The air cracked.
A pulse of pressure hit the field as a second Shikiban stepped forward—this one leaner, his cloak fluttering like smoke in the wind. His hair burned upward like a living torch, and a third eye opened on his forehead, glowing gold.
"Enough of this nonsense,"he said, voice calm and venomous. "You killed my brother. I'll return the favor."
Daigo narrowed his eyes. Ishigo stepped beside him, blade gleaming with quiet fire. Yeaga drew his scythes, spinning them lazily, his smirk gone.
The Shikiban inhaled, and the world dimmed.
"Flame Technique: Solar Epoch Ruin."
The clouds peeled away. The sun twisted—no, it screamed. A second sun bloomed above the battlefield, artificial and ravenous, spinning arcs of heat into the earth like divine punishment. Stone melted. Air ignited. The battlefield turned white-hot.
Daigo raised his sword. "Everyone, scatter!"
They launched themselves in opposite directions just as beams of light punched into the ground—BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—blasting chunks of terrain into ash.
Ishigo landed hard, rolling behind a ruined column. "This guy's playing with celestial-level fire…"
Yeaga sprinted through the heat, cloak smoking. "He just tried to microwave the planet!"
Daigo, panting, stared at the artificial sun above. His spirit wolf growled beside him, the hairs along its translucent spine bristling.
"Time to burn it out."
Daigo raised his hand.
The spirit howled, then burst into glowing shards of energy, flooding into Daigo's body. His veins lit up. His irises went full gold. The grey flames coiled around his limbs like snakes, forming armor of pure, primal fire. His blade thickened—evolved into a fang-shaped greatsword humming with grief and rage.
From the other end of the field, Ishigo smirked.
"Oh, he's going full beast mode now."
He stood and pointed his blade skyward. The air around him shimmered again—blue fire pulsing like a heartbeat.
"Blue Flame Requiem—Stage Two."
The katana morphed. The blade extended, splitting into twin edges connected by chains of fire. A phoenix crest glowed above Ishigo's back.
A new voice echoed—yet another Shikiban. The third one, tall and hunched, stepped out from the smoke with twitching fingers and a grin stretched too wide.
"Good. I like it when prey struggles."
He raised his hands. Nails stretched into claws. His spine cracked as his body twisted and burned, forming wings of obsidian flame.
"Flame Technique: Ashen Rebirth Maw."
A skeletal serpent of flame burst from the earth, its jaw wide, filled with rotating rings of molten teeth.
Yeaga blinked. "Why is everything a nightmare today?"
Then he grinned.
"Took you long enough."
He tapped his foot twice.
BOOM.
The ground beneath the serpent erupted—rows of earth-spikes made of hardened shadow and light combo-sigils. The serpent reeled.
"Yeah," Yeaga muttered. "Try biting with a jaw full of sacred shrapnel."
He spun his scythes again.
He vanished.
Only the trail of black light followed as he carved through the beast's neck in a hurricane of cuts.
Meanwhile—
The second sun descended, slow and awful.
Daigo charged forward, blade howling. Each step shattered the ground.
The Shikiban raised a finger. "You'll be dust in seconds."
Daigo didn't stop. "Maybe. But I'll bury you with me."
They collided.
KA-KRAK!
A blast of grey energy and solar flame tore the sky open. Trees miles away bent in the shockwave. The clouds split like pages ripped in half.
Daigo's blade met the Shikiban's palm—and held.
"Impossible," the Shikiban whispered. "You shouldn't be able to—"
"Shut up."
Daigo headbutted him.
CRACK.
The Shikiban reeled. Daigo slashed upward, cleaving the cloak from the Shikiban's body and revealing his burning core—his heart, exposed and pulsing with plasma.
Daigo roared.
He twisted his sword into a reverse grip and plunged it into the Shikiban's chest.
BOOOOM.
The grey flame detonated inward, a controlled implosion of pure grief-forged power. The Shikiban's eyes widened.
"…Brother…"
Then he vanished. Reduced to ash.
Elsewhere—
The skeletal serpent hissed, reforming instantly.
Ishigo panted. "God, this thing just won't—"
He stopped.
Then he smiled.
"Alright. Fine."
He plunged both edges of his chained blade into the ground.
"Blue Flame Requiem—Cage of Echoes."
Pillars of blue flame shot up in a perfect circle around the beast. The serpent twisted—and saw mirrored images of itself.
