The stars were quiet.
Too quiet.
Kanji lay on the shattered ground, his breathing shallow, his once-blazing aura reduced to faint embers flickering across his skin. The sword beside him—now dull, heavy, silent—had returned to a form that looked almost… ordinary.
Rin held him tightly, hands shaking.
"Kanji… stay with me," she whispered, tears falling onto his chest. "You won. You hear me? You won."
Kanji tried to smile.
"I know…" he murmured.
"But victory always… takes something."
The ground beneath them pulsed.
A deep, ancient hum rolled through the earth—slow, deliberate, ominous.
Seiji stiffened. "That sound… it's not the earth."
The Thirteen Guardians rose sharply, weapons igniting.
"It's the Star Core," their leader said grimly.
"The force that anchors Starborn power to this world."
Cracks of light spread across the sky, forming a massive sigil—far older than the Demon King, older than the Guardians themselves.
Kanji's chest burned.
He screamed.
Rin cried out as golden-red light tore from his body, lifting him into the air. The Starborn mark flared violently, no longer controlled—pulling something out of him.
"What's happening?!" Rin shouted.
The Guardian leader clenched his fist.
"The truth no one wanted to speak…
A Starborn King cannot exist freely in a mortal realm."
Kanji gasped, eyes wide in terror.
"You mean… I can't stay?"
The sky answered.
A colossal eye of starlight opened above them, emotionless and vast.
A voice echoed—not cruel, not kind—absolute.
"BALANCE HAS BEEN RESTORED.
THE STARBORN KING MUST PAY THE COST."
Kanji's body began to dissolve into particles of light.
Rin screamed, gripping him tighter. "NO! TAKE ME INSTEAD! PLEASE!"
Kanji reached up, touching her face gently.
"I always knew," he whispered.
"That this power… wasn't meant to be kept."
Tears streamed down his face.
"But I don't regret it."
The sword shattered into stardust.
The Starborn mark dimmed.
Kanji's wings faded completely.
The Guardians knelt—some in reverence, others in mourning.
The voice spoke again:
"THE KING MAY CHOOSE."
"ASCEND AND BECOME A COSMIC WARDEN…
OR
SURRENDER THE STARBORN CORE AND LIVE AS MORTAL—
FORGETTING ALL YOU WERE."
Silence.
Rin shook her head violently. "No… no, that's not a choice. That's cruelty."
Kanji closed his eyes.
He saw the forest where he was found.
The monks who saved him.
The fear… the hope… the love.
He opened his eyes.
"I choose… to stay."
The sky trembled.
"To protect this world," Kanji said softly.
"Even if it means forgetting the stars."
The eye of starlight dimmed.
"SO BE IT."
Light tore away from Kanji's chest—ripping out the Starborn Core. He screamed once, body convulsing, before collapsing into Rin's arms.
The sky sealed.
The sigil vanished.
The stars went still.
---
After the Light
Hours passed.
Kanji lay unconscious beside the ruins of the battlefield. His aura was gone. No wings. No glow. No mark.
Just a boy.
Rin held his hand, afraid to breathe.
Then—
Kanji stirred.
He opened his eyes.
"…Who are you?" he asked quietly.
Rin's heart shattered.
Tears fell freely as she smiled through the pain.
"I'm Rin," she said softly.
"And you're safe now."
Kanji looked up at the peaceful sky, unaware that it once feared his name.
Somewhere beyond the stars, the cosmos watched in silence.
The Starborn King was gone.
But legends…
never truly die.
---