Kōin opened his eyes to the familiar crimson sky above.
The sea rippled quietly beneath him.
He touched his temple and hissed.
That hurt.
Senior Brother Seol-an had thrown that chopstick like a damn hidden weapon master.
Why did he even do that?
Kōin shook his head and slowly sat up.
The sea of blood stretched endlessly around him.
Immediately his body tensed.
A slight tremble ran through his shoulders.
Do not panic.
Do not panic.
He forced himself to breathe.
Then he looked ahead.
There he was.
Standing at the edge of the sea as though staring into an endless horizon.
Kagemiya.
He crouched slightly and dipped a hand into the blood before pulling something out.
A blade.
That accursed dagger.
A hiltless tanto with a grip stained crimson like it had absorbed the ocean surrounding them.
Shinba. 真刃.
The blade that birthed this sea.
The blade that drank countless lives until blood itself became a realm.
Kagemiya held it loosely.
"Sometime sooner or later, you will use this again."
Kōin's expression darkened instantly.
"I will never stain my hands with that thing again."
Kagemiya did not even look at him.
His face remained empty. Exhausted. Hollow.
"One often meets their fate through the path they try hardest to avoid."
His black eyes shifted slightly toward Kōin.
"Just like I did. You will too."
"I will NEVER be you!"
For the first time, Kōin's voice thundered across the sea.
The waves rippled violently.
Kagemiya remained unmoved.
"…You already have."
Silence.
"The moment you chose to kill."
Kōin hissed through clenched teeth.
"You speak like some feral beast."
Kagemiya gave no reaction.
"Feral?"
He slowly ran a finger along Shinba's spine.
The sea beneath them rippled quietly.
"You already know what you do not want to believe."
His voice remained flat, yet every word weighed heavily.
"Your need to kill is very, very real."
Kōin's jaw tightened.
"The conditions they forced onto us stained the soul itself. It does not leave. It does not fade. Once we became Lupus, that instinct became part of us."
Kagemiya finally looked at him fully.
Those abyssal black eyes held nothing human inside them.
Only exhaustion.
Only blood.
"Your very appearance proves it."
His gaze lingered on Kōin's crimson eyes.
"Those eyes reflect this sea. Every time you hold my blade, they change further."
Kōin's fists shook.
"You are a killer exactly like me."
The words stabbed deeper than any blade.
"The only difference is you no longer have a master giving orders."
Kagemiya stepped closer.
Then unexpectedly, his hand brushed through Kōin's ash gray hair.
"You loved your black hair."
Kōin froze.
"Now it is white."
His fingers moved through the pale strands slowly.
"Just like how the memories of becoming me carved themselves into your body."
Kōin's breathing grew uneven.
"It changed us forever."
Shnk.
Shinba's edge slid lightly against Kōin's cheek.
Barely touching.
Yet blood immediately ran down his face.
Kōin did not flinch.
Did not step back.
He only glared harder at the man he once was.
"Why?" Kōin snarled. "Why are you so hellbent on turning me into you?"
Kagemiya suddenly laughed.
Not a warm laugh.
Not amused.
A broken, ugly sound dragged out from somewhere deep beneath the sea.
Then his hand shot forward and crushed around Kōin's throat.
"WHO WAS THE ONE DESPERATE TO SAVE HIS FAMILY?"
Kōin gagged as he was lifted slightly from the blood.
"WHO WAS THE CHILD SHAKING BENEATH THOSE RAIDERS?"
Kagemiya's voice thundered across the crimson world.
"THOSE INVADERS WHO WANTED TO TAKE EVERYTHING!"
His black eyes burned with fury.
"THOSE MEN YOUR OWN FATHER SOLD YOU OUT TO!"
Kōin's eyes widened.
"WHO WAS THE ONE BEGGING TO BE SAVED?!"
His grip tightened harder.
"WHO PRAYED FOR POWER?!"
The sea exploded upward around them.
"IF IT WAS NOT THE CHILD TREMBLING BESIDE A BLADE!"
JLEB!
"KUAGH!"
Shinba plunged straight through Kōin's stomach.
Blood burst from his mouth, splattering across Kagemiya's pale face.
"You asked for this."
Kagemiya twisted the blade slowly.
"THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE."
The sea churned violently as blood poured down the weapon.
"AND THIS IS WHAT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE."
Kōin trembled violently from pain, yet still forced himself to glare upward at the man wearing his old face.
"A… and let them die…?"
Kagemiya's expression darkened.
"That is exactly why you became me."
His voice lowered into something colder.
"You would sell your soul to the devil itself if it meant protecting them."
Another twist.
Kōin coughed more blood into the sea.
"You would rather become a monster than lose them."
Kagemiya leaned closer.
"And after becoming that monster…"
For the first time, genuine bitterness cracked through his hollow stoicism.
