Day Before School Starts
Toshio Perspective
Kuoh had that early spring crispness that made every breath feel cleaner than it probably was. The streets were still damp from the morning melt, the smell of thawed earth mixing with faint hints of sakura from trees that had only just about to bloom. My shoes crunched lightly on stray patches of frost as I made my way toward the Occult Research Club.
The familiar manor-style building came into view, its red brick and black roof standing out against the pale sky.
I'd barely raised a fist before the clubroom door jerked open and Rias barreled through. Her hair caught the soft glow of the hallway candles in a way that deepened its crimson beauty , and her hug hit like a linebacker. I was grateful for my increased physique, otherwise she would have probably been on top of me.
"Toshio!" She squeezed me, her arms locked behind my upper back, and I realized she wasn't letting go anytime soon. Her embrace wasn't the gentle, measured kind. It was full, tight, and just shy of desperate, as if she'd been waiting for this moment all morning. My mind didn't ignore the softness of her chest pressing into mine.
I let out a quiet exhale and returned it fully, my arms resting lightly at her back. She pulled away with that same soft smile she used when she wanted to look in control but wasn't quite pulling it off.
"Good morning," I grunted, a little off-balance, but I moved my hands along her lower back to pull her closer into me. She pulled back an inch—not enough for escape, but just enough I could see her face. There was a flicker of vulnerability there, a pinch in her lower lip, before she marshaled it into her practiced, presidential smile.
"Good morning," she replied—her voice bright, but the way her gaze searched my face told me she was already thinking ahead.
That was when Akeno slid in, steps almost predatory in their smoothness. "You're not the only one who missed him, Rias~," she teased, voice slipping between honey and electricity. One arm looped around my neck, and with a little hip check she managed to wedge herself between me and Rias, earning a not-so-subtle glare. Akeno's hug was less brute force, more slow-burn, her pointed chest sliding across me as she slid in: she lingered with her cheek against mine, breath soft at my ear, and when she drew away her her lips brushed against my cheek.
I braced for more attention, but instead caught movement just inside the foyer. Grayfia stood by the umbrella stand, perfectly upright, eyes cool as liquid nitrogen. She nodded a greeting, just enough to acknowledge me as more than a passing phenomenon. For a moment I thought she'd ignore the hug-fest, but her gaze lingered a second too long, cataloguing the scene for some invisible report card.
Once the enthusiastic greetings were over, we all made our way deeper into the room. Rias leaned up against her large desk, Akeno taking her position to her side.
"Hey Kiba, hope you got stronger while you were away," I greeted the swordsman as I moved toward Koneko.
"You can find out for yourself later if you'd like," Kiba said, giving that pretty boy smile that seemed to make all the girls at school swoon.
Walking up to Koneko as she sat on the couch, I gently patted her head. "Good morning, Koneko. I come bearing tribute." Her face brightened up slightly, probably remembering my promise before break started. I pulled out a freshly made Namagashi from my inventory, shaped like cherry blossoms that would be blooming soon, so fresh the sweet bean paste inside still warm.
Koneko widened her eyes and took the dessert with delicate hands. I took a step back, watching her carefully take her first bite. Once the spoon left her mouth, her eyes sparkled in delight. It was by far the most expressive I'd seen her face be.
"This is very good. Thanks, Toshio." Seeing that she enjoyed it, I smiled at her.
"Of course. I promised you didn't I? There will be more where that came from, but later." I turned my attention to Rias, moving to stand in front of her. She had a soft expression, warmly smiling at my gesture toward Koneko. Her face grew serious a moment later as she stared at me.
Rias was the one who spoke first, her expression sharpening. "It's time, Toshio. We're going to face Ghom."
I felt the air shift in the room, everyone's focus narrowing. "I'm ready," I said simply.
Grayfia's voice was cool, precise. "I have been assigned to stand by. If your life is in immediate danger, I will intervene."
