The world cracked beneath my heel as I landed, eyes locked on the one I couldn't forget—the pig-faced woman who once humiliated me.
But this time… she wasn't grinning.
Her grotesque features twitched with unease, and for good reason. The me standing before her was not the same boy she mocked and broke.
Training with Raiku's disciples had carved away the softness, left behind something leaner, faster, crueler.
She snarled. "Frana. Lilith. You ready?"
Two figures stepped forward—graceful and sharp like broken glass. Their eyes didn't just burn with hatred… they were grieving.
"You destroyed our planet!" Frana screamed.
"You murdered our family!" Lilith followed.
I flinched.
My grip tightened around Zenith, shifting it seamlessly from pistols into a dual-bladed staff.
I hadn't realized who they were until now.
But they didn't know who I was either.
They didn't know the face of the one who shattered their world.
And I didn't know I had taken Hiroy's wives.
Their fists exploded toward me with divine rage. I met them head-on.
Clash. Crack. Slide.
Steel met skin. Bones met will.
I ducked under a flying roundhouse, pivoted, and drove my elbow into Frana's ribs. She stumbled—Lilith followed with a spinning backhand. I caught it mid-air, twisted her wrist, and kicked her into a wall.
"YOU KILLED SHINA AND YURA!"
I saw red.
A memory flashed—Shina's soft smile. Yura's bright laughter.
Then—
Flames. Screams. Ash.
I let out a roar that cracked the earth. "DON'T MAKE ME REMEMBER!"
My staff exploded apart into a bow of radiant energy. Arrows of light surged forth in a fan-shaped barrage, igniting the air in holy fire. I flipped backward mid-air, laughing like a madman, the storm around me building.
But the pig-faced woman didn't back down.
"This little monster's grown since destroying your world," she growled to Frana and Lilith. "But he still bleeds."
They didn't hesitate. The wives of Hiroy—trained, refined, vengeful—lunged again, weaving around the storm of arrows with an elegance that would've shamed gods.
I smirked.
Zenith morphed again—into twin daggers glowing with radiant heat.
"Dagger Style: Fifth Form – Rapid Slash!"
Fifteen spectral clones erupted from my body, each armed, each focused. Five per enemy. One for the pig-faced traitor.
We danced like ghosts, blades flashing. Each cut I made was deliberate—shallow, stinging. Not to kill. But to make them feel.
Every blow was a message: You can't win anymore.
But they fought hard.
Frana's palm cracked one of my clones' skulls. Lilith shattered another with a shriek of void energy. The pig-faced woman began chanting, drawing from something darker.
"NO."
I snapped my fingers, breaking the formation. The clones regrouped—converged. One dagger pierced Frana's shoulder. Another sliced Lilith's thigh.
Blood sprayed in arcs. I surged forward with Shadowfang Ascendant, letting the weapon style take over.
The world slowed.
Every breath. Every flicker of movement.
I felt the opening behind Lilith's feint, predicted Frana's desperate knee strike, countered the pig-faced woman's spellcasting with a perfect throw of a spectral dagger.
And then—
"Destruction Style: Final Breath!"
Magic surged into their wounds like poison.
Their screams—horrific and divine—echoed across the burning field.
Their bodies convulsed.
Their flesh cracked.
And then…
Ash.
I stood over what remained, chest heaving, fingers twitching.
I didn't even realize I was smiling.
"Those who challenge me," I whispered, "will meet the same fate."
From the shadows, Raiku stepped out with the disciples flanking him. They said nothing. Just watched. Smirking.
And then—my body shook.
Black and violet energy exploded outward in a wild spiral. I dropped to one knee, unable to control the surge.
A voice echoed—not mine, not Raiku's. Something... inside.
"I am your third skill: Soul Manipulation."
My soul howled. My strength multiplied. My eyes burned.
I could feel their remnants still lingering—Frana, Lilith—echoes embedded into the ash. I could taste their grief, and it made me sick.
And then came a flash—Hiroy's face. Laughing beside me as kids. His warmth. His kindness.
Then now—the agony of knowing I'd killed part of him.
I looked up, expression shattered.
Raiku's voice was low but sharp. "Rise. You've ranked up again."
I bowed. "My master…"
He stepped closer, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Raise your head. You are one of us now. We bow to no one."
He turned.
The disciples followed.
So did I.
Behind me, the ruined city still burned. The sky bled embers. The ashes of the innocent floated away, alongside the last remnants of the man I once was.
I didn't mourn him. The ashes carried him away before I could.