The moment Suzu’s eyes lost the last trace of recognition, Itsuki understood that whatever part of her sister had been fighting from within was gone.
The realization struck harder than any wound Suzu had inflicted throughout the battle.
Moments ago, there had still been hesitation buried somewhere behind those crimson eyes. There had still been pain, grief, anger, and the fractured remnants of a person desperately losing herself. Itsuki had seen it when Suzu spoke her name. She had seen it when her expression cracked for a brief moment beneath the weight of old memories. Now there was nothing.
Suzu stood amidst the ruined battlefield with blood running from wounds that should have crippled anyone else, yet her face remained completely blank. She looked neither angry nor triumphant. She didn’t look sad. She didn’t even look alive. The corruption had stripped away everything except the urge to destroy.
The floodwater rippled around her feet.
Then she moved.
Itsuki barely had time to react.
One moment Suzu stood nearly fifty feet away. The next, a blood blade was already descending toward her head.
Itsuki threw her staff upward on instinct.
Steel met hardened blood.
The impact detonated across the battlefield.
A violent shockwave erupted from the collision, sending floodwater exploding outward in every direction. The force alone pushed Itsuki backward through the ruined street, her boots carving trenches beneath the water as she struggled to regain balance. Before she could fully recover, Suzu attacked again.
Blood erupted from the flooded streets around Itsuki as dozens of crimson blades shot upward without warning. At the same time, Suzu’s own weapon swept toward her ribs from the front. The attacks came together so perfectly that dodging one meant being struck by the other.
Itsuki twisted her body anyway.
The blood blade missed her heart by inches and instead opened a deep cut across her side while two of the spikes caught her shoulder and thigh. Pain surged through her body, but golden healing energy immediately followed, racing through damaged flesh and knitting the wounds closed before the blood could fully escape.
Suzu didn’t pause to see the result.
She didn’t care.
Another attack came.
Then another.
Then another.
Itsuki found herself driven steadily backward as the battlefield disappeared into a blur of motion. Every exchange forced her to defend from a dozen directions at once. Blood weapons emerged from the floodwater, from the air, from Suzu’s own body.
Itsuki ducked beneath a sweeping blood blade and countered with a beam of black energy that tore through Suzu’s shoulder. Flesh exploded outward as the attack carved a massive wound through her body. The damage should have slowed her.
It didn’t.
Suzu continued advancing as though the wound didn’t exist.
Itsuki’s stomach twisted.
That was what frightened her most.
The corruption had won.
Black energy erupted from Itsuki’s staff and swept across the battlefield in a wide arc. The attack annihilated dozens of blood constructs before they could reach her, vaporizing them into crimson mist that rained harmlessly back into the floodwater. Yet even as she destroyed one attack, another immediately took its place.
Every attack cost her energy.
Every attack cost the butterfly.
Its wings started looked different.
For a moment, Itsuki thought she was imagining it.
Then she saw it again.
The edges were becoming transparent.
Not fading completely.
Not yet.
But changing.
The darkness that formed its wings no longer looked solid.
Itsuki’s chest tightened.
The butterfly was disappearing.
She knew exactly what that meant.
The power sustaining her wasn’t infinite.
Every attack.
Every wound healed.
Every ounce of energy flowing through her body carried a price.
And that price was getting closer.
Then the pressure changed.
Itsuki felt it before she saw it.
Every instinct inside her screamed at once.
Danger.
Real danger.
The kind that preceded death.
The floodwater throughout the battlefield began to vibrate.
Above them, the crimson barrier stretched across the sky like a living wound. Blood moved through it in enormous rivers, flowing toward a single point directly above Suzu’s head.
Thousands upon thousands of gallons compressed into a single point. The process continued for several seconds as the attack became smaller and smaller while somehow feeling infinitely more dangerous.
The blood condensed until it resembled nothing more than a thin crimson line stretching into the heavens.
Itsuki stared upward and understood immediately.
This attack wasn’t meant to destroy an area or devastate a city; it existed for a single purpose: to pierce anything in its path.
Suzu lowered her hand and the attack vanished.
Itsuki never actually saw it move.
Pain exploded through her body.
Her eyes widened.
Then she looked down.
A massive section of her torso was gone.
The attack had punched completely through her right side. Ribs no longer existed there. Part of her lung had vanished. Flesh, organs, and bone had simply ceased to be, leaving behind a catastrophic wound that exposed the inside of her body to the open air.