I met her gaze without hesitation. "That's fine. I appreciate you and Sirzechs giving me a chance."
Something unreadable flickered in her eyes, but she gave a single, measured nod.
Rias straightened, her aura shifting from friendly to warlord. "My peerage will provide support, just outside the perimeter. If it becomes necessary, we'll intervene." She tossed a glance at Akeno and Kiba, who both nodded, more solemn than usual.
I gave a small incline of my head. For a moment, I considered telling them more—about what I could really do, but they would soon see it anyway. I was likely going to have to go all out to win this fight.
It didn't take long for us to be moving again. Grayfia took the lead, leading us to the center of the room, and with the smallest flicker of power, the world around us warped—then snapped back into place.
We were in the deep forest, a place that seemed ominously familiar. The air was colder here, shadows pooling between skeletal trees still in place of anything alive. The barrier shimmered faintly in the distance, a faint silver dome nested between jagged cliffs and dense undergrowth.
I glanced around. "Teleportation is… convenient. I need to learn that."
Akeno's voice was warm behind me. "You just started learning magic. You've got a ways to go." Then her arm was draped over my shoulder, and she leaned in with a mischievous smile, her chest pressing into my arm. "But I'd be happy to tutor you~."
I snorted once, low and amused, shaking my head. She was quite proud of those wasn't she?
Grayfia stepped forward, raising her hand. A complex sigil unfolded in the air between us before settling against my chest with a brief, cold shimmer. "A monitoring spell," she explained. "We'll be able to watch your movements while you're inside. The barrier remains in place to ensure Ghom can't escape—or relocate the fight."
Akeno, still hanging off me, turned her head just enough to press a kiss to my cheek. "For good luck," she whispered sensually. The smile was there, but her eyes gave her away—there was no small amount of worry in them.
Rias stepped in again, her expression far more open this time. She hugged me for a second time, slower this time, her arms strong and sure around my frame. "Please be careful," she murmured near my ear. "I'll be there the second something goes wrong." I squeezed her a little tighter before letting go.
Kiba approached next, his usual polite smile in place as he extended a fist. I met it with mine. "You've got this," he said with quiet confidence.
Then there was a small tug at the back of my shirt. I turned to find Koneko there, her eyes downcast, her arms lifted slightly as if she didn't quite know how to finish the motion.
Understanding, I smiled. I knelt—closing the gap between my height and hers—and wrapped my arms around her. She was tense at first, then leaned into it just enough.
"Don't die," she said simply.
"I won't," I answered, the words steady.
When we broke apart, I could feel the eyes on us. The entire peerage was staring—more surprised than they should have been. Even Grayfia's eyebrow had risen a fraction.
I ignored it.
Grayfia moved to the edge of the barrier, the faint shimmer of magic parting just enough for me to slip through.
And then I was gone, the ground blurring under my feet as I vanished into the silver dome.
Akeno Perspective
Toshio vanished through the barrier with such speed that even my eyes—trained, sharpened, and occasionally enhanced—couldn't quite track him. One moment he was standing with us, a collection of nerves and resolve; the next, the shimmer of magic had swallowed him whole.
My smile lingered, but it was a trace thinner now, the way fine silk frays at its edge after too much handling. I was acutely aware of Rias standing at my left, her posture so intent that it held the entire room in a kind of forced stillness. She didn't so much as blink as she kept her gaze fixed on the place Toshio had disappeared, her hands folded tightly over one another, knuckles going white. For all her outward composure, I could practically taste the anxiety radiating off her.
It made sense, considering she was the only one that saw Toshio after his first bout with the demon. From how Rias described it to her, I didn't blame her. In fact I couldn't help the spike of worry that nestled itself in my own chest.
"Kiba," Rias began to ask without looking away, "could you follow that?"
"Barely," Kiba replied, his tone dropping, shielding it from the rest of us as if this were secret intelligence. "Only because of my training under Souji Okita. Toshio is… faster, still." There was a hint of humility there, something almost grateful—perhaps at the challenge to improve, perhaps at the simple luxury of not having to be the fastest in the room (forest in this case) for once.
