The silhouette… did not move for an entire day.
At first, the black aura around it wavered.Then it slowed.Then… it was as if it had stopped breathing.
Koharu watched from a distance.
As time passed, the darkness began to change.It no longer behaved like mist.It was condensing.
The air bent.Stones cracked and crumbled into dust.
This… was no longer darkness.It was something else entirely.
Then—
The world split.
The darkness surrounding the silhouette burst outward.Silence shattered.
And from within it… wings emerged.
Black.Rigid.Neither alive… nor dead.
They were not feathers.They looked like darkness hardened into bone.
Its coat no longer moved with the wind.The wind itself could not touch it.
As if the world around it was reshaping itself to its will.
With every step it took, the ground darkened.
Light… retreated.
Then, above its head, darkness began to gather.At first, a ring.
It slowly twisted, folding into itself—
and became a crown.
Koharu realized she had forgotten to breathe.
What stood before her… was no longer a being.
It was… a decree.
The silhouette lifted its head.
The moment its eyes opened—
The black mist around it… along with the storm clouds covering the sky, was drawn into its body all at once.
The sky changed.
The darkness that once covered it slowly parted—
and beyond it…
lights appeared.
Countless.
For the first time in her life, Koharu saw the stars.
Her breath trembled.
How could something so beautiful… exist beside something like that?
A thought slipped through her mind:
"This… is not human."
Beyond the golden barrier, the army stood in formation.
No one spoke.Even prayers had fallen into whispers.
Then—
The air tightened.
Shinju slowly raised his head.
He didn't move.
But the darkness… moved in his place.
It gathered before him.Took shape.
A scythe.
And in an instant—
It was released.
BOOM!
It wasn't a sound—it was an impact.
The surface of the golden barrier split open.
The impossible had happened.
The barrier that had never been touched for a thousand years…had been damaged.
The king sprang to his feet.
"Attack! Raise the light!"
The sky lit up.
Hundreds of light arrows, sacred flames, spears—all surged toward Shinju at once.
They struck.
And—
Nothing happened.
He didn't move back.Didn't even flinch.
As if those attacks… had never reached him.
Shinju remained there.
In the same place.In the same stance.
Moments later, the darkness stirred again.
Heavier this time.
More absolute.
The barrier trembled once more.
The crack widened.
And this time—
it did not close.
Golden light began to leak outward.
Panic erupted within the army.
"It's not healing!""The barrier isn't recovering!"
Prayers fell silent.Some stepped back.Others trembled where they stood.
Order… was collapsing.
But Shinju…
was still silent.
There was no anger on his face.No triumph.
Nothing at all.
Only… certainty.
He took a step.
The ground darkened.
Darkness spread like a tide.
Koharu's knees trembled.She couldn't look away.
Her throat dried.
She whispered:
"This power…"
Her voice barely came out.
"This… is not something that can be opposed."