The beast's body writhed in its final spasms before collapsing in a heap of blackened, smoking flesh. Then, as if rejecting the laws of nature itself, it dissolved into nothing — shadow flaking away like burnt parchment, fading into the night air.
Ires lowered her sword, panting, her stance still guarded. Her eyes locked on Zenith.
He stood motionless, surrounded by a swirling haze of darkness. The black crystal hovered near his shoulder, rotating slowly. Its glow was no light — more like a pulsing void, as if it fed on the dimness around it. Veins of shadow stretched across Zenith's arms like tendrils, fading gradually as the energy settled.
"You…" Ires said quietly, voice shaking, "what was that?"
Zenith turned his gaze to her, eyes colder than she remembered. "I don't know."
"You do," a voice whispered in his mind. "You just don't want to."
He flinched slightly, clutching his head. The voice was clearer now — ancient, hollow, yet thick with emotion buried beneath the centuries.
"I am the god they buried. The dark they feared. The truth they locked away."
Zenith gritted his teeth. "Who are you?!"
"I am Chaos. And you… are now my voice."
He stumbled back. "No. No, I'm not anyone's voice. I don't belong to you."
"You already called to me. My fragment answered. There is no breaking the bond now."
Ires stepped forward, reaching out. "Zenith, talk to me. What's happening to you?"
But before he could respond, the ground trembled beneath their feet.
A pulse — not of light, but of force — surged through the sky above them, sending ripples across the clouds. The wind grew cold and heavy, and the air tasted like iron. Shadows twisted unnaturally across the broken ruins of the market.
Then... it opened.
A portal ripped through the sky — jagged, malformed — and from within it, a single, massive eye emerged. It blinked once. Observed. Studied.
It wasn't another World Eater. No, this was something worse. A watcher. A scout. A herald of those who fed not just on flesh, but on fear, power… and darkness.
Ires raised her blade. "It's watching us…"
Zenith stared up, silent, the crystal now orbiting behind his shoulder like a dark halo.
"They have sensed the stirring of what should have remained buried," Chaos said. "The crystal's presence is no longer hidden. And now… they will come for you."
The eye blinked once more, then the portal sealed shut with a heavy thud — like a coffin lid slamming closed.
Zenith exhaled sharply. "We need to move."
"Where?" Ires asked, still staring at the sky.
"Away from here. Anywhere. We can't stay in one place anymore."
Without hesitation, Zenith placed a hand on her shoulder. The shadows beneath their feet stretched and deepened — then swallowed them whole.
They vanished.
The market was silent again. But far above, beyond that torn veil in the sky, something stirred.
And it remembered Chaos.