Chapter 90: Blurry Memories

Sometimes, the soul fractures in silence—
without explosions, without tears.
What remains is a distant voice, a vague sensation,
an echo of what we once were.

Memories, when they hurt, become distorted.
They hide behind the mist, dissolve into the cracks of time,
as if our own mind were trying to protect us from ourselves.

But forgetting never heals.
It only buries.

And then comes the moment.
The moment when the past returns—
not as a memory… but as a wound.

What are we, when we face what we chose to forget?
What remains of us when we can no longer recognize ourselves
in the reflection of those we love?

There are times when moving forward is not enough.
We must confront.
We must look the monster in the eyes.
Even if that monster has our own face.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The cave remained in absolute silence.
There were no traces of battle—only suspended dust
and two figures standing, separated by barely a few steps.
The wind slipped through the cracks, whispering into the tension.

Edén lowered his head slowly, eyes fixed on the man before him.

—Grandpa…

Gen’s eyes—cold, like a storm that has seen everything—did not move.
Every scar on his body spoke for him: wounds of the past, punishment, time… abandonment.

—I’m sorry you had to go through all of this… I’m truly sorry.

Edén’s voice cracked—not from weakness,
but from a guilt too old to keep hiding.

—You don’t need to say it. Your scars… they already told me everything.
The pain… the anger… the silence. All of this was my fault.

He clenched his fists, nails digging into skin.
The contained rage began to boil.

—I spent more than a year training—every day—with one wish:
that you were still alive.
That you could forgive me.

His eyes glistened.

—Everyone who’s met me has ended up marked.
As if I were a virus… a walking curse.

A pause.

—Many times… so many times I wished I had died that day.
Or any of the times the world gave me the chance.

He saw again the image of his own face, shredded by wounds and blood.
The times he was tortured.
The times he crawled just to keep breathing.
The times he begged for everything to end.

—Maybe everyone would be better off… no one would suffer because of me.

His lips trembled.

—But… even so…

His gaze ignited.

—I’m sorry, Grandpa.
But I want to live. I want it.
From the deepest part of my being.

The wind roared in the back of the cave,
as if the earth itself were listening.

—I’m tired of running.
Tired of surviving just out of inertia.
It’s time for me to take control of my destiny.

He stepped forward.

—The greater good? I don’t care.
Humanity? Screw it.
The world? If necessary, I’ll destroy it.

A strangled scream exploded toward the ceiling of the cave.

—DO YOU HEAR ME, DESTINY?!
FUCK YOU!
YOU WON’T WRITE MY STORY ANYMORE!

His eyes burned with a blazing red.
Dark energy swirled around him like a vortex of will and fury.

—I will carve my own path.

He raised his sword.

—And for that… I’ll pull you out of this hell.

The ground shook as both moved at the same time.
Their swords clashed at speeds the naked eye couldn’t comprehend.
Sparks, slashes, bursts of power—
Edén roared with every strike,
while Gen responded with murderous calm.

The metallic sound of their blades echoed through the cave
as if the very walls were trying to flee from their duel.

Every blow was a memory.
Every clash of swords, an unspoken confession.
Every gasp, a wound from the past.

Until—

—Dark Technique: Shadow, —Edén whispered, summoning a faceless figure at his side.

The attacks intensified.
Edén and his shadow moved in perfect sync,
pushing Gen against the wall.

But the moment the shadow was destroyed,
Edén appeared behind him.

A clean thrust.

Gen’s body crashed into the wall, raising a cloud of dust.
Edén panted, drenched in sweat.

—Damn it… that technique consumes too much…

From the smoke, Gen emerged unharmed.
His serene eyes now carried something unsettling.

—I expected as much…

A voice spoke inside Edén.

—Seems like you’re in trouble, —Vorathrax said.

—Something like that, —Edén replied with an ironic smile.

The Spirit of Light flickered faintly within Gen’s sword.

—We’ll have to keep pushing.

Edén crossed his fingers.

—Dark Flare.

Flames erupted beneath Gen’s feet—
but he dodged with inhuman grace.

But that wasn’t all.

—Two.

Dozens of magic circles surrounded Gen,
synchronized summons that exploded all at once.
A hellish roar filled the cave.

—There’s no way he survived—

The flames split apart.
Gen walked out without visible wounds—
though his clothes were completely shredded.

—Are you fucking kidding me? —Edén muttered, unable to hide his frustration.

Gen lifted his gaze.

—Kill…

The word wasn’t spoken with hatred.
It was instinct.
A curse carved into his very skin.

Fear gripped Edén.
It paralyzed him.

The earth shook.
The air thickened.

Gen’s body changed—
muscles expanding,
fangs growing,
and his eyes…
now the eyes of a beast.

