Scylla charged through the shattered forest, dragging her colossal tails like anchors, ripping open the ground with every movement. Aegis's barrier cracked apart. Kentarō staggered back to his feet, breathing hard. Rokuro wiped blood from his mouth.
All of them were seconds away from being killed.
And Shichiro knelt in the dirt, shaking.
The voice echoed inside his skull.
"You are too weak to protect them. That's why you have to keep waking up."
He gritted his teeth."No… no I'm not…"
"You fail again and again.Your friends die.Because you are powerless."
Shichiro slammed his fists into the ground.
"NO. I'M NOTTTT!"
But the world blurred around him.Everyone's screams felt far away.
Then a second voice struck him like a hammer to the chest, deeper, older, furious.
"Stand up.Or let them burn."
The earth beneath him split open in narrow glowing cracks.A symbol carved itself into the dirt under his knees, not by hand, not by magic, but by will.
A sun with six jagged flares, each shaped like a blade.
Forbidden.Awakening.
Katsu shouted, panicked, "Shichiro, what the hell is that?!"
But Shichiro didn't hear anyone anymore.
A dome of white-gold energy rose around him like a bubble ready to burst. The heat scorched the trees, turning the leaves to ash instantly.
Inside that dome.
A throne of living fire emerged.
Seated on it was a figure of molten gold, its body a shifting sun, its eyes burning like collapsing stars.
It leaned forward.
"You are the chosen heir of the Forbidden Sun.""Rise, Shichiro."
Shichiro trembled.
"If you want me to stand… then help me protect them.. PLEASE!"
The sun-entity's molten jaw curved into something like a smile.
"I am not your weapon.You will be mine."
Shichiro felt something inside him crack.
But he didn't pull away.
"USE ME THEN! I DON'T CARE! JUST LET ME SAVE THEM!"
The air shook.
The entity stood from its throne.
"Very well.Burn for me."
A blast of light swallowed everything.
OUTSIDE THE REAL WORLD
Scylla's claws reached Kentarō's throat.
And then.
BOOM.
A shockwave erupted outward from Shichiro so violently the nearest trees vaporized, not burned, erased.
Light flooded the entire forest.White. Blinding. Divine.
Shichiro floated upward inside the inferno, hair whipping wildly, body wrapped in a corona of spinning solar flames.
His eyes glowed a terrifying white. Forbidden white. Ancient white. Solar white.
Rokuro whispered, terrified:
"…He awakened something none of us have ever seen…"
Aegis swallowed.
"'Katu's heart felt powerful…Rokuro's heart felt alive…
But this…This feels… wrong. Is this even.. An awakening anymore?"
Kentarō clenched his fists.
"Wrong… or godlike."
SHICHIRO, FULL SUN AWAKENING
His voice came out layered, doubled, his own voice mixed with the voice of the sun.
"SCYLLA."
The monster froze.
"You will NOT touch them."
Scylla roared, all three heads shrieking.
Shichiro raised one hand.
A tiny star materialized above his palm, dense, burning, perfect.
Not fire. Not magic .A genuine micro-sun.
He whispered:
"Collapse."
The star imploded.
Then detonated.
A blast of stellar force obliterated the ground, tearing two of Scylla's heads clean off and melting the earth beneath her.
The others stared, silent, stunned.
Ryosen stepped back.
"He… he's not human right now…"
Aegis gripped his shield tighter.
"That's not Shichiro. That's a monster wearing his skin."
But Shichiro wasn't fine.
Inside the roaring flames, he whispered to himself through clenched teeth:
"Control it… just CONTROL it…"
Because he could feel it. The Forbidden Heart wasn't stopping. It wasn't satisfied.
It wanted more.
"Burn her." the inner voice commanded."Burn everything."
Shichiro shook, clutching his head.
"N-No… I'm not… your puppet…"
But the flames kept rising.
Scylla regenerated her lost heads, her wounds stitching together as she roared.
Kentarō readied his daggers. Aegis raised his new shield. Ryosen stepped into stance. Rokuro summoned the ice archers and frost crawling up his staff.
They were ready to fight.
But also terrified.
Because Shichiro stood glowing like a newborn star, wings of solar fire rising behind him.
His shadow burned into the earth.
His heartbeat shook the sky.
And Scylla.
Even Scylla.
Took a step back.
Shichiro opened his eyes.
They were pure white.
Filled with the sun.
And he whispered:
"Let's finish this... Wasn't that aura guys?. Ok, for real now."