The ruins had become a battlefield of collapsing stone and ancient pressure.
Cracks spread endlessly across the ground while broken chains dragged behind the massive guardian near the shattered gate. Dust rolled through the air like smoke after war, illuminated only by the crimson glow of Hiroto's blade and the dark aura surrounding the Black Daimyo.
Yet despite the chaos around them—
the silence between Tamagichi and the man in black armor felt heavier than everything else.
"Perhaps Tamagichi was right to keep you alive."
Those words continued echoing inside Hiroto's head.
Akari looked sharply toward Tamagichi. "What does that mean?"
But Tamagichi didn't answer.
His eyes remained locked on the Black Daimyo with an intensity Hiroto had never seen before.
The armored man noticed.
"You still carry that expression," he said calmly. "As if the world can still be saved."
Goro immediately stepped forward.
"That's enough."
The Black Daimyo glanced at him briefly. "You survived as well."
Goro's expression darkened. "Unfortunately for you."
For a moment, the atmosphere almost felt personal.
Not like enemies meeting for the first time—
but survivors of something ancient and terrible.
Hiroto slowly pushed himself upright again, ignoring the blood running from the wound across his chest. Every breath hurt now. His body screamed from the difference in power between them.
But he forced himself to stand anyway.
The Black Daimyo turned back toward him.
"You continue rising despite understanding the gap between us."
"Is that supposed to scare me?" Hiroto asked through gritted teeth.
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"It's supposed to educate you."
Dark energy drifted from the armored figure once more, swallowing the broken ground around his feet.
"The world you've entered is not built for idealism," he continued. "Strength governs everything. The weak survive only because the strong allow it."
Hiroto tightened his grip around the blade.
"And you think that gives you the right to control people?"
The Black Daimyo tilted his head slightly.
"Control?"
A faint laugh echoed beneath the helmet.
"You still misunderstand the world completely."
The pressure around him intensified again.
"The Ten Shadow Clans do not control this world because they desire power."
The ruins trembled violently.
"They control it because humanity is incapable of surviving without monsters ruling over them."
Yui's expression hardened despite her fear. "That's insane."
"Is it?"
The Black Daimyo looked toward her briefly.
"Look at your history. Kingdoms destroy themselves. Nations betray one another. Humans crave conflict more than peace."
His gaze returned to Hiroto.
"So others inherited the burden of order instead."
The ancient guardian suddenly snarled from behind the shattered gate.
"Order?" it thundered. "You call corruption and slaughter 'order'?"
The Black Daimyo's voice remained calm.
"I call it survival."
The guardian's chains rattled violently as rage surged through its massive body.
"You twisted the old laws! You poisoned the gate!"
"And yet," the armored man replied quietly, "your side still lost."
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
Hiroto could feel it now.
This conflict—
whatever happened in the past—
went far beyond simple clans or politics.
It felt ancient.
Like a war that never truly ended.
Then the Black Daimyo looked toward Hiroto once more.
"That blade was created to oppose us," he said.
Hiroto's eyes narrowed immediately.
"Us?"
"The shadows."
The crimson markings across Hiroto's blade pulsed again.
"But the man who wielded it before you failed."
The words hit strangely hard.
Not because Hiroto knew that man—
but because somewhere deep inside, the blade reacted painfully to hearing it.
"He wasn't strong enough to stop what was coming," the Black Daimyo continued. "And neither are you."
Hiroto's grip tightened harder.
"You don't know anything about me."
"No," the armored man replied.
A pause followed.
"But I know exactly what you will become."
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Tamagichi stepped forward at once.
"That's enough."
For the first time since arriving, the Black Daimyo turned fully toward him.
The darkness around both men seemed to collide invisibly across the ruins.
Then the armored figure spoke quietly.
"You should not have brought him here."
Tamagichi's expression remained unreadable.
"He was always going to reach this path eventually."
"And now the seal is breaking."
The guardian growled deeply behind them.
"The fault lies with your clans."
"Perhaps."
The Black Daimyo's answer was disturbingly calm.
"But the successor accelerated fate."
Hiroto frowned. "What does that even mean?"
Nobody answered him immediately.
Then the Black Daimyo slowly raised his blade again.
The darkness around the weapon twisted violently.
"I came here to confirm something," he said.
His voice lowered.
"And now I have."
The pressure exploding from him became overwhelming.
Even the guardian reacted this time.
Tamagichi's eyes sharpened instantly.
"He's leaving."
But Hiroto felt it too late.
The Black Daimyo vanished once more—
not toward Hiroto.
Toward the shattered gate.
The guardian's massive eye widened.
"YOU—"
A single slash cut across the ancient seals binding the creature.
Everything froze.
Then—
the remaining restraints shattered all at once.
The guardian roared as chains exploded across the ruins like dying stars.
And the Black Daimyo calmly stepped backward into the darkness.
"You are no longer this mountain's prisoner," he said quietly.
A pause followed.
Then his voice echoed one final time before disappearing completely.
"Now show this era why your kind was feared."
The mountain shook violently.
The guardian's full pressure erupted across the ruins—
and for the first time since awakening—
it was completely free.
To Be Continued