"What are you…?"
Makoto stood, surrounded by a mountain of corpses—hundreds of thousands of identical bodies, all of them Allen.
Atop the mountain of his own deaths, the real Allen stood, battered and barely breathing, his sword pressed to her neck.
His chest rose and fell violently. His hands trembled. His lips parted, searching for air.
Words were slow to come.
"W-who knows?" Allen finally muttered, a broken smirk flickering across his face.
Makoto didn't flinch. She didn't resist.
"You are no human," she said quietly. "Time alone is enough to destroy a human mind… but not you. To endure that pain, those endless deaths, to not break… even gods would have shattered."
Allen swallowed hard. "Even I'm surprised I lasted this long. So… if I kill you now, will you vanish? Or just leave another corpse behind, like me?"
"I'm not truly alive," Makoto replied, her voice calm and fading. "I am a remnant. A wisp of soul left behind to await my sister. I don't have long either way."
She looked up at him, softly. "But… before the end. Tell me—how is Ei?"
Allen blinked, surprised by the warmth in her tone. He wasn't sure why, but he knew she wouldn't resist. So, he told her what he knew.
Of Ei's isolation. Her obsession with eternity. Her descent into stillness.
Makoto sighed. "Still lingering in the past…"
She stepped forward, leaning into the blade.
"Allen, I can't force you… but I ask you—defeat her. Break her chains. Free her from her illusion of eternity."
The blade pierced her, and she began to dissolve—leaving behind a single glimmering seed of light. Purple, crackling faintly with lightning.
Allen caught it in his hand.
"A fragment of her... of you."
He clenched it tightly. "Now I can do it."
He left the realm. Behind him, the Sacred Sakura cracked and withered, vanishing into light.
But he didn't go to the battlefield.
Not yet.
He had one stop left.
…
The war had begun.
Over the wide plains of Yashiori Island, the ground trembled under the march of tens of thousands. Watatsumi's banners danced in the salty breeze, drums and horns thundering across the hills as their forces surged forward with unrelenting momentum.
Thanks to their careful planning, infiltration of the capital's supply lines, and the massive support gained after the fall of the Kamisato's former neutrality, the Watatsumi army had gathered more troops than ever before. Recruits, Vision users, former soldiers disillusioned with the Shogunate—they now marched as one.
And their coordination was paying off.
Frontlines pushed forward steadily, each platoon moving in calculated waves. The Shogunate's side, while disciplined, was visibly strained, slowly retreating to safer positions as the assault continued.
From above a ridge, Kokomi calmly watched the battle unfold, her face serene even as the field below turned to chaos.
"They're hesitating," one of her commanders observed.
"No. They're waiting," Kokomi corrected, eyes narrowing slightly. "They haven't moved yet."
On a raised platform, surrounded by commanding officers, the Raiden Shogun herself observed the war in silence, unmoving like a storm cloud yet to break.
For now, her generals held the line. But not forever.
Finally, Kagome made her move.
Graciously, elegantly, she stepped into the battlefield with the Kamisato troops at her back. Her presence alone drew eyes. From a distance, she was poised, commanding, a vision of dignity amid the storm of war.
'Let's boost their morale for a while…' Kagome thought as she advanced. She cut through a few scattered soldiers with ease, leading her unit deeper into the fray. The Kamisato troops, seeing their new head in person, surged forward, pushing back against Watatsumi's closed formation.
But even as she fought, her attention was elsewhere.
'Now… the best way to disappear…' Kagome's eyes scanned the battlefield, her grip on her sword light, movement minimal. Her strikes lacked full intent—just enough to appear competent.
She wasn't here to win.
She was here to leave.
'Should I fake a defeat? Let myself fall? That might crush the morale even further…' Kagome calmly avoided a spear aimed at her side. 'Or perhaps vanish mid-battle? Confuse the troops, give the illusion of betrayal… What would be the best way to completely destroy this new morale, turning it into despair…?'
Each thought played in her mind like a move on a board.
'Whatever I do, it must be sudden. Memorable.'
CLANK!
Steel met steel.
Kagome barely deflected the sudden strike.
"What the—?! Ayaka?!"
The Kamisato troops froze in place, stunned to see Ayaka—their former leader—clashing blades with Kagome.
"Don't be fooled!" Ayaka shouted to the shocked troops around them. "She's an impostor!"
Gasps spread through the ranks. Ayaka charged again, her blade moving with icy precision. Within five strikes, Kagome's sword was sent flying.
"No one that weak could be Kagome!" Ayaka declared, turning to the troops. "She's a fake!"
'I really did not expect to be discovered so quickly,' Kagome thought, frustrated. Reaching beneath her dress, she produced a compact spear and spun it with practiced ease.
"What gave me away?" she asked, voice calm.
"Everything," Ayaka said. "You're not a bad actor—but you lack her natural grace. You don't carry the Kamisato name in your soul."
"Tch…" Kagome lunged, thrusting the spear—but Ayaka was faster, parrying and closing in with a perfect counterstrike.
"Fighting's not really my thing…" Kagome muttered.
FUSH!
A whirlwind of rose petals exploded outward, masking her retreat. Kagome vanished into the smoke, gone.
"Damn it…" Ayaka muttered, scanning. But she turned to her troops, blade raised.
"Kamisato troops!" Ayaka raised her sword high. "Follow me! Charge!"
And with renewed conviction, they did.
Their formation surged with precision, coordination returning under Ayaka's lead. They broke through the Watatsumi lines in a single sweep, their banner cutting across the battlefield like a blade.
…
From a hill on the opposite side, a girl appeared, blood staining her shoulder as she limped into view.
"Alina, big brother told you not to fight!" Endora cried, running to her side and immediately summoning bubbles of healing.
"I didn't mean to," Alina winced, holding her arm. "That girl was far stronger than expected… her sword reminded me of Allen's style—sharp, efficient… unforgiving."
"Don't insult big brother!" Endora puffed her cheeks. "Big brother is way better."
As she finished treating the wound, the two turned back toward the battlefield.
"As expected," Kokomi said from her command tent, eyes on Ayaka, "Kamisato Ayaka has entered the field and taken command. If we let her advance further, she'll fracture our lines completely."
She turned to her side. A figure waited.
"It's time to answer with one of our own hero."
…
CLASH!
Ayaka cut down another enemy, her advance now impossible to ignore. Under her lead, the Kamisato troops had become a spearhead—unstoppable.
But then—
"Stop! Fall back!"
Ayaka jumped back, raising her sword defensively.
BOOM
A figure dropped from above, landing where she'd stood a moment before. Wind exploded outward. A single swing of the man's blade summoned a swirling tornado, pulling enemy troops into its wrath.
"I really didn't want to fight you," said the newcomer, his voice calm, almost regretful. "But you've left me no choice."
He slid his sword into a sheath.
Lowered his stance.
Focused.
"The hero who faced the Shogun. The one who defied the Vision Hunt Decree…" Kokomi's voice rang out over the field.
"Kaedehara Kazuha has entered the battlefield!"
"WOOOOAH!" Cheers exploded.
And just like that, the tide began to shift once more.