Reiji was shattered. There was nothing he could do while the Dragon grasped the necklace.
The Green Dragon simply stared at the object, tilting it between his claws before bringing it toward his face. As if responding to a silent command, the fierce draconic mask opened its maw.
The man tossed the object into the gaping mouth, turned around, and slowly waded his way through the pool of blood.
He reached the entrance and simply left, without even acknowledging Reiji's presence.
As he disappeared beyond the doorway, time began to unwind from its unnatural stasis. The air quivered, the floating shreds of wood fell lifelessly to the ground. Haru, who had survived only because he wasn't in the kitchen, collapsed… limp and motionless.
Reiji's body sank deeper into the sofa, his hand, now weakened and trembling, sliding helplessly onto the cushions beside him. His head lolled back.
He wanted to think… but no thoughts came. He wanted to act… but his body refused to move. Not because time had betrayed him again, but because his mind was breaking under the sheer weight of what he had witnessed.
Slowly, tears began to fall. Hot, trembling drops slid down his cheeks, each one carving silent trails of anguish. The images replayed endlessly; the laughter, the warmth, and the crimson haze that followed. He didn't dare look toward the kitchen. The stench of blood alone was unbearable.
He was at the very edge of collapsing into complete grief when a flicker of realization struck him.
"...Haru?"
He forced his trembling limbs to move, dragging his battered body across the blood-soaked floor. He turned the small child over, his heart pounding. Haru's face was pale, but his chest rose and fell faintly.
Reiji exhaled shakily, relief and despair clashing in his chest. Under normal circumstances, he could've discerned what had caused the boy to faint. Right now, however, logic was beyond him.
He slowly rose to his feet, his body trembling, and stared at the ruined main door. Helplessness gave way to grief. Grief gave way to rage. And rage… gave way to madness.
His face twisted into a feral expression, as fury and sorrow intertwined. Tears still streamed down his cheeks, but his cursed energy began to boil.
He willed his blood to surge out of every vessel in his body, forming a dense, pulsing orb before him. This time, he didn't restrain it. The blood flowed freely, pooling around him like a crimson tide. He clasped the orb with his right hand and compressed it until the veins in his arm split open.
His blood spilled onto the ground and, instinctively, his Reverse Cursed Technique activated, healing and replenishing what he lost. He amplified the flow, his heart pounding like a drum. A million droplets gathered behind him, suspended mid-air, vibrating with lethal intent.
With a single motion of his arm, he sent them flying… spreading them across the forest like a crimson storm.
He staggered toward the shattered entrance, his breath shallow. In that moment, he triple-stacked Flowing Red Scale. By all accounts, it should have killed him instantly. But somehow, his body held. Whether by rage, luck, or sheer defiance, his cursed energy refused to extinguish.
When he stepped out into the open, he saw the man, the Dragon, slowly walking down the cleared path, distant but unmistakable. The Dragon halted mid-step, sensing the violent surge of cursed energy behind him. Slowly, deliberately, he turned.
Reiji spoke no words. His body coiled like a spring. His muscles tensed, his vision blurred with red. And then… he leapt.
In an instant, he crossed hundreds of feet, propelled by Flowing Red Scale. The world blurred around him. He appeared before the Dragon and threw his left fist with everything he had.
The Dragon didn't even flinch. He simply stood there.
Reiji's blow connected… and agony erupted. His arm was shredded, torn apart by the sheer force of contact. Flesh and bone splintered in an instant.
A guttural scream tore from his throat.
The Dragon, uninterested, merely swatted him aside with the back of his hand. The impact was a blinding, soundless burst of violence. Reiji barely managed to brace himself before he was hurled back, crashing into a massive tree. Bark splintered, and his shirt ripped open. His torso was shredded by the sheer pressure.
The Dragon regarded him for a long moment before uttering, in a chilling, dismissive tone:
"How displeasing…"
Reiji's vision wavered. He forced his body upright, channeling Reverse Cursed Technique as positive energy coursed through him. His face twisted with a madness that bordered on hysteria.
"Hmm? Why do you wish to fight me, child?" the Dragon's voice was smooth, regal, almost amused. "I have done nothing to harm you… to my knowledge, at least."
