Chapter 7
In a vast house with shining white walls, children filled the space with laughter and energy. The golden light of the sun streamed through the luxurious royal windows, reflecting off the polished floors and filling the rooms with warmth. In one corner of the house, Elder Arkadius sat on the sofa, his eyes watching his children, who were no older than five years. They were dressed in black formal suits, their elegant appearance contrasting with their innocence as they played together, laughing and standing in one spot, forming a scene full of purity.
On the seat next to him, Marshal Chris sat, watching Elder Arkadius' children while contemplating the world around him. Their eyes sparkled as if they carried a hidden hope in their laughter.
Marshal Chris muttered with a smile as he watched them:
"Regardless of how harsh the world may be, children still laugh!"
Elder Arkadius gently nodded his head and replied in a calm voice:
"Yes, that's true... As long as children laugh, it means there is still a trace of humanity left in this world."
Then Marshal Chris lifted his eyes from the children and focused his gaze on Arkadius, saying:
"Are you sure you'll give this speech tomorrow?"
Elder Arkadius answered in a serious tone, turning toward him:
"Yes, it's the only option that will allow me to change the fate of this world."
Marshal Chris looked at him intently before asking in a low voice:
"Will Lady Katya be with you?"
Arkadius shook his head and confirmed:
"Yes, I will bring my daughter with me as well."
Marshal Chris stood up from his seat while Arkadius remained seated, his eyes focused on Katya, who was watching them from the door, her sparkling eyes taking in every detail.
Marshal Chris spoke once more as he walked toward the door:
"I'll tell you something important tomorrow, before we head over there."
As Marshal Chris left, Arkadius remained seated, his mind deep in thought, his thoughts crossing within his mind.
---
In Marun City
On the other side of the city, the three captains and the four boys were watching from a distance as the Stage was being built.
Samuel expressed his curiosity:
"Tomorrow, the city will be full of crowds!"
Leo shook his head, saying:
"All people, from the rich to the poor, will attend. Whether they have importance or not, everyone will be here to listen to Elder Arkadius' speech."
Suddenly, Marshal Chris appeared beside them, looking at the Stage:
"Something important will happen here tomorrow, a lot of information will be revealed in this speech."
A look of surprise appeared on everyone's faces at his sudden appearance. Maria said in astonishment:
"Marshal Chris?!"
Marshal Chris continued speaking, staring at the Stage that was under construction:
"I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but I'm not reassured."
Raizo said in a tone of disbelief:
"It's suspicious for one of the World Sages to appear before the public. But I don't think anything major will happen."
Amy listened to his words and then smiled, saying:
"No! My intuition tells me that something will be different tomorrow!"
Marshal Chris looked at them seriously, then spoke firmly:
"Listen to me, Captains!"
Everyone looked at him expectantly as Marshal Chris spoke in a serious tone:
"Tomorrow, Lady Katya, Elder Arkadius' daughter, will be at the Stage. Therefore, whatever happens, we are responsible for protecting her and the Elder!"
Everyone focused their attention on him as Marshal Chris continued to observe the Stage under construction.
---
The Day After – Tuesday
At Night – Marun City
The silver moon gleamed in the sky over Marun, casting its cold glow on the streets wet from the previous night's rain. The air was heavy with the scent of damp earth, while the faint lights danced on the sidewalks, creating a peaceful scene before the storm.
At the heart of the city, the massive Stage stood exposed to the sky, with no walls to block it, as if it were a sacred space for the awaited event. The curtain was still closed, and the seats in the streets were filled to capacity. Businessmen in their sharp suits, military leaders with stern faces, and ordinary citizens with a mixture of curiosity and tension—everyone was waiting eagerly.
Amid this diverse crowd, Amy sat with everyone, while two empty seats raised questions: Raizo and Ryan were not there.
Amy, with her sparkling eyes, shifted slightly in her seat, then murmured with childlike excitement:
"I can't wait to see what happens!"
Maria smiled and leaned toward her playfully:
"You'll find out soon..."
As for Leo, he was more anxious. His eyes scanned the seats before he whispered:
"Where are Raizo and Ryan? Why aren't they here?"
