## I. The Silence After Death
The sound of the rain was the only lament. There were no more screams, no distorted roar of the Black Moon, only the final, dry, and definitive *clack!*, echoing in the void that followed. Tobi's head, severed from his body, lay a few meters away, his eyes still open, fixed on a sky that no longer belonged to him. The blood, thick and dark, ran across the earth, mixing with the rainwater that tried, in vain, to wash the scene clean.
Zack was kneeling. Not in reverence, but in collapse. The weight of the sword, which he still held loosely, was insignificant compared to the weight of that silence. The Black Moon, which moments before had been an uncontrolled fury, was inert, withdrawn to the depths of his soul, leaving only a cold, cutting emptiness.
"I want to die..."
The voice was a hoarse whisper, repeated like a broken mantra. It was not a wish for suicide, but the realization that life, at that moment, was an unbearable pain. He had killed his brother, his friend, the only anchor that connected him to a less somber past. Tobi's betrayal was a fact, but the pain of loss was the only truth that remained.
## II. The Arrival and the Questioning
The first to arrive was Orpheus. He did not come running, but walking, with slow, heavy steps, as if he knew exactly the horror he would find. His eyes, usually filled with an almost childlike curiosity, were burdened with a sadness that seemed to have aged his soul by decades. He saw the body, the head, and finally, Zack.
"Master..." The word barely escaped.
Orpheus felt no anger towards Zack. He felt only the confirmation of Lyra's fear: the Hunter's path was a path of blood and irreparable losses. He approached, but stopped at a safe distance. The aura of despair emanating from Zack was almost palpable, a cold mist that prevented any comfort.
K arrived shortly after, materializing with the cold precision of a ghost. She analyzed the scene in seconds. Tobi's body, the cut pattern, the residual energy of the ritual. Her expression, always controlled, wavered for an instant.
"The ritual has been undone," K declared, her voice low and technical. She looked at Tobi's head. "He... he was involved... But why? He didn't have the profile of a fanatic."
Orpheus, ignoring the technical analysis, looked at Zack, then at the body. "He had to kill his brother, his friend, a long-time Hunter... What a brutal world this is, K? Is this the path I must follow?"
K did not answer Orpheus. Her focus was on Zack, whose Black Moon, though inert, still pulsed faintly, a wounded heart that refused to stop.
## III. The Baby and the Decision
A sharp, incessant cry tore through the silence.
The sound came from a makeshift crib, hidden under a torn tarp. The baby, approximately three years old, cried with a strength and innocence that contrasted brutally with the death around him. His eyes, when K approached, were a **pure gold, almost liquid gold**, a disturbing and beautiful detail.
K, the pragmatic, the cold, the skeptical, hesitated for a millisecond. Then, with the efficiency of someone dealing with a time bomb, she picked up the child. The crying did not cease, but the warmth of the small body was a screaming reminder that life persisted.
"Death (Tobi) is dead, the ritual has been undone," K said, looking at Orpheus. "But this baby... he is the focal point. He is the legacy of betrayal and innocence. We need to get him out of here. Now."
K walked towards Zack, holding the baby.
## IV. The Silent Confrontation
"Zack!" K's voice was a whip.
Zack did not move. He continued repeating the mantra of death.
K stopped a few steps away, the baby crying in her arms. Orpheus tried to intervene, but K stopped him with a look.
"Your pain is real, Hunter," K said, her voice now carrying a calculated harshness. "But the threat is greater. Tobi made his choice. You made yours. And now, you have other choices to make."
She used the cruelest and most necessary words.
"Lyra and Mira need you. They are recovering, but they need their master to survive. If you sink into this grief, what Tobi did will have been in vain. The ritual master is still out there. And this baby," she pressed the child against her chest, "cannot stay here."
The mention of Lyra and Mira was the first blow that broke through Zack's catatonia. The image of their pupils, the fear in their eyes, their need for him. Zack's pain was an ocean, but the urgency to protect them was a tiny island he could cling to.
He finally raised his head. His eyes were empty, but the emptiness was beginning to be filled with a cold fury.
## V. The Master's Trail
K tried to talk, seeking information about Tobi, the ritual, the baby, and their past. But Zack did not respond. He stood up, staggering, and walked to Tobi's body.
"Don't touch him," Zack's voice was a command, not a request. "I will bury him. Alone."
Orpheus and K exchanged glances. They understood. Zack needed that last act of loyalty, to keep the promise of giving a dignified burial to his friend, even if that friend had become a traitor.
"We will take the baby to the hideout," K agreed, the pragmatic one yielding to the Hunter's grief. "Come back to us. You are the only one who can guide us now."
Zack merely nodded, taking Tobi's body in his arms. He ignored the head, which K, with a sigh, covered with the tarp.
He walked for hours, climbing a steep, desolate mountain, where the peak seemed to meet the black moon. Upon reaching the top, he dug the cold, wet earth with his bare hands, an act of penance and despair.
As he placed the body in the grave, he noticed something. A small notebook, hidden in the inner pocket of Tobi's jacket, protected from the rain.
With trembling hands, Zack opened the notebook. It was full of annotations, symbols, information about the ritual, and what appeared to be a coded diary. Tobi had left a trail of breadcrumbs, knowing he would die.
Zack flipped through the pages, absorbing the pain and the information. On the last page, in hurried handwriting, it was written:
> "I warned you, Zack, we would have to fight to the death.> the drink at the bar was wonderful, it was one of the best things that ever happened in my life."
The air left Zack's lungs in a silent sob. He remembered the night, years ago, when they drank until they dropped, laughing at Tobi's silly jokes, dancing embraced like brothers. The phrase, "Not in the face so as not to spoil the funeral," which they used in play fights, had become a brutal prophecy.
Zack cried. Not with screams, but with silent, warm tears that streamed down his face, mixing with the rain. He couldn't spoil the funeral. He couldn't fail his friend's last wish.
Tobi was not just a traitor; he was a pawn. A pawn who, in the end, tried to leave one last gift: the truth.
## VI. The Broken Promise
Zack closed the notebook, burying it alongside Tobi's body. He covered the grave, marking the spot with a rough stone.
The pain had not vanished, but it had transformed. The catatonic despair gave way to a **cold, focused fury**.
He stood up, the Black Moon pulsing again, but this time, under an iron control. Zack's promise to forgive the world, to seek peace, was broken.
He looked out at the horizon, where the city lay under the rain.
He would train Orpheus. He would take care of the golden-eyed baby. And he would destroy everyone who manipulated and distorted his friend's mind. Nanashi, the Polyhedron country, the true ritual master, **Skull**.
The hunt had changed. It was no longer about survival or justice. It was about annihilation.
The Hunter's Void had been filled by the **brutal determination of a King**.
****End of Chapter 39*