The distant night was quieter here—no screams, no clash of steel, only the soft whisper of wind brushing through the grasslands.
Far from the burning battlefield, two figures moved swiftly across the moonlit plains. Their cloaks billowed in the cold wind, their steps steady and purposeful.
Haido came to a stop atop a low ridge, his sharp gaze fixed on the horizon.
"There it is," he said, his voice low, calm, yet edged with something dangerous. "The king's castle."
Beside him, Midari's eyes narrowed as the silhouette of the grand structure came into view—tall spires glinting faintly under the pale light, surrounded by walls that seemed to touch the sky.
"Yes, Master Haido," Midari replied. "It's within reach."
But before they could take another step, Haido's expression shifted. His head turned sharply toward the right, eyes narrowing at the distant treeline.
Midari blinked. "Master?"
"Get away from here. Now." His tone was flat, but beneath it was a rare urgency.
Midari frowned, confused. "Why, Master? What happened?"
Haido didn't look at him—his gaze stayed fixed on the unseen presence in the dark. "Someone powerful… is coming this way."
Midari clenched his fists. "Then let me fight him. I'll handle—"
"No!" Haido's voice thundered, cutting through the silence. "You are not strong enough to face him."
The wind whipped harder, grass bending under the pressure of Haido's rising Ren. His cloak rippled as his aura flared faintly, like stormlight before a tempest.
"You go ahead," he said, calm returning to his voice. "I'll join you once I'm done here."
Midari hesitated, frustration flashing across his face—but Haido's eyes left no room for argument. They were cold. Certain.
"…Understood, Master." Midari turned and dashed toward the distant castle, vanishing into the night.
Haido stayed still, his gaze never wavering from the shadowy forest ahead. His hand drifted to his sword.
The air around him grew heavier.
A blur cut through the night.
The sound of rushing wind tore across the plains—then clang! Two blades collided, the shockwave exploding outward in a burst of Ren that rippled through the grass like a violent gust.
Haido's feet slid slightly across the dirt, his eyes narrowing as he met the force of the strike. The air between them shimmered from pressure, two killing intents locking in place.
A faint smirk curved on Haido's lips.
"Oh well… we meet again, huh, Ezekiel Cadell."
The other man stood firm, his expression sharp and unflinching. The moonlight caught the edge of his sword as it trembled slightly from the impact.
For a brief moment, neither moved—only the hum of Ren filled the night, deep and heavy.
Meanwhile, the battlefield shifted—back to where Haruto and Takomi clashed beneath the darkening sky.
The air trembled, the once-fiery plains now shrouded in swirling smoke and wind. The clouds above twisted and gathered, swallowing the moonlight, turning the world dim and foreboding.
Takomi steadied his footing, eyes darting around as the ground beneath him cracked and shifted.
"What… what's happening here!?" he growled, his instincts screaming danger.
Across from him, Haruto stood motionless—his blade lowered, eyes glowing faintly beneath his fringe. The air around him pulsed with a deep, rhythmic hum, as if the very earth resonated with his heartbeat.
"Dragon Ren…" Haruto's voice was calm but carried a thunderous weight.
"Dragon's Pulse."
The ground erupted. Shockwaves rippled outward like roaring dragons bursting from the soil, tearing through stone and fire alike. The impact sent Takomi flying back, his body crashing into the dirt with a deafening crack.
He groaned, pain surging through his limbs as dust and debris clouded the air. For a moment, there was only silence—then he coughed, dragging himself upright, his expression shifting from disbelief to grim awe.
"Incredible…" he muttered hoarsely. "So it was real. The power of a legendary Ren… it truly is nothing like ours."
Takomi wiped the blood from his lip and smirked faintly.
"But I see why you didn't want to use it against me earlier."
Haruto stood firm, his chest rising and falling with steady breaths. The faint flicker of exhaustion showed in his eyes, but his stance never faltered.
"You look… a little tired already," Takomi continued, still grinning despite the pain. "Just one attack, and you're already faltering?"
Haruto's lips curved into a faint smirk of his own. His grip on the sword tightened, Ren still thrumming faintly through the air.
"I can still use my Ren," he said calmly, his tone resolute. "And I'll keep using it—until I bring you down."
Takomi wiped the blood from his lip, his grin twisting back into something wild.
"Heh… fine then," he said, voice low and feral. "Let's see how long that confidence lasts."
