The Demon Realm stretched endlessly around us, a barren, ethereal expanse of twilight and shifting shadows. Reika strode forward without a word, her massive figure casting long shadows across the cracked obsidian ndscape, the faint embers of molten rivers pulsing in the distance.

  I was still in her grasp, held carefully in her palm—not tightly, but not loosely either, as if she hadn’t decided whether I was a possession or a person yet.

  She had said nothing since we left Mayume’s ruined pace.

  I could tell she was thinking.

  And when Reika is thinking, it usually means something bad is coming.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she spoke.

  "You need to stay with me."

  Her tone was calm, but I felt the underlying weight in her words. It wasn’t a request.

  I exhaled sharply. "And if I don’t?"

  Her eyes narrowed slightly as she finally lowered me to the ground, letting me stand on my own feet before her.

  I barely came up to her ankle in her towering form. She stood over me, an overwhelming presence, her long kimono subtly shifting in the twilight wind, the gold embroidery glinting against the darkness.

  "Then you will die."

  A New War Begins

  I crossed my arms, staring up at her.

  "You’re exaggerating."

  Her expression didn’t change, but her footsteps shook the ground as she moved closer, looming over me like a living monolith.

  "Mayume is not dead," she said. "You humiliated her, Jin. She will retaliate."

  "You humiliated her," I corrected.

  She scoffed. "Doesn’t matter. You were there. You were important enough to take. That makes you her target."

  I clenched my jaw.

  "I can handle it."

  Reika let out a low ugh—not out of amusement, but out of disbelief.

  "Handle it?" she echoed. "How? By throwing yourself at the mercy of people who can barely protect themselves?"

  I felt the heat rise in my chest, but before I could respond, she kept going.

  "Jin, you are a human. A weak, fragile human."

  "I know that."

  "Then act like it."

  Her tone hardened, her gaze piercing into mine.

  "You are always going to be in danger," she continued. "Mayume is not the only one who will come for you. You are a crack in this world, something that doesn’t belong. And now, you have caught the attention of the worst kinds of beings."

  She exhaled slowly, her hand lifting slightly, flicking her fingers toward the distant horizon where human nds stretched far beyond the Demon Realm.

  "They cannot protect you, Jin. Not the samurai, not the Onmyoji, not their little magic barriers. Compared to me—compared to Mayume—they are nothing."

  The Argument Erupts

  "They’re not nothing," I snapped.

  Reika paused, tilting her head slightly, as if I had just said something utterly incomprehensible.

  "What?"

  "You act like humans are just insects waiting to be crushed, but they built cities. They survived. They fought against demons and won. That has to count for something."

  Reika sighed, crossing her arms, her massive form casting me further into shadow.

  "And yet, every time I step into their world, they either bow or die."

  "Because you’re a monster to them," I shot back.

  A dangerous silence followed.

  Her amethyst gaze flickered slightly, her fingers twitching at her side, as if suppressing a reaction.

  "What did you just say?"

  I swallowed, but I didn’t back down.

  "You want me to stay with you, Reika? To abandon everything, just because you’re the strongest? That’s not a reason to follow someone."

  Her expression darkened, her lips pressing together.

  "What else is there?" she murmured.

  "Loyalty. Belief. People fighting for something bigger than themselves."

  "That sounds like weakness."

  "That sounds like something you don’t understand anymore."

  The wind howled around us.

  For the first time, I saw it—a flicker of something deep in her eyes.

  Was it anger?

  Frustration?

  No.

  It was something worse.

  It was boredom.

  Reika Decides to Prove Me Wrong

  "Jin," she said softly.

  There was a finality in her voice that made my stomach twist.

  "You still don’t understand, do you?"

  She turned her gaze toward the distant lights of a human city far beyond the hills—a fortified stronghold, its walls gleaming under the moonlight, bustling with life.

  "You still think they are strong."

  I felt my breath catch.

  *"Reika—"

  "No," she murmured, stepping forward, her massive form shifting like a shadow of the gods themselves.

  "Let’s test your theory."

  And then—

  She walked toward the city.

  The earth quaked with every step, her sheer size dwarfing the distant stronghold, the once-great fortress now looking so pitifully small in comparison.

  "Reika, stop!" I ran after her, my heart hammering.

  She didn’t stop.

  She didn’t even slow down.

  "If you’re right, Jin—" she called back over her shoulder, her voice carrying like a divine decree.

  "Then let’s see if they can withstand a god."

  And before I could stop her—

  She raised a single hand.

  A gold-bck tendril of energy surged outward, shing against the city gates, reducing them to molten debris in an instant.

  Screams erupted.

  Chaos unfolded.

  The destruction had begun.

  And there was nothing I could do to stop it.