Usui staggered back, his breath shallow and ragged. His eyes, once sharp and calculating, now glazed over with a distant, almost unreal expression. The heat of the battle still hung in the air, suffocating and oppressive, but around him, the world seemed to slow.
The cacophony of clashing swords and grunts of exertion faded into a hollow, eerie silence. Blood soaked his clothes, his skin, and his weapon—testament to the brutal dance he'd shared with Reika.
Yet, in the midst of this chaos, his vision blurred, and for a fleeting moment, he swore he saw her collapse. Her body crumpled to the earth, a lifeless husk—a broken doll discarded by fate.
His mind scrambled to piece together the wreckage of their fight. His body felt heavy, sluggish. His blood mingled with hers on the scorched ground beneath him, the taste of defeat bitter and metallic on his tongue. How had it come to this?
With a grunt, Usui forced his katana back into his grip, the blade slick with the remnants of their violent exchange. Never before had he imagined a battle so fierce. Never had he felt so... drained. His usual resolve—the cold, calculating ambition that had once fueled him—now faltered in the face of this brutal reality.
He knelt beside her, staring at her motionless form. The distant murmurs of the observing Flame Shikiban faded, replaced by the hollow sound of ghostly clapping, as if even the air itself mourned the tragedy that had unfolded.
His voice cracked as he whispered, barely above a rasp, "Reika… I thought you were dead."
The heat of the battlefield pressed down on him, the weight of sorrow and regret pulling at his chest. Yet beneath it all, there was something else—a lingering sense that there was more to this than just violence. There was something deeper, something he couldn't quite grasp.
The katana hovered above her, poised, its cold edge reflecting the flickering flames. "If you're still with me... show me. Show me you won't let this be the end," he murmured, the words rough with emotion. His usual icy composure cracked, but he couldn't let himself acknowledge it.
Seconds dragged on, agonizing and empty. Then, with a sudden, violent shudder, Reika's chest rose with a ragged breath. Usui's heart skipped a beat, and the horror within him began to solidify. She wasn't dead. She couldn't be.
Her eyes fluttered open—green, feral, and burning with a familiar intensity.
A low groan escaped her lips as she forced herself upright, her movements jerky and pained. Blood trickled from a fresh wound on her stomach where Usui's blade had pierced her. Yet, despite her trembling body, she didn't falter. She looked up at him, her lips twisting into a defiant sneer, blood staining her teeth.
"Do you really think I died?" she spat, voice ragged but laced with venom.
Usui's heart thundered in his chest, disbelief flooding his senses. He watched her—his eyes wide—as her battered form seemed to pulse with a ferocity that bordered on madness. And then, deep within him, something stirred—
something buried for so long, a fleeting memory of why he fought, perhaps a flicker of regret for what he'd nearly lost. But his pride wouldn't allow him to acknowledge it. His pride refused to show weakness.
"Then prove it,"he snarled, raising his katana once more, its edge gleaming with lethal precision.
Reika's laugh was dark and twisted, like the crackling of dry leaves in a fire. "You still don't get it, do you?" she whispered, her words dripping with malice. Then, with a deep, jagged breath, she called forth an energy, dark and pulsing, from the depths of her being.
The air around her shimmered with raw power—an aura that seemed to crawl up her body, emanating from the katana she clutched tightly. The blade, now infused with the power of countless fallen Shikiban, pulsed with a life of its own.
It was as though death itself had intertwined with her very spirit. Reika pressed the dark energy into her wound, and a soul-chilling hiss rang out. The pain was unbearable—every breath a burning agony, each movement a searing torment—but still, she did not stop.
Usui's eyes narrowed, watching, both horrified and fascinated. Her body began to heal—slowly, unnaturally—blood seeping back into her skin, the dark energy stitching the torn flesh together.
Her sides trembled from the exertion, but her resolve never wavered. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she straightened, standing tall despite the clear toll the battle had taken.
"You think I'm done?" she hissed, her voice rough but gleaming with twisted satisfaction. "I'm just getting started."
