The cathedral trembled. Cracks crawled across the stone like spiderwebs, echoing each shattering blow.
Minamoto grunted, her blade clashing against Maggorath's monstrous claw. She was fast—but not fast enough. The demon swiped her aside like swatting a fly, sending her crashing into a pillar.
Yue shouted her name, rushing to her—only to catch a brutal fist to the ribs that folded him in half. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood.
Hayato watched, frozen, blood dripping from his brow. His hands trembled.
His friends—his family—were down.
And Maggorath was laughing.
"Pathetic. This is your rebellion? This is your vengeance? Your father would weep if he wasn't too busy feasting on corpses."
Something snapped.
A low hum vibrated from the blackened sword at Hayato's side. It pulsed—once—twice—like a heartbeat syncing with his rage.
His fire ignited.
It wasn't orange.
It wasn't red.
It was black.
Flames exploded around him, coiling like serpents. His sclera darkened, and his irises burned yellow, like a furnace barely holding itself together. His veins lit up under his skin, flickering with black heat.
Maggorath staggered back—not in fear, but in interest.
"Ohh... there it is. The monster he tried to build. You're becoming it."
Hayato charged.
The ground beneath him shattered from the force. He slammed into Maggorath like a comet, fist wreathed in fire, driving the demon through a wall with enough force to collapse half the cathedral.
"YOU DON'T GET TO TALK ABOUT HIM," Hayato roared, voice layered—like Kurai's soul echoed beneath it.
Each blow came faster. Stronger. His sword moved like it had a will of its own. Flames consumed everything around him. The stone, the pillars, the corpses of long-forgotten sacrifices—they all turned to ash in seconds.
But Yue, barely conscious, saw it first:
Hayato was burning himself.
His skin cracked in places, glowing faintly. Steam hissed from his body like a boiling engine. And his eyes—those glowing yellow eyes—looked less human by the second.
"Minamoto—he's gonna kill himself if this keeps up!"
"We have to stop him—before he wins and still loses everything."
The chapter ends with Maggorath still standing—barely—but smiling.
"Now that's more like it... Just like your father. Let it consume you, Hayato."
And Hayato?He stands there in fire and ash—unmoving, trembling, eyes wide with fury and pain.