Chapter 22: THE BOUNDLESS ABYSS
Kaito stood alone in the heart of the abyss, surrounded by a silent emptiness that stretched far beyond what the eye could see.
The golden energy that had once surged through his veins now simmered beneath his skin, a pulsating, restless force that refused to be contained. It was the power he had reclaimed, but it felt like it belonged to someone else, someone who was no longer himself.
The shadows loomed thick and endless, and the air tasted bitter—like a memory that had been buried too deep to escape.
Every step Kaito took seemed to carry the weight of a thousand years of suffering. The chains that had bound his past self, the chains he had now freed, still hummed faintly in the distance, vibrating with a hunger that could never be sated.
He closed his eyes and took a slow breath, but the world around him shifted, pulling him back into the labyrinth of his thoughts.
"You have chosen, Kaito," the voice of his past self echoed in his mind. "But that choice does not come without consequence."
Kaito's hand clenched at his side, a sharp sting of pain radiating from the burn of golden light that now marked his palm.
He had embraced the Abyss—the darkness within him—but what would that truly mean? What part of him had he lost in the process?
The very essence of his humanity had become intertwined with the very force he had fought to destroy.
He couldn't afford to dwell on it. Not now.
He opened his eyes and looked around, the darkness pressing in on him from all sides, as if the Abyss itself was alive, watching. Listening.