His Ren flared violently, kicking up dust and shards of stone beneath his feet. The air shimmered around him, and his golden eyes gleamed with savage light.
"Wolf Ren—Lupine Rush!"
He vanished.
The ground erupted where he had stood, and in the same instant, a flash of steel cut through the air. Haruto barely reacted before pain shot across his side.
"Ah—!!" he hissed, stumbling back, his blade instinctively raising to guard. A thin line of crimson streaked across his ribs.
He scanned the battlefield, eyes darting—Takomi was gone again.
"I… couldn't even see him," Haruto muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth. "That speed…"
A blur. Another strike. The whistling air of a blade closing in.
Haruto's instincts screamed danger, and he made his move.
"Dragon Ren—Scale Armor!"
Ren surged through his body like molten fire. For a heartbeat, his outline glowed with faint traces of crimson light—scales flickering across his skin like fleeting reflections of a dragon's hide. The air thickened around him, vibrating with power.
Takomi lunged again—faster than before, his blade cutting straight toward Haruto's chest.
The strike hit dead-on.
A metallic clang rang out, sparks bursting where the blade met Haruto's skin. But there was no blood. No cut. Nothing.
Takomi's eyes widened. "What—!?"
Before he could recover, Haruto stepped forward through the attack, his expression calm, unreadable.
Takomi growled and swung again—once, twice, thrice—each blow sharper, faster, more desperate. But every slash bounced harmlessly off Haruto's body, the dragon's scaled aura shimmering with each hit.
"Why… isn't it working?" Takomi whispered, disbelief creeping into his voice. His breaths grew uneven, his speed faltering for the first time.
But then—he smirked.
"I see… so that's your Ren ability."
His voice dropped lower, rougher, animalistic. The air thickened again, charged with something wild and dangerous.
"Well then… let's see how your scales handle this."
He spread his stance, Ren surging outward in violent waves. The ground cracked beneath his feet as his aura flared—dark, pulsing, savage. His body trembled, veins glowing faintly gold beneath his skin.
"Wolf Ren—Feral Fang!"
The atmosphere shifted instantly.
Wind howled through the battlefield as Takomi's Ren exploded, shaking the ground. His pupils slit into narrow, predatory lines—wolf-like and glowing with primal light. His teeth sharpened into fangs; his nails extended into razor claws.
His breathing turned heavy, feral, every motion exuding killing instinct.
The once-human gleam in his eyes was gone—replaced by the cold, predatory glare of a hunter.
Haruto steadied his stance, the faint light of his Scale Armor flickering across his form.
"So… this is your true form," he muttered, eyes narrowing.
Takomi's grin twisted, his voice roughened by the transformation.
"You should feel honored… Not many survive long enough to see it."
Haruto's Scale Armor flickered once—then shattered in a faint shimmer of red light. The protective aura faded away.
He exhaled sharply, gripping his sword tighter.
"Enough barking," Haruto said, a small smirk tugging at his lips. "Show me what you can really do."
Takomi—his form now subtly altered by his Feral Fang—tilted his head with a feral glint in his eye.
"Oh, gladly."
In a blur of motion, Takomi lunged forward. His speed spiked—almost impossible to track. Blades clashed in rapid succession, sparks scattering through the darkened battlefield. Haruto tried to counter, but Takomi's strikes came faster, sharper, and with wild precision.
Cut after cut landed, haruto blocked and parried as best as he could, but a few slashes broke through, thin lines of blood streaking his arms and shoulders.
"Wolf Ren — Territory Mark!" Takomi roared.
A pulse of blue energy spread from his feet, covering the ground in a circular field. The air within it shimmered and thinned, the temperature dropping slightly as Ren condensed heavily around them.
Haruto's eyes darted around. "Now what the hell is this supposed to be…?"
Takomi smirked, already moving faster. His cuts grew sharper—each swing carried more weight, more speed. Haruto hissed as a strike grazed across his side, deeper this time.
'He's getting faster,' Haruto realized, tightening his grip.
Every slash forced him on the defensive. Haruto swung back, but Takomi slipped past with uncanny precision, weaving between counters effortlessly.
Then, in the blink of an eye—
"Lupine Rush!"
Takomi blurred again, disappearing from sight. Haruto barely caught the motion before the impact struck his guard, sending him staggering.
The blue field amplified every step Takomi took—his movements were pure aggression, relentless.
But this time, Haruto wasn't caught off guard. A faint red light began to glimmer once again across his skin as he muttered—
"Dragon Ren: Scale Armor!"