Everyone exchanged glances, but none of them had an answer.
---
Inside the Stage – Preparation Room
In a dimly lit room, a woman carefully brushed powder onto the face of Elder Arkadius, adding the final touches to his features. His white hair flowed over his shoulders like a curtain of time, and his deep eyes stared into his reflection in the mirror, as if reading his future between the wrinkles carved by years on his face.
In the back, there were silent, expectant gazes. Heavy moments passed before the door opened, and four elderly men entered, each bearing the weight of history on their shoulders—Xavier, Magnus, Leonardo, and Kaiser.
The woman's hand paused, and silence fell over the room. Arkadius lifted his gaze to them, and when their eyes met, an unspoken tension filled the air.
Leonardo stepped forward first. His voice was calm, but charged with meaning:
"It is brave of you to expose yourself to this danger, Arkadius."
Arkadius did not smile, but he did not hesitate either. With a steady tone, he replied:
"Yes, Marshal Chris told me of all the risks. But I am determined to reveal the truth to the world."
Magnus raised his hand and extended it toward him with a firm gesture, saying:
"Then, good luck, Arkadius."
Arkadius glanced at his hand for a moment, then extended his own and gripped it tightly. Everyone exchanged cautious glances—the next moment could change everything.
---
Outside – Curtain Opening
The curtain began to rise slowly, as if revealing secrets long buried beneath the shadows. The Stage lights reflected off eager faces, while the front rows were packed with journalists, their cameras flashing like tiny stars trying to capture the truth.
Amy jumped with excitement, pointing at the stage:
"They're opening the curtain!"
The crowd began whispering among themselves, as news spread across screens and social media platforms.
The curtain kept rising, and next to Maria stood a man whose figure began to take shape—a young man dressed in military uniform, his features sharp as a blade. It was Nicola Goki.
He turned to the woman beside him and spoke in a low, yet formal tone:
"Captain Maria."
Maria turned her head swiftly, as if pulled out of her thoughts. Nicola continued:
"Marshal Chris is requesting your presence."
Her eyes widened in shock:
"Me?!"
Nicola nodded firmly, his expression unchanging:
"Yes, Captain."
At that moment, the curtain rose completely, revealing Elder Arkadius. He stood beneath the spotlight, lifting his arms in welcome. Time seemed to freeze in that instant.
"WELCOME, EVERYONE!"
The crowd erupted in applause, while the flashes of the cameras lit up the stage in bursts of white—capturing history in a single moment.
---
Backstage – Equipment Storage Room
In the dark, between rows of stacked chairs, two figures moved quietly.
Ryan was leading Raizo, their footsteps echoing softly off the walls. Ryan whispered with a mysterious smile:
"You're going to be surprised, Mr. Raizo."
Raizo stopped briefly, his eyes narrowing with suspicion:
"Where are we going? Elder Arkadius's speech has already begun."
Ryan chuckled without slowing down:
"You'll see. Just follow me!"
He opened the storage room door with a faint creak of the hinges. Raizo stepped in after him, finding himself in a dimly lit space, barely illuminated by tired ceiling lights. There, in the center of the room, someone sat on a chair.
A young man with long brown hair, one of his eyes covered by a bandage—but the other eye... it burned with intensity.
Raizo froze, his eyes wide in shock, as if he had seen a ghost from the past. He barely whispered the name, the air seeming to vanish from his lungs:
"SUERO...??"
Standing behind, Ryan watched the tension on Raizo's face, smiling carefully, awaiting a reaction he could never have predicted.
---
On the Stage
Elder Arkadius stood firm at the center of the stage, his voice rising above the growing murmur of the crowd. He lifted a hand to call for silence, then spoke clearly:
"I gathered you here, and brought the press, for one reason… something that may change the course of history—and the entire world!"
Silence fell across the hall. Every eye turned toward him with anticipation, as camera flashes intensified, capturing every shift in his expression.
---
In a House
Maria stood before Nicola, her eyes gleaming with confusion as she asked in a tense tone:
"So, where is Marshal Chris?!"
