Ren's breath hitched—
—and once again, memories flooded him, too vivid to ignore.
He saw his mother—that same warm smile in the small kitchen, her humming voice filling their modest home with peace.
He saw his father—the steady presence, the quiet strength, the guiding hand on his shoulder even when Ren hadn't deserved it.
They had been there for him.
Always.
He hadn't seen it until now.
The images clung to him, warm and heavy, squeezing his chest with something fierce and raw and undeniable.
It wasn't exactly pain.
It was something worse.
Something deeper.
"If I had just talked to them…"
"If I had just… tried to understand them…"
"If I hadn't locked myself away…"
Ren clenched his fists against the dirt, trembling, jaw set tight.
He grit his teeth against the sob clawing at his throat.
He pushed upward despite the screaming pain in his battered body—his thigh, his arms, everything protesting.
He staggered onto his knees.
Then onto one foot.
Then the other.
"Stand. Just stand."
"I see it now,"
he thought bitterly.
"I built those walls on purpose. I let the small hurts grow until they were massive. Until they poisoned everything."
Tears blurred his vision—hot, unstoppable—but he didn't wipe them away.
He took one shaky step.
Another.
The shield cracked again—deep and final now.
The golden light dimmed, thin and stretched to its limit.
Kaito's monstrous face sneered beyond it, clawed hand already raised for the final, killing blow.
The girl braced herself—ready to take the hit—
—but Ren moved first.
With everything he had left, Ren lunged forward.
The girl screamed—"NO!"
Ren shoved her aside, throwing his body between her and the attack just as the shield shattered into a million glittering shards.
For one breathless heartbeat, there was silence.
Then the full force of Kaito's psychic blast hit Ren dead-on.
An invisible hammer of pure, crushing power slammed into his chest, folding him in half and lifting him off the ground like a ragdoll.
The world blurred.
A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the cavern as Ren was hurled backwards, slamming into the jagged rock wall with brutal force.
Dust and debris exploded around him, the air thick with the sharp tang of blood and broken stone.
Ren collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
The girl scrambled up from where she had been thrown, horror twisting her face.
"REN!!!"
Her scream ripped through the cavern, raw, broken, desperate enough to make the very walls tremble.
The creature—Kaito—lowered his hand slowly, the grotesque satisfaction pulling at his pale, rubbery features.
The sickly glow around him flickered faintly, unstable and chaotic, as if feeding off the despair thick in the air.
The girl collapsed beside Ren's limp body.
Her hands hovered uselessly over him—trembling, unsure if touching him would hurt him even more.
Tears spilled down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs that built up and exploded into a guttural scream.
"You idiot!" she choked, her voice cracking. "Why did you do that?!"
Her fingers dug into the dirt. Her heart hammered against her ribs like it wanted to break free.
The grief twisted into something hotter, darker—
—rage.
White-hot rage flooded her veins, burning away the grief in a tidal wave of fury.
She stood.
Fast.
Her eyes locked onto the monster—
—and without hesitation, she charged.
Kaito's monstrous figure shifted, surprised, as she darted toward him, faster than before, golden shields flaring into existence one after another around her.
"You won't…" she began, her words barely audible, her essence flaring to life.
He lashed out with another psychic blast—
—but she ducked under it, shield flashing and absorbing the brunt.
Another strike came—sharp, jagged, brutal—
—she twisted around it, her body moving with pure instinct.
In a blink, she was on him. "…hurt anyone else!" she screamed, her voice carrying a furious resolve.
With a furious cry, she leapt, grabbing him by the distorted remnants of his shoulders.
"Get off me!"
it roared, thrashing violently, its voice a mangled mix of Kaito's human rage and monstrous distortion.
But her grip was unrelenting.
She gritted her teeth, pulling him closer, chanting under her breath—
steady, strong, unwavering.
"浄化の光よ,邪悪を滅ぼせ!"
("Light of purification, eradicate the evil!")
The air around them crackled, electricity sparking wildly through the cavern like a brewing storm.
Above them, the air split—
—and from the gaping wound in the sky, two enormous beams of golden light tore downward.
The beams twisted and coiled through the air like serpents made of the sun's own fire.
With a deafening BOOM, they slammed into the creature—
impaling it through its core with searing, radiant spears.
The monster screamed—a sound so inhuman and broken that the very walls of the abandoned mine seemed to quake with it.
Smoke sizzled from its translucent flesh, the light burning through it with relentless, divine energy.
But even so—
Even impaled and burning—
The creature wasn't finished.
With a raw, furious snarl, it speed blitzed out of the cavern—
moving with a blinding, desperate force—
dragging the girl along with it as she clung to him, refusing to let go.
The tunnels blurred past in a chaotic rush, the walls cracking and shedding dust in their wake.
Outside—
into the moon-drenched forest of Okutama—
the battle raged onward.
Ren lay lifeless on the jagged ground of the cave.
Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the dirt and broken stones.
Each breath was a struggle—thin, ragged, slipping through his lips in shallow gasps.
The world around him was fading, the pain growing distant.
He could feel it—
—the cold fingers of death creeping up his spine, wrapping around his chest.
And then—
—he was gone.
Or so it seemed.
When Ren opened his eyes, he wasn't in the mine anymore.
Instead, he found himself standing on the familiar endless sea of white Lycoris Radiata.
The petals shifted and stirred without wind, brushing against his ankles like whispering ghosts.
Above, the sky stretched vast and impossibly blue, broken only by soft, lazy clouds drifting across its face.
The air was warm but empty.
Weightless.
Soundless.
It was familiar—too familiar.
A memory without a source.
At a distance, standing amidst the endless field, he saw her again.
The woman.
Facing away from him, her long dark hair cascading down her back like a waterfall of silk, untouched by the breeze.