I let my gaze drift to Grayfia, who was, as always, the personification of control. Not a hair out of place, not a line of her uniform creased, not a single unnecessary gesture. But as I leaned into the conversational volley, I let the faintest playful lilt color my voice. "And you, Grayfia? Could you keep up?"
She was silent for a moment. Then the Queen of Sirzechs Lucifer inclined her head, just enough for a sliver of moonlight to catch the edge of her silvery hair. "Yes," she said. Just that—no elaboration, no bravado, but in the way her eyes glittered I could tell she'd already built a mental dossier, logging the data for some future, unseen calculation.
I turned to the smallest member of our group, letting a sly smile curl my lips. "Koneko… that hug back there," I drawled, "was that you trying to join the little competition between Rias and I?"
Grayfia's gaze flicked toward me briefly, a faint narrowing of the eyes. I wondered what Grayfia thought I meant by "competition." My smile grew ever so slightly.
Koneko didn't take the bait at first. There was a faint blush creeping up her cheeks, and she made a deliberate show of inspecting the forest brush beneath her feet.
My smile deepened—not the predatory flash I used on men, or the sly smirk reserved for rivals, but something softer. "And? Did you enjoy it?"
"Yes." No hesitation now, but she kept her eyes down, the blush not retreating.
Beside me, Rias allowed herself a grin. "I'm glad you're coming out of your shell, Koneko." Her tone was gentle, the way you might speak to a much-loved sibling or a favored pet.
There was a note of pride there, and a subtle relief, as if she'd been waiting for this version of Koneko to appear.
I let the moment breathe, choosing not to push further, because sometimes vulnerability had to be admired and unbroken.
My attention drifted back to the magical screen Grayfia had conjured, which hovered in the air like a window to another world. It showed a high-angle view of Toshio moving through the forest, his steps so quick they left afterimages—a leap, a flash, a blur, then a sudden halt as he surveyed the terrain.
Again, my mind wandered briefly to Rias' description of his injuries the last time he'd faced Ghom. I'd thought my teasing was just a game at first—a challenge to make him react, to break that unwavering stoicism he kept up like an obsidian wall. Then it turned into a way to keep pace with Rias, getting a rise out of her.
But somewhere in the back-and-forth, I'd grown to care for him. Not just because he was strong, or because he challenged me, but because I liked him. More than I was probably willing to admit. The thought made me uneasy. Teasing was still fun, but this was different.
I found myself watching the screen with intense focus, an uncharacteristically serious expression on my face. I missed the knowing glance and smirk that Rias sent my way.
Koneko stood a little closer to my side, worry likely etched in micro expressions that no one but those close to her could pick up on.
Kiba stood with his arms crossed, just as focused on the screen.
Grayfia, meanwhile, stood as motionless as a marble statue, but I could hear the faint crackle of her magic as she tuned the screen, zooming in on Toshio's progress. I wondered, not for the first time, what it was like to live with that much discipline. Did she ever let herself feel anything, or was the job everything?
The minutes crept by, tension coiling and uncoiling in the room as Toshio's figure darted between trees, over fallen logs, across shallow streams that glimmered like mercury in the false twilight under the barrier. There was a moment when he paused, kneeling at the edge of a clearing, and it almost looked like he was praying—or maybe just centering himself for the battle ahead.
"Be careful, Toshio…" I couldn't help but whisper out.
Toshio Perspective
The forest blurred past me in a rush of color and motion. Familiar landmarks flickered by in an instant: the split cedar by the stream, the mossy outcrop that marked the halfway point, the hollow log I'd once used as cover.
I should have felt nervous, but fear had burned off and left something hotter and sharper behind. I was angry—no, not just angry. Furious at the memory of how completely Ghom had crushed me before. But I was also brimming with a perverse excitement. I wanted a rematch. I wanted to wipe the smirk off that thing's face; no, I wanted to wipe its face from existence.