A creature that knew no mercy.

Gen’s body began to mutate.
A thick orange mane erupted from his spine, spreading across his back, arms, chest, face…
It was like watching a lion being born from the flesh of a man.
His pupils sharpened, his muscles multiplied, and his presence… simply crushed everything around him.

Edén swallowed hard.
Something else—something monstrous—was growing inside that cave.

—What…?

The question never fully escaped his lips.
Gen was already on him.

A colossal hand seized his face with savage brutality.
And with no effort at all, he dragged him across the ground, carving a trail of blood, dirt, and shattered bone.

When the wall stopped him, it wasn’t mercy.
It was the prelude.

Because then, the kick came.

A brutal strike.
Like a war train.
Like the roar of an ancient god.

Edén’s entire chest fractured.
The ground shook.
The rock split.
The cave trembled.

And then, the punishment began.

Fist after fist.
Blow after blow.
Flesh torn, bones splintered, blood spraying like rain in a storm of violence.

Each strike pushed him deeper into the ground.
Deeper into doubt.
Deeper into himself.

—Is any of this really worth it…?

A voice, calm and deep, rose from within his consciousness.

—What are you talking about? —asked Vorathrax.

—Why do I have to go through all of this? —Edén thought as he spat blood between ragged breaths—.
Why can’t I just be happy?

Vorathrax stayed silent for a few seconds.
Then his voice softened—almost… human.

—I once heard a human say… that sadness and pain are signs that you’re alive.
That if the world were only happiness, it would be unbearably fake.
That when you fail, and fail, and fail… success, when it finally comes, feels real. Not because of glory… but because you endured.

The words floated amidst the sound of breaking bones.
Between torn skin and Edén’s uneven breathing.

—Life… is something complicated, don’t you think?

—Yes, —Vorathrax replied, without sarcasm for the first time—. It is.

—You know… you’re not as bad as you pretend to be.

Vorathrax didn’t respond.

For the first time… he trembled.

The spectral silhouette dwelling inside Edén quivered.
Its shape shifted.
Its outline became more human.
It opened its eyes… and felt fear.

—If we make it out of this… —Edén whispered with a faint, blood-stained smile—.
I’d like to know you for real, Vorathrax.

And in the midst of horror, suffering, and the certainty of imminent death…

Edén smiled like a child.

—Cold… all I feel is… cold… —he thought.
—Am I going to die…? Really?

A dark pressure surged from the depths of his soul.
A dense tide.
A nameless storm.

Vorathrax spoke.

—I’m sorry… but I won’t let you die.

—You…?

—I’m not good. And I’m not doing this for you, —the creature confessed, voice raw—.
But if you die… I die too.

An image formed within Edén’s soul.

Vorathrax, chained, subdued…
Three demons glaring at him with contempt.
He trembled like a child before his executioner.

—I can’t fall yet. Not now.

Gen raised his sword, ready for the final blow.

But in that instant… Edén’s body exploded.

A violent wave of power swallowed everything,
hurling Gen against the wall like a ragdoll.

Far away…

Shun, drenched in blood, looked upon his victory.
His breathing steady.
His heart calm.

Until—

A laugh.
Soft. Sticky.

—What…?

Puppet, half-dead, smiled.

—Looks like I lost…

—How… how are you still alive?

—Who knows… —he coughed blood—. But I can’t fight anymore. I can feel… every drop of energy fading away…

—Then what?

—I still have something left to do…

Shun watched him, not lowering his guard.

—What the hell are you saying?

—Come on…

Puppet spat a crimson lump and laughed.

—Let’s play one last time, Shun…

—What are you planning?

—Will you make it in time to save your apprentice… or will you fail him again?

—Spatial Technique!

The portal opened… and shattered instantly.

—What!?

—Welcome to my grand show, —Puppet whispered with his final breath—.
It’s called… A Loving Explosion.

The smile remained even as his body dissolved into the wind.

—Tick… Tock… Mr. Shun.

Shun ran.

Through time.
Through space.
Through his fear.

And then… the world went dark.

A monstrous, warped scream tore reality apart.
Light vanished, swallowed by a dark epicenter.

And from within that darkness…

…he emerged.

Edén.

Transformed.

A purple aura surrounded him, thick as storm smoke.
Two horns sprouted from his head.
Four fangs split his jaw.
His skin was open. Alive. Burning.
His eyes—entirely red—did not blink.
And his smile… was that of a demon born from suffering.

Narrator: In this moment… Edén is no longer human.
Narrator: Consumed by an ancient, irrational, and devastating power, he becomes something no one can measure.
Narrator: This state… is known as:

痛みの悪魔
The Demon of Pain

His roar tore through the underground sky.

And meanwhile…

hundreds of explosives, hidden beneath the earth,
began their countdown.

