The word "Round."
The word "Two."
They struck the cavern harder than any attack the Hollow Star had unleashed.
Because this time…
Hayate wasn't catching up to the monster.
He wasn't resisting it.
He wasn't even fighting it.
He was remembering what it meant to be its master.
The partial crown behind him rotated once, shedding a wave of devouring starlight that cut the cavern cleanly in half. The Hollow Star staggered backward as if its entire existence had been shoved.
Lumeria "froze."
"That… that wasn't an attack. That was a pulse of presence."
Flare crawled up from Hayate's shoulder, hanging from his collar like a traumatized cat.
"I–I know this feeling… I think this is the moment we're supposed to run."
But neither of them could move.
Because Hayate stepped forward.
And the dungeon reacted.
---
THE DUNGEON BOWS
Cracks raced across the floating platforms.
Chains of starlit script ignited across the walls.
The air grew heavy, thick, reverent.
Lumeria "shuddered."
"The dungeon is kneeling… to him."
For the first time since their journey began, even the sheer idea of defying Hayate felt impossible.
The Hollow Star trembled.
Eight heads bowed involuntarily—
Then snapped up in violent defiance.
—"NO…! I WILL NOT BOW TO YOU AGAIN!"—
Its body contorted, black matter peeling off in strips like shedding a skin of stars.
Flare "gasped."
"It's… evolving again!?"
Lumeria shook her head violently."
"No. Worse. It's desynchronizing."
"Meaning what!?" Flare yelled.
"Meaning it's rejecting reality itself!"
The Hollow Star tore its own flesh into spiraling fragments, each piece collapsing into miniature black holes.
Its voice fractured into eight overlapping, glitching tones.
—"IF I CANNOT KILL YOU—
THEN I WILL ERASE EVERYTHING UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT TO RULE."—
It opened its jaws—
And the dungeon cracked.
Not stone.
Not space.
The dungeon's concept fractured.
The idea of "floor."
The idea of "gravity."
The idea of "existence."
All began to flicker.
Hayate looked at it.
One cold expression.
"One failure was enough."
The Hollow Star launched itself forward with a scream sharper than collapsing galaxies.
This was no longer a creature.
It was a rejection of the universe.
---
THE DEVOURING SOVEREIGN STRIKES BACK
Hayate vanished.
A black line streaked across the cavern.
The Hollow Star's leftmost head exploded.
Not burst—
Not shattered—
Erased.
Flare covered her mouth.
"We didn't even SEE him move!"
Lumeria whispered:
"This is… no longer human speed. No longer mortal strength. Not even dungeon-tier power."
She swallowed.
"This is Sovereign-level combat."
Hayate reappeared behind the Hollow Star.
"Devouring Star Art—Second Form."
The Heart above him pulsed in response.
A black halo formed behind his arm.
"—Void-Reaving Orbit."
He swung his hand.
A circular arc of pure annihilation cut through the Hollow Star, slicing three of its bodies cleanly in half.
The monster shrieked, reforming in disjointed bursts.
—"YOU CANNOT—YOU MUST NOT—YOU SHOULD NOT EXIST AGAIN—"—
Hayate walked through the collapsing debris as if strolling through rain.
"You killed me once," he said quietly.
"Don't flatter yourself that you can do it twice."
The Hollow Star convulsed violently.
—"I WAS YOUR FIRST… YOUR STRONGEST… YOUR PROUDEST CREATION—"—
Hayate's eyes narrowed.
"And your worst mistake."
---
THE HOLLOW STAR'S FINAL FORM
Black tendrils erupted outward.
Stars inverted.
Gravity screamed.
Chunks of reality shattered like mirrors and reassembled backward.
Lumeria's "eyes widened in horror."
"No… no no no… he's forcing a gravitational singularity evolution—"
Flare's "voice cracked."
"That sounds scientific! Which means it's TERRIBLE!"
The Hollow Star compressed.
Shrank.
Collapsed.
Then—
Exploded outward in a perfect sphere of void.
A new form emerged:
A single, massive star-beast of pure black gravity.
One central eye burning with the hollow light of a dying universe.
Rings of fragmented galaxies orbit its body.
Its presence pulled every breath from the air.
It opened its mouth—
And its voice shook the dungeon to its foundations:
—"SOVEREIGN OF DEVOURING STARS…
THIS IS MY TRUE FORM—
THE ONE YOU ABANDONED."—
Hayate stood still.
Unshaken.
"I didn't abandon you."
His aura spiked—
Enough to warp the cavern.
"I sealed you."
A ripple of rage tore through the Hollow Star.
The sphere around it erupted into clawed tendrils as long as cities.
—"THEN YOU WILL DIE AS YOU SEALED ME!"—
The tendrils lunged.
Hayate lifted a single hand.
"Third Form."
The crown behind him ignited.
"Starfall Execution."
The entire cavern blackened—
Then lit with thousands of inverted stars raining downward.
The Hollow Star shrieked in agony as every falling star carved a chunk of its essence away.
Lumeria "shielded her face."
"Those aren't attacks—
They're supernovae condensed into blades!"
Flare stared in disbelief."
"He's throwing STARS like confetti! WHY DID WE EVER TRAVEL WITH HIM!?"
But Hayate wasn't done.
He stepped forward as galaxies peeled from his back.
Synchronization rose in the system window:
49% → 58% → 61% → 67%
The Hollow Star screamed—
A scream of betrayal, grief, and boiling terror.
—"IF YOU FULLY AWAKEN—
THE UNIVERSE WILL HAVE NO HOPE—
NO FATE—
NO FUTURE—
EXCEPT YOUR SHADOW!"—
Hayate met its final eye.
"You should've thought about that," he said softly,
"before you killed me."
He raised his hand.
The Core above him pulsed—
THRUMMM—
—and the Sovereign's power gathered into a single point, blacker than reality.
The Hollow Star froze.
It knew.
This was the end.
Hayate's voice fell like a death sentence:
Fourth Form—
Oblivion King's Terminus."
The cavern turned white—
Then black—
Then nothing.
A single sphere of devouring silence swallowed the Hollow Star whole.
Until—
There was no Hollow Star.
No scream.
No form.
Nothing.
Only Hayate.
Floating in the dark.
---
THE AFTERMATH
Silence.
Real silence.
Not stunned silence.
Not tension silence.
The silence of something ancient ending.
Dust fell.
Reality stitched itself slowly.
The cavern steadied.
Lumeria tried to speak…
But her voice cracked.
Flare whispered:
"H… He killed something that shouldn't even be killable."
Hayate lowered his hand.
The crown dimmed.
His aura settled.
A final system screen appeared.
Huge.
Irrevocable.
[HOLLOW STAR: TERMINATED]
Sovereign Reintegration: 72%
Core Stability: 94%
New Directive Unlocked: RECLAIM THE THRONE OF THE DEVOURING STAR]
"Three enemies remain."
Hayate exhaled.
Slow.
Measured.
But there was no smile.
No relief.
And no victory.
Only purpose.
He turned toward Lumeria and Flare.
"Let's go."
Flare blinked.
"Go where!?"
Lumeria's "breath trembled."
"Hayate… where are you planning to go now?"
Hayate began walking toward the rising staircase leading deeper into the dungeon.
His answer was quiet.
Cold.
Absolute.
"To the throne room."
The cavern shuddered.
Because everyone knew—
The final floors were about to begin.