The floors trembled.
A deep rumble echoed through the palace chambers—reverberations from the devastating clash between Ishiguro and Kaito. Dust danced in the beams of morning light, broken tiles scattered like fragments of a shattered memory.
Lithos stood in one of the grand chambers of the Shingen Palace.
His breath was ragged, eyes steady. Across from him, amidst a swarm of crimson ants shimmering with unnatural hues, stood the woman called Yumi—the Queen Ant of the Crimson Ants.
She tilted her head, her voice lilting with mockery.
"Still holding on?" Yumi smiled, her crimson-painted lips glinting in the light. "How long do you plan to keep playing defense? Your Flow's burning away."
Lithos said nothing, but his eyes narrowed slightly.
(These ants... each carries a different effect when they sting. Poison. Paralysis. Drain. Flame... This opponent is no ordinary warrior.)
Yumi stepped forward, brushing away a curl of hair as her swarm circled her protectively.
"Oh, you're that guy, aren't you?" Her voice teased him with venomous sweetness. "The one they used to call... what was it again? Ah, it's escaping me..."
She scratched her temple in faux contemplation.
"Oh, right. The outcast."
Lithos remained silent. His expression unreadable.
"You were abandoned, weren't you?" she grinned. "Taken in by the clan leader's wife like some stray. What was your clan again? Korindō or something like that?"
He pulled out a talisman without a word.
"I'm a private person," he replied coldly.
Blue sigils burst beneath his feet.
"Lightning Talisman: Lightning Pillars!"
Pillars of searing energy shot upward. Yumi clicked her tongue and launched her swarm forward. Several ants, glowing with unnatural heat, darted straight for Lithos.
At the last second, they absorbed the energy from the pillars—and exploded.
Boom.
The shockwave flung Lithos back, his sleeves scorched, breath staggered. He barely kept on his feet.
(Drain ants... they absorbed my technique's energy before converting into flame ants mid-flight. She can change their attributes at will.)
Smoke filled the chamber.
From the haze, Yumi stepped forward again.
"Understand now?" Her voice carried an eerie serenity. "This is futile. You can't win."
But Lithos had already closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath in. The air around him seemed to pause.
"Three minutes," he whispered.
"Huh?" Yumi blinked.
"Three minutes is all I need."
She burst out laughing. "You're joking, right? You're going to risk it all on some hidden trick?"
Lithos exhaled.
And then—everything changed.
Blue spirals surged around Lithos, twisting like wind currents born of a realm unseen. Sigils traced his skin like flowing scripture, glowing with a soft violet-blue hue. Spirit wisps fluttered to life around him, like glowing fireflies pulled into orbit.
Yumi's smile faded.
"What... what is this?" she muttered, stepping back as the chamber temperature dropped unnaturally.
Lithos' voice rang with clarity.
"Spirit Flow: Seishin Sōsei."
A flash of memory flooded his mind.
The Korindō Clan.
Ancestral, revered, feared.
A clan of master Enforcers, chosen by the spirits themselves. They did not simply wield Flow—they lived in harmony with the spirit realm. Their warriors were bound by sacred pacts, trained under waterfall rites, etched in talismanic scripture.
Among them stood two boys: Reiko and Lithos.
Reiko—the destined heir, yet frail in body.
Lithos—the abandoned child, adopted into the clan's household. Raised by kindness, but never accepted.
Inside the family chambers, their father—the cold and fearsome clan leader, Hitsuga Korindō—raised his voice in fury.
"Reiko! You shame me with your incompetence! You fail every Flow assessment—how do you expect to inherit the clan?"
He pointed, voice harsh.
"Even Lithos, an outcast, outperforms you."
Their mother, Nanashi, tried to intervene.
"Enough! They're just children—"
"Silence! Teach your son discipline if you can't teach him strength."
That night, beneath the sacred waterfall, Reiko's voice was a whisper.
"Lithos… do you ever think of running away?"
A pause.
"…Run?" Lithos asked, unsure.
But his silence spoke louder than words.
"…Never mind," Reiko muttered. "Forget I said anything."
When he stood, Lithos noticed for the first time—bruises, lashes hidden under his brother's robe.
"Who did that?" he asked.
Reiko's answer came with a bitter smile.
