Darkness. A single heartbeat. Then two. Then many—overlapping, out of sync.
Spiral 0 shakes as the ancient creature fully descends. Its thousand wings crackle with corrupted light, and every beat of those wings erases part of the realm. Aki, Rei, and Kael stand at the edge of an unraveling cliff. The stars above twist like they're screaming.
Kael (grim):
"It's not just a monster. It's a memory eater."
Aki:
"You mean it feeds on—?"
Rei:
"On who you were. Who you could have been."
---
The creature roars. Reality splinters. Rei's face flickers—multiple versions of her appear: soldier, scholar, child. She stumbles, confused.
Rei (dizzy):
"It's breaking me apart…"
Aki grabs her arm, grounding her. His armor pulses in response. He looks at Kael.
Aki:
"You said it was sealed. How?"
Kael:
"With a key forged from truth."
He tosses a black fragment toward Aki.
"That key was you. The last time."
---
Aki closes his eyes. Flashbacks swirl—his mother at his bedside, sketching dragons alone, Yumi watching him sleep in the hospital. Then new images—Rei reaching for him, Kael standing in the dark, Spiral 0's origin.
He opens his eyes. Calm. Focused.
Aki:
"This time, I don't fight alone."
---
He slams the fragment into his chest. Energy explodes outward—Yumi's symbol glows in the real world, and she collapses, breathless. Her consciousness is pulled into the Realm again, blinking into Spiral 0.
Yumi (gasping):
"Wha—Aki?!"
Aki (relieved):
"You found me. Again."
---
Together, the four stand against the monster. It begins to speak—not in words, but raw thought.
Creature (inside their minds):
> "YOU ARE NOT WHO YOU THINK. YOU ARE FORGOTTEN POSSIBILITIES. LOOSE THREADS."
Aki (steady):
"I was. But now I remember who I want to be."
---
Final battle begins. Rei and Kael attack from opposite flanks—Rei casting memory chains, Kael warping gravity with time-rounds. Yumi sketches protective runes mid-air, shielding Aki.
Aki charges, his twin-blade now drawing ink from everyone's memories—each strike lights up with fragments of love, loss, childhood, laughter.
---
The creature shrieks as Aki plunges the blade into its chest. A blinding flash. The Realm halts. Silence.
Aki (gasping):
"It's over…"
---
No. The creature mutates—its body twists, shrinking into a shape Aki recognizes. A boy. Younger than him. Covered in bandages. Crying.
Kael (quiet):
"What the hell is that…?"
Rei (softly):
"That's the first Seeker."
Yumi (eyes wide):
"He never woke up."
---
The child speaks in Aki's voice, echoing and broken.
Child:
"If you leave... I'll be alone again... forever…"
Aki drops his blade. Walks forward.
Aki:
"You're the part of me that stayed behind. But I'm not leaving you here."
---
He reaches out. Touches the boy's shoulder. A glow—white and infinite. The child looks up. Smiles. And fades into light.
---
Spiral 0 stabilizes. No corruption. Just stars. Rei turns to Aki.
Rei:
"You found the last truth."
Kael:
"You gave it a better ending."
---
Yumi begins to fade—her connection to the Realm dissolving.
Yumi (tearful):
"Will I see you again?"
Aki:
"Every time you remember me."
---
Hospital. Real world. Yumi wakes up, gasping. She's crying, though she doesn't know why. Her phone buzzes. A message:
> "Thank you. –A"
---
Final scene: Aki stands in a vast white field in Yūgen. Alone. Peaceful.
Aki (to himself):
"Not a coma. Not a dream. Just... another world."
He closes his sketchbook.