The night was quiet in the demon domain, but Leonidas could not rest. The air tasted wrong. Heavy. As if the balance of creation itself had shifted. He stood alone in the courtyard of obsidian spires, his cloak of black flame billowing against a wind that no one else seemed to feel. His eyes narrowed, senses stretching outward like spears into the fabric of reality.
And then it hit him.
A silence — too complete, too absolute — echoed through his connection to Megumi Valentine. For months, Leonidas had been able to feel his protégé's power thrumming faintly across realms, like a second heartbeat. The aura of the Fallen King, once an ever-present storm of divine and unholy fire, was suddenly… gone.
Leonidas staggered back a step, his chest tightening. His hand pressed to the stone wall behind him, his breath escaping in a growl.
"No…" he whispered. "That's impossible."
His demonic eyes flared crimson. He reached again, deeper, straining to sense even the faintest flicker of Megumi's divine aura. Nothing. Not even the faint hum of the River Styx's magic. Where once burned an inferno, now remained only silence.
Leonidas's voice trembled, something it had not done in centuries.
"I can't sense Megumi's power anymore…"
He straightened sharply, cloak snapping in the wind. "Something's gone wrong. Damn it, Cronos, what have you done?"
Without another word, Leonidas ripped open a portal of black flame, stepping through into the heart of Olympus's underbelly.
⸻
The Chamber of Shattered Chains
The stench of erasure hit him first — not the metallic tang of blood, not the acrid scent of smoke, but a void. A cold nothingness that burned the skin and froze the lungs. The chamber walls cracked and splintered, runes flickering weakly, their light struggling to resist the devouring presence in the center.
Leonidas's eyes darted across the scene.
Hyperion stood with his body blazing, molten fire erupting from every pore, sweat pouring down his face as he strained to hold up collapsing containment barriers. Cronos's golden ichor streamed from cuts along his arms, his hands pressed into the stone floor, desperately reinforcing the failing circle.
And between them, looming like a shadow given form, was the King of Erasure. His void-like body pulsed with instability, as if the chamber itself couldn't decide whether he should exist. His eyes — hollow wells of oblivion — turned briefly toward Leonidas, and even the Demon King felt a chill rake down his spine.
Then Leonidas saw Megumi.
Collapsed against a broken column, his chest heaving, his skin pale. His aura… gone. Not suppressed. Not hidden. Gone. The boy who once stood as both holy and unholy fire was reduced to nothing but flesh and bone.
Leonidas's heart sank. "By the abyss…"
Cronos looked up, teeth gritted, his voice sharp. "Leonidas! Get him out of here!"
Leonidas's jaw clenched. "What did you do?"
Hyperion roared, his flames straining against the void. "The ritual succeeded — but it separated them! The King of Erasure is free!"
Leonidas's eyes widened, then snapped back to Megumi. "And Megumi?"
Cronos's face twisted with regret. "He's mortal now. No divine flame. No Fallen King's power. He's just a man."
For a heartbeat, Leonidas couldn't move. His student — the boy he had guided, the man who had risen above gods and titans — stripped of everything. Mortal. Vulnerable.
And the monster he'd been holding back now stood free.
Cronos's voice broke through his thoughts, urgent. "Leonidas! Take him to Uranus! Only Father might know how to stop this thing now!"
Hyperion snarled, unleashing a wave of dawnfire that clashed violently with the King's void. "We'll hold him off as long as we can!"
The King of Erasure tilted his head, his smile like a tear in the world. "How noble… feeding me morsels to protect your fragile mortal." His voice wasn't sound, but it pressed into Leonidas's skull, a void-song that clawed at sanity. "Run if you wish. It will not matter. All things end. All things return to nothing."
Leonidas's hand shook as he drew his obsidian greatsword, black fire flaring along its edge. He wanted to cut the monster down himself. To buy time. To unleash the fury he had been holding back for centuries.
But his eyes fell again to Megumi, struggling to rise on trembling arms, his face pale with confusion and despair.
The Demon King's resolve hardened.
"No. Not today."
He sheathed his blade, swept across the chamber in a blur of black flame, and dropped to one knee beside Megumi.
"Up, boy," Leonidas growled, scooping him into his arms as if he weighed nothing. Megumi tried to protest weakly, his voice breaking.
"Leonidas… I can fight…"
"No, you can't," Leonidas snapped, though his tone cracked with emotion. "And if you try, you'll die before you swing a fist. You're mortal now. Accept it."
