The air snapped.
Pressure slammed the field. Another Shikiban stepped out—leaner, with a cloak flaring like smoke. His hair burned straight up, a third eye glowing gold on his forehead.
"You killed my brother," he said, voice low and cold. "I'll return the favor."
Daigo's eyes narrowed. Ishigo stepped up, blade lit. Yeaga twirled his scythes, serious now.
The Shikiban inhaled.
The sky dimmed.
"Flame Technique: Solar Epoch Ruin."
The clouds tore apart. A fake sun rose above the field, huge and blinding. It spun, throwing out arcs of heat like nukes. The ground melted. The air caught fire. Everything turned white-hot.
Daigo shouted, "Scatter!"
They bolted in opposite directions—BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—blasts hitting the ground like meteor strikes.
Ishigo crashed behind a broken pillar. "He's throwing solar bombs at us."
Yeaga sprinted through the heat, cloak burning. "This man's cooking the planet like a microwave!"
Daigo stood his ground, breathing hard. His spirit wolf growled next to him, fur standing on end.
"Let's burn it down."
He raised his hand.
The spirit exploded into light and shot into his body. His veins lit up. His eyes turned gold. Grey flames wrapped around him like armor. His blade morphed into a thick, beast-like greatsword.
Across the field, Ishigo grinned. "Yup. He's going full beast mode."
He raised his katana.
"Blue Flame Requiem—Stage Two."
The blade split into twin edges, chained by fire. A blue phoenix symbol pulsed behind him.
From the smoke, another Shikiban walked out—tall, hunched, with twitchy fingers and a creepy smile.
"Good. I like when they struggle."
His fingers cracked and stretched into claws. His back twisted. Wings of black flame tore out from his sides.
"Flame Technique: Ashen Rebirth Maw."
The ground split. A giant flaming serpent erupted upward, jaws packed with spinning molten teeth.
Yeaga blinked. "What the hell is that."
Then he smirked.
"Took you long enough."
He stomped twice.
BOOM.
The serpent got blasted from below—spikes of hardened shadow and sigils exploded from the earth. The beast staggered.
"Yeah," Yeaga muttered. "Eat that."
He vanished.
Just black light remained as he tore through the serpent's neck, slicing it up in a blur of strikes.
The second sun dropped.
Daigo ran at it. His sword screamed. Each step cracked the ground.
The Shikiban pointed. "You'll be ash in seconds."
Daigo didn't flinch. "Then I'll take you with me."
They crashed.
KRAK!
Grey and gold energy blasted upward, ripping the clouds apart. Trees miles away bent from the shockwave.
Daigo's blade slammed into the Shikiban's palm—and didn't budge.
"You… you shouldn't be able to—"
"Shut up."
Daigo headbutted him.
CRACK.
The Shikiban staggered. Daigo slashed, cutting off the cloak and exposing his burning heart.
Daigo roared, flipped the sword, and stabbed it in.
BOOM.
The grey flame exploded inward. The Shikiban's eyes went wide.
"…Brother…"
Then—ash.
Gone.
Elsewhere—
The serpent started rebuilding itself.
Ishigo groaned. "Still regenerating?"
He stopped, then smirked.
"Fine."
He slammed both blades into the ground.
"Blue Flame Requiem—Cage of Echoes."
Blue fire pillars shot up around the serpent. Illusions of the beast surrounded it, perfectly mirrored.
It lunged.
Wrong move.
Each illusion detonated into a vortex, ripping it into pieces, sucked into warped flames.
The Rebirth Shikiban screamed.
"No! My pet—!"
Ishigo popped up behind him, blade to his neck.
"Your funeral."
Daigo didn't even swing.
He just let the chain pull.
The Shikiban's head slid clean off, like it didn't even realize it was dying.
Then—Silence.
Not peace. Not relief.Just that awful, choking kind of quiet that settles in after everything burns.
The flames were gone, yeah. But the heat was still in his lungs. The air felt like it was holding its breath, waiting for something worse.
