The air between them didn't just feel cold; it felt pressurized. Kai stood ten paces from Ma'am Neko on the black-tiled roof. To a regular observer, they were simply two figures in the moonlight. To a warrior, the space between them was a kill-zone where the laws of physics had begun to fray.
In the periphery, nestled in the shadows of the eaves, Renaria gripped her naginata. Beside her stood Zira. Zira's eyes were like polished glass—vacuum-sealed of any human warmth. She didn't feel the tension. She was simply calculating the trajectory of Neko's neck should Kai provide a 0.5-second opening.
Kai took a single step forward.
CRACK.
In that millisecond, a premonition—violent and absolute—flooded Kai's nervous system. He saw his own head spinning through the air, his blood painting the moonlight. It was a "Future-Glimpse" triggered by pure killing intent. He gasped, his lead foot slamming back into its original position.
Ma'am Neko hadn't moved her feet, but her fingers had twitched in a pattern that mimicked a decapitation strike.
Flashback
"Listen up, brats," Ma'am Neko had said, leaning back against the chalkboard with a predatory laziness. "How do you identify a god? Itsuki, go."
"The divine sigils and the gold-tinted Kishō?" Itsuki answered.
"Hah! Textbook garbage," Neko barked. "The real way is simpler. The moment you take a physical step toward them, your brain processes your own death. If you feel your soul try to leave your body before a blade is even drawn... that's a deity."
End of Flashback
Kai's lungs burned. A spike of primal fear—the kind that makes the hair on the neck stand like needles—shot through him.
"Is that fear, Sovereign?" Ma'am Neko's voice was a low purr. "Even my most 'special' student can feel the weight of a true predator."
Kai didn't blink. He suppressed the fear, burying it under layers of iron discipline. Suddenly, his ears picked up a sound that shouldn't have been there. From the carriage on the street below: the sharp, wet sound of a whimper.
In a burst of speed that left the roof tiles vibrating, Kai vanished. He reappeared beside the moving carriage, his hand slamming into the wood to halt its momentum. He wrenched the door open.
Inside, a girl cowered in the velvet shadows, her eyes shattered by trauma. Beside her sat a man with a jagged, hungry grin.
"Can I... help you?" the man asked, his voice dripping with mock politeness.
Kai stared at him. For a moment, the "Weak Prince" was gone. In his place was a void of black killing intent. "No," Kai said, his voice as cold as a tombstone. "You may continue."
He shut the door. The carriage rattled on.
Ma'am Neko landed softly behind him, her eyes wide with mocking disappointment. "Is that how the great Sovereign deals with a defenseless woman? How sa—"
BOOM.
Kai didn't turn around; he spun into a back-fist that transitioned into a gut-punch so fast it broke the sound barrier. His fist buried itself into Neko's stomach. The shockwave shattered the windows of the nearby shops.
Neko didn't fly back. She took the blow, her body absorbing the kinetic energy like a sponge. Then, she threw her head back and laughed—a wild, manic sound that echoed through the district.
"Finally! Finally, a challenger who isn't made of glass!"
The choreography became a blur of Akutami-style technicality.
Neko moved with "Feline Feats"—a series of erratic, non-linear jumps that made it impossible to track her center of gravity. Kai countered by entering the Silent Waterfall State.
Internal Monologue (Neko): He's locked in. Total sensory resonance. His brain is processing my movements at 120% capacity. But there's a catch—this state is an ancient relic. If he speaks, the atmospheric pressure of his focus collapses. How does a sixteen-year-old child maintain a Shinzetsu-era combat state?
Neko swung a kick that carried the weight of a falling building. Kai parried, the vibration snapping the sleeve of his uniform. Neko followed up with a "Crucial Blow"—a concentrated burst of Kishō aimed at Kai's sternum.
Snap.
Kai's ribs gave way. He was sent skidding across the cobblestones, coughing up a spray of dark blood. He collapsed to one knee, the world spinning. Yet, as Neko approached, he forced his body to lock into a guard position again.
