**Chapter 5: The Edge Slips**
The sky over Tensei cracked again.
A golden pulse rippled through the clouds, lighting up the streets like the world itself was about to tear open.
Aiki tightened his grip on the **Spirit Edge**, the sword humming like a heartbeat against his palm.
"Enji, any readings?"
"Yeah," Enji's voice came through the comm rune. "Three corrupted signatures… moving fast. Sector 6."
He landed beside Aiki a second later, his staff sparking. "You sure you're okay to fight? You look like you haven't slept since, y'know—"
"Since I nearly fried half the district?" Aiki said, glancing at him. "I'm fine."
"Liar," Sakura said, walking up with her coat fluttering in the hot wind. "The sword's glow hasn't faded since last night."
Aiki looked away. "It listens better when it's awake."
"That's creepy," Sen muttered, cracking his knuckles. "If my weapon ever starts talking, I'm quitting this team."
"It wouldn't talk back," Enji shot back. "You'd bore it to death."
"Say that again, spark boy—"
"Enough," Aiki snapped, but there was a faint smirk under it. "Let's move."
---
They reached the old subway line — twisted metal, flickering lights, ash falling like snow.
Sakura crouched down, tracing a glowing rune on the ground. "Barrier's up. Nothing gets in or out."
"Good," Aiki said. "Then we end this fast."
The air shimmered — and the monster appeared.
A warped humanoid thing, skin like cracked stone, eyes hollow, veins pulsing with light.
Enji cursed. "That's not corruption. That's… mutation."
The creature shrieked and lunged.
Sen charged first, chain blades flashing. "I got it—!"
He didn't. The monster caught the chains midair and slammed him through a wall.
"Sen!" Sakura shouted.
"I'm fine!" he groaned. "Mostly!"
Enji spun his staff, firing bursts of light that barely slowed the thing down. "Aiki! Any time now!"
Aiki exhaled. The **Spirit Edge** vibrated, whispering in his mind.
*Let me out. You need me.*
"Not yet," he hissed.
Then the creature turned its gaze on him — and moved faster than sound.
Aiki blocked, but the impact shattered the pavement. The force sent him sliding back, sparks flying from the sword.
He grit his teeth. "Fine. You want blood? Take it."
He let the sword's aura flare.
A golden ring of energy burst outward, splitting the monster clean in half. The light burned through everything — the air, the walls, even sound.
For a heartbeat, silence.
Then Sakura gasped. "Aiki… stop."
The pieces of the monster were *moving*. Each one crawling back together, forming smaller, sharper versions of itself.
Enji's eyes widened. "You just multiplied it!"
"I *what*?" Aiki snarled, swinging again. Light exploded. More pieces. More creatures.
"Stop using the sword!" Sakura shouted. "It's feeding on you—"
"I said I've got it!" Aiki yelled.
The sword pulsed violently, wrapping golden cracks around his arm. The glow reached his shoulder, burning through the sleeve of his jacket.
Sen stumbled to his feet, staring. "Bro… your veins are glowing."
"Yeah," Enji said quietly. "And not in a good way."
The Spirit Edge screamed — a sound like steel and wind — and Aiki vanished.
In less than a second, he cut through every monster. Light rained down like a storm of knives.
When the glow faded, he was standing in a crater. Alone. Breathing hard. The street looked melted.
Sakura approached slowly. "Aiki… your eyes."
He turned. His pupils were golden, burning faintly. "They're just eyes."
"No," Enji said. "They're *the sword's* eyes."
Aiki looked down at his arm — cracks of light still crawling under his skin. He clenched his fist until they dimmed.
"I'm fine," he said again, voice flat.
Sakura crossed her arms. "You keep saying that. You're lying."
Aiki sheathed the sword. "Then lie with me."
Silence. The city's wind carried ash past their faces.
Enji finally broke it. "So… what now?"
Aiki looked toward the skyline. A faint golden shimmer flickered above the horizon — another rift opening.
"We hunt Seno," he said quietly. "Before the sword hunts us."
---
Later that night, while the others slept, Aiki sat alone beneath the fractured sky.
The Spirit Edge pulsed faintly beside him.
*One battle at a time, Aiki,* it whispered. *Soon, you won't need them at all.*
He didn't respond.
But he didn't deny it either.