"…you abandoned them."
Kōin froze.
"You left them behind with that worthless old man."
Shinba twisted again.
Blood joined the endless crimson sea beneath them.
Kagemiya's hand shook slightly around the hilt.
"Unlike you…"
His voice almost broke.
"I never left my sister."
Kōin had no excuse.
None.
Even if he had only been a child.
Even if he was barely twelve.
Even if terror had crushed every thought from his head back then.
He still remembered the look on his little sister's face.
The fear.
The horror.
The way his mother looked at him after seeing what he had become.
He could not bear it.
So he left.
Kagemiya stared into his eyes as if tearing those memories out one by one.
"Ashuramaru… was it?"
Kagemiya suddenly smiled.
A small smile.
Cruel.
Exhausted.
Mocking.
"So that is what they called me."
He gave a hollow chuckle.
"Hah."
His abyssal eyes narrowed.
"You know damn well you deserve this."
Kōin's fists trembled weakly.
"You will forever crave killing."
The sea beneath them rippled violently.
"You simply convince yourself otherwise because you only kill when you or those you love are threatened."
Kagemiya's fingers tightened around Shinba.
"This…"
He slowly pulled the blade from Kōin's stomach.
Blood poured endlessly down the steel.
"…will be my lesson to you."
Kōin coughed violently, body barely able to remain standing.
"How long?"
Kagemiya stepped closer.
"How long can you truly suppress it?"
His voice lowered into something almost pitying.
"How long until the bloodlust wins?"
AAAHK! AAAARRGGHHHH!!
Kagemiya's arm suddenly plunged forward through the wound in Kōin's stomach.
Straight upward.
Kōin screamed.
His body convulsed violently as fingers forced their way into his chest.
"Without…"
Kagemiya's hand closed around something inside him.
"…me."
RIP!
Kagemiya tore Kōin's heart from his body.
Blood exploded across the sea.
Kōin collapsed to his knees choking silently while Kagemiya stood above him holding the still beating heart in one crimson soaked hand.
Kōin jolted awake with a violent gasp.
Air tore into his lungs as though he had been drowning.
His hand immediately flew to his chest.
Heartbeat.
Still there.
"Hey. Hey, relax. Relax…"
A soft voice reached him.
Kōin blinked rapidly and turned his head.
A girl sat beside the futon holding a damp cloth. Brown hair tied loosely behind her head. He did not recognize her.
New disciple?
Servant?
Her expression carried gentle concern.
"Senior Brother Seol-an really made a mess out of you," she sighed softly. "Poor child. What exactly did you do to deserve this?"
Kōin slowly touched his forehead.
Ah.
The chopstick.
"There, there. You should be alright now."
She lightly pressed the cloth against his temple again.
The cool sensation grounded him slightly.
"…Uhm. Thank you."
"You are welcome, Junior Disciple."
She stood afterward and quietly left before Kōin could ask her name.
The room fell silent again.
Kōin slowly brought a hand toward his throat.
His skin still remembered Kagemiya crushing it.
Ugh…
Why was he so thirsty?
Kōin sat on the bed clutching the water cup tightly.
One cup.
Two.
Three.
No matter how much he drank, the thirst remained.
No.
It worsened.
His throat burned dry while his chest tightened painfully.
Kōin pressed a hand against his sternum.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
But he ignored it.
He forced himself up and stepped outside.
The night was still young. Cold winds swept through the sleeping sect grounds as lanterns flickered gently beneath the dark sky.
Kōin walked toward the Grandmaster's office.
Penance was penance.
Even if his body felt wrong.
He stopped before the sliding door.
"Grandmaster… it is me."
"Ah, Kōin. Come in."
Kōin slid the door open.
The instant Ji-ho looked at him, the old master jolted violently.
His hand nearly grabbed the blade resting beside him.
"…K Kōin?"
Kōin blinked.
"Hm?"
"What is the matter, Grandmaster?"
Ji-ho slowly stood.
His face had lost all calm.
"Kōin…"
His eyes narrowed sharply.
"You reek of Ashura again."
Kōin's heartbeat skipped.
"No…"
Ji-ho's expression darkened further.
"It is denser."
Silence.
Kōin froze where he stood.
Something inside him sank.
But it was not panic.
That terrified him more.
It felt…
Uneasy.
Restless.
Hungry.
A craving gnawing beneath his ribs.
His throat burned again.
The thirst intensified.
Then Kagemiya's words echoed through his mind.
How long?
Kōin's fingers trembled slightly.
Ji-ho immediately noticed.
"Kōin."
The Grandmaster's tone sharpened.
"Look at me."
Kōin slowly raised his head.
For a split second, Ji-ho's heart nearly stopped.
Those crimson eyes looked darker than before.
Hungrier.
"Kōin, what happened?! How did this start?!"
