Volume XXX— Chapter XXX: The Last Stand
The colosseum burned with chaos.
Monsters, mutated witch cultists, and screams filled the air as the once-grand battlefield was reduced to rubble. Blood soaked the sands beneath Enma's feet. The sky was blackened from the massive curses that Gluttony's cult had unleashed.
cough splurt
A warm metallic taste filled his mouth.
Is this... really the end for me?
He couldn't tell how many wounds covered his body anymore. His sword, chipped and trembling in his grasp, was the only thing keeping him upright. Blood trickled from his lips, staining his chin.
Behind him, Ryo lay broken and motionless.
Enma staggered forward, his legs shaking beneath the weight of his pain, fear, and exhaustion.
I have to protect him... I have to protect Ryo-san...
He saved me. He believed in me. I owe him everything.
Another cough. More blood.
But still… he stood.
"Just give it up already, kid."
A teasing voice echoed across the battlefield.
The woman approached with a casual sway of her hips, her smile wide and inhuman. Gluttony — one of the Witches of Calamity. Her skin was pale like porcelain, and her eyes glinted with the hunger of a beast.
"Step aside," she said, lazily twirling her fingers. "Let us have that man. He's no use to you anymore."
The monsters behind her howled in anticipation.
Enma clenched his teeth.
I'm afraid... everything hurts. Every step feels like I'm walking on shattered bones.
But I can't... I won't move aside.
"No," he croaked, barely louder than a whisper — but that single word echoed through the air like a battle cry.
Gluttony blinked, then let out a long sigh. "How troublesome…"
With a gesture, her cultists parted like shadows as she extended her hand forward.
"Brave souls… tend to have the best taste," she said, licking her lips.
A swirling orb of black energy formed in her palm — dense, corrupted, oozing with malevolence.
"Devourer's Wrath."
A beam of all-consuming darkness fired from her palm, tearing through the battlefield with unrelenting force. The magic didn't just destroy. It devoured — draining mana from the air, stripping the soul from the living, and leaving behind nothing but hollow husks.
Enma's heart stopped.
It's coming... I can't stop it. No… I won't die here. Not yet.
There's still something I can do. There's… one technique I never mastered.
The Sky Searing Slash.
Ryo-san said it was part of the Celestial Sage Sword Techniques. A blade that sears the heavens, cuts the very fabric of the world, and disrupts the balance of magic itself.
I failed every time. My control was sloppy. My magicule flow unstable.
But right now, in this moment...
He closed his eyes.
A deep breath.
A silent prayer.
Please... let this work.
He stepped forward.
Left foot ahead. Right foot locked.
He raised his sword.
Magic circuits across his body activated, glowing faintly. He condensed raw magicules into the blade, weaving them with reinforced internal energy. The sword began to glow — a radiant blue flame with black sparks dancing around the edge.
The energy surged through him.
It was painful. Overwhelming.
But he felt it. The perfect harmony of energies.
Now… NOW!
"SKY SEARING SLASH: CLEAVE!!!"
He brought down his blade in a single, flawless arc.
Light and darkness collided —
BOOOOM!!!
The explosion shook the heavens. A violent wave of force tore across the battlefield, scattering debris, rupturing the ground, and slicing through Gluttony's curse like a knife through paper.
When the dust settled—
Her arm was gone.
Gluttony stood there, shocked, clutching her severed stump as black ichor sprayed onto the stones. Her cultists backed away, unsure whether to attack or run.
She hissed. "You damn brat…"
Her regeneration kicked in — her arm slowly began reforming.
Enma collapsed, his body finally reaching its limit.
Heavy... I can't move. I did it, but... I'm done for.
Ryo-san… I'm sorry…
Then—
A whisper.
"Heal: Zagan's Garden."
Chapter XXX: The Awakening of the Primordial
Warmth enveloped his body.
Enma blinked weakly as golden light danced across his wounds. Skin reknit. Bones mended. The pain faded. The exhaustion as well.
"Healing... magic? But... from who?"
"Yare yare..."
A familiar voice sighed.
"I take a short nap and you end up like this? What a troublesome student."
Ryo stood beside him, pristine — not a scratch on his body. Power radiated from him like waves in a storm. He smiled down at Enma.
"Rest now, Enma. I'll handle the rest."
Enma tried to reach for him, his voice faint.
"Ryo-san... I'm... sorry..."
His eyes closed, and sleep took him.
Gluttony stepped back, trembling.
"N-no... it can't be... not now…"
Her face paled.
"He's... regained them…"
Her voice quivered.
"HE'S REGAINED HIS MEMORIES! RETREAT!! RETREAT!!"
The cultists began to scatter in panic.
But—
"Do you really think you lot are getting away scot-free?" Ryo's voice echoed, calm and cruel.
A massive surge of dark blue aura exploded from him, encasing the entire colosseum in a veil of divine power. The sky above twisted. The clouds gathered.
Lightning cracked.
Thunder roared.
The cultists froze, paralyzed under the pressure.
Ryo stepped forward, eyes glowing.
"Mō nai... Okiro... BAN-KAI… MIZUGAMI: RYUJIN!!!"
The world changed.
Storms erupted above. Torrential waves of power crashed through the air. The divine energy of water — unrelenting, infinite, and primordial — flooded the colosseum.
One cultist, maddened by rage, lunged toward Ryo.
"I'LL SKIN YOU ALI—!"
SPLAT.
Ryo stood behind him. Blood dripped from his hand. The cultist's body was gone — scattered across the walls in gory pieces.
He turned, smiling.
"Oh... the bliss of remembrance. Finally... my name returns to me."
He rose into the sky, his presence vast and incomprehensible.
"I AM RYUJIN SUIJIN — CELESTIAL PRIMORDIAL OF THE WATERS!"
"RULER OF THE TIDES OF FATE…"
Lightning struck behind him as he stretched out his arms.
"…A DIVINE BEING…"
His grin widened, eyes glowing with divine madness.
"…AND YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE!!!"
(Enma had already been teleported to safety before Ryo's full awakening.)
To be continued…