Chapter 63: The Girl Who Stayed

But he simply continued hunting.

A massive group of remaining forces completely surrounded him in the large, ruined dining chamber.

Broken wooden tables and shattered chairs lay scattered chaotically across the floor.

Kōya stood perfectly still in the dead center of the room.

Eight elite demons.

Then twelve filed in.

Then more, completely blocking the exits.

One of the larger commanders laughed, a nervous, bravado-filled sound.

"You honestly think just because you got lucky and killed Lord Zeref, this entire fortress belongs to you now, boy?"

Kōya looked at him with dead eyes.

"No."

He slowly raised the glowing Hero Sword.

"I don’t want it."

The commander roared and charged.

Kōya moved.

The massive chamber exploded into chaotic, lethal motion.

A heavy sword violently struck a wooden table, cleaving it in two. Another missed and struck the stone wall, sending sparks flying. Blinding lightning flashed erratically through the shattered ceiling. Golden Heroic Power burst aggressively across the floor, blinding the attackers.

Dark, dense Demonic Mana heavily reinforced Kōya’s tired legs as he launched himself violently forward into the fray.

He struck one demon down. Seamlessly turned. Flawlessly blocked another’s heavy axe.

Stormfront cut cleanly through an incoming weapon, shattering the steel. The Hero Sword immediately followed the opening, ending the threat.

A heavy body crashed violently into a load-bearing pillar. The ancient pillar broke under the impact.

Half of the massive stone ceiling collapsed into the room, crushing several demons beneath the rubble.

Thick, choking dust completely swallowed the room.

Kōya emerged slowly from the dense cloud like a phantom.

Fresh blood ran down his cheek. His breathing was a rough, ragged rasp.

He continued walking over the bodies.

One dark corridor. Then another.

One bloody room. Then another.

Until the sounds of resistance began to completely disappear.

The very last few terrified survivors desperately tried to flee into the woods.

Kōya effortlessly caught them before they even reached the outer gate.

The fortress violently shook one final, definitive time as the last spell detonated.

Then, absolute silence.

Complete, unbroken silence.

No panicked shouting. No clashing weapons. No running footsteps. No rattling chains.

Nothing.

Only the sound of the freezing rain.

Kōya stood completely alone in the middle of a ruined, blood-soaked corridor.

He slowly closed his eyes.

For a long, heavy moment, he heard absolutely nothing but the sound of his own ragged breathing.

Then, he slowly, exhaustedly lowered Stormfront to his side.

"It’s over."

He turned his back on the carnage and walked toward the entrance.

His physical body felt impossibly, overwhelmingly heavy. Every single muscle screamed in protest.

He walked.

One agonizing step. Then another.

By the time Kōya finally reached the open courtyard, his clothes were completely soaked with freezing rain.

Thick, dark blood covered large parts of his arms, chest, and face.

Some of the blood was his own.

Most of it was not.

Lyra was remarkably still standing exactly where he had left her.

She stared at him, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and terror.

Kōya stopped several heavy steps away from her, leaning slightly on the Hero Sword.

"It’s done."

Lyra looked past him into the gloom.

The massive fortress behind Kōya had become a literal tomb.

Not because of some grand, theatrical explosion that leveled the mountain. Not because every single stone had been systematically destroyed.

Because there was absolutely nobody left alive inside it.

Kōya looked past her toward the muddy road leading away from the mountains.

The freed slaves were completely gone. Every last one of them had fled into the night.

Except Lyra.

He looked closely at her shivering form.

"Why are you still standing here?"

Lyra nervously lowered her eyes to the mud.

"I..."

She hesitated, her voice trembling.

Kōya waited patiently.

Lyra looked longingly toward the muddy road. Then toward the dark, threatening forest. Then back at the terrifying, ruined fortress.

"I don’t actually have anywhere to go."

The words were incredibly quiet, filled with quiet despair.

Kōya said absolutely nothing.

Lyra wrapped her thin arms tighter around herself to ward off the cold.

"I honestly thought I could just... leave." Her voice became even smaller, breaking slightly. "But when everyone else started walking away, I suddenly realized I didn’t know where to go."

Kōya completely understood the psychology.

She wasn’t actively choosing to follow him yet. She simply had absolutely nowhere else in the world to choose.

He looked away, staring into the rain.

"You can still leave."

Lyra looked up at him in surprise.

Kōya continued, his voice softer. "There are safe roads heading east and south. There are fortified villages beyond the mountain range. You can find normal people."

"I know."

"Then go."

Lyra didn’t answer. She just stood there, shivering.

Kōya’s dark eyes moved down toward the storage crystal he had secured carefully near his equipment belt.