Kōin covered his mouth violently.
Then he realized.
He finally understood what Kagemiya meant.
Do you truly believe you are immune to it?
That voice echoed mockingly beyond the Sea of Blood.
Let us find out.
The thirst worsened instantly.
Tighter.
Sharper.
His vision blurred crimson.
Kōin staggered backward.
"Kōin!"
Ji-ho's eyes widened.
Kōin's crimson eyes began glowing unnaturally bright beneath the lantern light.
No.
No no no.
Of all times, why now?
This was exactly what Ji-ho feared.
The thing he killed countless times before.
That cursed existence.
As the glow intensified, Kōin's body began changing.
The Ashura scent thickened so heavily the air itself felt poisonous.
"KŌIN!!!"
"AHK!"
Kōin suddenly clawed at his own throat trying to suffocate himself.
Ji-ho lunged instantly and slammed him to the floor before pinning both arms down.
"GRAAAHHHHH!! GAAAAAHHHH!!"
The scream barely sounded human anymore.
The scent flooding from him was horrifying.
Ji-ho's instincts screamed at him.
Kill it.
Kill it now before it fully awakens.
Before it becomes impossible to stop.
Before the sect dies.
His hand even twitched toward the blade nearby.
But he forced himself still.
He promised.
He promised that child.
Yet this Ashura…
This thing…
It felt worse than the Blood Demon Sect's monsters.
Perhaps even worse than the Heavenly Demon itself.
Kōin's ears drowned beneath roaring waves.
Not water.
Blood.
He knew that sound.
The Sea of Blood surged violently inside his mind.
And something within that sea hungered.
It wanted red.
Wanted flesh.
Wanted life.
The scent flooding his senses became intoxicating.
Warm.
Sweet.
Necessary.
Kōin's thoughts began unraveling.
Grrr…
Grrrr…
GRRRRRR!!!
"RAAAAHHHHH!!!"
Ji-ho shouted his name again and again.
But his voice was swallowed completely by the endless sea.
Woosh!
Kōin vanished from beneath Ji-ho's pinning grip.
The floor cracked.
Ji-ho immediately spun around.
Gone.
Where?
Where is he?!
"Grandmaster Ji-ho, I tried to find Kōin anywhere but he is no—"
Seol-an stopped mid sentence.
Ji-ho's face had completely changed.
Panic.
True panic.
For the first time in years, Seol-an saw fear in her Grandmaster's eyes.
That alone made her blood run cold.
Ji-ho continued searching frantically before suddenly freezing.
He smelled it.
That scent.
The corridor ahead was pitch black. Every candle along the hall had gone out.
Then two crimson lights appeared within the darkness.
Eyes.
"Grandmaster… is that…"
"Do not blink. Do not—"
FWMP!
!!!
Neither of them even realized Kōin moved.
One instant he stood at the end of the hall.
The next he was directly in front of them.
Ji-ho instantly shoved Seol-an backward while throwing himself aside.
SHNK!
Something invisible grazed Ji-ho's cheek.
Blood slid down his face.
Ji-ho's pupils contracted.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
Kōin slowly raised his head.
No.
That was not Kōin staring at them anymore.
It was a monster.
The thing crouched unnaturally low, arms hanging loosely like a predator preparing to spring.
One hand carried a blade.
That blade.
Ji-ho's stomach dropped.
Shinba.
The same cursed weapon Kagemiya once showed him in the past.
The same blade that nearly took Ji-ho's throat even after all these years of mastery.
Red mist slowly began leaking from Kōin's body.
The hallway warped around him.
Ji-ho instantly understood what was about to happen.
And for the first time in decades…
The Grandmaster truly felt death near him.
"We leave. NOW!"
Seol-an froze.
"What about Kōin?!"
"That is not Kōin anymore!"
The red mist thickened violently.
Then the thing smiled.
They burst out from the office into the open courtyard.
Cold wind swept across the sect grounds.
Ji-ho immediately widened his stance while Seol-an steadied her breathing beside him.
Wait it out.
Do not provoke it.
Do not corner it.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Footsteps echoed behind them.
Both froze.
Neither wanted to turn around.
The sound slowly passed between them.
Then Kōin emerged into view ahead of them.
Walking calmly.
From behind them.
Seol-an's pupils shrank.
H How?
Neither of them saw him move.
Not even Ji-ho.
What the actual hell is this speed?
Was he playing with them?
Kōin slowly lifted his head.
Those crimson eyes flickered violently.
Then blood began trailing from them like tears.
His body trembled faintly.
Ji-ho narrowed his eyes instantly.
There.
A fragment.
The slightest trace of Kōin was still inside there.
But something felt wrong.
This was not feral madness.
Not uncontrolled rage.
He was calm.
Too calm.
Seol-an understood immediately.