Reiji said nothing. He could only see flashes… the children's faces, the warmth of the orphanage, the laughter that was now drowned in blood. His heart screamed where his voice could not.
He unleashed the compressed blood orb he'd been nurturing. "Piercing Blood!" he roared, tears streaming down his face.
The beam tore through the air, faster than thought. The man didn't even move.
The blood strike collided with his chest, the impact so intense it shook the ground beneath them. The Dragon was pushed several meters back, yet he stood firm, his body unmoved.
When the attack faded, Reiji dropped to his knees. Maintaining Flowing Red Scale and RCT simultaneously was ripping his body apart from the inside.
He looked up, gasping, expecting at least a wound. But the Dragon remained pristine, save for a small bruise on his chest.
A bruise that vanished in an instant as he casually applied Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Blood Manipulation… how vile," he said almost as a sigh, more disgusted than impressed.
Then his hand reached for the draconic mask. His tone grew colder, edged with recognition.
"I have tolerated jujutsu sorcerers until now… but you… you are of that devious bastard's blood, aren't you?"
The Green Dragon removed his mask. His face was ethereal, beautiful to the point of unease. His long, dark hair flowed like ink down his shoulders, his eyes glimmering with inhuman intelligence. He looked calm… but the aura emanating from him was suffocating.
Reiji wiped the blood from his mouth and charged again without hesitation.
He appeared in front of the man once more, fists ablaze with cursed energy. He struck, again and again, each blow faster and harder than the last. The Dragon didn't even step back. He deflected each hit with casual precision; his hands were like a dauntless shield.
Every time their skin met, Reiji's flesh tore open.
"Damn it!" Reiji roared, his voice raw and broken. He poured more energy into his limbs, reinforcing them even as they disintegrated under the strain. Positive energy flared, knitting torn muscle back together just long enough for it to be shredded again.
The pain was unbearable, and the futility was absolute.
And yet Reiji couldn't stop. Not until his blood ran dry.
In the flurry of fists and blood, the Dragon's gaze finally settled on Reiji's face. His expression shifted, from detached amusement to faint curiosity.
"Your face… is nothing like his," the Dragon murmured. Then his head tilted slightly, as though catching a familiar scent. "Oh? Akame? Is that you?"
The cursed words rolled from his tongue like venom. Akame screamed in response, flaring up violently, painting light into the night. The surge in his internal cursed energy was immediate and overwhelming. Yet it was nothing compared to the agony Reiji felt every second his flesh met the Dragon's energy.
"How amusing," the man said with a small, almost indulgent smile.
With a single motion, he leapt back, landing gracefully as his robes fluttered like the wings of a bird.
Reiji lunged forward desperately. But the Dragon moved with deadly intent. His stance shifted into something archaic and alien… a martial form that felt ancient, like it had been practiced since the dawn of jujutsu itself.
In the next instant, he vanished from Reiji's sight.
When Reiji saw him again, the Dragon was beneath his guard, a crystalline gauntlet glowing on his arm, the scales rippling with jade radiance.
The world seemed to slow down.
Reiji saw the fist coming; the air rippled and distorted before the impact, but there was no time to react.
The strike landed square on his chest.
Reiji's defenses crumpled instantly. His ribs shattered like glass as his chest collapsed inward. His body was launched backward, crashing through trees until one finally stopped him.
He slid down the trunk, limp and breathless, as his RCT struggled to seal the gaping wound in his torso.
The Green Dragon approached slowly, hands clasped behind his back. His every movement was measured and deliberate, as though walking through a temple, not a battlefield.
"How interesting," he said softly. "Even as the inheritor of Akame… this is all you amount to?"
His tone was not cruel; it was disappointed, almost pitying.
"Still," he continued, "you are a loyal descendant. Attacking me for the sake of a long-dead feud."
His gaze sharpened, irritation breaking through his calm.
"But for that very reason… I should kill you here and now. Not that it could ever make up for his actions."
Reiji barely understood what he was hearing. His mind was fogged and every thought sluggish. The words "descendant" and "feud" slipped through him.
"The moment I was freed," the Dragon said, voice low, "I searched for that man. I wanted to finish him off with my own hands. Tell me, boy… where is your progenitor? Tell me, and I will grant you mercy."
