Chapter 39— The One Who Catches a Star
The heat reached them first.
Not the light.
Not the sound.
The heat.
It rolled across the ruined landscape like a living thing—heavy, suffocating, violent. The air warped, bending light into broken reflections. Buildings in the distance twisted like melting glass.
Then—
Nezuko's eyes widened.
"…Something's coming."
She turned.
Far away—
A glow.
Small at first.
Then growing.
Fast.
Too fast.
Aoi felt it next.
Her Core reacted instinctively—tightening, warning her.
"…That's not normal."
The ground beneath her feet trembled.
The river beside them—
Started to boil.
Natsuki slowly lifted his head, his breathing still rough from earlier injuries. Sparks of electricity flickered weakly across his fingertips.
"…What the hell is that…?"
Even the civilians noticed now.
The air burned their skin slowly.
Some dropped to their knees.
Some screamed.
Because now—
They could see it.
A star.
A dying, collapsing star of black and deep crimson—
Tearing across the battlefield straight toward them.
Everything in its path—
Gone.
Concrete dissolved.
Steel melted.
Air ignited.
And in front of it—
Running straight toward them—
Was Tokita.
"…Red?" Kaito's voice cracked.
Nezuko's breath caught.
"…No…"
He wasn't running away.
He was running toward it.
"Is he insane?!" one of the civilians shouted.
"That thing will erase everything!"
"You can't stop something like that—!"
Natsuki's eyes sharpened.
"…What the hell are you doing…?"
Electricity sparked harder around his fingers now, unstable.
"…Don't tell me…"
His voice dropped.
"…you're actually trying to catch it."
The distance closed.
Faster.
Faster.
The heat became unbearable.
Clothes began to scorch.
People's Skin slowly burned.
The river—
Turned violent.
Boiling.
Then—
Evaporating.
And then—
Tokita reached it.
He didn't slow.
Didn't hesitate.
Didn't think.
He stepped into the star.
BOOM.
Flames swallowed him whole.
From the outside—
He disappeared.
Engulfed.
Erased.
"…No—!" Nezuko took a step forward instinctively.
Natsuki grabbed her arm.
"WAIT—!"
The force alone pushed them back.
Wind screamed outward.
Debris lifted.
Inside the inferno—
Tokita moved.
The heat tore at him instantly.
The pressure alone felt like being crushed by a collapsing world.
But he didn't stop.
Because he could see it.
Not the flames.
Not the destruction.
The Core.
At the center of the chaos—
A nucleus.
Unstable.
Violent.
Trying to expand.
Trying to explode outward.
Tokita's eyes locked onto it.
"…Found you."
He reached in.
Not around it—
Through it.
His hands plunged past the burning layers—
Past the collapsing energy—
And grabbed it.
The moment Tokita's hands closed around it, the world bent.
Not exploded. Not shattered.
Bent.
The surface of the attack howled against his grip, a violent storm of red-black energy trying to tear itself free—but it didn't.
It couldn't.
Because Tokita wasn't holding the flames.
He was holding something deeper.
His arms trembled slightly—not from weakness, but from pressure. The kind of pressure that could erase landscapes. The kind that should not be stopped.
His sleeves burned away instantly.
The outer layer of his skin around his fingers darkened, faint scorch marks crawling across his forearms—but they didn't break him. They didn't even slow him.
His body held.
Firm.
Unyielding.
From the outside, it looked impossible.
From the inside—
It felt like gripping the heart of a dying star and forcing it to stay still.
Tokita's expression didn't change.
Not fear.
Not strain.
Just focus.
Pure, terrifying focus.
The blast pushed him back, dragging his feet across the ground, carving a trench behind him—but even then, he adjusted.
Shifted.
Controlled it.
Turned it.
"He's inside it—!" A civilian shouted.
"That's impossible!"
Natsuki's eyes widened.
"…No…"
His voice dropped into disbelief.
"…he's holding it…"
Inside—
Tokita clenched his teeth.
The Core struggled.
Fought.
Pushed against him.
"Expand."
That was its nature.
That was its purpose.
"…Then don't."
His own Core surged.
Not wild.
Not chaotic.
Controlled.
Dense.
He forced it inward.
The blast screamed.
The flames twisted violently.
The sphere shook—
Then—
It stopped expanding.
Tokita pushed.
Step by step.
The entire star—
Moved.
From the outside—
It shifted direction.
"…It's turning…?" Aoi whispered.
Tokita forced it sideways.
Redirecting its path.
Away from them.
But it wasn't enough.
The pressure surged again—
Dragging him forward.
And then—
He hit the river.
BOOM.
Water exploded upward.
For a moment—
Hope.
Then—
The river burned.
Steam screamed into the sky.
Water evaporated instantly.
The riverbed cracked—
Glowing.
Melting.
Turning into something closer to molten ash than water.
"…Even the river…?" Kaito whispered.
Tokita's body was dragged through it—
Still holding the Core.
Still forcing it inward.
His grip firm.
His body screamed to let go.
But he didn't.
"…Not… happening…!!"
The star weakened.
Collapsed further.
Compressed.
Smaller.
Denser.
Until—
Silence.
The forward force stopped.
The star—
Stabilized.
Tokita stood there—
Holding it.
Still.
"…No way…" Natsuki whispered.
Tokita exhaled slowly.
But his grip—
Didn't loosen.
He turned his head slightly.
Just enough for his voice to carry.
"…Stay back!"
No one moved.
No one spoke.
They couldn't.
Because what they were looking at—
Shouldn't exist.
Tokita shifted his stance.
Slow.
Controlled.
Then—
He raised his hands.
And turned the star upward.
For a moment—
Everything held its breath.
Then—
He released it.
BOOM.
The compressed star shot into the sky like a beam of destruction—
Piercing through the clouds—
Breaking through the atmosphere—
And exploding.
High above.
A silent bloom.
A ring.
A burning halo carved into the sky—
Like a scar.
A ripple spread outward.
Far beyond— reaching the moon.
And a faint, jagged mark etched across its surface.
Then—
Silence.
The battlefield stilled.
Smoke drifted.
Ash fell.
Tokita stood alone.
Breathing.
His finger tips Burned.
But standing.
Behind him—
No one spoke.
Because they couldn't process it.
"…He…"
One of the civilians collapsed to his knees.
"…caught it…"
Another whispered:
"…He caught a star…"
Natsuki stared.
For once—
Speechless.
Kaito let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
"…That idiot…he really did it..."
Nezuko's hands trembled.
"…You're alive…"
"..." Aoi said nothing.
Her eyes never left him.
Because now she understood.
Not just strength.
Not just skill.
Something else.
Something deeper.
Something dangerous.
A monster.
Tokita stood there quietly.
The smoke slowly clearing around him.
And for the first time—
Even the battlefield felt small around him.
Because in that moment—
There was only one truth left.
He didn't dodge it.
He didn't just survive it.
He caught it.