The storm broke at dawn.
The mountains trembled as thunder rolled through the clouds, and from the fractured horizon, a black fire began to bloom — not the red-gold of Yù Lóng's wrath, but something colder, emptier. It crawled along the peaks like a living shadow, devouring both flame and light alike.
Kaito stood upon the ridge, cloak torn by the wind. His hand rested on the hilt of the Blazeward, but the sword no longer burned. It pulsed instead — faintly, like a heartbeat muffled beneath ice.
Eira joined him, her eyes searching the storm. "That light… no, that absence of light. It's not natural."
"It isn't," Kaito murmured. "It's her. Or what's left of her."
Below, the valley shuddered as a shape rose from the ashes — vast wings of bone and fire, twisting, half-formed. It was Yù Lóng's image, but wrong. Her scales were splintered mirrors, her body stitched together with molten veins that bled black smoke. The roar that escaped her maw shook heaven itself.
Yet it wasn't Yù Lóng. It was something born from her — a reflection, corrupted and hollow.
"The Null Flame…" Kaito whispered, eyes widening. "The fire that consumes even memory."
From the ruins below, soldiers of the Crimson Order rallied, their white cloaks drenched in rain and ash. Among them stood a figure in broken armor, face hidden by a helm shaped like a serpent's skull — Seraphine.
"Once, she sought to protect the dragons," Eira said bitterly. "Now she burns their ghosts."
Kaito's grip on his sword tightened. "She's using Yù Lóng's spirit as a weapon."
Eira's voice dropped to a whisper. "Then we have to free it — or end it."
The Null Flame dragon screamed again, and the valley split. Rivers boiled. Forests turned to glass. The soldiers below were reduced to silhouettes of ash in a single breath. Seraphine raised her hand, drawing that darkness into her blade — and for a heartbeat, the world inverted.
Kaito leapt from the ridge, fire bursting beneath his feet. The Blazeward ignited once more, golden and furious. He crashed through the smoke, cutting down the first wave of corrupted soldiers. His movements were desperate, primal — every strike a memory of loss.
"Seraphine!" he shouted through the roar. "You were one of us! You knew what she was!"
Seraphine turned, her helm cracking to reveal half a face — pale skin streaked with veins of shadow, one eye burning silver, the other black as void. "I know what she was," she hissed. "A lie that burned the world. And now, I'll burn the lie itself."
The two clashed. Steel met darkness, sparks showering the rain. Each blow shattered the ground. Each strike tore open the sky. Kaito's fire carved arcs of light, but Seraphine's Null Flame swallowed them whole.
Eira watched from above, weaving runes into the storm, trying to contain the spreading corruption. Lightning coiled at her fingertips, ancient magic of the skyfolk she had once betrayed to follow Kaito.
"Hold her off, Kaito!" she cried. "If that fire spreads beyond the valley, the whole empire will turn to dust!"
Kaito gritted his teeth. His sword arm trembled, blood running down his wrist. The Blazeward flickered, its flame choking under the weight of the Null Fire.
"Yù Lóng!" he shouted into the void. "If any part of you still remembers — fight her!"
For an instant, the corrupted dragon froze. Its shattered wings folded inward. Beneath the layers of black flame, a golden spark flickered — faint, trembling, but real.
A voice echoed, soft as a dying ember: Graveborn… I remember.
Seraphine screamed as the light seared her. "No! You will not rise again!" She drove her sword deep into the ground, unleashing a wave of Null Fire that swallowed everything.
Kaito lunged through it, eyes blazing, every ounce of fury and grief erupting into one final strike. The Blazeward met her blade — and shattered. The explosion that followed tore the sky apart.
When the light faded, the valley was gone. Only ashes remained.
Eira stumbled through the smoke, calling his name. "Kaito! Where are you—"
Then she saw him. Kneeling in the crater, cloak torn, hair matted with soot. His hands still clutched the broken hilt of his sword. And beside him, the corrupted dragon lay still — its black fire gone, its body dissolving into glowing embers that drifted upward like stars.
Seraphine's body was gone. Only her mask remained, cracked and smoking.
Kaito stared into the fading ashes, chest heaving. "She's free now," he whispered. "But the Null Flame still lives. I felt it move when she died."
Eira knelt beside him, trembling. "Then this wasn't victory."
"No," Kaito said, rising slowly. His gaze turned toward the east, where the first light of dawn pierced the clouds. "This was the beginning."
Far beyond the mountains, unseen, something vast stirred — a new flame awakening in the ruins of the old. The fire had no color, no warmth. It whispered in the tongues of the dead.
And its voice was clear:
The world will burn not for vengeance… but for silence.