ECLIPSE’S EMBRACE
(Theme: "The Void Between Sparks")
The sky didn't split.
It was ripped open.
Crimson lightning clashed with claws forged from shadow. Each strike tore screaming arcs through the blizzard, vaporizing snow mid-air. The cave entrance behind Akari exploded in a plume of ash and shattered stone.
Her blade crashed into the crow-masked figure's talons, throwing sparks high into the frozen night. The storm bent around them like a living thing, howling in retreat.
"You are the devil created by mistake," the figure said, voice echoing with fractured gravity. "The Eclipse was never yours."
Akari's golden eyes narrowed. Her blade surged with crimson current.
"Try taking it, crow."
He vanished.
No warning. No motion.
Just gone.
Akari pivoted—too slow.
He reappeared behind her, mid-swing, claws raised. His cloak coiled like smoke in reverse.
The world collapsed.
The blizzard folded inward. Trees imploded. Snow inverted, folding into a crater. The landscape caved around them like a kneeling god.
Akari caught the strike with her blade, skidding backward across cracked ice. Lightning flared from her as she bled—precise, surgical cuts traced along her ribs and cheek.
"You are slow," he whispered. "Unworthy."
Her teeth clenched. Her blade lit again.
They clashed once more. Blow for blow. Sparks and blood.
And with each clash, the battlefield shifted—
From cave, to frost-ravaged hillside,
To the open expanse beyond—
To the camp.
Kaito stirred.
The fire had long gone cold. The wind screamed through the shattered cave, slicing across his torn skin. Every nerve screamed.
He forced himself up.
And then he heard it.
A low, distant thunder—but not from the storm. Something darker. Sharper.
A sound like the world breaking.
He dragged himself to the cave entrance. The sky was white. No sign of Akari. No sign of the enemy.
But the snow was scarred.
A path of destruction carved through the landscape—lightning-charred trees, collapsed ridges, clawed-out ground.
A trail of battle.
He limped forward.
The blizzard swallowed him. Each step a punishment. His suit torn, breath ragged.
But he didn't stop.
"Not again," he muttered, blood in his mouth.
"Not after Mary. Not her. Not while I'm still breathing…"
Down below, the camp still stood.
Tents half-built. Soldiers rearming, unaware.
And then—
The gods arrived.
Akari hit the center first, slamming down in a bolt of crimson lightning. The crow-masked figure followed a second later, landing soundlessly beside her.
Soldiers backed away, confused. Scared.
Then the figure blurred forward.
His claws caught Akari's sword. He twisted.
"You shouldn't exist," he said.
He tore the blade from her grip.
And with his free hand—
ripped off her horn.
She gasped. Blood sprayed across the frost.
Then the second horn fell.
She collapsed to one knee.
Lightning exploded out from her body, uncontrolled. Bolts tore tents in half. Panic spread.
And then—
The moon turned red.
Chains fell from the sky.
Not forged. Not conjured.
Declared.
Void-chains dropped like judgment. Silent. Final.
Soldiers froze mid-step. One blink, and their arms twisted backward. Another, and spines snapped. No screams—just breaking.
Akari looked up through blood.
The figure raised a claw.
The void answered.
Kaito reached the top of the hill just in time.
He saw the chains fall.
Saw Akari kneel.
Saw men die without a sound.
He ran—tripping, bleeding, barely standing.
He screamed her name—
"AKARI!"
He didn't reach her in time.
A bolt of white flame dropped from the sky.
Shin landed in the middle of the chaos, tattoo blazing, katana roaring with gravitational force.
"You won't touch them!" he shouted.
The figure turned.
A blur.
A claw punched through Shin's gut. Lifted him. Blood spilled across his coat.
"You die for nothing," the figure whispered, gripping Shin by the chin.
"The Hounds are toys."
Shin coughed blood. Grinned anyway.
"Then break… this toy."
And for one moment—
Time froze.
He didn't feel the pain anymore.
He looked toward her — Akari. Chained. Screaming. Her golden eyes wide with helpless terror.
He smiled.
"You're safe… That's all I needed."
