Raiden's Clash

The sky darkened.

A hum filled the air—sharp, reverent—as if even the elements held their breath.

Step by step, the Raiden Shogun advanced, each movement unhurried, graceful—absolute. Her feet did not rush, yet her presence arrived everywhere before she did. Like a storm gathering at the horizon, she carried the silent promise of destruction.

No signal was needed.

The moment her form touched the battlefield, the entire Shogunate army seemed to steady. Faltering lines reformed. Wavering eyes turned hard. Weapons rose in perfect unity. Her mere presence brought structure to chaos, breath to discipline, power to silence.

The soldiers made way.

Raiden walked through them without turning her head. Her heels clanked softly, each step echoing across the battlefield like the tolling of fate.

Crack.

Crack.

Lightning surged and danced across the ground, kissing stone and earth, scorching it. She had yet to raise her blade, yet the battlefield itself bowed before her. Time itself seemed to pause.

No one moved.

No one dared.

Until one frightened, trembling soldier stepped forward. The Shogun's eyes—calm and still as glass—shifted. Just that single glance. The man panicked and, in a desperate scream, charged her with his spear.

He never reached her.

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning struck him down where he stood, reducing his body to little more than scorched ash and smoke. Not a flicker of emotion passed her expression.

The Shogun turned, eyes sweeping the field. She took in every commander's position—one second, two, no more than three seconds. That was all it took for her to understand it all.

CRRRRRRRM

She summoned the Musou Isshin, the beautiful and lethal purple sword that represented her.

In the blink of an eye, she vanished.

A pillar of light and thunder exploded at the rear line. Where once stood a commander, there was now only an evaporated stain on the earth and the echo of a scream that never fully left the throat.

If she had a choice, she would not act. But if forced to move—then she would act with the overwhelming, terrifying might of a god. And she would take no more lives than necessary.

Let them see what it meant to stand against her.

"She's finally acted," Kokomi whispered, her eyes gleaming. "Now, show the world your strength. Reveal your divine hand. Let the people see that your divinity is no more than tyranny. Let them see the consequence of your 'eternity.'"

She turned slightly.

A ninja appeared beside her.

"Everything is ready, Your Excellency," he reported. "We are prepared to detonate the charges under Tenshukaku."

"Perfect," Kokomi smiled, folding her arms. "Let her learn that no matter how powerful one becomes, it is never enough to control everything. If she doesn't wish for an eternal guerrilla war and Inazuma's destruction, she'll have no choice but to accept our conditions. Once she reaches me, she will have no other way than make a deal."

Kokomi stared across the battlefield. "Still… a pity Allen wasn't here."

FSSSSHHHH

More lightning cracked across the land as the Shogun carved her path forward. Troops fell like grass before a hurricane, her movements too fast to follow, her blade never missing. No shield could hold. No sword could parry.

She moved like inevitability itself.

Eventually, her gaze landed upon one man—one key figure whose presence had shifted the tide of battle.

Gorou.

"Your actions have greatly impacted this war," she said, approaching. "Your leadership and command could have guided many toward my vision of eternity. But you chose rebellion. So now, there is only one end."

Gorou gritted his teeth and raised his bow. He shot—but she caught the arrow between her fingers without blinking.

"Damn it!" Gorou cursed, sweat forming on his brow. He'd known this was coming. Kokomi had warned him: escape before the Shogun arrives. His mission was only to distract Itto. But now—cornered and wounded—he knew it was over.

"Blow to Oblivion."

The Shogun raised her blade.

Gorou couldn't move.

But before the strike fell—

CLANK!

The blow was parried.

A gust of wind exploded outward as Kaedehara Kazuha appeared, his blade clashing with the Shogun's. The sheer force of the impact sent cracks rippling across the ground, pushing him back a few steps.

"You," the Shogun muttered.

She couldn't help it. For a brief moment, a memory surfaced. A man standing before her throne, defiant. The last man to dare defy her judgment.

"You must die!"

She launched forward.

The battlefield trembled with each of her strikes. Her blade moved faster than thunder, cutting the very air with precision and wrath. Kazuha danced backward, barely deflecting, breath shallow, every limb screaming from the impact.

After five fierce exchanges, he failed to block.

His blade flew from his hands.

The Shogun raised hers high. "Any last words?"

Kazuha clenched his fists.

Was this truly the best he could offer?

He thought of Tomoki.

Of his friend who once stood against the Shogun—not to win, but to stand for something greater. For a moment, he understood.

But now, he felt something else. In this last moments, he couldn't think of anything about noble or otherwise, only want thing.

"I want to live," Kazuha whispered.

CLANK!

Lightning surged.

From his open hand, a new blade appeared—a sword of dark violet lightning.

'Struggle,' a voice whispered in his mind. 'Curse everything to survive.'

Tomoki's voice resounded over his mind..

'Tartaglia'

BOOOM!

Energy burst from his body. Dark lightning crackled along his limbs. The storm gathered behind his eyes. The jewel Tomoki had once held, that what Kazuha thought of a death Vision, awakened.

Raiden's eyes widened. For a moment, she did not see Kazuha.

She saw Tomoki.

"You will die."

She raised her sword once more, drawing upon her most devastating technique.

"Turn to oblivion…"

Lightning gathered in waves, forming spears in the sky. The winds stilled. All noise ceased. Time seemed to stop. She focused all of her energy into a single, final strike.

"Musou no Hitotachi!"

Her blade fell as all the lightning focused on it.

Kazuha stepped forward.

"COUNTER!"

A howl of wind. The roar of a storm.

Lightning met lightning.

His sword, swirling with black wind and violet crackles, surged forward using both his Vision and Tomoki's. Blood poured from his mouth and nose. But he held the blade.

And the blades met.

CRRRRRAAAAAAAAK!

Time fractured.

The clash sent out a shockwave that shattered nearby hills. The sky screamed in defiance. And yet—the Shogun's strike did not cut through.

They stood locked in stalemate.

BOOOM!

The ground shook beneath them as the force broke their balance, sending both combatants flying back.

Silence.

Gasps spread through both armies.

"The Musou no Hitotachi…" someone whispered.

"She stopped…"

"No—he blocked it…"

The impossible had happened.

The invincible technique had been stopped. The image of Raiden Shogun's untouchable power cracked.

"It can't be…" the Shogun whispered, rising slowly. Her hands trembled—not from weakness, but from rage.

She rushed forward. Kazuha who battered and with the posture completely broken, couldn't react.

"Die!"

Her blade surged toward his exposed neck.

CLANK!

A second sword intercepted her strike.

A calm voice followed.

"To think you could stop her…"

A new figure stepped between them.

Allen.

He held her blade casually with one hand, not flinching as lightning cracked around them.

"You really made your life complicated," he said, pushing the Shogun's blade away with a short burst of elemental energy.

PANG!

The impact created distance between them.

Allen stood between Raiden and Kazuha, sword in hand, his face calm, his eyes steady.

"Now it's my turn," he said, pointing his blade toward her. "Be ready."