They broke through the last line of trees and stepped into a small clearing, sunlight dripping in narrow beams through the canopy above.
There, hunched over in the grass, was a man clutching at his chest and gasping for breath.
Shunjiro hurried forward, hands raised in a non-threatening gesture.
“Sir! Are you alright? What happened?”
The man flinched back as though struck. His eyes were wide, bloodshot, wild.
“Wh-who are you?!” he cried, stumbling to his feet and backing away. “Stay back! S-stay away from me!”
Shunjiro stopped immediately, keeping his hands visible.
“It’s okay, really. We’re adventurers from the Kingdom of Radiance. We’re here to help you.”
The man shook, breathing in frantic bursts. His fear was so sharp it felt like a physical force in the air.
Then Itsuki noticed it.
A massive, jagged gash tore across the man’s chest, deep, ugly, and still bleeding. It looked like a sword slash, the kind meant to kill, not scare. Her heart clenched.
“Sir… you’re hurt! Who did this to you? Please let me heal you.”
The man’s knees buckled, and he collapsed forward, clutching Itsuki’s skirt with trembling fingers.
“They… they came out of nowhere,” he sobbed. “Raiders, monsters! They tore through our village… killed everyone they saw. The women, the children… th-they took them.”
His voice cracked violently.
“They took my daughter! My little Aya! She’s only eight, why would they take her? Why would they leave me alive?! Why me?!”
He cried into the dirt, body shaking uncontrollably.
Itsuki knelt beside him, her eyes softening as she pressed her glowing hands to his wound.
“It’s okay,” she whispered gently. “You’re safe now. We’ll help you.”
Warm light spread across his chest, knitting torn flesh and steadying his breathing.
Slowly, very slowly, his trembling eased, but his eyes remained hollow with terror.
Shunjiro crouched in front of him, speaking with calm, steady clarity.
“Sir, you’re doing great. We need to know everything you can remember. Anything helps. Did you see where they were headed? Anything about their leader? Their purpose?”
The man wiped his eyes with a shaking hand, breath sputtering.
“T-They… they weren’t just raiders,” he rasped. “They were slave hunters.”
All four members of Illumina stiffened.
Slave raiders, one of the ugliest, most persistent evils in the world. They traveled in packs, struck remote villages, stole women and children, then sold them across continents for dragon coin. Even seasoned adventurers feared their networks.
The man continued, voice trembling.
“They came at dawn… They killed anyone who resisted. Then they… they rounded everyone else up. The women, the children… my daughter…”
He broke, clutching the grass.
“I heard them shouting orders. Something about buyers waiting in the forest. A caravan route. A shrine deep inside the woods where they regroup before moving out.”
Shunjiro’s jaw clenched.
“A shrine… do you know which direction?”
The man weakly lifted an arm and pointed toward the thickest stretch of trees, the part of the Whispering Woods where sunlight barely touched the ground.
“That way… Their leader was barking commands. Tall man, cold voice… He wore a cloak with strange markings on the sleeves. They dragged Aya off with the others.”
His voice cracked violently.
“Please… please save her… She’s all I have left.”
Itsuki knelt beside him, her hand gentle on his trembling arm.
“We will,” she said softly, the promise firm despite the quiver in her voice. “I swear we will.”
A few paces away, Illumina regrouped, the air around them heavy with anger and dread.
Tetsuo’s fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
“Slave raiders…” he growled. “I’ll crush every last one of those bastards.”
Itsuki’s grip tightened around her staff, her shoulders trembling.
“They took children… and women… I can’t believe people like that still exist.”
Shunjiro inhaled slowly, staring into the dark woods where the man had pointed.
“This isn’t a normal raid. Slave caravans are organized. Armed. And they travel with numbers.”
He swallowed hard.
“We could be walking into something far above our rank.”
Yoshinori shut his eyes briefly, jaw tightening.
“Aya is the same age as my sister,” he said quietly. “If this happened to her…”
He opened his eyes, sharp and resolute.
“I’m not turning away.”
Itsuki nodded immediately.
“Neither am I. That man needs us. Aya needs us.”
Tetsuo smacked a fist into his palm.
“Then what’s the holdup? Let’s go bust this caravan!”
Shunjiro looked at each of them, three people who trusted him completely, who were ready to risk their lives not for glory, not for a quest reward, but for a stranger’s child.
A warmth spread through his chest, mingled with fear… and pride.
“We don’t know how many raiders we’ll find,” Shunjiro warned. “They could be trained. Experienced. Armed with many weapons. This could be way, way above a rookie guild’s limit.”
Yoshinori stepped forward, eyes sharp.
“Then we adapt.”
Itsuki’s eyes burned with quiet resolve.
“That man believed in us. Aya has no one else right now.”
Tetsuo cracked his knuckles, grinning fiercely.
“So what’s the plan, leader?”
Shunjiro turned toward the dark stretch of forest, the unknown swallowing the horizon like a maw.
He took a breath. Then another.
“…We track them,” he said, voice firm with resolve he didn’t know he had until this moment. “And we bring Aya home.”
Shunjiro placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and gently guided him to sit against a tree.
“Stay here. Don’t move from this spot,” he said softly.
Tetsuo pulled a water bottle from his pack and set it beside him.
“Drink this. It’ll help you calm down.”
