Chapter 21

A jagged rupture in the fabric of the night sky splits open with a soundless scream. From it descends an enormous, winged silhouette—a mass of shifting void and hatred. Jioni emerges.

His form is monstrous: horns like broken moons, wings with tears that leak darkness, and armor-like scales that shimmer in dead constellations. He doesn't speak, but his roar—deep, ancient, and mournful—shakes the air like collapsing galaxies.

Shizuku (raising Mizuki Kurogane):
That’s him.

Kifo (stepping back):
The Dusk Dragon. Don’t let him leave the ring.

Jioni lands, his presence causing the containment sigils to shudder violently. With a snarl, he whips his tail—and five Voidspawn Familiars erupt from shadows around him, each with six eyes and blade-like limbs.

Astera:
Yup, it’s a party.

Berwick (drawing Enketsu):
I’ll handle the familiars. Someone back me up.

Asche:
On your flank. Let's dance.

The battlefield explodes into motion:

Berwick and Asche charge the left side, slicing through the familiars with synchronic precision—blood arcs, shadows scream.

Eris uses gravity manipulation to distort the battlefield, forcing two of the familiars into slowed dimensions. With a flick of her fingers, Alto follows up, blasting them with stellar chains that burn like white suns.

Lily blinks behind one of the creatures, striking its core with a precise burst of dual-affinity light and dark energy—instantly dissolving it.

Kifo stands firm outside the ring, maintaining the trap’s power with both hands outstretched, his dragon-skull helm now alight with primal fury.

But Jioni isn’t waiting.

He bellows again, and the trap circle flickers. With a beat of his wings, he launches a rain of pitch-black needles down.

Shizuku (activating everyone’s magic vein):
“Fukusū no mamyaku hatsudō: Gādo”
(Multiple Magic Vein Activation: Guard.)

The needles deflect, but the strain is obvious.

Jioni slams into Shizuku, fangs clashing with Shizuku’s defense. They lock eyes. For a moment, time slows. Dragon and Emperor.

Shizuku (thinking):
No soul, no mind. Just hatred. A shell cursed by darkness.

He counters with a burst of yang energy, forcing Jioni back. The dragon crashes into the far sigil, roaring as it sizzles his wings.

Kifo:
Now! While he’s grounded!

Lily:
I’m going in!

She dashes up one of Alto’s conjured stellar platforms, propelling herself into a spinning strike directly into Jioni’s eye—but the beast jerks away last second, catching her with a swipe that sends her crashing into Berwick’s barrier.

Alto (yelling):
Lily!

Eris (commanding):
Recover her! Shizuku, end this!

Shizuku breathes slowly. The stars above echo his pulse.

Shizuku:
Mizuki Kurogane: Form Three.
“雷神の懲罰 (Thunder God’s Punishment).”

The sword gleams in total silence. Then he vanishes.

In the next instant, Jioni’s chest is gashed open, a line of stardust and water magic cleaving through him. His scream is more than sound—it’s despair incarnate.

He writhes. The familiars—what remain—fade into shadow. And the circle flares.

Kifo (chanting again):
“Return to dusk. Become dream. Fall as the forgotten!”

The sigils burst upward like a cage of light. Jioni’s body, now weak, is lifted, frozen in his final roar before he’s sucked into the center crystal.

Silence.

Only breath. Only heartbeats.

Astera (panting):
...That was not just some dragon.

Shizuku (quietly):
No. That… was grief.

Kifo walks forward and places a single clawed hand over the sigil crystal, now blackened but still warm.

Kifo: Thank you. All of you. The dusk has howled for centuries. But now… it’s silent.