**Chapter 15: Crimson Awakening**
The ruins of Tensei City groaned under the weight of the Ash Realm's corruption. Smoke curled around shattered buildings, and the faint blue glow of lingering rifts lit the streets in eerie, unnatural hues. Aiki crouched on a cracked rooftop, his sword barely clutched in his trembling hands.
"You really think you can stop me, little hero?" The voice was low, sharp — carrying a menace that made even Enji flinch. From the shadows emerged the **Blood-Eyed Samurai**, eyes like molten rubies, armor streaked with blood from battles long past. "I've carved entire villages to nothing… and you?"
Aiki's jaw tightened. "I— I won't let you destroy anyone else."
Seno's aura flared around him like black fire, and the ground trembled beneath his approach. Enji shouted from the side, swinging his staff with sparks of energy, "Aiki! Don't underestimate him!"
"Underestimate?" Aiki's voice was hoarse. "I… I can barely even stand!" He stumbled, and the Blood-Eyed Samurai struck — a blur of motion, his blade slashing through the air like a streak of death. The edge caught Aiki across the chest, throwing him back violently, sending him crashing through a wall. Dust, rubble, and splintered wood exploded around him.
Sakura screamed, sending protective runes to encase him. "Aiki! Stay with me!"
But the Blood-Eyed Samurai was relentless. He advanced, leaving a trail of scorched earth and shattered stone. "You're weak. Fragile. Pathetic. Do you know why I enjoy this? Because every moment I hesitate, I think: maybe you could be the one to finally break me."
Aiki coughed, blood trickling from his mouth. His vision blurred, limbs numb. The world seemed to tilt. Enji and Sen tried to intervene, but Seno's strikes were precise, unstoppable — each swing of his blade carving through the concrete, the air, and anything in its path.
And then — with a roar that echoed through the rift — the Blood-Eyed Samurai lifted his sword, preparing the finishing strike. Aiki's eyes closed; he felt the icy grip of death brush over him.
But the moment the Samurai's blade descended, time seemed to falter. Aiki's body convulsed. Pain, rage, and despair fused into a sudden explosion of energy. The Spirit Edge flared with a blinding golden light, burning through his wounds, knitting flesh, and reigniting his soul.
"I… am not weak!" Aiki shouted, voice booming across the ruins. The air warped around him as the latent power inside him surged for the first time — raw, untamed, unstoppable. Golden light erupted from his body, forcing the Blood-Eyed Samurai back, his crimson eyes wide with shock.
Enji, Sen, and Sakura stared, mouths agape, as Aiki rose from the rubble, his aura blazing like a sun against the night. The Spirit Edge now thrummed with a voice not just of a trapped god, but of Aiki himself, commanding the power it had long contained.
"You think death can stop me?" Aiki's gaze pierced the Samurai. "This… is my world. And I will not fall again!"
The Blood-Eyed Samurai staggered — the first time he'd ever faltered in decades of carnage. The rift above twisted violently, as if the world itself sensed the shift. The battle was far from over, but now, for the first time, Aiki was no longer the boy he had been. He was a storm. A force of light and fury, ready to challenge death itself.