The man clutched the bottle with trembling fingers.
“P-Please… hurry…”
“We will,” Itsuki promised, her voice warm but trembling with urgency. “Just rest. We’ll bring her back.”
With that, Illumina turned and headed deeper into the forest, the air growing colder, thicker, and quieter with each step.
The cheerful chirping of birds faded. The rustling of leaves dulled. Even the wind felt hesitant here, as if the woods were holding their breath.
Shunjiro led the way, expression serious, steps careful.
After a moment, he stopped and addressed his team quietly.
“Listen… we need to be smart about this.”
The others looked at him, their faces lit only by slivers of sunlight slipping through the canopy.
Shunjiro continued, voice low but steady, “We’re dealing with slave raiders, not random bandits. These guys operate in gangs, trained, armed, and organized. We don’t know how many there are or how strong they are.”
Yoshinori nodded grimly.
“Agreed. Charging in blind is suicide.”
“So here’s the plan,” Shunjiro said. “We scout first. Assess their numbers, their strength, what they’re carrying, and how guarded the captives are.”
Tetsuo gave a determined grunt.
“And if they’re strong?”
Shunjiro’s jaw tightened.
“Then we fall back. Return to Dungeon Valley. Get Cal or a high-rank adventurer before the caravan moves. It’s better to swallow our pride than get ourselves killed.”
Itsuki swallowed and hugged her staff close.
“But… if we return, won’t we lose time?”
“Exactly,” Shunjiro replied. “That’s why we scout now.”
His eyes hardened.
“If they’re within our league… we strike immediately. If not, we get back up fast.”
Yoshinori crossed his arms, fully agreeing.
“Smart. Fastest way to keep the raiders from slipping away.”
Tetsuo punched a fist into his palm.
“So basically, we’re checking if we can beat their asses right now.”
Shunjiro exhaled through his nose.
“…Simplified, yes.”
Itsuki looked between them, her nervousness shifting into resolve.
“Then let’s not waste time. Aya might not have much.”
The Whispering Woods earned its name for a reason.
As Illumina pressed deeper beneath its canopy, the forest breeze threaded through the branches with soft, eerie murmurs. Whispers. Almost like voices. Almost like warnings.
The deeper they went, the thicker the trees grew, ancient trunks twisting together like barricades, moss hanging in veils, roots snaking across the ground.
It was the kind of place where shadows moved on their own and where losing your way was as simple as blinking.
But then Yoshinori spotted something in the soil.
“Tracks,” he murmured, crouching. “Cart wheels. Heavy load.”
Shunjiro’s stomach tightened.
“Slave raiders use carts to transport captives.”
Tetsuo sniffed the air and suddenly stiffened.
“…Smoke.”
All four froze.
Itsuki scanned the tree line, eyes wide.
“There!”
A rising column of gray-black smoke pierced through the treetops like a warning flare.
Then a scream. High. Sharp. Another. And another.
Shunjiro didn’t need to say a word.
They broke into a sprint.
The forest thinned abruptly, opening into a nightmare.
A village burned.
Houses were swallowed by roaring orange flames, collapsing in clouds of ash. Smoke coiled into the sky, mixing with the stench of charred wood and blood. People ran in panicked clusters, some trying to escape, others too injured to stand.
The crackle of fire mingled with cries for help.
And moving through the destruction, raiders.
Clad in dark cloaks and mismatched armor, blades dripping red, laughter echoing through the chaos like hyenas feasting. Their spiritual energy rippled through the air, heavy and malicious.
Yoshinori’s eyes sharpened.
“Caution. A few of them have a strong presence.”
The flames illuminated everything, the collapsing houses, the blood-stained dirt, and then, a wooden cart with iron bars and shackled villagers inside.
Women and children trembling.
Among them, a tiny girl curled around a dirt-stained doll, eyes swollen from crying.
“Aya…” Itsuki whispered, voice breaking.
Shunjiro’s chest tightened. His instincts begged him to charge in recklessly.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes and quietly assessed the threat, just like Kaito had drilled into him.
“I see eight guards posted around the perimeter,” he murmured, voice low but steady. “And one in the center, the tall one giving the orders. That’s their leader. Nine total.”
Yoshinori blinked, surprised that Shunjiro had already counted faster than he did.
Tetsuo frowned.
“So? There’s four of us.”
Shunjiro didn’t look away from the raiders.
“And they’re organized. That means formation. Coordination. Not amateurs.”
Yoshinori nodded slowly.
“Exactly. Those movements… they’re used to killing. I’m sensing B-rank aura signatures from at least a few of them.”
Itsuki stiffened.
“B-rank… that’s far above what we should even attempt.”
Tetsuo clenched his jaw.
“So what? We’re just supposed to sit back while they sell people like livestock?”
A woman’s distant scream echoed through the burning village.
Shunjiro exhaled slowly. The smell of smoke and fear filled his lungs. He forced himself to think, not react.
“No,” he said firmly. “We’re not standing by.”
The others turned to him.
“But we also don’t throw ourselves at them and die,” Shunjiro continued, eyes sharp. “If we go in unprepared, we make things worse. They could kill hostages. Or escape with Aya and the others.”
Itsuki’s hands shook around her staff but she nodded.
“So… what do we do?”
