Purple flames surged.
Kurai's voice cut through the chaos, calm yet deadly:
"Purple Hazard. Secondform."
The energy around him snapped like electricity... flaring, expanding. The searing purple fire wrapped around his limbs, dancing unnaturally in the air.
Kenzo's grin curled.
"Whoa... that purple fire shit is bigger now. Looks scaryyyy."
Before he could blink, Kurai vanished in a streak of flame. The next moment-
Impact.
Kenzo barely raised his bow in time. Metal clanged. Sparks burst.
Kurai's relentless flurry began... strike after strike, wild and surgical at once. Kenzo blocked each blow, but his arms began to tremble, breath growing ragged. Then...
CRACK.
One final strike. Kenzo was sent flying, crashing spine-first into the stone wall behind.
He groaned, dragging himself upright.
"Ayo... chill out, Kurai..."
Kurai didn't flinch.
"The moment you and your friends are dead... I'll calm down."
Disgust flashed in his eyes.
"You betrayed us."
Kenzo spat to the side and shrugged.
"Don't take it personal. Just business."
Kurai surged again... this time slashing Kenzo's shoulder. Blood flew.
He paused only to glance back at Anna and Novva, still tied and barely conscious, ensuring they were safe. That moment cost him.
"Tamashini!" Kenzo called. "Can I do it now?"
From the throne, a voice that rumbled like distant thunder:
"As... you wish... Ahmya."
Kenzo's smile twisted.
"Yes, sir."
Kurai turned slowly, eyes darkening.
"Ahmya..."
"So," Kenzo smirked. "You remembered."
A memory of a strange voice Kurai interacted with in the preason lighted:
-
"Voice (gently): "What's your name?"
Prisoner: "Kurai."
A moment of stillness.
Voice: "Mine's... Ahmya. Remember that. You're a good person, Kurai."
-
Ahmya grin sharpened.
"Sadly, it ends here."
"HAILSTORM!"
The entire chamber convulsed.
A vortex erupted around them... walls shattered, the ceiling ripped upward. Every fragment of debris became a spinning projectile, a storm of stone and steel. The air howled.
Kurai braced himself in the eye of the storm, feet grinding into the ground as the wind tried to lift him off.
Far behind him, Anna shouted:
"Scutum!"
A radiant shield of light shimmered around her and Novva just in time. Debris splintered off it like raindrops against glass.
"Heh?" Novva gasped. "You could do that?!"
"I... didn't know," Anna admitted. "But I can't hold it long."
"Phew... Thank God you're here."
Kurai strained against the pull of the tornado.
"You were always there," he muttered to Ahmya. "Right from the beginning."
Ahmya, now fused into the spiraling storm, laughed.
"Yes. And now it ends."
From within the storm... an arrow.
It struck Kurai's ankle. He stumbled, caught himself on one leg.
"Two," Ahmya mocked.
"Don't bother with the pain," Aghanashini whispered. "I'll handle it."
Another arrow. Kurai's second ankle buckled... he dropped to a knee.
"Three. You're pathetic." Ahmya's voice echoed through the storm. "I'll spare you the suffering with this next one."
A glowing arrow screamed toward him.
Kurai's pupils widened... then slash.
He severed it mid-air with precision.
"I saw that one," he smirked. "Means I can see all of them."
Ahmya snarled and began firing thousands... an endless volley. Kurai spun, blade flashing, slicing arrow after arrow mid-flight, holding firm.
"With the power of lightning," Ahmya chanted, "I summon you... the Possessed One."
A bolt of lightning struck Eita's corpse.
His body convulsed. Eyes flared with electric blue.
He rose... faster than death.
"Target: Kurai," Ahmya ordered. "Kill him."
Eita vanished.
CRACK!
A punch landed square on Kurai's jaw, sending him into the storm.
He twisted mid-air.
"He's... fast. As lightning," Kurai realized. "Didn't even see it."
Ahmya cackled.
"Yeah... go ahead. Die in the storm."
Tornado winds battered Kurai. His skin tore. The pressure crushed his ribs.
"If I stay coiled... like a cannonball... I might survive," he thought. "Just need... a window..."
"Your heart won't last," Ahmya warned. "Your brain'll burst like popcorn."
Kurai screamed as pain wracked his chest.
But then...
Hands.
Eita grabbed him... and threw him out of the storm.
He hit the ground with a thud, coughing blood. But he was alive.
"Wha... what...? I'm out?"
"EITA, YOU IDIOT!" Ahmya screamed. "YOU SAVED him!"
Eita landed and slammed a fist toward Kurai again. This time... blocked.
Kurai's arm caught it mid-air.
"Looks like I can block a lightning punch too."
He rose, eyes burning.
"Purple Hazard. Second form."