Things were going to end differently this time.
I slammed down at the edge of the clearing, kicking up a muddy fan of leaves. The border of Ghom's domain was unmistakable: a wall of living flesh, no longer the burbling, cancerous sprawl I remembered but a taut, pulsating membrane, as if the monster inside was holding its breath. Black veins spidered through it, twitching at my approach. Scorched marks clawed up the surrounding trunks, charred and seared from my gasoline barrage. The last time, I'd crossed that line and gotten annihilated.
I wasn't about to step into its home field again.
A fireball snapped into existence, the heat brushing my skin as I spun it with a flick of my wrist. I sent it arcing toward the dome of flesh—then, before the first explosion could settle, I unleashed four more in rapid succession, each one trailing a spectral afterimage as it lanced through the twilight. The fireballs struck in perfect sync, detonating with a series of concussive booms. The wall hissed and shuddered, then sagged in liquefying sheets. The stench of burning meat rolled over me.
From within the gaping wound, a voice slithered out—low, guttural, and somehow even more malignant than before. "So you've come back," it purred, the words scattering like oil on water. "The hunger grows, starved by this cursed quarantine. No new prey to savor. You will make a perfect appetizer."
The last of the burning flesh sagged open, opening up a gaping entryway. From within the pitch black depths of the flesh bubble, I could see a pair of glowing red eyes that set me on edge.
Ghom burst from the darkness straight at me, massive hooks clutched in both hands. The hooks swept down, carving the air in a double arc aimed for my neck and knees.
Anticipating it, I sidestepped with relaxed precision, letting the blades pass so close they parted my hair. My body felt lighter, more coordinated, almost like the air itself was pushing me out of danger.
It grinned, rows of needlelike teeth glinting. "Your pesky speed won't help you now," it said, and then exhaled a blinding cloud of caustic yellow gas. The hiss was instantaneous—the stench, a thousand times worse than last time, hit me like a slap, acrid and layered with bitter chemical notes.
This time, I was ready. My hand darted into my inventory, pulling free a full-face respirator with acid gas cartridges. I sealed it over my head in one motion.
Ghom laughed, a wet, rattling sound. "Your little mask will melt in my vapors."
I answered by flooding my body—and the mask—with reiryoku reinforcement. I had ten more of these masks in my inventory. Even if one failed, I'd just replace it.
The vapor rolled around us, thicker now, but when I kept moving without faltering, I saw a flicker of frustration twist Ghom's expression.
"I know your liquid fire trick," it snarled, circling sideways. "It won't work again."
I reached over my shoulder and drew my Zanpakutō, sliding the sheath into my inventory in one fluid motion. The familiar weight of the blade steadied my pulse.
"You ready?" I asked her. "Then let's do this… together."
The hooks lashed out in a crossed X, but I sprang vertically, launching myself above the reach of the caustic gas. Up here, the air was clear, the battlefield perfectly visible. I traced a flare spell with my left hand, igniting the cloud below.
The entire field detonated with a thunderous whump, the methane-rich gas lighting up like the Hindenburg. The fireball expanded outward in a rolling wave, incinerating every tree and scrap of organic matter in a perfect circle. Ghom reeled, the blast stripping away great sheets of its outer flesh, but it didn't even scream. It just stopped, stunned.
Its head snapped toward me and the air split with the searing hiss of its acid stream beams, thin as pencils and as fast as lasers. I twisted through them with ease, momentum and precision keeping me untouched from the beams of death. Between reiryoku enhancement and runic shunpo, the creature couldn't land a hit.
My feet found glowing runic footholds in the air—Runic Shunpo carrying me in rapid bounces around the demon's form.
"Dome of flame!" It felt good to yell out the name of the attack, for some reason.
