Chiharu dismissed his wings.
The crimson constructs folded inward and dissolved into motes of dark red light behind him. In the same motion, the energy around his right hand lengthened, curved, and hardened until it became a scythe.
Its blade was narrow and vicious.
The shaft rested easily across his shoulders.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu watched him.
Neither spoke.
Neither planned.
Their breathing simply aligned.
One inhale.
One exhale.
Then both moved.
Chiharu's eyes sharpened.
Chifuyu came from the front.
Shinatsu angled in from his right.
The scythe spun off Chiharu's shoulder and caught Chifuyu's first slash along the shaft. He rotated with the impact rather than stopping it, letting Chifuyu's own momentum drag the sword past him while the curved blade swept toward Shinatsu's neck.
Shinatsu ducked.
The scythe passed over her hair.
Her sword came up immediately.
Chiharu twisted the shaft vertically and caught the strike near the middle, then slid one hand along the weapon and drove the opposite end toward her ribs.
Shinatsu shifted aside.
Chifuyu was already back in.
His blade cut down from above.
Chiharu stepped between them.
The scythe rose.
Steel struck crimson energy.
He turned once.
The rotation carried Chifuyu's sword aside and brought the scythe around toward Shinatsu in the same movement.
She leaned back.
The edge passed less than an inch from her chin.
Chifuyu attacked low.
Chiharu hopped over the blade, landed lightly on one foot, and immediately thrust the scythe shaft into Chifuyu's chest.
Chifuyu caught it with his free hand.
Shinatsu rushed in.
Chiharu released one hand from the weapon and turned his body.
Her slash passed beside him.
He caught the scythe again before Chifuyu could pull it away.
The three separated by barely a step.
Then collided again.
There was almost no pause between exchanges.
Chifuyu slashed for Chiharu's shoulder.
Blocked.
Shinatsu came low.
Chiharu lifted his leg and let the blade pass beneath.
He used the motion to spin around Chifuyu and brought the scythe toward his back.
Chifuyu heard it.
He ducked.
Shinatsu was already moving.
She dropped her weight and swept her leg toward Chiharu's ankles.
Chiharu reacted instantly.
He backflipped.
His hands never released the scythe.
The curved weapon followed the rotation above him as his body cleared Shinatsu's kick.
He landed—
And Chifuyu's blade was waiting.
Chiharu barely turned his head.
Steel grazed the side of his face.
A thin line opened across his cheek.
Blood appeared.
Chiharu touched it with two fingers.
Chifuyu grinned.
Chifuyu: "Got you."
Chiharu stared at the blood.
Then back at him.
His expression darkened.
Black flames ignited along Chifuyu's blade.
Purple lightning crawled over Shinatsu's.
Neither needed to say anything.
They surged forward together.
Chifuyu attacked first.
Chiharu spun the scythe around his body.
The shaft intercepted the sword.
Shinatsu came from the opposite side.
The lower end of the weapon caught her blade.
Chiharu rotated again.
The scythe became a moving barrier around him, blade and shaft constantly trading positions as he timed each revolution to meet their attacks.
Chifuyu cut high.
Block.
Shinatsu thrust.
Redirected.
Chifuyu changed direction.
Chiharu ducked.
Shinatsu came down from above.
The scythe caught it.
But the purple lightning didn't stop.
It jumped across the point of contact.
Chiharu's body jerked.
Only for a second.
That was enough.
Chifuyu stepped in.
Black fire surged.
His blade hit the shaft of the scythe.
The weapon cracked.
Chiharu's eyes widened.
Chifuyu pushed.
The scythe broke in half.
The black flame slash continued through.
It struck Chiharu cleanly across the torso.
The impact blasted him backward.
He tore through the wall of a nearby building and disappeared beneath collapsing debris.
Chifuyu lowered his sword.
Shinatsu stood beside him.
Neither celebrated.
Something felt wrong.
Not bad.
Wrong.
Chifuyu looked at his hands.
His breathing was calm.
Too calm.
He should have been winded.
He had already fought Oni.
Been abducted.
Fought Chiharu across several blocks.
Taken the edge of Crimson Roar.
Drank blood.
Kept fighting.
His lungs should have been screaming.
They weren't.
Shinatsu noticed the same thing.
Her body felt lighter.
Sharper.
Her sword felt almost weightless.
Shinatsu: "Do you feel that?"
Chifuyu: "Yeah."
Before either could say more, the building exploded.
Chiharu burst through the rubble.
Crimson claws covered both hands.
He lunged.
Fast.
Shinatsu stepped forward.
The first claw came for her face.
She blocked with her sword.
The second slipped around the guard.
Shinatsu twisted.
The claws stopped less than an inch from her eye.
Chiharu pushed harder.
Shinatsu held.
Chifuyu moved.
Sideways slash.
Shinatsu ducked without looking.
Not after seeing him move.
Before.
Her body simply knew.
Chifuyu's sword passed over her head.
Chiharu raised a clawed arm and blocked.
Black fire exploded across the contact.
He was forced backward.
Chiharu looked down.
The scales forming along his forearm had been cut.
Not deeply.
But cut.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu stared at each other.
Something else happened.
A beat.
Then another.
Chifuyu could hear it.
No.
Feel it.
Not his own heartbeat.
Hers.
Shinatsu's eyes widened.
She felt his too.
Two rhythms.
Perfectly aligned.
Their breathing matched.
Their footwork settled into the same pace.
Chiharu attacked.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu moved.
Not in turn.
Together.
Chifuyu intercepted the right claw.
Shinatsu cut toward the ribs.
Chiharu turned.
Chifuyu changed angle at the exact same moment.
The two attacks crossed around him.
Chiharu barely slipped between them.
He kicked toward Shinatsu.
Chifuyu's sword intercepted before she even raised hers.
The impact forced the leg aside.
Shinatsu countered instantly.
Her blade cut across Chiharu's side.
Blood sprayed.
Chiharu jumped back.
Chifuyu followed.
Shinatsu followed him.
Same distance.
Same timing.
Same rhythm.
Chiharu's eyes narrowed.
He formed another crimson weapon, this time a shorter blade meant for speed.
Chifuyu attacked.
Chiharu blocked.
Shinatsu came in through the opening.
He deflected her.
Chifuyu was already waiting on the other side.
Chiharu twisted.
He avoided the slash.
Shinatsu's foot came for his knee.
He stepped away.
Chifuyu's elbow almost caught his jaw.
He ducked.
Shinatsu's sword passed over Chifuyu's shoulder.
Chifuyu lowered his head without ever looking back.
The blade continued into Chiharu.
He barely blocked.
The impact pushed him back.
Chiharu's expression changed.
The two of them weren't simply cooperating well.
This wasn't normal teamwork.
They were anticipating each other before movement began.
Chifuyu felt it too.