Far too well.
"Kagemi—"
WOOSH!
Kōin appeared directly in front of her before the name could fully leave her mouth.
Seol-an reacted instantly with a spinning kick.
BWOOM!
Her leg passed through empty air.
A mirage.
Behind her.
Again that feeling wrapped around her spine.
Death.
BWOOSH!
Ji-ho's fist exploded forward and slammed into Kōin's torso before the blade could move.
The impact blasted Kōin across the courtyard.
CRAAASH!
Tiles shattered as he slid backward through the stone floor.
Yet…
He remained standing.
Unfazed.
Not even staggering.
Slowly, Kōin lifted his head again.
Blood continued dripping from his eyes.
Then his mouth opened slightly.
"…Grandmaster…"
His voice trembled unnaturally.
Like two voices speaking at once.
"…run."
"Grandmaster… that is him. The man in the sea…"
Seol-an's voice shook.
"…his past self."
Ji-ho slowly nodded without taking his eyes off Kōin.
"Kagemiya Kōin."
The moment the name was spoken, the air itself felt heavier.
Kōin stood motionless beneath the moonlight.
Dried blood covered parts of his mouth and neck like a mask hardened over time.
His crimson eyes glowed faintly through the darkness.
Then he tilted his head slightly.
"I still do not understand why you do not simply kill me."
Seol-an immediately formed a blade from condensed blue chi.
At the same time Ji-ho raised one arm.
A distant hum answered him.
FWOOOSH!
A sacred blade shot from his office across the night sky directly into his grasp.
천호성검.
The Heavenly Tiger Star Blade.
The courtyard trembled from the pressure alone.
Both master and disciple steadied themselves.
Ready to subdue the demon before them.
Yet neither truly knew if they could win.
Kagemiya slowly raised Shinba.
Moonlight reflected beautifully across the cursed steel.
"Kagemiya Kōin," Ji-ho said firmly, "return that body to your reincarnation."
Kōin scoffed.
Or rather…
Kagemiya did through Kōin's face.
"I know you have suffered greatly."
Ji-ho tightened his grip on the sacred blade.
"But please… do not let your reincarnation become like your past self."
Silence.
Wind swept through the courtyard.
Then Kagemiya spoke quietly.
"You know my story."
His voice no longer sounded enraged.
Only tired.
"You know my entire life."
His crimson eyes slowly shifted between Ji-ho and Seol-an.
"But what about him?"
A pause.
"Do either of you know anything about Yako Kōin?"
…
Silence answered him.
Kagemiya smiled faintly.
"No?"
Red mist slowly spiraled around them.
Ji-ho immediately pulled Seol-an closer.
The moment the mist touched their skin, the courtyard vanished.
The cold night disappeared.
Instead…
A farm.
Dry soil stretched endlessly beneath a gray sky.
The smell of dirt and sweat filled the air.
THWACK!
A wooden stick slammed against a child's head.
The boy stumbled but did not cry out.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Ordinary features.
Yet Ji-ho and Seol-an recognized that face instantly.
Kōin.
No…
Yako Kōin.
A child no older than seven.
THWACK!
Another strike hit him across the shoulders hard enough to split skin.
"USELESS!"
THWACK!
"YOU CANNOT EVEN PLOW LAND PROPERLY!"
THWACK!
"WHAT GOOD IS A SON LIKE YOU?!"
Blood trickled down the boy's forehead.
Yet he simply endured it silently.
"PLEASE STOP! PLEASE STOP! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL HIM!"
A woman rushed forward desperately only to be shoved aside by the man.
Yako fell to his knees.
His small hands were covered in dirt.
Blisters had burst open across his palms from hours of dragging a farming hoe through hardened earth.
Raw skin peeled away with blood mixed into mud.
Still…
The child tried standing again.
His tiny arms trembled violently as he reached for the hoe once more.
Seol-an's chest tightened painfully.
Ji-ho's expression darkened.
The man grabbed the child by the hair and forced his face into the dirt.
"You eat our food."
He slammed him down harder.
"You sleep beneath my roof."
Again.
"THE LEAST YOU CAN DO IS BE USEFUL!"
Yako quietly whispered through bloodied lips.
"…sorry…"
That apology hurt more than the beating itself.
Kagemiya watched the illusion emotionlessly.
"Pathetic."
Seol-an's grip tightened around her chi sword instantly.
"Who are you calling pathetic?!"
Her voice cracked sharply through the vision.
"He was still a child!"
Kagemiya slowly turned toward her.
"A child who carried my reincarnation."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"He should have fought back the moment that old man raised his hand against his mother and sister."
The illusion continued around them.
Yako stood between his drunken father and his crying little sister while taking every strike meant for her.
THWACK!
The stick split skin across his back.
Yet the boy refused to move aside.