Her voice reached him first—
—low, sultry, and edged with amusement, like the purr of a cat toying with its prey.
"You gave up so easily, little Ren,"
she said, her words stretching lazily across the endless expanse.
Ren staggered forward, confusion clawing at his broken mind.
"Who are you?"
his voice came out small, fragile, barely a whisper.
The woman didn't answer at first.
Instead, she slowly—almost teasingly—turned around.
Ren's breath caught in his throat.
Her face—
—it was there but not.
Scribbled.
Blacked out.
As if someone had taken ink and smeared her features into oblivion.
No eyes, no mouth, no expression.
Just darkness where her face should have been.
Still, somehow, he felt her watching him.
Smiling.
She tilted her head slightly, almost amused at his question.
But she didn't answer.
Instead, she stepped closer, the hem of her long dress dragging through the sea of flowers like a shadow.
And she spoke again, her voice lower now, filled with an unsettling certainty:
"Your time hasn't come yet."
The world seemed to pulse at her words, the flowers rippling outward like water disturbed by a single stone.
"You need to get back,"
she said, almost tenderly.
The sky above them shifted—deepening from blue to a bruised, stormy hue—
and a distant rumble echoed across the endless field of white.
Ren stared at her, his heart hammering in confusion and desperation.
"But how—?"
Before he could finish, the woman raised a single, delicate hand.
"Just surrender your body to me."
And with the lightest touch of her finger against his forehead—
the world around him shattered into light.
Above the shattered mine, the night air pulsed with violence.
The monster—Kaito—thrashed in midair before hurling the girl off his back.
She crashed hard into the rocky ground, rolling painfully before skidding to a stop.
Dust and pebbles scattered as she gasped for breath, but there was no time—
—the monster was already pointing its palm at her, gathering energy, the air around his hand warping with the sheer heat of it.
Eyes narrowing, the girl struggled to lift her arm, conjuring a shield just in time.
The blast slammed into it, pushing her several meters back, her boots dragging deep ruts in the ground.
Her jaw clenched tight. She was getting slower. Tired.
But she wasn't finished.
Her fingers moved in swift, desperate patterns, and her voice rose into a sharp chant:
"大地よ,鎖となりて,悪を縛れ!"
("O earth, become chains and bind the evil!")
At her call, the ground around the monster split open.
From the cracks, chains of stone and light burst forth, coiling tightly around the monster's arms and torso with a violent snap.
The creature roared in frustration, yanking at the bindings, but they glowed with sigils—
—a debuff spell, sapping its strength and slowing its grotesque movements.
The girl seized the chance and sprinted forward, energy surging into her body.
Her plan was clear—end it now.
But the monster's shriek tore through the night, a screech of rage and defiance.
With an unnatural, jerking motion, it shattered the chains, shards of magic exploding outward like glass.
The monster retaliated immediately—its palm snapping forward, firing relentless bursts.
The girl barely managed to erect shield after shield, each one cracking faster under the assault.
She was pinned, trapped, unable to move an inch without being ripped apart.
Her teeth grit together. She couldn't hold out much longer.
Suddenly, the air around them shifted.
It grew heavy—thick like tar.
The ground seemed to sink.
The monster froze mid-attack, its body trembling as the crushing weight of an invisible force began to bear down on it.
"This pressure..."
the monster hissed, a tremor of fear snaking into its voice for the first time.
Its wet, pale skin quivered.
Its crimson eyes widened in alarm as it twisted its head unnaturally—a full 180 degrees—to glance behind it.
And there—
Standing in the dust and debris—was Ren.
His body trembled under the strain.
Blood still oozed from open wounds, staining his torn clothes, dripping onto the rubble beneath him.
Each breath he drew was shaky, wet with pain—
—but his eyes burned.
Not with fear.
Not with desperation.
But with a sharp, unflinching resolve.
A gravity so thick and oppressive hung around him that even the air seemed to shudder.
Kaito—snarled, baring jagged, inhuman teeth.
"RENNNNN!!"
The scream tore from its throat, animalistic, filled with rage and hatred.
Without hesitation, it lunged—
—a blur of pale skin and gnashing fury.
Ren didn't move.
Not at first.
He watched.
Waited.
The moment the monster's claws slashed toward him, he sidestepped, letting the attack carve into the trees behind him.
BOOM.
A massive trunk exploded into splinters.
Ren didn't waste it.
In the same breath, he grabbed a broken branch—long, jagged, sharp at one end—and wielded it like a spear.
The monster whirled back around, furious, but Ren was already moving.
Silent.
Focused.
Another attack—another swipe—Ren ducked under it, the gust of wind from the strike slicing at his face.
He leapt onto a fallen log, using the uneven forest floor to his advantage, weaving through the chaos like smoke.
The monster snarled, furious at missing again.
It lunged.
Ren threw himself into a roll, snapping up another sharp piece of debris mid-motion.
Now, one jagged branch in each hand.
Still, he said nothing.
No war cries.
No pleas.
No threats.
Only cold determination as he moved with raw, desperate instinct.
When the monster struck again, Ren parried with the makeshift spear—wood against flesh.
CRACK.
The impact jarred Ren's arms, pain lancing up to his shoulders, but he held firm.
Using the recoil, he spun low, slashing across the monster's thigh with the other sharpened branch.
A thin line of black ichor spilled out.
The creature howled.
But Ren didn't flinch.
He drove forward, weaving through the shredded forest, always staying one step ahead, using every fallen branch, every shattered trunk, every patch of cover to survive—
—to fight back.
The night roared around them, but Ren remained silent.
Like a blade honed too long against stone, he struck without hesitation, fueled by something deeper than anger.
Something unbreakable.