On the other side of the shattered room, amidst crumbling marble and drifting dust, three figures remained standing.
Kazan. Daidaiiro. Ao.
They faced each other. Ten meters apart. No one moved. Only a faint breeze drifted between them, carrying the lingering heat and frost of the previous battle.
Kazan held his sword—a single blade with a white hilt. It was still sheathed. Unextracted.
Daidaiiro growled, the fire spear in his hand blazing brightly. Ao stood beside him, ice spear gripped tight, his breath exhaling cold vapor.
Kazan showed no signs of fatigue. Unlike Leon who was on the verge of collapse, or Marcus who was down on his knees, Kazan stood perfectly upright—as if nothing had happened.
Daidaiiro loathed that composure. "You think you can take both of us this casually?"
Kazan did not answer.
Ao remained silent, but his spear began to gleam.
Finally, Kazan spoke. "Begin."
"Flame Lunge!"
Daidaiiro thrust his spear forward—a cone of fire erupted, scorching the very air in its path.
Kazan did not dodge.
"Mizu no Kamae."
His blade cleared the sheath in a single, fluid motion. It was not a strike to cleave, but to parry—gently, like water redirecting a stone. The torrent of fire split in two, rushing past both sides of Kazan's body without leaving a singe.
Daidaiiro blinked. "What—"
"Hailstorm Spear!"
From the flank, massive ice spears shot forth—swift as ballista bolts, piercing toward Kazan.
Kazan remained unfazed.
"Hikari no Battō!"
His sword swung in a blinding flash of white light. A wave of energy collided with the ice spears, shattering them into a cloud of crystal shards that scattered through the air.
Daidaiiro and Ao exchanged a brief glance. They nodded.
Daidaiiro kicked into motion. Not to attack, but to sprint sideways, carving a trail of fire behind him. "Hellfire Stride!"
Flames erupted from the ground in his wake, forming a wall of searing heat that restricted Kazan's movements.
Simultaneously, Ao moved from the opposite side. "Hoarfrost Mist!"
A freezing fog rolled out from his spear—biting, frigid, obscuring vision and slowing reflexes.
Kazan was trapped between frost and flame.
Yet, he did not panic.
"Reppū no Kamae!"
He spun with his blade extended, generating a protective vortex of energy around himself. The whirlwind dispersed Ao's freezing mist and deflected the scorching heat from Daidaiiro's wall of fire.
But just as the vortex began to subside—
"Thicket of Icicles!"
Ao slammed his spear into the ground. Beneath Kazan's feet, dozens of jagged ice spikes erupted, thrusting upward to impale him.
Kazan had already leaped into the air.
"Tenshi no Ichigeki!"
Hovering above the icy spikes, he drew his katana back. Then he descended—a singular downward slash, unleashing a shockwave the moment he landed.
BOOM!
The marble floor shattered. Daidaiiro and Ao were forced to leap backward to evade the kinetic blast.
Kazan stood at the center of the small crater he had carved. Sword in hand. His breathing remained perfectly steady.
Daidaiiro growled. "You are infuriating."
Ao did not speak, but his spear began to glow even brighter.
Kazan stood still, but he knew he could not defend forever against two Hydra soldiers simultaneously. Defending consumed too much stamina. He needed to end this.
He dropped into a low stance. A grounded posture, blade drawn to his side.
"Tsuki no Shirabe."
All his senses heightened. He no longer watched with his eyes—he read the flow of energy. The heat radiating from Daidaiiro. The cold emanating from Ao. Both were moving, searching for a gap, a single weakness.
Kazan waited.
Daidaiiro and Ao watched Kazan stand motionless. No movement. No offense.
Daidaiiro snarled. "He's underestimating us!"
"Phoenix Thrust!"
He lunged with his spear—a singular, concentrated thrust, focusing all his flames into a single point. No spray, no explosion. Just a lethal dot of concentrated heat.
Ao struck at the exact same moment. "Aurora Lance!"
He hoisted his spear toward the ceiling, gathering ambient light and frost until it morphed into a brilliant lance of ice, shimmering like the Aurora Borealis. He hurled it—a streak of unstoppable cold.
Two attacks. From two opposing directions. Fire and ice—simultaneous, complementary.
Kazan did not move.
But his calculations were already complete.
"Mushin no Ittō."
Mind without mind.
His body moved on its own as if time had dilated. He stepped forward—not to evade, but to slip through the narrow threshold between the fire and ice. Like a shadow that was never truly there.
His sword swung—a single, straight slash. Simple. Flawless.
Void of intent. Void of emotion. Completely unpredictable.
The strike cut through the Phoenix Thrust—cleaving the fire, extinguishing it.
The strike cut through the Aurora Lance—shattering the ice, dismantling it.
And the arc continued forward, catching both Daidaiiro and Ao in the exact same trajectory.
Daidaiiro collapsed, his chest slashed open as his fire spear slipped from his grip.
Ao fell beside him, his chest wounded, his ice spear clattering to the floor.
Kazan stood between them. His sword was still drawn, his breathing finally turning heavy.
He did not deliver a finishing blow. There was no need; the strike was definitive.
He turned and began to walk away.
But behind him—
A sudden spark of fire crackled from Daidaiiro's fallen form, accompanied by the sharp sound of ice fracturing from Ao's direction.
Kazan stopped. He did not look back.
He took a slow breath, then resumed his stride.
=== CHAPTER 47 END ===