Blood poured into the floodwater below.
Shunjiro’s mind went blank.
For a second he genuinely couldn’t understand what he was looking at.
Itsuki was still standing.
That was the first thing his mind noticed.
She was still on her feet.
Then his eyes traveled downward.
The breath caught in his throat.
A massive section of her body was simply gone.
The attack had punched completely through her side, leaving a hole large enough to see straight through. Blood poured from the wound into the floodwater below while fragments of shattered ribs protruded from what remained of her torso.
Shunjiro felt his stomach twist violently.
No.
The word echoed through his head.
No.
No.
No.
His feet moved before he realized it.
Water splashed beneath him as he took a step forward.
Then another.
His entire body screamed at him to run to her.
To help her.
To do something.
Anything.
But halfway through the motion he stopped.
Because there was nothing he could do.
He wasn’t a healer.
He wasn’t strong enough to join the fight.
He wasn’t fast enough to reach her.
All he could do was watch.
Just like he had watched Hikari die.
Just like he had watched the Titans throw everything they had at Suzu.
Just like he had watched countless people risk their lives while he stood helplessly on the sidelines.
His hands clenched into fists.
The guilt was unbearable.
Across the battlefield, Itsuki swayed.
For a terrifying moment, Shunjiro thought she was finally going to collapse.
His heart nearly stopped.
Images flashed through his mind without warning.
Itsuki laughing in the guild dorms.
Itsuki falling asleep during carriage rides.
Itsuki smiling while everyone ate dinner together.
Itsuki promising she would bring Suzu home.
Itsuki standing beside him through every dungeon they had entered together.
Every memory slammed into him at once.
Not her.
Please not her.
The thought escaped before he even realized he was thinking it.
Around him, nobody spoke.
Daichi stared in disbelief.
Rei’s face had gone pale.
Even the Blood Witch remained motionless.
The entire battlefield seemed frozen around the impossible wound.
Then Shunjiro saw it.
The butterfly.
Its wings glowed.
A soft pulse of black light spread outward from the ornament resting within Itsuki’s hair.
Golden light erupted across Itsuki’s body.
Shunjiro’s eyes widened.
He watched flesh begin rebuilding itself.
Slowly.
Painfully.
The wound didn’t close instantly.
The damage was too severe for that.
Instead he watched as muscle reformed where nothing had existed moments before. Blood vessels reconnected. Torn flesh stitched itself together piece by piece while healing energy flooded through her body.
Itsuki nearly collapsed.
Even from this distance, he could see the agony written across her face.
Yet she remained standing.
Somehow.
Against every law of reason.
Against every law of nature.
She remained standing.
Relief crashed into Shunjiro so hard his knees nearly gave out.
Then he saw the butterfly again.
And the relief disappeared.
Because the wings looked different.
Smaller.
Fainter.
The edges had become almost transparent.
The realization settled heavily in his chest.
Every time the butterfly saved her, it paid a price.
Every time it gave her strength, it grew weaker.
And eventually…
Eventually there would be nothing left.
Shunjiro stared at the fading wings while fear crawled through his stomach.
Itsuki was surviving.
But whatever was keeping her alive wasn’t.
And judging by the look in her eyes as she slowly raised her staff once more, she had already realized that.
Which meant she was about to do something reckless.
Something desperate.
Itsuki should have fallen.
The wound alone should have ended the fight.
Even now she could feel the damage lingering beneath the healing. Every breath hurt. Every movement sent pain through muscles that had only just been rebuilt. The butterfly had saved her again, but the cost was becoming impossible to ignore.
Its wings had become translucent.
Fading.
Dying.
Itsuki knew she didn’t have much time left.
Across the battlefield, Suzu advanced.
The Blood Witch showed no reaction to the attack she had just unleashed. No satisfaction. No disappointment. No curiosity regarding whether Itsuki had survived. The corruption had reduced her to something horrifyingly simple. Destroy whatever stood before her. Continue until nothing remained.
That was all.
Itsuki slowly raised her staff.
The floodwater around her feet trembled.
Then both sisters moved.
The distance between them vanished instantly.
Blood met steel.
The collision sent a shockwave racing across the battlefield, scattering floodwater outward in enormous waves. Suzu’s blood blade twisted against the shaft of the staff before sliding downward toward Itsuki’s hands, attempting to sever her fingers from the weapon entirely. Itsuki rotated the staff through her palms and redirected the blade away from her body before driving the opposite end toward Suzu’s throat.