Kagemiya stretched his arms slightly while speaking.
"The world is unfair."
The fields shifted.
Days passed rapidly within the illusion.
Yako plowing from dawn until midnight.
Yako collapsing from exhaustion only to be kicked awake again.
Yako hiding scraps of food for his little sister while starving himself.
"No matter where you are born."
The illusion shifted once more.
The drunken father slammed gambling coins onto a table while men laughed around him.
"Yako's family was poor."
Another shift.
The father grabbing his wife violently.
"He gambled constantly."
Another.
Men staring at Yako's mother and sister with disgusting eyes while the father counted money.
"And eventually planned to sell them."
Seol-an's stomach twisted.
Ji-ho remained silent.
Then the illusion slowed.
Yako sat outside during heavy rain shivering violently.
His hands were swollen and infected.
The wounds on his palms had turned blackened red.
Sepsis.
The family could only watch helplessly because medicine cost too much.
His mother cried quietly while pressing wet cloth against his burning forehead.
His little sister held his sleeve begging him not to die.
Meanwhile…
Yako only apologized weakly.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Kagemiya smiled faintly at the sight.
Cold.
Bitter.
"Look how much he endured."
The illusion showed Yako taking another beating to shield his sister.
"He protected them."
Another strike.
"He suffered for them."
Another.
"He bled for them."
Then Kagemiya's smile faded completely.
"And in the end…"
His black eyes darkened.
"…none of that saved them."
Kagemiya slowly pointed Shinba toward Ji-ho.
"You should already understand by now."
The illusion shifted again.
Smoke.
Fire.
Screams.
Armored men stormed through the village dragging people through mud like livestock.
Tekki-min soldiers.
Slave raiders.
"You know exactly where that old man sold them."
One soldier grabbed a crying woman by the hair.
Another bound trembling girls with rope.
"Women fetch high prices."
The illusion focused on Yako's father.
The man bowed desperately before the invaders while pointing toward his own house.
Coins rattled in his shaking hands.
The moment the raiders arrived…
He sold them out without hesitation.
Seol-an's expression twisted.
Even Ji-ho's jaw tightened.
Inside the illusion, Yako barely moved.
Still burning with sepsis.
Still weak.
Yet the boy dragged himself across the dirt anyway.
His body trembled violently from fever.
Blood stained the ground beneath him as he crawled.
"P… please…"
His voice barely reached above the chaos.
"Please do not…"
He grabbed one Tekki-min soldier's foot weakly.
The soldier looked down in annoyance.
Then—
SHNK!
A spear pierced straight through Yako's back.
"AGHK!"
Blood sprayed across the dirt.
His mother screamed.
"KŌIN!!!"
His little sister cried hysterically reaching toward him as soldiers restrained her.
Yet even while impaled…
Yako still clung to the soldier's leg.
Begging.
Crying.
Bleeding.
Trying to stop them from taking his family away.
"Please…"
The child's voice cracked weakly beneath the rain and blood.
"Someone…"
Yako's fingers slipped from the soldier's leg.
"Save us…"
His breathing faltered.
"Save them…"
The spear remained lodged through his small body.
Then…
Nothing.
Yako Kōin stopped breathing.
His dimming black eyes slowly lost focus as rain fell over his unmoving corpse.
The screams around him became distant.
Muted.
Cold.
Then something crouched beside him.
A ghost.
No…
A man.
Pale skin.
Dark clothing.
Pitch black eyes devoid of light.
Kagemiya.
He looked down at the corpse of the child that would become him.
"Pitiful, is it not?"
His voice sounded strangely soft.
"We endured everything."
The illusion around them trembled.
"We suffered."
The mother screamed in the distance.
"We bled."
The little sister cried desperately.
"And still…"
Kagemiya's eyes narrowed.
"…our family was taken from us."
The corpse of Yako twitched weakly.
Barely alive.
Barely conscious.
Then the child looked toward that ghostly figure.
Toward the monster standing before him.
"…please…"
Seol-an's breathing became ragged watching the scene.
Ji-ho remained frozen.
The dying child's lips trembled.
"Anything…"
Tears mixed with mud beneath his face.
"I will do anything…"
Kagemiya stared at him silently.
Even as a monster…
Yako still reached toward him.
Still begged.
Still chose it.
"I will do it…"
Kagemiya's expression finally changed.
Not into happiness.
Not satisfaction.
Only exhaustion.
The exhaustion of a man who already knew the ending.
"You will regret this dearly."
Then he placed Shinba beside the dying child.
The blood sea beneath the illusion surged violently.
Kagemiya spoke one final word.
"Me."
Ji-ho recoiled instantly.
Seol-an felt every hair on her body rise.
The scent of Ashura exploded outward for a brief moment.
Then—
Gone.
No.
Not gone.
Condensed.