Every time Shinatsu stepped, he knew where she was going.
Every time her sword moved, he somehow understood what opening she expected him to fill.
Shinatsu didn't need to check Chifuyu's position.
She knew.
Chiharu attacked harder.
Crimson claws grew longer.
He came in with a rapid combination.
Right.
Left.
Low.
Chifuyu blocked the first.
Shinatsu redirected the second.
Both shifted around the third.
Chiharu spun.
A backhand claw came for Chifuyu.
Shinatsu's sword appeared in front of it.
The claws stopped.
Purple lightning erupted.
Chiharu convulsed.
Shinatsu stepped in.
Her counter came from below.
The blade cut deeply across Chiharu's chest.
Blood spilled across the ruined street.
The lightning remained inside the wound for a fraction of a second.
Chiharu froze.
Chifuyu saw his neck.
He moved.
One step.
Sword already swinging.
Chiharu formed scales.
Dark red and black armor covered his neck and shoulder.
The same scales that had already stopped Chifuyu's blade before.
The sword struck.
They shattered instantly.
Chiharu's eyes widened.
Not cracked.
Shattered.
Chifuyu's blade continued toward his throat.
For the first time, Chiharu looked genuinely alarmed.
Chiharu: "GET OFF!"
Crimson lightning exploded from his entire body.
The blast consumed the space around him.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu reacted simultaneously.
Both raised their swords.
Black fire.
Purple lightning.
The two energies met Chiharu's crimson discharge.
The impact pushed them backward.
Neither lost footing.
Their blades remained raised.
The lightning split around them.
For a second, Chifuyu looked sideways.
Shinatsu did too.
Their eyes met.
Neither understood what was happening.
But they both knew the same thing.
Something had changed.
Not in Chifuyu.
Not in Shinatsu.
Between them.
Their breathing remained synchronized.
Their heartbeats remained aligned.
The battlefield seemed clearer.
Sharper.
Chifuyu could hear debris settling several buildings away.
Shinatsu could feel Chiharu shifting his weight through the vibration beneath her feet.
Colors looked brighter.
Movements slower.
Their bodies felt stronger despite everything they had already endured.
Their weapons responded with greater force.
Their abilities surged beyond what either should have been capable of producing alone.
Neither knew the name.
Neither knew the conditions.
Neither knew that what had just occurred had never been achieved anywhere on Shioto before.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu had unlocked Soul Resonance.
One of the great powers of the world.
It did not belong to Hunters.
It did not belong to vampires.
It did not belong to any race, bloodline, curse, Alter Weapon, or institution.
Anyone could theoretically reach it.
Almost no one ever would.
Its conditions were too exact.
The individuals resonating had to possess equivalent strength.
Not approximately.
Not close enough.
There could be no meaningful discrepancy in their combat ability or skill.
Their souls had to be compatible.
That required trust beyond simple cooperation.
Shared experience.
Emotional synchronization.
An instinctive willingness to entrust one's life to the other.
Their breathing had to align.
Their minds had to remain stable.
Fear could exist.
Anger could exist.
But neither person could be consumed by unstable emotion.
Their hearts needed clarity.
And once every condition aligned—
The boundary between two fighters became something else.
Physical strength increased exponentially.
Speed.
Reflexes.
Endurance.
Weapon power.
Ability output.
Coordination.
All five senses intensified.
And beyond those five emerged something new.
A sixth sense.
Not telepathy.
Not precognition.
Something more instinctive.
The ability to perceive one's partner as naturally as perceiving one's own body.
Chifuyu did not know any of that.
Neither did Shinatsu.
All they knew was that when Chiharu moved—
Both of them already understood where the other would be.
Chiharu stared at them.
Blood ran down his chest.
His scales slowly reformed around the shattered section of his neck.
For the first time since meeting Chifuyu, there was no contempt in his expression.
Only calculation.
Then his crimson wings erupted again.
They spread wide enough to fill the street.
Crimson aura poured from his body.
Dense.
Violent.
It covered his shoulders, arms, wings, legs, and torso until the air around him distorted.
Chiharu grit his teeth.
This state wasn't efficient.
Far from it.
His curse blood began disappearing at an exponential rate.
But so did his limitations.
His strength surged.
Speed multiplied.
The scales across his body hardened.
Red-black lightning intensified between them.
Chiharu raised his head.
His eyes glowed crimson.
The pressure rolled through the street.
Chifuyu tightened his grip.
Shinatsu lowered her stance.
They still didn't know what they had unlocked.
Didn't know how rare it was.
Didn't know that the power moving through them was something the world itself seemed to reward when two souls reached absolute harmony.
They didn't need to.
Chiharu stepped forward.
Chifuyu did too.
Shinatsu moved with him.
Their hearts beat once.
Together.
Then both charged.
The fight broke open.
Not gradually.
All at once.
Chiharu launched into the air on crimson wings, and Chifuyu and Shinatsu went after him without hesitation.
Shinatsu jumped first.
Under normal circumstances, the distance would have been ridiculous.
A rooftop nearly eight meters above the street.
She cleared it.
Her foot struck the wall halfway up, purple lightning exploding beneath her sole as she pushed again and landed on the roof in a single motion.
She froze for half a second.
That should not have been possible.
Her body felt too light.
Too strong.
Her lungs were still calm.
There was no time to think about it.
Chifuyu landed beside her.
Both looked up.
Chiharu was already higher.
Crimson wings carried him over the next block.
Shinatsu moved.
Chifuyu moved with her.
They sprinted across the rooftop, jumped together, and cleared the alley below.
Purple lightning flashed around Shinatsu's blade.
Black fire rolled along Chifuyu's.
Chiharu turned in the air.
His hand swept down.
Three crimson slashes tore toward them.
Chifuyu cut the first apart.
Shinatsu twisted around the second.
The third came between them.
They split in opposite directions without a word.
The slash carved through the rooftop.
Both landed on different buildings.
Neither slowed.
Chiharu looked back.
They were still coming.
He angled upward.
Shinatsu planted one foot against a rooftop vent, jumped from it, caught the edge of a higher building with one hand, and swung herself onto the next level.
Chifuyu ran straight up the side of a wall using black fire bursts beneath his feet to keep momentum.
They reached the top together.
Chiharu's expression tightened.
He was flying.
They shouldn't have been able to keep up.
Shinatsu raised her sword.
Purple lightning surged along the blade.
More than before.
Much more.
She slashed.
The lightning left the edge as a narrow violet arc.
Chiharu banked aside.
It passed beneath one wing and struck a rooftop farther ahead.
Concrete erupted.
Chiharu looked back sharply.
Shinatsu stared at her own sword.
Shinatsu: "That was me?"
Chifuyu: "Guess so."
Another wingbeat.
Chiharu attacked.
A crimson claw formed around his hand.
He dove.
Chifuyu stepped forward.