Suzu slipped beneath the strike.
Not backward.
Forward.
Instead of creating distance, she stepped directly inside Itsuki’s reach.
Itsuki’s eyes widened.
The blood blade surged upward.
She released one hand from the staff and twisted her body sideways just as the weapon tore through her sleeve. The attack missed her arm by less than an inch.
The moment it passed, Itsuki slammed her forehead directly into Suzu’s face.
The impact snapped Suzu’s head backward.
Itsuki followed immediately.
The end of her staff crashed into Suzu’s ribs.
Then her stomach.
Then her shoulder.
Each strike landed with enough force to shatter stone.
The third attack finally launched Suzu backward.
Or at least it should have.
Instead, blood erupted from Suzu’s feet and anchored her to the battlefield.
The force transferred directly into the ground.
The ruined street beneath them exploded.
Itsuki barely had time to react before Suzu’s free hand slammed into her chest.
Blood detonated.
Itsuki was launched backward through the floodwater.
She bounced once.
Twice.
Then rolled to a stop nearly fifty feet away.
Pain exploded through her body.
Healing immediately followed.
Itsuki forced herself upright.
Suzu was already there.
The Blood Witch crossed the distance before Itsuki could even fully stand. The blood blade descended toward her shoulder. Itsuki caught the attack and redirected it away from her body, but the force behind the strike nearly tore the staff from her hands.
Suzu didn’t stop.
The moment the first strike missed, another followed. Then another. Blood twisted around the blade as it carved through the air from impossible angles, forcing Itsuki to give ground. Every exchange sent vibrations through her arms. Every impact reminded her that Suzu wasn’t slowing down.
Itsuki barely managed to create a few feet of distance between them.
A sudden sense of urgency gripped her chest.
Itsuki glanced upward for the briefest moment.
The wings had become almost transparent.
Panic surged through her.
Not because she was afraid of losing.
Because she was running out of time.
Suzu lunged.
Itsuki blocked.
Blood and steel screamed against one another.
The force shattered what remained of the battlefield beneath them.
Both combatants shot past one another.
Then turned simultaneously.
Then collided again.
And again.
And again.
The exchanges became so fast that even Daichi eventually lost track of individual movements. All he could see were flashes of black and crimson tearing across the ruined kingdom. Every collision produced another shockwave. Every impact sent floodwater exploding hundreds of feet into the air.
The battlefield itself was coming apart around them.
Itsuki’s breathing became heavier.
Her body was reaching its limit.
Suzu wasn’t slowing.
The butterfly was fading.
There was no more time.
The realization settled inside her chest with terrifying clarity.
This had to end now.
Suzu charged.
Itsuki charged.
The final exchange began.
The blood blade descended toward her neck.
Itsuki stepped inside the attack.
The movement was reckless.
Dangerous.
Exactly what Suzu didn’t expect.
The blade carved through Itsuki’s shoulder as she forced herself forward through the attack.
Pain exploded through her body.
She ignored it.
The butterfly’s power surged.
Itsuki slammed her staff directly into Suzu’s stomach.
The impact folded Suzu’s body around the weapon.
An opening appeared.
A real opening.
Itsuki saw it immediately.
So did Suzu.
But neither could stop what came next.
Black energy erupted from the staff.
Not a beam.
Not a blast.
An explosion.
The power detonated point-blank inside Suzu’s body.
For a fraction of a second, everything became silent.
Then Suzu exploded.
Blood erupted across the battlefield.
Bone.
Flesh.
Fragments of organs.
Pieces of her body were thrown in every direction as the force of the attack tore her apart from within. An arm vanished into the floodwater. Part of her torso spun through the air. Crimson rain fell across the ruined kingdom.
The shockwave rolled outward for miles.
Itsuki stood frozen.
The staff slipped from her fingers.
It hit the flooded street with a hollow splash.
And all she could do was stare.
Because where Suzu had been standing only moments ago…
There was nothing left.
Itsuki stared.
Her mind refused to process what she was seeing-or rather, what she wasn’t seeing.
Suzu was gone.
The floodwater carried pieces of her away through the ruined streets. Blood drifted across the surface in crimson ribbons while fragments of flesh slowly disappeared beneath the dark water. The remains of the Blood Witch had been scattered across the battlefield so completely that there wasn’t even a body left behind.
