Makima remained on her knees at the deepest part of the Aokigahara forest. Her hair hung like a crimson curtain around her face, wet with tears. Her shoulders shook as silent sobs wracked her slender frame.
She dug her fingers into the cold, broken ground and lifted her gaze to the empty space where the swirling vortex had vanished. Her voice cracked as she whispered into the emptiness. "You promised me, Kang Woo… We were supposed to share this problem together. I am your wife… You accepted me… but you've left me again . And now I'm alone.."
A ragged breath tore from her chest. She pressed a trembling hand to her lips, her eyes clouded with pain."Is this what I am…? The Control Devil who never gets what she wants? Is that all I am to this shitty existence? A creature meant to keep craving and never receiving… always left behind?"
Her words faded into the silence, swallowed by the shadows of the underground cavern.
Then, without warning, a faint crimson glow flickered in the darkness. Slowly, the Eye of Mikhail drifted toward her, gliding like a tiny comet. It had taken the shape of a single blood-red stone, the size of an eyeball, surrounded by branch-like protrusions curling outward in jagged,.
A soft voice, calm yet edged with urgency, emanated from it.
"Makima… We need to go. Right now. You're my current master, per my previous master's order. Kang Woo's final command."
Makima's head snapped up, her tear-streaked face twisted in sudden fury. "Mikhail… Why didn't you defend your master? He was your master,?! , Why didn't you protect him?!. You're supposed to see everything… prevent this! How could you let him go alone?!"
The Eye of Mikhail pulsed once, as if exasperated. Its voice fired back with a sharp, biting edge.
"Do you have any idea what the fuck was behind Kang Woo, ? That was the Crimson King. A fucking god."
Makima's eyes narrowed, her jaw tightening. Her voice came out low and trembling with anger. "… Is your delusion getting higher now, or are you just like a parasite who clings to Kang Woo like a leech?"
Mikhail's crimson glow flared brighter, its branch-like protrusions trembling as if quivering in indignation. "You have. No fucking idea what that thing is capable of. All of this … happened because Kang Woo fired his Trompette skyward and accidentally hit the Crimson King's prison at the Dark Tower itself."
Makima fell silent, her chest heaving as she tried to steady her breathing. Slowly, the fury drained from her face, leaving exhaustion and sorrow in its place.
Mikhail continued, his tone dropping into something quieter—but still edged with a cutting sharpness.
"Makima… do I need to implant myself into you, the same way I did with Kang Woo? Or would you prefer to dismiss me and let me fly out of here? I'm warning you… I disdain your devil race. Though, honestly, if you dismiss me, that's exactly what I'd expect from a low creature who never underst—"
Makima's head snapped up, eyes blazing. "Get in my fucking palm, fucking eyeball."
Mikhail let out a long, static-like crackle, as though sighing. "Anger does solve things, I see."
With a smooth, almost liquid motion, the Eye of Mikhail glided toward Makima. It pressed itself against the back of her left palm, sinking into her skin like molten metal. Zaiphon runes immediately flared to life, spiraling outward in glowing circles.
A cool, mechanical voice resonated from deep within her mind.
"Integration complete. Makima, the Control Devil. Current master registered."
Makima exhaled shakily, flexing her fingers as the runes pulsed and hovered around her hand like a ghostly halo.
She narrowed her eyes slightly, her voice dripping with quiet challenge. "Mikhail… are you also a god, then? Is that how you can sense this Crimson King—this creature shrouded in robes like some cheap cultist? Because if that's all it is… then I'm going to kill it."
Mikhail pulsed brightly, the crimson glow flickering as though it were laughing silently. "Look at that… finally, she glimpses my true nature. Much appreciated… from a low creature."
His voice sharpened, edged with dry amusement.
"Though that's the best joke I've heard in a millennium. A tiny chirp of wood daring to say it will kill the Crimson King. Do you truly wish to know why the Crimson King is imprisoned like that? And why Kang Woo acted as he did?"
Makima glared at the empty air. "I don't believe in gods. Those are delusions humans created because they're weak."
Mikhail's glow dimmed for a moment, as though he were sighing.. "Then how, Makima… do you think every world was created?"