Nicola didn't reply. Instead, he took a step back and pressed a hidden switch beneath his foot. In an instant, a secret door opened beneath Maria, and the ground swallowed her before she could respond.
She plummeted down a narrow tunnel, her body hitting the metallic walls until she reached the bottom. Quickly, she stood and scanned her surroundings—thick steel walls enclosing her, a high ceiling with a tightly sealed door above.
She clenched her fists in frustration and muttered in anger:
"DAMN IT! It's too narrow and too high... I can't transform into a bird!"
She kicked the steel wall with all her strength, but the cold metallic echo only confirmed what she feared—there was no easy escape.
---
In the Audience
Samuel cast a sideways glance at Leo, who had just finished whispering something to one of the soldiers before returning to his seat. Samuel raised an eyebrow and asked curiously:
"Something wrong?"
Leo offered a calm smile and replied:
"Nothing... Let's just listen to what Elder Arkadius has to say!"
---
Backstage – Chair Storage
Raizo stood frozen, his eyes wide in shock as he stared at the person seated before him—Suero Rashid.
Suero slowly rose, pulled another chair, placed it directly in front of him, then sat again with a confident posture. He looked straight into Raizo's eyes and asked calmly:
"Surprised, Raizo?"
He motioned toward the chair in front of him:
"Come, sit."
Raizo remained standing, struggling to process the situation, until Ryan broke the silence with a smirk:
"So, Mr. Brown, I've brought you together with Captain Raizo. I can leave now, right?"
But Suero didn't take his eyes off Raizo. He replied firmly:
"No... You too, Ryan. It's important that you listen to this conversation."
Ryan looked at him in surprise but didn't argue. He turned toward Raizo, who was equally stunned. Finally, both of them sat down, while Suero maintained his usual calm, as if what he was about to say carried a weight that couldn't be ignored.
---
On the Stage
Elder Arkadius stood beneath the lights, his face reflecting determination and resolve. Then, he began recounting history with his deep voice:
"Nearly a thousand years ago, in Kaisima, there lived a king named Reagan… This king was more than just a ruler—he was the very creator of the magic we know today!"
The audience exchanged glances—some stunned, others nodding in understanding—while the Elder continued:
"But Reagan was no ordinary man… He saw the future. How? No one knows! But what he saw came to pass... He foresaw that Arcadia would create monsters, and that those monsters would be tested on his people!"
---
In the Storage Room
Suero raised his head slightly, his eyes sharp and glinting before he whispered:
"His words are reaching even here... Let's listen."
As for Raizo, his body remained stiff, his face pale, while Elder Arkadius's voice grew heavier with every word:
"Out of his love for his people, Reagan decided to forge a power to protect them… But it was no ordinary power. It was a power capable of destroying the entire earth!"
---
On the Stage
The audience held its breath as Elder Arkadius continued in a low, yet piercing voice:
"And he saw another vision… A vision that foretold that this power would one day be activated! That is the true threat… The power wasn't created today—it has existed for a long time. That is why… we… the World Sages have decided to act!"
He paused for a moment, then declared clearly:
"We sent a campaign, led by Captain Raizo, to the cursed land of Kaisima"
---
In the Storage Room
Raizo's body trembled, his eyes glinting with worry, while Suero stared at him with a steady gaze—one that seemed to test his resolve in this critical moment. Then, Suero began removing the bandages from his face and eye, dropping them to the ground. Behind them was an untouched face—his eyes and features sharp, fixed directly on Raizo.
As for Ryan, he bit his lip, feeling that what was unfolding went far deeper than he had anticipated.
Suero looked into Raizo's eyes, a supernatural stillness reflected in his own. He spoke in a calm voice, yet heavy with meaning:
"So… that was the reason you were in Kaisima, wasn't it?"
Raizo lowered his head, eyes fixed on the floor, and answered with a hoarse voice, barely audible:
"Yes."
Suero raised an eyebrow slightly, then asked with a tone that carried a subtle sharpness:
"What was the goal of that campaign?"
