The Promise Realm shook as Kento and the shadow of Furi clashed again. Sparks of blue and jet-black light exploded across the fractured sky with every strike. It no longer felt like a normal battle—each collision carried the echo of something ancient awakening.
Furi's shadow leapt backward, landing gracefully on thin air. The darkness beneath his feet swirled like a storm.
He lifted his hand…and for a second, the entire realm froze.
"Kento…"
The voice echoed from every direction. Deeper, stronger, less human.
"Do you truly believe a simple promise can save a world that's already broken?"
Kento lifted his blade, refusing to look away. "A promise is not 'simple'—it's everything."
The shadow's eyes flickered. "Then look closely."
Darkness surged upward, forming a towering sigil in the sky.
It was not the shape of a human—it was the form of something monstrous, ancient…born from countless broken promises.
The very force that had sealed the sky.
"The Astral Devourer…" the voice whispered through Furi's lips. "A being that feeds on promises, twisting them into despair. It is the true reason the sky was sealed."
Kento's eyes widened, but he didn't step back.
"So you were taken… by that thing?"
Furi's shadow trembled. Light flickered beneath the surface of his body—Furi's will struggling to remain.
"It used our promise as an anchor," the voice growled. "Your hearts gave it the path to enter this world."
Kento clenched his teeth.
"In that case… I'll use that same promise to drive it out!"
Blue light erupted from the emblem around his neck, shooting upward like a pillar and striking the black sigil in the sky. The Astral Devourer roared, its voice like a thousand broken hearts crying out at once.
Furi's body convulsed—and for a split moment, his real eyes appeared.
"Kento…!"
The darkness lashed out violently, wrapping around Furi and pulling him back.
His body floated into the air, merging with the sigil above—the beginning of the Devourer's second phase.
Kento raised his blade.
"I will not let you be taken!"
With a powerful leap, he launched himself upward, the blue light streaming behind him like wings.
The Devourer's massive form unleashed rippling waves of corrupted energy. Kento slashed through them, the blade singing with resolve.
The sky cracked.
Fragments of the Promise Realm shattered and floated like glowing shards around them as Kento drove his blade straight toward the heart of the sigil.
"This promise… IS STRONGER THAN YOU!"
Light exploded across the broken sky, swallowing the darkness—and both Kento and Furi disappeared inside the blast.
(To be continued…)