Itsuki didn’t move. She couldn’t.
Her eyes searched the destruction desperately for something. A hand. An arm. A face. Anything. There was nothing.
The realization hit all at once-not during the attack, not during the explosion, but now.
A horrible sound escaped her throat. Small. Broken. Almost childlike.
Itsuki took a step forward, then another, while the water shifted around her legs and her breathing became uneven.
“No…”
The word barely existed. She wasn’t speaking to anyone. She wasn’t even aware she had spoken.
Her eyes continued searching.
Looking.
Hoping.
Denial clawed through her chest.
Suzu was strong.
Suzu always got back up.
Suzu always survived.
Suzu-
Itsuki’s stomach twisted violently as the truth finally caught her.
Her sister was gone.
She had done it.
Not the corruption.
Not the Blood Witch.
Not some monster.
Her.
The staff user.
The healer.
The girl who wanted to save her sister.
Itsuki dropped to her knees, sending water splashing outward. For a moment she simply knelt there, frozen, before her body finally reacted.
She vomited.
The contents of her stomach spilled into the floodwater as her entire body convulsed. Pain shot through her chest. Her breathing became ragged. Another wave hit immediately afterward, forcing more from her stomach as her body shook uncontrollably.
Itsuki barely managed to catch herself before collapsing face first into the water.
“No…”
Her hands slammed against the sides of her head as her fingers dug into her hair, causing the ornament resting there to tremble.
“No…”
She couldn’t get enough air.
Every breath felt wrong.
Too small.
Too shallow.
Her chest tightened until it felt like she was suffocating.
The battlefield vanished beneath a wall of tears.
“No!”
The scream tore itself from her throat.
Raw.
Animalistic.
Painful.
Itsuki screamed again, the sound echoing across the ruined kingdom.
Her voice broke completely as tears streamed down her face. Her hands continued pulling at her hair as though she could somehow tear the memory out of her own mind.
Itsuki doubled over, hyperventilating, crying, and shaking as the image refused to leave her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she could still see it.
The explosion.
The blood.
The pieces.
The moment Suzu disappeared.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The memory replayed endlessly inside her head.
The healer who wanted to save everyone had just blown apart the person she loved most.
Itsuki let out another scream. Then another. Then another, until her voice started giving out entirely. Her throat burned. Her body shook uncontrollably. Yet the panic refused to stop.
Across the battlefield, Shunjiro’s heart broke.
He had never seen her like this.
Itsuki looked completely shattered, as though something fundamental inside her had broken beyond repair.
Then the butterfly moved.
The black ornament resting within her hair emitted a faint pulse.
Itsuki didn’t notice. Nobody did.
Another pulse followed.
Then another.
Warmth spread through her body.
The wounds covering her began disappearing. The gash through her shoulder closed. Bruised organs repaired themselves. Fractured bones reformed. Torn muscles stitched themselves together.
The butterfly continued healing her automatically, silently finishing what it had started.
Itsuki remained kneeling in the floodwater, still crying, still shaking, still broken and completely unaware that the final remnants of its power were slipping away. With every pulse, the butterfly became more transparent, more fragile, and closer to disappearing forever.
Itsuki’s screams eventually faded into broken breaths.
The panic remained, but her voice no longer had the strength to carry it.
She knelt motionless in the floodwater, trembling as tears continued streaming down her face.
Then the butterfly pulsed one final time.
Warmth spread gently through her body.
The last of her wounds disappeared.
The lingering damage hidden beneath her skin vanished. Every injury the battle had left behind was quietly erased.
The butterfly had finished what it started.
Itsuki didn’t notice.
She barely seemed aware of where she was anymore.
Her eyes remained fixed on the empty space where Suzu had stood.
Then the ornament resting in her hair began to fade.
The dark wings became transparent.
Their edges dissolved into tiny particles of black light.
For a brief moment, the butterfly appeared exactly as it had the day she first saw it.
Beautiful.
Gentle.
Silent.
Then it vanished.
Itsuki remained kneeling in the water.
The grief had hollowed her out completely.
Her hands rested limply at her sides while her eyes stared forward without focus.
It was as if her mind had simply stopped.
As if some part of her had shattered alongside Suzu.
And all that remained was an empty girl kneeling alone in the ruins.