Raizo hesitated for a moment, as if struggling with the weight of the words he was about to speak. Then, with a tense voice, he replied:
"The campaign was meant to eliminate the threat of that power… and the vision. To do that… we intended to use the Obliteration power on Kaisima itself—to protect the world! But…"
He stopped for a moment, then whispered as if afraid to confess the truth:
"We failed."
Silence fell. Suero lowered his head slightly, his eyes deep in thought. Then, slowly, as if weighing every word, he spoke:
"If it was truly to protect the world… then you had no other choice?"
Raizo raised his head, startled, as if seeing a glimpse of justification in Suero's question. But no words came out—his eyes only stared in confusion at Suero, who continued coldly:
"But to protect the world… you destroyed us!"
At that moment, memories flooded Suero's mind like a raging torrent. Familiar faces… distant voices… screams swallowed by tongues of fire. Kamasi, Shinbo, Kamyo, Veb, Baysal, his family, Yamato… All of them were gone—only ashes remained.
Raizo clenched his fist, sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. He tried to explain, to find a way out:
"But… I was forced! I had no other choice!"
Suero's eyes widened slightly, then he responded with a voice colder than ice:
"You weren't forced! You could've killed yourself instead of doing that to us!"
Raizo's eyes shook, as if he had been struck by an invisible blow. The weight of those words was overwhelming—he couldn't reply.
Suero turned away, his eyes wandering toward the ceiling, as if trying to pierce through the dark walls of the room and reach the sky. He continued, his voice brimming with bitterness:
"I always believed that we were meant to protect humans… that our battle was against the monsters. But we never knew the real reason the monsters existed. We thought the world suffered as we did… that it shared the same fate but… We were wrong."
Raizo's hand trembled, while Ryan swallowed hard, struggling to grasp the weight of Suero's words.
Suero turned toward Raizo, arms crossed, his eyes gleaming with something hard to define—something between certainty, anger, and vengeance:
"I always wondered… Why did my friends sacrifice themselves for me? Why did they die fighting the monsters?"
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again, as if he had finally grasped the truth he had been seeking his entire life:
"I read the book of the King of Kaisima… and in it, I found the answer I had always asked myself! The answer is: 'So that I may live… and so we could reach this very moment!'"
Raizo gasped unconsciously, while Raizo suddenly screamed, as if a horrifying realization struck him:
"Suero! Why are you here?!"
Suero turned to him slowly, showing not a hint of emotion. He replied in the same calm tone—one that instilled more fear than rage:
"I've always been here."
Ryan's breathing grew faster. His lips trembled as he whispered, barely audible:
"No... it can't be... Are you Suero Rashid?!"
Suero's expression remained cold—like a mask of ice—before he responded in a low but confident tone:
"Yes... I've always been him."
Ryan's eyes widened, waves of shock crashing into waves of fury. His fist clenched, tears falling from his eyes—not out of weakness, but with hatred in his voice, he shouted:
"You lied to me! I trusted you when you said you were Mr. Brown!"
Suddenly, as if struck by a blinding flash, he opened his eyes wide and exclaimed in sudden astonishment:
"The letters?! The ones I kept sending... who were they for?!"
Suero looked at him coolly and replied with plain simplicity:
"Oh, those were for my friends."
Silence fell—not a peaceful silence, but one heavy with dread and disbelief.
Raizo stared at Suero, as if trying to deny the truth unfolding before him, then asked with a hesitant, trembling voice:
"Suero... are you going to start a war here?"
Suero raised his head slightly, looked Raizo in the eyes with not a hint of doubt, and answered with a single word:
"Yes."
Raizo's eyes widened in panic, but he couldn't move. Suero continued, his voice chillingly cold:
"Because the blood that will be spilled from now on… is not the blood of my people. You've already spilled all of that!"
Raizo stepped back two paces, whispering in disbelief:
"No... no... why would you start a war?! Why are you so stubborn, Suero?!"
Suero gave him a long look, then spoke calmly:
"Ahh, I've always been stubborn... my brother Spailo was the only one who truly understood me. He always told me I was frighteningly stubborn."
Raizo looked at him with trembling eyes and asked in shock:
"You protect humans?! Then how can you choose to kill them?!"
