The moment the ground began to shake again, Kaion knew it wasn't over. He and Raya stood side by side, ready for whatever was to come, but neither of them had expected what happened next.
The sky split open, revealing a swirling vortex of light and darkness, and from the center, a figure emerged. But it wasn't Zirak. It wasn't even a Voidbringer soldier.
It was someone they both knew. Someone they both thought was long gone.
"Master Sato?" Kaion whispered, his voice barely audible as the figure descended to the earth. The old warrior, their mentor, was alive—his face weathered, but unmistakable. And his eyes, once full of wisdom, now burned with an intensity they had never seen before.
"Master Sato!" Raya called, her voice full of disbelief.
But Sato didn't respond with a smile or a comforting word. His eyes were cold, calculating.
"We've been deceived," he said, his voice low and filled with a dark resolve. "You were never meant to stop the Voidbringer. You were meant to prepare for something much worse."
Kaion's heart skipped a beat. "What are you talking about? You've been training us to fight Zirak and the Voidbringer. What else could be worse than that?"
Sato's lips curled into a grim smile. "You were meant to awaken the power that's inside you, Kaion. But the true enemy… is far closer than you think."
Before Kaion could respond, the truth hit him like a hammer. The flicker of power inside him. The thing he had been tapping into—he hadn't been awakening his own abilities. He had been awakening something far older, far darker. The power of the Eternal Core itself.