Season 1 Finale – The Ashes of Light, the Reign of Shadows
The air burned with silent screams as a veil of black flame devoured Lord Arcade.
His twisted body once the godlike vessel of destruction crackled under the pressure of Sakamoto's final technique, a gift of sacrifice born from the Shadow Plain. Slowly… surely… his form deteriorated, burning away to nothing but flakes of divine ash that floated gently to the war-torn ground of Greenland.
And then, silence.
Not the peace of victory, but the stillness before memory awakens.
Where the ash touched soil… a tree began to sprout.
Massive. Towering. Ethereal.
Its bark pulsed with radiant veins, and from its roots, energy hummed like ancestral hymns. As if called by fate, both Draven and Sakamoto, still weakened, were pulled into its core. They fell not through time but through memory.
⸻
[Arcade's Memory – Long Before the War]
A warm home.
A woman's laughter.
A soft evening glow blanketing a modest living space.
There stood Arcade, not as a god or a warlord, but as a young hunter, laughing gently with his beloved Elena. She was no hunter, but a non Shen bearer. Strong-willed, calm, nurturing. She touched her belly as they spoke, her pregnancy already visible. "Only three more weeks," she whispered.
Arcade kissed her forehead, full of hope, "Maybe it's a girl. Maybe she'll have your eyes." And she replied saying "maybe it's a boy too you know "
But fate soon knocked.
Unknown men grim, dressed in black robes and emblems of authority visited that night. They came with a mission. A war that demanded Arcade's strength.
"I beg you," Arcade pleaded, "just three more weeks… please, I'll fight afterward. Let me be here when our child is born. There are others who can go"
But his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Elena came to him that evening, kneeling by his side. "You must go. I'll be fine. We'll be waiting."
He kissed her, unaware that goodbye meant forever.
⸻
[Five Weeks, Five Days Later]
The war ended.
Arcade had returned victorious, hailed as a genius on the battlefield. But none of it mattered. All that consumed his soul was the thought of home… of her smile… of meeting his child.
But when he arrived
The door was broken.
The home ransacked.
Elena lay lifeless.
Her belly… empty.
His scream shattered the evening winds. His knees hit the floor. He clutched her body with trembling hands.
"They said they'd protect her!" he cried.
He ran to the Hunter Association.
He begged for justice.
But they gave him a single response:
"Casualty of war. Weak ones perish and not everyone can be protected, we tried our best."
And so, something inside Arcade broke.
The man who once fought for love and life… was gone.
What remained was a shell carved by grief and vengeance.
That man… became the god-monster they fought today.
⸻
[Back in Greenland]
The vision faded.
The wind howled once again.
Sakamoto, barely conscious, collapsed beside the ethereal tree. His energy was gone. His connection to Jushin severed. He had saved the world, but at the price of everything he held.
Draven stood beside him, silent.
The executioners behind him shimmered with fading power and vanished.
He didn't offer a hand. Didn't speak words of praise.
Instead, he turned to the glowing tree.
Placing a hand upon its trunk, he whispered something under his breath.
The tree dispersed into dust.
Memory… sealed away.
Then he looked at the fallen Sakamoto and murmured,
"I'll see you again… Buck-head. I hope we don't end up enemies."
"Maybe one day, we'll fight side by side. But for now… I choose something different ."
He looked skyward.
"I won't follow the path of the Shadow… nor Shiki. I'll change this cursed world. But I lack the power. I'll return when I'm ready."
With a powerful leap, Draven vanished into the horizon.
Kenzy and Gansu dropped in beside him.
Kenzy squinted at Sakamoto. "What about him?"
Draven didn't turn back.
"He'll live. He always does."
And they disappeared.
⸻
[Moments Later – Ice Cuts Through Air]
A streak of icy light tore across the broken sky.
Madagascar landed beside Sakamoto on a gliding ice platform.
"Damn, you look like crap," he muttered, kneeling beside him.
"That power… was it really yours? That was awesome, Saka. You saved everyone."
He gently lifted Sakamoto onto the platform.
Cain, Dakun, and Ravenfeather stood silently as Madagascar brought them aboard, sliding swiftly toward the shattered remains of SUHA's facility.
Inside, medics scrambled as survivors were brought in.
Minister Alfred, surveying the damage, sighed,
"This… this is going to take a lot of rebuilding."
⸻
[Meanwhile – Camp Pendleton, Traveler's Facility]
Beneath the earth, inside the secret Traveler base, a massive sealed door stoodadorned with the Sigil of Baphomet. Behind it, the sound of rushing water echoed. In the darkness beyond… six glowing red eyes flickered, watching. Listening.
Before the door knelt a single figure:
Damon of the Duckbill Family.
He radiated cold authority.
Black three-piece suit beneath a sweeping black trench cloak.
A red eye glimmered behind wild strands of silver hair.
A cigarette burned lazily from his mouth.
One katana sheathed at his side. Another already drawn rested at his fingers.
"Mission: Eliminate Code 6… Shiki," the voice behind the door whispered.
Damon nodded.
"Let thy will be done."
He rose. A glowing talisman shaped like a goat's head pulsed in his left hand. A sigil lit beneath his feet.
"Locate."
And he vanished.
⸻
[Inside the Temple of Chains – Shiki's Prison]
Damon reappeared in front of the bound Shiki, chained and suspended beneath the cathedral's ancient pillars.
Shiki looked up, smiling despite his bloodied state.
"So… they sent you. Damon of Duckbill. I figured it'd be you."
He chuckled weakly.
"I met your brother, Nico. You travelers love to kill your own family."
Damon said nothing. He simply unsheathed his katana.
"Going to kill me too, huh? Keep the truth buried?"
"You're just another puppet… but the truth about the Old World will come to light"
"Godspeed: Divine Repercussion."
Damon disappeared and reappeared behind him blade sheathed.
CRACK…
The 32 pillars shattered one by one.
Shiki's body—split cleanly in half—collapsed in silence.
"You spoke of forbidden truths," Damon muttered.
"My brother showed you too much. You failed the Traveler's Oath."
And with that, he vanished.
⸻
[Back in Camp Pendleton]
Damon knelt once again.
"Mission complete."
The oceanic voice responded,
"The Shadow has chosen its vessel again… as it did 1,000 years ago. Just like the last two failures… it will be purged."
"Damon Duckbill… You have purpose. You will not fail."
He bowed once again.
The screen faded to black.