Takomi's next strike connected squarely—only to rebound off harmlessly, sparks dancing across the crimson glow.
Takomi landed back, breathing heavier, eyes narrowing. "You can't keep taking hits forever, Haruto."
Haruto steadied himself, meeting his glare.
"And you can't keep cutting endlessly."
For a tense moment, the only sound was the wind howling across the scarred battlefield—then both warriors surged forward again.
Takomi vanished in a burst of blue light. "Lupine Rush!"
Haruto's crimson aura ignited once more. "Dragon's Scale!"
Steel clashed against steel, echoing like thunder. Each time Takomi struck, Haruto's glowing armor absorbed the impact. Each time Haruto countered, Takomi slipped past, moving like a phantom within his shimmering territory field.
Again and again, the pattern repeated—attack, defend, evade, strike. Their Rens flared wildly, shaking the air around them with raw energy. The blue glow of Territory Mark collided against the red radiance of Dragon's Scale, painting the battlefield in waves of color.
Both fighters were pushing beyond their limits now.
Sweat mixed with blood. Their breaths came ragged. Takomi's form flickered, his movement beginning to lose its edge. Haruto's red armor dimmed, faint cracks of light breaking apart along its surface.
Then—both bursts of Ren shattered at once.
The blue aura of Territory Mark dispersed into fragments, dissolving into the night air. The crimson shield of Dragon's Scale flickered one last time before fading completely.
The field fell silent.
Haruto stood, chest heaving, sword lowered but ready. Takomi stumbled slightly, his grip tightening on his blade, his fangs bared in frustration. Both men were drenched in sweat, blood trailing down their arms.
Takomi's lips curved into a faint, breathless grin. "Just using Ren for a short time has made you exhausted, huh?"
Haruto exhaled slowly, a tired smirk tugging at his mouth. "Well, yeah… but I see you're just as exhausted."
He straightened his stance, his crimson eyes narrowing. "Let's finish this off. It's getting late."
Inwardly, Haruto's thoughts sharpened like his blade. I don't have enough stamina left to fight much longer… but if I use this attack efficiently, I can end it here.
Takomi raised his weapon, expression fierce. "Alright then… let's finish it!"
The air grew heavy once again. Both men stood still for a heartbeat, the night wind holding its breath.
Haruto inhaled deeply—then exhaled. His Ren flared crimson around him, trembling with power.
"Dragon Ren: Gravity Break!"
He pressed the tip of his sword to the ground.
A low hum filled the battlefield. The earth shuddered as a sudden gravitational force surged outward, bending the air and warping the terrain. Takomi, caught mid-step, stumbled—his body jerked downward as though the weight of the world had fallen on him.
"What—!?" he gasped, muscles straining against the unseen pull. He tried to move, but his balance was gone.
Haruto's gaze hardened, voice echoing through the rumbling ground.
"Dragon Ren—Dragon's Pulse!"
Takomi's eyes widened in horror. "No… not that attack again! I must—"
He couldn't finish.
The ground erupted as a massive shockwave tore through it, surging forward like a crimson dragon's roar. The impact struck Takomi before he could recover—
his scream echoed through the field.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
Dust and light swallowed the night as the battlefield trembled beneath the force of the attack.
The shockwave faded, leaving behind silence.
Dust drifted slowly through the torn air, settling over a battlefield reduced to rubble and scars. The once-flat ground was carved open with deep fissures, glowing faintly with residual crimson energy.
Haruto stood motionless at the center—then his knees buckled. The red aura around him flickered out completely as his sword slipped from his hand, embedding itself into the cracked earth.
He fell forward, his body hitting the ground with a dull thud. His breath came in short, ragged bursts, sweat and blood staining his face. The world around him spun, blurred by exhaustion.
"…It's… over?" he murmured weakly, though his voice barely carried through the wind.
Across the field lay the aftermath of his attack. Takomi's body had been utterly destroyed by the force of Dragon's Pulse—his arms torn apart, fingers scattered across the ground, the remains of his form twisted and motionless amid the debris.
The faint glow of Ren around the battlefield faded into nothing.
Only the sound of the wind remained.
Haruto's eyelids grew heavier. His vision dimmed as he forced a faint, exhausted smile.
"Guess… I overdid it again…"
And with that, he lost consciousness, his body collapsing fully against the broken earth as the crimson sky began to lighten on the horizon.