Ryoma drove Kriya backward with a savage shove, slamming him hard into the jagged rock wall. Stone cracked. Both of them coughed violently—blood splattering the water as they staggered.
"How long—!" Ryoma wheezed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "At this rate it feels like we've been fighting forever! Will the sun even rise at this point?!"
"Tch. Too noisy," Kriya muttered.
"What?" Ryoma snapped. "I can't hear you!"
Kriya wrenched himself free, wiping blood from his chin as he muttered,
"Maybe you've gone deaf after I hit your ear."
"What did you say—?"
"I SAID YOU'RE TOO NOISY!"
Ryoma snarled. "This asshole—take this!"
Their fists collided again, screams tearing through the night as they shouted simply to hear one another, blows raw and unrestrained.
From afar, Astra watched them writhe and clash, her expression unreadable.
"The sun will rise," she said quietly. "But so will another cycle of ruin." She exhaled a sound almost like regret. "If only I were the one—"
She stopped mid-sentence as Kaen jolted awake.
His vision swam as he looked around wildly, confusion crashing over him—until his gaze caught on the two figures screaming, striking, clashing with desperate fury. He tried to rise. But his body refused.
His body was weak, pale and completely hollowed out by what he had done earlier. He could only drag himself forward, inch by inch until he felt her presence.
"Astra…?" he croaked as he crawled toward her, his voice barely holding together. "Astra?"
She neither looked at him nor offered any response, her silence heavier than any words. Kaen reached out with trembling fingers, but she rose instantly, stepping just beyond his grasp. Even then, he continued crawling after her, desperation tearing raw through his chest.
"Astra, please—stop this!" he cried, his voice cracking under the strain. "I don't know what's happening, but seeing them like this… this is my worst nightmare. Please—tell them to stop. I…I can't see this!"
Instantly, Astra reached out and grabbed his chin.
Kaen's breath caught in his throat.
His eyes widened as he met hers—now glowing a deep, unsettling red. For a moment he couldn't even process what he was seeing. No sound would come from his throat, no matter how hard he tried.
The hand holding his chin no longer felt gentle or familiar. It didn't feel like a touch at all.
It felt like a vice.
Her grip tightened, cold and unyielding, as if invisible fingers had wrapped around his throat as well, squeezing the air from his lungs. His chest struggled to rise, each breath becoming thinner than the last.
Without effort, she turned his face toward the battle unfolding ahead,
"Then look," she said sharply. "Look properly. See with your eyes wide open."
Her grip tightened, leaving no room to look away.
"See your little brother," she continued, her voice cutting and relentless, "struggling to keep himself from killing him. See how hard he's fighting to keep his eyes shut—so he doesn't turn him into ashes. See how he's defying my command, taking every blow, even though he could end it in a second by opening them just once." Her tone grew colder with every word. "See how much he is suffering just to hold the monster within him back."
Kaen trembled violently.
The scene before his eyes sharpened, Kriya shaking from head to toe, teeth clenched so tightly they might crack, eyes squeezed shut as if holding back something monstrous.
Astra leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear. "Sister," she murmured softly. "Does it remind you of something?"
Kaen's body convulsed as the memory slammed into him without mercy.
"No—" His head shook violently, panic tearing through him. "No. No. No—!"
Her voice followed him, precise and unrelenting, each word slipping neatly into the cracks of his mind.
"Does it remind you of the day he struggled just like this, when he was holding himself back from killing your—"
"NO!! NO!! NO!!"
The scream tore out of Kaen as he clutched his head, the past clawing its way to the surface no matter how desperately he tried to push it back.
Astra straightened slowly, her gaze fixed on him as he unraveled before her.
A smile curved her lips.
"So," she murmured, almost tenderly, "it does remind you."
Hearing Kaen scream like that, Ryoma froze mid-blow. His fist halted just short of impact as instinct took over, and he shoved Kriya back instead.
"No…" Ryoma breathed, horror cracking through his voice. "Kaen."
Kriya staggered, turning sharply toward the sound. "Sist—"
The word hadn't even settled before Ryoma snapped.
"Finish that sentence and I'll end you," he roared. "Don't you dare!"
At the sound of his name, Kaen went still.
Just for a heartbeat.
Then, as if sheer will alone dragged him upright, Kaen forced every last drop of blood left in his body to his legs. His knees screamed in protest, but he rose anyway unsteady, shaking and dashed toward them.
"…Sister, wait." Astra's voice came out almost a whisper carried by the night. "You'll get hurt badly."
Kriya was trembling now, his body pushed beyond its limit. A sharp, burning pain had begun drilling behind his eyes moments earlier, a relentless pressure screaming for release. With every second he fought it, the agony worsened—and it showed. His fists came down on Ryoma with savage force, stripped of restraint.
Ryoma barely twisted aside as a strike tore past him, aimed straight for his chest. The blow slammed into the rock behind, shattering it on impact as deep cracks spider-webbed outward. One hit like that would have crushed his ribs without mercy. But worse followed—his leg slipped into the fractured stone and was caught fast, pinned tight.
"Tch—what's wrong with him?" Ryoma growled, straining uselessly to pull free. "Hey! We agreed to fight till sunrise! What happened all of a sudden?!"
Kriya didn't answer. He lunged again, arm drawing back with terrifying force. Ryoma felt it then—he couldn't move. He couldn't stop it.
And in that heartbeat—Kaen stepped between them.
The blow landed.
"NO!"
Ryoma's scream ripped through the air as Kaen's body snapped forward, blood bursting from his mouth as the impact folded him in on himself.
At the very same instant, Astra heard a voice echo from nowhere, cold and absolute.
"Not yet," it whispered, distant and unwavering. "The shadows have not yet poured out their vessels of sin. You must wait until the moment arrives—for what has passed, and for what is yet to come. Wait until the shadowed past reveals itself."
Her eyes widened in shock, recognition flickering for a split second before her vision plunged into darkness, and she collapsed where she stood.
Something shifted in the night.
The sky trembled.
Crimson light bled over the horizon as the first rays of sunlight pierced the darkness, devouring it inch by inch. Dawn rose like an omen rather than a blessing.
"Kaen!" Ryoma shouted.
The rocks loosened their grip as he tore himself free, catching Kaen just before both of them plunged into the water below, sinking together beneath the scarlet-lit surface.
Behind them, Kriya stumbled back as the unseen command shattered. With Astra collapsed, the pressure vanished leaving only devastation in its wake. He stood there, hand trembling—the same hand that had delivered a killing blow before slowly lifting his face toward the sky.
The sun was rising.
Daylight spilled over the waterfall, painting everything in scarlet, Kriya's eyes fluttered open. He stared at the rising sun, its light mirrored in his gaze. A single tear slipped free, crystallizing in midair, catching the newborn light before falling silently into the water below.
"Can one ever rise without leaving pieces of oneself behind in the dark? Can a path truly be changed without bleeding through it first? Can the thread of destiny be unraveled without shattering what I hold most dear? Will the sun ever rise for me without the echo of my own ruin following close behind? And if I defy what has been written… will I find glory waiting for me, or only utter misery?"
His gaze drifted until it fell upon Astra lying unconscious beside the water, her stillness heavier than any wound.
"Can I truly change the end," he whispered, "if I go against destiny in this… tenth life of mine?"