The Sanguine Tears

The screams were a symphony of agony, a chilling chorus rising from the streets of London. Kaito stood amidst the chaos, untouched by the crimson rain effect. His unique passive ability rendered him near immunity to abnormal status ailments, allowing him to witness the horror unfolding around him with a dreadful clarity. Pedestrians writhed on the ground, their skin reddening, their pleas echoing in the fear-stricken air. He heard the frenzied ringing of emergency calls, the desperate cries of those seeking refuge.

'This is madness', Kaito thought, his gaze sweeping over the suffering. 'Pure, unadulterated madness.'

He instinctively reached for the cross Father Gideon had given him, attempting to contact the cleric. No response. Yet, Kaito felt a familiar aura coursing through the ground, a pervasive warmth beneath the chaos. He recognized it as Father Gideon's presence, an invisible shield spreading across the city, a desperate attempt to mitigate the damage. 'He's trying to help, even from afar', Kaito realized. 'But it's not enough.'

The understanding solidified within him: he had to end this. Completely uncertain of how, but the conviction burned nonetheless.

"Maria," Kaito said, his voice firm despite the surrounding pandemonium. "Take shelter, and look after Epsilon for me."

Maria, clutching her head with one hand as if in immense pain, her eyes wide with a horrifying understanding, met his gaze. "Wait, Kaito," she pleaded, her voice strained. "You must be careful. I feel it—the pain of countless, flooding towards him. This rain isn't all there is to it."

Kaito simply nodded, a silent acknowledgment of her warning. He knew the risks. He knew the terror that Valerius wielded. But there was no turning back.

He walked towards Valerius, who hovered menacingly in the crimson-tinged sky above. Durandal hung ready by Kaito's side, humming faintly. 'There's no way any of my current attacks can reach him up there,' Kaito thought, his mind racing. 'So, I'll make a new one!'

Clutching Durandal with both hands, Kaito took a deep breath, settling into an upward slash stance. Once again, the all-consuming darkness erupted from him, rapidly expanding to envelop everything in its path. The city, moments ago bathed in the horrific red light, now found itself plunged into an ethereal void. The crimson rain, still falling, was bleached of its color, resembling streaks of white paint on a vast, black canvas. The agonizing screams of the pedestrians were still evidence of their suffering, but in Kaito's mind, amidst the burgeoning darkness, they became silence. He concentrated, focusing every ounce of his power.

Durandal began to glow, but unlike its usual brilliant radiance, the light now dimmed, contracting until only a thin line of ethereal white fire highlighted the blade's edge. The white flames danced along Durandal, licking at Kaito's hands. His skin darkened and reddened from the intense burn and raw power coursing through Durandal, but he paid it no mind. His focus was absolute.

At last, with a guttural roar that seemed to tear through the fabricated silence, "Heaven's Judgment!" Kaito unleashed the attack. The brilliance, a concentrated and unstoppable force of pure white light, sliced cleanly through the darkness, ascending towards Valerius.

Valerius responded in kind. From his elevated position, he bellowed, "Larmes Sanguines!" A torrent of blood-red projectiles, shaped like droplets but pulsating with a malevolent energy, erupted from his form, descending to meet Kaito's attack.

The two opposing forces, a stark white blade of light and a deluge of crimson tears, clashed in the background of overwhelming blackness. The sky, now a canvas of void, became the stage for their titanic struggle. However, the sheer volume and raw pain imbued within Valerius's Sanguine Tears proved too overwhelming. Like an agonizing flood, the droplets of raw pain, the very essence of millions of tormented souls, broke through Kaito's attack, slamming into him with concussive force. The residual spell, still potent, knocked him backward with bone-jarring impact, sending him careening towards a nearby building where Epsilon still rebooted and Maria watched in horror.

Yet, it was not over. High above, Valerius, regaining his composure with a furious snarl, began to prepare three more Sanguine Tears, intending to finish Kaito once and for all.

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In the waking world, Kaito lays unconscious. In the world between, a familiar darkness embraced Kaito once more. Before him, Durandal materialized.

"Durandal," Kaito's voice was hoarse, but laced with an unyielding resolve. "I want to access your full power."

Durandal voiced echoed in the void: "Are you certain, Kaito? It will most likely destroy you."

"I must do this," Kaito replied, his stance firm, his gaze fixed on Durandal. He thought of Maria and Epsilon, of the city's suffering, of the agonizing regrets if he didn't. There was no other path.

Durandal sighed, the sound like wind chimes in a desolate landscape, yet filled with a surprising kindness. "Why are all my wielders so foolish?" The question hung in the air, a testament to countless battles fought and countless sacrifices made. "Very well, I shall grant my power to thee."

The light from Durandal intensified, pulsing with raw, untamed energy. "Any more than seven seconds will permanently cripple you, if not kill you outright directly, given your current condition."

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In the waking world, Kaito's fingers twitched. A low groan escaped him as he struggled to push himself up from the shattered ground, his body screaming in protest from Valerius's last attack.

"Kaito!" Maria cried out, scrambling towards him, her voice filled with desperate worry. But no reply came from him.

A surge of raw power ignited within Kaito, pushing back against the pain and numbness. His eyes, though still unfocused, held a terrifying new resolve. "Full Resonance," he muttered, the words barely a whisper.

The very ground where Kaito had lain moments before crumbled to fine dust. Kaito was simply gone, vanished from the spot.

Then, just as quickly as he had disappeared, Kaito suddenly reappeared in the distance. A faint light dissipated off him, like the afterglow of a supernova. The world seemed to hold its breath for a single, stretched second. Then, Kaito collapsed face-first onto the ground, motionless.

The ominous crimson rain stopped. The countless screams across London slowly, agonizingly, ceased.

High above, Valerius, who had been preparing his final, devastating attack, suddenly halted. A look of utter disbelief, then shock, flashed across his face. A single, clean slash wound, impossibly deep, nearly bisected him in two. He hung suspended for a moment, then crashed to the ground with a sickening thud. His body dissolved, melting into a puddle of red, blood-like liquid that was then swiftly washed away by the very crimson rain he had summoned.

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Elsewhere, in a laboratory filled with colorful vials and strange arcane tools, the original Valerius stood before a bubbling crucible. His eyes, identical to the clone's, narrowed in thought.

"Kaito Tanaka," he murmured. "To think he would be able to defeat a clone with a fifth of my power. Although it was an early work of mine with left-over materials, it was impressive nonetheless." A faint smile touched his lips. "Perhaps this one will prove to be... entertaining."