Back in the present, Ryosuke shook his head. The tree still burned in his mind.
'Why am I thinking of that tree… that cursed tree.'
His grip tightened around his katana. Across from him, the twins resumed their slow circle, keeping distance, waiting for an opening. Ryosuke stood in the center, still and tense. His breath held. His eyes tracked every step they took. Gemini's hand closed around the chain of her sickle, pulling it taut. Pisces twirled his knives with casual rhythm, almost impatient.
'It's coming. Any second.'
Ryosuke lowered his stance, muscles coiled. Then, Gemini let out a sharp roar and the twins moved at once. She hurled the sickle with sudden vicious force, the chain snapping through the air. At the same time Pisces released three knives, the steel whistling forward. Ryosuke exhaled and leapt, spinning mid-air, his katana striking each incoming threat aside. Metal rang. He landed lightly, but the knives whipped back toward him immediately. He dropped into a crouch, barely avoiding them. The sickle returned just as fast, aimed between his eyes. Ryosuke planted his cybernetic foot, pushing off hard and flipping away.
Gemini fired her gauntlet at the ground. The concussive blast launched her upward. Pisces tossed five more blades into the air, sending them into a scattered pattern. Ryosuke twisted as he fell, dodging the first set. Gemini's gauntlet whined again, charging. The knives Pisces had thrown converged toward her—she blasted them, sending them at Ryosuke with even more speed and pressure.
He couldn't avoid everything this time. Two blades cut across his arm and leg, one lodging deep into his thigh. He hit the ground with a harsh grunt. Ryosuke tore the knife out and tossed it aside. Pisces immediately reeled it back in with his magnetic gloves. Ryosuke steadied himself. His eyes lifted to the twins. For a moment he didn't see them. He saw a young girl with gentle eyes. He saw the life she could have lived. He saw what she could have become if she had been in the twins' situation.
'Kaori…'
He sees the cherry blossom tree once more. Cherry blossoms swayed. Light filtered through branches. Then day turned to night. Flames spread. Screams rose. The air thickened with smoke and terror. The Massacre of Hiroki. Then he saw a figure at the burning tree. A sword he knew. A white coat marked with the Council's emblem.
'Michio…'
Ryosuke's jaw clenched. The council's cruelty. The same cruelty shaping the two children before him. What they did to his family. What these children would continue to do if no one stopped them.
He could not save these children from their past. But he could free them from the council's grip. The only mercy left was finality in death. Ryosuke moved. One explosive bound closed the distance between him and Gemini. His sword cut through the air—she barely raised her sickle in time to block. The force carried through. He drove his cybernetic heel into her stomach. The hit launched her upward and across the arena, crashing into the stands. She tumbled to a stop beside another Zodiac.
Pisces' knives shrieked behind Ryosuke. He lifted his katana behind his back and deflected them without looking. The blades didn't fall; they snapped back toward Pisces. The two stared across the arena, twenty feet of broken ground between them. Pisces flicked his wrists and sent five knives flying again. Ryosuke exhaled and cut through each one cleanly. Steel halves clattered across the floor. The pieces whipped back to Pisces and lifted into the air, hovering in a rotating circle. He grabbed two and hurled them with brutal force. Ryosuke knocked them aside and broke into a sprint. Pisces retreated, throwing more knives as the rest snapped back into orbit.
They exchanged speed and steel, weapons flashing, ground kicking up beneath their feet. Ryosuke pressed forward. Pisces tried to create space, but Ryosuke was already closing the distance, step by step, breath steady, blade ready. Right as Ryosuke's blade was about to cut into Pisces, a chain snapped around his leg and yanked him back. He hit the ground hard but pushed up fast, sword already raised.
"Get away from my brother!" Gemini shouted, pulling the chain back. "He, like me, is of holy blood! You filth!"
She stepped toward him, sickle ready. Pisces moved beside her again, knives in hand.
Ryosuke held her stare. "Tell me. Who made you like this, child?"
Gemini didn't answer. She swung her sickle at him again as Pisces crouched to move with her.
Ryosuke steadied his grip, voice low. "I will bring your broken minds peace."
Ryosuke stood still, katana low, eyes steady. The twins stared him down, tense, breathing sharp. Then they moved in a blur. Gemini charged first, chain spinning in a tight circle around her, gauntlet whirring. Pisces flicked knives in a quick burst. Ryosuke stepped forward, blade rising. One swipe sent two knives off course. He angled his shoulder and the third grazed past harmlessly. The last two he caught with quick taps of his blade, knocking them aside mid-air.
Gemini's sickle snapped toward his face. Ryosuke ducked and slid past her. Pisces sent another spread of knives—faster this time, clustered. Ryosuke twisted his wrist, batting them down one by one. His feet barely shifted.
They regrouped and lunged again, perfectly in sync. Gemini swung low, trying to hook his leg. Pisces closed in behind, knives held ready to strike at his back. Ryosuke stepped inside Gemini's swing, grabbed the chain, and used her momentum against her, jerking her forward. His elbow cracked against her ribs and she stumbled.
Pisces thrusted forward—Ryosuke turned, caught him by the front of his cloak, and threw him hard toward the stands. Gemini roared and blasted forward with her gauntlet, trying to tackle him. Ryosuke pivoted, planted his foot, and kicked her in the chest with his cybernetic leg. The impact echoed. She flew back and crashed beside her brother. Ryosuke lowered his sword, eyes calm.
"Enough."
Pisces coughed and pushed himself up, one hand clutching his ribs. His breath shook as he stared at Ryosuke, trying to process what he had just felt in that exchange. The strength. The precision. The way he moved.
"He reminds me of him…" he muttered under his breath, voice low.
A memory flashed in his mind. A tall man in a white officer coat, sword in hand. Pale face, sharp hazel eyes, pupils thin like a cat's. Standing in silence, terrifying in presence alone.
"…Kael."
Gemini forced herself up beside him, wiping blood from her lip.
"You're delirious," she snapped. "Do not compare this rat to Sir Kael."
Pisces didn't look at her. "I'm serious. Lord Mako spoke of it once. I mistook it for a cruel joke. He said Sir Kael raised a son in secret. A human child from Hiroki..." His voice wavered as he looked at Ryosuke again. "This has to be him."
Ryosuke flicked blood off his blade and stepped forward. His hair hung loose, face shadowed by the low flames behind him. Only the dull red-brown glow in his eyes and the steel edge of his katana were visible. Pisces swallowed hard. Gemini's confidence faltered for the first time. Pisces lowered his gaze, shaken.
"The Phantom of Hiroki…" he whispered. "The son of Kael."