Fireballs flared from my hands in a constant barrage, slamming into Ghom's hide from every direction. The smell of burning flesh was thick, choking, but I didn't let up, continuing on for around a full minute, all the while Ghom was trying to hit me with the acid lasers. I could tell it was growing frustrated.
Good.
With a roar, Ghom spewed a massive blast of liquid acid in all directions. My attacks had melted away great hunks of its form, the fat and muscle sloughing off in steaming piles.
"My hunger is forgotten," it bellowed. "Now I'm angry."
The words, the tone—they were the same as before. I knew what was coming.
The transformation hit faster this time. I only managed to fire off a single fireball before form two burst free of the ruined mass of form one. Sleeker now, hardened skin stretched over corded muscle, bone-spurred fists clenching.
It moved.
Its speed was still startling— but I could see it now. What was insane was that it was still at least twenty percent faster than me at my fastest runic shunpo.
But I had the maneuverability of momentum shift.
I managed to block the first strike, parrying the bone-spurred fist aside with my sword, but the impact was catastrophic. The blade rang in my grip, almost slipping from my hands. My shoulders flared with pain, but I ignored it, focusing on the next attack—a spinning backhand that swept a meter-wide arc, coming for my neck.
I dove low, rolling beneath it, and countered with a wild upward slash. The edge bit deep into its calf, sending up a spray of black blood, but the monster didn't even flinch. Instead, it pivoted on its good leg and stomped down, aiming to crush my skull underfoot.
I rolled sideways, barely clearing the impact zone, and used the momentum to propel myself behind it with runic shunpo. I slashed at the exposed Achilles, severing the tendon. The leg buckled, and for the briefest moment, the creature was on one knee.
I saw my shot and went for it, blade out, aiming for the exposed base of its skull.
I never made it.
The monster's arm whipped around, backhanding me with a force that shattered the air. The blow landed square on my side, sending me flying across the clearing like a ragdoll. As I flew, I couldn't help but have a feeling of déjà vu.
I crashed into the burning remains of the flesh wall, the impact driving the air from my lungs and smashing me through the ruined membrane. All the world went white with pain, then orange with the afterglow of the fireball. I tumbled end-over-end, rolling to a stop on the cold, charred earth.
Somewhere beyond the haze, I could hear it laughing madly, a combination of high and low pitched vocal tones.
Rias Perspective
I'd thought I had a decent grasp of Toshio's abilities. I'd seen him spar. I'd seen the way he carried himself in kendo, his poise and focus, his unusual aura. But watching him now through Grayfia's barrier projection, I realized how wrong I'd been. He was so much stronger than I'd imagined—not just in swordsmanship, but in magic.
And that fireball…
The first time he hurled a fireball at Ghom's domain, I felt my jaw actually slacken. It wasn't the size of the explosion, it was the seamless, contemptuous way he did it. No incantation. No visible strain. Just a snap of the wrist, a silent calculation, and then a sphere of compressed fire streaking through the air with vicious intent. Even Grayfia, who rarely deigned to comment on such things, let the faintest ripple of surprise cross her lips, easy to miss if you didn't know her.
It shouldn't have been possible. He'd only been studying magic for six weeks. Yet the blast he hurled at Ghom's domain was easily on par with advanced offensive magic. I wasn't an expert in fire magic, so I glanced at Akeno. "The power behind that one—what would you say?"
Akeno's expression was unusually serious. "About the same level as my basic fireballs."
I blinked. For Akeno to admit that aloud… it said everything. Kiba, Koneko, even I stared in surprise. Only Grayfia remained unreadable at that revelation.
Then Toshio began moving—no, ricocheting—around Ghom, hurling fireballs at a pace that made my head spin. "He's not even using incantations," I murmured. I turned to Grayfia. "Could you cast that quickly?"
For the first time, the Queen of Sirzechs Lucifer hesitated. "Only a little faster," she said at last. Her jaw tightened ever so slightly, and I filed that reaction away for later.
