Yuki’s ice-bandage still sealed Lars’s abdomen, but she could see how shallow his breathing had become. “Stay with him,” she told Ryota, forcing calm into her voice. “If we don’t stop Suzu now, no healer in the world will matter.” Ryota gave a shaky nod. “Go. We’ll hold until backup arrives.” Sora closed his wounded hand into a fist, the cut down the palm now frozen stiff and numb. “We’ll be right back,” he promised Lars, flashing the cocky grin that usually drove his guild leader crazy. “I’m not missing round two.” With that, ice-slick boots and hardening muscles carried Yuki and Sora back toward the main fight, weaving through burning stalls and fallen columns until the red-lit battleground opened before them. Aiko glanced over her shoulder just as they skidded to her side. “Good, thought you guys ran away,” she breathed, relief and determination mingling in her eyes. Tetsuo, Sora, Yuki and Daichi fanned out, forming a low crescent between Suzu and their wounded friends. Tetsuo rolled his shoulders; granite scales rippled across his skin. “Round two, blood-witch,” he growled, planting his feet like a living wall. Sora flexed his numbed hand, the ice-sheath cracking. “I’m no lightning prodigy,” he muttered, nodding toward incapacitated Yoshinori, “but I’ve still got two good fists and an ego to feed.” Yuki’s breath crystalised in the red glow. She raised both arms, cold mist curling from her fingertips. “Let’s lower her blood temperature, see how fast she heals when the river freezes.” Daichi wiped soot from his brow, wind swirling around his boots. “I’ll create the opening. You three hit it hard.” Suzu regarded the new quartet with a predator’s smile. “More insects throwing themselves at the flame,” she purred. “Let’s see which of you pops first.” The air pressure plummeted as Daichi inhaled and thrust both palms forward. A spiralling column of wind howled across the plaza, gathering ash, rubble, and Yuki’s razor-edged ice shards, into a blinding white-and-gray hurricane. Tetsuo charged straight up the eye of the squall, stone-coated fists driving home like piledrivers. Sora mirrored him on the right, footwork light yet lethal, his hardened arm swinging wide arcs to herd Suzu toward Yuki’s freezing barrage. For three precious seconds it worked. Sub-zero sleet clung to Suzu’s legs; Tetsuo’s punch cracked the brittle crust, and Sora slammed a follow-up into her ribs. The corrupted sister staggered, actual surprise flashing in her crimson eyes. The astonishment lasted no longer than a heartbeat. Blood detonated from beneath the ice with a liquid bang, splintering Yuki’s frost and blasting Tetsuo backward. Tendrils shot out like spears: One slashed across Sora’s chestplate, sending him skidding. A second lanced past Yuki, nicking her shoulder and freezing over almost instantly. A third split into dozens of barbed threads, whipping toward Daichi. Daichi twisted his wind, forming a horizontal shield. The blood threads slammed, hissed against the gale, and rebounded, only to swirl behind him like snakes seeking new prey. “Move!” he barked. Suzu lifted a hand, blood sickles materialised in mid-air. She hurled a volley: Two caught Tetsuo square in the abdomen; stone skin cracked but held, though the impact drove him to one knee, coughing blood. One sliced the previously frozen wound in Sora’s hand wide open, heat melting Yuki’s ice bandage in a gush of red. The final sickle punched through Daichi’s wind shield, grazing his ribs and knocking the breath from his lungs. Yuki sent a last desperate blizzard to buy a moment’s space, then dashed to Sora’s side, re-freezing his palm and sealing her own cut with a hiss of frost. Daichi, chest heaving, regrouped with them. Tetsuo slowly rose, battered yet unbroken, and thumped his chest. “Again,” he rasped. “We hit harder.” The team’s partial success, and harsh rebuke, had bought only seconds, yet those seconds mattered. Behind them Shunjiro knelt by Yoshinori, determination blazing. Aiko steadied Itsuki’s trembling shoulders. “We can’t give up,” Shunjiro said, helping Aiko to her feet. His words were low, but his voice carried with it an unyielding resolve. “For them, for everyone, we fight.” Their eyes met, and in that moment, a shared resolve passed between them in silent agreement. They turned back to face Suzu, her silhouette framed by rising flames and the pulsing blood-red sky, knowing that the fight was far from over…but also knowing exactly who still stood to face her. The cost had already been high, but the battle was not yet decided.