Chapter 25: The One Who Severs Consequence

The Strongest Transcendent In History Is The Strongest

Chapter 25: The One Who Severs Consequence

With a gentle nod, Katsume silently acknowledges my words, her weariness evident in her posture as she faithfully trails behind me on our way back.

As we reach our front door, I casually invite her, "Come inside," yet I'm acutely aware that I plan to linger outside for a while longer. There's some training I aim to accomplish, and I intend to let her go in alone. I offer her a reassuring smile and a warm, gentle pat on the head as I open the door for her. "You can go in without me; I'll catch up with you later. Good night."

With a tired voice, she responds, "Good… night… big… bro," before she enters the house, making her way to her room where, I presume, she'll quickly find solace in sleep.

After shutting the door behind her, I step outside into the stillness of the night. It envelops the quiet cityscape around me, a stark contrast to the tranquility that I'd just shared with Katsume all day. The air feels thick with an unusual tension that I can't quite identify. I pause, a sense of unease washing over me. Something is undeniably wrong. The streetlights flicker ominously, each flicker not a sign of a power failure but rather an erratic display of malfunction. One lamp above me blinks off, followed by another one further down the street, and then another behind me — a seemingly random sequence without a discernible pattern. Meanwhile, the sounds of my own footsteps seem to come from a distance, echoing unnaturally in the still air—heel, silence, echo; heel, follow-up silence, and then another echo. A gentle breeze brushes past, yet the leaves littering the ground remain utterly motionless, as though time itself has paused. And then, unable to contain the whirlwind of thoughts in my mind, I softly speak aloud to the vacant night, "I walk forward expecting the earth to hold me. But what if one day… it doesn't?" In that moment, I spin on my heel, but the eerie sensation of being watched gnaws at me. Before I can shake the thought away, my gaze finds its way to a nearby window. What I see sends chills through my spine. There, within the glass, stands a figure—a reflection of a man who is smiling faintly, though there is no building behind him, only an endless stretch of darkness.

His lips part as he speaks, "Cause and effect… such a fragile belief." Cautiously, the reflection begins to approach the glass, yet his footsteps are eerily silent. "You must be Kiro Yatsu," he continues, his voice deep and resonant. "The boy who still believes that meaning follows effort. I've arrived to disprove your notions." As if defying the physical laws of reality, he steps through the glass as if it were mere water, smoothly passing into my world without it shattering. Instead, the glass bends and warps like liquid starlight, each crackle echoing in a way that suggests breaking before it even happens. "Remember this name: Ingakankeinosōi, the one who severs consequence," he declares, his presence commanding an unsettling blend of disdain and intrigue.

Suddenly, the air thickens around me, and my heart skips a beat—not out of fear, but rather from an uncanny feeling that a crucial moment has slipped through my grasp, leaving me adrift.

Ingakankeinosōi stands before me, a confident grin plastered across his face, and he leans in slightly, challenging me with his next words. "So, tell me, are you the guy who defeated Hanshasōsa?"

I attempt to maintain my composure, eyes narrowed as I respond casually, "And what about it? What's your business?" The question lingers in the air, charged with a tension I can't fully comprehend.

To be continued...