Tears fell from Yukio's eyes as he lay a crumpled mess on the floor, leaning on a wall.
His legs were completely shattered, ribs caved in, arm severed.
Even if he did recover like Takeo had said he would, how would he ever become strong? His legs would never move again and his arm wouldn't just… grow back.
Well, unless he got his hands on one of Shuen's feathers.
But that's the thing.
Shuen was nowhere to be seen, during all of this chaos, the god that everyone worshiped was not here.
He wasn't here when everyone needed him the most.
Yukio closed his eyes, a tear falling.
"Don't fall asleep." A voice appeared in his mind. "Stay, just a little longer."
Yukio opened his eyes, but he was no longer inside the village.
In Yukio's vision, he could see a large pristine white dojo and inside were three figures.
There was a tall man with long white hair, the ends a familiar shade of pink. Yukio couldn't quite see his face, it was as if there was something in the way no matter how hard he looked.
Next to the man was a young boy who seemed only a year older than Sora. His hair was black and long, his eyes the same shade of black and he had a big bright smile on his face.
The third figure physically hurt Yukio to look at.
All he could see was a swirling mass of white and pink with a few swords mixed in there, but he didn't look for long as it hurt him.
But that was not all, he also saw another.
On the floor was a seemingly unconscious man with long black hair and a familiar face, though it didn't look like what Yukio had remembered.
"Sensei?" His breath caught in his throat as he quickly rushed toward the man on the floor.
It was Takeo, but he was much younger.
Before Yukio could reach him, it was as if the whole space was distorted and he was forced back to his original position.
"W-who are you?" He quickly asked, hoping to understand the situation he was in.
The white haired figure remained silent, as did the imperceptible mass of pink and white.
As for the young man with long black hair, he was quick to answer. "Long story short, you!" He said with a smile.
Yukio didn't quite understand and motioned for the boy to continue.
He scratched the side of his face awkwardly. "Well, your past lives I suppose." He said. "I'm Shima, nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my older brother while I was gone." He chuckled.
Yukio's eyes widened in realization. The tall man whose face he couldn't quite see must be the "Kensei Natsuki" he had heard about.
"That means… he was right." Yukio said dejectedly, the loss of his parents and now his sensei all weighing down on him.
The tall figure that Yukio suspected was Kensei finally spoke. "It's not fully over for him." His voice was deep, almost threatening.
Yukio flinched, not sure what to say or feel.
Thankfully, Shima continued talking. "That's right, but you will lose a lot and the chance of him having any memories at all is negligible." He sighed.
"W-what do you mean?" Yukio stammered, unable to hide his curiosity.
Kensei looked down at Takeo's unconscious figure. "The man figured out how to imbue his life energy into the sword, connecting him to Shima, then me and finally him." He said, pointing a finger toward the Eldritch horror.
Yukio's eyes widened.
"As you probably know, we are all connected due to that thing. Takeo forcefully added himself to this connection of ours, but he will be forcefully expelled if he doesn't get the authority." Kensei continued, not bothering to explain further, leaving Yukio to piece them together.
Yukio's breath hitched in his throat. "So… if I give him my authority… Can he come back?" He asked with hope in his voice.
Kensei groaned softly, not sure himself. "He won't be able to physically return, especially not to what he once was thanks to him forcing his will and spirit into the connection, not his body." He continued. "Like I said, the chance of him even having memories is negligible. If it does work, he might just become a monster that will attack you on sight. It's risky."
Yukio's expression hardened. "What do I have to do?" He said, solely focused on bringing Takeo back at any cost.
"Sever your connection to us, bestow it upon Takeo in your stead. If you do this, a large amount of your natural talent will disappear along with your ability to get guidance from us." Kensei answered, his tone a little softer now.
Yukio's expression darkened. "H-how… Do I do it?" He said, willing to make that sacrifice.
"Leave it to me!" A cheery voice came from Shima as he stepped closer to Takeo. "Little Yuki, are you certain? I need your full consent." He said with a grin.
Yukio gulped one last time before his eyes sharpened. "Yes."
Takeo's body slowly started to rise, Kensei sighed, Shima grinned and the creature chuckled darkly.
At that moment, a blinding white light came from all four of them, a mass of white and pink petals all swirled in tandem.
Yukio's eyes widened, slowly realising that this would also require the souls of his previous incarnations as a catalyst.
"It's not just you making a sacrifice, silly." A cheerful voice came from the mass.
