YOSUKE SHIN
The earthen blade stopped just shy of my throat, its jagged tip grazing the lowest part of my neck. Instinct took over—I carved a circle of earth as a shield, and in the same breath, I thrust a burst of wind between my hand and the blade.
The strike landed, but the force was smothered. It barely broke skin. Relief surged through me like a tidal wave.
I summoned water, splitting it into twin blades. With a roar, I swung both upward, stabbing into his wrists. His grip loosened—pain flashing across his face—and I crashed to the ground, free.
I didn't hesitate. I bent the liquid steel of my blades, unraveling them into pure, flowing water, wrapping his arms in their embrace. His struggle only tightened the bind.
Then I whispered one word—cold, merciless, absolute:
"Frostveil."
The water crystallized instantly, blooming into jagged shards of ice that locked around his arms. For a heartbeat, silence reigned. Then—
BOOM.
A violent explosion of frost and pressure erupted, swallowing us both. My ears rang, vision blurred, smoke choking the air.
I raised a hand to the sky, bending wind into a roaring vortex. The typhoon tore the smoke away, pushing the haze back until the village came into view. Houses stood. People lived. They were safe.
Then I turned my gaze to the center of the blast. Less than ten steps away, a figure knelt in the wreckage.
Akira.
His body shivered, bound in my ice. From the neck down, he was encased in crystal, every inch of him frozen in absolute zero. Only his head remained free. His face—once arrogant, twisted with hunger for power—was now hollow.
He looked up at me, those empty black eyes meeting mine.
And for a moment… I saw Sai.
The same void. The same curse. The same broken hunger. My heart clenched. I had once seen promise in Akira—a reflection of the student, the man Sai was becoming. Now all I saw was a shadow rotting from within.
"I won't beg for mercy," Akira rasped, voice trembling yet steady. "We agreed—this battle ends in death. And you… you won it."
The despair in his gaze bled away, replaced with emptiness. Acceptance.
I clenched my jaw, summoning an ice blade. Its edge gleamed pale in the moonlight.
"Don't move," I warned. "The ice binding you is absolute zero. One twitch, and your body will shatter like glass."
He stared at the blade, then back at me. For the first time, his voice softened. "Then let it be my brother who kills me."
For a heartbeat, I almost pitied him. Almost.
I raised the sword high. "May we reunite in the next life as real brothers."
The blade pierced clean through his neck. His head fell, crumbling into ash before it hit the ground.
A single tear slipped down my cheek. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, forcing my face to stone.
The battle was over. The curse that haunted this village—this family—was broken.
And for the first time in years, hope returned to their eyes.