Shunjiro observed the raiders again, their spacing, their attention, their blind spots, the pattern of their patrols.
“When we move,” Shunjiro said quietly, “we move to win. That means we neutralize them fast, keep them disoriented, and prevent them from harming hostages.”
He pointed:
“Tetsuo, you create separation. A wall, a barricade, something to split their numbers.”
Tetsuo’s eyes widened slightly, impressed.
“Got it.”
“Yoshinori, you’ll draw the heavy hitters. You’re the fastest and strongest among us.”
Yoshinori smirked.
“Now that’s something I can do.”
Shunjiro turned to Itsuki last.
“You stay behind all of us. Your healing keeps us alive. Don’t take any unnecessary risks.”
Itsuki swallowed, but there was pride in her eyes.
“Understood.”
Shunjiro finally stepped forward, expression sharpening into one of quiet resolve.
“These people don’t have time. If we leave to get help, Aya might be gone forever. We stop them here. Now.”
They crept forward, sticking close to the charred remains of a collapsed home. The heat from the nearby flames scorched the air, making the scene waver like a mirage of hell.
Shunjiro could hear the raiders laughing, mocking the screams around them, completely unaware that four young adventurers were stalking them from the smoke.
Tetsuo inhaled through his nose, grounding himself.
Then he knelt, placed both thick hands against the dirt, and let his spiritual energy explode downward.
A deep vibration hummed beneath Illumina’s feet.
“Something’s moving!” a raider barked in the distance.
It was too late for them.
The ground split apart with a deafening crack as a massive stone wall tore upward, erupting between the raiders. Firelight stretched across its rugged surface, scattering embers into the sky.
Half the raiders staggered back, yelling in confusion as they lost sight of their leader and their captives. The other half scrambled on the opposite side, their formation shattered.
“What the?!”
“Where did that come from?!”
Shouts bled into chaos.
Tetsuo grinned.
“That’s our cue.”
He sprinted up the side of the wall with surprising speed for someone built like a boulder, feet gripping the uneven stone. Smoke curled around him as he reached the top, surveying the battlefield like a general on a vantage point.
His eyes locked on the raider leader.
A tall, cloaked man stood near the cart of prisoners, barking orders, demanding the men “secure the merchandise.”
Aya clung to her doll, trembling as the firelight flickered over her frightened eyes.
Tetsuo’s jaw clenched.
“Got you.”
He launched himself off the wall.
For an instant, he looked like a meteor of pure stone, fist pulled back, energy coating his arm in a rugged armor of earth and determination.
The raider leader sensed the impact too late.
Tetsuo’s punch connected with a thunderous crack, the force rippling outward in a shockwave that sent dust, ash, and burning embers spiraling through the air. The cloaked man was ripped off his feet, slammed into the dirt hard enough to carve a crater beneath him.
“Aaagh!”
Villagers screamed. Raiders froze mid-motion.
For a breathless second, the entire battlefield went still.
A monstrous silhouette, Tetsuo’s, stood over the fallen leader, steam rising from his stone-coated fist.
“Don’t touch them,” Tetsuo growled, voice shaking with fury. “Not one more.”
The raiders broke from their shock, shouting in panic:
“Where the hell did he come from?!”
“There’s more of them, find them!”
Shunjiro, Yoshinori, and Itsuki exchanged one final nod.
This was the opening Tetsuo had created.
Yoshinori didn’t waste a second.
The moment the stone wall rose and Tetsuo leapt into battle, he ran the opposite direction, drawing five raiders away with him. He wasn’t fleeing. He was isolating them.
Five B-rank raiders. Five killers who had survived dozens of battles. Five men who instantly recognized a threat in the quiet boy sprinting toward the burning houses.
They spread out, circling him like wolves.
“Cocky little brat,” one snarled, flipping a curved dagger in his palm.
“Take him fast,” another barked. “He’s tryin’ to pull us away.”
“We overwhelm him,” said the third, a giant man with a battle axe taller than Yoshinori. “On my mark.”
Yoshinori didn’t blink.
He took one breath. Settled into stance. Lightning tingled beneath his skin, but he didn’t activate it yet. Not until the opening appeared.
Five-on-one.
The axe wielder charged first, swinging wide enough to split Yoshinori clean in half. Yoshinori shifted one step left, the blade missing by inches.
His counterstrike was instantaneous. A jab to the man’s stomach, sharp, precise. The moment his knuckles touched flesh, a burst of lightning exploded outward, shocking the raider violently.
The man choked, stumbling back with smoke curling off his armor.
Another raider came from behind. Yoshinori sensed the wind shift, dropped low, and swept his leg out with perfect calculation. The man crashed onto his back.
The other three paused. Their eyes narrowed. He wasn’t just some kid. He was faster, sharper, and far more disciplined than they expected.
“…Take him seriously,” one muttered.
But Yoshinori felt it too: He needed space. He needed a moment to activate his technique. And they were refusing to give it to him.
They advanced again, spreading out to cut off any route of escape. Yoshinori analyzed everything, their stances, their breathing, the rhythm of their steps.
He needed an opening.
If they wouldn’t give him one… He’d make one.
“What’s he-?”
Twin bolts of lightning descended from the sky like divine spears. Two raiders were struck clean on their shoulders and backs, bodies convulsing violently as arcs of electricity danced across their armor. They didn’t fall, but they slowed.
