In the corridors of the Demon Kingdom, where the walls bled fire and the air reeked of hatred, Jinro moved in utter silence, melting into the shadows with his ability to erase all trace. His steps made no sound, and his pulse had dropped so low it nearly vanished.
He had reached the heart of the kingdom.
The throne hall.
Guarded by blind demons—not blind in sight, but blind in intent. They saw not with eyes... but with motives. But Jinro carried only one thing in his heart.
A question.
He entered... and hid among the charred statues.
Before a throne of blackened bones stood Zaramos, casting a gaze over seven figures lined before him.
The Seven Commanders...
Auras cracked from their forms, and bodies that changed shape with each blink. They spoke in an unspoken tongue, tones echoing not from mouths—but from voids.
But Jinro... was not the only one watching.
Zaramos turned his head abruptly. His eyes did not see... but they knew.
He said, in a voice split between two tones:
"Did you think, O Shadow of the Wind... that I wouldn't see you?"
Then pointed with his hand:
"Seize him."
In an instant, the shadows of the seven commanders surged from their places—as if they had been waiting for the command. Jinro tried to retreat, tried to vanish—but something pierced through his concealment... as if the hall itself rejected him.
It didn't take long.
And the moment Zaramos reached out and grabbed Jinro's head, he said:
"Tell your master... what's coming isn't just war."
Then...
He severed his head.
---
In the Castle of Shadows, where Sajibro sat amid a halo of symbols, a seal that had waited centuries to break… cracked open.
And from within those symbols… no weapon appeared.
But a girl emerged.
Her hair flowed in the color of dawn, her eyes held no fixed hue, and her smile was distorted—as though born from a tale never meant to be told.
She spoke with a dual voice:
"I am your shadow… I am the blade of your will."
And in a blink, she transformed into a sword of twisted light, pulsing with the rhythm of time itself—able to cut through dimensions, and summon the powers of the ancient commanders as if they were part of his own essence.
But Sajibro did not rejoice.
He felt a ripple… Jinro's energy weakening.
He closed his eyes… and cast his consciousness directly to Jinro's location.
He saw it…
And he saw Zaramos looking back, despite the vast distance.
The Demon King smiled:
"I know you're watching, hiding behind the dimensions… Prepare yourself. The next battle will be ferocious."
Then… he severed the head.
---
A silent scream tore through the rift realm.
Sajibro opened his eyes, the new blade pulsing in his hand, his chest trembling—but his expression was stone.
He stood.
Slashed open the void with the sword, and entered the rift between dimensions.
He stood in the center, looking at Arthur, at the commanders, at the Frost Army—and spoke with a voice never heard before:
"Prepare yourselves."
Then raised the sword before him, his tone boiling with rage:
"That bastard has crossed the line… and I will now show him who forged the shadow before the light was ever born."
End of Chapter Forty.