Chapter 120: Yomi’s Reckoning (8)
Jovian’s blindfolded face finally turned fully toward him.
The playful edge that usually lived in his expression had been replaced by something sharper, more unsettled.
He pushed himself up slightly, still sitting cross-legged, and frowned.
"...What the hell did you do to me?"
Akasha gave a small shake of his head, black-and-white hair drifting in the chaotic wind.
"I gave you a path to stay alive," he answered simply. "There’s not much more to it."
Jovian gave a brief, incredulous chuckle, the kind that hinted at disbelief more than humor.
Though softer than his usual bursts of laughter, it still held that unmistakable streak of recklessness, a lingering echo of his more boisterous self.
"Man... You’re strong, I’ll give you that," he said, tilting his head. "But I didn’t expect to meet someone who boasts even more than I do. What if I still had something up my sleeve?"
Akasha’s faint smile returned, calm and unbothered.
"Well, do you want to test it?"
For a moment, Jovian’s smile widened, sharp and challenging.
Then he shook his head and let the tension bleed out of his shoulders, shifting the conversation with practiced ease.
His blindfolded gaze dropped to the small glowing starship resting in Akasha’s palm.
"Alright then... negotiation. What exactly do you want from me?"
Akasha’s reply came without hesitation.
"Don’t worry... I have no intention of tying you down to anything," he said, already knowing the man before him longed to live as a free spirit.
"All I need is for you to take this starship and visit each of the five worlds in this star system. Check in with me every time you arrive—only when it’s safe... or at the very least, before everything turns chaotic."
Jovian stayed quiet for a long moment, drawing in a slow breath before lifting his brows beneath the fold of white cloth.
"That’s it?"
Akasha gave a single nod, then casually tossed the tiny starship through the air.
Jovian caught it without effort.
Turning away with an easy smile, Akasha let his words trail behind him, light in tone but carrying an unmistakable edge of finality.
"If you don’t hold up your end of the bargain... don’t expect to keep breathing."
Yume’s soft chuckle floated from beside him.
"He’s already fortunate to be alive right now."
Jovian looked at the three of them for a moment longer, expression unreadable behind the blindfold.
Then he shrugged as well, spinning the tiny starship once between his fingers.
"If that’s all... I’ll be taking my leave."
He activated the artifact.
HUMMMM!!!!
The Dreamer’s Drift expanded in a silent bloom of purple-blue light, unfolding from the size of a fist into a sleek, living vessel of condensed dream essence.
Its hull shimmered, shifting between the glint of translucent crystal and the depths of cosmic black.
A boarding ramp formed from soft, radiant light extended invitingly, and without a word, Jovian stepped inside.
The ramp slid shut, sealing the ship from the world below.
It pivoted gracefully in the swirling chaos of the sky, then bent the fabric of space around itself and disappeared in a flash of light and drifting dreams.
Akasha stood watching, the faint curve of a smile lingering on his lips.
"Now," he said softly, "it’s time to bring this war to an end."
[Dream Nexus (Above Origin)]
HUMMMM!!!!
A portal of swirling dream and darkness tore open in front of him. Through it lay the main Star Union battlefield—the final, brutal heart of the conflict between Celestial Sun and Dead Sun.
Luna drifted closer, her pink-and-purple hair swaying as she peered through the portal with open curiosity.
"My love... things are coming along pretty nicely, huh?" she asked, her voice light but tinged with genuine concern.
"And it looks like the Celestial Sun... is winning on this end of things."
Akasha’s abyss-black eyes mirrored the chaos beyond the portal, a faint, almost anticipatory smile curving his lips.
"Well," he murmured. "With their reinforcements, it’s no surprise."
Without wasting any time, he stepped through.
The moment his feet touched the blood-stained sky on the other side, the scene before him almost made time itself slow.
-----
BOOOOM!!!!!
BOOOOOM!!!
Explosions of gold and rotting black light bloomed like dying stars across the layered battlefield. The screams of the wounded and the dying formed a constant, ragged chorus beneath the deeper roars of power.
At the center of it all, the Sun Kami General and the two remaining Cosmic Union subordinates of the Supreme Goddess of Luminous Nature had surrounded the last General of the Dead Kami—General Salvatore.
And... the warrior was on his last legs.
His once-proud armor of blackened bone and coagulated blood was shattered in a dozen places. One arm hung useless at his side, nearly severed.
Dark ichor poured freely from a gaping wound in his side, and every labored breath sent more of it spilling into the open air.
His remaining eye, a dull crimson, still burned with stubborn defiance, but his aura was collapsing in on itself like a dying star.
FWOOOOOM!!!
"Salvatore, it’s finally time!!!!" the Sun Kami General roared, solar flames exploding along his arms as he brought a massive blade of pure sunlight down in a two-handed smash.
"Your Pantheon ends today!"
SHKKK!!!!
One of the Cosmic Union Elves circled high and to the left, weaving spears of condensed life-force that hammered into Salvatore’s failing barriers with wet, meaty impacts.
The Cosmic Union Human came in from the opposite side, fists wreathed in green annihilation fire, each punch detonating against the Dead Kami’s body with bone-cracking force.
CRACK!!!!
SHKKKK!!!!
Salvatore blocked one strike with the remnants of his broken sword, twisted to avoid another, but a third spear of pure life energy punched straight through his already ruined shoulder.
He staggered, coughing up a thick spray of black blood.
"Not... yet..." he growled, voice wet and breaking.
HUMMMM!!!!!
His remaining power flared in a desperate, final surge of decay, but it was clear to every witness that the end had already arrived.
One more coordinated assault and the last General of the Dead Kami would fall.
Their combined auras pressed down like collapsing stars, ready to finish the ancient warrior once and for all.
But that wasn’t what stole the breath from Akasha’s lungs... or, more precisely, sent the vampiric blood in his veins surging.
Liliana—no, the Red Lady—was streaking across the battlefield with tears streaming down her face, long blood-red hair whipping behind her like a banner of grief and rage.
Her voice tore through the chaos, raw and broken.
"Father—!"
One of the Cosmic Union warriors turned, sensing the approaching threat.
"Damn vampires... DIE!"
HUMMMMM!!!!
A spear of pure annihilating light formed in his hand, already thrusting toward Liliana’s heart. The power behind the strike was absolute. If it landed, she would die before she could even scream.
Seeing this... perhaps for the first time... Akasha did not think.
[Space Affinity]
He appeared directly behind the Cosmic Union attacker in the same heartbeat. The Dreamer’s Scythe flashed once in a clean, silent arc.
SHKKKKK!!!!!
The warrior’s head left his shoulders in a spray of radiant blood that painted both Akasha and the still-charging Liliana in warm crimson.
Liliana’s feet locked in place mid-flight.
Her tear-filled crimson eyes met Akasha’s abyss-black gaze across the short distance that now separated them.
For one stretched, eternal moment, neither of them moved.
Blood dripped from the edge of the Dreamer’s Scythe.
The chaotic sky continued to scream around them.
And in the center of it all, father and daughter—and the man who had just killed for her—stood frozen in the sudden, heavy silence.
"Y... you again?"