CHAPTER 38 —
The Herald did not flinch when faced with the twin lights of destruction and creation.
It stood perfectly still, its smiling mask frozen in that carved, taunting grin, as if the awakening of the Eclipse Edge, the forbidden weapon born from Haruto and Airi's combined essence meant nothing to it. But the Illusionary Void Realm reacted. It trembled. It rippled. Hairline fractures crawled through the nothingness beneath their feet like cracks spreading across glass.
Haruto stepped forward, raising the half-shadow, half-light blade that writhed with cosmic energy. Airi stood beside him, her Eclipse Staff glowing with the radiance of life itself, swirling with powerful runes that wrapped around her petite frame like rings of starlight.
Silence followed.
A silence so sharp that the universe itself seemed to listen.
Then the Herald moved.
Not walking.
Not stepping.
It simply was suddenly closer.
The mask hovered just a few meters away, tilted in curiosity.
"…You two have changed."
Its voice was layered countless whispers stacked into one.
Haruto's grip tightened. "And now we're going to kill you."
The Herald laughed.
A broken, detuned bell.
"Try."
It blurred into motion.
And the battle began.
THE FIRST CLASH OF ECLIPSE
Haruto's foot struck the invisible ground, exploding into a crater of shimmering cracks as he dashed forward. His Eclipse Edge carved a crescent arc of swirling black and silver through the air, a strike powerful enough to slice a mountain in half.
The Herald raised its void blade lazily.
CLANG—
The shockwave detonated like a miniature supernova.
Light and shadow shot outward.
The Illusionary Void Realm rippled violently, reality bending as if underwater. Haruto skidded backward, only to launch himself forward again with another slash.
This time Airi joined him.
"Onii Chan, left side!"
Airi thrust her staff, and a spiraling vortex of light formed around Haruto's blade, boosting his momentum. His slash nearly broke the Herald's guard, forcing the masked being to retreat half a step a victory by itself.
The Herald tilted its head.
"Your synchronization… is a problem."
A dozen black sigils formed around its body.
Airi's eyes widened. "Void glyphs—!"
They detonated in the next instant.
Black lightning tore through the void.
Lunara roared from the distance, shielding Lyria behind her wings. Frost dug his claws into invisible nothingness to keep from being blown away.
Haruto grabbed Airi and spun mid-air, Eclipse Edge slicing the lightning into harmless sparks.
Airi raised her staff, her voice trembling but strong.
"Lumen Field!"
A dome of radiant light burst around them, repelling the remaining void lightning. Haruto landed with Airi in his arms, setting her down gently.
"You okay?"
She nodded quickly. "I'm fine, Onii Chan… don't worry about me."
The Herald appeared behind them instantly.
Haruto sensed it.
He didn't turn. He just thrust his sword backward.
The Herald's void blade caught it.
The two clashed again.
This time, sparks of pure creation and pure destruction flew in all directions, forming bright geometric fragments in the air.
Airi struck next.
She slammed her staff on the nothing-ground and shouted:
"Celestial Bind!"
Golden chains burst out of thin air, wrapping around the Herald's limbs. The Herald tried to move, but the chains glowed brighter, tightening.
Haruto's eyes sharpened.
"Nice one."
He swung Eclipse Edge in a massive horizontal arc.
A tsunami of swirling twilight energy rushed forward.
The Herald broke the chains with a pulse of void but too late.
The wave hit.
A massive explosion of silver-black light erupted. The Herald's silhouette flew backward, its mask cracking slightly at the edge.
Airi gasped. "Onii Chan…! We actually—"
Haruto nodded. "We hurt it."
The Herald steadied itself, brushing off broken bits of mask that dissolved into dust.
"…Impressive."
The void trembled.
"But you still misunderstand."
Countless void blades materialized behind it like wings.
"All power you hold… comes from within existence.
My power does not."
The blades exploded forward in every direction.
Airi raised her staff, chanting quickly:
"SOLAR BLOOM!"
A luminous flower of light burst open around them, shielding them from annihilation. Haruto slashed through the oncoming void blades that slipped past the barrier.
