Shiro's body dissolved into black mist.
For a heartbeat, he felt weightless—no lungs, no bones, no heartbeat, just motion. It was like slipping between the cracks of the world. He felt the shadows tugging him forward, urging him to move faster, go further.
Then the world snapped back into place.
Shiro stumbled onto solid ground, breath hitching. Trees reformed around him, their trunks blurry for a moment before sharpening into focus. Leaves fluttered around him as if disturbed by a gust that no one else could feel.
He turned back.
Renshiro materialized from the shadows a second later, landing silently beside him. Arashi burst through the trees in a blur of white and steel, spear in hand.
"Not bad," Arashi muttered, brushing leaves from her braid. "For someone who just awakened a few hours ago."
Shiro opened his mouth to respond—
BOOM.
A shockwave ripped through the forest behind them.
Trees toppled. Birds scattered in frantic flocks. Smoke billowed upward in spirals—the unmistakable signature of Explosion Gi.
"They're way too close," Arashi hissed. "If we don't reach the ridge in the next five minutes, we're done."
Renshiro didn't waste time. "Move!"
They sprinted.
Branches whipped past. Roots clawed at their ankles. The forest floor sloped upward as the terrain shifted into rocky ground. Shiro felt his lungs burning, but adrenaline kept him going.
Arashi leaped over a fallen log, calling out, "Do that teleport thing again!"
"It's not teleporting!" Shiro shouted back, but she was already ahead.
Shadow Step.
He reached inward, searching for that strange spark he'd felt before.
Fear.
Instinct.
The desire to survive.
—Shadow Step available—
—Activate?—
"Yes!"
His form blurred into darkness again—
—only to rematerialize crookedly, half-stumbling, nearly slamming into a tree.
"Ow—!"
Arashi snorted as she caught up. "Smooth landing. Very intimidating."
"Cut him some slack," Renshiro said, appearing beside them, barely winded. "The boy's learning at full sprint."
"Great," Arashi said. "Now let's survive at full sprint."
BOOM.
Another explosion shot through the forest, closer this time. The air trembled, and the shockwave sent a hail of splinters slicing through the trees.
One splinter grazed Shiro's cheek. Blood trickled down his face.
"They're right behind us!" he cried.
Arashi grabbed his wrist. "Move your feet, shadow prince!"
"I'm not a prince!"
"Then run like a commoner who doesn't want to die!"
The ground steepened as they reached the rocky incline of the ridge. Above them, the treeline thinned dramatically, exposing patches of moonlit crags.
Renshiro stopped suddenly, raising a hand.
"Duck!"
Arashi shoved Shiro to the ground—
—as a spear-sized bolt of crackling dark energy shot overhead, ripping through an entire tree trunk like paper.
The impact shook the earth, coating them in a shower of bark fragments.
Shiro's heart nearly stopped.
"A-Akuma?" he whispered.
Renshiro's face darkened. "Dark Gi trackers. High-level."
Arashi pulled Shiro up by the collar. "Don't freeze now!"
Figures emerged from the smoke behind them—three silhouettes cloaked in swirling darkness. Their eyes glowed deep crimson. One carried a massive obsidian blade on his back; the other two moved with the unnatural smoothness of shadows made flesh.
Akuma Clan elites.
"Targets confirmed," the lead one hissed. "The shadowless boy and… ah. A traitor of the Kage."
Renshiro's hand tightened around his blade. "So Metsudo is mixing Akuma elites with Meiji trackers. He's serious."
Arashi twirled her spear. "No time for commentary. We need to go now."
Shiro stared up the ridge. It looked climbable… barely.
"Is the ridge really safe?" he panted.
Arashi nodded once. "My clan's boundary lines begin at the top. The trackers won't cross. Meiji politics. The clans maintain territory agreements even while stabbing each other in the back."
Shiro gulped. "What about the Akuma?"
"Them too," she said. "They won't risk starting a war with the Shiroi unless Metsudo orders it."
Renshiro grabbed Shiro's shoulder. "Then climb, boy. Don't look back."
Shiro braced himself and scrambled upward, gripping jutting rocks and exposed roots as he climbed. Arashi stayed behind him, parrying blasts of dark energy with the flat of her spear.
Renshiro engaged the Akuma elites alone.
Shiro risked a glance back.
It was terrifying.
The Akuma shadows flickered and split like dancing flames. Renshiro weaved between attacks, his blade carving streaks of light in the darkness. Every clash sent sparks hissing through the air.