And that was enough.
The other three reeled back in shock, giving Yoshinori the exact moment he needed.
Yoshinori grabbed his left wrist with his right hand. Electricity began to coil up his arm, thin at first, then thicker, louder, a swirling torrent of blue-white energy. His expression tightened. He could feel his reserves draining quickly.
If he messed this up, if he missed even once, he would be useless against the leader.
No. I only get one chance. This has to land.
Lightning surged, hotter than before. It gathered in his forearm. Then extended past his hand, crackling, roaring, shaping itself into a blade of pure lightning. The air hummed. The ground trembled.
The raiders froze, suddenly unsure.
Yoshinori narrowed his eyes.
“Time’s up.”
The clock was ticking now, and Yoshinori Raikawa was finally fighting at full power.
He then moved, a blur of lightning and intention. His blade of pure electricity roared as he closed the distance between himself and the dagger-wielding raider. The man barely had time to raise his weapon before Yoshinori’s arm cleaved downward, the lightning blade cutting through the raider’s chestplate like it was wet parchment. The metal split, sizzled, then vaporized along the edges as lightning carved into flesh beneath.
The raider convulsed violently, limbs snapping stiff from the voltage coursing through his veins. He hit the ground with a choked gasp, eyes rolling back.
Yoshinori had held back, out of necessity, not mercy. Even so, the man wouldn’t be getting up again.
He didn’t have time to breathe before another raider swung in from the right, a wide, destructive horizontal strike meant to cut Yoshinori in half. Yoshinori twisted away, sparks trailing behind him. But he could feel it: His lightning blade was draining fast. He couldn’t afford to be pushed onto the defensive.
The raider pressed forward relentlessly, blows heavy enough to crack bone with each miss. Yoshinori parried once, barely, feeling the shock ripple through his arm.
Too slow. Too heavy. He’ll corner me if I keep this up.
So he pivoted hard, boots skidding through dirt and ash, and leapt backward. The raider lunged. Yoshinori swung his arm in a clean arc through the air. A crescent of electric energy ripped through the space between them, sizzling violently. The raider didn’t even have time to raise his sword. The slash slammed into his chestplate, burning straight through the steel and carving a blistered wound across his torso.
The raider dropped, screaming briefly before collapsing, blood splattering across the smoldering ground.
Yoshinori’s gaze darkened. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t flinch. There was no remorse. These weren’t men. Not in Yoshinori’s eyes. Not after seeing the burning homes. Not after hearing the kidnapped children cry. Not after seeing Aya curled in that cage, clutching her doll like it was all she had left in the world.
People who do this… People who sell human beings like livestock… People who destroy families without blinking…
His teeth clenched.
“You’re not people. You’re monsters.”
The crackle of his lightning reflected the storm inside him.
Three raiders remained. Three who now stared at him with a mix of terror and fury as the blue glow from Yoshinori’s blade illuminated the flames around them. And Yoshinori, calm yet burning, lowered his stance.
“Come on, then.”
His voice cut through the firelight like a blade.
“Let me put you down.”
﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
On the other side of the stone wall Tetsuo had created, Shunjiro and Itsuki stood alone before three raiders. Flames crackled behind them, smoke curling into the air, painting the clearing in harsh orange light.
One raider raised a battered sword and scoffed at the sight of the two teens.
“Only two kids? Please. You brats must have a death wish.”
Shunjiro didn’t bother answering. He simply shifted his footing forward, placing himself between the raiders and Itsuki. Behind him, Itsuki lifted her staff. A soft light bloomed at the tip.
The “buff.”
Warmth surged into Shunjiro’s spine, spiraling through his limbs. His spiritual energy didn’t burst outward, it focused. With Itsuki’s support, Shunjiro’s body sharpened instinctively, his footsteps lighter, his reactions faster, his strikes cleaner. He wasn’t channeling spiritual energy into his fists; instead, his body itself was moving with heightened precision, guided by something he wasn’t controlling.
One of the raiders, a hulking, overweight man gripping a massive wooden club let out a gravelly laugh.
“You think your bare hands can match me, kid?!”
Shunjiro narrowed his eyes.
The giant swung. The club cut a violent arc through the air, carrying enough force to shatter ribs cleanly. Shunjiro lunged backward, feeling the wind of the strike graze his hair.
Too fast for his size… if that hit me, I’d be coughing blood.
The raider hauled the club up again. Shunjiro darted in. A quick jab to the ribs forced the man a step back, but the brute recovered too quickly, swinging a wild backhand that clipped Shunjiro’s shoulder. Pain shot through him, teeth gritting.
But he didn’t stop.
He ducked under the next attack and slammed his elbow into the raider’s jaw. The brute staggered. Shunjiro followed with an uppercut powered by the amplified precision in his muscles. His fist snapped the man’s head back, lifting him briefly off the ground before he hit the dirt with a thunderous crash.
Shunjiro pivoted just in time to see the next raider, a lean man with a jagged dagger, charging straight at him.
“Shunjiro!” Itsuki cried from behind, her hands glowing, ready to heal.
