CHAPTER 466: SYNCHRONIZING

Far, far away...

"Burst Mode!"

Feenie and Jules were synchronizing. This was a world that lacked warmth and light. It was almost as bad as Lake Shinji, an environment where they could not operate at full power. Coupled with injuries and Feenie was likely only able to maintain this form for ten or twenty seconds.

The world blurred.

A streak of red fire carved through the darkness of Yomi.

B-b-boom!

Mach 5.

A speed so insane that even Waka-ikazuchi, the god of young thunder, struggled to react. The Raging Inferno Blast crashed against its armor. Once.

A tiny, insignificant dent was made.

Feenie looped.

BOOM!

A second Raging Inferno Blast. A second strike from a loop. Jules was riding atop, chanting rapid incantations to buff the flames. Matty clasped his hands together. A barrier snapped into place around them, golden and strong, shielding them from the violent explosions of their phoenix.

BOOOM!

The third strike was an eruption of heat so intense that the very air warped around them. Feenie was not done. He zoomed to a corner that even Kazi’s eyes could not see. Feenie’s form shimmered and became a brighter, stronger beam of red light. Something was happening.

The god stood tall.

Unshaken.

Kazi knew it. The moment Feenie slowed, the Waka-ikazuchi would strike. It was waiting. Waiting to grab the phoenix, the girl, and crush them both.

But then—

A tap.

A tiny, insignificant motion.

So small that nobody noticed.

Not even the god.

A black cat had appeared. Slipping through the battle unnoticed, it touched Waka-ikazuchi’s leg for a single second.

Then it was gone.

No one saw where it went. It simply melted into the shadows.

And then, something impossible happened.

A ray of light from the dark clouds, from where the split sky where Izanami loomed and observed. A single, golden beam broke through the abyss.

It touched Feenie.

And the phoenix burned brighter.

Brighter.

Redder.

Burst Mode reached its absolute peak.

Jules whispered one final spell. Matty reinforced the barrier.

Then, with an earth-shattering silence, Feenie launched forward—

The final strike.

The world vanished in light.

And then—

Nothing.

The attack had stopped.

This was impossible.

The god’s colossal fingers wrapped around Feenie’s beak in a single crushing grip. The air distorted, energy crackled, and then—silence.

"You attempted to shift luck in your favour," "Waka-ikazuchi proclaimed. "A god’s fate cannot be so easily changed."

Jules and Matty barely had time to react before lightning erupted from Waka-ikazuchi’s storming eyes.

A blast like a dying sun.

A shriek of unimaginable pain ripped through the battlefield as Feenie—the mighty phoenix, the eternal flame—withered.

The inferno that had once been its very essence, its immortal fire, was snuffed out as if it had never existed at all. The brilliant red feathers turned black, shriveling, falling apart like embers in the wind. Feenie crumbled beneath the divine onslaught, its soul-searing cry of agony echoing across the realm of Yomi.

Matty and Jules hit the ground, their bodies smoking, barely alive.

Kazi zipped over. "Gargantua Spark—"

But he was slammed aside. He wasn’t able to remotely see the attack. Was it a physical blow of his metal arm or a lightning attack? It didn’t matter, Kazi was sent spiraling, tumbling, until his back hit the broken earth with a sickening crack.

Pain exploded through his body, but it didn’t matter. None of it mattered.

Because now, Waka-ikazuchi loomed over Jules and Matty. His shadow was like an eclipse. Absolute. Final. His piercing gaze locked onto Jules.

"You... possess the Mythical Beast Tamer Class." Jules barely twitched, gasping and moaning. "A War Class," he declared.

There was an eerie calmness in his tone, a curiosity devoid of empathy.

"There are seven of them... yet only five have been discovered. Built by the architects of the Heavenly Tower, were they not? To kill the gods."

A pause. His eyes flared.

"Or so they say. It appears that is not the case."

Matty forced himself up, body shaking, and lifted his trembling hand.

A spell. A shield. Anything.

"Wait..." Matty gasped out. "C-could you at least...at least spare her?"

But his physical shield was already gone. Not the weapon but his heart. Matty had already given up. Lightning erupted from the god’s eyes and engulfed them.

Kazi could only watch.

Their screams—their dying screams—did not echo,

Matty, the loyal pilot, the shield, the lover—gone.

Jules, the Mythical Beast Tamer, the kind wonderful woman—erased from existence.

No remains. No bodies. Just ash.

Kazi’s vision blurred.

His mind cracked.

His world collapsed.

No.

No, this wasn’t real. This couldn’t be real.

But then—

Booker roared, a desperate, furious war cry, and shot forward like a bullet.

A last, reckless charge.

His gun flared, his fists swung, his strength—a man who had surpassed all limits of mortality—collided with the god.

Nothing.

The god didn’t move.

Booker gritted his teeth, throwing everything into his next strike, but Waka-ikazuchi merely watched.

Then—the god’s eyes glowed.

Booker’s body warned. Too late, too slow. Waka-ikazuchi grabbed him by the head. A single motion. A god’s judgment.

Booker Davis Jr, the Former Chosen One of Earth, the warrior who had fought monsters and demons and tyrants—

Treated like a toy.

His chosen body crashed into the ground with impossible force. The impact alone should have shattered the earth. But there was no time.

Because in the next instant—he was electrocuted by the eyes.

A raging inferno consumed him, divine lightning and flames turning him to nothing.

No scream.

No resistance.

Just... gone.

Kazi stared.

"Kazi! Don’t give up!" Rapid footsteps and a blue marked sword. Yoemon! The young samurai was alive! He charged.

He was joined by the other students of Miyamoto Musashi: the great, studious Mikinosuke and the silent Iori. They all attacked from different directions. Blue marks ran up Yoemon’s blade. A hiss screamed from the white of Iori.

None of it mattered. If it had been Class Four or Five, it might have worked. But Class Six? Ever single studied sword failed to leave a mark. Waka-ikazuchi blinked and the lightning tracked them down and turned them to ash.

Kazi...

He couldn’t move. It all happened so fast that he just couldn’t move.

Was he even breathing? He wasn’t. He couldn’t be.

His heart had stopped too.

His friends. His comrades.

Dead.

This was hopeless.

"Did you believe you could step into Yomi and escape?"

Izanagi once did.

But they were not Izanagi. They were feeble humans.