The battlefield was eerily still. The air was thick with the weight of exhaustion, bruises, and blood. Yet, as the dust settled, one undeniable fact remained—Tenzan still stood.

  Ren’s grip tightened around his bde, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth. Yumi’s fmes flickered wildly, her breathing ragged. Akira rolled his shoulder, wincing as he shifted his stance. Ryuko’s beasts reformed, snarling, but even they seemed hesitant now.

  Tenzan let out a slow exhale, his massive form cracking his neck as if the st round had been nothing more than a warm-up.

  “Again,” Watari muttered, stepping forward. His eyes were sharp, focused. “We go again.”

  They didn’t repeat their mistakes. No same attacks. No same approach.

  Ren surged forward first—this time, shifting the entire battlefield. He inverted the pullof gravity on Tenzan, forcing him to rise, to lose his footing.

  But Tenzan pnted his feet.

  The ground beneath him splintered, but he didn’t move.

  Then, he did the impossible—he punched the gravity wave itself.

  It cracked apart, dissipating into nothing.

  Ren’s eyes widened in disbelief.

  Yumi followed up, adapting. Instead of her usual Cws of Fury, she summoned fming constructs—serpents coiling around Tenzan’s body, spears piercing into him from all sides.

  He burned. The fmes danced around his monstrous frame.

  But he just kept walking.

  Akira was next, Raikou crackling along his drum. He moved with raw speed, blinking around Tenzan in rapid succession, striking at his joints, his limbs, his throat.

  For the first time—

  Tenzan started parrying.

  He kept up.

  He was learning.

  Watari and Ryuko moved as one. Watari cut to destabilize, Ryuko’s beasts attacked to restrain.

  But every beast was crushed, every sword strike absorbed.

  The squad had adapted.

  But so had he.

  Tenzan wasn’t just overpowering them anymore.

  He was reading them.

  Yumi lunged in. Tenzan backhanded her away like a ragdoll.

  Ren tried fnking. Tenzan grabbed him mid-air and smmed him into the ground.

  Akira went for a Raikou-boosted strike. Tenzan caught his fist, flipped him, then kneed him in the stomach. Blood sprayed from his mouth.

  Watari and Ryuko worked in tandem. It was futile.

  Tenzan tanked their attacks, grabbed Ryuko by the throat, and hurled him into Yumi.

  They had sted longer. They had fought smarter.

  But the result was the same.

  At this rate, they would all die.

  ?

  Ren coughed, wiping blood from his lip. Tenzan wasn’t just powerful—he was relentless.

  And for the first time, through bored breaths, he turned to Akira.

  “When you fought Shigure, I somewhat learned that release technique… but I still don’t have a full grasp on it. How the hell did you do that release?”

  ?

  Akira’s gaze was distant, remembering.

  “That was the first time I heard Raikou talk to me.”

  “It didn’t want me to give it a form… It wanted me to release it upon the world.”

  He clenched his remaining fist.

  “So I let it out. Fully. No control. No restriction. Just raw manifestation.”

  “I wasn’t expecting it to remake my missing arm out of Tamashkii.”

  “If I had enough energy now, I could do it again. But even with the potion, I’m only at forty percent at best.”

  ?

  Ren and Yumi locked eyes.

  They were only at fifty percent themselves, but they were willing to risk it all if it meant taking down this beast.

  They needed to do the same. Fully release their spirits onto the world.

  The shift in the air was instant.

  Release Tsukuyomi—the moon above warped, bending reality itself. Gravity fluctuated, the battlefield tilting under its influence.

  Release Kiyohime—fmes roared into existence, a dragon’s form coiling around Yumi. The ground cracked from the sheer heat.

  For the first time, Tenzan stopped.

  He actually acknowledged them.

  ?

  Ren lunged first. His bde connected—clean, sharp—against Tenzan’s neck.

  Yumi followed instantly, slicing at his ankles, then flipping midair, her bde tearing into the back of his neck.

  They nded real hits.

  The first gashes in Tenzan’s flesh.

  But—

  He regenerated instantly.

  As if the hits never happened.

  Watari’s eyes narrowed.

  “Guys, I forgot to mention this, but apparently it has Ancient’s blood inside it.”

  ?Ren froze.

  He gritted his teeth, trying to hold back his anger.

  Once again, Kuroda was funting the death of his hero in his face.

  And he could do nothing about it.

  “Ancient was damn near invincible, kid,” Ren muttered. “I told you what took him out. We don’t have a core on hand to just overload this thing with.”

  That statement sent a shock through Ryuko.