Compressed so deeply they could no longer sense where it was.
Every Tekki-min soldier froze.
The corpse lying in the mud slowly moved.
Then rose.
The boy screamed.
AAAAAAAGHHHHHHH!!!
It was not a human scream anymore.
It sounded like something being torn apart from the inside.
Yako clawed at his own face as his body convulsed violently.
His eyes burned.
Not physically.
Something worse.
Worse than sickness.
Worse than beatings.
Worse than death itself.
His black obsidian eyes slowly reddened while blood tears streamed down his cheeks.
The pupils shifted crimson.
Splosh.
Splosh.
Blood rippled beneath his feet.
The dirt around him began flooding red.
Then it came.
Memories.
Not his.
Memories that should never have existed inside a child.
Battlefields.
Massacres.
Blades cutting flesh.
The sound of necks snapping.
The smell of opened bodies.
Screams.
Thousands upon thousands of screams.
All of it crashed into that twelve year old skull at once like pressurized water rupturing through a sealed tank.
Yako screamed louder.
Blood burst from his nose.
His ears.
His eyes.
His tiny body could barely withstand the strain.
The soldiers backed away in horror.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!"
"Kill him!"
"No WAIT—"
Yako's hands slammed against his own head desperately trying to stop it.
Too much.
Too much.
TOO MUCH!
He screamed until his throat tore open.
The pain became so unbearable he almost regretted making that choice.
Almost.
Then his hair began losing color strand by strand.
Black faded.
Gray spread rapidly through it like ash swallowing charcoal.
Until all that remained was pale ashen white.
The screaming slowly stopped.
Silence fell.
The child stood there trembling weakly beneath the rain.
Crimson eyes glowing through blood soaked tears.
Then…
Yako Kōin looked up for the first time.
And the soldiers instinctively stepped back.
A blade rested in the child's hand.
That cursed blade.
Shinba.
The Tekki-min soldiers stared at the boy in growing horror.
Those crimson eyes…
They did not look angry.
They did not look hateful.
They looked starving.
As though everything before him existed only to be cut down.
The need to kill flooded the air.
Indulgence.
Overindulgence.
A thirst so deep it drowned reason itself.
Yako slowly raised his head.
His gaze naturally traced every weakness around him.
Throats.
Arteries.
Joints.
Bones.
Everything showed him where to cut.
His body meanwhile became unnaturally light.
Like nothingness itself.
Then he took a single step.
FWMP!
Gone.
"HIA—"
One soldier tried screaming.
He never finished.
His body exploded into red mist.
No slash visible.
No movement perceived.
Just gone.
The remaining soldiers panicked instantly.
"What the FUCK IS THAT?!"
"RUN!"
One stepped backward in terror.
That single motion sealed his fate.
Yako was suddenly there.
The soldier desperately swung his blade downward.
CLANG!
Shinba skimmed around the steel faster than the eye could properly follow.
The sword split apart like sliced fruit.
SHNK!
The next slash opened the soldier's throat instantly.
Blood sprayed violently across Yako's clothing.
Yet the child did not stop.
He moved closer.
Too close.
Yako wrapped his legs around the man's head while blood continued pouring from the opened neck.
Then—
CRACK!
He snapped it brutally sideways.
The corpse collapsed limply into the mud while Yako landed silently beside it.
Crimson eyes glowing.
Expression empty.
The rain continued falling.
And the slaughter had only begun.
The Tekki-min soldiers were slaughtered one by one.
Panic spread through the battlefield faster than fire.
The red mist thickened around the village until even the rain could barely pierce it.
Inside that mist, screams rose and ended abruptly.
"WHERE IS HE?!"
"I CANNOT SEE!"
"HELP M—"
SLZZK!!
A body collapsed in pieces.
"HEAA—"
Silence.
"NO! NOOO! NO—"
SHNK!
Another head rolled through the mud.
The soldiers huddled together desperately.
Weapons raised.
Breathing ragged.
Then they saw them.
Twin crimson stars within the mist.
Watching.
The eyes disappeared.
Then appeared somewhere else.
Sometimes behind them.
Sometimes above them.
Sometimes circling them slowly like a predator enjoying fear before the kill.
Every time those eyes appeared, another soldier vanished into the red haze.
No one could track him.
No one could react.
One moment there was only mist.
The next came blood.
Arms fell.
Heads split.
Steel shattered.
The sound of flesh opening became endless.
Ji-ho and Seol-an watched the illusion in horrified silence.
An entire army.
Slaughtered by one child.
No.
Not a child anymore.
A blade.
That was all the world allowed Yako Kōin to become.
And a blade had only one purpose.
To kill.
And kill it did.
The last Tekki-min general fell backward into the blood of his own men.
Bodies surrounded him.
Pieces of bodies.
The battlefield no longer looked like a village.