The entire realm shook.
No ground.
No sky.
Just the three of them reshaping nothingness with power that could split stars.
AIRI'S AWAKENED MAGIC
The Herald flicked its wrist.
Dark whirlpools formed beneath Airi's feet, swirling upward with grasping tendrils.
Haruto lunged toward her.
"Airi—!"
But she didn't wait for him.
She spun her staff in a sweeping circle, her voice ringing with courage:
"Starlight Devour!"
Beams of celestial light shot downward like golden comets, shattering every tendril. She leaped forward gracefully grabbing Haruto's hand mid-air.
"Onii Chan… let's push together!"
Haruto smirked. "Right behind you."
Without hesitation, Airi leveled her staff at the Herald.
RUMBLE—
Dozens of glowing runes formed around her.
Her mana was immense, beautiful, terrifying.
Airi's eyes glowed brighter as she shouted:
"MULTI-LAYERED — ASTRAL VOLLEY!"
Hundreds of radiant arrows formed and launched at once, merging mid-flight into a colossal spear of light.
The Herald sliced it in half effortlessly.
But Haruto was already behind the Herald.
Eclipse Edge hummed.
He slashed downward.
The Herald barely blocked.
The impact sent cracks spraying through nothing.
Haruto twisted his blade to the left, kicking the Herald away before turning to Airi.
"You're getting stronger."
Airi smiled despite panting. "Only because you are with me."
The Herald reformed several meters away, mask now sporting visible fractures.
It raised its sword.
"Your bond… is the source of this anomaly."
The air vibrated.
"You should be erased."
It charged, its speed surpassing everything from before.
THE VOID STRIKES BACK
Haruto intercepted the first strike.
Airi intercepted the second with her staff, creating a barrier of pure creation that burst like glass.
The Herald appeared above them.
Then below.
Then behind.
Its attacks came from impossible angles, bending the rules of space, moving between frames of existence.
Haruto blocked three strikes.
Airi blocked the fourth.
The fifth got through.
A void blade pierced Haruto's shoulder.
Airi screamed, "Onii Chan!"
Haruto gritted his teeth, grabbed the blade embedded in him and snapped it with raw mana.
He swung violently.
The Herald retreated.
Airi immediately pressed her hand against Haruto's wound, her eyes glowing.
"Rebirth Mend!"
Light flared, sealing the injury instantly.
Haruto exhaled. "Thanks."
Airi nodded quickly. "Just don't scare me like that."
Frost shouted from the distance, "Haruto! Let us join—!"
But the realm forced them all back with a crushing wave of pressure.
Lunara snarled. "It's isolating them!"
Lyria cried, "They're alone in this fight!"
Haruto wiped blood from his lip. "Just the way I want it."
Airi squeezed her staff, determination blazing. "Onii Chan… let's go again."
Together, they dashed.
Haruto sliced arcs of destruction.
Airi unleashed waves of creation.
Light and shadow intertwined, forming spiraling helixes around them as they lunged toward the Herald.
THE ECLIPSE DUO COMBO
Haruto shouted:
"Airi—boost!"
Airi slammed her staff into the nothing-ground.
"Eclipse Surge!"
A torrent of light infused Haruto, doubling his speed instantly.
He lunged.
The Herald barely caught the strike, but Airi's staff was already smashing down from above.
The Herald raised its hand to block her.
Haruto teleported behind it.
SLASH—!
Blood, dark, smoke-like dripped from the Herald's back.
For the first time it staggered.
Airi gasped. "Onii Chan! You did it again—!"
But the Herald's aura exploded outward violently.
They were blown back.
Haruto caught Airi mid-air, flipping before landing.
The Herald stood tall.
Its mask cracked down the middle.
"…Enough."
The void dimmed.
The mask shattered fully.
Underneath was not a face, but a swirling void of mouths, thousands of teeth forming words.
Haruto tensed.
Airi froze in fear.
The Herald's true voice spoke:
"THIS ENDS NOW."
