Seol-an and Kōin sat quietly beneath the clear sky.
The sea around them was calm now.
No screaming waves.
No suffocating pressure.
Only soft ripples of crimson moving endlessly.
"Kagemiya told me about your life, you know."
Kōin lowered his gaze slightly.
"…I know."
A pause.
"You must hate me huh?"
Seol-an blinked.
"Hm?"
"Why would I?"
Kōin hugged his knees slightly.
"I left my mother and sister with that person."
His voice became quieter.
"What if he sold them again?"
The guilt in his eyes looked heavier than the sea itself.
Seol-an sighed softly.
"Your old man was an asshole."
Kōin flinched slightly at the bluntness.
"But still."
She leaned back against her arms.
"You were twelve."
The sky reflected softly in her eyes.
"The Tekki-min invaded your land."
"They nearly killed you."
"They took your mother and sister after your father sold them out."
A pause.
"And after all that…"
She looked directly at him.
"You still think it was your fault?"
Kōin stayed silent.
His fingers tightened slightly.
"…I just wished."
He swallowed.
"…Something was different."
The wind brushed through his white hair gently.
Seol-an understood immediately.
That feeling.
The endless replay of choices.
What if.
What if.
What if.
"Of course."
She smiled faintly.
"That's called regret."
Kōin looked toward the blood sea quietly.
"…Does it ever disappear?"
Seol-an thought for a moment.
Then shook her head.
"No."
A pause.
"But eventually."
She lightly nudged his shoulder.
"You stop drowning in it."
Kōin's expression didn't really change.
Just a quiet acceptance.
"…Since I know your whole story…"
She hesitated.
"How about I tell you mine."
Seol-an tilted her head slightly.
"Hm?"
Kōin lifted his face from his knees.
"You already know I'm a girl, so…"
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"…why not know all of it?"
"…Okay."
Seol-an studied him for a second.
"You're not interested?"
"No."
A pause.
"I mean… everyone here has a story they keep sealed."
His eyes shifted slightly.
"Are you sure?"
Seol-an leaned back, arms crossed.
"Like our promise."
Her voice lowered a bit.
"Just don't let this leave the courtyard."
Kōin nodded immediately.
"Till the grave."
Then added after a second.
"…Or until you decide to open it."
Seol-an blinked.
Then a faint smirk formed.
"That's reassuring."
Kōin exhaled softly.
The blood sea around them remained still.
Waiting.
Like it understood something important was about to be said.
Seol-an's voice was steady, even casual, as she sat in the blood sea.
"I was an abandoned child like most disciples."
She pushed wet strands of dark blue hair back, blood dripping from the tips.
"My mother was a harlot. My father…"
A faint pause.
"…the Heavenly Demon Patriarch."
Kōin's eyes widened slightly, but he stayed silent.
"I am his illegitimate daughter."
The words landed without drama. Like she had said them too many times to feel their weight anymore.
"My mother died giving birth to me. My body was too much for her to endure."
She shrugged faintly.
"So I was left alone in the red district of Tialing City. Raised by the scraps by those workers who pitied me."
The wind passed over the sea.
"Until the Demonic Sect came slaughtering through the city."
Kōin's hands tightened slightly.
"Looking for me."
A small smile appeared on Seol-an's face.
Not happy.
Not sad.
Just something that had learned to exist.
"Or to kill me."
She scooped blood from the sea and let it fall back through her fingers.
"Lucky for me…"
Her tone lightened a little.
"…the great Winged Tiger Star of Tiantui came crashing in."
Kōin blinked.
"Grandmaster Ji-ho."
Seol-an nodded.
"He found me in the rubble."
"Adopted me."
Even after learning what I was."
A pause.
"After learning why they were hunting me."
Her eyes glowed faintly as blue motes drifted from her body.
"This body."
"The Celestial Demonic Vessel."
Kōin stared as the light dispersed into the air.
Seol-an noticed.
"You can't see it, huh."
She smiled a bit.
"Right. No dantian yet."
Then she looked back at him.
"It's the same chi that once birthed the Demon King."
"Ancestor of all demonic sects."
"Even my father doesn't have it."
A shrug.
"And they all want it."
Silence settled briefly.
Seol-an flicked blood at Kōin's face suddenly.
"You know what's funny?"
Kōin flinched slightly.
"The fact Ji-ho looked more disturbed taking you in than me."