"Training."
Days turned into years. Reiko endured, Lithos watched. Every failure drove Reiko deeper into isolation. Their bond faded.
Until the day of the rite came.
A sacred battle to determine the child chosen by the spirits. The winner would awaken the Seishin Sōsei—a divine resonance between mortal and spirit.
The two brothers faced each other. No words. Only silence.
The gong struck.
Reiko fought with reckless aggression—every blow laced with hatred.
(He wants to kill me…) Lithos realized.
He held back. Dodged. Parried. Until finally, with one solemn strike, he brought Reiko to his knees.
The crowd was silent.
Not a word of praise. Not from the elders. Not from his father.
Only silence.
The Next Day.
Screaming.
Lithos rushed into Reiko's room.
"Disgrace! You ruined everything!" Hitsuga's hand struck Reiko across the face.
Lithos tried to speak, but Reiko turned away.
"This is all your fault," he said coldly.
"Lithos… get out."
The words pierced deeper than any blade.
That Evening.
Nanashi called out in panic.
"We can't find your brother!"
Lithos' heart froze.
He ran. Faster than ever. Toward the waterfall—their place.
There, beneath the old tree, he found him.
Hanging.
Lifeless.
"R…Reiko…"
Lithos collapsed, trembling. His screams echoed into the woods.
A letter, written in blood, dropped from Reiko's hand.
"I hated you for not running away with me. But I was selfish. I forced you to carry my pain. I was a terrible brother. I'm sorry."
Lithos clutched Reiko's body as tears poured down his cheeks.
"No… don't say that. I was the coward… not you…"
The next day, Reiko was buried.
Lithos left the clan and never beared their name again.
He never returned.
He never forgave himself.
Back to the present.
The glyphs on Lithos' body burned bright. The spirits danced like ghosts around him.
Yumi's face paled.
"What... what is this pressure?!"
Lithos opened his glowing eyes. The guilt, the weight of his past, was no longer a chain—but a blade.
"I vowed never to use this technique. But I vowed something greater—"
His voice thundered.
"To never be a victim of regret again."
A massive spirit, shaped like an elephant wreathed in blue flame, burst forth behind him.
It charged.
Boom!
Ants scattered. Yumi barely dodged, shrieking as the blue flame brushed her skin.
"No wounds… but it's burning my soul!"
She spun around, panicked. And found Lithos already behind her.
Snap.
Lightning struck her from above with a thundering crack.
Yumi howled.
In desperation, she slammed her palms together.
"Crimson Technique: Crimson Hive Ascension!"
The room turned blood red.
A hive dome surrounded them—crimson energy surging from all sides. Ants filled the chamber. Thousands. Millions.
"You're finished!" she screeched. "I've converted all Flow in this domain into my ants! You have no source left!"
Lithos calmly raised a single hand.
From his palm, a glowing orb of blue formed, pulsing with raw Flow.
"Ultimate Technique – First Fold: Dragon's Binding Light."
The entire hive pulsed—then exploded.
The ants evaporated, converted back into raw Flow and drawn into the orb. Even the hive itself dissolved.
Yumi froze in place.
"What… what did you do?!"
The orb glowed brighter. The air trembled.
"Fourth Fold: Dragon Release."
A massive spectral dragon surged out of the orb—its roar shaking the heavens.
It struck.
Yumi tried to block with everything she had, but the dragon shattered her defenses, piercing body, mind, and soul.
BOOM!
The chamber was engulfed in a blinding explosion.
When the light faded—Yumi stood, barely.
Her eyes were white. Her soul detached. Her body limp.
"…I felt it…" she whispered. "That attack… struck all three planes…"
"You were never fighting me… You were fighting the will of the spirits who chose me."
"I wasn't worried. I already saw the outcome."
"Three minutes was all I needed to decide your fate."
Lithos raised his blade.
Yumi couldn't move.
But then—crimson threads wrapped around her body.
"…No." Lithos tensed.
From the shadows—Kaito emerged.
"I won't let her fall."
He pulled her close, and disappeared in a flicker of crimson light.
Lithos fell to one knee.
The glyphs faded. The spirits vanished.
Three minutes had passed.
"…I should check on the others," he muttered.
"But first… I need to breathe."