The moment the apparition's hand lifted—perfectly matching Kiyoshi's—Rei felt the air tighten around them. Chakra didn't just rise; it thickened, like the clearing had been pulled underwater.
"Kiyoshi," she said carefully, "break eye contact."
"I can't." His voice was thin, strained. "It's… synced."
The crimson silhouette tilted its head again, studying him with a curiosity that felt far too human. No features, no face—just a shifting outline made of Kiyoshi's own chakra signature twisted into something older, deeper.
Rei's grip on his arm tightened.
"Stay with me."
But Kiyoshi wasn't sure he could. The heartbeat in his chest—no, the one under his skin—was no longer phantom. It was pounding now. Loud. Hungry.
The silhouette moved its fingers.
So did Kiyoshi.
His eyes widened. "It's controlling—"
"No." Rei stepped in front of him. "You're stronger than this."
The silhouette lowered its hand at the exact same moment she blocked Kiyoshi's view, as if testing how much influence it had.
Rei swallowed hard. "It reacts to you… but maybe it needs line of sight."
Kiyoshi shook his head. "No. It doesn't need anything."
The ground beneath him vibrated faintly—a pulse echoing through the earth in rhythm with his own heartbeat.
Rei sensed it too. "This isn't the guardian. And it isn't the relic."
Kiyoshi looked at her, fear clear for the first time. "Then what is it?"
Before she could answer—
Something slammed into the clearing from above.
Both turned in shock as a shadow crashed onto the grass with a grunt.
Daiki sat up instantly, hair wild, eyes half-open. "Okay—who the hell is blasting chakra like a festival firework? I could feel that from my roof."
Rei exhaled. "Daiki—"
He blinked once, then twice, staring at Kiyoshi's glowing eyes.
"…Kiyoshi, buddy, not to be dramatic, but you look like you're about to ascend."
Kiyoshi didn't laugh. Couldn't.
The apparition was behind Daiki now—silent, watching—but only Kiyoshi could see it.
"Daiki," Kiyoshi rasped, "don't move."
Daiki froze. "Why do you sound like I'm about to die?"
Rei stepped beside him. "Kiyoshi sees something."
"Something?" Daiki hissed. "Great. Awesome. Love vague horror."
The silhouette shifted again. Not walking—blinking. One moment behind Daiki, the next only a few steps away from Kiyoshi again.
It was circling him.
Studying him.
Choosing him.
Kiyoshi staggered back. "It's getting closer."
Daiki inhaled sharply. "We can't attack something only you can see."
"We might not have to," Rei murmured.
She stepped in front of Kiyoshi again, activating a thin shroud of chakra around her hands—soft violet, her own clan's signature. She reached toward his face slowly.
"Kiyoshi, focus on my chakra," she said. "Not whatever's behind you."
"It's not behind me anymore," he whispered.
Rei froze. "Where is it?"
Kiyoshi's breath hitched.
"Right… next to me."
Rei reacted instantly—chakra flaring, grabbing Kiyoshi's wrist as if anchoring him to reality.
But the apparition leaned closer to Kiyoshi's ear—
—and whispered something no one else heard.
A single word.
A name.
His own.
Kiyoshi's knees buckled.
The clearing exploded with crimson light.
Daiki shielded his eyes. "Holy—Rei! What's happening?!"
Rei didn't look away. Couldn't.
"Kiyoshi's losing control," she whispered.
The apparition reached for Kiyoshi's chest—its hand sinking into him like smoke merging with flame.
Kiyoshi's eyes widened in horror as he felt it pull something inside him loose.
"Rei—Daiki—" His voice cracked. "It's taking shape—using me—"
Rei grabbed him harder. "Fight it!"
Daiki moved to his other side, gripping his shoulder. "You're not doing this alone!"
But the apparition was no longer satisfied with being a shadow.
It wanted to be more.
And it had chosen its vessel.
Crimson tendrils of chakra spiraled around Kiyoshi, lifting him slightly off the ground as the silhouette began to solidify, taking form piece by piece—
A torso.
Arms.
A head with no face, but with presence.
Rei's eyes widened.
"It's creating a body."
Daiki cursed. "Out of WHAT?!"
Kiyoshi's answer was a single, horrified whisper:
"…Out of me."
The silhouette's hand pressed fully against Kiyoshi's chest—
—and then it spoke again.
Not with a voice.
But with a feeling.
A command.
"Become."
Kiyoshi screamed.
And the clearing erupted