She tilted her head.
"Anyway."
Her expression softened slightly.
"Grandmaster Ji-ho told me to keep it hidden."
"One, because I'm a girl in Murim."
"Two, because people still hunt me for this body."
She exhaled lightly.
"Same reason, really."
Then she looked at him more directly.
"Both of us have things inside us that people would kill for."
A pause.
"So why carry it alone?"
Her finger lightly tapped his nose, staining it with blood from the sea.
"That's what the Grandmaster said."
Kōin sat still for a moment.
Then lowered his gaze slightly.
"Funny… I have a body specialty too."
Seol-an raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"I inherited it from Kagemiya as well."
He slowly lowered himself, folding his legs and spine backward into the shallow blood.
The angle looked impossible.
Seol-an whistled low.
"Not many boys can do that."
"That's usually a girl thing."
Kōin didn't respond.
Instead, he folded further.
His body bending in ways that made even Seol-an pause.
"…Are you sure you're alright?"
"Hm."
Kōin's voice was calm.
"I'm fine."
"This body has the flexibility of an ideal assassin."
Seol-an clicked her tongue.
"That's not that special."
"Yeah."
Kōin agreed without hesitation.
"In the Murim world, it isn't."
Then his eyes lifted slightly.
"But what makes it special…"
A small silence.
"…is what it does to my brain."
Seol-an frowned slightly.
"What do you mean—"
SPLASH.
A small flick of blood.
A single droplet shot toward her face from a distance.
Seol-an tilted her head just barely.
The droplet stopped mid-air.
Pinched between Kōin's fingers.
He was suddenly right in front of her.
"…!"
Seol-an's eyes widened slightly.
"When—"
Kōin already stepped back again, hands behind his head like nothing happened.
"It gives me zero delay processing."
His tone was light.
"And it's the reason I can move in Shroud."
"…Shroud?"
Kōin didn't answer immediately.
Instead—
FWMP.
Seol-an blinked.
He was gone.
She turned sharply.
Nothing behind her.
Then—
Tap.
A light touch on her back.
"Here."
Her eyes widened.
"What— I thought you were—"
She spun again instantly.
Empty.
Only blood rippling where she thought he was.
Kōin's voice came from somewhere else.
"You rely too much on sight."
Seol-an narrowed her eyes, immediately on guard.
"…Where are you?"
A pause.
Then softly near her ear—
"Here."
She whipped around.
Still nothing.
Her breathing slowed slightly.
"…That Shroud thing again."
Kōin finally reappeared a few steps away, sitting back down like he never moved.
"It's not teleportation."
"It's perception skip."
Seol-an stared at him.
"…That's cheating."
Kōin tilted his head.
"I know."
Kōin stared at his own hands for a moment.
"It works by tricking your mind into thinking I was already there."
He flexed his fingers slightly.
"So your brain locks onto an outcome that never happens."
His gaze lifted.
"Sight fails. Hearing misleads. Smell gets corrupted."
A pause.
"Only instinct remains."
He tilted his head.
"I was actually surprised you and Grandmaster Ji-ho managed to keep up with Kagemiya."
Seol-an frowned slightly.
"He was holding back."
Kōin nodded.
"Stupidly."
He let out a small breath.
"I noticed it the moment he started vanishing and reappearing at predictable intervals."
His tone stayed calm.
"If you fail to perceive once, you'll fail to perceive the next."
"So he turned Shroud into something readable."
He glanced at Seol-an.
"…Honestly, unnecessary."
Seol-an narrowed her eyes.
"You want us dead?"
Kōin shrugged immediately.
"If he wanted me broken, there were easier ways."
A pause.
"Clean ones too."
He looked down again.
"But he didn't do it properly."
Silence settled between them.
His voice dropped slightly.
"Even with his memories inside me…"
"I still don't understand him."
A faint tension entered his expression.
"Sometimes he helps."
"Sometimes he tortures."
He exhaled.
"But one thing is consistent."
Kōin's eyes darkened slightly.
"He wants me dead."
Seol-an slumped her shoulders and exhaled heavily.
...
...
"Speaking of Kagemiya…"
She looked around the calm blue sky reflected over the blood sea.
"Where is he?"
Kōin blinked.
"…He didn't wake up after Grandmaster Ji-ho knocked him out."
Seol-an raised a brow.