Shinatsu ducked beneath him.
Chifuyu used her shoulder as a step.
Shinatsu barely even noticed.
Chifuyu launched upward.
His sword met Chiharu's claw.
The impact burst black and crimson energy across the sky.
Chiharu tried forcing him downward.
Chifuyu twisted.
The blade slid along the claws.
He kicked Chiharu's chest.
Chiharu folded one wing around himself and took the strike against the hardened crimson surface.
Shinatsu jumped from the rooftop below.
Her sword came upward.
Chiharu beat his opposite wing and twisted between them.
Purple lightning grazed his side.
Black fire passed over his shoulder.
He escaped.
Barely.
Chifuyu fell.
Shinatsu fell beside him.
They landed on the same roof at the same time.
Chiharu climbed higher.
Chifuyu looked up.
Chiharu inhaled.
Crimson energy gathered in his mouth.
Red-black lightning followed.
Shinatsu's eyes widened.
Shinatsu: "Again."
Chifuyu: "Yeah."
Chiharu's chest expanded.
The roar came out louder than before.
Much louder.
The sound itself shook windows.
Then the blast followed.
Crimson Roar tore across the sky.
It was massive now.
A widening torrent of dark red energy and red-black lightning that swallowed the entire space above the city.
Shinatsu moved to evade.
Chifuyu didn't.
He jumped.
Straight into it.
Shinatsu: "Chifuyu!"
Black fire exploded over his sword.
The blast hit him.
Chifuyu spun.
His body rotated around the blade like a wheel.
Black fire wrapped around the rotation.
The first layer of Crimson Roar split.
Then the second.
Chifuyu kept spinning.
The blast tore at his clothes.
Lightning snapped across his arms.
He didn't stop.
The black fire carved a tunnel through the attack.
Chiharu's eyes widened.
Chifuyu burst through the other side.
The distance between them disappeared.
One second.
Less.
Chiharu raised his arms.
Too late.
Chifuyu's blade came down vertically.
It entered near the shoulder.
Cut through the chest.
Continued down the torso.
Blood erupted into the air.
Chiharu screamed.
His body dropped.
The slash had nearly cut him in half.
Only the last section of his side remained connected.
Chiharu's crimson aura flickered violently.
Blood poured from him.
He stared down at the wound.
Then at Chifuyu.
Chiharu: "Im-Impossible."
Even with Crimson Aura strengthening his body—
Even with Scale Armor reinforcing parts of his torso—
Chifuyu had cut through him.
Cleanly.
Chiharu's regeneration began immediately.
Flesh pulled together.
Bone reconnected.
Muscle stitched itself back into place.
The healing was fast.
Not fast enough.
Shinatsu arrived.
She jumped from a rooftop and drove her sword down.
Chiharu twisted in midair.
The blade missed his neck but cut deeply through one wing.
Purple lightning burst through the wound.
Chiharu lost lift.
He crashed through the side of a building.
Chifuyu followed.
He landed against the wall, ran three steps sideways across it, then jumped through the hole Chiharu had made.
Shinatsu entered from above.
The fight disappeared inside the building.
Steel rang.
Crimson energy burst through windows.
Chifuyu came through a wall first.
Chiharu followed him.
Shinatsu came through the floor beneath both of them.
Her blade rose.
Chiharu twisted away.
She cut across his ribs.
He countered with a crimson claw.
Chifuyu intercepted.
Black fire collided with crimson energy.
The building shook.
Then the volcano did too.
A deep tremor rolled through the city.
The floor cracked.
Windows shattered.
The three ignored it.
Chiharu shoved Chifuyu away and jumped through the broken exterior wall.
His wings regenerated in a flash.
He took off.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu chased.
The city became their battlefield.
Chiharu flew between buildings.
Chifuyu ran along one wall.
Shinatsu sprinted across the roof opposite him.
Chiharu fired crimson slashes.
Chifuyu ducked under one without losing speed.
Shinatsu jumped over another.
A third came toward both.
Chifuyu cut upward.
Shinatsu cut downward.
Black fire and purple lightning crossed through the attack and destroyed it.
Neither had planned that.
They just knew.
Chiharu turned sharply between two towers.
Shinatsu jumped across the gap.
She planted one foot against the side of the left building and pushed off toward the right.
Chifuyu came from below.
His sword cut toward Chiharu's ankle.
Chiharu pulled the leg away and kicked down.
Chifuyu blocked.
The impact sent him toward the street.
Shinatsu jumped after him.
She caught his wrist.
For an instant, she swung from Chifuyu's weight.
Then Chifuyu used black fire beneath his feet.
The burst changed both of their momentum.
Shinatsu released him.
Both landed on opposite sides of the same building.
Chiharu came through the middle.
Crimson claws extended.
He attacked Shinatsu first.
She blocked.
The claws slid toward her face.
Chifuyu attacked from behind.
Chiharu folded a wing backward and blocked the sword.
Shinatsu saw the opening.
Her knee struck Chiharu's stomach.
Chiharu folded slightly.
Chifuyu jumped.
His foot landed against the wing.
He pushed off.
The sword came from above.
Chiharu formed scales over his shoulder.
The black fire shattered them.
Blood sprayed.
Chiharu roared and released crimson lightning.
Both Hunters split away.
The electricity tore through the rooftop.
Shinatsu landed near the edge.
Chifuyu landed beside a rooftop water tank.
Chiharu attacked immediately.
He didn't retreat.
He didn't care about the wounds.
His aura surged brighter.
Crimson energy poured from him so violently that the rooftop beneath his feet cracked.
He flew low.
Not away.
Toward them.
His claws struck Chifuyu's sword.
His tail of crimson energy formed behind him and swept toward Shinatsu.
She jumped.
Chiharu rose with her.
A wing hit her blade.
Shinatsu was pushed upward.
Chiharu followed.
Chifuyu jumped from the water tank.
He came from below.
Chiharu turned.
Their swords met in the air.
Shinatsu dropped down from above.
Chiharu released Chifuyu.
Twisted.
He caught Shinatsu's sword between crimson claws.
Purple lightning surged through his hand.
His fingers shook.
He held anyway.
Chifuyu came from the side.
Chiharu ducked.
The black flame slash passed over him.
Shinatsu had already released her sword with one hand.
She punched him.
Right across the face.
Chiharu's head snapped sideways.
Chifuyu grabbed the back of his collar.
Chifuyu: "Going down."
He threw.
Chiharu dropped toward the street.
His wings snapped open.
He stopped inches above the pavement.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu descended together.
Chiharu blasted upward.
The collision happened between buildings.
Crimson aura met black fire and purple lightning.
The shockwave blew out every remaining window on the block.
They separated.
Another tremor rolled beneath them.
Stronger.
A crack opened down the middle of the street.
Shinatsu glanced toward the distant volcano.
