The mountain air was thin and sharp, slicing through breath and bone. Snow had begun to fall in slow, deliberate flakes, each one hissing into steam as it met the faint heat still clinging to Yumi's skin. The trail wound along a jagged ridge, pines gnarled and half-dead, their roots clutching the earth like dying fingers.
Ishikawa staggered.
His breaths came ragged. Blood had soaked through his bandages, staining the snow beneath his feet with spreading blotches of rust. His vision blurred, flickering between past and present—between the cold here and the warmth of Kyoto burning, between Shun's final blow and Tomoie's lifeless eyes.
"You're pushing too hard," Asaki said, trying to take his arm.
He brushed her off. "We need higher ground. If they're hunting us—"
A shrill whistle cut through the air.
Then silence.
A second later, a black arrow embedded itself in the tree beside them, the shaft humming from the force.
Sayaka unsheathed her naginata. "Ambush!"
Figures rose from the snow like ghosts. Black-robed, masked, flower sigils of soot upon their chests—Kurohana.
Asaki sprang into the fray. Her blade sang against the first attacker's scythe, sparks flying. Sayaka leapt forward, sweeping low and wide, tripping two before spinning into a tight defensive stance.
But there were too many.
Yumi stood frozen, her breath fogging in the cold. The power inside her surged again, heat coiling up her spine—but her fear clenched around it like a cage.
"Yumi—" Ishikawa grunted, trying to step forward, blade half-drawn—
But his knees buckled.
He fell.
The snow swallowed him whole.
"Ishikawa!" Asaki cried, trying to break free—but the enemy pressed harder. Swords whirled. Blood misted the air.
And then, suddenly—
"Enough."
The voice echoed through the mountainside like a prayer and a verdict.
All motion stopped.
From the treeline emerged a figure cloaked in violet and black, her face hidden behind a porcelain mask painted with a weeping blossom. Her steps made no sound on the snow.
The Kurohana bowed.
Asaki tensed. "Who—"
"Don't," Sayaka said, voice tight. "It's her. The leader."
Kagura.
She walked to where Ishikawa lay crumpled, bleeding into the earth. He tried to lift his sword, but his arm failed him. He was a relic of battle now. A husk.
"You haven't changed," Kagura said softly. "Still dragging yourself forward. Still trying to save the world with a blade already broken."
"Who… are you?" Ishikawa rasped.
She crouched. Tilted her masked face.
"You don't remember me, do you?"
He blinked. The world spun.
And then, with a calmness that froze his spine—
"I was there when Tomoie died."
Ishikawa's blood turned to ice.
"You're lying."
"No," she said. "I watched her fall. And I watched her rise."
He tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat.
Kagura's voice was gentle now. Almost sad.
"She knew what was coming. The Phoenix returns in cycles, bound to bloodlines, tied to emotion. She saw it forming inside her student. She saw it forming inside Yumi's mother."
She stood slowly, looking toward Yumi now—who stood shaking, terrified, something red flaring faintly behind her eyes.
"Tomoie tried to stop it. She abandoned mercy. She tried to erase the god from this world with a forbidden rite. A severing. An unbinding."
She turned to Ishikawa.
"But the god was stronger."
"No…" Ishikawa whispered.
"Yumi," Kagura said, "is the failure that spell birthed. The god was sealed not away… but within."
Yumi stepped back, tears beginning to fall.
"No…"
Kagura continued, addressing them all now.
"You follow her like she's a child, an innocent. But that innocence is a coffin lid. What's inside will awaken. And when it does, she won't know who she is… or who she must burn."
Sayaka's grip on her weapon faltered. Asaki stared at Yumi, stunned, as if seeing her for the first time.
"You're lying," Asaki finally said. "You're trying to divide us."
Kagura looked at her. "Do I need to lie… when the truth is already burning holes in your trust?"
Asaki flinched.
Kagura stepped closer to Ishikawa again. Snow swirled around her like mourning veils.
"I'm not here to kill you," she said.
"Why not?" he growled, coughing blood.
"Because I don't need to. You'll come to me."
She looked at Yumi.
"Or she'll burn half the country trying to flee from what she is."
Yumi collapsed to her knees.
The heat rippled around her, and the snow hissed where it touched her skin.
Kagura tilted her head, then turned.
"When the gods abandoned this world, they left their bones behind. We've been worshipping corpses ever since."
She paused.
"Bring her to me, Ishikawa. Or I'll bury this land in black flowers."
She vanished into the falling snow.
The Kurohana disappeared with her, silent as they had come.
Only silence remained.
---
Yumi sat, trembling. Steam rose from her skin.
"I… I don't want to be…"
Sayaka approached cautiously.
"You're still you, Yumi."
"No. I'm not. I'm not—" Her hands curled into fists. "She said I was… born from a mistake. A monster. That I'll destroy everything."
"You won't," Asaki said, stepping close, voice thick. "Because we won't let that happen."
"I don't even know what's inside me…"
Ishikawa groaned as he pushed himself up against a rock, face pale as bone.
"Then we find out," he said. "Together."
"But… she said…" Yumi began, trembling.
Ishikawa looked at her, blood trailing down his chin.
"I don't care what she said. You're not a god. You're not a mistake. You're Yumi. The girl who saved my life twice. Who tried to stop me from losing myself. That's the truth I saw."
Yumi wept.
Asaki put a hand on her shoulder.
Sayaka crouched beside her.
The snow fell harder.
In the distance, the faint scent of smoke still lingered in the wind.
---
Elsewhere — Kurohana Hideout
Kagura removed her mask. Her face was still. No joy. No triumph.
Just sorrow.
"She won't come willingly," Riku said.
"She will," Kagura whispered. "When she realizes no one else can stop what's inside her."
Riku hesitated.
"And if she learns to control it?"
Kagura looked into the fire.
"Then the god wins."
---
To Be Continued...