"Don't make him feel bad. Kid, we all wanted this." A deep, menacing voice came from the mass.
"To think the cycle would break after only three turns…" A terrifying noise like nails on a chalkboard came from the mass.
Yukio's vision blurred as he returned to the present.
His eyes started to water as even more tears filled his eyes. It was at this moment that he felt like a large piece of himself was forced into the sword in his hands, the blade known as Shima.
That's when something else entered Yukio's vision, a blinding white and gold light floated down from the skies.
"So… you didn't make it after all, Takeo." A regretful voice echoed from the mass of gold and white flames as its gaze swept over the battlefield.
Yukio squinted, to try and see what exactly was saying, but he couldn't.
His tears, blood and sweat had blurred his vision, not to mention the fact that he was struggling for his life trying to stay conscious.
The mass of flames reached the floor, its figure slowly outlining what seemed like a large bird.
"L…Lord Sh-Shuen…?" Yukio spoke, his voice extremely hoarse from crying and his ribs being destroyed.
The giant bird of pure flames lowered his head to get a closer look at Yukio. "Young on—Kensei?!" He immediately recoiled after observing Yukio's soul.
Yukio coughed out blood. "I… I am his incarnation. Please… please save sensei." He tried, trying to move to his knees but his body refused to move.
Shuen didn't waste any time, he was in a rush.
After successfully transforming himself into a being of pure chakra, his physical form started to become unstable.
Long story short, if he didn't get to safety or find a way to hold himself together, he would simply disperse.
"Child, I am unable to save Young Natsuki. However, I am able to save you. So long as you give me permission to reside within your soul space until I am able to become whole." Shuen spoke, his voice ethereal as whips of white and gold soul flame came out of his body and soothed against Yukio, healing any fatal injuries. "Do I have your permission?"
Yukio didn't think twice, if this meant that he would be able to grow stronger and reach his full potential, to make his sensei proud, he would do it.
"Y…Yes." He managed, his voice stern. As of right now, he had made two decisions that would alter the course of his life within the past five minutes.
Shuen bowed his head. "I thank you." And immediately got to work.
One of the fiery wings shook and transformed into a long spectral hand that placed itself gently on Yukio's chest around the area where his ribs had caved in.
The boy winced in pain, but the pain quickly disappeared and was replaced by a soothing feeling that spread across his body.
He closed his eyes, letting the sensation envelop him.
And it was then that he felt the most agonising pain he had ever felt.
He felt each and every individual rib shift back into place and he could feel the nerves knitting around, healing his lungs.
He could feel all the crushed fragments of bone in his legs line back into place as they got stitched together by spectral golden flames.
His eyes rolled back as he tried to withstand the pain, clutching the sword tightly with his one hand as the stump at his shoulder quickly shot out bone.
The bone came one joint at a time, by the time muscle and nerves began knitting around the bone, the second joint formed followed by his wrist and then his fingers.
He could feel it all, it was so uncomfortable and truly agonising. His entire body was being destroyed and rebuilt all at once while a burning hot sensation ravaged his insides.
Shuen was gone, but the pain left in his wake would stay with Yukio for the rest of his life.
Chakra reserves that were far too large for his frail body to handle quickly forced themselves to merge with his own, leeching off his physical body to stay stable.
Yukio tried to scream but the pain was too much for any part of his body to listen to him.
After what felt like hours, the pain started to die down. Though, it was still agonising and the phantom pain of losing his arm and having his legs crushed remained even though they had been healed.
Yukio forced himself to stand, using the sword as a means to hold himself up.
He started limping forward, he felt full, as if he had just eaten far more than he should've for dinner.
His body felt foreign, he wanted to cry, he wanted to mourn his family, sensei and his closest friend.
But right now, he needed to get to safety.
And after he finally finds safety, he will get stronger. He will keep getting stronger until he is the strongest person alive. Until he stands atop the pinnacle, alone or otherwise.
He will make sure that no one's sacrifice was in vain, he will make sure that he will find the reason for all of this chaos and he will get his revenge.
Tears flowed down Yukio's cheeks as he limped forward, his legs being crushed for all that time left an impression on him that would remain for a while.
Right now, he just needed safety so that he could try to understand and reevaluate the situation he was in.
And to hopefully bring his sensei back from the dead, even if his memories were wiped out, even if he was a monster that would attack him on sight.
Yukio was ready, his expression was steeled and he would absolutely achieve his goal.
If it meant losing everything else, including himself.