The night over Valhalla's old docks was soaked in mist and pale light. Water slapped against the stone pilings with a sound like muffled applause. The warehouses loomed around the pier like silent watchers, their windows black and empty. A smell of rust, oil, and salt clung to the air.
The rain had stopped only minutes ago, but the streets of Valhalla City still glistened as if covered in black glass. High above, the moon hung pale and cold. Steam rose from cracked sewer grates, curling between the ruined columns of an unfinished civic square. This place had been a monument to heroes; now it was a battlefield. Just as in other places, another battle was taking place here.
Saber stood at the center of the square, the faint glow of Invisible Air around his sword distorting the air like heat haze. His armor was dulled from earlier fights, streaked with mud and ash, but he still carried himself like a noble king, regal and authoritative, expression steady.
A few paces behind him, Batman moved soundlessly, eyes under the cowl scanning the dark edges of the plaza. He knew an ambush was coming, but not when.
The mist thickened. A sweet, cloying scent rolled in with it—sake and copper. Then a voice, low and lilting, floated across the empty space.
In front of them, Shuten Dōji floated just above the wet boards, her kimono's colors dull in the moonlight, her horns gleaming faintly.
A second figure emerged beside her: Katana. She still wore her black combat uniform, but her eyes had changed—deep violet, rimmed with faint red. Soultaker glimmered in her hands. When she saw Batman, something flickered behind the calm expression. "You shouldn't have followed me," she said quietly.
Batman tightened his expression. "I need to stop you before you lose yourself, Katana. I know what happened to you was not right, but you can't go around killing people. That's not justice, just vengeance."
The smell of sake and blood emanated from Shuten, but it was Katana's rigid posture that caught Arthur's attention. She looked like a woman torn between duty and love.
"You came, King of Knights. I can sense your sword even though it's invisible." Shuten Dōji stepped from the mist as if it were a curtain. Her horns gleamed faintly, her eyes half-lidded and amused. Her kimono trailed behind her like. "Valhalla City, built for this Grail War, and yet it feels so much like the feasts of old."
Arthur's voice carried across the water, low and clear. "This is not your hunting ground, demon. I can smell the lives you have taken to empower yourself.. I don't acknowledge you as a heroic spirit."
Batman's eyes narrowed. "You mean she bypassed the rules and absorbed human souls?"
Arthur nodded. "Yes, master. I can sense more than hundreds of souls inside her."
Shuten smiled, eyes half-lidded. "If you find it consoling, those were the scums of humanity that I devoured. My master is rather specific about not killing innocents." She sighed, "How dreary. I came to taste the city's pleasures and wine, and they send a king to stop me."
She tilted her head at Katana. "And you… why do you tremble? You are my master, and still you hesitate. You didn't hesitate when I shared the power with you."
Katana gripped her blade tighter, glancing at Batman. "I have killed only those who had blood on their hands. I swore to protect people from those monsters; nobody shall mourn them."
Batman shifted his stance and spoke with an edge. "That doesn't give you the right to take their lives. Saber, you take out Assassin. I'll keep Katana occupied."
Shuten smiled, one hand stroking Katana's shoulder. "She chose this willingly. Husband gone, soul bound to a sword—who better to guide her? Just like you, we also have wishes to fulfill." She looked back at Arthur. "Shall we?"
Arthur nodded to Batman. "Understood." He raised his invisible sword. A faint line of golden light outlined its edge. "Excalibur was created to slay monsters like you. To show the humans a path to victory through the darkness."
Shuten giggled. "Show me then, King of Knights. Show me the weight behind your legend."
The square trembled as magic surged. The mist condensed into shapes — clawed silhouettes of oni crawling from the cracks in the pavement. Arthur stepped forward, blade flashing; the first rush of shadows dissolved under a single swing. Batman hurled smoke grenades and grappling lines, tangling a cluster of phantoms before they reached him.
Katana moved suddenly, intercepting Batman. "Stay back," she hissed. "If you try to stop me, I'll have to kill you."
Batman paused for a second , then replied resolutely. "I will stop you, and free you from your burden. " He smiled despite the situation. "Someone once told me, 'No one saves us but ourselves, No one can, and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.' I swore to be someone who not only fights for justice, but also save those who lost their way."