A faint orange glow had grown around its peak.
Chifuyu saw it too.
Chifuyu: "That's getting worse."
Shinatsu: "Not our biggest problem."
Chiharu landed across from them.
Blood still ran from several wounds.
His regeneration was keeping up.
Barely.
His Crimson Aura burned around him like a second body.
He was consuming curse blood at an absurd rate.
He knew it.
Didn't matter.
He raised both hands.
Crimson energy formed a long blade in one.
Claws covered the other.
His wings widened.
Chiharu: "I will not lose to you."
Chifuyu raised his sword.
Shinatsu moved beside him.
Chiharu attacked.
This time he was faster.
Much faster.
He crossed the street before either completed a breath.
The crimson blade struck Chifuyu.
Chifuyu blocked.
The impact pushed him backward.
Chiharu immediately rotated.
His claw came for Shinatsu.
She parried.
A wing swept low.
Both jumped.
Chiharu went with them.
The fight climbed again.
Shinatsu landed on a balcony.
Chifuyu landed on a streetlight.
Chiharu flew between them.
They attacked simultaneously.
Chiharu blocked Chifuyu's blade with his own and caught Shinatsu's with a claw.
He twisted.
Both were redirected.
Chiharu kicked Chifuyu toward one building.
Then blasted Shinatsu with crimson lightning toward another.
For the first time since Soul Resonance began, he created space.
Only a little.
Chifuyu hit the wall.
Recovered instantly.
Shinatsu landed against another wall.
Pushed off.
They came back.
Chiharu fired a crimson slash.
Chifuyu cut through it.
Another.
Shinatsu split it with lightning.
Chiharu dove.
Chifuyu met him.
Three strikes in less than a second.
Chifuyu blocked two.
Shinatsu blocked the third.
She countered.
Chiharu avoided it.
Chifuyu attacked the space he moved into.
Chiharu stopped short.
Good.
He was adapting to their synchronization.
He changed rhythm.
Attack.
Pause.
Feint.
Then real strike.
Chifuyu almost committed early.
Shinatsu felt it.
She tapped his blade with hers.
The tiny contact corrected his timing.
Chifuyu saw the true attack.
Blocked.
Chiharu's eyes widened.
Shinatsu came low.
He jumped.
Chifuyu followed upward.
Black fire struck the wing.
Chiharu spun with the damage.
His crimson blade cut across Chifuyu's shoulder.
Blood appeared.
First clean cut in a while.
Chifuyu smiled.
Chifuyu: "There you go."
Chiharu's expression twisted.
He attacked harder.
The three tore through the next building.
Then the next.
Farther inland.
Every block became another stage.
Walls broke.
Roofs became platforms.
Alleys became funnels.
Balconies became stepping stones.
Chiharu kept the aerial advantage.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu kept taking it away.
Shinatsu's human body should have failed long ago.
Instead, Soul Resonance carried her beyond those limits.
She jumped from the street to a third-story ledge.
Ran along it.
Pushed off.
Purple lightning exploded beneath her.
She reached Chiharu in midair.
He blocked.
Chifuyu came from below.
The black flame slash struck his back.
Chiharu turned with it and kicked Chifuyu away.
Shinatsu immediately caught the resulting opening and cut through his thigh.
Chiharu healed.
Attacked again.
Refused to stop.
The volcano rumbled beneath all three.
The city burned farther behind them.
And the battle kept driving inland.
Chiharu's arrogance had disappeared.
So had Chifuyu's humor.
Shinatsu's frustration over Kagura had settled into something colder.
All three were completely locked in.
Another clash erupted above the street.
Black.
Purple.
Crimson.
The colors twisted together.
For the first time since Chiharu had taken Chifuyu from Oni's battlefield, there was no clear pursuer.
No prey.
No one running.
Just three fighters pushing one another deeper into the city at a pace the battlefield itself could barely survive.
And none of them intended to stop.
***
The fight did not slow when it left the city.
If anything, it grew wilder.
The streets and rooftops of Hanabi had given way to the island's inland valleys, where long paved roads curved between looming walls of black stone and broad green slopes stretched beneath the night sky. The land felt ancient out here. Exposed shelves of volcanic rock layered the mountainsides, narrow streams cut through the valley floor, and every tremor from the volcano sent loose stone rattling down the inclines. In the distance, the red stain of the burning city still colored the horizon, but out here the battlefield had become wider, colder, and far more dangerous.
Chiharu took to the air first.
His wings beat once, and he shot above the road in a blur of crimson light before whipping around to hurl a fan of crackling energy down at them. The slashes tore across the valley like red comets, carving through the asphalt and exploding into the slopes, but Chifuyu and Shinatsu had already moved. Shinatsu darted to the outer edge of the road and launched herself off a broken guardrail, purple lightning snapping from her blade as she used the cliff face like a step. Chifuyu went the opposite way, black flames kicking beneath his feet as he cut upward through the nearest slash and rode its recoil into the air.
They crossed beneath Chiharu from opposite angles and attacked at once.
Chiharu twisted midair, his blade catching Shinatsu's strike while one wing folded defensively to knock Chifuyu's flaming slash away. The force of the collision rippled through the air, scattering sparks, feathers, and embers over the valley road below. Before Chiharu could recover, Shinatsu rebounded off the mountain wall and came back in with a low diagonal cut aimed for his torso. Chiharu narrowly slipped past it, but Chifuyu was already there to meet him, his blade stabbing forward with ruthless timing. Chiharu jerked sideways just enough to avoid being skewered, though the tip still scored across his ribs and sent blood flinging into the air.
He retaliated immediately.
Crimson lightning erupted from his free hand and branched through the open space between them, not as a single bolt but as a net meant to catch both at once. Chifuyu felt Shinatsu shift before he even saw her. He ducked as she leaped over him, her blade flashing in a violet arc that split the upper half of the lightning web, while Chifuyu swept through the lower half with black fire roaring along his edge. The divided attack burst apart around them, scattering red sparks through the cold night like shattered stars.
They landed on different levels of the switchback road below and ran without needing to call out to each other.
Chiharu dove after them.
He skimmed just above the asphalt, blade scraping sparks from the road as he closed the distance with terrifying speed. Shinatsu met him first. She slid beneath a horizontal swing that would have taken her head clean off, then planted her hand on the pavement and spun into a low kick at his ankle. Chiharu hopped over it, but that tiny adjustment was all Chifuyu needed. He came flying down from the upper bend of the road, blade overhead, black flames trailing behind him in a long crescent that crashed onto Chiharu's position.
Chiharu blocked, but the impact drove him through the rail and down the slope.
He caught himself halfway down the incline with a beat of his wings and snapped his head up just in time to see both of them pursuing him. Chiharu bared his teeth and fired a dense cluster of crimson bolts straight into the mountainside above them. The rock face burst apart. Massive chunks of dark stone broke free and thundered downward, turning the entire slope into a landslide.