The dagger thrust came fast. Shunjiro caught the raider’s wrist mid-strike, muscles tense, twisting the arm sharply until the weapon clattered to the ground. The raider spat out a curse and kicked Shunjiro’s thigh, nearly buckling his leg under him. Shunjiro grunted, grabbed the man by the collar, and wrenched him sideways, disorienting him. A knee drove cleanly into the raider’s stomach, folding him over. Then a punch to the temple, clean and brutal, dropped him unconscious.
Breathing harder now, Shunjiro turned to the final raider.
This one was wiry, hunched, gripping a battered battle-axe. His pupils were wide with fear, his knuckles trembling.
“H…how?” he stammered. “You’re just a kid.”
Shunjiro felt the burn of fatigue settling in his arms. His breath hitched. His body was screaming at him. But he forced a confident smirk.
“Try me.”
The raider roared and swung the axe in a vicious horizontal sweep. Shunjiro dropped low, felt the blade whistle past his ear and retaliated with a flurry of jabs to the man’s abdomen. The raider blocked one with the haft of his axe, but the second punch connected, forcing him back. Shunjiro didn’t let up. A final uppercut crashed into the raider’s jaw. A burst of white spiritual energy erupted from Shunjiro’s fist, small, uncontrolled, but powerful enough to amplify the blow well beyond human strength.
The raider flew backward, hitting the ground hard. He wheezed once. Then went still.
Shunjiro stood there, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his temples. A thin line of blood trailed from a shallow cut on his arm where the dagger had grazed him.
Itsuki rushed forward.
“Shunjiro, your arm!” she cried, already lifting her glowing hands.
“I’m fine,” he rasped, though his trembling limbs betrayed him as he leaned against her healing warmth.
She exhaled shakily. Relief washed over her expression.
“That was… intense,” she whispered. “A single mistake could’ve ended you.”
Shunjiro huffed a breathless laugh.
“Yeah… I noticed.”
Itsuki pressed her hands gently against his injury, light flowing through her palms.
“Let me heal this. Please. We still have bigger problems to worry about.”
Shunjiro dipped his head.
“Thanks. And… looks like we punched far above our rank today.”
Itsuki smiled softly.
“You fought like someone far beyond F rank.”
Shunjiro met her eyes for a moment, grateful, tired, but fiercely determined.
“Good,” he murmured. “Because those villagers still need us.”
Tetsuo squared his stance, dust and embers swirling around his feet as the leader pushed himself upright.
The man rose slowly, cracking his neck to the side. His lime-green eyes gleamed with a predatory sharpness, and the firelight made the deep wrinkles on his face look even more sinister. Scruffy gray hair hung over his brow, matted with sweat and soot. Blood dripped lazily from the corner of his mouth, but he wiped it away with the back of his hand like it was nothing more than spit.
He looked Tetsuo up and down, a disdainful grin spreading across his battered face.
“So…” he rasped. “Why does a brat like you think a bunch of low-ranking nobodies can take me on?”
Tetsuo cracked his neck right back, mirroring the motion. His expression didn’t falter.
“Stop yappin’,” he said. “You’re wasting time. My friends are wiping out your buddies right now. Once they’re done, they’re coming here. Then it’s four versus one.”
The leader blinked once, then barked a laugh, low and mocking.
“Four, huh?” He flashed a crooked smile. “Thanks for the information.”
He spread his feet, spiritual pressure leaking from him like smoke.
“Makes this easier. I’ll butcher you first… then I’ll hunt down the rest of your little team one by one.”
Tetsuo’s lips curled into a feral grin.
“Oh yeah?”
He lifted his fists, stone already creeping up his arms like armor.
“Bring it, you shitty old man.”
A shockwave of tension snapped through the burning village as the two launched toward each other.
Tetsuo’s stone-coated fist collided with the man’s open palm, the impact sending a ripple of pressure through the burning village. Sparks scattered. Dust lifted. Neither budged.
Then the leader’s free hand erupted in a burst of sickly green smoke, the cloud swirling around his knuckles like venom made visible.
Tetsuo jerked back instinctively, but his mind raced.
What the hell is that?
He didn’t get to finish the thought.
With a stomp, he forced his spiritual energy into the ground.
A massive stone spike erupted behind the raider, lancing upward like a spear. The man twisted at the last second, but not fast enough. The spike grazed his side, tearing clean through his coat. Blood dripped onto the stones.
The raider touched the wound, staring at the red smear on his fingers. A grin curled across his lips.
“So you can shape the battlefield too…” he muttered. “Useful. Annoying. Makes killing you more entertaining.”
Tetsuo’s eyes narrowed. He scanned the air, expecting the green smoke to linger.
But it was gone. Completely gone.
Before he could analyze it further, the raider snapped his fingers and sprinted toward him.
Tetsuo reacted instantly.
“Get over here, old man!”
He burst forward, stones erupting under his feet for momentum. Their fists clashed again. Then again. Each impact cracked the ground beneath them.
The raider hissed between blows.
“Damned kid… these punches hurt.”
He staggered back, shaking out his bruised knuckles.
Tetsuo didn’t let him breathe. He stomped and thrust his arm forward, sending stone bursts that forced the leader to dodge closer, right into Tetsuo’s striking range again.
“Persistent little brat,” the man spat.
“Damn right I am,” Tetsuo grinned ferociously. “Quit running.”
But the raider suddenly stopped retreating.
