, air pressure detonates.
Dust.
Fire.
Silence.
Ryusaki opens his eyes, dazed but alert.
Too late.
Celestia is behind him again.
He tries to parry.
"Everything—" he growls.
He swings. Their blades clash.
The blow pushes her back— but only slightly.
Celestia twists. Her scythe sings again.
The atmosphere splits.
A giant skeletal hand emerges.
It slaps Ryusaki mid-sentence, hurling him like a broken comet.
The sky is already broken.
And yet—
Celestia descends like a falling star. Her scythe crackles with divine resonance. Time stutters.
"Zeit Interferenz – Maximal."
Reality halts.
A hundred Celestias bloom into existence— ghostly reflections in shattered mirrors. Each one strikes. Each one slashes Ryusaki mid-flight.
His body is torn in two.
The district is pulverized. Scorched stone and silence remain.
When time resumes, Celestia lands— alone— amid dust and ash.
But Ryusaki reforms from the ground.
He stands again. Flickering. Half-formed. Dust to flesh.
He touches his chest. For the first time in centuries— he feels fear.
Pure, cold fear.
He looks into Celestia's eyes and sees only death.
"No… What are you?" he stammers. "You can't—!"
"I've killed you twenty thousand times." Celestia replies. "Only 230,000 more to go."
Ryusaki turns to run, whispering a spell.
"Exitum Emberium—"
Nothing happens.
Celestia's voice cuts through him like a blade. "You accepted the deal."
Ryusaki freezes. "Don't tell me… that skeleton before…"
Celestia snaps her fingers.
The sky turns purple.
A celestial clock forms above, enormous and glowing. Its hands tick slowly— a crimson countdown.
"Normally, this spell traps two souls." she explains. "And judges them. The one who dealt more damage… walks away. The loser dies."
She swings her scythe once more— the sky breaks again.
"But I don't care for the result."
Ryusaki stares.
She cut through the celestial timer itself— just to keep him trapped here.
Madness blooms in his eyes.
"You… you could've killed me before." he says, blood dripping from his nose. "You let your friends die."
Celestia's gaze is cold. "I don't care. They're willing to kill and die."
Ryusaki staggers. The air is heavy with judgment.
"I am the thirteenth knight." she whispers. "Knight of Death. Celestia."
She swings.
Another rift opens in the sky.
"Gravitas – Ultimatum – Rules of Nature – Rule Break – Death's Order."
The earth responds.
The city turns upside down.
Chunks of buildings rise into the heavens. The earth quakes as tectonic fury unravels all.
Ryusaki's voice trembles. "I woke up a sleeping dog. I opened… Pandora's Box."
There is no escape.
He braces.
Celestia raises her scythe.
"XeCaliber – Rule Break."
She swings.
The city's ruins fire at Ryusaki like artillery. Whole towers collapsing onto him.
Ryusaki raises his blade like arms. He slashes every incoming building— cut after cut— unending. Walls, bricks, stone, steel, glass— all fall before him.
But it never ends.
Until finally— he looks up.
And sees a gigantic skeleton, looming in the clouds.
He focuses mana into his eyes. Confused.
"…What is that?" he breathes. "It's not her magic. It's… something else. She's using the city's magic as fuel. All of it."
Celestia appears in front of him.
He blocks her incoming scythe— barely.
"Impossible—! But… I know your secret!"
Celestia responds quietly:
"Äonische Frequenz – Absolutes Null."
Time freezes again.
And within that fraction of nothingness—
She slashes him 30,000 times.
Then time resumes.
Ryusaki staggers, body twitching from trauma his brain had only just begun to process.
Celestia stares at him, unwavering.
"In the world of mages." she says, "Every great spell has a counter. Even this realm. Even this setup."
She lifts her scythe again.
"Think again. Why did this escalate? What am I?"
She swings—
"Celestischer – Alptraum."
The world shivers.
And Ryusaki sees them.
All of them.
The dead souls of Emberium rise. Young mages. Old scholars. Students of sorcery. Their spirits surround him— glowing with sorrow, with wrath.
They stare and they judge.
Ryusaki laughs— a broken and twisted sound.
"…Magnificent." he mutters. "I've never… felt anything like this."
His body shakes with manic energy.
He raises his arms, trembling.
"The Knight of Death… Celestia. The last wrath of Camelot. The myths aren't true… they were downplaying your true strength."
He looks up, tears in his wide eyes.
"I give up. But—"
He laughs louder now. Unhinged.
"Do you know what an entity is?"
Celestia's voice is calm. "That knowledge— should be forbidden."
Ryusaki grins, trembling.
"The blood of the ancients flows in me. In a world without gods… I carry what remains. So—"
Without warning— he stabs himself.
Blood bursts from his chest.
Ryusaki kills himself.
His body collapses. But his voice lingers like a curse.
"I won't let you finish this cycle of death. I won't give you that peace. I will drag you down with me…"
His body twitches.
"Fight against the world… Fight a god, Knight of DEATH. I will see you in hell."
And then—
Silence.