  He thought back to his first fight with Ren.

  He had Ren dead to rights—until his Void was shattered by a kick.

  But a normal kick couldn’t ever hope to hurt Erebus—let alone shatter it.

  Unless…

  That kid unconsciously charged all his Tamashkii into it…

  No, there’s no way…

  “Yumi!”

  Yumi, panting, gnced over at Ryuko. “What is it?! Kind of dealing with a regenerative half-beast human here!”

  Ryuko smirked, but there was a hint of seriousness in his tone.

  “When you fought my shadow dogs, it was you who killed the beast, right?”

  Yumi blinked.

  “No. I spent all my stamina fighting off the dogs—Watari took care of the beast.”

  Ryuko’s eyes widened.

  He stared down Watari.

  “Oh no, I’m getting that feeling again.”

  His smirk twisted into something almost… hungry.

  “I should’ve sensed it from that kick, but I would’ve never guessed that was pure Tamashkii.”

  His grin sharpened.

  “I can’t wait to fight this boy one day.”

  ?BOOM.

  Watari barely dodged as Tenzan’s massive hand came swinging at him. Then—SLAM. A direct hit.

  Watari was sent flying. He hit the rubble hard. His eye had just healed, and yet the impact of that hit had his vision blurred again.

  In his blindness, he thought back to something.

  Ancient.

  He visualized the man sitting at a desk in that memory.

  Could I even defeat him if he stood in front of me now?

  BONK.

  Watari punched himself.

  What am I doing? This is the doubt that’s holding me back. What would Mii-chan think if she heard me thinking like this? Kaito, the kids… I need to be stronger so I don’t have to lose anyone again.

  No.

  I became as strong as I am today to not lose anyone again.

  I will get stronger so that I can continue to protect those I care about!

  His eyes burned—not a flicker, but a full glow.

  Lightning crackled.

  Wind howled.

  Takemikazuchi resonated.

  Watari shot to his feet.

  This was it.

  The weight was gone.

  His first true special moves awakened.

  Storm Surge.

  Lightning fshed. One second—he was gone. The next—he appeared behind Tenzan, unching a flurry of strikes.

  A storm in human form.

  Raijin’s Judgment.

  The sky darkened. Thunder boomed.

  Watari raised his hand—

  A colossal bolt of lightning crashed down.

  Tenzan tanked it.

  Watari gritted his teeth.

  Even this wasn’t enough?

  Ryuko stepped forward. “We all need to hit him at once—then let the kid finish the job.”

  Ren eyed him. “Since when do you let someone else get the final hit?”

  Ryuko grinned. “Call it a hunch.”

  They huddled. A pn was formed.

  Akira attacked first, sliding under Tenzan and unleashing Raikou’s Pulse.

  Yumi followed—lunging, shoving a sai into his mouth, then igniting it with Arcane Breath.

  Ryuko fully released Erebus. Darkness wrapped around Tenzan, pulling him apart from all sides.

  Ren finished it—Lunar Eclipse. Gravity distorted, the air around Tenzan warped.

  ?

  It was time.

  These attacks weren’t fully affecting him.

  But it was enough to create the moment they needed.

  Watari stared ahead, breathing steady.

  He was about to be the one to end this.

  That’s when Yumi gnced at him, expression serious but with a faint softness in her voice.

  “You know… you’re the only one that I’ll gdly fight monstrosities for, no questions asked.”

  Watari smirked, exhaling.

  “Then let me beat this thing’s ass and Kuroda’s, so we can go on a nice, peaceful date.”

  Yumi turned to the side, hiding her smile.

  “Only he could say something like that at a time like this…” she thought.

  Then—fist bump.

  With that, their pn was set.

  Watari charged.

  Tenzan met him, roaring.

  The final csh.

  Ssh. Counter. Ssh. Counter.

  Watari leaped.

  Tenzan prepared for a final sword strike.

  But—Takemikazuchi vanished.

  ?

  Watari’s fist crackled.

  Lightning surged.

  The air caved in.

  “If I can’t cut you—”

  He threw his entire Tamashkii into his knuckles.

  ”—then I’ll BREAK YOU!”

  RAAAAAAAAAHHH!!

  The punch connected.

  The shockwave ruptured the battlefield.

  Tenzan’s chest caved in.

  The force unched him—

  he flew.

  The sky cracked from the impact.

  Silence.

  Then—

  Tenzan fell.

  ?

  Watari’s fist trembled.

  The glow in his eyes faded.

  The unstoppable monster was no more.

  CUT TO BLACK.