> "I was in the water. It was cold..."
The memory returned in fragments.
The river. The light above. The weight in his chest.
Then the mountain.
The bruises.
The blade.
The man.
He had long forgotten the sound of the old master's voice.
Only his gaze remained.
Calm. Unyielding.
The last time Kairo attacked him, he didn't even see the counter.
Only the pain.
Only the dirt.
> "Get up."
The old man's voice returned, distorted and distant.
> "Until you cut the world itself… keep getting up."
---
Above the Veil battlefield, the massive faction warship tore through the clouds, flames bursting along its hull.
The engines failed one by one.
Its structure groaned.
It was going down.
And yet—
He stood atop it.
Kairo.
Unmoving.
One foot placed firmly near the shattered edge, the other resting on melted steel.
The wind howled around him, but he was silent.
His cloak whipped violently. His katana glowed faintly—still sheathed.
> Veil Energy flooded the battlefield like a second sky.
Soldiers on both sides dropped to one knee.
Veterans clutched their heads.
The world seemed to slow.
Even the clouds parted above him.
> "That's not normal Veil pressure..." whispered a nearby commander.
"That's... a weaponized form. It's folding gravity."
---
Daeho froze.
Not in fear—
But in recognition.
His legs trembled.
His whip pulsed violently on his arm, trying to retreat back into dormancy.
Ayen dropped to one knee, gasping for air.
> "What… is that?" he choked.
Juno's hands trembled as his cards scattered, slipping from his fingers.
> "That's not human," Juno muttered. "That's not even Veilborn. That's something else."
Only Daeho remained standing.
Barely.
His body felt like it was sinking under a collapsing mountain. But his instincts screamed one thing, over and over:
> "He's coming for me."
---
The flaming warship spiraled downward, cracking apart in the sky—
> And then he jumped.
Kairo leapt from the wreckage like a divine blade unsheathed from heaven.
His form didn't twist or flail.
He simply dropped.
Straight.
Deadly.
Wind spiraled around him.
The sheer descent split the clouds.
The pressure alone flattened trees before he even touched the ground.
And when he did—
Boom.
A crater burst open beneath his feet. Stone lifted. Earth cracked. Dust swallowed the entire zone.
When it cleared—he was already walking forward.
---
Daeho didn't hesitate.
> If I wait, I die.
He surged forward, blackwhip flying into motion like a coiled demon. Three tendrils shot outward, one from each direction.
SNAP—
Kairo sidestepped. No flash. No drama. Just one small step and the whips missed completely.
Daeho's eyes narrowed.
> He's reading me faster than I can move.
He launched a follow-up, sending the whip underground and launching it up beneath Kairo like a spike.
This time, Kairo moved.
He flicked his fingers—
CLANG.
The sheath of his katana struck the whip mid-air. One precise angle.
Daeho was sent skidding back ten meters from the rebound force alone.
---
> He's sharp.
He adapts fast.
But he doesn't kill fast enough.
Kairo's hand finally touched the katana's hilt.
The battlefield held its breath.
> "Daeho of the Resistance," Kairo spoke for the first time.
His voice was soft.
But it carried like thunder.
> "You're one of the only ones still standing. That means one thing."
He stepped forward, unsheathing the blade just one inch—
> "You're worth killing."
---
> My whip is barely responding.
My muscles are burning.
But I can't stop. If I fall here—
He slid into a low stance, breathing in, letting the Veil coil around his back like wings.
> "You're strong," Daeho called out, "but you bleed like the rest."
Kairo tilted his head, amused.
> "Then make me bleed."
---
Daeho charged, using his whip to launch himself upward—above Kairo's blind spot. He twisted, midair, slinging the whip behind him to anchor it, then shot it downward toward Kairo's shoulder.
Kairo didn't dodge.
Instead, he slid his foot half an inch.
SLICE.
One clean motion.
The whip tore apart—split by wind alone. Kairo hadn't even swung.
He used the motion of the sheath moving through air—sharpened by Shinkaze.
---
He landed hard, blood dripping from his cheek.
The broken half of the whip retracted around his arm.