Most fighters would have been forced to evade.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu went forward.
Shinatsu surged ahead first, lightning crackling around her legs as she bounded from falling boulder to falling boulder with impossible balance. Chifuyu followed half a step behind, smashing smaller chunks aside with black-flamed slashes and using the larger ones as springboards. They descended through the collapsing mountainside like they had done it a hundred times before, their pace never fully breaking, their breathing still perfectly aligned.
Chiharu's expression hardened.
He rose higher and drew in power until crimson energy condensed around him like a second body. Then he swept both arms down, and a rain of slashes fell from the sky. They were larger than before, broader and heavier, each one cutting trenches into the valley walls or detonating on impact with the road. Entire segments of asphalt burst apart. One slash ripped through a stream bed and launched a column of water into the air. Another split a rocky outcrop in two and sent both halves crashing across the switchback.
The valley became chaos.
And still the two of them moved through it.
Shinatsu sprinted along the inner curve of the road and used the shattered edge of a collapsed lane to vault high into the air. She whipped her blade, releasing a violet current that raced upward along the path of one incoming crimson slash, destabilizing it just enough for Chifuyu to cut through the weakened center. He burst through the explosion of red energy, spun once in the air, and hurled a black-flame arc back at Chiharu's blind side. Chiharu blocked it with his wing, but Shinatsu came in from below at the exact same instant and slashed across his thigh.
He hissed and backhanded her away with the shaft of his weapon, but Chifuyu intercepted before the blow could fully land, catching the strike and redirecting it just enough that Shinatsu only skidded across the road instead of getting crushed. She regained her footing in one fluid motion, purple sparks dancing around her blade. Chifuyu landed beside her for less than a second.
Then they attacked again.
Their momentum carried the battle farther inland, away from the last distant outline of buildings and deeper into Hanabi's rough interior. The roads here narrowed and wound tighter through the land. Cliffs rose on one side while open drops stretched on the other. The air smelled of wet stone, scorched earth, and something deeper beneath it all, something hot and restless from the volcano awakening farther in the island's heart.
Chiharu seemed to draw on that wildness.
He dropped to the road at last and chose to meet them directly. His wings folded behind him, his crimson aura thickened, and his swordsmanship sharpened into something nastier. Every exchange now came faster than before. His blade carved tight red arcs through the night, alternating between wide power swings and sudden stabbing lines that tried to catch them as they stepped in. He used his wings not just for flight anymore, but to pivot, brake, and create off-rhythm angles that made each follow-up harder to predict.
It would have overwhelmed almost anyone else.
But Chifuyu and Shinatsu had stopped fighting like two separate people.
Shinatsu pressured the front, her footwork light and exact, forcing Chiharu's guard to keep shifting. Every time he adjusted to her, Chifuyu was already there on the flank, punishing the opening with a harder, heavier slash. When Chiharu tried to counter Chifuyu, Shinatsu slid in low and fast, her purple lightning biting into his frame and disrupting his movement just enough to rob his retaliation of its full danger. When he retreated, they chased. When he pressed, they bent around him like water and turned his force against him.
At one point Chiharu planted his heel, spun his entire body, and unleashed a full circular slash of crimson energy meant to clear the area around him. Shinatsu dropped flat beneath it while Chifuyu leaped over her, and in the heartbeat after the slash passed, Shinatsu stabbed upward with lightning bursting from the point of impact as Chifuyu came down with a flaming overhead strike. Chiharu barely escaped having his chest split open by sacrificing his footing, twisting away, and letting both attacks tear across shoulder and side instead.
He hit the valley floor hard, rolled once, and sprang backward onto a massive slab of black rock jutting from the earth.
For the first time since entering Soul Resonance, Chifuyu and Shinatsu did not immediately pursue.
They stood together on the broken road below, blades raised, chests rising in calm rhythm. Their clothes were torn. Their skin was marked with cuts and soot. Blood ran from both of them in thin lines. Yet the feeling pouring off them was not exhaustion.
It was pressure.
Pure, relentless pressure.
Chiharu stared down at them from the rock ledge, breathing harder now. Cuts traced his body. Blood dripped from his jaw. His crimson aura flickered and surged around him, unstable with fury. The resemblance between him and Chifuyu had already been unsettling, but now, with both of them bloodied and glaring beneath the red light of distant flames, it felt almost grotesque, like one life had split down two opposite roads and come crashing back together in the worst possible way.
Another tremor rolled beneath the valley.
Loose stones skittered down the cliffs. Water shivered in the narrow stream below. Somewhere far deeper inland, a low rumble answered from the mountain.
Chiharu's breathing changed.
The fury in his face did not fade, but it condensed into something heavier, more primal. His crimson aura began to swell outward in pulses, each one denser than the last. The energy around him stopped behaving like fire or lightning and started feeling more like an animal waking up. Scale-like patterns spread across his neck and jaw. His wings expanded, then stretched wider still. The rock beneath his feet started to crack from the pressure pouring off his body alone.
Chifuyu's grip tightened.
Shinatsu lowered her center of gravity.
Chiharu slowly lifted his head, and what stared down at them no longer looked entirely human.
Crimson energy engulfed him in a violent spiral. His body swelled within it, bones cracking and reforming beneath a storm of light and scales. Wings burst wider, claws extended, and a long serpentine shape pushed out of the haze as the entire ledge shattered under the force of his transformation. When the light finally broke apart, a massive crimson dragon towered above the valley, its scales black-red in the dark, its wings spread wide enough to blot part of the sky.
Then Chiharu threw back his head and roared.
The sound shook the valley.
Rock walls answered with thunderous echoes. The stream rippled violently. The very air seemed to tremble beneath that monstrous cry as Chifuyu and Shinatsu stood their ground before the dragon that had emerged from their enemy.
The roar shook the valley long after Chiharu had finished transforming.
His new body towered over the winding road, crimson-black scales layered across a frame large enough to dwarf the trees scattered along the slopes. Massive wings unfolded from his back and stretched across the night, their membranes glowing faintly from the energy coursing beneath them. Red-black lightning crawled between the scales along his neck and shoulders, flashing brighter whenever he breathed.
Chifuyu stared up at him.
Chifuyu: "Okay. Evil twin might've been underselling it."
Shinatsu tightened both hands around her sword.
Shinatsu: "Less talking."
Chifuyu: "Right."
Chiharu moved.
The size of the dragon made Chifuyu expect weight.
Slowness.
Anything resembling hesitation.
There was none.
One wingbeat cracked through the valley and launched Chiharu forward with frightening speed. His claw came down across the road, large enough to cover both Hunters at once.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu separated.
The claw struck between them.
The road shattered.
