A heavy silence looms over a vast arena filled with metallic sands, as if the earth itself is preparing to witness an unprecedented event.
Mary stands in the middle of the arena, wearing her iron armor that pulses with a faint energy, surrounded by an army of metallic soldiers she created with her powers. Each soldier carries mysterious features resembling her, as if they are copies of her, expressing her determination, anger, and each piece of them holds part of her soul.
On the opposite side, the masked figure steps forward with calm steps. No army behind him. No visible weapons. Only four masks orbit around him in irregular paths, emitting invisible waves that cause the earth to tremble.
Then, he speaks in a cold voice:
"You wanted war, Mary? War is not about the number of soldiers, but about how many ways you know to erase yourself."
Mary screams a single command:
"All units... forward!"
The iron soldiers surge forward like a solid flood. The earth shakes under their steps, and the sky darkens from the rising dust.
To face the hidden soldiers.
But...
The masked figure raises his finger.
The four masks light up all at once and rise into the air.
Suddenly...
Each attacking soldier freezes in place for a second. Then they explode from within.
Mary opens her eyes in shock:
"What is this...?"
The masked figure's voice comes from above… and below… and even inside her head:
"Each of these masks has a different property… one tears through frequencies, another distorts consciousness, the third burns information, and the fourth... reflects the attack back on its owner."
With one strike, half of the army falls.
Did I not tell you I gained experience at the cost of power?
But Mary doesn't collapse.
"An army of consciousness… not enough. I'll make a new arena!"
She extends her hands toward the sky and channels her energy into the earth.
From the heart of the metallic arena, massive structures resembling towers of smart iron rise, emitting waves that counteract the masks' frequencies.
The masked figure takes a step back and whispers:
"Smart... but not enough."
Then, he enters the transparent world.
He disappears for a moment.
And suddenly, attacks on Mary's ranks come from nowhere. Light pierces her soldiers from invisible angles. Even the iron towers... crumble one after another under an imperceptible attack.
Mary grits her teeth...
They aren't just enemies... They are "the hidden" — allies of the masked figure in the transparent world.
She stares into the void and then whispers:
"Like we're fighting ghosts... No, we're inside their dream."
She closes her eyes for a moment.
Then — she gives an unforgettable command:
"'Vision-Zero' system… full activation!"
A mechanical voice rings through the sky:
"Activation: Invisible detection systems. Entering myth mode."
And suddenly...
Everything changes.
A pale blue aura emanates from Mary's soldiers, as if ancient spirits have been infused within them.
Their eyes glow in a complex circular pattern — they can now see the unseen.
The first "hidden" appears.
A strange, distorted body, as if born from an illusion or nightmare, moves with incredible speed… but it is no longer invisible.
One of Mary's soldiers leaps at it, stabbing it with a sword charged with distortion energy.
An explosion of light, followed by a loud scream that tears through the air... the first hidden falls.
The battle shifts.
The hidden retreat, but Mary's army advances.
Each step of a soldier leaves behind a glowing seal that repels the invisible waves.
The earth transforms into a legendary arena: where the laws of consciousness and physics fade and are replaced by laws of will.
Mary raises her hand and says in a calm voice, but one that fills the arena:
"You were made by the masked figure from his shadow... But I made my soldiers from the depths of his regret."
With a single wave of her hand, the sky splits.
Through it, seven legendary knights descend — special units from her army, each embodying a human emotion: nostalgia, fear, anger, sorrow, faith, doubt, and resolve.
Each knight faces a group of the hidden and breaks their law.
The people outside the battle won't understand what happened.
But at that moment, in that mysterious arena… the scales of victory tipped toward Mary.
Amid the atmosphere of triumph, and with each cheer from Mary's soldiers,
the ground begins to shake...
Not like a natural earthquake, but as if something beneath the battle is awakening.
A faint sound, but it pierces the hearts of the warriors...
A muffled laugh, echoing between the shadows, coming from nowhere:
"Well done... You've uncovered my first masks."
Then—silence.
And suddenly...
Everything collapses.
The sky that split in Mary's favor begins to merge... but in black.
The hidden return, but this time... different.
They have transformed into nothingness entities, formless, piercing through time itself.
Mary's soldiers fall without even being touched,
As if "possibility" itself has been erased from their existence.
One of the seven knights, the knight of nostalgia, attempts to attack...
But stops, looking at his hand — he no longer exists.
The masked figure appears, finally.
Standing atop a half-destroyed tower, his cloak waving despite the still wind.
His eyes gleam from behind the mask.
He speaks in a soft voice, but one that can be heard everywhere:
"No one wins in the transparent world... whoever sees it, doesn't leave unscathed."
Then he raises his hand — and claps.
And with the clap...
All the defensive towers collapse.
The knights break into dust of memories.
Mary's army… is completely erased.
Mary kneels, her hair scattering in the ash, clutching the ground with a bloodied fist, her eyes welling with tears...
