The battlefield was now quiet.

  A silence born not of peace—but the kind that follows camity. The kind that tastes like blood and Tamashkii dust.

  Koharu stood at the center, her coat torn, her petals flickering in the air like the final moments of spring. Ayase was behind her, breathing slow, one leg bent, cuts across his ribs.

  Across from them, the Shingan stood—breathing heavy. Kenzo staggered beside him, blood dripping from his jaw. The rest of the Death Phantoms were downed or struggling to move, some crouched, others leaning on their weapons.

  But none of them had fled.

  Not yet.

  “It’s over,” Koharu whispered, voice trembling—not from fear, but from fury.

  She raised her bde to the sky.

  The petals fred outward.

  A single ripple passed through the Chūkan.

  Ayase’s eyes widened.

  Koharu’s true Reibaku… was awakening.

  The clouds overhead stilled.

  The sky began to split.

  A line of blinding light tore across the heavens like the realm itself was about to bleed.

  The Shingan didn’t speak. He didn’t move.

  Only watched.

  Koharu whispered:

  “Let me finish this.”

  The light deepened.

  Her petals sharpened.

  Tamashkii surged around her like a typhoon ready to colpse.

  And then—

  SLAM.

  The sky snapped closed.

  Like a book being smmed shut mid-sentence.

  Her Reibaku dimmed.

  The petals fell.

  Everything… silenced.

  A voice echoed from the air.

  Ft.

  Cold.

  “You have fulfilled your duty.”

  “Your next move would viote the bance.”

  Koharu’s eyes went wide.

  “NO—!”

  She took a step forward, reaching back for her bde, trying to call it again.

  Nothing.

  “I can take them all out. You KNOW I can end this here—!”

  She screamed into the air.

  The realm said nothing.

  Ayase stepped beside her, eyes locked on the now-calm sky.

  His voice was low. Bitter.

  “They sealed it again…”

  He didn’t shout.

  Didn’t rage.

  But his jaw was clenched so tight blood trickled from his lip.

  “After everything… they still won’t let us fight to win.”

  Koharu trembled.

  And then—she moved.

  “CHIRE!”

  The petals surged again—but this time, they were different.

  Wilder. Unguided. Her bde sshed forward—

  SLASH.

  The Shingan’s chest split open.

  Blood.

  The Shingan staggered—smile fading for the first time.

  Another swing.

  SLASH.

  Kenzo’s leg was sliced open—he fell with a snarl.

  Another swing.

  And another.

  The petals became razors.

  The ground cracked.

  The air shook.

  “You’ll seal my weapon?!” she shouted. “Then I’ll destroy everything without it!”

  Ayase stood frozen.

  He wanted to move.

  But part of him knew—someone has to lose control.

  And she’d earned this.

  “You still don’t understand,” the Shingan coughed, staggering up to one knee.

  “This world… favors bance. Not victory.”

  “That is why you will never beat me.”

  Koharu screamed—and sshed again.

  Petals shredded the air.

  The Shingan’s coat tore, blood misting around him.

  She raised her bde once more—

  But then—

  A voice:

  “Forgive me, my lord.”

  “If I don’t use this now—we’ll lose the edge.”

  They turned.

  Subaru.

  Still calm. Still unreadable.

  But now holding a pulsing core in his hand.

  The air around it howled.

  The Shingan turned slightly, as if to protest—

  Too te.

  Subaru pressed the core to his chest.

  BOOM.

  The core exploded.

  Raw Tamashkii flooded the Chūkan.

  A surge that could tear open the entire realm.

  Koharu’s eyes snapped wide.

  “FULL BLOOM!”

  A thousand petals bloomed outward, forming a radiant barrier across the left side of the Chūkan.

  Ayase moved opposite.

  “LAST STILL.”

  A pressure dome bsted from his palm, locking the right half of the realm in suspended time for a split second.

  The bst hit.

  CRASH.

  Wind screamed.

  Structures cracked.

  Petals burned.

  Skin tore.

  Koharu cried out, still holding the barrier.

  Ayase colpsed to one knee, coughing blood.

  The Death Phantoms were blown back.

  Even the Shingan shielded his face with one arm.

  When it ended—

  Smoke.

  Stillness.

  Ash in the wind.

  Koharu dropped to her knees.

  Her bde stabbed into the ground.

  Ayase had one eye open. Barely.

  Across from them, the Kegare regrouped.

  Bloodied. Bruised.

  But alive.

  Subaru knelt, clutching his side.

  Uta’s arm was mangled.

  YuYu limped.

  Kenzo was barely standing.

  And yet—

  They were still here.

  Koharu looked up through the fading light.

  The sky hadn’t cracked again.

  It was still sealed.

  The Elders had spoken.

  And no one had been allowed to win.