It looked like slaughterhouse.
The red mist slowly parted.
And there…
Twin crimson stars stared back at him.
The general's entire body shook violently.
His lips trembled as he uttered the name born from pure terror.
"Yarōki…"
夜狼鬼.
Night Wolf Demon.
The mist fully cleared.
Then Ji-ho and Seol-an finally saw the monster behind those eyes.
Covered in blood was not enough to describe it.
Yako's entire body was red.
Hair soaked crimson.
Skin drowned beneath layers of blood.
Even the rain washing over him only made the scene worse as diluted streams rolled down his small frame.
He no longer resembled a child.
Not anymore.
The general tried crawling backward desperately.
"N No… stay away…"
His sword had long fallen from numb fingers.
"DON'T COME CLOSER!"
Yako walked toward him silently.
Step.
Step.
Step.
The sound alone made the general break further.
The smell hit him next.
Blood.
Wet iron.
Opened flesh.
The general defecated himself in sheer terror while screaming hysterically.
"MONSTER!"
Step.
"PLEASE!"
Step.
"STAY AWAY!"
Yako stopped directly before him.
The crimson eyes stared downward without emotion.
Without joy.
Without mercy.
The general looked up shaking so hard his teeth clattered.
Then…
Yako slowly raised Shinba.
Yako reversed Shinba in his grip.
Then—
STAB!
The blade plunged down.
"AGHHHH!"
STAB!
Again.
STAB!
Again.
STAB!
Again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Again and again and again and again and again and again—
The screams became wet choking noises.
Blood splashed across Yako's face with every strike.
The general tried shielding himself.
Tried crawling away.
Tried begging.
None of it mattered.
Shinba kept falling.
Relentlessly.
Violently.
Like the blade itself hungered.
Bones cracked apart beneath the repeated stabs.
Flesh tore open into mush.
The body slowly stopped resembling a person.
Then stopped resembling a corpse.
By the end, nothing recognizable remained except fragments.
An arm.
Part of a leg.
Shredded meat buried in mud and blood.
Yako stood over it trembling heavily.
Blood dripped from Shinba's edge.
Then—
He laughed.
No.
He screamed.
A sharp, delighted cry erupted from his throat beneath the rain.
Not relief.
Not happiness.
Something far worse.
The exhilaration of finally becoming stronger than the fear that once crushed him.
Ji-ho felt cold sweat roll down his back watching it.
Seol-an's hands trembled violently.
Because the most horrifying part was not the slaughter.
Not the brutality.
It was the look on Yako's face afterward.
For the first time in his life…
The child no longer looked helpless.
Yako slowly turned his head.
To the left.
There, trembling beneath a tree, was the old man.
His father.
Blood mixed with mud around the man's knees as he crawled backward desperately.
Yes.
Kill him.
He brought them here.
The voice slithered through Yako's mind like poison.
Slaughter the one who hurt you.
The one who sold your family.
That thing is not your father.
Yako walked toward him hunched over unnaturally.
Crimson eyes gleaming through blood soaked hair.
The need to kill consumed everything.
"K Kōin!"
The old man slammed against the tree behind him.
Dead end.
He raised both hands shaking violently.
"S Spare me!"
Tears and mucus ran down his face.
"I am sorry! I am sorry!"
Sorry?
The word echoed inside Yako's skull.
Then twisted.
SORRY?
His grip around Shinba tightened so hard blood ran from his palms.
The indulgence exploded.
No Tekki-min soldier stirred this much hatred inside him.
He wanted this death.
Wanted it slower.
More painful.
More grotesque.
His breathing turned ragged as he raised Shinba above the man.
The old man screamed.
"PLEASE!"
Then—
Another scream cut through the battlefield.
"KŌIN STOP!"
A child's voice.
Yako froze.
His crimson eyes widened slightly.
Behind him stood his little sister crying desperately beside their mother.
Both alive.
Both shaking.
His sister reached toward him with trembling hands.
"Kōin…"
Her voice cracked in terror.
Not toward the father.
Toward him.
Toward the thing he had become.
Yako slowly stretched his hand toward them.
Toward his mother.
Toward his little sister.
His sister cried while reaching back toward him.
But his mother…
His mother recoiled in terror.
Her entire body shook as she pulled the little girl behind her protectively.
Her eyes no longer saw her son.
Only the thing standing in front of her.
"M… monster…"
The word shattered him instantly.
The indulgence died on the spot.
Gone.
Like cold water extinguishing fire.
Yako froze.
Then slowly looked down at himself.
Blood.
So much blood.
His hands were drowned in it.
His clothes.
His skin.
Even the rain could not wash it away.
His breathing became uneven.
Trembling violently, he looked toward Shinba lying near his feet.
The blade reflected his face.
Crimson eyes.
Ash gray hair.