His eyes flicked toward the slave cart, toward the cluster of terrified women and children, including Aya, cowering behind the bars. He smirked.
“Leave now,” he said coldly, “or I start killing everyone in that cart. I’ll make it slow.”
Tetsuo’s expression sharpened. The air around him thickened.
Without a word, he slammed his palms together.
A massive stone dome erupted around the cart, sealing the captives inside a protective barrier thick as fortress walls. Firelight danced over its smooth surface.
Tetsuo pointed at the man, fury blazing in his chest.
“Try it now,” he growled. “Coward.”
The raider’s grin vanished. His eyes glowed brighter, sickening neon green.
“Fine then,” he hissed. “You die first.”
His body pulsed with power, and a thick green cloud blasted outward.
Tetsuo surged forward at the same time and inhaled the smoke full-force.
He instantly coughed, stumbled, gripping his chest. His lungs felt like they were burning from the inside out. His knees buckled.
The raider’s laughter cut through the chaos like a blade.
“That’s right,” he said proudly, “Breathe it in. Poison straight from my spiritual core. You’ll die within minutes.”
Tetsuo’s vision blurred. The world tilted. Every instinct screamed at him to fall.
He spat blood onto the ground instead. Then smirked through clenched teeth.
“Then I’ll kill you in seconds,” he rasped. “Before it even kicks in.”
The raider’s grin widened.
“Oh, no. No, you won’t.”
His green eyes flashed.
“You won’t lay another finger on me.”
From behind the collapsing stone wall, Shunjiro and Itsuki burst into the clearing, skidding to a halt the moment they saw Tetsuo swaying on his feet.
His breathing was ragged, his skin pale, sweat dripping down his temples.
“Tetsuo!” Itsuki cried, staff already glowing. “Hold on, I’ll heal-”
Before she could step forward,
The raider whipped a hand toward them and a fresh cloud of poisonous green smoke exploded outward.
“Back!” Shunjiro yelled. He grabbed Itsuki and leapt back instinctively. The smoke hit the dirt where they’d been standing, leaving it hissing and turning black.
Itsuki’s heart hammered.
Shunjiro landed beside Tetsuo, crouching to steady him.
“Tetsuo, what is going on with this guy?”
Tetsuo coughed violently, gripping the ground to stay upright.
“H-he’s… fragile,” Tetsuo wheezed, forcing a grin through the pain. “Can’t take… heavy hits. That’s why he keeps running. But his poison, his smoke, it’ll kill you if you breathe it. Burns… like hell.”
He could barely speak. Every word shook.
“Don’t get hit,” Tetsuo rasped. “Seriously.”
The raider snickered, his lime-green eyes glowing brighter with every second.
“Oho? Reinforcements. How cute. I wonder what kind of tricks you two might have.”
Itsuki gripped her staff defensively.
Shunjiro stepped forward, eyes narrowing.
“I don’t have tricks,” Shunjiro said.
The raider blinked once. Then smirked.
“Oh really? Then you die first.”
But Shunjiro continued, voice steady.
“Before we fight… I want to know one thing.”
The raider’s smirk faltered into faint annoyance.
Shunjiro’s tone dropped lower.
“Why do you do this? Why raid villages? Why kidnap women and children? Why tear families apart?”
The raider froze, not expecting the question. His expression hardened like a scar.
“…I have to make a living somehow.”
“That’s your excuse?” Shunjiro asked quietly. “Is this really the right way to live?”
The raider’s eyebrow twitched.
“What the hell do you know?” he snarled, voice rising. “You’re just a brat. Don’t preach to me about right or wrong.”
He jabbed a finger toward the burning homes.
“This world is broken. Corrupted. Filthy. And it’s way too far gone to fix.”
He stepped forward, voice dropping into a grim murmur.
“When a world is doomed, good deeds don’t matter. Not when the goddess eventually strikes this cursed land down. Nothing we do matters. Not mercy. Not kindness. Nothing.”
Shunjiro stared at him, not with anger, but with something far more piercing.
“Do you have a family?” he asked.
The raider’s breath hitched.
“…What?”
“You said nothing matters,” Shunjiro continued. “So what about your family? Would you tell them that too?”
The man’s face twitched violently.
In a split second, something cracked behind his expression. His eyes widened, not with rage, but with recognition. With memory. With something he had buried so deep he thought it had rotted away.
Images flashed through his mind:
A little girl with dark hair and lime-green eyes smiling up at him. Small hands tugging on his sleeve. A soft voice calling him “Papa.” His wife’s warm laugh. Meals around a wooden table. A promise he once made to protect them.
And then:
Illness. Poverty. Bandits he once fought beside turning on him. Losing everything. A moment of weakness. Joining the raiders because he had nowhere left to go.
And then, the faces of the girls he had dragged from villages. Girls screaming. Crying. Begging. Girls the same age as his daughter.
His stomach twisted violently.
His breathing hitched.
“What… did you just say…?” he whispered.
Shunjiro didn’t repeat himself. He didn’t need to.
Because the raider’s mind was already spiraling. He saw Aya’s face terrified in the cart. He saw his daughter in Aya, crying as she was held captive. He saw himself, not as a man surviving a harsh world, but as the monster he had become.
His fingers trembled.