"So he's in the abyss?"
"Yeah."
Kōin nodded casually.
"Bottom. Probably sleeping."
Seol-an visibly shivered.
"HHHHH…"
She hugged her arms slightly.
"How the hell is he sleeping at that depth?"
"I couldn't even swim down there."
Kōin tilted his head.
"When this is your realm of souls…"
He paused.
"Drowning is the least of your problems."
Seol-an immediately pouted.
"Yeah, not for me."
SPLASH!
A wave of blood hit Kōin's face.
He blinked slowly, dripping.
"…You…"
Another splash hit him again.
"…are afraid of the—"
SPLASH.
"Depth…"
Seol-an pointed at him accusingly.
"Say it properly."
Kōin wiped his face calmly.
"…You're afraid of deep water."
Seol-an crossed her arms.
"Of course I am!"
Kōin stared at her for a second.
Then, very quietly—
"…That's kind of normal."
Seol-an froze.
They both dropped back into the shallow sea with a splash.
Seol-an stretched her arms tiredly.
"I think we should leave this sea already."
She sniffed once.
"I'm getting nose blind from the smell of blood."
Kōin blinked.
"You sure?"
A pause.
"Only five minutes and three seconds passed outside."
Seol-an stared at him.
"…Huh?"
"We've been here for hours."
"Yeah."
Kōin nodded casually.
"Here."
Then pointed upward.
"Not outside."
Silence.
"Time doesn't flow the same between realms."
…
Seol-an's eyes slowly widened.
"…Huh…"
That means—
Kōin suddenly felt chills run down his spine.
Seol-an immediately grabbed both his hands tightly.
"WE ARE OPENING YOUR DANTIAN TODAY."
Kōin froze.
"YOU MUST."
"H-HUH?!"
Kōin tried pulling back immediately.
"WHY NOW?!"
Seol-an's eyes gleamed with terrifying motivation.
"KŌIN."
She shook him violently.
"YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I'VE WAITED FOR A RIVAL."
Kōin looked horrified.
"You're the only one around my age who can actually push me!"
She pointed dramatically into nowhere.
"Those training manuals don't do shit!"
"Only blades and bodies speak now!"
Kōin paled instantly.
"WAIT—"
"NOW GET YOUR CIRCULATION FLOWING."
Seol-an slammed both hands onto his shoulders.
"BECAUSE WE HAVE ALL DAY."
A pause.
"ALL NIGHT."
Another pause.
"Young man."
"HUUUUHHHH???"
Kōin's scream echoed across the peaceful sea while Seol-an grinned like an actual demon.
Kōin sat cross-legged atop the shallow blood sea.
The world around him was silent.
No screams.
No waves.
No Kagemiya.
For the first time since remembering—
His mind was truly quiet.
So he focused.
Breathing slowly.
Trying to feel this thing everyone in Murim talked about.
Dantian.
Chi.
Circulation.
…Nothing.
Kōin frowned slightly.
How does one even open a dantian?
Meditation?
Focus?
People always described it vaguely.
"Circulate your chi."
"Feel the heavens."
"Cleanse impurities."
What impurities?
How?
"Lost?"
Kōin opened one eye.
"…Mm."
Seol-an sighed dramatically.
"Okay stop."
Kōin opened both eyes fully as Seol-an sat beside him in the blood.
"What did you feel?"
"…Nothing."
Seol-an immediately grabbed his wrist.
Kōin flinched slightly as warmth entered his palm.
Then spread.
Slowly moving through his veins like heated water.
His eyes widened slightly.
"…Warm."
"Good."
Seol-an's expression became serious.
"That's my chi."
She guided his hand gently.
"Follow it."
The warmth moved upward through his arm.
Across his shoulder.
Down his chest.
Branching through his body like streams.
"Feel the flow?"
Kōin closed his eyes again.
"…Yeah."
"It feels like warm blood."
Seol-an nodded.
"Good."
"Now use my chi as a guide."
Her voice softened slightly.
"Trace your entire circulation."
The warmth continued moving deeper through him.
Kōin's breathing slowed.
The blood sea around them became still.
"Visualize where everything converges."
Seol-an tapped lightly below his navel.
"Your dantian should be there."
Kōin focused harder.
The warmth flowed.
Veins.
Muscles.
Heartbeat.
Then—
He felt it.
