The power of the Kyoki Manticores was unstoppable. Every time their bodies collided with the defenses, a new breach opened. There was no fortress that could stop them.
Shizuhana watched the creatures' advance with unfathomable eyes. It wasn't that she couldn't see the defeat; she saw it clearly. But who said that defeat was the end?
"Yes. Nothing is destroyed, it only transforms," she whispered. "Chaos, in its purest nature, is never consumed. It only transfigures, becoming another form of being." Shizuhana said, unafraid.
However, just as the last layer of defense of the White Pole was about to give way, a new energy began to emanate from the horizon of the universe.
The darkness surrounding the Manticores began to yield to a different light, not the light of the White Pole, but a more ancient, more primal presence, whose power could not be understood... It was a distant, indecipherable symbol, briefly forming in the air like a blurry shadow, a distorted reflection of something much larger. It was not a concrete entity but a hint of something deeper, something that did not belong to this plane.
...——————
Shizuhana's eyes narrowed, and for a moment, all the combatants seemed to feel it.
"What... What is this?" murmured Rikumi, looking at the crack that began to open in the resistance. "Did you feel it, Shizuhana?"
"What do you mean, Rikumi?" Shizuhana responded, her gaze fixed on the horizon as the air around her distorted, a faint glow emanating from no visible source.
"The... sensation," Rikumi said, trying to put into words something she couldn't even understand herself. "It's like everything is turning gray, as if everything we've done so far is... irrelevant."
At that moment, the entire existential flow seemed to stop. Everything moved, but it was halted; it was an incomprehensible act. There was no explanation, only the presence of something that could not be conceived, an energy that seemed to annul the need for everything else... A symbol briefly appeared, floating in the air. It had no form, but radiated a presence that crushed the soul, like a wave that sweeps everything in its path without leaving anything behind. It was an instant, as fleeting as a spark, and then it vanished, as if it had never been there.
"This is..." murmured Hanuman, his voice almost inaudible. "This is not something we can stop. Something... beyond us."
Rikumi, despite her agitation, felt a penetrating discomfort. "Who... Who is behind this?"
No one answered, because no one knew. It was not an enemy, nor a being or tangible entity. It was simply the manifestation of what had to be, a law imposed without mercy. A force that followed its own course, indifferent to the battle between the White Pole and the Black Pole.
And then, as if it had never been there, the energy disappeared. The flow of existence returned to normal. The struggle continued, but something had changed. The universe seemed to have undergone an alteration, something hard to identify, but it was in every corner. An invisible current that the gods could not perceive.
The Kyoki Manticores, stripped of their momentary darkness, charged once again at the last defense, destroying it instantly. However, something was different in their attacks. The chaos that propelled them was no longer as primitive, no longer pure. Something was limiting them, something they couldn't even comprehend.
Shizuhana, her gaze still fixed on the horizon, felt a faint tremor within herself. It wasn't fear. It wasn't doubt. But there was something. Something that pushed her to question the very structures upon which she had built her existence.
"It's… the order. It's changing." She whispered, though she knew no one could understand her. The White Pole continued to battle, but the pressure of the fight felt different, as if reality itself were receiving an invisible pressure from some distant force.
"Forward! We can't let the Manticores take control!" Hanuman shouted, returning to the action, as his warriors regrouped and resumed their positions.
But Shizuhana, absorbed in her thoughts, didn't move. Only her eyes continued to stare at the horizon, perceiving an invisible flow that now seemed to envelop everything, like a tide that pushed and pulled relentlessly. She knew that no matter how powerful her forces or her enemies were, this battle, like all the battles before it, had a much greater course that could not be altered.
"What's left for us, then?" she murmured, more to herself than to the others. Her voice was lost in the sound of the battle, but her words hung in the moment, like a truth she couldn't yet fully absorb.
The roar of the Kyoki Manticores filled the air, shaking the structures of the White Pole with great fury. The creatures once again charged at the defense lines, breaking invisible barriers that seemed to exist only to be shattered.
"Formation!" Rikumi shouted, raising her sword, a silver glow flowing through its blade. "We can't let them breach our line!"
Beside her, Hanuman summoned a current of purple energy, a storm of brute force that struck the manticores with the violence of a lightning bolt. The creature hit by it fell to the ground, but only for a moment. It rose again, angrier, more destructive, as if the impact had been nothing more than a minor stumble.
"They're stronger than I remember!" Hanuman exclaimed, as he watched the Manticores regroup, adapting rapidly.
