The wind was cold.
Not the cold of winter, nor the chill of death — but the kind of cold that existed before warmth was ever born.
Megumi lay still in the ruins of the old temple, his pulse shallow, his eyes half-open. His breath came in soft, broken gasps. The Orb of Balance, resting against his chest, glowed brighter with each faltering heartbeat — its energy threading into his veins like molten silver and obsidian flame.
Leonidas crouched beside him, one hand pressed to Megumi's shoulder, the other gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Come on, kid. Stay with me," he muttered. "You've survived gods. You've survived yourself. Don't you die on me now."
But Megumi wasn't hearing him anymore.
His mind was slipping into the deep — into something beyond life, beyond soul.
The light from the orb surged. His body convulsed. His halo flickered once, then vanished.
And then, all at once — silence.
⸻
The Descent into Memory
Megumi opened his eyes to find himself standing in a place that had no ground, no sky — only light and shadow endlessly swirling together.
He was weightless. His body shimmered, half-solid, half-ghost. The orb floated before him, its twin energies — divine gold and infernal crimson — circling in a slow, spiraling dance.
A voice — deep, ancient, resonant like a star dying — spoke within the light.
"Bearer of the Balance. Witness the truth of what was sealed before the dawn."
The air rippled.
Reality folded in on itself, and the endless void became a battlefield.
⸻
The First War of the Cosmos
Megumi stood amidst chaos — creation's first war.
Stars burned and died in seconds. Galaxies collided like stones thrown by gods. And from the rift at the heart of everything rose a figure that made even eternity shudder.
The King of Erasure.
His form wasn't flesh — it was absence itself. A shape that devoured all light. His voice was static and silence woven together.
Every breath he took erased something — a world, a name, a soul.
Around him stood beings of power older than gods — the Primordials.
Chaos, the unending storm. Gaia, the earth that had not yet taken form. Erebus, the darkness before night. Aether, the breath of stars. And above them all, Uranus, radiant and unyielding, the first light against oblivion.
Megumi's eyes widened. He was seeing the moment that defined everything — the First Locking.
⸻
The Battle Beyond Creation
The King of Erasure spoke, and his words cracked the void.
"You built creation upon illusion. Every thought, every soul, every god — all is temporary. I am what remains when falsehood dies."
Uranus raised his staff, the light of stars gathering in his hand. "Then fade, old nothingness. Return to the silence that bore you."
The two forces collided — the Infinite and the Empty. The clash sent waves through time itself. Chaos screamed, Gaia wept, Aether fractured into starlight.
Megumi stumbled backward, shielding his face from the blinding violence.
Even though he was only witnessing, he felt the impact. The universe screamed. Planes of existence shattered like glass.
Uranus thrust his staff downward, and a spear of cosmic fire pierced the void-beast's chest — but the King of Erasure laughed.
The wound closed instantly, reality warping around him.
"You cannot destroy nothingness," he whispered. "You can only delay it."
⸻
The Seal of the Infinite
Gaia stepped forward, her voice trembling with both fury and sorrow. "Then we shall delay you forever."
She turned to Uranus. "Join with me. Use your sky to bind my earth — make a prison of reality itself."
Uranus nodded. Together they chanted in the first language — the one that creation still remembers in dreams. The other Primordials joined, weaving their essences into a single, colossal seal — a sphere of pure existence forged from everything that was.
The King of Erasure fought, claws of void rending stars apart, but even he could not overcome the combined will of creation itself.
Finally, Uranus raised his hand, his voice echoing through eternity:
"By sky and soil, by light and dark, by all that lives — I bind thee to the Abyss Eternal."
The seal closed.
The King of Erasure roared — not in pain, but in defiance — as he was dragged screaming into the heart of a newborn singularity. His voice faded, the last words chilling Megumi's blood.
"You may bury me, Sky Father… but one day, I will rise in another."
The seal collapsed into a brilliant black star.
And in its core, the King of Erasure slept — bound in the folds of time itself.
⸻
The Vision Cracks
Megumi staggered back, gasping. The battlefield melted away. The orb before him pulsed violently, threads of light sinking deeper into his chest.
He heard whispers — voices ancient and sorrowful.
The Primordials, maybe. Or the memories of gods long dead.
"He was sealed by creation's own balance… the same balance that now lies within you."
Megumi fell to his knees.
"Why… why show me this?"
"Because the cycle is returning. And you… are both its weapon and its mercy."
The orb shone brighter, embedding itself completely into his body. A surge of divine and demonic power coursed through him — burning, reshaping, rewriting what remained of his soul.
He screamed — not in pain, but in overwhelming clarity.
He could feel the King of Erasure's presence echoing from somewhere beyond the veil — trapped, but stirring.
"You can't kill what I am, boy," the voice hissed inside his skull. "You're my echo. My vessel. The gods may try again, but I will always find a way through you."
Megumi's hands shook. His heart raced. "No. Not this time."
The golden and crimson light within him flared — pushing the voice back, sealing it away for now.
⸻
Return to the Mortal World
A gasp tore from Megumi's lungs. His eyes flew open, the world rushing back in a blur of dust and sunlight.
Leonidas was still kneeling beside him, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Megumi?"
Megumi blinked, his vision unfocused. His skin glowed faintly — veins pulsing with faint traces of gold and black.
"I… saw it," he whispered. "I saw how they locked him away. The King of Erasure… he wasn't killed. He was sealed by Uranus and the Primordials. Creation itself bound him."
Leonidas frowned. "And now?"
Megumi slowly pushed himself up, clutching his chest where the orb had merged with him. His heartbeat thudded with otherworldly rhythm — not mortal, not divine. Something new.
"Now," he said, voice trembling with exhaustion and awe, "he's waking again. The same power that sealed him is the one inside me now. If I lose control, if this balance breaks… the seal will too."
Leonidas's jaw tightened. "Then we'll keep it together. You're not alone this time, kid."
Megumi gave a weak smile — one that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Let's hope that's enough."
Above them, thunder rumbled — not from storm, but from Olympus.
The gods were moving.
The war that had ended before creation began… was beginning again.