A strange emptiness beneath his navel.
Like a locked hollow space.
"…There's something."
Seol-an immediately leaned closer.
"What does it feel like?"
Kōin frowned.
"…A room."
"A sealed room."
"Good."
Seol-an nodded immediately.
"That should be your dantian."
Kōin kept his eyes closed focusing on the warmth moving through him.
"Now."
Seol-an guided the flow deeper.
"When you trace your circulation with my chi…"
"What do you feel?"
Kōin frowned slightly.
"…Dirty blood."
"Good."
Seol-an sounded pleased.
"That's the impurities."
"The clogged residue inside your veins, muscles, organs."
She tapped his chest lightly.
"You need to expel it before proper chi circulation becomes stable."
Kōin's brows furrowed.
"…How?"
"If you don't clear it, cultivating properly will take years."
Kōin immediately opened one eye.
"…Hm."
"How do I expel impurities?"
Seol-an crossed her arms.
"How does the body normally expel impurities?"
Kōin thought for a second.
"…Bleeding?"
Seol-an blinked.
Then sighed.
"…Sure."
"If you choose the psychopath route."
Kōin tilted his head innocently.
"Huh?"
"Isn't that normal?"
Seol-an stared at him blankly.
"…More common among assassins than you think."
A pause.
"But no."
She flicked his forehead lightly.
"You're not draining yourself like a leaking corpse."
"…Okay."
Kōin closed his eyes again obediently.
Seol-an continued.
"Guide the dirty flow outward naturally."
"Breathing."
"Sweat."
"Pressure."
"Push it out."
Kōin focused again.
The warmth inside his body circulated slowly.
Then he felt it.
Heavy sluggish sensations inside his veins.
Like mud mixed into water.
Kōin concentrated harder.
Breathing slowly.
The pressure built gradually.
Then—
Drip.
A dark almost black liquid fell from his nose into the blood sea.
Seol-an's eyes widened slightly.
"Oh."
Another drip followed.
Then more.
The blood around Kōin slowly darkened as impurities seeped from his body.
Kōin's breathing hitched.
"…It feels disgusting."
"That means it's working."
Slowly—
Very slowly—
Kōin purified the last traces of impurities from his body.
The sluggish heaviness vanished.
His circulation became smooth.
Clean.
Like an unclogged valve finally allowing water to flow freely.
Kōin exhaled.
The warmth inside his body no longer felt muddy.
It moved naturally now.
"…Okay."
He opened his eyes toward Seol-an.
"What do I do next?"
Seol-an crossed her legs casually.
"That part is on you."
"Huh?"
"All people open their dantian differently."
She pointed toward below his navel.
"You already found the door."
"Now you have to open it."
Kōin frowned immediately.
"…That sounds vague."
"Because it is."
Seol-an shrugged shamelessly.
"Some force it open."
"Some meditate."
"Some awaken it in battle."
"Some nearly die."
Kōin immediately looked disturbed.
"…Why are Murim people insane?"
"Because strong people survive."
"That doesn't answer anything."
"It answers everything."
Kōin stared at her blankly.
Seol-an continued casually.
"Opening a dantian is less technique and more realization."
"You need something that aligns your body, mind, and spirit together."
"Something that makes the circulation fully converge."
Kōin lowered his gaze slightly.
"…Something important to me?"
"Usually."
A pause.
"Or something overwhelming."
Kōin thought quietly.
Battle?
No.
Pain?
Too familiar.
Meditation?
He already did that constantly.
Then—
His eyes shifted toward the endless blood sea around them.
The realm of his soul.
The place where everything started.
Where Kagemiya slept beneath the abyss.
Where Shinba existed.
Where Ashura drowned endlessly.
Kōin slowly placed a hand over his chest.
"…Circulation."
He murmured quietly.
"What if instead of forcing it…"
Seol-an blinked.
"Hm?"
Kōin closed his eyes again.
"What if I let it flow naturally?"
The blood sea around him rippled gently.
Like it reacted to his thoughts.
Kōin inhaled slowly.
Then for the first time—
Instead of resisting the sea—
He accepted it.
Seol-an's eyes widened.
The sea—
It was changing.
The blood no longer rippled naturally.
It spiraled inward.
Toward Kōin.
"Kōin?"
No response.
The sea became violent instantly.
Large crimson waves converged toward him like a whirlpool.