"Don't look back, idiot!" Arashi shouted. "Unless you want a dark spear in your skull!"
Shiro forced himself to focus and climbed faster.
But then—
The ground trembled.
An explosion of white-hot energy lit the entire ridge.
Not Akuma. Not Kage.
Meiji.
A man shot upward through the trees like a rocket, landing on the ridge slope with enough force to shatter stone. He wore the crimson armor of the Meiji Clan, engraved with the sigil of a rising sun.
His hair was pale gold and spiked upward, and his eyes glowed with a manic intensity.
Arashi's face paled.
"Oh no," she breathed. "That's—"
"Genkai Meiji," Renshiro growled from below. "An elite captain."
Genkai grinned wide, showing perfect teeth.
"Well, well," he snarled, cracking his knuckles. "The runaway rat is climbing already?"
Shiro froze halfway up the ridge.
Genkai crouched… and launched himself straight at Shiro.
Arashi didn't hesitate. She shoved Shiro upward with a burst of physical Gi. "GO!"
Genkai reached out—until a blade flashed between him and the cliff.
Renshiro.
He intercepted Genkai midair, clashing blade-to-knuckle in a burst of sparks.
Genkai's grin widened. "Renshiro Kage! I thought you died with the rest."
Renshiro snarled. "Disappointed to learn the truth?"
"Not at all!" Genkai laughed. "Killing a Kage remnant is a family tradition."
They collided, crashing down the slope in a violent tumble of shattered rock and shockwaves.
Arashi yelled, "Shiro! Move! Now!"
Shiro scrambled upward, heart hammering in his throat. His fingers bled from gripping rough stone. His arms shook. His lungs burned.
But he kept climbing.
Voices echoed below him—shouts, explosions, the crackling of Dark Gi, the shockwaves of Explosion Gi.
Arashi climbed behind him, blocking projectiles with her spear.
"We're almost there!" she gasped. "Keep going!"
The ridge's peak was only a few feet above.
Shiro pushed himself harder.
The moment his hand touched the top—
—a faint shimmering barrier rippled outward like a glass dome.
Arashi exhaled in relief. "Shiroi territory."
Shiro hauled himself up and collapsed on the flat plateau at the ridge's peak. Arashi climbed up after him, flipping her spear onto her back.
Below, the battlefield raged.
Renshiro fought Genkai and the Akuma elites simultaneously, three enemies against one. Fire and shadows clashed in bursts that lit the night sky.
Shiro crawled to the ridge's edge. "Renshiro! Get up here!"
Renshiro didn't turn. "I can't!"
"You have to—!"
"I can't!" Renshiro roared.
His blade parried an explosive fist that sent debris flying.
"They won't cross the Shiroi boundary, Shiro! If I retreat now, they'll follow long enough to hit the barrier with a blast strong enough to kill you!"
Shiro's heart dropped.
Renshiro was staying behind… deliberately.
"GO!" Renshiro shouted, voice raw. "I will catch up. Trust me!"
Genkai laughed, hurling a blast of Explosion Gi that shattered a boulder. "He's lying, boy! None of you are leaving alive!"
Shiro shook his head violently. "I'm coming down—!"
Arashi grabbed him by the collar and yanked him back. "Are you insane?! You'll get vaporized!"
"He needs help!"
"He needs you to survive!" Arashi snapped. "He's buying time!"
Another explosion rocked the ridge. Smoke swallowed the battlefield.
Arashi dragged Shiro away from the edge. "If you die, this whole chase is pointless! Renshiro knows what he's doing!"
Shiro clenched his fists, tears stinging his eyes. "But—"
The ground shook again.
A final explosion swallowed the slope.
Then…
Silence.
Thick smoke blanketed the cliffside. Shiro stared into the haze, hoping—begging—to see a silhouette.
But none appeared.
Arashi lowered her spear, her expression grim.
"Come on," she said softly. "We need to go."
Shiro didn't move.
"Shiro…" Arashi murmured, her voice gentler. "If Renshiro survived, he'll find us. But if he didn't… then you can't let his sacrifice go to waste."
Shiro's throat tightened.
Cold wind whipped across the ridge, carrying the acrid scent of smoke and scorched earth.
Finally, Shiro stood—unsteady, numb.
He whispered, barely audible:
"Renshiro… please be alive."
Then he turned and followed Arashi deeper into Shiroi territory.