Blood Cannot Be Washed Away
The walls of the brothel shook under the force of steel and hate.
Ishikawa spun, Kurayami and Kurasa singing death through the air as Toshizu Arai lunged again, his curved nagamaki flashing like a serpent striking from the dark.
Steel collided.
A shriek of metal, a shower of sparks.
Ishikawa growled low, forcing Toshizu back with a savage thrust. His blood ran hot from the gash across his back, but he ignored it — pain was nothing.
Toshizu smirked, licking a drop of blood from his lip.
"I expected better, Ishikawa. Has your blade dulled after killing a few trash soldiers?"
Without warning, he leapt back, spinning his nagamaki overhead.
"Kagehebi no Mai — Dance of the Shadow Snake!"
The blade morphed — flesh splitting, bone twisting.
The nagamaki's steel melted into writhing white snake bones, slithering around Toshizu's arms and shoulders like living chains.
The rattling sound echoed through the ruined brothel.
The women screamed, pulling at their chains in terror.
The snake-bone weapon hissed and snapped its skeletal jaws, dripping venomous mist.
Ishikawa's grip tightened.
"Shikkiri..." he muttered, recognizing the forbidden art.
(式霧 - Shikkiri: "Ritual Mist" — the awakening of a weapon's true spirit.)
Toshizu's eyes gleamed like a beast unleashed.
"Hebi no Honō — Serpent's Wrath!"
The skeletal blade shot forward, snaking through the air with terrifying speed.
Ishikawa barely sidestepped — the bone-serpent tore a hole through the wall behind him, splinters and stone flying.
Toshizu yanked it back, the snake twisting midair, aiming for Ishikawa's throat.
He moved — but not fast enough.
The bone-fangs grazed his shoulder, slicing flesh.
Blood welled, staining his ripped kimono.
Toshizu laughed.
"You bleed easy, ronin!"
Ishikawa gritted his teeth, stepping in, blades flashing.
He swung Kurayami — Toshizu blocked, the snake-bones coiling around the black blade, binding it.
Kurasa stabbed in low — Toshizu dodged, countering with a savage whip of the snake-serpent.
CRASH!
The floor exploded under Ishikawa's feet as he tumbled back, landing hard against a broken pillar.
The entire house groaned, half-collapsing from their battle.
Dust and blood choked the air.
Toshizu stalked forward, snake-blade writhing around him like a demon made flesh.
"You can't run from your true nature, Ishikawa," he hissed.
Outside, flames devoured the streets of Tsu. The air was filled with screams.
The world was ending — and these two men were the architects of ruin.
Ishikawa wiped blood from his mouth.
He rose, planting Kurayami and Kurasa into the ground.
"No more running," he said quietly.
The air shifted.
From the broken wall, across the ruined garden, a figure sat atop a giant stone.
She wore a flowing black kimono, patterned with shifting ripples like black water. Her long black hair draped over her right eye, hiding half her face. Her right leg, pale and bare, stretched through the torn fabric of her kimono, toes brushing the surface of a small lake beside the stone.
The woman had been watching the entire time.
Silent.
Waiting.
Ishikawa's heart hammered.
He knew her.
He had always known her.
As she dipped her foot into the water —
The lake turned blood red in an instant.
Ripples of crimson spread outward, staining the world.
She smiled thinly.
"It looks like peace has made you weak," she said, voice soft as death.
Ishikawa didn't answer.
She rose slowly, the blood-stained water trailing after her step like threads.
"You want to leave the bloodshed behind..." she whispered, walking toward him. "But the more you run... the more the demon inside you awakens."
She stopped before him.
The scent of blood and cold flowers surrounded her.
"Don't worry," she murmured, placing a pale hand on his shoulder.
"We won't leave you..."
Suddenly — another set of arms wrapped around him from behind.
"Don't forget about me," a child's voice said.
A little girl, her face marred by a terrible scar, stood there, dressed in a white kimono speckled with blue particles like frozen stars.
Her hands were burned and twisted, but her smile was innocent.
"Karu-sa," she said softly.
(Light Heaven — his shattered left blade.)
Kurayami spoke next, voice low and ancient.
"We will always be with you."
They hugged him tightly.
The world slowed.
The blood. The screams. The fire.
All faded into silence.
Ishikawa felt something break inside him —
and something else unleash.
Kurayami and Karu-sa merged, their souls binding.
The swords in his hands burned with black and white flames.
The two blades twisted, reshaped — fusing into a single monstrous weapon.
The new sword pulsed with terrible power.
Kurayami no Karusa — Twilight of Heaven and Hell.
The black steel was veined with silver light, the edge jagged and hungry.
The air trembled around it.
Toshizu staggered back, for the first time losing his smirk.
"You—! What is that!?"
Ishikawa raised the fused blade.
His eyes glowed — one black, one white.
He whispered.
"Jigoku no Hi — Fires of Hell."
And he moved.
Faster than before.
A blur of death.
Toshizu barely reacted as Ishikawa appeared in front of him, slashing in a blinding arc.
SLASH!
The snake-bone weapon shattered into pieces, bone fragments flying.
Toshizu screamed, falling back.
Ishikawa followed, relentless.
"Hakkyō Gekirin — Madness of the Fallen Scales!"
He struck again — the new blade shattered Toshizu's guard, cleaving into his side.
Blood exploded.
Toshizu gasped, coughing blood.
He stumbled through the wreckage, trying to summon more of the serpent bones.
Ishikawa crushed them underfoot.
"Kirisaki Enma — Rend of the Hell King!"
One brutal, downward slash.
Toshizu flew back, smashing through the wall of the brothel into the burning courtyard outside.
Civilians screamed and ran as the two demons tore the city apart.
Toshizu tried to rise.
His body was broken — ribs shattered, arm limp, blood pouring from deep gashes.
Still, he laughed through broken teeth.
"Heh... you finally stopped pretending, Ishikawa."
Ishikawa stood over him, Kurayami no Karusa dripping blood onto the scorched stones.
Toshizu coughed hard.
"You're a monster," he said, smiling wide.
"And you know what?"
He leaned back against the ruined pillar, blood pooling around him.
"I'm glad."
Ishikawa stared down at him in silence.
The woman in black and the little scarred girl watched quietly from the shadows.
Toshizu closed his eyes.
"Go on, ronin. The world... needs demons like you."
He laughed again, low and broken.
Ishikawa turned without answering.
He left Toshizu bleeding, broken — but alive.
The fires of Tsu burned high into the sky, casting monstrous shadows across the city.
And in the heart of it, Ishikawa walked alone — his new sword whispering in the language of death.
[To Be Continued...]