Chapter 54: Mystery behind the doors

Kōya stared at the distant blue light. Something was inside the inner chamber. Something Zeref had gone to great lengths to protect.

The faint pulse moved through the stone again. Kōya pushed himself upright. Zeref dropped from the sky.

The Lightning Sword struck the floor directly in front of him.

Kōya stopped.

Zeref’s massive wings spread across the corridor, completely blocking the way forward.

"You are not going back there."

Kōya tightened his grip on the Hero Sword. "What exactly is locked behind that door?"

Zeref said nothing.

His silence answered enough.

Whatever lay beyond that corridor mattered to him.

Kōya stepped forward.

Zeref attacked.

The Lightning Sword crashed against the Hero Sword, driving Kōya backward. Zeref followed immediately, unleashing a relentless sequence of strikes.

Kōya blocked one.

Then another.

A third strike tore past his guard, forcing him to duck as lightning ripped through the stone above his head.

Kōya jumped onto a broken pillar.

Zeref pursued.

Kōya pushed off the leaning stone and launched himself across the chamber. Zeref changed direction in mid-air, cutting off his escape.

Kōya twisted.

The last of his Demonic Aura flared around his right side, allowing him to redirect his momentum.

He landed on a ruined upper balcony.

The blue pulse came again.

Closer.

Stronger.

Kōya ran.

Zeref rose above him, blocking the route once more.

Lightning gathered around the Demon Peer.

Kōya looked up.

The raging storm outside funneled inward, converging around Zeref’s body. His dark Lightning Sword became a singular line of white light.

"Stop!" Zeref roared.

The attack came down.

Kōya raised the Hero Sword with both hands.

The concentrated lightning struck with the force of a meteor.

The impact drove him straight through the stone floor.

The balcony shattered beneath him.

Kōya crashed into the chamber below, landing hard enough to send agony through his entire body.

His knees nearly gave out.

But he kept his grip on the Hero Sword.

His Demonic Aura was thinning rapidly. His golden Heroic power was almost depleted.

Then he saw it.

The blue light.

A massive crystal rested on an elevated dais at the far end of the chamber.

Kōya forced himself upright.

Zeref descended through the hole above him.

"You should have stayed down, boy."

Kōya wiped the blood from his mouth.

"I can’t."

"Why?"

Kōya looked toward the crystal.

"Because she’s right there."

Zeref’s expression hardened.

Kōya ran.

The Demon Peer followed.

Zeref attacked from behind, forcing Kōya to turn and block. The impact sent him crashing against the wall.

Another strike.

Kōya ducked.

Another.

He pushed away from the wall and ran. Zeref unleashed a sweeping arc of lightning.

Kōya jumped over it. He landed on a broken stone archway leading toward the dais.

He ran.

A precision bolt struck the structure beneath him.

The stone collapsed.

Kōya jumped. His boots landed on the shoulder of an ancient statue. The brittle stone broke.

He fell.

His scarred hand caught a heavy iron chain dangling from the ceiling.

The chain swung.

Kōya held on.

At the apex of the arc, he released himself. His battered body flew toward the inner chamber. Zeref dove after him.

The Lightning Sword flashed beside Kōya’s ribs.

Kōya twisted in mid-air, the last dregs of Demonic Aura wrapping around his body.

The blade missed.

He landed hard inside the inner sanctum, rolled across the stone floor, and rose.

The crystal was directly ahead. Zeref landed behind him. Blocking the exit. The chamber fell silent.

Freezing rain slipped through a jagged opening in the ceiling.

The blue light pulsed inside the massive crystal.

Kōya stared at it.

For a moment, the pain disappeared.

So did the storm.

So did Zeref.

There was only that light. And then Kōya felt it.

Warmth.

Familiar.

Impossible.

His eyes widened. He knew that presence. He had felt it before. In the practice sword.

At the Academy.

In those quiet moments when Yuna had stood beside him. His breath caught.

"Yuna..."

The name escaped his lips as a whisper. Zeref stepped forward.

"Kōya."

Kōya didn’t turn. His eyes remained fixed on the crystal.

"Do not touch it."

Kōya heard the fear in his voice. Not anger. Not arrogance.

Fear.

For the first time, Kōya understood that whatever was sealed inside the crystal was something Zeref desperately needed to control.

And that made it even more important.

He took one step toward the altar.

Zeref lunged with a roar of pure desperation. Kōya spun around flawlessly.

CLANG!

Their swords collided with devastating force. The impact sent a shower of bright orange sparks dancing across the dark chamber.

Zeref pressed forward, leveraging his massive weight, determined to break the boy’s guard.

Kōya’s knees trembled under the crushing strain. He was running out of physical strength.

Zeref raised his heavy, crackling sword high into the air, preparing for the final strike.

Kōya looked past the demon, his eyes locking onto the pulsing blue crystal. Then, he looked down at his own trembling left hand.

The exact scarred hand that had successfully drawn the ancient Hero Sword from beneath his father’s ruined house. The exact hand that channeled the holy Hero’s power.

He made a split-second tactical decision.

He deliberately released his iron grip on the Hero Sword, letting the blade drop.

Zeref’s lethal blade came crashing down through the empty space.

Kōya dropped cleanly beneath the sweeping arc. The heavy Lightning Sword struck the solid stone floor, burying itself deep into the masonry.

Using his momentum, Kōya rolled past Zeref’s legs, emerging directly in front of the altar.

He reached the crystal.

His left hand stretched forward. His bloodied fingertips touched the smooth, cold surface of the stone.

Everything in the world abruptly stopped.

The raging storm outside disappeared. The deafening thunder vanished. The pouring rain became a distant, muted whisper.

The crystal gave one massive, resonant pulse.

A blinding golden-white light spread rapidly beneath its smooth surface, reacting to his touch.

Kōya stared.

A second, vastly more powerful pulse followed, shaking the room.

The heavy Hero Sword, resting on the floor behind him, trembled in sympathetic resonance with his left side.

Zeref froze. The arrogant confidence drained from his ancient face, leaving only stark horror.

"No."

The crystal brightened exponentially, flooding the chamber with brilliance.

Something unbelievably ancient, yet profoundly familiar, moved through the chamber’s atmosphere.

Kōya’s scarred fingers tightened against the surface of the crystal.

An overwhelming current of pure energy flowed into his hand, rushing up his arm.

Pure, unfiltered Heroic Power coursed through him.

It felt fundamentally different from the raw reserves he channeled through his father’s sword. It felt lived in. Meticulously stored. Purposefully accumulated over countless years.

It was power that had been patiently waiting.

Waiting for someone worthy to claim it. Waiting for him.

Kōya whispered the name one final time into the light.

"Yuna."

The crystal answered him with a blinding explosion of holy light.

Zeref, the legendary Demon Peer, took one terrified step backward.

For the very first time during the entire battle, the Lightning Demon Peer looked afraid.

The storm outside roared back to life with renewed fury.

And deep inside the corrupted Hero’s Lair, the sleeping legacy of Stormfront finally began to awaken.