Katana faltered briefly, then sighed. "You have my respect Batman. But I am beyond salvation."
The battle began.
****
The first clash was sudden. Arthur dashed forward, his sword cleaving in a golden arc. Shuten's body blurred, sake sloshing as she twisted aside with inhuman grace. Her claws extended, blackened with demonic corruption, and raked against his chestplate. Sparks flew, metal shrieked, but the armor held.
Arthur countered with a kick, his boot slamming into her midsection and driving her back into a collapsed wall. Stone crumbled. Shuten only laughed, standing with a sway. "Strong, aren't you? That makes me want to taste your blood even more."
Arthur's eyes narrowed. Mana burst through him, his body wrapped in light. Each step cracked the ground, and he launched a flurry of strikes. Shuten met them with manic giggles, her claws intercepting, her body twisting unnaturally, poisons dripping from her touch. Every clash of steel against claw sent ripples of heat and stench into the air.
But Arthur pressed on, relentless. "This is not revelry, demon. This is judgment!"
Shuten's laughter darkened. Her aura swelled, monstrous strength awakening. "Then let me show you why oni were feared as gods of destruction!"
Her body expanded with power, skin glowing faintly red, horns lengthening. With one swipe, she shattered the stone under his feet, the shockwave sending Arthur stumbling back. She inhaled deeply, and a wave of multicolored poison poured from her gourd, filling the battlefield with lethal miasma.
Arthur swung his sword, wind bursting forth, cutting a path through the poison. But his lungs still burned, vision blurring from the toxins that slipped past even his knightly resistance.
"I cannot falter," he growled, steadying his grip.
Shuten glided forward through the miasma like a phantom. "Yes… choke, suffocate, drown in my love." Her claws lunged for his throat—only to meet the sudden flare of Arthur's mana burst.
His sword flashed, severing her arm at the elbow. Black ichor splattered, hissing as it corroded stone. Shuten hissed, not in pain but delight. "Yes, yes! More!"
Arthur's face remained cold. "Then perish, fiend."
Shuten Douji blurred forward, faster than the eye, her clawed fingers sparking against the air. Arthur moved at the same instant, blade flashing up to meet her. The first strike cracked the planks and sent a spray of saltwater into the air. Sparks burst like tiny stars.
She spun away, her sake gourd swinging, releasing a mist that smelled sweet and corrosive. Arthur cut through it with a single stroke, dispersing the enchantment, his boots sliding on the wet surface. He countercharged, each swing deliberate, measured, the blade's arc like a cutting wind.
Arthur and Shuten clashed again in a shockwave of force. Her clawed fingers met his invisible blade, sparks ringing out like chimes. She was faster than she looked, moving in loops and swirls, slipping past his guard to slash at his armor. He countered with precise, economical strikes, each blow driving her back a step. When his sword cut across her sleeve, her blood hissed on the stones.
"You fight like a noble king," she said, licking the wound. "But kings are always so tired. Wouldn't you like to drink some sake and forget all your worries? " She unleashed her skill 'Intoxicating Aroma of Fruits'. A sweet intoxicating aroma spread through the battlefield. Even the faintest whiff would be able to make even the strongest of men drunk. Batman put on his respirator on instinct as Katana swung down on him.
But Arthur was no ordinary man. His magic resistance was high to negate it. And Avalon healed his body of the poisons immediately.
"I fight like a man protecting others," Arthur answered. "Tired or not."
She laughed, a sound both sweet and feral. "Then let's see how long that resolve lasts."
She released a pulse of miasma; the ground under Arthur's boots cracked, and spectral chains whipped at his limbs. He slashed them apart and lunged, his blade striking so hard the air itself boomed. She leapt aside, spinning midair to fling droplets of poison that burned through stone. Arthur blocked with a sweep, the poison sliding off Invisible Air's barrier.
Arthur's sword clashed again against Shuten's claws, sparks raining. Both combatants bled—Arthur's armor cracked, blood streaked his blade. Shuten staggered, half her body burned from holy light, yet her smile never faded as she regenarated.
"You shine so beautifully… I want to drag you down into the mud."
Arthur raised his sword, light coiling around it. "Then this light will purge you."
Arthur began to press Shuten harder, his strikes a steady drumbeat. She countered with bursts of raw strength, but for each swipe he closed another inch of distance. "You're weakening," he said.
