"It is nearly time, isn't it?" Kooshima whispered, gazing at the Lake of Hatred. Its black surface reflected the shining turquoise stones embedded in the ceiling. Lost souls floated around the lake, singing softly to one another. His own blue-purple eyes stared into the blank darkness.

  His grey, ragged clothes—stitched with faint lines of ultramarine—shimmered in the crystal light. Slim, clawed hands rested on his knees as a smile touched his lips.

  "Don't you wish to answer your old foe, Binder?"

  Two malicious eyes, green-crimson and pupil-less, appeared beneath the lake’s surface. They drifted toward Kooshima, their gaze causing the crystal lights to dim. Lost souls scattered from the lake, fear and terror falling over them like a blanket on a cold winter night. The water’s ripples stilled as Binder regarded him.

  "The Soul Hunter. Long time since you spoke, and stopped being the boatman…" Binder let out a low, humorless laugh. Whether it was directed at his own words or at Kooshima was unreadable.

  "Just a few more months… and we… will feast together. On each other’s flesh. And despair."

  "You killed them all. Was that not enough, Chaos Bringer?" Kooshima asked, his voice dry.

  "It was truly remarkable, Kooshima."

  A beat of silence.

  "As forgers and hunters of souls… being hunted and haunted was an anomaly for your kind. An anomaly… that only you managed to survive…" Binder’s voice echoed through every corner of the cave, the only sound in the stillness.

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  "This Finale is different, Binder," Kooshima said, rising and walking toward his boat. The shape of a long white-purple blade was already forming in his hand.

  "Because the one who holds your reins says so, little hunter?"

  Kooshima stopped dead in his tracks. His eyes burned with the fury of a hundred thousand years.

  "Cheap trick, Chaos Bringer… Hold on until those seals break on their own."

  "I was expecting a battle, right here, Soul Hunter. I am disappointed…"

  Binder continued. "Though you are not wrong… These seals will not hold much longer… My dear toy…"

  As Kooshima settled into the boat, Binder whispered his final words.

  "But I already see it… The urge to strike me now… is killing you from within… Let that blade fully form, Kooshima…"

  Binder’s eyes vanished, his fading echo lingering.

  Beneath the black water, a wide grin spread across his chained face.

  "Go, little lapdog… Tell Lionye that Binder is coming… You will need to…"

  ---

  When Kooshima reached the cave entrance, he left the boat and oar among the stones. A weak, trembling smile touched his lips.

  I had forgotten… how obsessed I’ve become with this work over the years…

  Then he felt a small pressure against his leg. Kooshima glanced down to see the soul of a little girl clinging to him.

  "Please… come back, Uncle Kooshi. We don’t want to see you leave," she pleaded.

  Kooshima crouched and patted the girl’s head.

  "I will come back, Lolita. Don’t worry." He smiled, standing and stepping toward the cave entrance—now his exit from a harmless past.

  Sorry that my words were lies, Lolita… A beautiful… necessary lie… Just like the seal that holds him now.

  His body faded into the Mountain of Ruination as he walked farther from the cave. Lolita watched her only anchor in the realm of souls disappear into the stone.

  As he descended deeper into the mountain, he murmured to himself,

  "I made a promise to never lie again… to always tell the truth… And for a little girl, I broke it so easily…" He let out a soft, hollow laugh.

  "I suppose the promise was always in tatters, Mom. Even the one I made you… to take your revenge."

  His eyes lifted to the portal ahead, shimmering within the ruins of a hill.

  "A portal to the human world…"

  The sword materialized in his hand—a long, spectral white-purple blade that would terrify any soul.

  "Pure obsidian… without a single impurity. Aligned with the magic of dark and shadow. My most perfect piece of forging."

  The tip of the blade touched the base of the portal, drawing a line through its energy. "Teleportation magic… Earth."

  The portal shimmered, its edges reshaping until an image of forests solidified within.

  "Sorry to draw you into this… Tengen…"

  He whispered as he stepped through the portal. The rift sealed shut behind him.