Ken leaped backward, eyes locked on the shattered remains of his blade.
The hilt was still intact in his hand, but the rest was just metal scattered across Yumi's front steps, in other words useless.
He stared at it for a moment, then casually tossed the broken weapon aside. It clattered against the pavement with a dull clink.
"You..."
A slow smile spread across his face.
"You're perfect."
Yumi didn't lower her guard. Blood still dripped from her palm where she'd caught his blade.
"Why are you trying to kill me?" Her voice was steady. "If you're part of the Kagami Clan, there's no reason to."
"Why?" He tilted his head. "Because you're the fiancée of the traitor of the Kagami Clan."
Yumi took a step forward.
"Traitor?" Her eyes narrowed. "Ren? Why would he betray your clan?"
"Well..." Ken's smile widened. "Why don't you ask him that when you meet him in the afterlife?"
"Tsk."
Yumi's smirk returned to her face.
"I'm glad Ren left you people. I always had the feeling you never liked me in the first place."
CLICK.
Ken snapped his fingers.
SWOOOOSH.
Cursed energy erupted from his body like a tidal wave. It coiled around him from head to toe.
"You're right," he said, his voice dropping. "We are part of the Big Three Clans. To have a nobody like you marry into the Kagami family would ruin everything we've built."
He took a step forward.
Then another.
The cursed energy around him vibrated with each step he took.
"The fact that Ren killed his siblings…" Ken's eyes gleamed. "That just gave us the perfect excuse to kill you."
Yumi stepped forward, covering herself in curse energy as well
"So be it."
Her voice was ice.
"That just gives me an excuse to kill you."
They stopped three meters apart.
ZOOM.
Ken vanished.
Yumi pivoted on her heel, eyes scanning the empty air,It was the same technique he'd used when he first appeared. Complete invisibility.
But there had to be limits.
Is it just invisibility? Or can he do more? What's the range? Duration? Cooldown?
BANG.
Pain exploded across her back.
The impact sent her flying forward, her body tumbling across the pavement i Asphalt tore at her clothes and skin, leaving fresh scrapes along her arms.
Ken reappeared, fist still extended from the strike.
"Hah." He flicked his hair back, grinning. "How lucky."
Yumi pushed herself to her feet slowly. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. She wiped it away with the back of her hand, leaving a smear of red across her pale skin.
It doesn't matter what his technique is.
She rolled her shoulders, ignoring the pain radiating from her back.
I just need to kill him before he kills me.
And then I'll find Ren.
Yumi reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a piece of string.
The kind you'd use to hang a picture frame.
Ken's grin widened into a laugh.
"String?" He took a step closer, arms spread in mock confusion. "What's that going to do against me?"
She held the string between her hands, cursed energy flowing from her palms into the seemingly mundane material.
The string…
It thickened, doubling in width, then tripling. The soft white fiber hardened, taking on a metallic sheen like steel wire.
Yumi waved it through the air in a wide arc.
The string grew longer with each pass: two meters, five meters, ten meters.
"You talk too much," Yumi muttered.
She snapped her wrist forward.
CRACK.
WHIP.
The sound split the air like a gunshot.
The string-whip lashed out faster than Ken could track, whistling through the space where his head had been a fraction of a second earlier.
He threw himself to the side.
The whip missed his face by centimeters.
Instead, it cracked against the pavement with enough force to shatter the concrete.
Ken landed in a crouch.
For the first time since the fight started, his grin faltered.
"...Not bad."
Ken stood slowly, dusting off his clothes.
When he looked up his eyes had changed.
Blank and Empty.
The playful arrogance was gone.
"Enough bullshit."
His voice was flat.
"I've grown tired of you." He took a step forward. "I don't need you as my wife anymore, so I won't play with you."
Another step.
"Your death will be painful and unnecessary."
Kagami Ken charged.
[Kagami Ken.]
[Cursed Technique: Eyes of Blessing.]
[The ability allows the user to become completely invisible to all senses—sight, sound, smell, A perfect vanishing act.
However.
While invisible, the user becomes completely blind and deaf. Cut off from all sensory input.
Most sorcerers would call this technique useless. A death sentence. Even members of the Gojo Clan would render it an inconvenience at best.
But for the Kagami Clan, a family whose entire existence revolves around manipulating luck and probability, this technique couldn't be in better hands.