He struck back. Eita flew.
"Come again."
Eita charged.
This time, Kurai caught the punch outright.
"Lightning... isn't fast enough."
Ahmya screamed again:
"With the power of lightning... I summon YOU..."
In the distance...
"Novva... your hair is rising..." Anna muttered.
"Yours too."
Anna's eyes widened.
"I'm sorry..."
She dispelled the shield and shoved Novva aside, raising the shield again over only her.
"NOOO! ANNA!" Novva screamed.
Anna smiled through tears.
"It's okay."
Lightning struck her.
Her body arched.
Silence.
Then... she rose again. Eyes glowing electric blue. Her body etched in lightning scars.
"What... have I done?" Novva whispered.
Kurai's senses tingled.
"That sound... what...?"
He turned.
Novva was sobbing. Anna was gone.
Then... stab.
His breath caught. He looked down.
A fist... through his abdomen.
He turned.
"Anna...?"
Her glowing eyes stared into his.
"Why...?" he gasped.
And then... everything faded.
Purple Hazard, second form.
Jikoyo-Kusei.
The flames returned... roaring, taking his sword out of his eye.
Kurai's eyes ignited in infernal purple.
He wasn't Kurai anymore.
He was Aghanashini.
Eita and Anna were both flung back by the explosion of energy. Aghanashini appeared behind Eita and...
Sliced him into pieces.
Then pointed his sword at the tornado.
"You're next."
Ahmya panicked.
"Tamashini!!"
No answer.
Aghanashini raised his sword and unleashed a world-shattering slash toward the storm. It cleaved air itself.
"TAMASHINI, HELP!"
The slash dissolved.
"Tch. Close."
"Youkai." Aghanashini whispered. "I sense one in you..."
He swung again... this time at Tamashini's throne.
Empty.
Tamashini had vanished.
"Running?" Aghanashini sneered.
But then... behind him.
He turned, slashed... Tamashini gone again.
"Cowards," Aghanashini muttered. "All of you..."
He kept slashing... again and again... but Tamashini always vanished.
Until finally... he feinted. Switched directions.
And connected.
His blade reached Tamashini... who caught it barehanded.
Blood leaked from Tamashini's palm.
Aghanashini grinned.
"Let's see how long you hold it!"
He pressed harder... laughing madly.
But Tamashini gripped tighter. The blade stopped.
Aghanashini kept laughing... until...
Punch.
Anna struck Aghanashini from behind.
Ahmya shouted:
"Tamashini! That's the last one. Do it now!"
Aghanashini turned... realizing.
"I... got fooled... too..."
He elbowed Anna away, sending her flying.
Then roared:
"LET'S GO, TAMASHINI!"
He grabbed another katana from his eye. But Tamashini shattered it in one palm.
Aghanashini laughed, unfazed.
"I've got more."
"Purple Hazard. Third form."
His speed surged... now a blur. Blow after blow struck Tamashini, faster, harder. Even Tamashini began to bleed.
"DO YOU LIKE THAT?" Aghanashini howled. "OR THAT? OR THAT?!"
Tamashini raised his palm again.
SNAP. The katana shattered.
Aghanashini:
"Break it a thousand times... I'll just grab another!"
He slashed again... point-blank... into Tamashini's gut.
Nothing.
"...Hah?"
Tamashini calmly ran a hand through his hair.
"Don't touch me."
Then Aghanashini's body...
Exploded into a million lacerations.
He gasped, gurgling blood.
"You... disgusting... fucker..."
Then turned his gaze...
To Anna.
"I'm not leaving without a victim..."
"AGHANASHINI NO!" Kurai screamed.
"I said... whoever I want."
"I'LL TEAR MYSELF OUT!"
He rushed at Anna.
"PLEASE... NO!"
Aghanashini gasped... blood pouring. Exhausted.
Tamashini smirked:
"Now you'd even kill your own?"
"I'M COMING OUT!"
But Aghanashini swung...
Cut.
And Kurai returned.
Their eyes met. A single moment.
Anna smiled.
"It's okay... I deserve it..."
Blood spilled from her mouth.
Kurai collapsed beside her, shaking. His vision swam. He clutched her body.
"No... no no no..."
And then...
CRACK.
The air shattered.
A woman tore through the hailstorm like a blade through glass. The very fabric of space and time broke.
Tamashini was obliterated in an instant.
Kurai blinked. His senses failed him.
She moved like a phantom, arriving beside him.
"KURAI?! Kurai! Are you okay?!"
The voice rang familiar... urgent. Desperate.
"Wake up! I'm here! Seiko is here!"
His eyes fluttered open.
And just before the darkness took him...
He saw another figure standing beside her.
"Who... is that...?" Kurai wondered.
One final tear fell.
Then...
Black.