Akira endured her pain, but instead of backing down, her eyes blazed with pure fury as she swung her katana left-handed directly for Endo's neck.
Endo casually sidestepped the swing and drove his blade deep into her abdomen.
Akira coughed crimson. Smirking, Endo delivered a heavy, brutal punch squarely to her jaw, sending her crashing hard into the stone wall behind her.
"Akira!" Shisui screamed, lunging forward with his remaining weapon.
Without even turning, Endo drove his blade straight through Shisui's foot, following up with a deep, diagonal slash across his chest. With a vicious right hook, he slammed Shisui face-first into the dirt, thrusting his katana into the ground beside him.
Endo turned and strolled slowly toward Akira, who was weakly clutching her bleeding stomach, struggling to pull herself up.
He stopped in front of her, crouching down to meet her gaze. With a dark chuckle, he slid her fallen sword across the dirt toward her trembling hands.
"Come on," Endo taunted, standing back up. "Pick it up and attack me. Hahaha!"
He took a few steps back, adjusting his collar. "To think Sasaki's entire world revolves around this... today, he loses the only thing keeping him alive—his precious daughter."
Akira glared up at him, her breathing ragged, her eyes burning with pure venom.
"I expected so much more from you," Endo sneered, shaking his head. "But just like your father, you're a complete loser. Well, I suppose you're a little better than him. He was a loser at everything."
"Shut... your filthy mouth!" Akira forced out, her voice raspy.
Endo's smile widened as he stepped closer. "Want me to tell you the truth about your beloved father?"
"Don't you dare speak his name!" she spat.
"A useless daughter, raised by a useless man," Endo mocked coldly. "Your half-dead father couldn't protect your mother. He couldn't protect his own comrades. He couldn't stop his best friend, Takashi Yamamoto, from falling into deep despair, nor could he stop the civil war tearing his clan apart. He stood by and watched his own brother fall right in front of his eyes."
Endo paused, staring down into Akira's trembling eyes. Tears began to well up, spilling down her bruised cheeks as the heavy weight of her father's tragic past crashed over her.
Father... went through all of that...?
"A man who lost everything dear to him," Endo continued, stepping over to Shisui and tearing his blade out of the dirt. "He should have been named the Tragedy. And today, the last remaining reason he has to keep breathing dies right here."
Endo raised his katana, hovering the tip above her chest. "The Yamamoto main line collapsed the moment Takashi retreated into isolation, but your father... he took the reins and kept this decaying family alive. Once I kill you, his spirit will finally break, and the family will fall with him. As for Takashi, he's no longer a threat."
Endo drew back his blade to strike. "Don't worry, child. I'll send your loser father to join you very soon."
BOOM!
Before the sword could descend, Akira's fist struck Endo squarely across the face. The explosive kinetic force launched him backward, blasting him through three solid wooden walls.
What?! How is she even standing?! Endo panicked, pushing himself out of the rubble.
Akira stood in the center of the room, her hand gripped tight around her katana. Streams of blood and tears mixed together, running down her face like crimson paint.
Endo forced a shaky laugh. "The little girl is ang—"
He didn't even get to finish the thought.
In a fraction of a millisecond, Akira vanished. Reappearing directly behind him, she delivered a brutal kick straight into the wound Shisui had carved into his side earlier, sending Endo flying across thirty rooms of the inner estate.
Wha—
Before Endo could even process the impact, Akira was already standing over him, her blade swinging downward. Panic surging through his veins, Endo scrambled backward, grabbing his fallen sword to parry.
Akira's blade flashed into a silver blur. In a single, instantaneous slash, she severed both of Endo's arms at the shoulders.
The arrogant smile vanished from Endo's face, replaced by the sheer, paralyzing terror of death. In Akira's blood-soaked eyes, he didn't see a child—he saw Death.
Using speed, Akira struck from every conceivable direction. In a flash of endless slashes, there wasn't a single inch of Endo's body left untouched. He screamed like an animal.
With horrific precision, her blade severed his left leg, sliced off his ears, blinded his eyes, and cut down his right leg. Before he could hit the floor, her hand plunged straight into his chest, tearing his beating heart clean out of his ribcage.
She sliced his throat in a blinding arc, then raised her sword to mutilate the body further—completely consumed by a frenzy of mindless rage.
"Akira! Calm down!" a voice shouted.
A pair of arms wrapped firmly around her from behind, pulling her back. Akira turned her head sideways, her eyes completely wild and unseeing.
"Akira, stop! Calm down! He's already dead!" Hayato pleaded, his voice hoarse and exhausted.
Without a second thought, Akira drove her katana backward, plunging it deep into Hayato's stomach. "GET OFF ME!"
Hayato coughed up a wave of blood, but his grip didn't loosen for a single second. He pulled her tighter into a firm hug.
"No... I'm not letting you go," Hayato wheezed into her shoulder.
"GET OFF!" she screamed, twisting the blade and stabbing him again.
Fresh blood poured from Hayato's severe, pre-existing wounds. His vision blurred, but he held on with everything he had left.
"WHY WON'T YOU JUST GET OFF ME?!" she shrieked, her voice breaking.
"Because if I let you go right now..." Hayato whispered softly, his breath growing shallow, "...the Akira I know will completely vanish. I won't let a father lose his only daughter... and his only hope left in this world."
The words hit Akira like a physical blow. The crimson haze in her mind shattered, and her wild eyes slowly regained their focus. She looked down, seeing Hayato's blood soaking her uniform and his arms trembling as he held her upright.
Her katana slipped from her fingers, clattering against the floor. Akira collapsed onto her knees, burying her face in Hayato's shoulder as violent sobs wracked her body.
"No... no, I don't want Father to be sad..." she wept, clutching Hayato's torn coat. "I don't want to leave him all alone..."
Hayato gently stroked her hair, holding her until her breathing steadied and the storm inside her finally passed.
When Akira finally pulled back, her eyes widened in horror as she realized the extent of the blood covering Hayato's chest—and the deep, bleeding stab wounds she had inflicted on him.
Hayato offered her a faint, pale, and utterly ridiculous smile.
"Hey..." Hayato choked out softly, his eyelids fluttering shut as he began to fall backward. "Go take care of Shisui first... he's in... way worse shape than me..."
Hayato collapsed heavily onto the floor, completely unconscious.