Asphalt, guardrails, and chunks of black volcanic rock erupted into the air while cracks raced through the switchback in every direction. Chifuyu jumped onto one of the rising slabs and immediately kicked away from it as Chiharu's second claw tore through the debris.
Shinatsu ran along the edge of the collapsing road.
A crimson wing swept toward her.
She jumped.
The wing passed beneath her and smashed directly through the mountainside.
An entire shelf of stone broke loose.
Shinatsu landed on a chunk of rock that had been thrown upward by the impact.
For half a second, she stood twenty meters above the valley floor on a boulder that was still rising.
Her eyes widened.
Then Soul Resonance told her where Chifuyu was.
She jumped again.
Chifuyu came from the opposite direction, black fire bursting beneath his feet as he launched himself from one piece of airborne debris to another.
Neither needed to call out.
They converged on Chiharu.
Shinatsu reached him first.
Purple lightning surged over her blade as she came down toward the dragon's foreleg. Chiharu pulled the limb away and turned his head toward her.
His jaws opened.
Crimson energy gathered.
Chifuyu saw it before Shinatsu did.
He threw a black flame slash across Chiharu's face.
The dragon jerked aside.
The blast inside his mouth fired harmlessly into the mountainside.
The explosion removed a massive section of rock.
Shinatsu landed on Chiharu's forearm.
She ran.
Her feet struck between the scales while purple lightning trailed behind her. Chiharu snapped his arm sideways, trying to throw her off.
Shinatsu jumped before the movement reached her.
Chifuyu was already there.
He caught her wrist.
For one instant, Shinatsu hung beneath him while both fell.
Chifuyu used a burst of black fire to rotate.
Then swung her.
Shinatsu released at exactly the right moment and landed on another slab of flying rock.
Chiharu's tail came through the debris.
It shattered three enormous boulders in a single sweep.
Chifuyu ducked beneath it.
Shinatsu jumped above.
The tail passed between them.
Both attacked.
Black fire struck the upper side.
Purple lightning cut across the lower.
Chiharu roared.
The tail twisted violently.
The two were forced away before they could deepen the wounds.
Chiharu climbed.
His wings beat hard enough to create a shockwave across the valley floor.
Chifuyu crossed both arms.
Shinatsu lowered herself.
The blast ripped grass from the slopes and sent loose stone skidding across the road.
Then Chiharu stopped climbing.
He folded his wings.
Dropped.
Chifuyu looked up.
Chifuyu: "Move!"
The dragon hit the valley floor.
The impact was catastrophic.
The ground buckled beneath him.
A circular fracture tore through the road and surrounding slopes as if something enormous had struck the island from above. Sections of old volcanic rock broke loose and launched into the sky, followed by pieces of road, trees, guardrails, and entire slabs of the mountainside.
The shockwave reached Chifuyu and Shinatsu.
Both jumped with it.
Rather than being thrown uncontrollably, they let the force carry them upward.
The landscape rose around them.
Hundreds of pieces of debris hung in the air for brief, impossible moments.
Chifuyu landed on a spinning road slab.
Shinatsu landed on a boulder above him.
Their eyes met.
They moved.
Chifuyu sprinted across the slab before it began descending and jumped toward the next piece. He landed sideways against it, ran two steps along its surface, then used black fire to launch upward again.
Shinatsu took a different route.
She bounded from stone to stone, each jump carrying her farther than a human body should have been capable of reaching. Purple lightning burst beneath her feet whenever the gap became too wide, adding just enough force to keep her climbing.
Chiharu looked up.
They were using the destruction he had created.
His jaws opened.
Crimson lightning poured outward.
The bolts jumped between the airborne debris.
Shinatsu felt the attack before it reached her.
She jumped.
The boulder beneath her exploded.
She landed on a section of guardrail spinning through the air and ran across the narrow metal while lightning chased her from behind.
Chifuyu cut through another bolt.
The black flames surrounding his blade swallowed enough of the crimson lightning to create a narrow opening.
Shinatsu crossed through it.
They reached Chiharu from opposite sides.
The dragon swung one claw toward Chifuyu.
Chifuyu jumped onto it.
Chiharu's eyes widened.
Chifuyu ran across the enormous limb.
The dragon tried snapping his arm upward.
Chifuyu drove his sword between two scales and used it as an anchor.
His body swung around the limb rather than being thrown.
Shinatsu landed farther up the same arm.
Purple lightning exploded from her sword.
The electricity entered the narrow gaps between the scales.
Chiharu roared.
His muscles seized.
Only briefly.
Chifuyu ripped his blade free.
Black fire surged.
He cut across the weakened scales Shinatsu had just electrified.
They shattered.
Blood sprayed.
Chiharu twisted violently.
Both Hunters jumped away.
His wing snapped outward.
Chifuyu blocked.
The impact sent him toward the cliff.
Shinatsu felt it immediately.
She changed direction in midair.
Her feet touched a falling stone, and she pushed from it toward Chifuyu.
Chifuyu hit the mountainside.
Not hard enough to break through.
Shinatsu landed beside him for less than a second.
Then the cliff beneath them exploded.
Chiharu had slammed his tail into its base.
The entire rock face collapsed.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu ran upward across the falling mountain.
Stone broke beneath their feet.
They jumped from one collapsing shelf to another while Chiharu flew alongside them, claws carving through the slope and crimson slashes cutting entire sections away.
One slash came toward Shinatsu.
Chifuyu stepped across her path.
His sword cut through it.
Another came toward Chifuyu from above.
Shinatsu struck it with purple lightning.
The energy destabilized.
Chifuyu finished it.
They continued climbing.
The mountain itself was becoming their staircase.
Chiharu surged ahead.
His wings folded close to his body as he accelerated through the valley.
Then he turned.
Came back.
His entire body was wrapped in crimson aura.
Chifuyu's eyes narrowed.
The dragon descended like a meteor.
Shinatsu: "He's aiming for the ground."
They jumped.
Chiharu crashed beneath them.
Another explosion ripped through the valley.
This one tore open the mountainside.
The shockwave threw Chifuyu and Shinatsu higher while enormous chunks of basalt followed.
Chiharu burst from the crater after them.
His claws caught Chifuyu first.
Chifuyu barely got his sword between himself and the strike.
The force hurled him across the open air.
He hit a massive floating slab and rolled across it.
Shinatsu attacked Chiharu's eye.
The dragon turned.
Her blade scraped across scales near his brow.
Chiharu snapped his jaws toward her.
She dropped.
The teeth closed inches above her head.
Shinatsu fell beneath him.
Chiharu's tail came around.
She couldn't avoid it.
Chifuyu saw the angle.
He kicked from the slab.
Black fire exploded behind him.
He crossed the gap and slammed his sword into the tail before it reached her.
The hit changed its path just enough.
The tail missed Shinatsu.
It struck the mountain instead.
The entire cliffside shattered.