Reiji stared blankly. He didn't even have the strength to shake his head. His chest was knitting itself back together, but his consciousness was unraveling.
"Huh," the Dragon tilted his head, studying him. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"
He looked skyward, his expression flickering between thoughtfulness and disdain.
"Did his resurrection fail, then?"
And then, he laughed. A loud, almost joyous sound shook the air.
"Hah! Serves him right!"
Reiji's blurred vision steadied for just a moment. Through the ringing in his ears, he focused every ounce of remaining will into a single, burning intent.
The million compressed droplets of blood he had scattered across the forest—he called to them.
Slowly, they began to move and started orbiting his broken body like dying stars.
The Dragon's gaze flickered back, and for the first time, it stiffened.
"That's a dangerous technique," he murmured, intrigued.
Reiji's body was long past its limits. His veins burned, his bones creaked. He had used RCT to endlessly replenish the blood he was losing, compressing and condensing it into millions of micro-spheres. The tiny supernovas were now ready to detonate on command. Each one was filled with a staggering amount of cursed energy, far beyond what his body should have been able to produce.
The result was a scarlet storm hovering around them, each droplet trembling with destructive potential.
Reiji's trembling face hardened into a murderous glare.
"I must admit," the Dragon said, smiling faintly, "this is quite unique."
He raised a clawed hand, the gauntlet refracting moonlight into spectral green shards.
"My cursed technique," he said almost proudly, "is called 'Edict of Eternity.' Its essence is simple… I stop time within a certain radius. Everything… life, energy… halts. Everything except myself, and whatever I touch. A perfect, eternal moment."
"To continue," he said casually, "its limitation is that I cannot use it outside a barrier."
Reiji's thoughts spun. Revealing one's technique was a binding vow that empowered the user. But there was no barrier here, no domain either.
And then it dawned on him: the Dragon did not intend to strengthen his cursed technique. He was powering up himself.
The man walked calmly into the storm of orbs.
Reiji's mind twisted in disbelief. He clenched his teeth and forced his remaining cursed energy to obey.
His voice broke into a furious chant:
"Blood Manipulation: Extreme Art: Blood Field!"
The world ignited as Reiji fell down, exhausted.
A thousand explosions bloomed at once, each droplet detonating into a bullet of compressed blood and cursed energy. The shockwaves shredded the forest and vaporized the trees.
But within the chaos, the Dragon walked forward. Calm and unhurried. The blasts tore at his robes, scraped his skin, nothing more.
Each step was deliberate, regal, and unstoppable.
Reiji's rage evaporated, leaving behind only despair.
'Why isn't anything working?' he thought, voice trembling in his head. 'Why can't I hurt him…? Why…?'
His energy faltered. The flow of RCT weakened. His body began to wobble. The dizziness crept back, devouring what little strength remained as his seemingly unlimited supply of energy was cut off.
When the Dragon emerged from the storm, his smile had returned; it was warm, and almost paternal.
"That was quite impressive, child."
Reiji coughed, his voice broken.
"Why… why did you do it? Why did you kill everyone at the orphanage?"
The Dragon paused. His eyes widened, as though truly seeing Reiji for the first time. And then, he laughed again.
"Ah. So that's why you challenged me."
He crouched down before the boy, robes folding like flowing water. His voice softened.
"What an interesting child you are. You are nothing like that pathetic fool."
Reiji's lips quivered.
"...Why?"
The Dragon sighed, straightened up, and turned away.
"Why?" he repeated, almost to himself. "Because some things in this world are meant to burn to ashes, while others are meant to be reborn in the flames."
He began walking away, the night swallowing his form. But just before he vanished into the trees, his voice carried back … regal, clear, and cold.
"Grow strong, inheritor of Akame. Try to hunt me down. And if your blade ever reaches my heart… I'll tell you why I spilled their blood."
He looked back once, his eyes glinting like emeralds.
"Remember this night… as the mercy of the Green Dragon."
Reiji's vision blurred. His face fell to the side. Through the haze of pain, he saw the Dragon's silhouette vanish into the darkness, serene and terrible.
Half-dead, his entire body shredded and his soul hollowed.
Reiji's consciousness was then swallowed by silence.