> "He cut it... with air?"
Kairo raised his blade to the sky—still not fully drawn.
> "You're not ready yet."
He turned slightly.
> "But if your trump card doesn't arrive in the next three minutes..."
> "You'll all die here."
Awesome — let's continue Chapter 5, right after Kairo delivers his chilling warning:
> "If your trump card doesn't arrive in the next three minutes… you'll all die here."
---
The wind stopped.
No, not the wind—
Everything.
Time felt frozen. The battlefield around them, once alive with screams and explosions, had gone completely silent.
All eyes—soldier, fighter, friend or enemy—were locked on the two figures in the crater.
Kairo, standing like an executioner with a sheathed sword.
Daeho, breathing heavy, his whip torn, eyes filled with fire.
---
> He's faster.
He's cleaner.
Every move I make—he's already three steps ahead.
Blood dripped down his forearm, but he didn't feel the pain anymore.
> But I saw it. Just now. When he cut my whip... there was hesitation.
Not in his form. Not in his focus.
In his eyes.
> He's fighting like someone waiting for permission to die.
Daeho's fingers twitched. The blackwhip trembled like a wild dog sniffing blood.
> If I can't beat his blade...
> I'll bind his soul.
---
Daeho moved again—but not forward.
He slid sideways, then back, then flicked his fingers. From the torn whip, three smaller tendrils splintered off and shot outward in different arcs.
Kairo's eyes followed two.
The third… slipped underground.
Veil sparks danced along the floor. Daeho wasn't aiming to hit.
> He was setting a trap.
---
> "Your style's too clean," Daeho said aloud, circling him. "Too perfect. You know what that means?"
Kairo raised an eyebrow, amused.
> "You're used to winning. You've never been forced to improvise."
For the first time, Kairo smiled.
> "You're wrong."
> "Try me."
Daeho snapped his fingers—hard.
BOOM.
A massive Veil surge erupted under Kairo's feet, the third hidden tendril blooming like a flower trap. Chains of blackwhip energy exploded up, forming a spiderweb of pulsing binds.
Daeho pulled his hands wide apart—every tendril snapped taut.
The crater itself began to fracture from the force.
---
For a brief second—
He was caught.
Kairo stood at the heart of the trap, black energy crawling over his body like leeches. The bindings hissed and sparked, syncing with his own aura—corrupting its flow.
All the resistance soldiers watching began to rise.
> "He did it," one muttered.
"He caught the Wipe Blade…"
Ayen and Juno regained their footing.
> "Daeho... you're insane," Ayen whispered.
"He actually got him…"
But Daeho didn't celebrate.
He didn't blink.
> He's testing me too. He let me bind him.
Kairo finally spoke again, voice calm.
> "Impressive."
> "You used the whip not as a weapon—but as a conductor."
He exhaled.
> "But this isn't enough."
---
A pulse.
The bindings shattered. Not all at once—but one after the other, like glass cracking under pressure.
Kairo still hadn't moved.
But the wind around him shifted.
It wasn't blowing in any direction—it circled. Spiraling in layers. Folding into itself.
> Shinkaze: Edge Form
The katana remained in its sheath. But his stance changed. Just slightly.
Daeho took a step back.
> That wasn't even his full speed.
---
> We can't win like this. Not head-on.
But maybe… that's not the point.
> Maybe I'm not supposed to win. Maybe I'm supposed to stall.
Until the next piece moves.
---
Suddenly—
A sound.
Like thunder being torn in reverse.
Everyone turned to the west.
A rip—no, a vein of Veil light—split the clouds open.
A figure emerged, walking across floating stone, carrying a halberd with three rotating cores of light.
A Veil-tier Elite.
> "Daeho," Juno shouted, "Is that—?!"
> "Yeah."
> "The Council's trump card?"
> "No," Daeho said, eyes narrowing.
"Ours."
---
Kairo looked skyward, the wind around him calming.
For the first time, his eyes sharpened—not in violence, but in calculation.
> "Interesting."
He turned slightly toward Daeho.
> "It seems your side finally drew a sword worth seeing unsheathed."