~THE PRESENT TIME~
The stone foundations of the Ukyo Gates groaned under a pressure that defied physics. It wasn't just the weight of the massive, metallic horror standing before them; it was the atmospheric density—the sheer, suffocating gravity of a monster that transformed every ounce of pain into hyper-dense mass.
Going back to the present time, the battlefield was a canvas of scorched earth and frozen blood. Standing in the center of the devastation were two boys who looked like a myth reborn.
On the left stood Kuraido K. Tenryu. He was a living eclipse, a paradox of nature. His left side radiated a blinding, white-hot solar corona, his hand wreathed in Solar Plasma that hissed with the fury of a thousand flares. His right side was a silent, abyssal void, a Moonside that didn't just freeze the air but sapped the very heat from existence, turning the oxygen into a haunting, lunar mist. When he moved, he was a spectrum of light and shadow, capable of melting steel with a glance or halting the heartbeat of a beast through molecular deceleration. He had mastered the Event Horizon, a state where his left eye burned like a sun and his right became a black hole, allowing him to cycle energy in an infinite, superconductive loop.
On the right, Shinji Saitou stood in a low, predatory stance. To any sorcerer, he was a ghost—a "Zero" with no mana signature to track. But to the physical world, he was a hurricane of raw willpower. He operated in the Flowstate: Zero Variant, a technique that bypassed magic entirely. His Aura was his weapon, a shimmering violet-silver force that he could harden into the Rotterdam Steel-Docks to shatter mountains, or use to silence his own heartbeat via the Amsterdam Phantom-Circuit. He was the ultimate counter to the supernatural: a man who fought not with spells, but with the terrifying density of a soul that refused to be erased.
Between them and the gate was the Iron Juggernaut, a Grotesque Maiju that had once been their friend, Daigo Kurogane. Now, it was a mountain of jagged, living iron.
"Once!" Shinji roared.
He vanished in a streak of light—Eindhoven Neon-Spark—appearing instantly at the Juggernaut's flank. His fist, coated in the metallic density of Rotterdam Steel-Docks, slammed into the creature's ribs. The impact should have leveled a building. Instead, the iron hide simply rippled, glowing with a dull, red heat as it activated Burden Forge. The monster didn't flinch; it simply became heavier.
"Twice!" Kuraido's voice was a cold command.
He leveled his left hand, unleashing a Solar Plasma Blast. A beam of concentrated white fire, hotter than the surface of a star, struck the Juggernaut's chest. The metal turned orange, then white, but as the heat peaked, the creature let out a distorted, metallic vibration. It wasn't melting; it was absorbing the thermal energy to reinforce its own molecular bonds.
"Thrice!" They cried in unison.
Shinji performed the Groningen Wind-Mill, his aura spiraling around his arm like a high-speed drill, while Kuraido unleashed a Lunar Chill to snap-freeze the heated metal. The combination of drill-force and thermal shock hit the Juggernaut's core.
The result was a deafening IRONHOWL. A shockwave of pure, distorted sound erupted from the beast, a roar that converted the internal strain of their attacks into an outward blast. Shinji and Kuraido were hurled backward, their heels digging deep furrows into the stone as they skidded a hundred feet across the courtyard.
They slammed back-to-back, their breathing synchronized, their eyes never leaving the behemoth that was now slowly stepping out of the crater, its footsteps cracking the bedrock like glass.
"It's not working," Shinji spat, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip. "Every time we hit him, he just 'forges' the impact. He's not just a tank, Kuraido. He's a kinetic battery that likes the taste of our Arcane."
Kuraido's eyes—one white-gold, one pitch-black—narrowed. "He's using Burden Forge to convert our output into hyper-dense mass. The harder we strike, the more immovable he becomes. He's a closed system. We're feeding the very monster we're trying to starve."
The Juggernaut let out another distorted groan, its visor flickering with a malevolent red light. It raised a massive, pillar-like arm, the ground beginning to vibrate as it prepared a Falling Fang slam.
"We need to brainstorm," Shinji said, ducking as a piece of shrapnel whistled over his head. "If we can't break the shell, we have to find the vent. That 'Howl'... it's not just a weapon. It's an exhaust port. He has to release the pressure, or he'll implode."
"Correct," Kuraido replied, his mind moving with the speed of a supercomputer. "But the window is milliseconds. To get him to vent that much pressure, we have to push him to his absolute limit—to the point where his Burden Forge can't keep up with the intake. We have to overfill the battery."
"You want me to go full throttle?" Shinji asked, a dangerous grin spreading across his face.
"I want you to be the hammer," Kuraido said, his Black Fire halo igniting with a roar. "I'll be the forge. I'm going to use Thermal Superconductivity to pump every ounce of heat into his shell, softening the atomic structure. When he reaches the 'Meltdown' state, he'll have to open his vents to howl. That's when you strike."
"Internal destruction," Shinji nodded. "Tilburg Chimera-Cracker. I'll inject my Aura directly into his mana-veins when he opens his mouth. We'll make him explode from the inside out."
The Juggernaut leapt. Falling Fang.
The sky seemed to collapse as the multi-ton beast descended.
"MOVE!" Shinji yelled.
They split. The impact cratered the entire entrance to Ukyo, sending a cloud of pulverized stone five hundred feet into the air. Through the dust, Kuraido moved like a ghost of light. He used Flare Burst Acceleration, circling the Juggernaut at Mach speeds. Every time he passed, he struck with Solar Plasma, not trying to pierce the iron, but turning the monster into a glowing, white-hot furnace.
The Juggernaut groaned, its body expanding, the iron plates beginning to groan under the internal heat. It tried to swing, but Kuraido was everywhere, a blur of white and black.
"Now, Shinji!" Kuraido screamed.
Kuraido stopped and raised both hands. "Lunar Drain!"
In a heartbeat, he sucked all the heat out of the air. The temperature around the Juggernaut dropped from five thousand degrees to absolute zero. The "Thermal Shock" was so violent that the Juggernaut's armor cracked with the sound of a thousand shattering mirrors.
The beast couldn't take it. The internal pressure reached a critical mass. Its jaw unhinged, its chest plates slid open, and it prepared the mother of all Ironhowls to vent the lethal energy.
"Eindhoven Neon-Spark!"
Shinji was a violet streak. He didn't go for the chest. He didn't go for the head. He dived straight toward the gaping, glowing maw of the beast as it began its roar.
"This is for everyone you've crushed!" Shinji's voice was a thunderclap.
He thrust his hand deep into the center of the "Howl," his fingers glowing with a concentrated, piercing Aura. "Tilburg Chimera-Cracker!"
He didn't just hit the beast; he injected his raw willpower directly into the Juggernaut's mana-circuits. The Aura, being "Zero" mana, acted like a virus, causing the Juggernaut's own stored energy to turn inward and detonate.
The roar turned into a wet, mechanical scream.
For a second, time stood still. Then, a violet and gold explosion rocked the Ukyo Gates, a pillar of energy shooting into the sky that could be seen for miles.
Shinji and Kuraido stood side-by-side as the smoke cleared. The Juggernaut lay on its back, its iron plating shattered, its massive form shrinking as the "Burden" evaporated.
But as the dust settled, Shinji's heart stopped. Through the cracked, metallic visor of the defeated monster, he saw a face he recognized. A face from a classroom. A face from a life that felt like it belonged to someone else.
"Daigo...?" Shinji whispered, his voice trembling.
The Juggernaut didn't answer. It only let out a faint, human whimper.
The battle for the gate was won, but the war for their souls had just begun.
[TO BE CONTINUED]