More debris filled the valley.
Shinatsu caught herself on a piece of rock.
Chifuyu landed beside her.
Both were breathing harder now.
Only slightly.
Soul Resonance still held.
Chiharu hovered above them.
Blood ran from beneath several broken scales.
One side of his body was already regenerating.
His eyes burned with fury.
Then red-black lightning surged across every scale at once.
Chifuyu's expression changed.
Chiharu roared.
Lightning exploded through the entire debris field.
Bolts jumped from rock to rock.
Every piece of stone became a conductor.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu moved instantly.
They descended instead of climbing.
Shinatsu jumped down through the field, stepping only on pieces that had not yet been struck. Chifuyu followed another path, using black fire to destroy smaller debris before the lightning could jump through it.
The bolts began converging.
Shinatsu felt Chifuyu's route.
He felt hers.
Both changed direction simultaneously.
They crossed.
The lightning followed them.
At the last second, they split.
Two massive branches of crimson electricity collided with each other.
The resulting explosion tore open the sky between them.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu emerged from opposite sides.
Chiharu barely had time to turn.
Shinatsu reached his wing.
Her sword plunged between the scales.
Purple lightning erupted inside it.
Chiharu roared.
Chifuyu attacked the same point.
Black fire cut through.
The wing tore.
Not completely.
Enough.
Chiharu lost altitude.
His enormous body dropped toward the mountainside.
He tried regaining lift.
The damaged wing failed.
He crashed.
The dragon slid hundreds of meters down the slope, tearing a trench through grass, rock, and old volcanic earth before finally stopping near the valley floor.
Chifuyu landed on the road.
Shinatsu dropped beside him.
For a few seconds, neither moved.
Then rubble shifted.
Chiharu rose.
Slowly.
One wing hung damaged.
Blood ran from his mouth.
Several sections of Scale Armor were broken.
His breathing was heavier than before.
But his eyes remained locked on them.
Chifuyu lowered his sword slightly.
Chifuyu: "He's still coming."
Shinatsu: "Of course he is."
Chiharu roared and charged.
No hesitation.
The damaged wing dragged for several steps before regeneration began restoring it. He swung a claw across the road.
Chifuyu jumped.
Shinatsu slid underneath.
The claw shattered the hillside behind them.
Chifuyu landed on Chiharu's wrist and ran upward again.
This time Chiharu anticipated it.
Crimson lightning burst through the arm.
Chifuyu jumped before the current reached him.
Shinatsu was already airborne.
She met him halfway.
Chifuyu planted his foot against her sword.
Shinatsu pushed.
The combined force launched him toward Chiharu's head.
Chiharu snapped at him.
Chifuyu twisted sideways.
The jaws missed.
His sword cut across Chiharu's cheek.
Black flames burned through the scales.
Shinatsu came from below.
Her purple lightning struck the exposed wound.
The dragon jerked away.
His wing hit her.
Shinatsu blocked but was thrown toward the road.
She landed hard.
Rolled.
Rose immediately.
Chifuyu felt her condition.
Fine.
Bruised.
Still moving.
Chiharu spun toward him.
Tail.
Chifuyu ducked.
Claw.
He jumped.
Wing.
He blocked.
For the first time, Chiharu successfully layered all three attacks without leaving an obvious opening.
Chifuyu was forced backward.
Shinatsu rushed in.
Chiharu turned his head.
Crimson lightning fired from his mouth in a narrow burst.
Shinatsu redirected it with her sword.
The impact pushed her boots through the road.
Chifuyu attacked the neck.
Chiharu folded one wing around it.
Black fire struck.
The wing cracked.
Chiharu opened it suddenly.
The force knocked Chifuyu away.
The dragon had adjusted.
He was reading their rhythm now.
For several exchanges, the balance shifted.
Chiharu stopped attacking wherever they stood.
He attacked where their synchronization would naturally move them.
A claw strike forced Shinatsu left.
A crimson slash was already waiting there.
Chifuyu intercepted it.
A tail sweep immediately targeted the position Chifuyu had moved into.
Shinatsu blocked.
Crimson lightning followed.
Both barely escaped.
Chiharu pressed.
He drove them down the valley.
A wingbeat shattered the road.
A claw ripped through the stream bed.
Crimson energy slashes carved huge scars across the mountain.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu kept moving, but the margin between survival and death narrowed with every exchange.
Soul Resonance let them match him.
It did not make them invincible.
Then Chiharu stopped.
He flew backward.
Far.
Chifuyu and Shinatsu watched him retreat hundreds of meters down the valley before rising high above the road.
The crimson dragon spread both wings.
His entire body began glowing.
Chifuyu's eyes widened.
Shinatsu felt it too.
Every remaining fragment of Chiharu's curse seemed to gather inside his chest.
The crimson aura disappeared from his limbs.
Lightning withdrew from his scales.
Even his wings darkened.
Everything moved inward.
Toward his throat.
Toward his jaws.
Chiharu inhaled.
The valley shook.
Red-black lightning spiraled around his mouth.
Crimson energy condensed until the air itself distorted around it.
Shinatsu tightened her grip.
Shinatsu: "That's everything he has."
Chifuyu stared.
Something inside him answered.
Black fire stirred in his chest.
Not along his blade.
Inside him.
Chifuyu blinked.
He understood without understanding.
Shinatsu looked toward him.
Chifuyu took a deep breath.
A very deep breath.
Black veins darkened across his face.
The fire inside him expanded.
Shinatsu immediately understood what he intended.
She stepped beside him.
Both hands wrapped around her sword.
Purple lightning gathered at the guard.
Then spread along the blade.
Every remaining spark she had.
Her arms began trembling.
The sword glowed brighter.
Chiharu opened his jaws.
The dragon roared.
His blast erupted.
Crimson energy and red-black lightning tore through the valley in one enormous torrent, wide enough to swallow the road and the slopes beside it. The attack shattered the landscape before it even arrived, tearing loose stone from cliffs and sending cracks racing through the earth.
Chifuyu stepped forward.
His cheeks expanded slightly.
Then he opened his mouth.
Black fire erupted.
Not a slash.
Not a projectile.
A roar.
A massive torrent of black flame exploded from Chifuyu and surged down the valley.
Shinatsu thrust her sword.
Purple lightning fired from its tip.
The blast wrapped around Chifuyu's black flames.
Violet electricity spiraled around the dark fire until the two attacks became one.
Black and purple collided with crimson.
The valley vanished beneath light.
The impact produced no immediate explosion.
The forces locked.
Chiharu's Crimson Roar pushed forward.
Chifuyu dug his feet into the road.
Shinatsu leaned into her sword.
The ground beneath them cracked.
Chifuyu felt her heartbeat.
Shinatsu felt his.
One.
Two.
Perfect rhythm.
Their breathing remained synchronized even while pouring everything they had into the attack.
