Chapter: 100. Fantasy Monster – Star-Eclipsed Beast
Just as Kanade’s consciousness continued to sink into the boundless darkness—
A familiar voice suddenly resonated deep within his heart.
(…Is this it? Has everything really come to an end?)
(You truly accept this ending…?)
—Who…?
He tried to struggle, only to realize that his limbs were already immobilized.
Not just his fingers; he couldn’t muster even a shred of strength.
All he could do was keep falling.
Like a dream of plummeting into an abyss, the only companion he had was the echo of that voice in his mind.
(If that’s the case, then little Nagi… will truly disappear from this world forever.)
The voice continued to whisper, seemingly guiding him, yet also mocking him.
For Kanade, this voice… was incredibly familiar.
So familiar it felt etched into his soul, but no matter how hard he tried to remember, he couldn’t grasp who it was.
Until the next moment—
With a soft “pop,” a mass of pitch-black flame quietly ignited at the deepest part of his consciousness.
Even though Kanade was surrounded by endless darkness, he could clearly see that black flame.
It was a purely black flame, as deep as an abyss, flickering slightly in the air, emitting a heart-stirring magical fluctuation.
And beneath the flame, a wisp of ethereal white glow floated like a soul, faintly outlining a light white contour at the edge of the flame.
It shouldn’t burn, yet it did.
Kanade could feel that the black flame was slowly but firmly expanding, using a “certain something” of his as fuel.
But at this moment, he was already too weak to care.
—It doesn’t matter anymore… whatever happens, happens…
Amu’s words ruthlessly struck the deepest lies in his heart.
It was as if that thin, gossamer fantasy was being torn into pieces, exposing the bloody reality he had long refused to face.
That’s right… she was right.
He could never bring Nagi back to life.
Just the thought of that girl becoming some twisted monster because of “failed resurrection” felt like a thousand knives were slicing through his heart.
That wasn’t sadness— it was pain, fear, a despair so crushing it could shatter his will.
He had only been using that as an excuse to deceive himself.
Wanting to become the “protagonist” Nagi hoped he would be before her death.
Only in this way did he have the courage to continue living in this world.
As Amu said, he had remained stuck in the past and hadn’t taken a single step forward.
Because at this dividing line, the future world had no place for Hoshigami Nagi.
Without her, no matter how much he gave, he could not step even a single step forward.
He couldn’t escape.
Nor did he want to escape.
This was reality.
(Are you ready to admit it?)
That familiar voice resonated again deep in his consciousness.
Ah… I know.
I’ve known it for a long time… I just… didn’t want to admit it…
Little Nagi… has already left.
And it was me, I was the one who—killed her.
I can’t escape… I’m sorry… little Nagi…
But I genuinely can’t move on…
(Then—)
(The transaction is complete)
The power he had once obtained to protect “that girl” was rejected by Kanade.
At that moment, Kanade’s consciousness was pulled from this space, and in the next instant, he found himself standing in front of that door.
Years ago, he had stood in front of this door, making a deal with the “Box of Kaora” or something.
As Kanade was expelled from the doorway, he recognized it.
That voice was none other than his own, representing the “rational” aspect of his heart.
In this boundless pitch-dark space.
The black flame consumed everything around it, growing ever more vigorous.
Kanade remembered that feeling— right when he first realized he was about to lose “Hoshigami Nagi,” at Hoshikage Secondary School in Kawano City, when he mistook Nagi for leaving him as he confronted the double of the fantasy monster, and when he believed Alice’s blood blade had pierced Nagi’s chest—
Standing outside the door, Kanade could clearly feel his “rationality” turning into fuel, burning away little by little.
With the disappearance of “rationality,” another existence occupied the world beyond the door.
That was—
Instinct.
—Is that it? So I have this ability… is this… a second awakening?
Kanade raised his head, looking at the “self” that slowly stepped out from behind the door.
That figure had a pair of crimson red eyes and beneath them, a row of beast-like fangs.
—But it doesn’t matter anymore… just go with your thoughts…
—No, it’s wrong; it should be “me”…
At the very end…
Let me act recklessly just once.
【▍▍▍▍▍▍】
“gaaaaaaaaa▍▍▍▍——!!!”
—————–
“What—!?”
When the hunters left behind at the original place sensed the suffocating magical fluctuation, it was already too late.
They controlled the shadowy servants to look up, and what met their eyes was the night sky completely ignited by black flames.
“▍▍▍——”
A sound, as if infected, like whispers in the darkness, suddenly seeped into everyone’s consciousness.
It was a sound that couldn’t be “heard” by the ears.
Even the soul itself seemed to resist understanding it.
“Hey, what happened—” one hunter instinctively opened his mouth.
However, before he could finish his words, he abruptly stopped.
An indescribable chill surged from every cell in his body, enveloping him entirely.
The instincts honed over billions of years of evolution were sounding an alarm.
Something was awakening.
The surrounding shadowy servants felt the same terror in that instant.
This was not a tremor explainable by logic.
It was the natural response of organisms in the face of a “natural enemy.”
Run.
Instincts shouted.
But their bodies were frozen in place.
These beings who prided themselves on being “immortal” now lacked even the courage to turn their heads.
As if just looking back for a moment would result in that “existence” swallowing them whole.
And right in the direction they all turned their backs to—
A figure slowly stood up from the shattered ground.
That was not human.
All the hunters present arrived at the same conclusion at that moment.
That was absolutely not a psychic, nor was it their familiar “Kagurazaka Kanade.”
In the instant that pair of eyes opened, the dimly lit water reflected a dazzling and blinding brilliance—
Not the familiar golden hue.
But the deep red pupils, thick as blood and cold as death, symbolizing the identity of a “fantasy monster.”
【Fantasy Monster – Star-Eclipsed Beast】
【?? Type】
【Threat Level ??】
A star-eclipsed beast that devours entire planets to transform into power.
Now, upon the ruins of this rainy night, it took its first step into the world.
Like the first cry of a newborn baby— yet accompanied by a violence and wailing capable of tearing the world apart.
【▍▍▍▍▍▍——！！！】
The roar swept like a wave, shaking every inch of air above Tokyo, instantly corroding all the “authority” power of the entire city.
“Authority,” and the power behind it symbolizing “rules,” shattered at a touch beneath this roar.
For a true beast, only the instinct to consume exists.
—Rules do not exist for it.