I'd have to think about what my brother and Grayfia would make of all this, but later. For now, the battle had my full attention.
We watched as he used his "Dome of Flame", an attack that many low and mid class devils would struggle to defend against.
Akeno was biting her lip, eyes slightly glazed over, her eyes glued to the screen. "He's enjoying this. That's right, punish it Toshio~." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at her comment.
She was right though. I could see it, too—not just in the way Toshio fought, but in the reckless abandon with which he pressed the attack, each movement closer to art than violence. It was beautiful, in the same way a collapsing star is beautiful: you can't look away from the annihilation.
Then, just when it seemed like he might actually win, Ghom transformed.
Ghom's second form was… monstrous. Terrifying in a way that few things I'd ever seen could match. "What even is that?" I asked, eyes locked on the screen.
"An ancient demon," Grayfia said quietly. "Not one that should be walking this plane. Despite its form, it seems to have withered quite a bit in power over the years." That sent me for a loop. That thing used to be even stronger? Just how monstrous was the demon army back in the day? And the fact that the Satans crushed the faction made the devil kings' power all the more impressive.
We watched as Toshio pressed in for the kill—and got smashed back by a brutal counterpunch. The sound of it carried even through the barrier. My chest seized.
"Toshio!" I called before I could stop myself.
Akeno's voice rose just as sharply, breaking out of her previous stupor, "Toshio!"
I spun toward Grayfia. "I'm going in—"
"No." The word was final, absolute. "His life is not yet in danger."
"Not yet?!" I snapped, ready to argue, but Kiba's voice cut in.
"Look."
I did. And there he was—emerging from the smoke, cuts and abrasions marking his skin, but otherwise… whole. My breath caught. "Toshio…"
Ghom seemed just as surprised as we were. Toshio was basically unharmed after a direct hit.
He went straight back in, blade and bone fists colliding in a storm of sparks and impacts. Ghom lunged; Toshio sidestepped, carving a line across its ribs. A counterstrike forced him back, but then he was inside its guard again, hammering its flank with a flurry of blows.
Each time the monster hit harder, Toshio hit back smarter. He started using Ghom's own attacks as openings, baiting it into overextending, then punishing it with precise, surgical strikes.
Ghom roared, fury mounting, and slammed both fists into the ground. The shockwave ripped through the clearing like a localized earthquake. I saw Toshio leap skyward just as he shouted something I'd never heard before.
Five concentric magic circles snapped into being, all different colors, overlapping perfectly in a way that shouldn't have been possible for a novice human spellcaster, let alone one with only six weeks' training.
"Acetylene Annihilation!"
From the heart of the magic circle array, a single capsule of searing white fire shot downward faster than my eyes could track. It struck Ghom's core and detonated with a concussive crack that made me wince even outside the barrier. Yellow fire rolled outward in a violent burst, the ground beneath the monster vanishing into a deep, smoking crater.
"Did he get him?" I breathed.
For a moment, there was only the hiss of cooling stone. Then Toshio turned—too late—to block a desperate strike from Ghom. The blow blasted him back, but this time I saw the wound he'd left in the demon: a massive section of flesh missing from its lower right chest. Ghom's eyes were wide, wild—no more words now, only killing intent. It moved even faster than before.
The desperate increase in speed made it difficult for Toshio to keep up. Toshio was now on the defensive, blocking and dodging desperately. Ghom then moved to an unexpected angle, smashing Toshio into the ground. Toshio barely dodged the foot that was smashed into the ground.
Toshio was losing…
I turned to Grayfia with purpose. "I'm going in. As a maid of the Gremory clan, I order you to obey."
Grayfia's sigh was almost imperceptible, but she stepped aside. "Very well." She opened the barrier just enough for us to step through.
I moved before she could change her mind. Akeno was right behind me, with Kiba and Koneko close on her heels.
Grayfia remained outside, her voice carrying through the barrier. "I will intervene if needed."
I could only hope Toshio could hold on until we got there.