"KŌIN!"
A hand suddenly grabbed Seol-an's shoulder and yanked her backward.
FWMP!
She stumbled.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
A familiar cold expression.
Kagemiya.
He clicked his tongue irritably.
"Haish…"
His gaze stayed fixed on the vortex forming around Kōin.
"Didn't I tell you not to open it, idiot?"
Clink.
A short blade flew toward him.
Shinba.
Kagemiya caught it effortlessly without looking.
Seol-an immediately stepped back into stance.
Kagemiya ignored her completely.
"You people really know nothing about me huh."
His gaze narrowed toward the forming blood orb.
"Chi differs for every living being."
His tone became colder.
"So what do you think happens…"
"…when that chi belongs to an Ashuramaru?"
Seol-an froze slightly.
"…."
Kagemiya scoffed.
"That idiot is opening his dantian using the sea itself as circulation."
The blood sea shook harder.
"He's syncing with me."
A giant crimson orb slowly condensed where Kōin sat motionless.
Kagemiya continued calmly.
"Unlike him…"
He lightly spun Shinba in his hand.
"I actually read those manuscripts the old man punished him with."
"Imperial archives too."
His eyes darkened slightly.
"One thing I noticed."
"Primary chi colors are extremely rare."
"White."
He glanced briefly toward Ji-ho's absent direction.
"Blue."
His eyes shifted toward Seol-an.
"But one thing was strangely missing."
The blood orb pulsed violently.
"Red."
Seol-an slowly realized it.
"…They erased it."
Kagemiya smirked slightly.
"Exactly."
"They redacted every mention."
A pause.
"Probably because it belonged to those who opened their dantian while carrying Ashura."
The sea suddenly stopped moving.
Complete silence.
Then—
The massive crimson orb slowly dissolved.
Blood rained back into the sea.
And there—
Kōin stood motionless.
His white hair had grown longer, drifting behind him like pale silk touched by crimson light.
Two red horns protruded from his forehead.
Not large.
Not monstrous.
Yet their presence alone distorted the atmosphere.
His disciple robes were gone.
Only a waist cloth and fragmented armor remained around his hips and lower body, exposing the markings spread across his torso.
Seol-an's eyes widened.
Those weren't scars anymore.
The wounds across his body had transformed into strange flowing crimson markings.
Like something had rewritten his flesh.
Kōin slowly opened his eyes.
Crimson.
Far brighter than before.
He looked less human now.
Not Ashura.
Not merely a demon.
A Yokai.
No—
An Oni.
The sea around him trembled instinctively.
Seol-an unconsciously stepped backward.
Kagemiya sighed tiredly beside her.
"…Soul Recollection."
The blood around Kagemiya surged upward instantly.
FWOOOSH!
It wrapped around him violently before solidifying.
His appearance shifted.
Long black hair.
Dark robes unlike anything in Aishia.
A sleeveless black attire layered beneath armored cloth.
And over his face—
A smooth faceless mask with only twin eye holes glowing crimson from within.
Seol-an felt chills immediately.
This wasn't Murim.
This was something else entirely.
Shinba transformed as well.
The short dagger elongated slowly.
Curved.
Elegant.
Deadly.
An uchigatana.
Its shape slender and unnatural beneath the moonlight.
Kagemiya grabbed the blade calmly.
"…Blade of Remira."
The moment he spoke those words—
The sea split apart beneath both Kōin and Kagemiya.
As if the realm itself recognized them as the same existence.
Yako slowly raised both arms.
The blood sea answered immediately.
FWOOOSH!
Crimson tides spiraled upward around him before rapidly condensing.
Solidifying.
Forging themselves into steel.
One blade shorter.
One longer.
A wakizashi and an uchigatana formed within his grasp.
Seol-an's breath caught slightly.
The blades looked alive.
Yako spun them effortlessly.
The motion alone generated a massive wave of blood outward.
The entire sea twisted violently around his stance.
Kagemiya moved once.
SHHHK.
The enormous wave split perfectly into two halves.
Clean.
Precise.
Like the blood itself willingly parted before him.
Then—
FWMP.
Seol-an blinked.
Kagemiya had already changed posture.
She didn't even see him swing.
Only the afterimage remained.
Yako smiled.
Not crazed.
Not bloodthirsty.
That was the terrifying part.
There was no killing intent.
No indulgence.