A blood soaked creature staring back at him.
Who…?
That was not Kōin.
That was not Yako Kōin.
Then who?
His pupils shook violently.
Shinba slipped from his hand and fell into the dirt.
Clnk.
Yako stumbled backward hyperventilating.
Then he looked around.
Bodies.
No…
Not even bodies anymore.
Only pieces.
Blood everywhere.
Everywhere.
The village had become a sea of red because of him.
He realized it fully.
He was…
A monster.
His little sister screamed for him again.
"KŌIN!"
But Yako turned away.
And ran.
Ran from the bodies.
Ran from the blood.
Ran from his mother's terrified eyes.
He screamed while running into the dark forest.
A broken child fleeing from the monster he himself became.
The red mist slowly dissipated into the night air.
Silence followed.
Heavy silence.
Ji-ho and Seol-an stood there far more distressed than before.
Kagemiya looked at them both calmly.
"Now you know the child's story."
His crimson eyes reflected neither pride nor shame.
"I know it is not the worst tale in this land."
He slowly spread his arms.
"Many children here suffered."
The blood sea beneath them rippled.
"So do not pity him too much."
His gaze shifted toward Ji-ho.
"You all share pain equally here, do you not?"
Ji-ho remained silent.
The Imperial War.
Even now the scars of it still stained the land.
Factions.
Raids.
Slavery.
Sect conflicts.
Entire generations raised beneath bloodshed.
Tekki-min was merely one fragment of that endless wound.
The war never truly ended.
It only changed shape.
Changed names.
And children like Yako Kōin became its product.
Weapons born from suffering.
Ji-ho slowly exhaled.
Yet even then…
He could not abandon him.
Not after seeing that child desperately begging someone to save his family.
Not after seeing how the world twisted him into this.
Even soaked in blood…
Kōin was still someone worth saving.
Ji-ho tightened his grip around his sword.
He made that promise long ago.
Never again.
Never again would he abandon something precious before his eyes.
The old grandmaster slowly lowered his stance.
Then slid two fingers across the blade's edge.
FWOOM.
A white glow erupted from the weapon.
Pure.
Sharp.
Heroic chi flooded the courtyard.
The signature aura of the White Tiger lineage.
White Tiger Chi.
Seol-an widened her eyes slightly.
Even Kagemiya's gaze sharpened.
For the first time since this began…
Ji-ho was preparing to fight seriously.
Kagemiya laughed.
Not loudly.
Not mockingly.
It sounded tired.
"You know you will not win."
The blood sea rippled violently beneath his feet.
"So why bother?"
His voice suddenly exploded.
"WHY BOTHER SO MUCH TO SAVE ONE CHILD?!"
The crimson eyes glared at Ji-ho with genuine fury.
"ONE!"
He pointed toward himself.
"JUST ONE!"
The red mist burst outward from his body.
"Killing him would be better for the world! Better than allowing an Ashuramaru to keep breathing!"
His voice lowered into something uglier.
"Save him from himself."
Silence followed.
Then Ji-ho clicked his tongue.
The old grandmaster slowly lowered his blade slightly.
And spoke.
"Long ago… I had a wife."
The fury in Kagemiya's eyes dimmed slightly.
"She was expecting our child."
Ji-ho's gaze turned distant.
"I left her for war."
The White Tiger Chi flickered softer now.
"I told myself it was necessary. That people needed me more there."
His hand tightened around the sword.
"And I won."
He scoffed bitterly.
"I tipped the scale of the entire war."
The old man looked at Kagemiya directly.
"They called me hero afterward."
A hollow smile formed on his face.
"What a joke."
The courtyard felt quiet.
Painfully quiet.
"I could not even save my own family."
Seol-an lowered her eyes.
Ji-ho continued.
"While I was busy becoming a hero… enemies came here for revenge."
His voice roughened.
"They raided this sect."
The memories clearly still haunted him.
"I lost them."
His grip trembled faintly.
"And do you know the worst part?"
The White Tiger Chi crackled around him.
"I understood why wars continue."
His eyes hardened.
"Because violence becomes intoxicating."
"The battlefield whispers to you."
"It tells you to keep fighting."
"To keep killing."
"To drown yourself in purpose."
Ji-ho slowly pointed his sword toward Kagemiya.
"I know that demon very well."
Then…
His expression softened.
Because another memory surfaced.
A starving orphan child.
Dark blue hair.
Sapphire eyes filled with fear despite pretending otherwise.
Seol-an.
Ji-ho smiled faintly.
"But I also know there is still light inside that tunnel."
The old grandmaster raised his blade fully once more.
"And because of that…"
White Tiger Chi erupted brighter than before.
"I promised myself something."
His voice rang clearly through the courtyard.
"Every child that reaches for my help…"
The air trembled.
"…I will never abandon them again."