Megumi's hands clenched against Leonidas's armor, his eyes burning with shame and helpless fury. "Then I'm useless. Everything… everything I fought for—"
"Shut up," Leonidas barked, cutting him off. His crimson gaze met Megumi's golden-brown eyes, firm but not cruel. "You are not useless. You're alive. That's what matters. Let me handle the rest."
⸻
The Escape
Cronos slammed his palms into the ground, golden chains erupting upward to bind the King's arms. Hyperion followed with a torrent of fire hotter than stars, forcing the void to recoil.
"Go!" Cronos bellowed. "Now!"
Leonidas's wings of black flame unfurled, the chamber lighting up in a hellish glow. He shot upward, crashing through collapsing stone, Megumi held firmly in his grip.
The King of Erasure roared — not in pain, not in rage, but in amusement. The sound ripped through reality like glass breaking.
"Run, little demons," the King's voice echoed, reaching even outside the chamber. "Run as far as you like. There is no distance from nothingness."
Leonidas didn't look back. He broke through the mountain's surface, night air rushing over them, the stars above a tapestry of false calm. His flames tore open a portal — not to the demon domain, but further, higher, toward Uranus's hidden domain in the unreachable skies.
Megumi coughed, his hand gripping Leonidas's shoulder weakly. "Why… why Uranus?"
"Because," Leonidas growled, "he's the only one left who might know how to stop this before it consumes everything."
Megumi's chest tightened. His voice trembled. "I… I can't fight anymore, Leonidas. I don't have the Fallen King's power. I don't even feel the River Styx in me."
Leonidas's expression darkened, his jaw clenching. He didn't respond at first. When he finally spoke, his words were quiet, but sharp as a blade.
"Then it's my turn to fight for you. You carried the burden long enough, boy. Don't you dare think being mortal makes you weak. Mortality is what gave you strength in the first place."
⸻
Back in the Chamber
Cronos and Hyperion strained against the storm. The King of Erasure stepped forward, his form rippling, devouring the golden chains as though they were smoke. Hyperion's flames carved pieces off the void, but each wound closed instantly, erasing itself from existence.
Cronos's voice thundered as he reinforced another seal. "This… is worse than I feared. He's not at full power — not yet. But every moment he remains free, he grows."
Hyperion spat blood, his fire flickering. "Then we buy them time. No matter the cost."
The King's laughter filled the chamber like silence made sound. "Buy time? Time itself is nothing to me. You are dust already."
He lunged, void tendrils ripping through the stone. Cronos roared, summoning every ounce of his ancient strength, but for the first time since his imprisonment, fear dug into his immortal heart.
⸻
The Demon King's Resolve
Above the chaos, Leonidas tore through the sky, the portal ahead flickering like a beacon. His arms tightened protectively around Megumi, whose body felt frailer with every passing moment.
"Hold on, boy," Leonidas muttered. His crimson eyes hardened. "I won't let you fall. Not while I still draw breath."
Megumi, barely conscious, whispered, "Leonidas… I'm sorry…"
Leonidas glanced down sharply. "Sorry for what?"
"For… everything. For failing. For being too weak. For… leaving you all to fight what was mine to bear."
The Demon King's heart twisted. He stopped mid-flight, hovering in the air, and shook Megumi slightly, forcing his eyes open.
"Listen to me," Leonidas said, his voice breaking for the first time in centuries. "You are not a failure. You never were. You did what no one else could — you carried that monster inside you, held him back, gave mortals and gods alike a chance to breathe. You bore it all alone, and still you fought for us."
His crimson eyes softened, wet with an emotion he rarely allowed. "You're my student. My brother. My family. Mortal or not, Fallen King or not, that will never change. Do you hear me?"
Megumi's lips trembled. His eyes closed, tears slipping down his pale cheeks. "…I hear you."
Leonidas swallowed hard, then angled upward again, wings of black fire tearing open the sky. The portal to Uranus's domain widened, a yawning gateway of endless starlight.
Behind them, the mountain shook as if the world itself had begun to unravel. Cronos and Hyperion's roars echoed faintly through the void — holding the line, gambling their immortal lives for a single chance.
Leonidas whispered under his breath, though whether to Megumi, to himself, or to whatever gods still listened, he could not tell.
"Just hold on. Just a little longer. I'll get you to him."
And with that, the Demon King carried the mortal boy who had once been the Fallen King into the unknown.