Mahito stared at that moon.
All nine eyes were closed, but their lids were moving, trembling, as though they might open at any moment.
A voice in his head screamed frantically: run, run, stop looking, look away.
But his body would not move.
His soul was pinned in place, as though a hand had reached out from the moon and seized his very existence, freezing his consciousness, his cursed energy, and his cursed technique in that instant.
"What the hell is that damned thing?"
Mahito's voice trembled.
His stitched face twisted completely for the first time. That innocent smile, that curious tilt of his head, that tone of utter indifference-all of it shattered.
Only fear remained.
Pure fear, seeping from the deepest reaches of his soul.
Mahito stared at that moon, at those nine closed eyes, his soul trembling wildly.
"Hey."
His voice carried the strain of someone trying to regain control.
"What the hell are you? Stop playing these games. If you've got the guts, let me see your..."
The first eye on the moon opened.
The New Moon Eye.
A thin thread of silver light spilled through the slit as it slowly opened.
Mahito fell silent.
Though it had only opened a crack, Mahito felt a fissure split through his soul.
"Huh?"
Mahito began to scream.
"Hey! Wait! Wait, wait, wait!"
"I was wrong! I was kidding! I only touched you! Is this really necessary?!"
"I can apologize! I can compensate you! I can..."
But the outcome could no longer be reversed. The eye was already slowly opening.
Mahito's soul was covered in silver cracks, like shattered porcelain, light seeping out through every fissure.
His screams turned into broken whimpers.
"I don't want to die..."
"It took so much for me to finally have..."
"I..."
But by then,