Only a strange crimson outline flickering across his body.
Like the concept of violence itself wrapped around him naturally.
Seol-an's instincts screamed louder than during the courtyard battle.
Kagemiya spoke calmly beside the divided sea.
"Never fight this thing with your eyes."
His masked gaze remained on Yako.
"This…"
The crimson glow from his eye holes intensified.
"…is the Ashuramaru your Grandmaster fears."
The blood sea trembled violently.
"A demon born from the sea of blood."
Kagemiya slowly raised his blade.
At the same time—
Yako mirrored him perfectly.
Two existences.
Two swordsmen.
One blood-soaked soul reflected against itself.
They vanished.
FWISH!
The sea exploded apart.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Shockwaves burst across the crimson ocean as blade after blade collided faster than sound itself.
Seol-an couldn't follow anymore.
Only flashes.
Only distortions.
Only crimson lines ripping through the world.
BOOOOM!
A massive eruption split the sea upward.
Kagemiya appeared mid-swing.
His uchigatana carved through Yako's torso.
Once.
Twice.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
The demon's body shredded apart repeatedly.
Yet every wound regenerated instantly.
No—
Not regeneration.
The blood simply reformed him before the cuts could fully exist.
As though he was made from the sea itself.
Intangible.
A living calamity born from blood.
Kagemiya's masked eyes narrowed.
Clang clang clang!
The two blurred again.
Yako twisted unnaturally, dual blades dancing like flowing water.
Kagemiya countered every strike with terrifying precision.
No wasted movement.
No hesitation.
Their swords screamed against each other endlessly.
The blood sea ruptured beneath every clash.
Seol-an's breathing became shallow.
This wasn't martial arts anymore.
This was two monsters communicating through killing.
FWMP!
Kagemiya suddenly appeared behind Yako.
SHHHK!
A clean horizontal slash.
Yako's upper body separated.
Yet before the pieces even fell—
The blood dragged him back together.
Yako smiled.
Then vanished.
Seol-an's instincts screamed.
"ABOVE—"
BOOOOM!!
Kagemiya blocked instantly as twin crimson blades crashed downward hard enough to split the sky reflection itself.
The impact generated rings across the sea for miles.
Kagemiya slid backward slightly.
Only slightly.
Then—
For the first time—
Yako spoke.
His voice layered strangely.
Like multiple echoes speaking together.
"…You're afraid."
Kagemiya's grip tightened slightly.
The demon tilted its head.
"Why?"
…
"You're becoming me."
FWISH!
CLANG!
Their blades collided again violently.
The sea beneath them erupted upward yet neither sank.
Neither slowed.
The blood itself carried their movements.
Every step glided unnaturally across the crimson surface like the realm bent around them willingly.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Yako's dual blades twisted unpredictably.
Wild.
Elegant.
Inhuman.
Kagemiya intercepted everything with brutal precision.
The impact of their strikes sent crimson fractures through the sky itself.
"You cannot stop it forever."
The demon's voice echoed layered and distorted.
"Your incarnation already accepted the sea."
FWMP!
Kagemiya vanished from sight.
SHHHK!
A massive diagonal cut tore across Yako's torso.
The demon regenerated instantly.
Kagemiya reappeared behind him.
"There are limits to you, Demon."
His voice remained calm.
Cold.
"Release my incarnation."
The sea trembled.
Yako slowly turned his head.
Crimson eyes glowed brighter.
"…Incarnation?"
The demon laughed softly.
An eerie sound.
"You still separate yourselves?"
CLANG!
Their swords locked again.
The pressure shattered the sea beneath them into a spiraling abyss.
"You are him."
"He is you."
The crimson outline around Yako intensified.
"And eventually…"
The demon smiled wider.
"…he will choose me."
…
"Yes."
Kagemiya's voice remained steady.
"Someday he will."
SHHHK!
His blade split straight through the demon's face.
The flesh separated instantly.
Then regenerated immediately.
"But not in your form."
CLING!
BURST!!
Their clash detonated outward.
Then—
The demon dissolved.
Its body scattered apart into drifting crimson mist.
The entire sea slowly disappeared beneath the expanding fog.
Seol-an's instincts immediately screamed.
The red mist.
The same one from Kōin's memories.
The slaughter.
The invisible death.
The sea itself vanished beneath layers of crimson haze.