Toshio Perspective
I was half-buried in the crater Ghom's last hit had made, my face mashed into the damp, charred soil, limbs twitching as my nerves tried to decide which injury to complain about first. Thank God for Physical Damage Nullification.
I forced my body to move, despite the screaming protests from at least three major muscle groups. Shunpo propelled me out of the miniature hellpit in a blur, just as Ghom's bone-spurred fist crashed down behind me, splitting the earth in a jagged trench that could have been my grave. The shockwave rippled through my body, shaking loose another spatter of blood from the cut at my hairline. My vision briefly ghosted and doubled. I spat soil and red onto the ground, bracing for the next strike. I kept moving. If I stopped, even for a breath, I was finished.
Annoyance simmered under the pain. I'd hoped my new attack—my strongest yet—would have ended this. I'd gotten it to Rank 3 only days ago, testing it on stray devils in the forest and watching them vanish in a flash of 3,100°C explosive flame. I even had a napalm variant, slower and brutal… but too slow for something like Ghom. The demon learned too quickly, so the same attack probably wouldn't work again, let alone a slower variant of it.
Ghom's breathing was ragged, its movements still fast but sloppier. Wounded. I could try to outlast it. Maybe.
Ghom's fist came in on a tight arc, faster than the last, aimed right at my temple. I managed to catch it on the blade, the impact ringing up my arms like an iron tuning fork.
I tightened my grip on my sword, running through possibilities of how I could turn this around, when I heard my name called from the tree line.
"TOSHIO!"
My eyes flicked toward the sound, catching a glimpse of crimson hair, white and red priest's robes, and the rest of the peerage.
The recognition brought with it a molten surge of dread. They shouldn't be here. I'd told them, in no uncertain terms, that this was my fight. That if they stepped in, things would go so much worse. If they were here, Grayfia had better be close.
That half-second of distraction cost me.
A shadow loomed. Before I could react, a hook-turned-fist smashed into my side mid-flight, the impact like a steel beam slamming into me. Ghom's other hand clamped around my neck while my body was mid-flight, lifting and driving me down with enough force to crater the ground. Stars exploded across my vision. The only thing keeping me conscious—keeping me alive—was Metal Muscle reinforcing every bone, muscles, and tendon. I felt like I had been in this exact situation more times than I'd like.
Still… I felt something give. Multiple somethings. My HUD flickered into focus.
51/100. Manageable. I could still win this.
I rolled, ready to vanish with runic shunpo—when a blast of red-and-black energy screamed overhead, close enough to make the hair on my arms rise. The pressure was suffocating. Power of Destruction. My gaze snapped toward the source just as lightning began to split the air.
Akeno's work.
Ghom grinned—a wide, maniacal slash of teeth—and charged straight for them, weaving through the bombardment, only occasionally caught by lightning's speed. I forced myself up, pain spiking, and kicked off to intercept.
Too slow.
I saw it happen like a nightmare in slow motion—Koneko shoving Rias aside, her small frame bracing as Ghom's fist connected. The sound of bone breaking was sharp, wrong. She flew back into Rias, limp, her arms hanging useless.
It was then that I realized Ghom wasn't just winning; he was going to kill all of us. I felt an intense hatred bubble up in my throat.
But my hate was nothing compared to what was brewing.
It was terror, yes. It was fury, yes. But mostly it was a tidal wave of raw negative emotion in a mixture I couldn't even begin to describe.
Ghom loomed over Rias and little broken Koneko, bone fists raised for the kill. My eyes widened in horror. It was really going to kill them. No.
NO.
NO!
Something in me snapped.
Rage—pure, blinding, volcanic—roared up from the depths, dredging every locked-away emotion in its wake. The walls I'd built over years shattered in an instant. I didn't push them down this time.
I let them flood in.
My vision blurred, my eyes glazing as the world bled of color. Time itself seemed to pause, every detail etched in perfect clarity… before I fell into blackness.