Dust coiled in the air, thick as smoke and just as heavy.
Sensei Gara winced as blood trailed down his left arm. Another cut. His robe was shredded in three places now, each wound delivered by Yagumi's cursed blades—the Twin Reapers, now glowing with a dark crimson aura that pulsed with hatred.
Yagumi's breaths were ragged, but his face was painted with maniacal glee. His Super Aku no Eye flared like an inferno. "What's wrong, old man?" he sneered, licking the blood off one of his blades. "Didn't expect the forgotten student to bite back this hard?"
Gara remained silent for a moment, staring at the boy—no, the beast—before him. Then, he exhaled.
"I see now… the Yagumi I knew is gone." He slowly drew a long blade from the sheath strapped to his back. The metal shimmered, glowing with swirling hues of violet, silver, and gold. "Then I have no choice but to use this…"
Yagumi's eyes narrowed.
From the heavens descended a sudden silence. The wind froze. The stars, though it was daytime, seemed to shimmer unnaturally above.
Gara held his weapon high. "This is the Galaxy Blade, forged from a dying star. It channels not wrath… but purpose."
A single swing from Gara parted the clouds.
The pressure that blanketed the battlefield intensified tenfold. The ground beneath Yagumi cracked from the sheer force of the blade's aura alone. Yagumi stumbled, sweat forming on his brow.
"Interesting…" he chuckled. "So you were holding back."
Gara moved.
He vanished from sight, reappearing in front of Yagumi in a blink. SLASH! A silver arc danced across Yagumi's torso.
Blood sprayed.
Yagumi skidded back, growling in fury.
Gara didn't relent. His Galaxy Blade moved like a celestial storm—every strike, graceful yet crushing, as if the stars themselves descended to judge Yagumi.
Slash after slash, Gara overwhelmed him, until Yagumi crashed against a boulder, panting.
And then… he laughed.
Low at first. Then louder. Madder.
"You think that's enough to stop me?" he hissed, eyes bloodshot. "Watch closely, Sensei…"
He stabbed both Twin Reapers into the ground and raised his hands. The air dimmed. Shadows spiraled violently, and the temperature dropped like winter's breath.
From the black mist emerged three wraiths—soulless, humanoid figures cloaked in rags of despair, howling with unnatural voices.
Gara's eyes widened. "Only Gimori could summon Wraiths…!"
But Yagumi's grin only widened, his Super Aku no Eye swirling violently. "I'm not just anyone anymore."
He raised his arms—and absorbed them.
The Wraiths screamed, merging with his body in a whirlwind of corrupted energy. Darkness spiraled around him like a hurricane.
Then came the transformation.
Yagumi's skin turned dark brown, glowing faintly with cursed energy. Thin black veins surged across his arms and neck like spiderwebs of malice. His once-straight black hair sprang up wildly, flowing like flames of shadow. His shirt burst off, revealing a lean but muscular torso, etched with supernatural glyphs and cursed sigils. His teeth sharpened into fangs, and his nails turned black, more claw than keratin.
The Super Aku no Eye flared, now no longer just burning—it roared.
He stepped forward, his presence now unbearable.
"I have become…" he whispered, "…Hellbound."
Gara raised his blade, his body trembling—not in fear, but in recognition. "That form… it's demonic."
Yagumi laughed. "It's perfect."
They clashed again.
This time, the roles reversed. Gara's blade, once graceful and composed, now struggled to parry Yagumi's relentless fury. The Twin Reapers slashed like twin hurricanes, every move unpredictably savage, every strike meant to maim, not disarm.
Gara was driven back, wounds accumulating.
"Not so confident now, are you?!" Yagumi shouted, voice deeper, distorted. "This is the REAL me! This is the power you were too scared to give me!!"
Gara managed to parry a strike and countered with a spinning arc of galactic light, cutting deep into Yagumi's shoulder. But Yagumi didn't even flinch. He laughed through the blood.
"You can't kill what's already damned!"
Gara dropped to a knee, breathing heavily. His blade trembled in his hand.
Suddenly, a bolt of thunder split the sky.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!"
Raijin, his white hair crackling with lightning, leapt into the fray. His Thunder Blade surged with energy as he swung it with terrifying speed.
Yagumi turned just in time to block—but even he was pushed back.
Raijin unleashed a barrage of blows—each one echoing like thunder across the battlefield. Sparks flew, dirt exploded from underfoot, and shockwaves rippled out in all directions.
"You've gone too far, Yagumi!!" Raijin roared. "This isn't power! It's madness!"
Yagumi grinned, blood trickling from his lips. "And you're next."
The two clashed, faster than most could see.
Raijin summoned lightning from the heavens, channeling it through his blade, slashing faster than sound itself. Yagumi twisted and spun, his Reapers cutting arcs in the air, parrying blow after blow.
But even Raijin, with all his speed and might, found himself overwhelmed.
Yagumi backflipped over a thunder strike and kicked Raijin mid-spin, sending him flying into a crumbling wall.
Raijin coughed up blood but rose, battered yet burning with resolve.
"Then take this… my strongest technique—"
He pointed his blade toward the sky. Lightning gathered, not just from above, but from the very air, dancing wildly around him. His eyes glowed white.
"Legendary Art: SACRED THUNDER!!!"
He vanished—a bolt of pure light.
But Yagumi didn't move.
He sidestepped.
Raijin soared past him, too fast to stop.
Gara, kneeling and weakened behind Yagumi, could only widen his eyes.
"Raijin, NO—"
SPLASH!
Raijin's blade went clean through Sensei Gara's chest.
Silence.
Raijin froze—horrified. "No… no, Sensei…"
Gara's eyes dimmed. "I… was proud of you all…"
He collapsed, lifeless.
Yagumi stood over them both, slowly walking forward.
Raijin, still kneeling in shock, barely raised his head before—
"Legendary Art: Twin Reaper Slash."
Yagumi's arms blurred.
Two black arcs formed a perfect X through Raijin's body.
Time seemed to stop.
Raijin's eyes widened, then faded. He crumpled beside his fallen master.
The battlefield went still.
Kaze, Xzavier, Shoei, and Levine—all locked in combat—froze.
Everyone stared in stunned horror.
Yagumi—Hellbound, corrupted, unrecognizable—stood alone among the corpses of legends.
He looked down at the Thunder Blade and Galaxy Blade lying in the dirt. Without hesitation, he picked them up, one in each hand. The Twin Reapers hummed ominously on his back.
He examined the two legendary weapons, then looked toward his stunned former allies.
A slow, sinister smirk curved across his face.
"Looks like the Rising Star just became a Black Hole."
And with that, the battlefield, once filled with hope, was now cloaked in fear.
The Hellbound had risen.
And nothing would be the same again.