"The hell is that?" Fate muttered, trying to push himself up. His arms shook, and before he could steady his legs, he dropped back to his knees.
Yuuki's pulse spiked. Fate's down… and this guy looks like he's just getting started. Great. He tightened his grip on the dagger in his left hand. There wasn't much choice left. He had to fight.
He moved in, slow and careful, lowering his body like a hunter closing in. The other boy noticed, eyes narrowing, and swung his weapon up high before crashing it into the ground.
The earth split open with a roar. Dust and shards of rock flew, but Yuuki was gone from where he'd stood. A fist came flying toward the boy but Yuuki counters. The boy tried to block it, but Yuuki pulled back at the last second and spun, landing a sharp sokuto geri that knocked him off balance. Before he could recover, a kakato geri came down hard, driving him to the floor.
"Damn it, you bastard!" the boy shouted, fury twisting his face.
"Fate! You still with me?" Yuuki called out.
Silence.
The boy's expression shifted. He spat to the side and hissed, "Wake up, Anki. They mock us." He slammed his weapon into the ground again. "You're all dead."
The blade — Von Manos, that's what he'd called it — came alive with a crackle, a noise like metal growling through static. The boy grinned like a man gone mad. "Yes, Anki… they'll taste our power."
Yuuki's gut tightened. "Yeah, I really don't like where this is going." He grabbed Fate by the wrist and tried to drag him toward the trees. The ground trembled as the boy raised his weapon once more and brought it down.
A quake tore through the earth, shaking the platform until the whole thing gave way. The forest, the cliff, the world itself seemed to fold and fall.
When the dust cleared, the boy stood alone. "Gone? Of course they are," he said with a laugh that didn't sound human anymore. "The weak always hide. The strong… we walk."
---
Moments Later
The world was a blur of ash and falling light. Yuuki's lungs burned as he opened his eyes to see he was lying halfway down a slope, his clothes torn and blood running down his temple. He coughed, trying to stand, but his body wouldn't respond. "Fate…?" he whispered. "Where are you?"
Only the wind answered. Broken branches, the smell of smoke, and the faint glow of the collapsed platform above him and that was all that remained.
"Fate!" he shouted again, louder this time, though his voice cracked halfway through. No reply. Just the soft rustle of leaves and a strange ringing in his ears. He stumbled forward, calling again, but the ground under his feet felt wrong and slippery, shifting like mud. Every step sank him deeper into exhaustion.
He didn't see the shadow that approached until it was right beside him.
A hand,pale andslender reached down and caught him before he could fall. Yuuki blinked through the haze. The figure wore a blue kimono, edges fluttering gently in the cold breeze. Their face was hidden beneath the shade of a straw hat, but something about the air around them felt… still. Calm, yet powerful.
"Rest," the figure said softly, voice echoing like a memory. "You've done enough."
Yuuki wanted to protest, to ask who they were, where Fate had gone — but his vision dimmed. The last thing he saw before everything faded was a faint blue glow surrounding the stranger's hands as they lifted him effortlessly into their arms.
Somewhere in the distance, thunder rolled again and not from the storm, but from the boy with the Von Manos, laughing into the dark.