Because Kagami Ken doesn't need to see or hear.
He just needs to belucky.]
Ken vanished mid-charge.
Yumi gritted her teeth and spun.
Her string-whip lashed out in a wide circle, creating a barrier around her body. She rotated faster, the whip whistling through the air.
I'll fill every gap. Every angle.
CRACK.
"FUCK!"
Ken reappeared ten feet away, clutching his right fist.
The string had caught him mid-punch, wrapping around his knuckles and crushing them before he could land the hit. Blood dripped from his mangled hand, bone visible through torn skin.
If the barrier hadn't been there, he would've landed a clean killing blow to her skull.
But Yumi didn't stop spinning.
She couldn't see that he'd reappeared. Her eyes were closed in concentration, the whip continuing its relentless rotation, forcing Ken to stay back.
"This... damn bitch."
"Screw it. SCREW ALL OF IT!"
His patience shattered.
He crossed his fingers together, forming the shape of a star.
"DOMAIN EXPANSION."
Yumi's eyes snapped open.
The whip stopped mid-spin.
"GOD'S EYE."
A veil descended over the area, sealing them inside.
The ground beneath Yumi's feet turned a soft, ethereal blue. The sky above mirrored it, endless blue stretching in all directions.
And… Angels.
Dozens of them. Hundreds.
Their faces were blank. Their wings pure white.
Yumi's breath caught.
Above her, dominating the sky, was an eye.
Massive. Unblinking. Divine.
Its iris swirled with all sorts of colours
She couldn't look away.
Couldn't move.
"In this place..."
Ken's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
"There's a chance that the Gods decide to kill you... or me."
Yumi's heart hammered.
"It's fifty-fifty."
Ken's laughter rang out.
"How do you like that, huh?! THIS IS YOUR FATE! Who will win? ME OR YOU?!"
Luck…
"Well..."
Yumi's voice was quiet, almost drowned out by Ken's laughter.
"If it's up to luck alone... then I've got no worries."
She closed her eyes.
Ken's laughter cut off abruptly.
"What? You're going to kill yourself?!" His voice cracked with disbelief. "Tch, I guess you don't care about your fiancé, huh! Should I marry him in your place? I don't even like boys, but I'd do it for pure fun—"
"Because of my fiancé..."
Yumi smiled.
"...that's why I'm closing my eyes."
Her eyelids shut completely.
"DOMAIN EXPANSION"
CRACK.
The God's Eye shattered.
From the outside.
Ken's domain exploded like glass.
And in its place…
"—HEAVEN'S CHOSEN CHILD."
A new domain unfurled.
The ground turned red.
Flames erupted from cracks in the earth, roaring to life in pillars of crimson and gold. The smell of sulfur and ash filled Yumi's lungs.
Hell.
This wasn't heaven.
This was hell.
And standing in the center of the inferno, bathed in a pillar of brilliant golden light that cut through the smoke and fire.
Was Kagami Ren.
His clothes were torn and bloodied. His side still bled from the assassin's stab wound.
Yet he still stood there.
"Ken."
Ren's voice was quiet.
Ken stumbled backward, eyes wide, all composure shattered.
"You... fucking—"
"I win."
Light exploded from Ren's back.
It…was…
Wings.
Angelic. Radiant. Six of them unfurling from his shoulder blades.
He looked like a fallen angel rising from hell itself.
And beneath Ken's feet…
The ground cracked open.
Hands.
Dozens of them. Hundreds.
Black, charred, skeletal hands erupted from the earth, clawing at Ken's legs, his arms, his torso. They grabbed hold with inhuman strength, pulling in opposite directions.
"NO! NO NO NO—"
Ken screamed.
RIP.
His body split apart.
Arms torn from sockets. Legs wrenched in opposite directions. Torso ripped open.
Blood sprayed across the burning ground. Organs spilled out in a grotesque cascade, intestines, lungs, liver, all of it scattering across the red earth as the demonic hands dragged the pieces down into the flames.
Silence.
Ren stood in the golden light, wings spread.
Yumi opened her eyes.
She stared at him..this bloodied, boy who'd just torn his cousin apart.
"Ren..."
He turned to look at her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then his legs gave out.
The wings vanished as well the domain
Ren collapsed to his knees, coughing blood.
"Sorry I'm late," he rasped.