Suero's expression didn't change as he replied with a single sentence that froze the entire room in sheer terror:
"It doesn't matter! If I have to do it to protect my friends, then so be it! I will be the villain of this story!"
---
On the Stage
Elder Arkadius stood firmly, his sharp gaze scanning the crowd with precision. He spoke in a stern voice that left no room for doubt:
"We sent Raizo to use the power of 'Obliteration'… but he failed after his battle with the sorcerer Sbyam Brius. Then we sent air forces to destroy Kaisima… but we miscalculated."
He took a deep breath and continued in an even harsher tone, making the audience hold their breath:
"We have now discovered that the sorcerer Suero Rashid... possesses that power!"
Gasps spread among the audience as their eyes widened in disbelief, while Arkadius finished his statement with words that shook the entire hall:
"This means the prophecy is bound to come true! But the question remains: does he plan to destroy just one nation... or the entire world?"
Terror spread across the faces of those present as Arkadius continued in a heavy tone:
"Suero Rashid! The one who holds the power of 'Obliteration', capable of erasing life in an instant—he is the cursed one who curses the world itself! Therefore, I, Elder Arkadius, declare war on Suero Rashid in the name of the world!"
He raised his hand into the air, as though welcoming unwanted guests, filling the atmosphere with a wave of dark energy:
"Thus, I call upon all nations of the world… let us unite against this damned man!"
The journalists' cameras begin snapping rapidly, lights scattering like flickers of anxious whispers, while the crowd screams in frenzy, their voices overlapping like a storm:
"We will destroy you, damned man!"
The chants echo through the air like the roar of something awakening from the depths of the earth, while the news spreads across the land like wildfire.
In a dark corner inside a storage room full of chairs, where only scattered shadows can be seen, Suero listens in utter silence. The chants fall upon his ears like invisible rain. Then, he stands from his chair, speaking in a voice so calm it chills the bone—each word pulsing with hidden power:
"Ahh... they called me the damned... Then the damned I shall become."
Raizo stands frozen, horrified, staring at Suero, who slowly closes his eyes. Beside them, Ryan remains silent. Suddenly, Suero opens his eyes, his expression shifting into a gaze as sharp as a blade. A terrifying gleam erupts from his eyes—light like shards of cold fire, capable of tearing everything apart:
"You are not the only ones declaring war… I, too, declare war upon the world!"
Violet thunder sparks begin to dance around Suero's body—tongues of lightning leaping into the air. The ground beneath him shatters, and the stone cracks beneath his feet. Raizo leans backward, clutching Ryan, as the air trembles from the tension. Golden electric sparks begin to swirl around Raizo's body as well, as if reacting to the charged atmosphere. Then, Suero mutters in a chillingly calm tone, as if the world itself is on the verge of collapse:
"Onoko Yamato… come forth!"
Outside, as the crowd roars and reporters shout, a bolt of violet lightning crashes down from the darkened sky, striking the Stage. Suero's body radiates with purple energy spiraling around him like a furious storm. Suddenly, Yamato's Phantom—a towering spectral entity—emerges from Suero's back, engulfing the stage in overwhelming destruction. The massive phantom obliterates everything in its path, its furious screams shaking the very air as the stage is shattered into pieces.
The colossal phantom moves with enormous hands, seizing Elder Arkadius in an iron grip and lifting him into the sky. Its gigantic mouth opens, and blood rains from above like the fall of a collapsing world—before devouring Elder Arkadius whole.
Silence swallows the stage.
Time seems to freeze. Bodies stand paralyzed, all eyes fixed on the monstrous Yamato Phantom. Her feminine body is pure white, glowing with vivid violet lines. Thunderous flashes of light ripple across her form. Her long white hair flows through the air like silk, and her radiant black eyes burn with murderous hatred. Breaths are held as Suero steps forward from the ruins, placing one hand in his pocket and walking toward the crowd. His steps are heavy, his eyes devoid of any emotion, as if he no longer belongs to this world.
Not a breath is heard.
Everyone stares—at Suero, and the Yamato Phantom looming behind him. Two damned beings, devoid of mercy… or fear.
End of Chapter.