One by one.
Second by second.

Vorathrax whispered, with real fear in his voice:

—It can’t be…

Edén’s spirit floated, submerged in a dense, black mist—
like a nightmare trapped within itself.

Vorathrax watched from within.
But this time…

This time, something was different.

This isn’t like the other times… he thought.
This time… it isn’t me.
This time… he’s been consumed by my power.
It makes no sense! He shouldn’t be able to withstand it! He… he…

Edén’s voice emerged, distorted, unrecognizable.

—I’ll kill them… I’ll kill them all…

—EDÉN! —shouted Vorathrax.

But it was useless.

Black chains burst from the darkness, slithering like rabid serpents, wrapping around Vorathrax’s ethereal body and pinning him in place.

—What…?

Then, another voice rose within Edén’s mind.
Ancient. Deep. Calm. Authoritative.
A voice that froze the blood even without a body.

—What do you think you’re doing?

Vorathrax turned pale.
His once-firm expression twisted into pure terror.

—No… it can’t be…

—Why do you look so surprised? said the Unknown One, Number 64, his voice indecipherable and emotionless.
Have you forgotten?

I hold power over all of you.

After all… I am your father.

Vorathrax’s soul trembled.

—What did you do to Edén!?

—What you never had the courage to do, replied the Unknown—I gave him what he always longed for. Power.

—He won’t survive it!

—How disappointing. Years of exile, and all you’ve done is grow weaker.
And now you worry… about a human?

The chains tightened, crushing Vorathrax with overwhelming force.

—Just look at him…

The mist vanished.

What it revealed was horrifying.

Edén was laughing.
But not a human laugh.

A hollow, disturbing, mechanical laughter…

Madness leaked through his eyes, his mouth, his torn skin.

And before him, Gen struggled to withstand the onslaught of a monster.

An explosion of energy.
A devastating punch.

Gen barely managed to block, yet he was thrown like a projectile, crashing through rocks, columns, and dust as if he weighed nothing at all.

—Edén, stop! —shouted Vorathrax.

But Edén couldn’t hear him.

It wasn’t him anymore.

Only a deranged smile remained.

—He can’t hear you, said the Unknown 64.
Right now… he is nothing but pain.

The countdown moved forward, merciless.

00:43… 00:42…

—If you don’t stop this now, he’ll die! He’ll kill his own grandfather!

—And what if he does?

—I’m giving him power. The power to do everything he ever wanted. Everything.

Vorathrax closed his eyes, helpless.

—He can’t go through this again…

The battle raged on.

Edén was no longer fighting.
He was striking with hatred.
Pouring vengeance with every blow.

—Do you know what I find funniest? whispered the Unknown—He’s still trying to resist. He still thinks he can escape me.

But it’s only a matter of time…

A new shadow appeared within the darkness.

A figure identical to Edén.
Same voice.
Same presence.
But taller.
Darker.
More broken.

—Stop! cried Edén. I can’t… I can’t keep going! This isn’t me!

—Isn’t you? the shadow mocked.
I am you. You are me. We always have been.

—That’s not true!

—You never what? Never killed? Never wished to disappear?
Have you forgotten… how many died because of you?
Their faces…?
Their screams?

You are not good.
You are destruction.
You are death.

Darkness engulfed him entirely.

His legs shook.
His soul cracked.

—Accept what you are. Join me.

With me, you won’t cry anymore.
You’ll regain everything you love.
We can destroy Black Lights, the demons, Kai, Ryu…
Everyone.

The temptation was perfect.
The promise, irresistible.

00:10… 00:09… 00:08…

—Together… we will be unstoppable.

Edén, on his knees, crying.

—I-I…

Then—

A voice.

Clear. Warm. Familiar.

—You’ve grown stronger, Edén.

Vorathrax’s chains shattered instantly.

And the monster…

…for the first time…

…had a human face.

—G… g… grandpa…

The mask of darkness cracked.

And there he was.

The real Edén.

Eyes full of tears.
Voice broken.

—No… no… whispered the Unknown 64 as his control crumbled.

—Edén… said Vorathrax softly.

And then—

—I love you, murmured Gen, with a sincere smile.

And those two words were enough.

Enough to break Edén.
Enough to restore him.
Enough to crush him in the best possible way.

Far away, Shun ran desperately.

—That bastard…! I have to hurry or…!

And then—

00:00

Everything stopped.

A snap.
An instant.
A breeze.

And then—

BOOM

A massive explosion devoured the cave.

Rocks flew.
The earth shook.
Fire swallowed everything.

Puppet faded away.
Edén sprinted toward Gen.
Shun stared, unable to move.

Everything erupted.

And Shun’s strangled scream was the last thing the world heard:

—EDÉN!!