"Am I?" she smiled. "Or am I just drawing you in?"
With a snap of her fingers, a ring of oni erupted from the ground around him.
Arthur's eyes narrowed. "Enough." He drove his sword point into the pavement; a surge of wind burst outward, scattering the phantoms like smoke. Shuten lunged in through the dispersing mist, claws aimed at his face. He caught her wrist mid-strike, twisted, and slammed the hilt of his sword into her ribs. She gasped and staggered.
Batman managed to knock Katana off balance with a low kick. "Arthur! Now!"
Arthur's voice was steady. "Assasin. Release her, or—"
Shuten's eyes flashed. "Or what, King?" She vanished in a blur and reappeared at Katana's side, clutching her shoulder like a lover. "She's mine, body and soul, and I am hers. We vowed to fight till our wishes are fulfilled, no matter the cost. Do you think your sword can cut a bond like that?"
Arthur looked at her, then at the demon. "If the bond cannot be cut," he said quietly, "then I will strike you both free."
Shuten laughed softly. "Try it."
****
"Stand down, Katana," Batman said, voice gravelled but steady. "You don't have to do this."
Katana's eyes, sharp and wet with grief, glared through him. "You don't understand. My path was sealed the moment my husband's soul was taken. This blade is not just my weapon—it is my curse. And I will see it through to the end. The Grail is the only salvation I have left!"
Soultaker struck again. Batman barely dodged, the edge slicing his cowl. He countered with a smoke pellet, the battlefield consumed in haze. Katana closed her eyes, feeling the souls whispering in her sword. She moved without hesitation, cutting through the smoke toward him.
Their duel was fast, brutal, efficient. Batman's strikes were precise, aimed to disarm, disable, never kill. Katana's were killing blows, each fueled by decades of training and a soul-deep resolve.
"You're fighting without caring if you die," Batman said between parries. "That's not the way to live."
Katana's voice broke, even as her blade struck harder. "It is the only way—for me to be with him, for me to free myself! Either my wish is granted, or I die trying !"
She slashed low, forcing Batman to leap back. He hurled a batarang; she deflected it with a flick, sparks bursting. Soultaker pulsed, a faint voice whispering from its steel. Batman's jaw tightened. He could almost feel the blade's hunger.
Batman moved toward Katana, cape swirling. "You don't have to do this," he said, voice like gravel. "I'll find another way to help you. Give up your hatred. You don't have to do this."
"I'm sorry," she murmured between strikes. "This isn't your fight."
"It's everyone's fight when a demon's involved," he shot back, dodging under another swing. He flicked a batarang at her sword hand; she deflected it with a flick and countered with a thrust. He caught her wrist and twisted, but she used the momentum to roll free. "You might have a noble wish, but she won't! Don't you know how many will sufffer if a monster gets her wish?"
Katana raised Soultaker. "We vowed to fight as long as one of us is alive and fulfill our wish. If she dies, I die with her. That was our bond. But I can still keep her from hurting innocents as long as I control her. Let me fulfill my wish."
She lunged, their blades meeting, his collapsible staff against her sword. The impact sent a jolt up his arms. He ducked her next swing, countering with a sweep of his cape that tried to blind her.
"This isn't the way to bring back your husband. You can give up this battle, and me and the justice league would find a way to save your husband. You can trust me." Batman tried again.
She spun gracefully, cutting through the cloth, eyes wet but resolute. "I loved him," she whispered, almost to herself. "And then I lost him. Now the wish to save him all I have left. And I need her help to fulfill it."
Batman gritted his teeth. He'd faced killers, monsters, Aliens, but this was a woman trying to just save her loved one. Yet, in her desire, she had forgotten the lines between good and evil, only her wish remained true.
He knew it was only human to wish for their loved ones to be reunited with them, but he didn't want to let a monster like Shuten Douji to obtain a wish from the grail. That could be disastrous.
Batman caught Katana's wrist mid-swing. "Katana! Think about what you're doing! This isn't what your husband would have wanted."
She tried to twist free, tears in her eyes. "It is me," she hissed. "It's all I can do to save him."
She pushed off him and spun, their weapons clashing again. Soultaker rang like a bell with each strike. He ducked low, swept her legs, and she rolled back up to her feet, panting.
