Chapter 26: ECHOES OF THE ABYSS
Kaito's breath slowed, his chest heaving with exertion, yet a strange stillness washed over him. The battle was over, but the silence that followed was not peaceful.
It was an unsettling calm, a temporary lull before the storm. The shadows that had once surrounded him, that had tried to consume him, were now only faint wisps, fading away into nothingness.
The specter was gone, its presence extinguished in the face of Kaito's defiance. But despite the victory, there was no sense of relief. Only a deeper sense of foreboding.
Kaito's eyes flickered to the horizon, where the sky—if it could even be called that—was shifting. It was as though the world itself was warping, the fabric of reality bending under the weight of his actions.
He could feel it deep in his bones, the Abyss stretching out, reaching for him, even though the specter was gone.
The Abyss was not merely a place—it was a presence, a force, and it had claimed him as much as he had tried to escape it.
The golden light that had burned brightly in him only moments before now flickered weakly, struggling to maintain its glow. It was as though the darkness was actively working against it, trying to suppress it, to snuff it out like a dying flame.
Kaito clenched his fists, summoning more of his energy, pushing back against the pull of the shadows. The golden light surged, momentarily pushing the darkness back, but it was not enough. Not yet.
Not for long.