The sixth sense between them sharpened.
Chifuyu knew exactly when Shinatsu would increase her output.
Shinatsu knew exactly when his flames would surge.
They pushed together.
The black fire grew.
Purple lightning brightened.
Chiharu's blast stopped advancing.
His eyes widened.
The combined attack moved forward.
Slowly.
Then faster.
Crimson energy began folding backward.
Chiharu roared harder.
More lightning entered the blast.
It didn't matter.
The black-and-purple torrent swallowed it.
Chiharu's eyes widened further.
His Crimson Roar broke.
The combined attack surged through.
It reached him.
The dragon disappeared inside black fire and violet lightning.
The explosion shook the entire valley.
A column of mixed energy erupted toward the sky, illuminating mountains for miles around. The shockwave rolled through the slopes, tearing loose stone from the cliffs and flattening grass across the valley floor.
Chifuyu finally stopped.
The black fire vanished from his mouth.
Shinatsu's lightning died.
Both remained standing for half a second.
Then their bodies almost gave out.
Chifuyu bent forward, hands braced against his knees.
Chifuyu: "Haa… haa…"
Shinatsu planted her sword into the road and leaned against it.
Her breathing came hard now.
Very hard.
Every ounce of exhaustion Soul Resonance had pushed into the background returned at once.
Their muscles burned.
Their lungs screamed.
The power between them faded.
Chifuyu could no longer feel Shinatsu's heartbeat.
Shinatsu could no longer feel his.
The strange sixth sense disappeared.
The valley became normal again.
Quiet.
Smoke drifted across the road.
Far in the distance, something fell from the sky.
Not a dragon.
A person.
Chiharu's human body crashed into the slope and rolled through the grass before coming to a stop.
He didn't move.
His dragon form was gone.
His crimson aura was gone.
Unconscious.
Chifuyu stared.
Shinatsu did too.
Neither said anything for several seconds.
They looked over the valley.
Broken roads.
Collapsed cliffs.
Chunks of volcanic rock scattered everywhere.
Black scorch marks.
Purple electricity fading across stone.
A trench left by Chiharu's final attack.
The distant glow of Hanabi burning beyond the mountains.
Then they looked at each other.
Chifuyu was still trying to catch his breath.
Chifuyu: "What…"
He inhaled deeply.
Chifuyu: "What the hell was that?"
Shinatsu shook her head.
Shinatsu: "I was about to ask you."
Chifuyu straightened as much as his body allowed.
Chifuyu: "You could feel it too, right?"
Shinatsu nodded.
Shinatsu: "Your heartbeat."
Chifuyu stared.
Chifuyu: "Yeah."
Another tremor rolled beneath their feet.
Neither reacted immediately.
They were still looking at one another.
A few minutes ago, neither had known what Soul Resonance was.
They still didn't.
They didn't know why it had happened.
Didn't know what conditions they had somehow met.
Didn't know why their bodies had become stronger, why their abilities had surged, or why two separate fighters had briefly moved as though they shared the same instincts.
All they knew was what they had just done.
Chifuyu looked toward unconscious Chiharu.
Then across the devastated valley.
A tired smile appeared.
Chifuyu: "That was pretty crazy."
Shinatsu exhaled.
Despite everything, the slightest smile appeared on her face too.
Shinatsu: "That's one way to describe it."
Above them, smoke drifted through the night.
Behind them, Hanabi Island continued to burn.
And somewhere beneath the mountains, the volcano rumbled again.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Chiharu lay unconscious in the distance, his human body half-buried against the slope where he had fallen. The crimson aura was gone. So were the wings, scales, claws, and monstrous pressure that had filled the valley only moments ago.
Shinatsu stared at him through heavy breaths.
Then she forced one foot forward.
Her knee almost gave out immediately.
She caught herself by driving her sword into the cracked road.
Shinatsu: "We need to go finish him."
Chifuyu glanced toward Chiharu.
He knew she was right.
If they left him there and he recovered, everything they had just done could become meaningless.
Chifuyu pushed himself upright with his own blade.
His arms trembled.
Chifuyu: "Yeah."
They started walking.
Barely.
Every step looked worse than the last.
Neither had enough strength left to properly carry their sword, so both used the weapons like canes, dragging themselves forward through the ruined valley.
Then the air changed.
A pale gate opened beside Chiharu.
Chifuyu stopped.
Shinatsu's eyes narrowed.
Someone stepped through.
Lily.
She looked around at the destroyed valley, the broken roads, scorched cliffs, and pieces of mountainside scattered across the landscape.
Then she looked at Chifuyu and Shinatsu.
A smile spread across her face.
Lily: "Well, that was entertaining."
Chifuyu sighed.
Chifuyu: "Of course it's you."
Lily glanced toward unconscious Chiharu.
Lily: "You two showed me something interesting."
Shinatsu tightened her grip on her sword.
Shinatsu: "Stay away from him."
Lily ignored her.
She walked over to Chiharu, bent down, and grabbed him with one hand.
Then simply yanked him upright.
His unconscious body hung from her grip.
Chifuyu stared.
Chifuyu: "You're really just taking him?"
Lily: "Yep."
Shinatsu tried stepping forward.
Her leg failed.
She caught herself again.
Lily turned toward the gate with Chiharu still dangling from one hand.
Then she looked back.
Raised her free hand.
And waved one finger.
Lily: "Toodle loo."
Shinatsu's eye twitched.
The last traces of purple lightning crawled along her blade.
Shinatsu: "Oh no you don't."
She forced everything she had left into one swing.
A thin purple lightning slash tore across the valley.
Lily stepped through the gate.
The opening snapped shut.
The attack passed through empty air and struck the hillside beyond.
Shinatsu stared.
Shinatsu: "You gotta be kidding me."
Her sword slipped from her hand.
She collapsed.
Chifuyu's eyes widened.
Chifuyu: "Shinatsu."
He took one step toward her.
Then stopped.
She was breathing.
Just completely exhausted.
Chifuyu looked toward where the gate had disappeared.
Then toward the distant city.
He wanted to move.
Needed to move.
Kagura was still somewhere out there.
His other friends were still fighting.
Hanabi was still burning.
But his legs could barely hold him up.
Chifuyu exhaled.
Chifuyu: "Yeah… we're not going anywhere like this."
He lowered himself beside Shinatsu.
Then gave up halfway and simply fell onto his back.
The cracked road was uncomfortable.
He didn't care.
Chifuyu stared up at the night sky.
Smoke drifted between the mountains.
The volcano rumbled somewhere in the distance.
Chifuyu closed his eyes.
Chifuyu: "Just a quick rest."
For the first time since Chiharu had torn him away from the others, Chifuyu allowed his body to stop.
Beside him, Shinatsu was already unconscious.
And beyond the valley, the battle for Hanabi Island continued.