The command struck something deep and absolute.
Kriya didn't understand how his body moved only that it did. His muscles lurched forward against his will, power snapping through his veins like barbed wire. He fought it, teeth clenched, breath shaking, forcing his eyes shut.
His fist shot out.
Ryoma caught the punch mid-air, palm locking around Kriya's knuckles with a sharp crack. Water splashed at their feet. He turned his head slightly, gaze flicking toward Astra, who stood watching with faint, amused interest.
"…Master?" Ryoma breathed.
That hesitation cost him.
Kriya's other fist slammed into Ryoma's face. The impact snapped Ryoma's head to the side and sent him stumbling back two steps, boots skidding across wet stone.
"Damn it!" Ryoma spat.
Kriya's chest heaved. "Ice breg—I can't control myself right now," he said through clenched teeth. "Looks like you're just going to have to take it."
Ryoma recovered fast. He surged back in, blocking another blow and driving his own fist hard into Kriya's ribs.
"UNBELIEVABLE," he snapped. "YOU REALLY ARE THE GILDED THORN OF THE DIVINE LOTUS BASTARD! YOU ARE SUCH AN IDIOT."
The words hit harder than the punch.
Kriya snarled, fury finally breaking through restraint. "DONT YOU DARE CALL ME THAT!" He lunged, their bodies colliding, fists flying. "AND DONT CALL ME AN IDIOT EITHER!"
Ryoma laughed short, sharp, humourless and kicked him square in the stomach. Kriya skidded back, nearly losing his footing at the water's edge.
"Then what are you?" Ryoma shot back. "Who the hell chooses to become a puppet of their own free will?!"
His gaze flicked to Astra, and his words hit harder when he turned back.
"Making yourself a puppet of hers—that's throwing your life straight into her hands! I knew you were twisted abnormally, but not to this extent!"
Kriya snarled and charged again.
"I was a child!" Kriya shouted as he caught Ryoma's arm and drove a knee into his side. "We were just playing puppet-master that day! I didn't know it would end like this! That day—"
Ryoma wrenched himself free and smashed a fist into Kriya's jaw.
"—everything changed after that!" Kriya roared, swinging back wildly. "I didn't even know the spell was never lifted until now!"
Ryoma drove his fist into Kriya's chest. Pain burst outward.
"Ah—!" Kriya hissed despite himself. "That hurt! Can't you be gentle for once? Cold heart!"
Ryoma's eyes burned with something feral.
"Gentle?" He seized Kriya by the collar, fingers biting into the fabric. "Gentle my foot. I've wanted to do this for years." With a raw shout, he hurled him backward with everything he had. "I won't waste this chance to hurt you deeper than you have ever felt in your life."
Astra remained on the bank, arms relaxed at her sides, watching calmly.
"…Still the same," she murmured. "Neither of you has changed."
In the water, the fight turned savage.
Ryoma grabbed Kriya's shoulder and forced him down. "Remember what I swore?" he growled low. "I said I'd be the one to kill you. Maybe I finally get to keep that promise."
Kriya twisted free, slamming his forearm into Ryoma's throat to shove him back.
"You think you can kill me?" he snapped. "Beat me first!"
He snapped his fingers in a sharp, practiced sign.
The water around them roared upward, spiraling violently, forming a crushing current that tore forward with enough force to shear stone.
Ryoma reacted instantly. He raised his palm.
The rushing water froze solid mid-motion—ice blooming outward in jagged arcs—then shattered at his command. Shards exploded forward like shrapnel.
Kriya moved on instinct alone. He twisted, ducked, and slipped through the storm, every shard narrowly missing him. One sharp fragment he caught with his heel and kicked back hard.
It drove straight through Ryoma's upper arm.
Ryoma's voice was a raw roar, ragged with anger. The fist of ice and blood from Kriya which had driven straight through his upper arm was painful. He grunted, crimson blooming instantly, but his expression didn't waver. His hands shot forward, grabbing Kriya with brutal force.
"GILDED THORN BASTARD!" he spat, voice cracking. "WHAT—what do you even want?!"
Kriya's body moved before thought could catch up. His knee shot upward, catching Ryoma off-guard, and he twisted midair, driving a vicious elbow into Ryoma's chest.
"Don't you already know what I want?!" Kriya hissed, teeth gritted.
Ryoma's eyes flared, glowing with a dangerous fire. He closed the distance instantly, seizing Kriya in a crushing embrace, muttering through gritted teeth, "Don't you dare—DONT YOU DARE!!"
Kriya laughed, wild and reckless, headbutting him hard. "What if I do? What if I dare! Why do you even care?!"
"How dare you say that!" Ryoma bellowed, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away roughly, then struck Kriya across the face, again and again. "She's my master! I have known her long before you did! But the moment you entered our lives… everything changed! I wish she had never saved you in the first place… then none of this would've happened! You humans are always unworthy! You don't deserve it! You are unqualified for that!"
Astra stood a few paces away, fingers curling into sharp claws as she clenched them, pale knuckles whitening. Her eyes glowing red, cold yet burning with hidden desire never left them. She watched the brutal, bloody dance, silently, her presence like an unyielding shadow over the two men. Each strike, each shout, each drop of blood echoed like a symphony of rage, regret, and raw, aching desire.
An hour passed.
They were no longer soaked in water alone blood clung to them thicker than rain. The pool around them had darkened, ripples red‑tinged. Both men staggered on broken footing, chests heaving, breaths jagged and raw. Bones were cracked. Ribs screamed with every inhale. Yet neither had fallen.
Kriya swayed forward, panting hard, and swung at Ryoma again. Ryoma caught the strike mid‑motion, arms locking around him as he dragged him close, foreheads nearly colliding.
"Why aren't you using healing?" Kriya muttered harshly through clenched teeth. "Doesn't it hurt?!"
Ryoma slapped his arm away and staggered back a step, coughing out a laugh. "Same goes for you. Why aren't you using any spiritual energy—" He paused, breath hitching. "…Wait." His lips curved. "Did you seal them?"
Kriya chuckled, low and dry. "Guessed right. I'm going to fight you with bare fists only."
Ryoma ran a shaking hand through his blood‑matted hair and glanced toward Astra, fury and dread tangling in his gaze. "You're a maniac," he muttered. "We need a solution soon."
"There are only two," Kriya said. He kicked Ryoma hard in the ribs, then yanked him back by the collar and drove a punch into his jaw. "Either one of us dies here and the command ends—" another strike, brutal and close "—or we fight until sunrise."
Ryoma stumbled, then steadied himself, breathing hard.
"As long as the command isn't fulfilled," Kriya continued, voice rough but clear, "she can't issue another. And when the sun rises—her memories seal again."
Ryoma exhaled sharply, then slammed an elbow into Kriya's side with everything he had. "I wish I could choose the first option," he snarled. "Kill you right here."
He struck him again hard.
"But I'm choosing sunrise. Because there are too many things I still need to hear from your flithy mouth."
Kriya laughed, even as he reeled back. "So you're finally ready to listen?"
"I wouldn't," Ryoma snapped, grabbing him again, "if this was only about you." His grip tightened. "But it's tied to my master. So I'll hear everything—whether I like it or not." He shoved him back. "And I'll try not to kill you."
Kriya's laughter broke into something sharp and breathless. He surged forward and headbutted Ryoma viciously, blood immediately pouring from Ryoma's nose.
"You're so cruel," Kriya muttered hoarsely, swaying, smiling through pain. "It hurts, you know."