Daigo stood dead center in the wreckage, his blade humming faintly in his grip. Blood in his mouth. His own? Someone else's? Didn't matter.
His chest wouldn't stop rising and falling. Like if he stopped breathing, the world would collapse with him.
He could still see it.The fire. The faces. Hayashi's eyes right before the blade hit him.
That sound he never got to make—a scream that sat buried somewhere in his ribs for years—was starting to leak out.
He wiped his brow without thinking. Just smeared blood across his face. Didn't notice. Didn't care.
Behind him, Ishigo called out.
He barely heard it.
Then—movement.Through the smoke. Big. Lumbering.
Daigo's eyes locked onto it instantly.
A shape. Four legs. Glowing eyes.
The wolf.
Crystel.
But his brain didn't register ally.
It registered threat.
Another Shikiban.
Daigo's hand tightened on the hilt.
"You again," he muttered. No emotion in it. Just muscle memory.
The spirit tilted its head. Like it was trying to understand him.
Daigo didn't wait.
He moved.
And then—
He snapped.
A roar tore out of his throat, one he didn't know was in there, and he charged straight at the thing like it had personally lit the match that ruined everything.
From the sidelines, Yeaga blinked. "Uh… is he attacking his own summon?"
Ishigo squinted. "What the hell…"
Daigo's blade came down hard across the wolf's jaw. The spirit staggered back, shimmer flickering like broken glass. It didn't retaliate. Just took it. Confused.
Daigo didn't stop.
"You think you can fake him?!" he shouted. "Think you can wear his face and I wouldn't notice?!"
He lunged again, shouldering the creature hard enough to send it stumbling. It let out a low howl—not angry. Not threatening.
Just… hurt.
Sad.
Still, Daigo kept going. Swing after swing. Nothing controlled about it. This wasn't fighting. It was lashing out. His whole body just moving on instinct, screaming with everything he'd never said, every memory that clawed at the inside of his skull.
The wolf tried to back off. It could've fought back. It didn't.
It just moved out of the way, kept dodging, ears low, tail tucked. It looked like it was apologizing.
Like it didn't understand why the person it protected was trying to kill it.
Yeaga rubbed the back of his neck. "This is getting… uncomfortable."
Ishigo had already broken into a sprint.
Daigo finally grabbed the wolf by the neck, dragging it down. His sword hovered above it, ready to finish it.
"You're not him," he said, voice cracking now, almost a whisper. "You're just another monster."
"DAIGO!"
Ishigo's voice hit. Full stop. Everything froze.
Daigo's arms locked up.
"Ishigo?"
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ishigo snapped, chest heaving. "That's your wolf, man!"
Daigo looked down again.
The wolf was just… staring at him. Golden eyes wide. Gentle. Unmoving. Not angry. Not scared. Just… waiting. Like it trusted him not to go through with it.
Daigo's breathing slowed. The shaking didn't stop, though.
"I… thought…" he mumbled.
Ishigo didn't lower his hands. "Yeah, I get what you thought. But that thing showed up the second you were in danger. It's been protecting your ass nonstop. You really think a Shikiban would take all that and not fight back?"
Daigo looked again.
It whimpered. Tail still low. Like it was worried about him.
And that was it.
Something in Daigo just cracked. Not like a break. More like something finally caved under the weight.
He let go of the wolf. Stumbled back a step.
"Shit…"
Yeaga jogged up behind them, raising a brow. "So… we good now? Nobody else punching ghost dogs?"
Daigo let out a shaky laugh, rubbing his face. "I thought it was one of them. I really—my head just… glitched."
The wolf shook itself out and stepped forward, slowly, like it was checking if Daigo would flinch again. It nudged its nose against his arm.
This time, Daigo didn't pull away. Just rested his hand on its head, fingers clumsy.
Ishigo let out a long sigh and finally dropped his arms. "You owe that guy big time."
"Yeah," Daigo muttered. "I'll get him a steak or something."
Yeaga grinned. "Two. He just tanked all your therapy backlog in like ten minutes."
Daigo smirked, just a little.
And for the first time that day—it didn't feel like it was all on fire.