His vision blurred. Something warm ran down his chin.
"I never told her… never revealed what I felt."
He gripped his katana tighter.
"If this is my fate…"
The world dimmed. But she was still there.
"So be it."
"This is where my story ends."
His voice rose.
"ORDER: GRAVITY SHIFT!"
Reality inverted.
Chains shattered.
Debris soared upward.
The entire battlefield twisted as gravity turned inside out. For one breathless moment, soldiers floated, free of death.
Shin stood at the center of it, defying the void.
The figure laughed.
"Þæs flæsces gryre."
And then—
The reversal collapsed.
Blackness surged inward. Space screamed. Bodies snapped. Time tore.
And Shin—
Shin vanished into the center of the vortex.
Gone.
No light. No scream. Just a crater.
His katana stuck from the center, still humming with power. His body never returned.
Akari saw it all.
She had screamed his name the moment he landed.
Now she screamed it again.
"SHIN!"
Tears burned from her Eclipse Eyes, staining her cheeks gold.
But the void-chains held her.
Her arms were pinned. Her breath strained.
All she could do—was watch.
Kaito stopped breathing.
He couldn't crawl anymore.
He forced himself to stand.
Pain lit every nerve. Something in his spine cracked.
But he moved.
He stumbled toward a fallen soldier. Ripped the sword from his grip. And charged.
The figure didn't even turn.
He just raised one hand—
And caught Kaito's chin with two fingers.
"Well now…" the figure whispered. "I was curious about you."
Kaito's breath stopped.
"I watched from the edge," the voice slithered, "while she broke that lizard the Emperor sent… while your precious Akari burned."
He leaned closer.
"I wondered who she screamed for when she fought like that."
His claws twitched.
"And now I see."
Kaito's pupils widened.
The world bent into spirals—red and black folding into each other. The mask stretched. The snow vanished. All that remained was the figure's face—distorted, unnatural, wrong. Every blink twisted its form into something more inhuman.
"You looked stronger from a distance, Kaito."
His name hit like a curse.
Then the figure smiled—slow and jagged—and hurled him back into the snow.
Kaito hit the ground hard. He barely registered the pain.
The sword skittered away.
The figure bent and picked it up with the tip of his boot. Flicked it into the air.
Kicked it.
The blade stabbed into the ground beside Kaito's head.
"Pick it up," he said, voice low, vibrating through the frost.
"Fight me."
Kaito reached for the sword.
His fingers trembled.
He stood.
His legs were broken. His lungs were cracked.
But he screamed.
And attacked.
He swung.
The figure didn't flinch.
He caught the blade in his bare hand.
Then came the lessons.
"Lesson one."
A claw struck Kaito's ribs—hard enough to lift him off the ground.
"No calculations. Instinct survives."
Kaito tried to parry. Saw the strike coming. Still got hit.
"Lesson two. Patterns lie."
Six blows. Six directions. Bones cracked. Teeth clattered across the snow.
"Lesson three."
The figure disappeared and reappeared mid-motion—above, behind, below.
He was everywhere.
"Adapt…"
One last strike.
"…or die."
Kaito collapsed. The sword fell beside him. Blood spread into the frost like ink in water.
Silence.
Then feathers.
A crow landed.
A scroll dropped.
The figure caught it, read it.
"Retreat."
He clicked his tongue.
"Tch. Next time, I take her eyes."
And vanished.
Kaito dragged himself forward.
He reached her.
Collapsed beside her.
"Akari…"
She didn't answer.
Her eyes were open—but far away. Tears streaked her cheeks. Her fingers clutched Shin's katana like it was a tether to the world.
She didn't look at Kaito.
She didn't need to.
Snow fell.
Soft. Slow.
At the edge of the battlefield, the shattered mask lay cracked.
Porcelain.
Feathered.
Beneath it—
scales.
And two eyes still burning with the color of void.
ORION'S FINAL COMMENT
Oho~. Horns torn. Camps erased. The medic's light, snuffed.
And still the Eclipse flickers.
But sparks don't scare gods.
Next: The Devil's Bargain.
Let's see who dares to make it.