The world did not change overnight after Ren escaped Zan's temple.
It fractured quietly.
Nucreo density rose unevenly across the lands. Town emblems swelled with stored will, overflowing into their people. Reinforcement grew denser. Flow became sharper. Children manifested styles earlier than ever recorded. Scholars called it evolution. Veterans called it a warning.
Ren disappeared.
Officially, he was declared dead after the mountain collapse. Unofficially, every major town felt the disturbance and began searching for the one who carried the divine weapon.
Ren traveled alone.
The weapon did not speak often. When it did, its voice was neither kind nor cruel—only precise. It taught Ren discipline, not power. He learned that the weapon did not grant strength; it unlocked access. Every form demanded responsibility. Every failure carried consequence.
Ren could only manifest the shield and sword. Even then, the drain was severe. Heaven Style did not overwhelm—it refined. His body strengthened slowly, painfully, but cleanly.
Elsewhere, power grew violently.
Ryo lived in a border town built above forgotten depths. Unlike Ren, he had always been strong. Not gifted—driven. When Nucreo surged, his emblem reacted abnormally, resonating with something buried far below.
During a collapse in the underground ruins, Ryo fell through layers of stone into an ancient chamber carved with Hell inscriptions. There was no statue. No weapon.
Only will.
Kuro's sealed Nucreo recognized ambition without restraint. Ryo survived the encounter—but he did not leave unchanged. He gained the ability to summon Nucreo constructs, unstable entities formed from raw Hell residue. Each summon exacted a price: exhaustion, hallucinations, violent emotional spikes.
Power came quickly. Control did not.
As towns began clashing over territory and resources, Ren was forced to act. He intervened in small conflicts, never staying long. Rumors spread of a silent warrior wielding a shifting weapon that refused to kill without cause.
The weapon spoke more frequently now.
Not guidance—judgment.
Ren learned the truth of Heaven Style: it could seal not only enemies, but consequences. Each time he chose mercy over destruction, his synchronization improved. Memories surfaced—fragments of Zan's past, battles against Kuro, and the reason Heaven Style was incomplete alone.
Hell Style destroyed imbalance. Heaven Style preserved imbalance.
Together, they decided fate.
Ren and Ryo met for the first time on a battlefield neither had chosen.
A town emblem had overreacted to invasion, flooding its defenders with uncontrolled Nucreo. Ryo arrived first, summoning beasts to overwhelm attackers. Ren arrived to stop the massacre.
They clashed.
Ren's defense nullified Ryo's offense. Ryo's relentless assault shattered Ren's footing. Neither won. Neither retreated.
The weapon remained silent.
That silence terrified Ren.
Ryo left convinced Ren was an obstacle to evolution. Ren left knowing Ryo was walking a path that ended in annihilation.
As conflict escalated, ancient myths resurfaced. Scrolls spoke of soul inheritance—not reincarnation, but convergence. Zan and Kuro had not vanished. They had fragmented themselves across time, awaiting successors capable of holding their will.
Ren received the first soul fragment during a siege where he chose to seal an entire battlefield, sacrificing victory to save civilians. His mind fractured briefly—then stabilized. He gained deeper access to Heaven Style: limited creation, absolute sealing, and perception beyond motion.
Ryo's fragment awakened through bloodshed. When his summons devoured an enemy army, Hell Style responded. His power multiplied. His sanity thinned. But he remembered Kuro's defiance—and rejected its end.
He would not become a god's shadow.
The true antagonist revealed himself then—the one who hated peace. He had survived Zan's temple and now sought to force the awakening of both gods, believing humanity needed rulers, not freedom.
He manipulated town emblems, overloading them, turning civilians into weapons.
Ren and Ryo were forced into alliance.
Their combined power stabilized collapsing regions. Heaven sealed. Hell eradicated. Together, they did what neither could alone. The weapon finally spoke—not to Ren, but to both.
"Completion approaches."
In the final confrontation, the antagonist attempted to awaken Zan prematurely. The seal resisted—but cracked. Zan's consciousness emerged, testing Ren. Simultaneously, Kuro's will surged through Ryo, demanding dominance.
Ren chose refusal.
Ryo chose control.
They rejected godhood.
The seals stabilized.
Zan and Kuro remained bound—not defeated, not freed. The world survived.
Volume II ended with Ren and Ryo standing apart, equals at last. The world now knew their names. Towns prepared for war. Gods watched in silence.
And Nucreo—no longer dormant—waited for its final decision. What will happen next??