It defied sense. His saber arm trembled, while his chest heaved, the deep wound carved by Inazuma Nuki was still smoking faintly with lightning. Yet he stood up flexing his muscles as blood ran in dark rivers down the front of his robes and the crimson of his Kettai still glowing beneath the surface like dying coals that refused to go out.
I stepped back and held my blade defensively. My limbs were screaming from strain as my breath became more ragged, and the faint hum of the system in my ears buzzed like distant thunder.
[Warning: Energy Depletion Nearing Critical]
[No Retraction Option – Mission Must Be Concluded]
He let out a sound like a growl, one that caught in his throat, then turned into a madman's laugh. "I like you," he wheezed. "You bleed well."
The next strike was pure instinct. I raised my sword to meet his downward swing, sparks flew again as steel bit into steel. My stance faltered under the weight of his blow, but I refused to collapse. Not now. Not after all this.
Just as Daizan raised his weapon again to finish it, a blade flashed from the side.
Kento lunged in with a shout, both his short swords clashing against Daizan's with a shriek of metal. His stance was sharp, shoulders squared, and his eyes—normally so full of jokes and mischief—were pure steel.
"Oi, warlord," Kento said, teeth gritted. "That's my friend you're trying to turn into fishbait."
Daizan snarled, swinging wildly to repel him, but Souta was already behind him, silent as a shadow.
And without a word, Souta struck.
He didn't aim to kill him. Not yet. His blade moved with surgical precision, slicing through the tendons of Daizan's shoulder in a single motion. Daizan staggered back as his grip faltered. It was enough.
The tide had turned.
Together, the three of us surrounded him, in a circle of blades. We were Lightning, steel, and discipline and every move we made now was coordinated—not through words, but through sheer understanding. I slashed low, Kento jabbed high and Souta blocked the desperate retaliations with the flat of his blade, moving as if he were dancing through water.
Daizan fought like a cornered beast, his breath rasping and blood dripping from half a dozen new cuts. But there was no strategy left in him—only rage, and the slow realization that it wasn't enough.
[Sync Update: Group Assault Synergy Detected]
[Target Vital Points Exposed – Execute Now]
My feet moved before the thought finished forming. With a final breath, I stepped in under Daizan's failing guard and twisted my blade around his saber, and drove it upward, straight through his solar plexus—precisely where the system had guided me.
Lightning pulsed again and He froze, a look of strange calm broke through his fury as he let out a long, rasping exhale spilled from his lips, followed by something else. Not a curse. Not defiance.
Just one whisper, barely audible through the chaos.
"Umi… Umi…"
Saying that he collapsed and the entire courtyard fell silent.
It was the kind of silence that seemed to suck all warmth from the air—the kind that pressed against your chest like a final weight. Around us, the last of Daizan's guards lay scattered across the stones. Some groaned, some crawled but most didn't move. The flames from the overturned braziers still flickered in the background, casting long shadows over the bloodstained tiles.
I staggered back as my knees nearly gave away, and was caught by Souta, who eased me down with a grunt.
"You did it," Kento said, sheathing his weapons. His grin was tired but real. "You actually killed him. You're not going to start weeping, are you?"
I gave him a half-laugh, half-wince. "Give me a second. I just stabbed a warlord."
"And seduced him first," he added.
"That part wasn't in the mission brief."
[System Update: Mission Complete – Target Eliminated]
[Reward Unlocked – Kettai Surge: Lightning Alignment +8%]
[Emotional Trait Logged: Resolve in Chaos – Profile Updated]
I could feel it—the pulse in my core shifting slightly. Not just power, but clarity. My limbs still ached and my ribs still throbbed, but something deeper inside had settled. Like I'd taken a step onto a path I didn't yet understand, but one I knew I had to walk.
Souta's eyes scanned the courtyard, his brow furrowing.
Kento noticed it too. "What is it?"
"No one else came," Souta murmured. "No reinforcements. No retainers from the manor. Not a single guard from the inner halls."
We turned slowly, taking it in. The courtyard gate was ajar, untouched. The archers we'd expected never arrived and even the windows above—where lanterns had burned during our performance—were dark.
"Did we… scare them all off?" Kento asked, though he didn't sound convinced.
Souta shook his head, slowly. "No. Something's wrong. They didn't flee."
I felt it too—the creeping, unnatural stillness. Not the quiet of victory. But the quiet that follows when you realize you're being watched—or worse, ignored.
Still, our mission was done. Daizan was dead and the region, at least for now, had been cut free of a tyrant's grasp. Whatever lay beneath this strange silence was a mystery for another time.
But even as we gathered our things, even as we prepared to disappear back into the shadows from which we'd come, I couldn't stop thinking about his last words.
"Umi… Umi…"
The way he'd whispered it hadn't sounded like panic. It wasn't a curse, or a plea. It sounded… reverent. Or terrified.
I wasn't sure which was worse.
And something in me knew I would hear that word again.