But Shizuhana did not move. Her gaze never left the horizon. In her mind, everything was blending together. The battle, the chaos, the order… Everything seemed to be intertwined by an invisible force that the gods couldn't comprehend. It was as if the universe itself were fighting against its own existence.
"The Manticores aren't the real enemy." Shizuhana's voice was low, almost inaudible. No one understood her words. Everyone was busy fighting.
The battle intensified. A Manticore leapt towards Rikumi, and she reacted in time, blocking the attack with her sword. The clash of energy was deafening. The monster didn't stop.
"Watch out!" Hanuman shouted, rushing to help, but it was too late. Another of the Manticores leapt at him and struck him with brutal force, sending him flying through the air.
...——————
The world, for a moment, froze.
The skies rumbled, but the echo was different. It wasn't the roar of battle, but the sound of something deeper. Something in the air tensed, as if the very space were stretching toward an invisible point.
The glow on the horizon began to fade. The chaos returned, but it was a different chaos. Something else was happening, something that even the gods could not touch.
"They're not the Manticores. They're not the creatures of chaos." Shizuhana whispered again to herself, as if speaking to an invisible entity. "It's the very essence of this universe that's broken. What's happening?"
A Manticore charged at her, but Shizuhana didn't move. It was as if her entire being had disconnected from the course of the battle, immersed in the paradox she had just witnessed. The creature roared and prepared to attack, but before it could, a sudden twist of its body made it fall, as if something other than its own chaos had halted its movement. The blow never came. The creature fell to the ground and disappeared in a cloud of shadows that quickly vanished. The next Manticore, and the next, all succumbed to an invisible force. It was no longer just the power of weapons or the courage of the combatants that was present in the battlefield, but something much deeper, something much larger.
Despite the sudden disappearance of the Kyoki Manticores, the air remained charged with a tension that didn't dissipate. As if the very universe had become indeterminate, not in the sense of being touched by something external, but in doubting its own existence. The space seemed trapped between two states: that of what was and what had yet to come into being.
Rikumi, trembling, crouched down to catch her breath. "What was that? No… I don't understand anything."
Hanuman, who was beside her, ran a hand over his face, equally bewildered. "The Manticores weren't just monsters… This isn't normal. I've never felt anything like this."
Shizuhana, as still as ever, observed the horizon, where the darkness had still not fully dissipated. The cracks in the ground seemed to have opened even wider, as if reality itself were slowly tearing apart.
"It's not something we can comprehend immediately," she said, her voice serious but calm. "What we just witnessed isn't just a manifestation of chaos or order. It's something… more. Something beyond our understanding."
"More beyond?" murmured Rikumi, looking at the darkness that still hung in the air. "But what could be beyond what we see?"
Shizuhana turned her gaze toward her, as if she had already lost interest in her words. "Not everything can be explained. But something has changed, and it's not something we can stop." Her voice had a tone of detachment, as if her mind were already beyond the struggles around them.
Suddenly, a wave of pressure surged across the land. The sounds of battle, the cries of warriors, and the rumble of the Manticores' impacts were silenced for an instant. Time seemed to stop, but not in an obvious way, as if the very space around them had been distorted, a fleeting second that expanded to feel eternal.
"What's happening?" Hanuman asked, his nervous gaze following the movements of the creatures approaching. The distortion disappeared as suddenly as it had come, but the discomfort lingered.
Shizuhana remained silent, her eyes narrowed as if perceiving something the others couldn't see. "Reality is fragile. What just happened is not an isolated incident. There are forces beyond our understanding that don't act by will, but by necessity."
Before the others could ask, the Kyoki Manticores returned to the battlefield, as if they had been summoned once more from the darkness. This time, their fury seemed more unleashed, more chaotic, as if something had pushed them into an even greater frenzy.
Rikumi, armed and determined, raised her sword, ready to face them again. "It doesn't matter what it is! We'll defeat them!"
But Hanuman stopped her with a gesture. "It's not just that. I feel… I feel something else in the air. It's not just a battle against them."
"That's what I want to show you," said Shizuhana, her voice almost inaudible. "We're not fighting just against them. Not against this chaos. We're fighting against a law that we don't even know how to challenge."
The ground trembled again with the arrival of the Manticores, but this time, every step they took seemed to leave a deeper imprint, on the very canvas of the universe. The battle continued, but something had changed in its nature. The feeling that something else was lurking, waiting for the moment to enter the game, made all the combatants feel more vulnerable than ever.