Ryu lay broken at the bottom of the ravine, the jagged stone biting into his back, his chest torn open where the Lion-Hybrid's claw had struck. Blood soaked his torn robes, and every breath scraped like fire. Sixteen and dying. His katana was gone, his strength fading. But somewhere inside—beneath the fear and pain—a spark still burned. He hadn't come this far to be buried in stone.
A tremor rolled through the earth, deeper than anything the yokai had caused. The air thickened, hot and heavy, the light around him shifting. From the far end of the ravine, shadow peeled away like mist, and something immense moved within it. A dragon stepped into the open, vast and silent, coiled like a mountain come to life.
Its body shimmered with emerald and gold, its scales like living armor. Blackened steel claws dug into the stone, and wings folded tightly along a frame both graceful and brutal. Its head lowered slowly, its gaze immense. Two burning eyes locked onto Ryu—suns trapped in flesh, timeless and judging.
A voice filled the air, deeper than thought.
"I am Zorath, Keeper of the Eternal Flame."
It echoed in Ryu's bones. The dragon wasn't just looking at him—it was seeing through him.
"Your will burns, child of Hikari, but it is untested. Why should I grant you the power to carve your vengeance?"
Ryu coughed, blood flecking his lip, but pushed himself upright, trembling. He knelt in the dust, not from reverence but necessity. His body screamed, but his voice came clear, cracked and raw.
"I'm weak. But I won't stay weak. The Ox, that beast—they took everything. I need power to protect what's left… to make them pay. I don't care about the cost. I'll carry it."
Zorath didn't blink. The heat of his gaze deepened, and his scales flared like a forge catching breath.
"Vengeance is a spark," the dragon said. "But power demands purpose. I see fire in you—raw and untamed. I offer you the Dragon's Eye. A shard of my essence, bound to your vision. With it, you may awaken two paths: the Sun-Harness, strength reborn, and the Moon-Harness, a blade drawn from shadow. You will see truth—the flow of battle, the weight of intention. But it will reshape your fate."
Ryu's thoughts reeled. Kaze had taught him the Sun-Harness—a force few even survived touching. The Moon-Harness was barely whispered of, a ghost power. And this… this was something older, deeper.
"What's the cost?" he asked, voice low, steady now. His chest burned, but his mind was clear.
Zorath's tail lashed once, slicing a groove in the stone.
"You will no longer live for revenge alone. Slay the beast. Crush the Ox. But that is just the beginning. The Dragon's Eye binds you to a greater path. When you master the Sun-Harness and reach its final form, you will enter the Spirit Realm. There, we will finish what this world cannot—silencing the rise of the yokai and the shadows behind them. Fail, and your flame dies."
Ryu hesitated, not in fear, but in awe. The Spirit Realm. A step beyond vengeance—beyond the slums, the sword, the Ox.
"I'll do it," he said, his voice not loud, but solid. "I'll kill the Lion-Hybrid. I'll end the Ox. And then I'll find you in the Spirit Realm. I swear it."
Zorath's jaws parted. Light surged—gold and silver both—flooding into Ryu's right eye. He screamed as the world caught fire inside him. The light seared through his mind, embedding something ancient into his soul. The Dragon's Eye opened.
His right eye glowed faintly now—amber threaded with gold and silver. He saw the stone around him shift, the paths of wind, the heartbeat of the earth. He saw the movement of things that hadn't yet moved.
"This is our pact," Zorath said, voice final. "The Dragon's Eye will grant you the sight. The Sun-Harness will fuel your blade. The Moon-Harness will shape time and fate. Use them, or they will break you. Now return. Vengeance begins, but your journey does not end with blood."
Ryu's chest ignited. The Sun-Harness stirred—a raw light warming his core. And faint, just beneath it, the Moon-Harness pulsed like a heartbeat in the dark. His wounds stitched together, sealed by fire and silver light. Strength returned.
"Will you find me before the Spirit Realm?" Ryu asked, rising to his feet. His katana was gone, but he stood ready.
"If your will shines or falters," Zorath said, "I will come."
Then he was gone—vanished like smoke.
The world twisted. When Ryu blinked, he was standing back on the hillside. The ravine behind him. The battlefield before him.
The camp was in ruins. Mountains torn open by Kaze's final technique. Trees splintered like broken bones. Smoke hung low over the scarred land. Bodies were still. Blood stained the dirt. He stumbled forward, the Dragon's Eye dim but alert.
Kaze slumped against a rock, pale and battered, blood caked in the seams of his armor. Goro sat with his nodachi across his knees, grim. Soma lay wrapped in bandages, eyes sunken. The remaining spearmen stared into the fire, hollow. Mira was gone.
Ryu's throat tightened. He stepped forward.
"Kaze… I'm back."
Kaze's eyes opened. For a second, he didn't speak—just stared. Then he pushed himself up, stumbling toward Ryu and gripping his shoulders, disbelief clear in every line of his face.
"You—how? You went over the edge. We thought—"
His voice broke. For Kaze, that meant everything.
Ryu held his gaze. "I got lucky. Hit a ledge, climbed out. Took time."
Kaze didn't fully buy it—Ryu saw the flicker in his eyes—but he nodded slowly, hands trembling as he let go.
"You're alive," he said, voice hoarse. "That's enough."
Ryu looked past him—at the broken battlefield, at the mountains carved open. "What happened here?"
Goro stood, rubbing his jaw. "Ask your mentor. He tore through the damn hills like they were paper. Storm Destruction. Split the mountains in two." His voice was reverent, not afraid. "We'd be dead without it."
Kaze gave a tired smirk. "Did what I had to. It didn't kill the beast. But it sent it running."
Soma coughed, eyes sunken but alert. His voice was bitter. "Didn't save Mira." He looked to Ryu, pain fresh. "You better be worth all this."
Ryu swallowed hard. Mira's death was a weight in his chest, heavier than anything. He couldn't tell them about Zorath—not yet. They needed deeds, not stories.
"I'll make it worth it," he said. "That yokai's mine. And the Ox."
Kaze met his gaze again. The suspicion hadn't left, but his voice was softer now. "You're here. You stood up again. That's what matters."
Ryu nodded. "Let's finish it."
He sat near the fire, the others settling around him. Kaze closed his eyes. Goro cleaned his blade. Soma drifted into uneasy sleep. Ryu focused inward, feeling the Sun-Harness warming behind his ribs. The Dragon's Eye remained quiet, but he could call it if he needed to. He saw Kaze's frayed aura, Goro's wound tightening, the way the wind shifted the leaves nearby.
He turned it off.
The Lion-Hybrid still breathed. So did the Ox. His old life was gone, but this one had purpose, sharpened by flame and shadow. He would master the Sun-Harness, reach the Spirit Realm, and fulfill the oath Zorath had burned into his soul.
The cherry blossoms drifted down through the broken trees. Soft. Silent. A promise and a warning.
Ryu looked up, his right eye closed, his hands steady. His war wasn't over. It had just begun.