The world reassembled around them in fragments of blinding light and crushing cold.

  Kairyuuha felt the ground beneath his feet buckle as the teleportation finished, and he stumbled forward, barely catching himself.

  A coughing chorus of gasps filled the shattered air as Mei, Yuno, Kael, Thora, Reiya, and Kazuki collapsed nearby, blinking against the sudden change.

  The temple was gone.

  The nightmare... left behind.

  Above them stretched a vast night sky, broken by a cracked, glowing moon that hung low, like a wounded guardian.

  Kairyuuha’s legs shook.

  The gaping wound across his chest wept rivers of blood, staining his jacket, his hands, the cold stone beneath his feet.

  Kazuki reached for him.

  "Kairyuuha—!"

  He cut him off with a hoarse grunt, forcing a trembling hand up.

  "I'm fine," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper.

  But he wasn’t fine.

  Not even close.

  Reiya clutched her side, tears streaking silently down her dirt-smeared face.

  Mei knelt beside Kael, checking his injuries, her fingers shaking so badly she could barely hold a healing crystal steady.

  Thora and Yuno stood guard, their eyes scanning the darkness beyond, though their swords quivered in exhausted hands.

  None of them could hide it.

  The terror still clung to their skin.

  The memory of death — it was too fresh.

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  And Kairyuuha — he felt it worse than anyone.

  Inside, a black storm churned against his ribs.

  He hadn't been strong enough.

  He should have protected them perfectly.

  He should have slaughtered the enemies faster, saved more of the others trapped behind.

  But he was too weak. Too slow. Too human.

  He clenched his fists, nails digging into torn flesh.

  "No more," he thought, his mind whispering through the pain.

  "Never again."

  Deep inside, his mana pulsed chaotically.

  But something was different now — something new.

  The Multiplication Principle he had invented... it had finally activated.

  A way to replicate mana endlessly, by using a constant multiplication feedback within his own energy core.

  An infinite loop.

  Infinite mana.

  Originally, he had crafted the idea to enhance the body — to allow endless amplification of muscles, cells, nerves.

  But it had failed.

  Or so he thought.

  Now he understood.

  It wasn’t about physical enhancement.

  It was about limitless energy.

  Endless healing, endless regeneration.

  He imagined it in the depths of his mind —

  If one could transmit mana through the body, rapidly copying missing or dead cells, it would be possible to heal any wound instantly... even death itself. Even if the head was severed, even if the heart stopped.

  By mastering this regeneration technique —

  He could become undefeatable.

  He could outlast gods themselves.

  His broken body trembled at the thought.

  He would need to refine it. To train it.

  But the foundation was there.

  Kairyuuha had taken the first step beyond humanity.

  A soft voice broke his storm of thoughts.

  "Kairyuuha..."

  It was Reiya, her voice fragile, her hand clutching her chest.

  She looked at him — with fear, yes, but also with faith.

  He turned, facing them — his team, his only friends.

  Mei, Yuno, Kael, Thora, Reiya.

  And Kazuki, standing behind them, his fists clenched in helplessness.

  Their eyes were wide, waiting for him to say something. Anything.

  Kairyuuha took a slow breath, feeling the fire spread through his broken veins.

  Even as blood dripped from his chin, even as his body threatened to collapse —

  He forced himself to stand tall.

  He looked up at the fractured moon and let the cold wind lash across his ruined skin.

  And there, under the broken sky, Kairyuuha made his silent vow:

  "I will never let them suffer again."

  "I will master this power, even if it costs me my soul."

  "No matter what happens to this world... I will survive."

  "I will protect them."

  "Even if I must become a monster."

  His battered heart beat once, twice, stronger.

  The world could try to tear them apart again — but next time, it would find something far more terrible waiting.

  Kairyuuha smiled thinly, blood staining his teeth.

  Not a smile of happiness —

  but a promise.

  He turned to the others, and for the first time since the chaos began, he spoke clearly:

  "Rest," he said, his voice cold but steady.

  "We survived."

  The others slumped to the ground, the tension finally breaking.

  Mei wept quietly into Reiya’s shoulder.

  Thora and Yuno sat heavily against a fallen pillar, weapons falling from numb hands.

  Kael breathed in trembling bursts, the look of a boy who had stared death in the face and lived.

  Kazuki stayed standing.

  Watching Kairyuuha.

  Understanding — somehow — that something fundamental had changed inside his brother.

  And above them all, the moon watched in silence.

  Broken.

  Just like them.

  But not defeated.

  Not yet.