But not out of sorrow — but out of rage.
She whispers:
"No... I won't give you victory, even if everything ends."
She slowly rises, removing a pendant hidden beneath her armor.
She raises her hand toward the sky — and begins the ancient rituals.
She speaks in a forgotten language, burning the air around her:
"Kryas... Omna... Zal Nara... Ithela!"
Blue flames begin to appear from her feet, rising up her body, burning without harming her.
The heat is unbearable, even the hidden retreat...
The absolute blue fire — a magic that only those who choose death willingly can wield.
She screams:
"With the eternal magic... with my emotions, my regret, my dead motherhood... burn them all!!"
Blue flames explode from her chest, as if a star was born on the earth.
The sky turns upside down, the earth splits, everything melts.
The masked figure, for the first time, takes a step back.
The magic holds three traits: first, the special magic, like aura enhancement or your specific element.
Absolute magic is the highest form of your specific element.
Black magic is unknown to anyone, as it is a rare magic with no known conditions for obtaining it.
Mary slowly lowers her hand, then opens her eyes wide.
The sky turns dark blue.
The earth cracks.
The wind screams.
As if she awakened something that had been asleep for centuries.
Mary (in a thick whisper):
"Zal Azur, the infinite... come."
Triangular magic circles appear beneath her feet, each representing one of the three magical traits.
The lines intertwine and entangle until blue transparent flames burst from beneath, swirling around her like spirits of rage.
From afar, the masked figure's hidden hordes appear, crawling silently, rushing through the shadows as if they were pieces of night itself.
But they suddenly stop.
The blue heat pierces everything.
The screams are not heard... but felt.
Anyone who comes near the magic's range melts without burning... disappearing as though they never existed.
The earth itself decomposes.
The destroyed iron towers, which everyone thought were gone, turn into soft blue ash and vanish into the air.
Mary raises her hand again, and in a booming voice:
"Are you endless shadows? Well... try to darken in the face of absolute light!"
A sword made of blue fire forms in her hand.
She steps forward slowly, but each step knocks down dozens of the masked figures, as if the sword needs no strike, only to be unsheathed.
Suddenly... the masked figure appears.
The sky splits.
The shadows flee behind him.
Mary stops.
She glares at him, as he emerges from a black rift in the air, behind him the very void.
Mary (with a defiant smile):
"Finally decided to come out yourself... you should have done that before I wiped out your army."
The masked figure speaks in a low voice, devoid of emotion:
"You still haven't seen the unseen..."
The earth is burnt ash, and the air is filled with silence... the silence before the end.
Mary stands amid the destruction, sweating, her clothes torn, with the sword of blue fire in her hand, beating as though it were a living being.
The masked figure bleeds from the shadows, his face unseen, but the faint tremor of his body shows weakness for the first time.
Mary (in a breathless but firm voice):
"You thought darkness was eternal... but you forgot something, shadow of oblivion... even darkness fears the light when it rises from the heart of pain."
The masked figure raises his hand in a final attempt, but his fingers melt under the blue flame's brightness, his muffled scream only escaping as a faint groan.
A vortex of black magic explodes around him in a desperate attempt to escape, but Mary drives her sword into the earth.
Everything stops.
Then...
A blue light explosion fills the arena.
The masked figure is swallowed inside a circle of blue flames, his screams fade, his shadows tear apart, and his mask flutters like ash in the air, disintegrating in layers.
A moment of silence...
Then his body collapses into black ash, cast out of this world forever.
The sky returns to clear.
Light fills the devastation.
Mary falls to her knees, placing her hand on her chest, looking at the void where the masked figure once stood.
Finally, she has won.
The air is still, cold as death, with the smell of burning iron.
In the center of the hall, a circle is carved into the ground, surrounded by complex geometric engravings glowing with a dark red hue.
In the middle, the masked figure stands motionless, his hands raised to the dark sky, muttering in forgotten languages.
A faint voice echoes from the void:
"Are you ready? Half for the infinite? No return once it starts."
The masked figure (calmly, without hesitation):
"I only need the half... for the other half, I will live only as a wonder."
Suddenly, chains form and seize the masked figure's chest, pulling from him a transparent shade, half light and half shadow.
The masked figure trembles, blood pouring from his eyes and vomiting it as well, with a muffled scream that shakes the walls of the place.
The voice again:
"The half has been taken. The contract is sealed. Now... take what you asked for."
The geometric circles glow indigo, then explode beams into the masked figure's body, engraving moving geometric symbols on his skin, pulsing like another heart.
The masked figure falls to the ground, crawling slowly, then....
His voice changed... it became dual.
The Masked Man (with a terrifying smile):
"I can feel it... the geometry... no, it's inspiration... no, it's the end of human limitation."
He raises his hand, and the nearby stone column collapses into square-shaped particles – as if the laws of the world have yielded to him.
So, this is the "Eiji" different from magic.