Neko stopped. She smirked, walked over, and unexpectedly patted his head with a motherly, yet terrifying, firmness. "Your body resonance is incredible for a... Kō-shi. You really are a monster of effort."
"I needed..." Kai wheezed, blood bubbling at his lips, "...to buy time. For them to retrieve her."
"Who?"
From the shadows, Renaria and Zira appeared. Renaria carried the girl from the carriage, her face a mask of stoic duty. Zira followed, her expression entirely blank—no pity, no anger, just a report of the facts.
Zira dropped a blood-stained coin purse on the ground. "The man is neutralized. Probability of his survival: 0%. The girl is stable." She looked at Kai with zero emotion. "She belongs to the Hōzuki. Clan issues. High risk, low reward."
"I see," Kai said, standing up as his ribs began to knit together with an audible click.
Ma'am Neko watched Kai command his squad with the quiet authority of a king. "Well then," she exhaled, her playful energy settling into something more profound. "I've seen enough. You're strong, Kai. This generation is full of talent, but yours isn't talent—it's the result of someone who has climbed out of hell every morning. I shall be your mentor. After-school sessions are mandatory. No negotiations. You're facing the Veilbound soon."
"Veilbound?" Kai asked, lifting the girl—Sayomi—into his arms.
"School break for half the day tomorrow," Neko said, leaping toward the academy spires. "Come to the dojo. I'll explain everything then."
The morning sun hit the dorm room. Sayomi woke with a start, her breath hitching into a scream. Kai's hand was instantly over her mouth.
"Shhh. Satsuki is in the next room. If you wake her, she's more dangerous than a Tengu on a bad day." He pointed to her bandages. "I did what I could. I'm a butcher, not a doctor."
"Thank... you," she whispered.
"Your name?"
"Sayomi Hōzuki."
Kai nodded. "Hōzuki. Zira was annoyed by your presence—that makes you the third person in history to make her feel a flicker of irritation. Impressive." He handed her water; she drank it with the desperation of a desert traveler.
"Can you do me a favor?" Sayomi asked, her voice trembling. "Kill me."
Kai froze. "No. I don't kill for favors."
"Please! If my mother finds me... I had five brothers. She killed them all because they wanted to be 'normal.' They sold me to those men as a punishment for wanting a life. If I go back..."
Kai didn't say another word. He pulled her into a hug—not a romantic one, but a steady, grounding embrace that felt like an anchor. "I can relate. It's okay. I'll be here. But I have to move."
She grabbed his feet, her eyes wide with terror. "Don't leave me! There are eyes everywhere!"
Kai looked at her, then tossed her a spare academy uniform. "Then put this on. We're going to school."
The Dojo was silent except for the sound of Ma'am Neko's deep breathing as she stretched on a silk pillow. She didn't open her eyes when they entered.
"Focus on the anatomy today," Neko said, standing up. She pointed to a complex diagram on the wall showing a human and a four-armed deity.
"Humans: one brain, one heart. Simple. Fragile," Neko explained. "But a deity? A deity has seven brains and five hearts."
"Why?" Kai asked.
"For Hopping," Neko grinned. "Within one of those hearts is the Eternal Flame—the core of their divinity. If you pierce a heart, the flame simply 'hops' to the next one. To kill a god, you have to extinguish the flame before it can migrate."
She turned to Kai, her gaze piercing his soul. "I'm going to teach you how to slaughter things that predate the universe. Why you? Because my other students have ceilings. They are stars in the sky. But you..."
The panel tightened on Kai's face as he looked from Sayomi's trembling form to Neko's terrifying smile.
"The moment I met you," Neko whispered, "I saw the stars bow to your presence. You don't have a ceiling, Kai. You are the sky."
Kai exhaled slowly, the weight of the "Blood Forest" arc beginning to settle on his shoulders.
End of Chapter 14