Zeto

The Blank Realm shatters. Cold Yuichi tears back into life beside the exposed anchor, his chest wound sealed beneath a crust of frost, the crimson-and-white Espresso Blade locked in his numb hand.

A single horn crowns his white hair. Dark energy pours from it in twisting coils, winding around the blade and awakening the Half Pinno power within his form.

The humanoid Pinno’s warning fades into the white silence behind him. Yuichi stands face-to-face with Lucien, while Janet’s blue soul-marble hangs suspended between them.

Below the anchor, Marie remains near the glowing fairies as the alliance battles the swarm. Janet directs frost through the opening, while Seraphine and Kael hold the avenue.

The transformed Ashen Gate groans around them. Dark coils tighten along the Espresso Blade, and Janet’s suspended soul-marble answers with a sudden blue pulse.

Cold Yuichi ignores Lucien’s words and surges across the Ashen Gate faster than sight can follow. His crimson-white and black Espresso blades clash above the anchor, scattering frost and radiance.

They flash across the gate’s arches and suspended mechanisms in a storm of crossing swords. Lucien’s heavenly blade never finds Yuichi, while Yuichi’s final strike breaks through his defense.

Captain Lucien Veyr reels backward, mortally wounded. His pale Ashen form collapses against the exposed anchor, and the radiance in his wings gutters into silence.

Lucien’s heavenly sword dissolves from his grasp. His body falls still across the black stone, leaving Janet’s blue soul-marble suspended in the sudden quiet.

Below, the Ashen Gate shudders without Lucien’s control. Marie’s fairies brighten around her as the alliance forces the remaining Pinnos away from the collapsing anchor.

Cold Yuichi seizes Lucien by the collar and lifts him from the black stone. The horn’s dark coils flare around Yuichi’s arm, making the Ashen Gate tremble.

Lucien’s wounded Ashen form flickers beneath Yuichi’s grip. The horn power surges through the collar, but Lucien’s body loses solidity and slips through the grasp like smoke.

Yuichi’s hand closes on empty fabric as Lucien drops hard beside the anchor. The released force recoils through Yuichi’s horn, forcing him back several steps while the soul-marble pulses blue.

Cold Yuichi walks toward the Ashen Gate, horn blazing above his white hair. The crimson-white and black Espresso Blade gathers every dark coil around its edge.

He releases one planet-shattering slice. The cut crosses the gate from foundation to crown, splitting its rings, mechanisms, and black aperture in a silent line of frost and shadow.

The Ashen Gate collapses for good. Its towers fold inward without debris reaching the avenue, while the suspended soul-marble drops free into Janet’s waiting hands.

The cost lands immediately: Cold Yuichi’s Soul-Sword fractures from guard to tip, and numbness spreads through his arm as the horn’s power gutters.

Marie’s fairies sweep across the avenue, shielding the alliance from the widening shadows. Lucien remains beside the broken anchor, exposed and suddenly cut off from the gate.