The silence that followed the closing of the portal was heavier than the war itself. Krishenmaru lay in the dust, his body broken, his spirit shattered. He had lost his best friend, his elemental weapons, and now, the little girl he had sworn to protect.
The Kaiju army roared in triumph, sensing the end of the Samurai age. One massive scout, eager to finish the job, lunged at Krishenmaru with a jagged spear.
The Laugh of the Blind
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"
The laughter cut through the battlefield like a razor. It was Pradhanjiro. The wise blind man stood in the center of the carnage, leaning on his cane, his face turned toward the sky.
"Why is that idiot laughing?" Kenji's remaining lieutenant demanded. "Your hero is dead!"
"You are the idiot," Pradhanjiro whispered, his voice suddenly vibrating with power. "Immortals do not know death. Grandfather has arrived."
"Whose grandfather?" the Kaiju sneered. "I'll take his head too!"
The scout swung his spear at Krishenmaru, but the boy didn't dodge. He didn't even blink. He threw a single, blindingly fast punch. The impact sounded like a mountain cracking. The Kaiju didn't just fall; he flew across the war ground, crashing through three stone buildings before vanishing into the distance.
The Legend of Jurashi
Across the village, in the Great Museum of Antiquity, something ancient began to stir. The Ancestor's Suit—the armor worn by Tranjuro himself—began to shake behind its glass display.
Suddenly, the glass exploded. The suit took flight, soaring over the rooftops of Jurashi. It didn't just fall onto Krishenmaru; it tore through the air and suited up onto his body in a flash of blinding white light.
Krishenmaru opened his eyes. They were no longer brown; they were swirling vortices of pure, brilliant white. Behind him, the air shimmered and coalesced into the form of a Great White Dragon, its scales glowing with the aura of the God of Kemeno.
The Seven-Fold Strike
"Hey," Krishenmaru said, his voice echoing with the strength of a thousand storms. "Do you know... what is BUSHIDO?"
He stepped forward, and the ground beneath him turned to glass. A Kaiju charged him; Krishenmaru caught its head in one hand and crushed it like a dried gourd.
"It means the Way of the Warrior!" Krishenmaru shouted, his dragon Kemeno sweeping its tail and vaporizing a dozen enemies at once.
"It is the Code of the Samurai!" He struck again, his fists moving with the speed of the lightning he had once studied on the mountain.
"It is the legacy of Tranjuro!"
With every word, he recited a virtue—Integrity, Respect, Courage, Honor, Compassion, Honesty, Loyalty. With every virtue, another section of the Kaiju army fell. In minutes, three-quarters of the monsters were nothing but ash and bone.
The Choice of a Hero
Krishenmaru turned his white eyes toward the portal Kenji had used. He could feel the five Katanas vibrating in the distance. He could hear Nadashi's muffled screams.
"Kenji!" Krishenmaru roared, the White Dragon letting out a sky-shaking blast of energy. "I am coming for my sister. And I am coming for your soul!"
He didn't wait for a portal. He gathered the Kemeno energy into his feet and leaped, tearing through the fabric of reality itself to follow the scent of the Kaiju King.