"No… no no no. This isn't real. It's all hallucinations. There's no way Jackson is here…"
Lyon kept whispering to himself, repeating the words like a mantra. His heart thumped against his chest, his vision flickering between reality and disbelief.
But Jackson's voice was unmistakable.
"I'm here, Papa. We've been tailing and hijacking all your teleportation circles this whole time. We got lost in an unknown kingdom. A weird man attacked us… Mister Bash rescued us. We're here to stop you from making a mistake you'll regret forever."
Lyon stared at his son, trying to rationalize it. But there was no time for a reunion.
"this is not the best time for a reunion!" Lucy shouted.
A raging tornado spun viciously in the distance—and something began to emerge from its eye. A red silhouette formed… humanoid but distorted, its aura screaming corruption.
"Watch out for the tornado!" Lucy warned, already in motion.
She activated Switch Mode, vanishing in a blink and reappearing behind Lyon. A blade of light sang through the air—shhk!—slicing the newly emerged creature in two. It burst into red smoke, vanishing with a hiss.
Lyon clenched his fists. His heart beat louder now.
"I don't know if this is real… but there's one way to find out."
He turned to Jackson. "What's the name of our bloodline?"
Jackson answered without hesitation.
"Tentacles, of course. We create them from any non-living object."
Lyon narrowed his eyes. "Then why can we form tentacles of ourselves, if we're living?"
Jackson smirked, lifting his hand as ten tentacles of himself burst from his back.
"Because we're the casters. We can reshape our bloodline Renshi into our own form. That's the primary skill of Tentacle users."
Before Lyon could respond, footsteps echoed through the dust.
Sasaki approached—slow, deliberate. From his elbows to the ground extended two blood red-forged swords, glowing red with dense Renshi. Sparks flew as they scraped the rocky floor. Each step was a threat.
Lyon stepped forward switching close to Sasaki , matching his pace.
"You're indeed my son… But give me one reason why you'd risk so much just to follow me here."
"You moron!" Lucy yelled from behind. "I thought you switched sides!"
Lyon glanced back.
"Don't get the wrong idea, woman. I'm bringing this kid back to Guhan."
He paused, then looked toward Bash.
"Don't try anything stupid, Bash. I won't hesitate to hurt an old friend."
A soft laugh escaped Bash's lips.
"Hahaha… I never thought you'd recognize me after all these years."
His face turned serious.
"But I can't let you take this kid with you."
Bash spread his arms. From his left hand, a massive blue Renshi bow manifested. The aura it emitted was heavy—refined.
Then, a voice in Lyon's head.
"I know you don't want this fight. But I've got a plan. I'll hold you off—let her deal with Sasaki. I sense a strong Renshical aura in that woman. She can handle him. If not for me… then for your son, who's been chasing you to stop you."
Lyon scowled.
"Stop jumping into my head like that just because you got my Renshi signature…"
Then he grinned.
"That was my plan from the beginning. Let's finish what we started years ago."
They smiled at each other.
Suddenly—hundreds of beings spilled from the tornado. Twisted creatures, humanoid but hollow-eyed, forged from hate. They screeched like banshees, clawing through the winds same form as a beta darkside spirit but all red formed from Renshi, they're all surrounding them.
Rebekah's eyes widened.
"Master! There's too many of them. And in this tiny space—how do we fight?"
Lucy activated Switch Mode, reappearing beside Bash.
She whispered, "I like your plan. I'll leave the rest of those things to the kids. Consider it… training."
Bash's expression changed.
"Who the hell is this woman? She hijacked my telepathy…? That's impossible… No one's ever done that to a Shinra before…"
He was stunned.
"This world… It's still hiding secrets."
On the other side, Sasaki stepped closer to Lucy.
"I hope you're helping me willingly, Lyon. Stay out of this. I'll take her out with one strike."
Lyon vanished using Switch Mode, reappearing in front of Bash.
Bash nodded, using Switch Mode to teleport beneath a tree, positioning himself for the next phase.
Meanwhile, the battlefield ignited.
---
Marcel dashed toward Jackson, standing back to back with him.
"Stay close!"
Alfie hurled his sword toward Jackson, who caught it mid-air.
"What are you doing?! You're unarmed!" Jackson shouted.
Alfie smirked.
"Don't get it twisted, redhead. I plan to take them all on. You just didn't have a weapon. I'm a Shinra helping another."
Marcel frowned.
"How do you plan to fight without a sword?"
Alfie stretched his fists.
"Been training my fists lately. Today, I put that training to use,second honey badger."
"Hah! Redhead and Second Honey Badger. You're still stupid as hell," Rebekah laughed.
"Who the hell are you calling redhead?!" Jackson yelled.
"Don't call me honey badger again that again," Marcel warned, glaring.
Alfie tossed his scabbard to Marcel.
"Fuse your Renshi into the scabbard—it will be effective ."
Then, without hesitation, Alfie charged the oncoming swarm.
Five of the beings attacked at once, blades formed from their blood-infused elbows. Alfie slipped between their strikes, ducking and weaving with surgical precision. He caught one by the skull and smashed it to the ground—BOOM! It disintegrated into red dust.
The remaining four swarmed. But Alfie grinned.
His fists blurred. One. Two. Three. Four. Each punch cracked bones, ruptured—until nothing was left but crimson mist.
Marcel stared in awe.
"Impressive. Looks like you've got a rival in strength, Jack."
Jackson nodded.
"He's more than just a boy with massive Renshi. His force energy is impressive."
He charged toward the next wave. Marcel followed.
Rebekah sprinted to Alfie's side, sword drawn. As eight of the darkside spirit-like beings rushed her, she dodged low, slicing one as she rose. But another came too fast—she blocked just in time, the impact throwing her backwards.
"How the hell is Alfie doing this so easily?" she thought.
"He's dodging and smashing them with pure force!"
She steadied herself, infused her blade with more Renshi, and charged.
Her blade sang. She didn't dodge—she cut through. Each clash, each strike, disintegrated another monster into red dust.
Jackson and Marcel joined the chaos. Jackson cut through enemies with ease. Marcel struggled at first—but was learning fast, adapting with every step.
In a separate part of the domain—Lyon is and Bash are in a powerful duel. Their swords clashed in a storm of sparks, switching positions in bursts of Switch Mode. It was speed vs speed, technique vs technique .
Elsewhere—Sasaki and Lucy one-on-one.
Sasaki grinned.
"So it's finally just us."
Lucy smirked.
"Perfect."
She activated her sword change third form.
White wings burst from her back. A white Renshi triangle appeared on her forehead. She rose into the air, levitating with majestic calm.
Two white Renshi swords formed in her hands.
They merged—shifting into a single long silver blade, gleaming like the sun. A crest matching her forehead appeared on the hilt.
She raised the blade.
"It's been a while… Damascus."
Sasaki snarled.
"Don't think being airborne gives you the edge. I can raise gravity in my domain—pull you down in a blink."
He surged upward, red tornadoes spiraling beneath his feet.
He blinked. Lucy was gone.
Then—"Furikaburi Iaido."
A cut slashed across his left arm.
"What?!" Sasaki twisted, blocking another strike from behind.
He couldn't see her.
Lucy was using the legendary Laido technique, one of the most advanced sword arts. It came in two forms: Furikaburi and Nukitsuke.
With Furikaburi Laido, every time the opponent blinked, the user moved—twice the speed of Switch Mode. She danced through space itself, impossible to trace.
Every blink brought pain. Every blink brought death closer.