It lunged.
Wrong move.
Each mirror exploded into a vortex, pulling the serpent piece by piece into dozens of dimensional fragments, scattered across flame-soaked reality.
The Rebirth Shikiban screamed.
"No! My pet—!"
Ishigo appeared behind him, blade at his neck.
"Your funeral."
He didn't swing.
He let the chain pull.
The Shikiban's head separated like water over a blade.
The battlefield fell quiet.
Even as the last body hit the ground, the world didn't feel still. The flames had receded, yes—but something in the air remained tight, like lungs holding in the final breath before a scream.
Daigo stood alone at the heart of the battlefield, the steel of his blade still humming with grey energy. His eyes burned. His chest rose and fell with each breath like it was his last.
Everything felt loud. Too loud.
His vision shook.
He could still see the fire. The smoke. Hayashi's face as the blade took him. The scream that never fully left Daigo's throat, the one he'd buried under years of quiet rage and training.
And now it was loose.
He wiped blood from his brow, smearing it into his cheek without noticing. Somewhere behind him, Ishigo called his name, but it was distant—like an echo in a dream.
That's when Daigo saw movement in the smoke. A massive shape.
A figure, large, coiled in haze.
The wolf.
Crsytel.
But to Daigo—caught in the tailspin of trauma, adrenaline, and the scent of burning flesh—it didn't look like a friend.
It looked like another Shikiban.
Eyes glowing. Fangs bared.
"You again,"Daigo muttered, tone flat. He took a step forward.
The spirit wolf tilted its head, confused.
Daigo didn't care.
He screamed, rage ripping from his chest like a cannon blast, and lunged.
Yeaga blinked. "Uh… is he… is he attacking his own summon?"
Ishigo turned sharply, confusion etched on his bruised face.
Daigo slammed his blade toward the massive wolf, striking it across the jaw. The creature staggered, stumbling back through the dust, its transparent form flickering like a glitch in reality.
The wolf growled—not out of aggression, but confusion.
"You think you can fake him?!"Daigo roared, panting between swings. "You think wearing his face would fool me!?"
He rushed forward again, this time shoulder-checking the spectral beast.
The wolf reeled back, letting out a low howl that rumbled across the field. It wasn't angry. It was hurt. Confused. Sad.
It ducked another slash, backing away, ears flattened.
Yeaga whistled low. "This is… getting weird."
Ishigo was already running.
Daigo's strikes were fast now—wild, fueled by every scar that hadn't healed. His sword danced in furious arcs, carving through the air, connecting with the wolf's shimmering fur and leaving ripples of distortion with every blow.
The spirit didn't fight back.
It could have. Easily.
Instead, it dodged. Shifted. Tried to fade.
But Daigo wouldn't let it.
He grabbed the creature by the neck with one hand, holding it down with supernatural strength. His other hand raised the blade high.
"You're not him. You're not my wolf,"Daigo hissed through his teeth, voice cracking. "You're just another one of them—"
"DAIGO!"
The shout hit like a hammer.
Ishigo landed between him and the spirit, both hands outstretched.
Daigo froze, sweat dripping from his chin.
"Ishigo?" he asked, blinking.
"What the hell are you doing?" Ishigo panted. "That's your wolf."
Daigo looked at the spirit again. The beast's golden eyes stared into his, unwavering, full of concern. Of loyalty.
His breath hitched.
"I… thought…"
Ishigo didn't lower his hands. "Yeah, I know what you thought. But that thing has been protecting you since the second it appeared. You seriously think a Shikiban would just sit there and take all of that without fighting back?"
Daigo looked at the wolf again. It whimpered softly, ears still pinned, massive tail curled under its translucent legs.
Reality began to stitch itself back together in his mind.
He stepped back, blade lowering slowly. "Shit…"
Yeaga arrived just in time to hear the apology.
"I… I thought it was one of them."Daigo let out a breathless laugh, wiping his face with the back of his arm. "My brain just… fried."
The spirit shook itself out, stepping forward with cautious steps, brushing its muzzle gently against Daigo's arm. He didn't flinch this time.
Ishigo smirked. "You owe him, big time."
Daigo sighed, patting the wolf awkwardly. "I'll buy him a steak or something."
Yeaga grinned. "Yeah, make it two. That poor guy just got hit with like, all your unresolved trauma."
Daigo cracked a smile.
For the first time that day, it felt real.