THE HERALD'S TRUE FORM FIGHTS
It lifted its void sword.
The blade stretched outward
warping into a colossal scythe of emptiness.
It swung.
A slice of reality was erased.
Haruto barely dodged, dragging Airi with him.
The scythe passed through where they stood but the aftershock erased the concept of space there.
A gaping wound appeared in the realm.
No color.
No texture.
Just absence.
Airi trembled. "Onii Chan… if that hits us—"
"We die. Completely."
Haruto dashed forward.
Airi followed.
They split apart, Haruto rushing from the front, Airi from the side.
The Herald attacked both simultaneously.
Haruto parried.
Airi countered with a beam of cosmic light.
The Herald sliced the beam.
Airi gasped as her magic unraveled.
Haruto roared:
"AIRI, MOVE—!"
The Herald teleported behind her.
Airi spun, instinctively raising her staff.
The void scythe grazed her cheek, splitting through her protection field and slicing her shoulder open.
She staggered back, crying out in pain.
"AIRI!"
Haruto sprinted toward her, fury igniting inside him.
The Herald appeared in his path, thrusting its scythe forward.
Haruto gripped Eclipse Edge with both hands and swung.
BOOOOOOM—!!
The two weapons clashed, tearing the realm apart even more.
Haruto forced the Herald back with sheer will, his eyes blazing.
He looked over his shoulder.
"Airi, can you keep going?"
She winced, clutching her shoulder but nodded fiercely.
"Yes… Onii Chan… I'm not stopping."
Haruto smiled softly.
"Good."
THE FINAL EXCHANGE BEGINS
The Herald raised its scythe high.
Haruto lifted Eclipse Edge.
Airi raised her staff.
For a moment, all three stood still.
Then.
They moved.
All three vanished from sight.
What followed was not a battle.
It was a storm.
A storm of clashing gods.
Haruto's blade carved swaths of black-silver destruction that bent space.
Airi unleashed cosmic spells:
Starlight TempestCreation LotusHeavenfall ArrowsNova Spiral
Light storms clashed with void fissures.
Shockwaves tore through nothingness.
Cracks burst across the sky that didn't exist.
Haruto and Airi danced together, perfectly aligned.
She boosted him.
He shielded her.
She created platforms under his feet mid-air.
He slashed through void tears trying to consume her.
They moved like two halves of one soul.
The Herald struggled.
For the first time.
THE ECLIPSE LIMIT BREAK
Haruto slid beside Airi, panting.
"Airi, this is it. The last push."
Airi nodded, tears mixing with determination.
"Onii Chan… together?"
"Always."
They raised their weapons.
Haruto whispered:
"Eclipse Edge Amplification…"
Airi followed:
"Dual Resonance Link…"
Their weapons glowed.
Their bodies glowed.
Light.
Shadow.
Creation.
Destruction.
They screamed together:
"ECLIPSE LIMIT—BREAK!!"
A massive sphere of swirling light and darkness engulfed them.
Their silhouettes merged, standing back-to-back as energies intertwined.
The Herald stared.
"…Impossible—"
Too late.
The sphere detonated.
Haruto and Airi burst out of it, rushing toward the Herald with cosmic trails behind them.
Haruto's voice thundered:
"FINAL—ECLIPSE—"
Airi's voice overlapped beautifully:
"DUAL—ANNIHILATION—"
They swung.
Their blades of light and dark met the Herald's scythe.
The world split.
A massive shockwave erupted through all directions.
The Herald screamed for the first time
a corrupted, multi-voiced shriek.
Its body cracked.
Its scythe shattered.
Its form ruptured.
Haruto and Airi pushed harder.
Together.
Every ounce of mana.
Every emotion.
Every memory.
Every promise.
Every part of who they were.
"Onii Chan! NOW!"
"AIRI! PUSH!"
The Eclipse Edge and Eclipse Staff unleashed a spiraling beam of light and shadow.
It hit the Herald.
And the Illusionary Void Realm
collapsed.
END OF CHAPTER 38 — The Eclipse That Split the Void