Her tone made the ground beneath Usui feel unstable, as if the very earth beneath them was shifting. Before he could react, she moved. The fight resumed—faster, deadlier, and far more savage. The two warriors clashed once again, their swords dancing in a storm of steel and fury, their bodies moving as if possessed by rage itself.
Each of Reika's strikes was jagged, desperate—fueled by a psychotic determination to survive. Every slash of her katana was imbued with a madness that warped her movements, her refusal to die making each swing a final, desperate plea for recognition.
The wound in her side screamed with pain, but it was drowned out by the fire in her veins. Every time her blade met Usui's, it felt like an explosion, a burst of violent energy.
Their blades collided in a shower of sparks, the deafening screech of steel on steel vibrating through the air. For a moment, their swords locked, their faces mere inches apart, eyes burning with the intensity of their shared hatred.
With a snarl, Usui pushed forward, aiming for her stomach, hoping to end this madness once and for all. But Reika was faster than he anticipated. With a violent twist, she turned her body sideways, her katana slashing upward in a vicious arc.
The edge of her blade scraped across his armor, spraying crimson droplets into the air. Usui grunted, his eyes flashing with pain and fury, but his resolve never wavered.
"Enough games!"Reika snarled, voice thick with agony and a strange, twisted pleasure. She surged forward, and with a sickening lurch, her katana sank deep into his midsection.
Usui's eyes widened in shock. His grip faltered, and for a split second, he couldn't believe the cold steel had found its mark. His breath caught as the blade slid in with horrifying ease.
A guttural cry escaped his throat, his body trembling with the force of the wound. Blood, hot and bitter, poured from him, soaking his clothes and hands. His sword clattered to the scorched earth as his legs buckled beneath him.
He fell to his knees, gasping, his vision fading to the edge of darkness.
Reika stood over him, panting heavily. Her eyes were wild, untamed, but there was something almost predatory in the way she looked at him. Her grip on the katana trembled, but she didn't release it.
Her lips twisted into a grin—dark, predatory, and all-consuming. Then she drove the blade into his body again, again, and again—each thrust punctuating the scream that echoed in her chest.
"Die! Die! Die!"The words were guttural, ragged, laced with a twisted delight. Each stab of the katana was a release—a release of all the anger, all the torment that had been festering inside her for so long.
Usui's body shuddered with each blow, blood spilling from him in torrents. His chest rattled with each breath, each one weaker than the last. But Reika didn't stop. Her heart hammered in her chest, drowning out everything else. Her face was contorted in a manic mask of fury, her green eyes glowing with an otherworldly light.
"Do you hear me?!" she screamed, voice thick with madness, pleasure, and destruction. Her hands shook violently as she pulled the katana free, but her satisfaction was fleeting. There was more—there had to be more.
With one final, brutal lunge, Reika drove her katana deep into Usui's chest. A sickening crack echoed through the air as the blade tore through his ribs, piercing his heart.
His body jerked violently before falling silent. His life drained from him with the last breath he could muster.
For a long, heavy moment, Reika stood over him, panting, her katana dripping with his blood. Her body shook from the toll of the battle, but her eyes remained locked on his still form. She had won—but the taste of victory was bitter.
Slowly, she sank to her knees, her wounds screaming with each movement. The pain, familiar and searing, pulsed through her body, but it was nothing compared to the storm inside her—inside her very soul. This pain didn't control her anymore. It was a part of her, and she had learned to thrive in it.
"You thought I'd die..."she whispered hoarsely, voice cracking, but filled with a twisted pride. "But I'm not finished yet. I'm... I'm the fire that burns all obstacles."
The battlefield around her was silent now, the flames flickering faintly in the distance. The surviving Shikiban watched from above, their faces unreadable. But Reika didn't care about them. The world, the pain, the past—it all faded away in that moment.
With one final, trembling breath, she rose to her feet—bloodied, broken, but still standing. The fight had taken everything from her, but it had also given her something far more dangerous.
As she looked down at Usui's lifeless body, she whispered coldly to herself, "This is how kings fall."