His words rang through the cavern. "Every world has its gods. The worlds did not simply spawn from nothing. They didn't burst into existence from some Big Bang with no purpose,. There is always a Manager behind each reality—, a being whose existence defines the laws of that world. Whether you call them gods, demons , True Magic Wielders—it doesn't matter. They are the ones who shape the Worlds , and ensure those Worlds continue to exist."
The glow of the runes around Makima's hand brightened as Mikhail's voice grew even more resonant. "Crimson King… is one of the most ancient among them. He is not a petty monster or some cultist draped in red. He is a being whose merest whisper can bend the fabric of reality. The reason he is imprisoned is simple: because if he were free, multiple worlds would fall. Entire civilizations would vanish. Stars would die. That's why Kang Woo acted as he did. He knew the cost… and chose it anyway."
But Makima's eyes hardened. She stared past the floating symbols of Zaiphon, her lips pressing into a thin line. Without saying a word, she simply turned and began to walk away, boots crunching over broken fragments of bone and stone.
Mikhail pulsed once,. "You still don't believe what I've said, do you?"
Makima didn't even glance back. Her voice was flat. "Less talk. More finding a way out."
Mikhail gave a soft, mocking scoff. "You can't fly, Makima. Which is very unfortunate. Unlike Kang Woo, who can sprout his blackened wings whenever he wants."
Makima stopped short, her shoulders tensing. She shot a glare at the glowing red stone. "Then as an order from your current master—shut up. You're making me want to cut off my own hand."
Mikhail gave a soft, dry laugh. "Anger suits you, Control Devil."
Then, with a faint shimmer, the Eye of Mikhail sinking beneath her skin. The Zaiphon runes faded, going dormant around her hand.
Makima exhaled harshly, clenched her fists, and steadied herself. Without hesitation, she drew Reishi into her legs and launched herself forward in a burst of blinding speed, using the Hirenkyaku technique Kang Woo had taught her. She blurred through the underground passages, vaulting over fissures and darting past towering rock formations.
Unknown to Makima—and even to Mikhail—far behind them, one of the Qliphoth magic circles still pulsed in ominous light. Its runes twisted and shifted, coalescing into a swirling vortex. Deep within its glow, a monstrous shape began to emerge—Lucifero,.
Five minutes later, Makima burst from the underground with a thunderous crack, leaping high into the open air. She flew forward, propelled by flickering Reishi platforms, finally landing atop a ridge overlooking the Aokigahara forest.
The blue rain of Reishi still fell around her, silent and shimmering like a dream. Droplets glittered across her hair and skin, running down her face like cold tears.
Makima tilted her head back, staring up into the sky. Her voice was soft, almost trembling.
"I hate rain. It carries sorrow with it."
A thin, bittersweet smile curved her lips as she lowered her eyes. "…Though this blue rain… it reminds me of the first time I found my True utopia. It was with that crazy alien… Kang Woo, my husband. And for a moment… I believed the rain would finally stop."
As the rain fell in gentle sheets around her, Makima's gaze shifted, catching sight of something lying half-buried in the mud below. Her black coat—the one she had torn off and thrown aside during the battle—was crumpled on the wet earth. It still bore faint scorch marks and flecks of dried blood.
Makima's eyes narrowed slightly. Without hesitation, she vanished in a blur of Hirenkyaku, reappearing beside the coat in less than a heartbeat. She knelt and lifted it from the mud.
The fabric felt different beneath her fingers. She frowned as she turned it over in her hands. The coat pulsed faintly, threads of blue light running through the seams. Reishi soaked into the black fabric,
Makima realized, in a quiet moment of wonder, that the relentless downpour of blue Reishi—born from Auswählen—had been pouring onto her coat the entire time. It had altered it somehow, weaving pure spiritual energy into the fabric itself. Slowly, she slipped her arms back into the sleeves. The coat settled around her shoulders,. It wrapped around her like a shield, almost humming with restrained power.
Makima exhaled a shaky breath and murmured to herself, her voice barely audible over the rain. "I'll keep moving forward… until my life ends."
A quiet resolve settled over her as the rain continued to fall, each drop carrying both sorrow and the faintest promise of something more.