The ancient storage crystal had fundamentally changed.

Its outer, polished surface still prominently carried the jagged fractures from the violent memory transfer earlier.

But inside, something entirely new had formed in the glass.

Exactly half of the massive vessel was filled completely with dense, swirling, violet-black Demonic Mana.

The exact other half remained completely, perfectly empty.

Lyra noticed him staring at it. Her expression changed to cautious curiosity.

"What is that thing?"

Kōya looked down at the stone. "This?" He lifted the heavy crystal slightly so she could see it in the dim light. "It was securely attached to the Lightning Sword."

Lyra looked warily at Stormfront resting in his hand. "That dark sword?"

"Yes." He slowly turned the fractured crystal in his scarred hand, watching the dark energy swirl. "It used to contain something else entirely."

"What did it hold?"

Kōya’s cold expression visibly softened, a profound sadness entering his eyes.

"Yuna’s power."

Lyra became very quiet, sensing the emotional weight. "Yuna?"

"My first love."

He said it absolutely without hesitation. There was no desperate attempt to hide the truth. No attempt to replace or diminish the painful memory.

"She meticulously stored her Heroic Mana inside this exact crystal for years."

Lyra looked closely at the dark, swirling half of the vessel. "And now?"

Kōya stared at the violent, violet-black energy trapped inside. "Now, it contains Zeref’s remaining Demonic power."

Lyra’s eyes widened in genuine shock. "Both of them?"

"Apparently." Kōya examined the cracked crystal again, his analytical mind working. "I honestly don’t know why."

He turned it slightly in the rain.

The visual contrast was incredibly strange.

One half perfectly empty.

One half terrifyingly dark.

"Yuna’s power was stored right here." He tapped the empty side of the crystal lightly with his finger. "Zeref’s remaining essence somehow settled over here after he died."

Lyra looked up at him. "Doesn’t that imply the crystal can safely hold both types of power?"

"Maybe." Kōya frowned deeply, troubled by the implications. "But I don’t know the arcane mechanics of why."

His dark eyes returned to the completely empty half.

"There is still massive space left."

Lyra looked at the empty void in the stone. "Will you fill it yourself?"

Kōya’s expression became completely unreadable, a mask of stone.

"I don’t know." He slowly lowered the heavy crystal back to his belt. "And I am not going to forcibly try."

The freezing rain continued falling steadily around them.

For a long while, neither of them spoke a word, simply listening to the storm.

Then, Kōya looked directly at Lyra.

"You should go."

Lyra blinked in surprise. "What?"

"I mean it." Kōya turned his body fully toward the muddy road. "You do not belong out here with me."

He began walking away.

Lyra watched his broad, blood-stained back retreat into the mist.

One heavy step. Two. Three.

He did not look back over his shoulder.

Lyra remained exactly where she was for a moment.

Then, she moved.

Her soft footsteps hurried to follow his heavy boots.

Kōya heard her splashing through the puddles almost immediately.

He stopped walking.

Lyra stopped too, freezing in place.

He turned around, his expression exasperated. "Why are you following me?"

Lyra looked slightly embarrassed, looking down at her muddy feet. "I told you."

Kōya waited impatiently.

Lyra glanced nervously toward the distant, empty road. "I’ll leave you alone at the very next town."

Kōya stared at her for a long time. "You really don’t have to do this."

"I know." She finally looked up and met his dark eyes. "But I don’t know where else to go yet."

Kōya said absolutely nothing to that.

Lyra took another cautious step toward him. "Just until the next town. I promise."

Kōya looked at the dark, dangerous road stretching endlessly ahead. Then back at Lyra’s determined face.

He let out a long, heavy sigh.

"Fine."

He turned back around.

They began walking down the mountain road together.

Not as an arrogant master and an obedient servant. Not as a cruel owner and a terrified possession. Not even as a legendary hero and a rescued victim.

Just two severely damaged people walking away from a ruined, bloody fortress in the rain.

The freezing rain followed them down the path.

Behind them, Zeref’s impenetrable Lair slowly disappeared entirely into the gray, misty horizon, a tomb of memories.

Ahead lay dark roads Kōya had never traveled. Fortified settlements he had never seen. Powerful enemies he did not yet know.

And somewhere, far beyond the suffocating eastern darkness, was Mizuki.

Kōya tightened his iron grip around the hilt of Stormfront.

He would absolutely find her. He would bring her home safely.

But for the very first time since leaving the burning village, he was no longer walking entirely alone in the dark.

Lyra kept several respectful steps behind him, matching his pace.

For now.

And neither of them knew exactly how long that fragile arrangement would last.