He shifted from offense to defense, letting her strikes glance off his gauntlets, buying Arthur time. He still wanted to resolve this without bloodshed. But it was looking unlikely as every moment passed.
***
Arthur and Shuten's duel had grown harsher. She lashed at him with claw and poisoned mist, her movements like a dance, elegant and lethal. He fought with pure technique, each strike deflecting, parrying, or countering hers. She laughed even as his blade cut a line across her kimono.
"Fufufu… a king, is it? How stiff, how boring. You should relax, handsome knight. Drink with me, and perhaps I'll spare your pretty face when I'm done."
Arthur raised his blade, voice steady, measured. "I will not fall to drunken tricks or poisoned charms. I swore to defend humanity, and you, oni, are a blight upon it. Prepare yourself."
"You're strong," she purred, licking the blood from her claw. "But how long can you keep the mask of a king?"
Arthur's eyes flickered. "Long enough."
He lunged, forcing her back step by step. She responded by summoning spectral oni — small, twisted shapes with red eyes — that leapt at him from the shadows. He cleaved through them with one sweeping stroke, his blade glowing brighter. The golden aura burned them to ash. The dock planks cracked under his advance.
Shuten had stopped laughing. Her eyes glowed crimson, horns pulsing with power. "You've earned the privilege to witness my true self," she hissed. The air thickened with miasma; the water around the pier began to boil. She spoke the chant seductively. "Oh what a bother, why don't I melt you all at once.
...Multicolored Poison - Shinpen Kidoku.
From the tip of the nails, slowly... slowly...
Oni-no-Kishin… let us drown this world in drunken death!"
The world around them trembled and poisonous gas started to spread around, corroding everything. The water around the harbor even turned purple as all aquatic life forms perished and floated, then dissolved into nothing.
Batman shouted as he fought. "Saber, we need to stop her before this spreads even further and harms others. Unleash your noble phantasm to end this in one strike.
Arthur planted his feet. "Very well master, then I will answer as a king must." He raised his blade high. "Yes. Let's put an end to this."
"Seal Thirteen, Decision start"
The words carried power, but Shuten's claw caught his arm mid-call, interrupting the incantation. Her strength sent him sliding back. She darted in again, aiming for his throat. He blocked, but the force of her blow sent a shockwave through the dock, splinters flying.
He spoke as he recovered. "Master, I need time to use my noble phantasm. I need you to hold her for a moment or use one of the command seals to bypass it."
Batman disengaged from Katana with a feint, hurling smoke pellets to obscure her vision. He shouted over the chaos. "With my command seal, I order you Saber. Unleash your noble phantasm to Destroy this demon and protect the world!" One of his command seals vanished as a golden glow enveloped Arthur, boosting his strength.
Arthur's jaw tightened. He shifted his grip, pivoted under Shuten's next slash, and drove his invisible blade straight through her miasma, piercing her shoulder.
She screamed, the sound a mixture of fury and ecstasy. "Yes! that's it! Show me more!"
Arthur pushed forward, lifting her off the ground and slamming her down on the boards. Golden light burst from the wound. "By the name of the once and future king," he said quietly, "I end this now."
His invisible sword became visible as a radiant light erupted from it. Excalibur finally revealed it's beautiful form. The atmosphere was enveloped in a calm silence. It's like the world itself was rejoicing it's existence. The greatest weapon of mankind that is engraved deeply within their memories.
"One drop of the planet's light. Crossing over all periods of time, it is the unfulfilled dream itself of many humans. Let it's glow shine to eradicate all evil. Ex...Callibuuuuur!"
Shuten's eye widened at the brilliant golden light that eradicated all her defenses and the poison. The night sky was illuminated by the warm golden glow. Winds howled and spread apart with an invisible force. Even Batman and Katana stopped for a moment to witness its beauty.
"That sword, It hold the dreams of every warrior, past present and future as their deaths appraoch..." Shuten muttered absent mindedly. " A sad , unreachable dream, huh. It feels... rather warm."
Arthur's blade sliced through the wave of poison mist and struck Shuten full across the chest. She cried out in pain, stumbling. Her form flickered, less solid. "A true king's blow," she murmured. "Almost enough…"
Arthur raised his sword higher, gathering more wind and light around it as he pushed frward. "Then this will be enough."
