The forest swallowed their footsteps.
Rin didn't look back. He didn't dare. Haru's voice still echoed in his head, rough, commanding, final.
"Go. Now!"
And they ran. Through the wet grass, through the broken trunks and fallen ash, their breaths sharp in the cold air. Kaito stumbled once, clutching his side, but Rin pulled him up and kept moving.
Behind them, faintly through the storm, came the sound of steel, the deep, rolling clash that only one man could make.
Haru was fighting alone.
The rain fell harder, turning the path to mud. The mountain loomed above, its jagged outline half devoured by fog. Lightning split the clouds, and for a heartbeat Rin saw the blood-red banners chasing them. The Red Serpents had found their trail.
"We're too exposed," Kaito gasped.
"I know," Rin said. "Keep running."
They broke through the tree line, hearts hammering, lungs burning. The path narrowed into a ravine, steep walls of black rock on either side. The only way was forward.
But before they could take another step, a horn cut through the rain. Then, movement.
From the cliffs above, ropes dropped. Red armoured soldiers slid down like spiders, surrounding them in a blink.
Rin drew his blade. Kaito raised his spear. But there were too many, too well-armed, too ready.
"We've been herded," Kaito muttered.
The commander of the Red Serpents stepped forward, his armor lacquered and gleaming despite the rain. His voice was low, steady. "The fugitives from the northern clan. You should have stayed buried."
Rin spat rain from his lips. "You talk too much."
The commander tilted his head. "Then die in silence."
They charged.
Rin's sword moved like breath, one clean strike, then another. Kaito fought beside him, disciplined despite exhaustion. But they were outnumbered ten to one. Shields pressed forward, spears lunged from all sides. Rin cut through a soldier's wrist, only to have another blade scrape his shoulder.
The circle closed.
Kaito stumbled, a spear grazing his ribs. Rin turned, struck down the attacker, but in that instant, he saw the commander's blade rising. Too fast. Too high.
He braced for the end
and then the air split with a roar.
A massive shape crashed through the enemy line like an avalanche. The commander barely turned in time before being flung backward by a two-handed strike.
Haru.
He was drenched, bloodied, but still standing. His nodachi gleamed with red light under the storm.
"I told you," he growled, slamming his blade into the ground. "You don't get to die before I do."
The Red Serpents hesitated, just for a moment. It was enough. Rin surged forward, cutting through the stunned soldiers. Haru followed like thunder, his sword a wall of motion.
The gorge became a slaughterhouse.
Every swing from Haru tore through armour, every parry from Rin turned into a kill. Kaito fought with grim precision, keeping their backs clear.
But the enemy kept coming.
Blood mixed with rain, running down the rocks in black streams. Haru's breaths grew heavier, his movements slower. The gash on his shoulder leaked through the bandages he'd tied earlier.
"Fall back!" Rin shouted.
"No time," Haru grunted. He shoved Rin aside just as an arrow whistled past, cutting through his sleeve. "They've got archers."
The commander reappeared at the ridge, pointing his blade downward. "Loose!"
Arrows rained from above.
Rin and Kaito dove behind the rocks, shields up. Haru wasn't fast enough, one arrow buried deep into his thigh, another grazing his side. He gritted his teeth, snapping the shaft.
"Keep moving," he hissed. "Don't stop—"
But the soldiers surged again, driving them toward the cliff's edge. The sound of the river below grew louder, a violent rush echoing from the depths.
Kaito yelled, "We'll be trapped!"
"Then we make our stand here!" Rin barked.
The next few moments blurred. The clang of steel. The shouts. The smell of wet iron. Rin lost track of how many he'd cut down. He only knew the rhythm, block, strike, turn, breathe.
Until Haru stumbled.
Rin turned, saw the spear buried in Haru's side.
Time stopped.
The man who had once stood like a mountain now dropped to one knee, blood spilling between his fingers.
Rin shouted his name and broke formation, cutting through the line to reach him. Kaito followed, spear sweeping through an enemy's legs.
"Haru!" Rin caught his shoulder, steadying him. "Stay with me—"
"Focus," Haru grunted, pushing Rin back. "Don't...don't waste it—"
"Shut up."
Rin turned, fury blazing, and met the commander head on. Their blades clashed, sparks spraying across the rain-soaked air. The commander was precise, efficient, his strikes heavy but elegant. Rin countered with raw emotion, every blow meant to break something deeper than steel.
"Still fighting for ghosts," the commander sneered.
Rin drove him back with a roar, cutting across his armour, but the man only smiled beneath his mask.
"Then let me give you another."
He signaled upward.
A soldier stepped forward, dragging someone by the hair.
Rin froze.
Even from that distance, he knew the face, bloodied, bruised, but unmistakable.
"Daichi…"
The commander's voice carried over the rain. "He was captured this morning. Said he knew you. Said he'd trade his life for yours."
Rin's knuckles whitened. "What did you do to him?"
"Nothing yet." The man smirked. "That depends on you."
Rin lunged, but Haru grabbed his arm, voice strained. "Don't. That's what he wants."
The commander's soldiers began to pull back, retreating up the ridge with Daichi in tow.
"Come after him," the commander said, "and you'll find what loyalty costs."
Then he vanished into the fog, leaving only bodies and rain.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Rin fell to one knee beside Haru, blood mixing with mud. Kaito dropped down beside them, clutching his side.
"Haru, you're bleeding bad."
"I've had worse." His breath rattled. "You both… you made it."
Rin looked toward the mountain, where the enemy had disappeared. His jaw tightened.
"They took Daichi," he said quietly.
Haru managed a grim smile. "Then we'll take him back."
Kaito nodded. "If he's still alive."
"He is," Rin said. "He has to be."
Lightning flashed across the sky, bathing the mountain in white. The rain began to slow, leaving only the sound of the river and the whisper of wind through the trees.
Haru leaned back against a rock, exhaustion heavy in his voice. "We'll rest here. When dawn comes…"
Rin finished for him. "…we go after them."
None of them spoke after that.
The mountain loomed above, silent and cold a monument to everything they'd lost, and everything still waiting to be reclaimed.