"Hey—what the hell is this place?!" Yeaga groaned, still draped across Daigo's back like a very confused, very unwilling backpack.
"Why are you carrying me again?! Put me down, dude!"
"You were snoring," Daigo replied casually. "Thought you died. Was about to toss you in the river and mourn you for like… thirty seconds, max."
Yeaga flailed and stumbled off with a thud. "Ow—okay, wow. That explains the neck pain. Did you knock me out?"
Daigo stretched. "With love."
"You're unwell."
"I know."
Yeaga rubbed his temple, still half-dazed. "I was… crying? Dreaming? I remember something stabbing my neck—then black."
"Sounds like trauma," Ishigo said from a few feet away, not even looking up from the moss-covered stones around them. "You okay?"
"No," Yeaga muttered. "But I guess we're all just pretending we are."
They stood in a massive forest, sunlight bleeding through tall trees. The place was peaceful, unnervingly quiet—like someone had muted the world. Wind rustled the leaves just enough to remind them time was still moving.
Ishigo was the first to actually acknowledge the vibe. "Okay, not gonna lie… this place slaps."
"Yeah…" Daigo nodded, crouching by a carved stone. "These markers feel… intentional. Like each one's got a story."
"Like a graveyard?"
"No," Daigo said slowly. "Like… a welcome mat. For survivors."
Then—BONK.
Daigo smacked into an invisible wall and nearly ate dirt. "OW! Yo, what the hell?!"
A shimmer of blue light sparked midair. Suddenly, a sleek holographic interface unfolded like a window booting up in the sky.
████████████████████████████████████
> SYSTEM LOG: IDENTIFIED_0012 – ACCESS: GAMMA-4
> SUBJECT: YEAGA, KATSUREI [ID#YT-012]
> STATUS: ACTIVE | POWER UNLOCKED
> CLASS: TWIN SIASH | TYPE: SOUL-LINKED KATANA
> THREAT LEVEL: UNDER EVALUATION
> STABILITY INDEX: 89% (FLUCTUATING)
> ACTIVATION: FLAME SATURATION COMPLETE [SHIKIBAN LV.3]
> COMMAND UNLOCKED: TWIN SLASH
> EMOTIONAL SYNC: NOT REQUIRED
> NOTES: SYSTEM BYPASSES PSYCHOLOGICAL BOND CHAINS
████████████████████████████████████
Yeaga blinked. "Wait—what?! That's… me?!"
Daigo whistled. "Yo, you unlocked your power while unconscious? Who the hell gets a passive skill tree unlock while sleeping?!"
"I don't know how it happened!" Yeaga said, staring at the data. "One day, the sword just started glowing after I fought some flame-type Shikiban."
"And it didn't even require emotional trauma?" Ishigo muttered. "Man. I bled for months before I unlocked Blue Flame. You just… got yours like it was a pre-order bonus."
Yeaga frowned. "Kinda lame, right? Like… where's the cinematic backstory? The rain? The violin? The slow pan-in on my screaming face?"
"Bro, not everyone gets a sad violin." Daigo clapped his back. "Some people just get surprise DLC."
"I wanted something like your wolf spirit…" Yeaga mumbled. "Or Ishigo's blue timefire whatever."
"You can still be mysterious," Ishigo said. "Just squint a lot and refuse to answer direct questions."
Daigo suddenly pointed. "Yo, hold up—Reika's here!"
Across the clearing, Reika walked calmly through the light-drenched trees, katana in hand. She didn't wave. She didn't blink. She looked like a ghost that got promoted.
Daigo raised a hand to call out—
CRACK.
A sound like thunder and bones breaking at the same time.
A fresh human hand embedded itself in a nearby stone wall. Blood still dripping.
Then—screaming.
Daigo spun. "Ishigo?!"
Ishigo collapsed to one knee, gasping. His entire left arm was gone. Just gone. Blood sprayed across the grass like a fountain.
Yeaga's stomach dropped. "Oh my god—Ishigo—!"
Behind the stone, something crawled out.
Not a man.
A Shikiban—black, slick eyes. Tattered kimono. Short-cropped hair. And a smile like it had been carved onto his face with a broken spoon.
"I love human body parts," the creature hissed. "Hands taste better."
Then he licked the severed arm like it was soup.
Before anyone could scream again, another log blinked into view—this one red. Urgent.
████████████████████████████████████
> EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: OMEGA-RED
> SUBJECT: ISHIGO NAKANO [ID#SX-014]
> STATUS: CRITICAL – LIMB SEVERED (LEFT)
> BLOOD LOSS: 97% | TIME TO DEATH: <5.00 SEC
> AUTO-RESPONSE: BLUE FLAME STAGE ONE
> ▸ BLEED CONTROL: ACTIVE
> ▸ NEURAL LINK: STABILIZING
> ▸ PAIN SUPPRESSION: PARTIAL
> ▸ ENERGY USED: 08%
> REGENERATION MODULE: ONLINE
> ▸ SYNTHESIS: 94%
> ▸ FUNCTIONALITY: 98.7%
> ▸ INTEGRITY: GREEN-LINE
> STATUS: LIMB RESTORATION COMPLETE
> SYSTEM: STANDBY | CORE STABLE
████████████████████████████████████
"I got it!" Ishigo shouted, his hand slamming to the dirt. Blue fire ignited from his palm—rushing up to seal the gushing wound.
Steam hissed from the heat. He gritted his teeth, but stayed conscious.
The flames wrapped around the stump—then began building something new.
Not cloth. Not tech.
A new hand.
Yeaga watched, frozen. "You're… you're regrowing a whole ass limb."
"That's so messed up," Daigo muttered. "Like—cool—but also extremely illegal-looking."
In under ten seconds, the process finished. Ishigo flexed his brand-new hand.
"Feels weird," he said. "Like it's made of fire and regret."
"Honestly, same," Yeaga whispered.
Then another voice chimed in.
"Not bad…"
They all turned.
Another Shikiban stepped forward. This one wore a cloak of stitched leather, and had a blindfold across its face. Despite that—it smiled. Calm. Too calm.
"Now," it said, cracking its knuckles. "Let's dance."