A hush had fallen over the shoreline once the Shore Reaver’s corpse slipped beneath the red-lit waves. The two guilds struggled to decide their next move when Akima suddenly pressed both palms to her temples. “Wait-listen,” she whispered, pupils dilating. “I’m picking up panic… nearby. Young minds, hurt and terrified.” Rei pivoted at once. “Direction?” Akima tilted her head, searching the psychic current. “South-east. Three, maybe four blocks inland.” At the same moment Yoshinori felt a jolt of static tug at his skin. Loose nails quivered in the wreckage, jerking toward the same quadrant Akima had indicated. “Electromagnetic bursts,” he muttered. “Someone’s using metal powers, and they’re distressed.” Hikari swung her hammer across her shoulder. “Sounds like an invitation. Titans, move!” Shunjiro clenched his fists. “Strongest, with them. Whoever’s still fighting needs help.” They sprinted through ruined storefronts and broken colonnades. Every few paces Yoshinori spotted twitching rivets or warped street-lamps, evidence of intense magnetic pulling ahead. Aira kept water swirling around the group, dousing stray fires as they passed. Daichi sent scouting gusts over rooftops, and soon he called down: “Metal shrieking two blocks up, and fresh blood on the walls.” The closer they came, the more oppressive the barrier’s crimson glow felt, pulsing like a giant heartbeat overhead. Then a deafening crash split the night. A body rocketed through a second-story facade and smashed into the cobbles right in front of them, skidding to a stop in a shower of brick dust. Shunjiro slid to his knees. “Sora!” The Mars-guild fighter grimaced, coughing crimson flecks. One arm hung useless, the other braced his torso. “It’s an SS-level corrupted,” he rasped, hatred and fear mingling. “Blood powers… She carves us up and drinks it. Lars and Ryota are-” He sucked a breath. “-bleeding out. Hurry.” Tetsuo’s eyes blazed. “Who is she?” “Don’t know,” Sora groaned, “but she’s unstoppable.” Itsuki darted forward, staff glowing. “I’ll get them.” She raced past crumbled masonry, following the trail of metallic debris Sora’s power had magnetized. Yet before she reached the corner, a slight silhouette dropped from a bent signpost, blocking her path. The girl’s cloak hood slid back, revealing tear-streaked cheeks and haunted eyes. Itsuki’s breath caught. “S-Suzu?” she whispered, gripping her staff as the swirling blood around the newcomer began to coalesce into a slicing halo. Behind her, Rei gathered the others. “Titans, contain the street. Strongest, evacuate the wounded.” But everyone’s gaze was fixed on the crying girl wreathed in crimson, and the air itself seemed to tighten like a fist. The real fight had only just begun… “Itsuki… I killed them,” The girl sobbed, voice ragged as torn cloth. “I killed them all.”
The words struck like ice. Itsuki’s grip tightened on her staff, knuckles white. “Killed who…? Suzu, talk to me,” she pleaded, stepping closer despite the terror clawing her ribs. “I killed them all!” Suzu shrieked, fingers digging into her scalp as if she could tear the memories free. She crumpled to her knees; scarlet droplets spattered the broken ground where her tears fell and smoked. Itsuki’s own knees buckled. My sister… corrupted. She reached out, voice shaking. “We can help. I’m here, Suzu. Please-” “I’m sorry, little sister.” The apology came like a lull before a storm, hollow and resigned. Suzu lifted her hand; a claw-thin fingernail slit her wrist. The blood leapt outward, coiling into a crescent blade that hissed with dark power. “I can’t control anything anymore.” “Suzu, stop!” The scythe whipped toward Itsuki. A thunder-crack punch intercepted it. “Not today!” Hikari roared, her hammer smashing the crimson edge aside. Suzu skidded twenty paces, gouging a furrow through plaster and stone. Itsuki collapsed, heart hammering. Hikari planted herself between the sisters, shoulders squared like a living bulwark. “Breathe, lass. I’ve got you.” Across the rubble Suzu stood, wiping the blood that dripped from her temple, a smile warping into something feral. “You think you can stop me?” Her scythe re-knit, pulsing. In a blur she lunged, sweeping, stabbing, feinting faster than sight. Hikari met the storm. Around them the ruined avenue became an arena: overturned carts, shattered lanterns, geysers of seawater still draining back toward the bay. Every collision sent shockwaves through brittle walls; masonry rained in dull thuds. Suzu danced through falling debris, scythe carving arcs of red light. “Why are you running?” she taunted, eyes glittering with manic glee. “Fight me square!” Hikari didn’t waste breath. She hurled a refrigerator-sized stone; Suzu cleaved it in half mid-air, shards whistling past. The dwarf’s lungs burned, arms leaden, but retreat was not an option, not with Itsuki sobbing behind her. I need to finish this fast. Hikari feinted left, then vaulted forward, driving a seismic punch into the street at Suzu’s feet. Asphalt buckled, knocking the corrupted girl slightly off-balance, only for Suzu to twist like smoke and lash a ribbon of blood round Hikari’s forearm, siphoning crimson as the dwarf growled in pain. Watching in horror, Itsuki forced herself upright. Tears blurred her sight, but she raised her staff and whispered a desperate incantation, hoping, somehow, to save both the hero shielding her… and the sister she barely recognised. A quiver ran through the cratered shoreline as crimson threads seeped from Suzu’s feet, worming beneath the broken ground like roots seeking water. Before anyone registered the danger, the ground split with a wet, sucking pop, and a jagged column of congealed blood blasted upward. It punched clean through Hikari’s breastplate, lifting the dwarf clean off her feet. Steel buckled; a scream tore free, then died in her throat as the pillar carried her three body-lengths skyward before hardening to black glass. Hikari’s war-hammer slipped from numb fingers, clanging uselessly against debris while she hung skewered, boots swinging. “No-!” Aira’s cry cracked the stillness as she sprinted beneath the grisly spire, halo of healing light already blooming around her palms. Daichi’s reaction was pure reflex. A sonic boom rolled across the plaza as he flash-stepped, hurricane force bursting from his limbs. The wind hit Suzu like a freight wagon, slamming her into the clock-tower wall; masonry exploded outward in a blossom of dust. “Get away from her!” he bellowed, voice ragged with fury. Above them, Hikari’s eyes fluttered. Blood pattered onto Aira’s shoulders while she pressed shimmering hands to either side of the wound, fighting to knit shredded flesh that refused to close. “Hold on, Hikari! I’m going to fix this!” Aira whispered, though the gap through Hikari’s chest was wide enough to feel the dawn breeze. Daichi planted himself between healer and horror, twin scimitars of compressed air coiling at his wrists. I have to stop her. For everyone’s sake. Across the rubble, Suzu pushed upright, crimson cracks spider-webbing the stones beneath her. She wiped a smear of her own blood from her cheek, eyes dead of all light. “Too weak…” she murmured, voice as hollow as a grave. “You’re all so fragile.” Daichi’s jaw tightened; wind blades spun faster, carving shallow trenches in the sand. Behind him, Aira’s glow brightened, fragile hope against the red-stained spire and the dwarf who refused to die. The battlefield held its breath, guilds united in one silent prayer that their stand would not shatter under the weight of a single, merciless foe.