Night settled over the ruins like a blanket of bruised shadows, thick and unmoving. The storm that had raged earlier finally eased, leaving behind a strange, heavy silence—as if even the wind refused to disturb what had happened.
Billionzaruto stood in the center of the destroyed courtyard, his breath unsteady, his fists trembling so badly he had to bury them against his sides. Steam rose from the shattered stones around him, twisted and scorched. The air still tasted like burnt metal.
He hadn't meant for it to go this far.
He hadn't meant to lose control.
Kaigos lay slumped against the base of a crumbling pillar, armor cracked, cloak torn, blood darkening the ground beneath him. He was breathing—but barely. Each breath was thin, ragged, a painful drag of life clinging stubbornly to a failing body.
Billionzaruto swallowed hard.
He couldn't bring himself to step closer.
Not yet.
His chest felt tight, the way it gets right before tears break—but he didn't cry. Couldn't. His body was still too hot, too charged. Every inhale sent a flicker of lightning crawling under his skin, like his powers were mocking him with their hunger.
He had wanted strength.
He had wanted control.
And instead he had become the storm he feared.
"You… need to breathe, boy," Kaigos rasped, his voice thin but still carrying that old firmness.
"I didn't mean to hurt you." Billionzaruto forced the words out, but they cracked halfway through. "I just—I couldn't stop it."
Kaigos coughed, grimaced, then waved him closer. "Come here. Let me see your eyes."
Reluctantly, Billionzaruto knelt. His hands hovered uselessly in the air, afraid to touch, afraid to burn.
Kaigos studied him with a tired, knowing stare. "You think this is the end? You think a little lightning will finish someone like me?" He chuckled, though the sound hurt him. "I've faced storms long before you were born."
"That's not the point," Billionzaruto muttered.
"Then tell me the point."
He hesitated. His throat tightened again.
"I don't know if I can do this. Any of it. This power—it's too much. Every time I think I'm controlling it, it slips, and it's like something else takes over."
Kaigos let out a slow breath—half pain, half contemplation.
"That 'something else' is not your enemy," he said. "It's the part of you that survived everything meant to kill you."
Billionzaruto lowered his head. "It almost killed you."
"And when it does kill me," Kaigos whispered, "it must be for the right reason—not because you're afraid of yourself."
The silence that followed cut deeper than any blade.
A soft rustling came from behind the broken walls. Lira stepped into view, her face pale with worry. She had been watching from the shadows, unsure if approaching would make things worse.
Her eyes met Billionzaruto's—full of concern, full of something he couldn't name.
"Are you… okay?" she asked quietly.
He looked away. "No."
Lira approached Kaigos first, kneeling beside him, careful but steady. "We need to move him. That last blast was—well—impressive in a terrifying way."
Billionzaruto flinched. "Don't remind me."
Lira placed a hand gently on Kaigos's shoulder. "He'll be fine. But you—you look like your soul just got punched."
"It did," Billionzaruto muttered.
She shifted her gaze to him, softer this time. "Then talk to us. Don't shut down and try to carry all this alone."
He didn't answer—not right away.
His thoughts felt too loud, too chaotic. The memory of the blast replayed behind his eyes, each detail sharper than the last—the blinding flare, the shockwave, the scream he didn't even remember releasing.
Kaigos's voice broke the tension again.
"There is something you both need to see."
He lifted a trembling hand and motioned toward the sky.
High above, framed by thinning clouds, a faint circular pattern glowed. It pulsed like a distant heartbeat—slow, ominous, deliberate.
"The Storm Seal…" Lira whispered, standing abruptly. "But how—isn't that impossible? It hasn't appeared in centuries."
Kaigos nodded grimly. "It reacts only to a full awakening. And tonight, Billionzaruto awakened far more than lightning."
Billionzaruto followed their gaze, the eerie symbol reflected in his burning eyes.
"What does it mean?"
"It means," Kaigos said, "that the creature hunting you is no longer searching."
Lira swallowed. "It knows exactly where you are."
A tremor ran through the ground, faint but unmistakable.
The ruins moaned as dust drifted from cracked walls.
Far into the forest, something roared—a long, deep sound that vibrated in the bones.
Billionzaruto rose slowly, his fingers curling into fists.
Fire simmered beneath his eyelids.
Lightning danced along his forearms.
Fear still clung to him—but something else rose above it.
Resolve.
Anger.
A quiet acceptance of who he was becoming, even if he didn't fully understand it yet.
Kaigos struggled to sit up straighter. "Listen to me… both of you," he said, voice growing weaker. "You don't have long. That thing will reach you by dawn."
Lira's eyes widened. "Then we need to move him now."
"No." Kaigos shook his head firmly. "You go. Prepare. He comes with me."
"What?" Billionzaruto blinked. "I'm not leaving you."
"You must," Kaigos insisted. "There is something you need to learn before that monster arrives. Something only I can show you—and this may be the last chance we have."
Lira looked torn, glancing between the two of them. "Kaigos… if you're wrong—"
"Then the world ends," he said simply. "So let's hope I'm not."
Another roar tore through the night—closer this time, hungry and low. Trees swayed violently in the distance as if something enormous was pushing through them.
Billionzaruto felt his pulse surge. His flames flared unbidden, brighter than before, casting long shadows behind him.
He stepped toward Kaigos.
"I'm ready."
Kaigos gave him a tired smile. "No one is ever ready, boy. But you're willing—and that's enough."
Lira touched Billionzaruto's arm gently. "Don't do anything stupid."
He managed a small, crooked smile. "Me? Never."
She rolled her eyes, but the worry didn't leave them.
Kaigos tapped his staff once against the ground. A circle of faint golden energy wrapped around him and Billionzaruto, lifting dust and leaves from the floor.
"The path ahead will break you," Kaigos warned, voice almost swallowed by the rising wind. "But breaking isn't always destruction. Sometimes it's the only way to rebuild."
Billionzaruto nodded.
He wasn't sure if he believed that—but he wanted to.
The circle glowed brighter, then burst upward in a column of light. For a moment, the world blurred—stone, sky, and shadow melting together.
Lira shielded her eyes as the light swallowed them.
And then—
They were gone.
The ruins fell silent again—just for a breath.
Then the forest shuddered violently as a massive, clawed silhouette stepped into the moonlight.
Its eyes glowed like dying suns.
Its snarl cracked the air.
It had found them.
And dawn was still a long way off.