“No… no, no, no-” he muttered, stumbling backward. “I’m… I’m not… I didn’t…”
Green smoke flickered weakly from his hands as his spiritual focus wavered.
Shunjiro watched him quietly.
Itsuki placed a hand over her mouth, heart aching.
Even Tetsuo, half-conscious, stared with wide eyes.
And the raider, once smirking, cold, collected was now shaking. Because for the first time in years…
He remembered that he had once been human.
He remembered that he had once been a father.
And that crushed him far more painfully than any punch could.
The fire crackled behind him. Villagers cried. His men were being beaten by children. And this boy, this stupid F-rank brat, had destroyed him with one question.
His knees buckled.
“…My daughter,” he whispered, voice cracking. “I… I had a daughter…”
Shunjiro didn’t speak.
The man sank to one knee, grabbing his head as memories and guilt tore into him like claws. His breathing sharpened into wheezes. His green smoke flickered erratically.
And for a moment, the raider wasn’t a villain.
He was a broken man who had lost everything, who made every wrong choice, and who finally saw what he had become.
The forest burned behind them.
And in that moment of weakness… Something inside the man snapped.
What began as grief twisted, contorted into something far more malignant. His aura, once a faint sickly green, darkened instantly, as though ink spilled into water. The ground trembled beneath his feet. Black veins of spiritual pressure spider-webbed through the dirt, pulsing with an unholy rhythm. Dark tendrils coiled around his arms and shoulders like living shadows, crawling up his neck, wrapping around his jaw.
His eyes, once human, flared with a feral, empty light.
Itsuki gasped and stumbled back.
Shunjiro’s breath caught in his throat.
Tetsuo, still poisoned, could only stare in horror.
The man’s voice gurgled in his throat as his aura thickened into a choking fog.
“…what… is… happening… to me…”
His words bent and cracked, becoming less human with each syllable.
But the answer came from someone else entirely.
Across the burning village, Yoshinori was in the middle of finishing off the last raider he’d been fighting. He had his lightning blade raised, ready to strike and then he felt it.
A wave of spiritual pressure hit him like a hammer.
He froze, head whipping toward the center of the village. There, just beyond the flames he saw the leader’s aura erupting into darkness.
“…No,” he whispered.
His father’s voice echoed in his memory:
“Corruption takes root when negative emotion overwhelms the spirit. Anger, grief, hatred, if left unchecked, your spiritual energy warps with it. And once corruption takes hold… you stop being yourself.”
Corrupted beings didn’t think. Didn’t reason. Didn’t feel. They became pure instinct, pure violence, beasts wearing human skin.
Yoshinori’s jaw clenched.
“Dammit-”
The raider in front of him lunged, sword raised. Yoshinori didn’t hesitate. He spun, sliced downward with the lightning blade, and the man collapsed instantly, unconscious but breathing. Yoshinori didn’t waste a second sparing him another glance. He dispelled the lightning blade and sprinted toward the others, heart pounding.
If the leader tips fully into corruption… Shunjiro, Itsuki, and Tetsuo won’t stand a chance.
He could already hear the corrupted man’s screams warping into guttural roars. Could already feel the ground vibrating with the unstable energy. Could already see the shadows twisting unnaturally around the sky.
Yoshinori’s eyes narrowed with fierce focus.
I have to get there before it’s too late.
He sprinted through the burning debris, boots skidding across scorched dirt as he reached his friends.
“He’s corrupted!” he shouted, breath sharp and urgent. “He’s gone, if the darkness fully takes him, we won’t just lose the fight. We’ll die.”
Shunjiro and Tetsuo exchanged wide-eyed looks. Corruption was a word they’d never heard before today… but the terror in Yoshinori’s voice told them everything.
Tetsuo staggered, clutching his stomach as poison threatened to drop him.
“S-So we gotta… beat the crap outta him before he finishes turning?”
“Exactly,” Yoshinori said, eyes narrowing. “Once corruption takes full root, he becomes unstoppable. A mindless killing machine. We cannot let that happen.”
Shunjiro nodded, heart pounding.
“Then let’s do this fast.”
The four formed up instinctively.
The raider now hunched like a beast, his body twisting under the weight of shadowy tendrils. Each violent pulse of dark energy carved craters into the earth around him. His breath came out in ragged, monstrous snarls.
Then a lash of corrupted energy erupted outward, shattering the ground and splintering nearby trees. The shockwave forced the group to scatter.
Itsuki cried out as she dodged a whipping tendril of darkness.
“Be careful! One hit from that and-”
“I know!” Shunjiro shouted, barely rolling away from a burst that scorched the soil behind him.
Tetsuo slammed his palms into the dirt, stone bursting upward to block another flare but the corruption ate through the rock like acid, dissolving it in seconds.
Yoshinori grit his teeth.
“We’re running out of time.”
He planted his feet, lightning sparking violently across his arms. He hated using so much energy after the last fight. But they needed power to cut through this.
The sky responded. Electricity split the air with a deafening crack as Yoshinori’s arm was swallowed in a roaring blade of pure lightning, brighter and hotter than any he’d formed today.
“I’ll carve through him before the corruption shields him completely. Cover me!”
Shunjiro and Tetsuo surged forward, trying to draw the raiders attention. Itsuki darted between them, ready to heal or shield at a moment’s notice.