Then the demon's voice echoed everywhere at once.
"…Reihō."
The mist pulsed.
"The power to slow existence itself…"
A crimson outline flickered through the fog.
"…as long as Shinba remains airborne."
Kagemiya's masked eyes narrowed.
The demon continued calmly.
"The reason you reduce people into red mist."
"The death spread by Shroud."
A silhouette flashed.
Then vanished.
Another appeared behind Kagemiya.
Then another.
Then hundreds.
Like every direction contained the demon simultaneously.
Yet Kagemiya stood unmoving.
"…And yet."
His blade lowered slightly.
"You still don't understand it."
The mist paused.
Kagemiya's abyssal eyes gleamed beneath the mask.
"You don't need Reihō to create the mist."
FWMP.
He vanished.
Then suddenly—
SHHHK!
A massive line split the entire crimson fog apart.
For a brief instant—
Seol-an saw the truth.
The mist wasn't spreading naturally.
It was generated by movement.
By displacement.
By perception failing to process speed and altered existence simultaneously.
Kagemiya appeared within the opening he carved.
"You're using the ability wrong, Demon."
His voice echoed sharply through the sea.
"Reihō slows existence."
"But Shroud…"
His eyes glowed brighter.
"…kills perception itself."
Suddenly—
Crimson lines spread across the entire sea.
Not slowly.
Instantly.
Like the world itself had already been cut before realizing it.
Kagemiya stood motionless with Shinba lowered beside him.
Then—
SHRRRRKKK!!
The blood sea erupted.
Gigantic spiraling slashes formed everywhere at once.
The ocean rotated violently, generating endless slicing currents from sheer pressure alone.
Blood became blades.
The sea itself became execution.
Kagemiya spoke calmly.
"Hiken: Kekkai Dankai."
秘剣・血海断界
Secret Sword: Severing Boundary of the Blood Sea.
The entire realm screamed.
Every current became a slash.
Every ripple became death.
The crimson mist attempted to reform—
Too late.
SHHHHHK!
The demon was shredded apart instantly.
Reduced into countless fragments of red mist before dispersing completely into the storming sea.
Silence followed.
Only the swirling blood remained.
Kagemiya slowly flicked Shinba once.
FWIP.
Blood scattered cleanly from the blade.
Then the sea calmed.
The crimson mist slowly gathered again.
Forming flesh.
Bones.
Shape.
The demon reappeared kneeling upon the blood sea.
Defeated.
Its regeneration slower now.
Unstable.
Kagemiya walked toward it calmly.
Each step rippled the sea.
"Now."
He raised Shinba.
"Give him back."
The demon sneered upward.
Crimson eyes burned hatefully.
"He will kill you one day, Kagemiya Kōin."
A pause.
"He will surpass you."
…
Kagemiya stood silently.
Then softly answered.
"I know."
His grip tightened around Shinba.
"But until then…"
His voice lowered.
"…the cruelty of a leash will never touch me again."
Shinba's blade turned crimson.
Not glowing.
Bleeding.
SHHHK!
One clean slash.
The demon's head fell.
This time—
No regeneration came.
The body dissolved quietly.
Reabsorbed back into the blood sea itself.
Silence.
Kagemiya turned toward Seol-an.
His masked gaze unreadable.
"Time's up."
The sea already beginning to fade around them.
"Tell that old fart…"
A faint amused scoff escaped him.
"…that the idiot managed to open his dantian."
FWOOOSH!
The blood sea collapsed.
Seol-an's eyes snapped open.
Reality returned instantly.
The underground chamber.
Chains.
Stone walls.
Daylight still leaking faintly from above.
Only minutes had passed.
Her hand was still pressed against Kōin's chest.
She immediately pulled it back.
"Hah…"
Her breathing uneven.
That fight—
It was too fast.
Too monstrous.
She couldn't even properly follow it.
Only fragments.
Pages.
Moments stitched together by instinct.
Kōin suddenly slumped forward weakly still chained.
Out cold.
His white hair covering his face.
Seol-an steadied herself breathing heavily.
Then—
Her eyes widened.
She could see it now.
His circulation.
Flowing beneath his skin.
Crimson.
Not blood.
Chi.
Red chi.
A primary color.
An Ashura's chi.
Seol-an stared blankly at the unconscious Kōin.
Then slowly covered her face.
"…Grandmaster is going to kill me."