The light burned through all misama and destroyed Shutens's body even as it regenarated.
Shuten coughed blood, laughing weakly as she fell down. "Ah… a real man after all…"
She looked at Katana and smiled faintly. "It seems I have failed. Now, beloved master. It's time to fulfill your part of the pact."
***
Katana stopped moving. Her sword arm trembled. She stared at Shuten on the ground and then at Batman, whose stance had softened. "It's over," he said, voice low.
Katana shook her head. "Not yet."
She stepped back, Soultaker trembling in her hands. "Our bond… if she dies, she will possess my body to continue the battle. That was our pact. I... was so blinded by my desire that I accepted it. I thought I accepted any cost to fulfill my wish.
But now... I understand this isn't what Maseo would have wanted. I want him to remember me as Tatsu, the young innocent girl he fell in love with, the mother of his children, not as a monster. All I wanted was to live with my husband and children peacefully.
But with my defeat, my wish is no longer possible. There's only one way left now."
Batman's eyes widened as Shuten's body disappeared into mist and entered Katana's body. Her body started to change as the demonic horns sprouted from her head. Her mask fell down, revealing a beautiful face twisted in grief and loneliness.
Katana smiled , hearing the voice of her husband from the sword, soothing her mind. "Thank you Maseo. It's time for us to be together finally. And....I'm sorry, Shuten. I can't go on anymore."
Batman realized what she was about to do and reached for her. "You don't have to..."
She raised the blade to her stomach. "I can't live on… not without him…"
Her eyes met his. "Take care of my blade. Don't let it fall into evil hands." She smiled faintly. "And I'll tell him… I kept my promise."
Tears slid down her cheeks, but her voice was steady. "This is my choice. My soul belongs with him. My blade will keep me at his side."
Before Batman could move, she knelt, placed Soultaker against her stomach, and thrust. The steel slid through her body, glowing as it drew her soul inward.
Her words were a whisper. "Now… I can be with you again…"
"Soultaker… seal us both. Reunite me with my beloved." She thrust the sword into her own body, straight through the heart. Light burst from the wound, searing bright.
Shuten Douji gasped, her spirit form unraveling it was sucked towards the sword. "Ah… what a foolish girl…" She reached out as if to touch Katana's face. "But so loyal even in death… I don't mind being stuck for eternity with you."
Katana smiled for the first time in a while. "You better behave in front of my husband."
Shuten laughe." No promises."
Katanas body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings, but her soul, a faint, shimmering silhouette — reached out and clasped Shuten's hand as the Oni's body dissolved.
Their silhouettes overlapped, the Oni and the warrior, then dissolved together into a single column of shimmering light . The light spiraled upward and was gone. Soultaker clattered to the stones.
Batman stood frozen for a long moment, cape hanging heavy. His fists clenched, but he said nothing.
Arthur approached, his sword still faintly glowing, expression grave. He looked at Batman who was silent. The water lapped softly at the pilings. Arthur lowered his blade, his expression unreadable.
The mist dispersed, leaving only rain-slick pavement and the faint glow of Arthur's blade. Batman knelt by the sword, picking it up carefully. The steel was cold. "She sealed her soul to stop Shuten," he said hoarsely. "Went with her to make sure it held."
Arthur sheathed his invisible sword, the glow fading. "She died as a warrior and a wife," he said. "May they find peace in the afterlife."
Batman stood, cloak settling around him. "We need to secure this area. No one can find this sword." His eyes flicked to Arthur. "And you… you're bleeding."
Arthur looked at his arm where Shuten's claw had cut through armor. He smiled faintly. "I've had worse." He looked toward the city lights beyond the pier. "Another battle won. Another soul lost."
The mist cleared slowly, revealing the broken planks, scorched marks, and a faint glimmer where Katana's blade had vanished. The night felt heavier, as if the city itself mourned.
Arthur turned to Batman. "We should leave. The others will be fighting elsewhere."
Batman nodded grimly. "Let's go. The war isn't over yet."
They walked back into the shadows of Valhalla, leaving behind the broken pavement, the faint smell of sake, and the empty sword that had ended a bond neither a blade nor a king could cut. Two warriors carrying the weight of the fight they had just survived — and the memory of the woman who had chosen her own ending.