The raider roared and slammed both hands down. A maelstrom of dark energy exploded outward. Tetsuo was knocked off his feet. Shunjiro shielded Itsuki with his body. The air itself seemed to distort, thick with poisonous corruption.
Yoshinori didn’t hesitate. He lunged straight into the storm.
The corrupted raider turned toward him, shadows writhing and expanding.
“Get back, Yoshi!!” Shunjiro shouted.
But it was too late.
The raider exhaled a colossal cloud of poison, thick and virulent, dark green gas swirling like a living beast around Yoshinori. Yoshinori shut his eyes, held his breath, and charged through anyway. He had one chance. One window. One heartbeat.
He swung his lightning blade down, aiming to cleave through the raider’s corrupted chest…
But the darkness… swallowed the light.
The lightning blade fizzled the moment it touched the swirling tendrils. The darkness absorbed his strike, snuffing out the energy like blowing out a candle.
Yoshinori’s eyes widened.
“No…!”
The blade died in his hand.
The raider’s corrupted aura surged in retaliation. A lash of energy struck Yoshinori square in the chest and sent him flying. He hit the dirt hard, rolling across broken earth. Blood burst from his mouth as he tried to breathe, his lungs burning from both the impact and the poison he’d inhaled despite his efforts.
He wiped the blood from his lips with a trembling hand.
“D-Dammit…” he rasped.
“My… energy’s gone…”
He looked up, vision swimming.
The raider towered over the group, corruption pulsing wildly now moments away from losing the last thread of humanity he had left.
Shunjiro stared at Yoshinori, heart in his throat. If Yoshinori, their strongest fighter was down… Then this next moment might decide whether any of them lived long enough to see the sky again.
Itsuki skidded across the dirt the second Yoshinori hit the ground.
“Yoshinori!”
She dropped to her knees, hands glowing with frantic, trembling light. Warmth rushed into his lungs, clearing the poison clouding his breathing, sealing the internal damage but even with her healing, Yoshinori’s body shook violently.
He had burned through everything.
“It’s okay… just stay with me,” she whispered, voice cracking.
Across the burning village square, two figures remained standing between the corrupted raider and everyone else: Shunjiro and Tetsuo.
Tetsuo was pale, sweating, breath shallow. The poison gnawed at him like fire in his veins.
Shunjiro… Shunjiro was shaking for a different reason entirely.
The corrupted raider staggered, clutching his head as if something inside was clawing to escape.
“Graaah!! Stop!! Get out of my head!”
He slammed his fists into the ground, dark tendrils burst out like wild serpents.
Yoshinori’s eyes snapped wide.
“You have to move now!!”
Shunjiro’s instincts ignited before his brain could think. His spiritual energy burst outward wrapping around his body like a raging comet.
But mixed within that radiant surge… shadows crawled. Dark tendrils swirled around him, drawn to his unstable aura, contaminating the edges of his light. Fear. Panic. Desperation. All of it twisted inside him, stirring powers he didn’t understand.
The corrupted raider threw out another massive cloud of poison, thick, suffocating, deadly.
Tetsuo shouted, choking on his own blood, “Shun- Don’t”
But Shunjiro charged straight through it.
The poison tore into his lungs instantly. His throat burned, blood filled his mouth. But he didn’t stop. The ground trembled beneath his sprint. He reached the raider in an instant. For one heartbeat, the dark tendrils wrapped around Shunjiro’s arm.
And then Shunjiro’s fist collided with the raider’s chest with earth-shattering force. The corrupted man was launched like a stone from a slingshot, smashing into the stone well hard enough to crack the structure.
Shunjiro collapsed to his knees.
“Ghh!”
Blood poured from his lips, staining the dirt beneath him. His vision flickered, doubled, warped.
Tetsuo, breathing like a dying man, forced himself upright one last time.
“Not… Done…Yet!”
He slammed both fists into the ground. Sharp, dense stone shards erupted from the earth and launched toward the fallen raider like bullets. They hit the raider’s chest, breaking ribs, tearing skin, forcing him back down before he could rise.
But the strain was too much. Tetsuo’s stone aura flickered… and then shattered.
He fell to his knees. His hands shook uncontrollably. His breathing was barely audible.
“Damn… I’m empty…” he whispered, collapsing forward, catching himself with trembling arms.
Itsuki, still healing Yoshinori, watched helplessly, tears brimming. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t heal them. All she could do was pour everything she had into keeping Yoshinori alive.
“Please… please don’t die,” she whispered through tears. “Not now…”
Shunjiro forced himself to look up. Through the blur of blood and pain, he saw it.
The raider… The corrupted monster…
He was standing.
Dark energy oozed from his wounds like liquid shadow. His eyes were no longer human, only solid black spheres of hatred.
Shunjiro’s heart plummeted.
“We… we hit him with everything…” he muttered weakly.
The raider took another step.
Illumina had nothing left.
Tetsuo couldn’t stand. Yoshinori couldn’t fight. Itsuki couldn’t stop healing long enough to move. And Shunjiro: He was drowning in poison and blood… barely conscious.
This was the moment they understood:
They were out of strength. Out of time. Out of hope.
The corrupted raider lifted his arm, dark energy spiraling like a guillotine.
This was it.
This was where Illumina died.