The moment Yasuke’s cube fred, the world changed.

  “Enenra.”

  Thick, swirling bck smoke erupted from his body, stretching its reach like a living, breathing entity.

  The arena floor vanished under the rolling smog, visibility colpsing into a mere haze of shifting shadows.

  And just like that—

  Everything fell apart.

  Watari watched the others.

  They had no time to think.

  No chance to run.

  One of the Yoriki—a brawler armed with spiked knuckles—made the first move, charging straight into the smoke, fists glowing with a faint Tamashkii aura.

  “I’ll kill you and finally get my form!”

  He never even touched Yasuke.

  From within the bck fog, a hand formed.

  A single palm—pressed against the Yoriki’s face.

  A heartbeat of silence.

  Then—

  CRACK.

  The skull imploded.

  Blood sprayed through the thickened air.

  The body colpsed.

  Another recruit tried to bolt, but Yasuke was already waiting.

  The smoke rushed past him—no, through him—and suddenly, Yasuke’s form reassembled directlyin the runner’s path.

  The Yoriki’s eyes widened in horror.

  A low chop to the throat.

  The man’s body spasmed violently.

  Neck broken.

  He hit the ground hard.

  Yasuke barely even gnced at him.

  Another dead.

  Watari gritted his teeth.

  The test was a sughter.

  He knew it.

  But he wasn’t running.

  He couldn’t.

  The st remaining recruit—a twin-swordsman—moved in from the left.

  Watari moved in from the right.

  They attacked simultaneously.

  Two bdes sshed through nothing.

  The smoke parted—then reformed behind the swordsman.

  Watari’s eyes widened.

  No—

  Yasuke materialized in an instant, gripped the swordsman’s weapon—

  And sliced his head clean off.

  Blood gushed.

  The headless body crumpled.

  Yasuke chuckled, dropping the bloody weapon.

  And then—

  There was one.

  Watari’s fingers twitched toward his bracelet.

  “Take Form—Takeminakata!”

  A thunderous pulse of energy roared to life as the greatsword manifested in his hands.

  The weight was familiar, grounding.

  And then—

  He moved.

  SLASH—

  His bde sliced through the fog.

  Again—

  Another miss.

  Yasuke reappeared behind him and buried a fist into his ribs.

  CRACK.

  Pain exploded through Watari’s body.

  He staggered.

  This wasn’t some shadow beast.

  This was a real enemy—one of the top to be exact.

  Another blow—

  A sharp elbow to the back of his skull.

  Watari’s vision blurred.

  He gritted his teeth, swinging his sword blindly.

  This time—

  He hit something.

  For a split second, Yasuke’s smoke flickered—

  But then the blow went straight through.

  And Yasuke grinned.

  “For sure better than the rest, but still oh so weak.”

  He drove his knee into Watari’s gut.

  CRACK.

  Watari felt something snap.

  The force sent him crashing into the walls of the arena.

  The crowd erupted.

  Blood trickled from Watari’s mouth.

  His limbs shook.

  For the first time—

  For the first time since this all began—

  He realized he might actually lose.

  Yasuke strolled toward him, too casual.

  “You really thought you were something, huh?”

  His voice was mocking, almost zy.

  Watari forced himself to move.

  His fingers dug into the dirt, muscles screaming, lungs burning.

  “Let me ask you something.”

  Yasuke’s grin widened.

  “If I stepped into that little orphanage of yours…”

  Watari’s breath hitched.

  His fingers twitched against the ground.

  He could see them—

  Tiny hands grasping at his sleeves, their ughter echoing in his ears.

  A pce he swore to protect.

  “One stomp. Just one.”

  Yasuke pressed his foot into the ground, slowly.

  “How many of those kids do you think would survive?”

  Silence.

  Watari couldn’t breathe.

  His chest tightened.

  How does Yasuke know about the orphanage?

  Why is he taunting him like this?

  The rage in his stomach curdled into something violent, something feral.

  “Shut your mouth!”

  His fingers dug into the ground.

  “Imagine them.”

  Yasuke’s voice was poison.

  “Watching as I make them disappear—just like this.”

  He snapped his fingers.

  Something snapped inside Watari.

  The cube on his bracelet pulsed.

  Then—

  It cracked.

  Not literally—

  But the energy inside fractured outward, no longer contained by its vessel.

  The air shifted.

  A wave of raw power burst from Watari’s body—

  Wild, unstable, burning.

  Yasuke tilted his head.

  “Oh?”

  From the stands, Yumi saw it immediately.

  Her eyes widened.

  “Watari! Calm the hell down!”

  Her voice cut through the haze.

  Watari’s vision slowly refocused.

  He thought back to all the times so far.

  What would Ren do?

  His pulse still roared, but he could see clearly.

  Yasuke was baiting him.

  Trying to make him lose control.

  No.

  He refused.

  Watari exhaled.

  Instead of letting the energy explode outward, he pulled it back in.

  The wild, reckless surge of power settled.

  The arena felt smaller.

  Every breath, every movement—it all slowed in his mind.

  He wasn’t just fast anymore.

  He was precise.

  Yasuke’s smoke flickered—

  An opening.

  Watari didn’t lunge in with a blind ssh.

  He stepped in, timed his movements.

  Feint. Sidestep. Strike.

  The aura around his fist surged as he swung—

  Not where Yasuke was—

  But where he was going to be.

  For the first time, he truly commanded it.

  No sword.

  No Take Form.

  Just him and the aura of Takeminakata itself surrounding him.

  Watari cracked his knuckles.

  Yasuke grinned.

  “Oh, don’t tell me you were holding back.”

  The crowd roared in excitement.

  For the first time since the fight began, Yasuke actually looked interested.

  Watari’s body tensed as the smoke shifted.

  Yasuke was ughing.

  “Alright then, let’s see what that fire really means.”

  WHOOSH—

  The fight was far from over.